September 29, 2019

Some weeks we struggle with what to say, and others - like this week - there isn’t enough space to say it all.  We started out traveling to Yamoussoukro on Monday to have the truck serviced and apply for an Ivoirien driver’s license.  Our US permit was only valid for a limited period of time, and we have passed that limit.  I checked off all the requirements and paid the fee, but now we need to wait 2- 3 weeks to get the license, and they don’t issue temporary permits.  Twice this week we were stopped at checkpoints and of course didn’t have a valid license to show.  Once we paid a fine and once we received a stern lecture about being a better example, so now we are self-grounded until the hard copy arrives.

We were informed on Tuesday of the sudden death of the branch clerk in Issia 1.  He was a 30-ish young man who appeared in good health and had been a great help to us in getting the application completed for the branch division.  He attended a branch meeting Friday but missed Sunday.  He went to the hospital Monday and died rapidly after his arrival.  As is typical here, we will never know what happened.  His calm spirit will be greatly missed!

Friday we did some handbook training with the new branch presidencies in Issia.  They have a fair amount of experience [comparatively] but as we review certain sections of the handbooks there are always questions.  Instruction is helpful at every level in the church simply because we don’t know what we don’t know.  We are blessed to be here now, to help with the training of these people of good will and strong faith but who haven’t seen the church functioning as it should.  In a few years this will not be an issue.  The retained branch president in Issia was called a couple of years ago without having served in a previous branch presidency.  He was given the handbooks and told, “There you go.  Read and follow.”  It’s like an astronaut being given all the plans to the rocket and being told, “See you on the moon!” 

YW preparing for baptism in Issia.

Saturday we accompanied the 1st counselor in the district presidency to visit his contacts in a couple of villages.  In both we were able to teach a first discussion.  In these situations we are often planting seeds for the future.   In order to establish a group in a village, we need at least one priesthood holder with a bit of experience who is willing to do the work of teaching, gathering, holding meetings, etc.  Things can change quickly - a move-in for example.

We  had quite amazing things happen.  In the first village, which is about 10 miles from the nearest branch, the contact invited us in to his house to chat.  We found out that his mother is a Zadi, a large family, many of whom are church leaders.  Sr. Spackman was able to pull up a photo on her i-pad taken two months ago, of several aunts who had gathered at their family compound in a different village for a funeral.  The man was surprised and his mother was delighted to see the picture of her family, and soon they had gathered an interested multi-generation group to hear the message of the restoration.  It was not by  coincidence that Sr. S. had that picture.  They said we were the first Christian missionaries to ever visit their village.  We left Joseph Smith brochures, a Book of Mormon, and good feelings.

Mama Zadi

Doing the laundry.

 

Taking our leave

 In the second village, much larger, a somewhat skeptical group of 9 adults and others had gathered to politely hear what we had to say.  There are catholic, evangelical, and independent churches there and one man was very well-versed in the bible.  We taught the simple truths of God’s love, the role of Christ, the apostasy,  restoration and the Book of Mormon .The spirit bore witness to those truths.  They asked good questions, one being “ How can I know if this is true?  Moroni 10:4-5 when someone is searching.  We left copies of the Joseph Smith brochure and one copy of the Book of Mormon.   After we finished, the scriptorian was heard to remark in Bété to his friend, “My church has finally arrived in the village!” 

Sept 22, 2019

We had an interesting day with the missionaries and member leaders in Niakia this week.  We set out to walk around the village and visit the known members who haven’t come out to meetings yet.  It ended with a group meeting to resolve hurt feelings between two men.  I would never have dared do that in North America - hold a group meeting where everyone comments on the situation and then hope to resolve differences.  People would not likely say what they were thinking.  However, a group meeting is the Ivoirien way.  A suffering relationship is felt to affect the whole community, so everyone wants their say in the resolution.  It worked to a degree in that at the end of the meeting the two men shook hands.  And today two other men that were there came out to the church meetings, but only one of the two protagonists.  It was a very interesting experience to see how well the new branch president handled it all.

Walking about Niakia

A calabash tree; the fruit are about the size of a volleyball

We had two overnight stays from Pres. and Sr. Sherman this week and a very good Zone Conference.  We always look forward to their visits.  We sometimes make our noodles and meatless spicy tomato sauce recipe, so I have attached several photos below.

Rolling underway

The dough before starting to roll it

 












 

Dough goes in and fettuccini comes out!

On the drying rack

A lovely salad and a warm baguette, and voilà!  Our favorite meal.

This week we just happened to hit the jackpot in our food shopping.  The supermarché had frozen pork chops for the first time here!  And new batches of peanut butter, chocolate, and a few other things.  And pineapples are starting to come on again - it’s been about four months without.  As all African missionaries know, when you find something you really like in the store, you always stock up, because they will eventually run out and then you never know when they’ll have more again.  Unfortunately that doesn’t work with produce.

We reflected on the progress in the past month in our area and feel very grateful for the many good things that are happening. 

