March 22, 2010

Hellooooo Everybody!

All is still going splendidly here in ole Cotonou, Benin. Power has been kinda sketchy this week, along with a nice water outage the whole weekend, but other than that I'm still loving life! The work is still moving a long very nicely. We fixed another baptismal date with an investigator this week so that should make five for the third of April if all goes well (I know it will). Victorine is extremely strong in the Branch already- on Saturday the RS celebrated the birthday of the RS and she did the opening, prayer, translated into the native language, answered a bunch of questions, everything. I really have no doubt she will be a RS president one day, for now she should recieve her first calling very soon. I dont have any good stories from this week so I would like to tell you about some of my investigators who should be getting baptized soon.

Jimmy Christoph- Hes probably about 28 yrs old and a really smart guy. He loves the church and has been coming for a while now but he was really hesitating to set a baptismal day. He really takes it seriously and wants to make sure he is really ready to keep all of the commandments before he makes a covenant with Heavenly Father. We talked to him about it and he decided he'll be ready the 3 april. He already has friends and participates in elders quorum and will be integrated easily.

Aude- She is 22 and comes from a very rich family. She has sisters that live in Maryland. She goes to college here and like most Africans loves the gospel. She wasn't sure about baptism too because she was already baptized catholic but we talked about it and read the scriptures and she set the date for the 3rd of April but she says she still needs to keep praying to be sure (that made us very happy- we know God will anwer her prayers). Shes been to church three times and the RS activity and she has already made friends in the branch.

Jules- Hes 20 and very smart also. He knows the bible very well and was studying with the Jehovahs Witnesses when we found him. He loves everything we teach and comes to church. We've stared teaching his older brother too and thats also going really well!

Richard- Hes 20 and the one who we should have baptized last month but something came up in the interview so it got pushed back. We've really not wanted to rush with him - his two brothers are members and we wanted to make sure he was serious about his decision. Missionaries have been meeting with him for a loooooong time. We've talked a lot about the commandments, especially the Sabbath Day, and we feel he is finally ready. He should be baptized the third also.

Herman- Haha hes twelve and his dad is already a member. It is kind of a freebie baptism but he was still really fun to teach! Hes a really good kid.

So thats everyone who should be baptized next service. Your prayers on their behalf would really be appreciated. Thanks!

French is still going well. Constantly improving which is encouraging, i dont wanna get stagnant. I always love talking to the other African missionaries in french- i've noticed that when all of the missionaires from the zone get together, the americans always huddle together and speak english so I always try to go out of my way to hang out with the Aficans which is fun. They are all really cool. Besides the language, there is not really a difference between an american and african missionary. People are the same all around the world.

Everyone here loves the Bible and will go without eating sometimes to buy one. Most of the people we talk to are Christian although we have taught some muslims and even a buddhist. Its always extremely interesting learing about their beliefs and background.

I havent gotten the chance to explore too much here but we've still had fun. We visited the big market in Cotonou and i bought some cool ties and then we went out to a nice restaurant for Elder Tshibasu's birthday. We're still doing great together, I think next month one of us will probably be transferred but ya never know. Zone conference will be at the end of this week so I'll let you know what happens. Thats funny Elder Golden called you Kip, Dad. Probably my fault, i think he asked me your names and probably heard me wrong haha. Me and Elder Halterman still have a lot of fun too, basically being a missionary is still amazing.

Thank you so much for writing! I love you all and will write again next week!

Elder Timothy Samuel Bertoch