July 5, 2010

Bonsoir tout le monde!

Hows it goin?? Sounds like you're lovin Aspen! And Jackson has been HIKING without complaining??? A lot has changed, a lot has changed.

Anyway, first off I'm gonna have to bug you guys by asking for stuff this week. First, my black eccos and my tennis shoes might've kinda gotten stolen this week...not cool haha. Anyway if you could send me money through the couple i'll probably be able to buy some news shoes for pretty cheap somewhere here (we played soccer this morning with some members/investigators and i had to wear the size twelve shoes of my companion haha). Also, i need new white shirts cuz i'm not intelligent and hanged up a lot of mine to dry with metal hangers after i washed them and now they have rust stains. And I already tore one of the new ones you just sent me. Just three or four will do (size 14 1/2). Also, an electric razor would be nice but not necessary. That is all. Thanks!

Another good week gone by! Our district was named the Celestial Appartment of the month in Benin (another new thing that has started in the mission). I'm not exactly sure what that means but it sounds cool. Our investigators are still doin ok except for the fact that we cant get a lot of them to come to church now. Thats the only thing stopping Raul and Vincent from being baptized. Our investigators that do come to church are all people that cannot be baptized for commandment reasons. We did talk to Pierre and Elodie about the law of chastity yesterday for the first time and they are all for getting married! The only problem now is they need money and they might want to wait until they could do it in Cote DIvoire. The branch probably could help them with the money so we'll just have to see if they are willing to get married in Benin. Praying hard. Carine is excited to get the cast off this wednesday! My only concern now is that she still wont be able to walk and will have to go through serious rehab; its been six months since she walked, the accident was pretty serious. I feel like if she can start getting around we'd be able to baptize her and her dad (he came to church once and liked it but could never come back because hes the only one at the house who can still move around and he talks care of Carine and his mother) and her little brother. Still praying hard.

I think that next transfer will be in August cuz thats when the next zone conference (Elder Stitati from Kenya will be there) is and that is when the Baileys and Elder Skousen, Elder Fountaine, and Elder Olsen all finish their missions. I'm pretty positive i'll be moving then which will be sad. There are four zones in the Ivory Coast and they are all in Abidjan except for Yamousoukro which is a city like three hours north i think. I would love to go there, I hear there is some cool stuff to see and the church is a lot smaller up there than in Abidjan which i would like but there hasnt been a white missionary in that zone for over a year. What's sure is that I'll be wherever the Lord wants me to be.

Things have been still pretty cool here too- I guess we are in "winter" now. I dont even sweat anymore which is really nice. It was also very sad when Ghana lost to Uraguay. It was at like 8 pm here so we were already in the appartment but there is a bar that was full of people right next door so we could hear them screaming whenever something would happen (actually it sounded like all of Africa was screaming) and then just groans when they lost.

Ok well i think thats it... I love you all and have a great rest of a trip! Congratulate Susan on her success for me! Thanks for the email grandma! I always love hearing from you! Good luck helping people find work! Talk to you all next week!

Elder Bertoch