August 12, 2013- Packing Soon for Fidjrosse

The Cyber was doing goofy things today and I have been getting random emails through the afternoon. I'm still trying to piece our conversation together.  This is Africa!

 

Inside of a cyber in Togo.

Looks secure, right?  No one would ever look over the makeshift walls!

 

A few more pictures of the last dinner at Mama's.  Elder G is such a nut!  Remind you of any other pictures from his past?

 
So, he says he will pack Tuesday night for the transfer on Wednesday.  He had the chance to email for a bit with Elder Manning.  He seemed pretty happy about that. I'm sure they miss each other a lot.  He got a chuckle out of our Sunday Sacrament meeting.  He says that kind of stuff NEVER happens in Africa!  Here's the story...

Picture this...ward conference...full house to the point of opening the overflow curtains.  Stake Presidency on the stand.  We have the opening song, invocation, ward and stake business presented.  We start singing the Sacrament hymn and at the start of the second verse, the Priest at the end of the Sacrament table jumps up on the stand and whispers something to the Counselor of the Bishopric.  He gets up and hurries out.  The Counselor from the Stake sees a problem and gets up and follows him out.  HMMM...We finish the Sacrament hymn and the chorister looks a bit frazzled, she selects another hymn and we start singing it.  About halfway through the second verse, in hurries the Counselor with a Ziploc bag of bread!  They borrowed it from the Ward that follows ours. Seems the one assigned to bring the bread had a momentary slip of memory!  In all my years, I have never seen anything else like it.  About the end of the first hymn most people had figured out what was happening and a small snickering went through the congregation. Luckily by the end of the second song all was under control and the spirit was back.  What a great display for the Stake Presidency!  I am still chuckling.

So, it just goes to show, nothing is perfect. Nor will it be.  We are all just imperfect souls here trying to do our best.  Reminds me of this quote from conference:

I would guess that trying to get the church started in the mission area is very frustrating.  It's hard to teach people a new way of life and thinking after it is so ingrained in a culture.  I hope that our Elders remember this quote when they are dealing with others in the mission.  The new members are more than likely trying so hard to do what is right. They need the imperfect guidance from our amazing Elders and their leaders who are also trying so hard to do things the best they know how to establish the Gospel in the beautiful lands of Africa.  Which leads me to one of the messages from our ward conference- The threefold mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:

 

 

First, to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people;

Secondly, to perfect the Saints by preparing them to receive the ordinances of the gospel and by instruction and discipline to gain exaltation;

Thirdly, to redeem the dead by performing vicarious ordinances of the gospel for those who have lived on the earth.

Seems simple enough, right?

In other Elder G words- he's still scared to get a dirt bike when he gets home. He's afraid that he will hurt himself. He is glad that he will have a queen size bed all to himself when he gets home.  He wanted to know when we would be hosting the Sister missionaries assigned to our ward for dinner. (Guess I better call and get on the schedule!) He loved the pictures of the farm that we sent this week- he misses the farm and Grandpa and the family and his friends. He got a good laugh out of my confusion with all the emails coming out of order and 30 minutes or more after they were sent.  In comment to Greg Madson asking if they have any razors in Africa...he only shaves about once every two or three days. Maybe that frequency will increase with him closer to the President.

 

Thanks to all for your love and support. Until next week!