Small World

9/7/15

Dear Family,

The week hasn't been the most productive week, mainly because I've been back and forth between Cotonou and Porto a couple of times. Tuesday, we went in to renew our visas, so we got to do a lot of sitting and waiting in line. However, it was also really refreshing because I got to speak a little English with some other Americans. I also met Elder Moss for the first time. He is from the Nashville stake! I really liked him and he seems like a really good Elder—as most East coasters are =)

Thursday, we were back at the Bureau for visas and I saw Elder Bretherton, who is from LA. He's the only other missionary in the mission that did a year at BYU before coming on his mission. I don’t remember ever having seen him in Helaman Halls or on campus. He's an office Elder, so he does a lot of work with visas, baptismal forms and so forth. He also sees Elder Barnes frequently because they are in the same district.

Apparently, on Wednesday he and Barnes got to talking about mission calls, and Elder Barnes brought up that I had opened my mission call in the McDonald's play area there in Provo. Elder Bretherton thought that was funny, but then remembered that he'd been at a mission call opening in a McDonald's play set. So, Thursday, when we were talking, Bretherton brought up the subject, and it turns out it was MY mission call opening that he was at! He just happened to be at the McDonald's with some friends and was hearing some buzz about a mission call. Then when I showed up and went in, he and his friends decided to jump in too. I remember having seen a few people that I didn’t recognize there, but I don’t remember any of their faces. He said he thought that getting called to Africa was terrible, because it would be so hot. And then a few months later he got his own call to Benin, ha ha! It’s definitely a very small world.

Then Friday, I had district leader training meeting. I love the DL meetings because we get to hear from President Morin and also his assistants. Pres. Morin spoke about how building Catholic cathedrals used to take 200 years, so one man could start building, and never see the finished building. He related it to how missionaries can lose track of the real importance of the work they’re doing and just get weighed down by the routine of things. He stressed the importance of helping missionaries stay motivated.

Mom asked about how our amis are doing --- We are still working with them. Two of them are really interested in being baptized, but they also don't want to leave the Catholic church. And we're still working on getting Prudencio to church. His phone hasn't been working, so it's been hard to reach him. I am hopeful that we will be able to baptize all three soon.

I happy hearing about you guys and things back home. I hope that everything goes well with all the different surgeries, business deals and what not. 

Love you all--Have a good week!

Elder Walls

PS Hey mom, quick question: A few weeks ago you mentioned a specific field of biology where you go around the world researching diseases. You said that you had been talking with a cashier at Wegman's, and he was getting his master's degree in that field. What was that field called again? It grabbed my attention and I've been thinking about it for awhile now.