Long Time No See

Hey 好久不见. Sorry it's been a while.
Time here flies by so quick. The days and the weeks go by so quick. So so so fast.
After everything we’ve done during the day, we get back to the apartment and it is crazy to see how much time has passed. The days are over.

I was able to watch the Saturday afternoon session, and the last 3 speakers of the Priesthood session. And President Nelson’s talk in the Sunday morning session. That was all I was able to watch with how they were distributing it. I’ve been going through talks when we have time. It was a really good conference. The talks have been awesome. One of the talks that probably touched me the most was President Eyring’s talk in the Saturday morning session about temples. There was a phrase in there that really hit me. He said something about how he wants to prepare us, to remind us of the importance of temples to prepare us for the temple experiences that are coming for us. When I heard that it reminded me of some things I’d been counseled about, and it got me thinking that I need to make temple worship a consistent part of my life after my mission. I haven’t thought much about after the mission. I’m pretty laid back and feel that whatever comes comes, but now I am thinking about how am I going to continue my discipleship after my mission. What is going to be most important. How I am going to continue with my goals and spirituality, and stuff like that.

Now, I'll try to give some insight on this place.

Transfers came on Saturday and I'm staying here in Koweït 1 with Elder Kouadio. I kind of wanted to leave so that I could see some different parts of the mission, but after giving it some thought, there's no way I'd want to leave. This ward and sector are the absolute best. I love the members and the amis here so much.

I'll try to give you an idea of how life is here. We live on the 4th floor of a pretty nice apartment building. Our apartment is small, but it's pretty nice. Because we live on the 4th floor, it does mean that we have to frequently walk up and down a couple flights of stairs, but there's a really nice constant breeze that comes. Also. There are no rats. No cockroach armies. HUGE plus. I'm so glad that we don't have to wage war here like I had to in Vridi.

The view from the apartment

 

Our power cuts out once every couple days, ranging from 15 minutes to 48 hours. It kind of really sucks when that happens, but it's manageable.

Each morning, we go downstairs and buy a baguette with chopped hardboiled eggs, beans, cow liver, and sauteed onions in it, along with this juice called menthe au lait (I know it's wack, but that's the best option we have here haha).

baguette with chopped hardboiled eggs, beans, cow liver, and sauteed onions in it, along with this juice called menthe au lait

For the other meals, sometimes Elder Kouadio makes some sauces like arachide (peanut sauce) or djumbilé (some dried okra sauce). When we don't cook at the apartment, we usually have garba or porc au four (pork head. kind of the actual worst. I could go on about it for a while). The food is pretty alright, although I do have times where I want some food from home.

That's as far as living conditions go really. I could explain more, but I hope that gives some insight.

In our sector, there are 3 different areas. The area that our apartment is in is called Agbayate, the area that's across the ravine is called Koweït,  and the last one is called Santé, which is the area kinda down next to the lagoon. They're all in our sector and are in a mile radius to our apartment, but the people are very different in each area.

- Santé is a nicer area with bigger churches. Most of the people that we've interacted with so far there are bashers.
- Agbayate is full of bigger apartment buildings and at least 20 different churches. Most people in that area haven't been very interested.
- Koweït is the poorer section of our sector, and is where the majority of our amis are. They are a lot more receptive there.

I saw the same results in my comparison between Flower Mound and Dallas back in Texas. I won't talk about it too much, but I just think that the correlation between income and humility is really interesting.

We have a lot of really awesome amis here right now. La famille Soya is still wonderful. The parents are still working towards marriage, but are already firm in attending church and participating in church activities. Their 2 youngest kids were baptized on the 24th last month. It was a great experience. We're continuing to work with the other kids, but they're hard to catch. I love that family so much.

Prunelle and Emmanuelle soya

Some other people that are preparing for baptism:
- Sr & Sephora Yao. Sr Yao is the wife of the stake clerk. I don't know why she hasn't joined the church yet, she is very prepared and ready to hear the gospel. Her 9 year old daughter, Séphora, is also very prepared, and sometimes is really funny. Their baptism is scheduled for the 29th this month.
- Sr Kahi. She is the wife of a recent convert, and has recently started to become more interested in the church. We've put a lot of effort into teaching her and helping her understand. Her baptism is scheduled for June 5th.
- Sr Loua. She is someone we found 3 weeks ago. She has a really simple faith and understands really easily when we talk about the gospel. She is awesome. She should be reached for the 29th.
- Aurelia & Ange. They are two 13 year old girls that live in the same building as Sr Kahi. They progress really well, and understand easily the things that we teach. They're set for the 29th as well.

There are so many wonderful examples of faith, love, and devotion here. Those are just a few people that are progressing well. This place is the best place on earth.

Me personally, I'm just trying to do my best to serve the Lord these last couple months. It gets harder every day to stay focused, but I do my best to work as hard as I can. I'm so grateful that the Lord gave me the blessing to return here. There is no place I'd rather be right now.

The people here continue to amaze me every day. They have such a simple faith in the gospel, as well as a firm determination to live it. One time, one of our amis was coming to the church for a lesson when her sandals broke. She walked on the hot asphalt all the rest of the way. A couple Sundays ago, one of our recent converts had an extremely swollen ankle, which made it difficult and painful to walk. Yet, she made it to church on time, a couple minutes before 7. Yes. Church starts at 7:00 am. Multiple families have given us meals when they barely had any food to feed themselves. There's so many other experiences like that that happen from day to day.

I love the people here so much. It's kind of weird to me that someone love a people and culture in general more than individuals found within. Often, I find myself at our balcony watching people walking, just going about their daily activities. Then, I have a certain feeling in my heart as I remember that each one of those people is a daughter or son of God, and that He loves them so so much. I really do love the people here with all my heart. It's going to be really hard to leave.

As I wrote that, I was reminded of a scripture:

"He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him" (2 Nephi 26:24).

Christ is the absolute greatest example of love. It's impossible for me to understand, but I imagine Him right before coming down to start His life on earth. I imagine Him looking at the people on the earth, who He was about to sacrifice himself for. I'm sure He saw the scope of sins, hate, despair, sufferings, and fallen state of the people at that time, and of humankind in general, that He was about to take upon Himself.

Yet, when He looked down, He didn't turn back. He came down and pushed through the torture, suffering, and agony that came with being the Savior of the world. He went through all that He did because His divine love for us outweighs the ocean of our mistakes and sins. We can't ever completely understand Him and how He atoned for us. All that we can do is repent, try and help others, and stand in wondering awe of the Son of God.

I love Him, and I love the people here. I'm so grateful that I can continue to walk with my Savior in doing His work. I will never be able to repay him for the experiences that I've had, for the things that I've learned, or the love that I've felt. I love you guys as well. Have a great week!

Elder Lyman

MLC

The zone visited St. Paul's Cathedral