Light The World Service Project in Cocody

Light the World! 

All of the missionaries in Will's mission spent December 9 doing service projects 

throughout the entire mission! Will's zone did a clean up in a park in Cocody.

Elder MBuya (current companion)

Will and Elder Cameron

Elder Johnson (Will's MTC Companion), Will, and Elder MBuya (current companion) 

Cocody Zone plus President and Sister Binene and Elder and Sister Lewis

District and Zone Meetings in Bingerville/Cocody

Lots of pictures from the wonderful couple serving in Will's mission. 

Thank you Elder and Sister Lewis!!!

Will's Mission President and his wife

Lunch! Chicken and fried plantains

Heart and Mind in Africa

[Letter to his family] 

That is fun to just hear how everyone is doing! I feel myself becoming more and more disconnected from thinking about you guys...um...not to say that I don't love you guys, but I can feel myself thinking more in terms of, "Wow, today was an awesome day, the beans for breakfast were delicious and we had so many lessons!" Rather than, "uggh, I should be at Temple Square celebrating Christmas right now"

Thank you so much for the gratitude advice you gave me. It is such a small thing to reflect on the good things that happened at the end of each day, but I feel a level more happier by doing that.

I have met one or two times with most of our people, and we recently went out proselyting with two young men from the ward. At the end of the day, we ate out at a little restaurant together, and I felt awesome as us four were all laughing together and talking about stuff. A lot of the people that we teach are mother aged women who have a lot of free time, and it is a little difficult to help people to get past the initial discomfort of a new white guy coming in, but it is good.

My companion is awesome, and the past two weeks, it has been him who has led our companionship. I hope that as I get more familiar with the people and our area, I will take a larger role, but I find that my biggest obstacle is just having the confidence to do a lot of first time things in leading the companionship. But my companion is honestly so patient, loving, and mature, and I am very grateful for that. 

One of our people is being baptized this Saturday! He is a 16 year old who followed the lessons for a month or two. As we asked him to get baptized, with his brother present, each of us bore our testimony of the blessings we have received because of our baptism, and the Spirit was there. While I was there for all of his conversion process, it is always exciting to be there during a baptism.

I am doing well.

I love you guys!

Elder Elephant

Transfer to Bingerville

So yes, I am transferred to the area called Bingerville, in the zone of Cocody, which is very close to the city of Abidjan! My specific area is not a city, but there are a lot of hills, and trees, and even road construction on a massive road, so the terrain of our area is super varied and I feel like I am in a movie a lot (between the houses, the trees, the red dust massive road construction)

My companion, Elder MBuya, just finished his training. He is from Congo. In our apartment, which is nice and clean, of 4 missionaries, we are all relatively new in the mission. Our apartment has a really nice feeling of respect and just happiness.

So, i am really excited for this transfer. This week, we had a baptism, we did our apartment shopping, and were able to go out to our sector during two days. So I am still quite new, and I saw that Elder MBuya is actually a very capable and loving missionary already. He led the team for this first week, and starting tomorrow, it will be me who will be leading. I feel a little strange, because I know that my French, knowledge of scriptures, and even my ability to connect with the investigators is probably inferior to Elder MBuya's, but it will me that will be leading. I figure that this is just a super safe environment to be a senior companion in...my companion is humble and accomplished, so I really have a lot I can learn from him.

I have really loved the advice mom gave to list things that I should be grateful for. It is easy to get resentful about the sum of the circumstances we face here but I have really felt uplifted by taking time to reflect upon what I am grateful for each day.

We did a light the world service project, in the city, where we cleaned up this garden in the middle of a round a bout. The Lewis couple was there, and took pictures.

I got the package! It was crushed a little! And it looked like someone cut a fist sized hole in the corner while it was en route! But I have loved the mangoes, pop tarts, and Christmas tree. The others in the apartment have loved it too. 

Love you guys, 

Elder not so Chilly Willy