Sept 15, 2019

We are approaching the end of the rainy season and this week we had several days with sunshine and warmer temps up to 90F.  Then Friday evening about 8 pm the lightning and thunder tripped the breaker switch and preceded a deluge of almost biblical proportions.  We had water coming up through the floor tiles in a couple of spots and needed towels to mop up.  When it rains that hard, the water rushes down any slope and erodes bigger trenches in the roads, making them even more challenging.  We woke up again to a heavy rain this morning, but it didn’t last more than 20 minutes.  With all the rain, the tulip trees are in blossom and beautiful to see. 

Wednesday we visited the village of Niakiaiho to teach again.  The road is always very rough but this time a massa (small bus) was stopped coming up while we were trying to go down.  The driver had high-centered with one set of tires in a trough. 

We had to wait a half hour before we could proceed.  It was a smaller group waiting for us this time - the couple and their six children, with one adult friend.  I wondered briefly why the Lord would send a missionary couple all the way from Florida, bypassing the cities of Daloa and Saioua with many people, to visit this one family in the middle of nowhere, West Africa.  The obvious answer came quickly: because He loves them that much!

In Niakia for church meetings, it didn’t seem as though they had received as much rain  so we started to come home the “back road” that is shorter.  After about 5 km we stopped to take this picture of the water covering the road.  It was only about 18 inches deep, the kids said, but we knew there were other low spots after this one and we decided today wasn’t the day for testing the limits of our 4x4.  

We had attendance of 38 in our group meetings today with about half children.  We ran out of chairs.  At the end of Sunday School class the counselor in the district presidency arrived to announce that they divided the branch in Issia today.  Our alternate route home takes us past the chapel and we stopped to visit with those who were still there.  The “old” branch president was retained and he was very happy with the division. We shook hands with the branch president of the new second branch. Meetings will be at 8 am and 10 am Sundays.  The new district now has five branches and a group - plenty to keep the district presidency busy!

This week we received word of two friends passing away.  Nels Anderson from Soldotna, AK died from complications 10 weeks after a medical procedure and subsequent surgery.  He was our Area Medical Adviser in Accra and a wonderful friend.  He seemed to have boundless energy, had been in the Iditarod 3 times.  On their return from Africa he was serving again as the mayor, the Scoutmaster, and had also resumed his infertility practice.  As Sue said, there were likely lines of people on the other side waiting to greet him because he had submitted hundreds of temple names in Ghana.  Our dear friend in Jacksonville, Claudette Dill, was perhaps the spunkiest 80 yr. old we have ever known.  She had a great enthusiasm for life, and always a smile and kind word for those she met. We will miss her greatly.

Sept 8, 2019

 Today is my 70th birthday! I used to think that by this age, one’s life was finished and you enjoyed a sedate existence until it was time to die. Fortunately, I don’t feel any of those sentiments any more.  However I would never have imagined spending this day in the villages of west central Côte d’Ivoire trying to listen to someone speaking French who wanted me to buy him a new cell phone because his was stolen.  Sometimes it is a great gift to honestly be able to say “Je ne comprends pas”.  We must be cautious and thoughtful about whom we help financially because we do not have the means to cover all who have needs and ask for money.

We apologize for no blog last week.  A crown on one of my teeth fell off [completely whole with no cracks] and after consulting with my orthodontic brother-in-law, drove the hours [about 3 1/2 one way] to Yamoussoukro to have it re-attached. We had a lovely dinner with Elder and Sr. Solomon, who work in the office, and then went to stay with Pres. and Sr. Sherman overnight.  I was a little nervous about the situation but the dentist was very professional and did a good job. It has served me well this week and hope will continue until we go home next summer.

Yesterday I walked 3/4 mile without my heel hurting.  It has been over 3 months since Tom diagnosed me with planter fasciitis and I have  been diligent about staying off it as much as possible.  This is encouraging.  Maybe I can get back to my 4-5 miles per day by Nov. or Dec.

I am excited about a new French program that is part of The Great Courses. We have access through our Jacksonville library and have been watching one on Benjamin Franklin together, then I do my French and Tom watches Civil War history by himself.  Last night we found one about England Scotland and Wales which got our travel genes stimulated.

This is a photo of the rice sheaves being set out to dry.  It reminded us of the story of Joseph the dreamer who saw in vision his brothers’ sheaves bow down to his.

Teaching friends with the Br. Pres. in a village you can't find on any map

Tom has been meeting weekly with the new branch president and the new group leader (and others) to review selected sections of the handbook.  They talked about the importance of Sacrament Meeting and how it is essential to assign Sacrament table preparation, talks, hymn selection, and even prayers well ahead of time so that the person conducting can easily deal with the unexpected things which come up.  Today in our meeting the person conducting arrived late.  No talks were assigned, no hymns chosen - but the Sacrament table was all prepared!  Learning is usually much more than being told what to do or how to do it.  It is a long term matter of practice, or to use the French word, la répétition!

It is difficult to imagine the degree of patience that our Heavenly Father, a perfected being, must have toward us children, ignorant and foolish as we are.  The only thing in our favor is that He loves us, and no errors on our part can separate us from that love.

Young boys herding cattle along the highway.