4/13/15
Hey!
Excited to hear from you all, I was definitely in need of a
P-day after this long week.
We are still here in Tokpota, and we still don’t have any
fridges, stoves, water filters, couches, etc., so we’ve been eating out every
meal and I’ve been drinking way too many bottled drinks, and overall spending way
too much money on food.
To answer your questions, mom: The people here are better
off than other sectors, however, the shopping is not any better. It actually is
a little worse as the sector is not as populated as others. And the people have money and means of transportation. So, when they need something, they travel to get it. Like
most sectors, there are just a few outdoor boutiques where women sell food or
cheap merchandise.
I’ve been eating street food for every meal since Saturday.
Usually for lunch we eat placeli, which is like patte (cornmeal mush) but it is
mixed with manyok flour. At dinner, we eat atcheke which is a grain that is
similar to cous cous, but a little more coarse.
The temperatures here are usually only in the 90’s or high
80’s. What kills you though is the humidity and how direct the sunlight is.
We’re doing fine though, we’ve had to do a lot of street
contacting in our new sector which isn’t really my favorite thing to do. We
haven’t had as much success as I would like to have. My first week of training
Barnes was similar, we were opening the new sector, but at the end of the week
we reported having 17 new investigators. Last week, my comp and I only reported
having 1.
It will all come with time. Transfer calls came in on
Saturday and we got news that Elder Rich will finally be going to Togo after
having worked here for 11 months, good for him. Elder Legbanon will the Elder to
replace him, he is the only missionary in the mission who is actually from
Benin. Up until now he’s only worked in Togo, His name is in the language of
Cotonou and it translates to 'Voodoo Witch Queen.' We will have an
all-French apartment.
As far as stories from the week go, during Sunday School I
taught about Gifts of the Spirit. I was worried that the conversation would
turn bizarre, or that someone would bring up the miracles that are seemingly performed
in other churches, or by Parfaite (this 30 year old women who claims to be possessed
by God), or the voodoo magic, etc. However, it didn’t go too badly. One sister
did share a story of when her friend was having breast pain, so this sister put
her hands on her friends’ breasts and said she healed her (the pain came back
the next day, but that’s another detail the sister didn’t want to discuss!). I
had a hard time keeping a straight face as she described the ordeal of praying
on her friend’s breasts. I was thankful she didn’t use the word “oil” or
“blessing,” or anything like that.
There are many bizarre stories here—even in the church. With
the church being so new, many people just don’t understand how things work. One
member called the missionaries over to help him consecrate his home—which you
can do that, but upon arriving, they found he had poured consecrated oil all
over the place.
All in good time. We just keep patiently teaching and leading
by example. Hopefully I’ll have some baptisms in the next few weeks. We’ve just
had a few obstacles along the way, but everything always comes together in the
end
Miss you guys, I’m a third of the through my two years as of
the 7th, so only 16 more months to go, not that I’m counting!
Elder Walls
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