March 14, 2011

Hello everyone!

Glad to hear that you are all keeping busy! Birthday parties, nine mile runs, trips to St George, going to the NCAA tournament, sounds awesome. Just sad I'm missing all the fun haha! But I'm where i need to be, thats for sure.

Thanks for all the pictures too! It was great seeing everyone! Except you mom! I need pîctures with you in them too!!!

Haha my health has been just fine. I've been in pretty good shape lately, even in this sweltering heat. The Herrs told us one day when they came to visit us last week that it was 95 degrees out with like 90% humidity. Needless to say, I drink a lot of water.

So this week went by pretty well too. My companion is great, very charitable, and reminds me a lot of my trainer. We have been trying to work lately on finding new ways to find new investigators. We have decided to start and english class that we have gotten all of the members excited about, we'll be doing that this wednesday. We've also been working a lot with members, encouraging them to introduce them to our friends. Its been paying off and we've been recieving a lot of help from the members here. They are just awesome.

Yesterday, was kind of a disappointing sunday. People that needed to come to church didnt make it. But we'll keep on working with them. We have some great investigators, one of them, Moses, broke up with his girlfriend last week because she wasnt encouraging his decision to keep the law of chastity. Another one, Roi, is going to start closing his shop on sundays to keep the sabbath day holy. The faith people have here and the changes they make in their lives are just amazing. If only they would come to church too.

Got word that President is planning his next trip out here in April (if the airports open up again). Sounds like that might be the last time I get to see him before I head home. Thats too bad. I'm really going to miss President. As time starts winding I keep realizing more and more how much Im going to miss all of the people here. Africans are just so cool.

Anyway, nothing too exciting this week! Sorry! I love you all and I know that this church is true. I have a burning testimony of Gods love for each one of His children. Have a good week!

Elder Bertoch

March 7, 2011

Hey!

First off, I was glad to hear you had good weeks! Glad you had a good birthday dad! And congratulations on becoming a deacon, Jack, thats awesome!

So my new companion got here on Tuesday. His name is Elder Tshiyoyo. Hes 23 and a very nice guy. Whats funny about him is that he was baptized in August 2009...while i was on my mission in Togo the first time. Im serving with a missionary that was baptized two months into my mission! That made me feel old. He still needs help getting the doctine down but hes a willing learner and very easy to be with.

Sounds like the non ivorians went through a lot to get out of the Ivory Coast. They got stopped several times and finally where threatend and robbed by rebels armed with knives. One of them broke Elder Tshibasu's badge in half and they kept saying they were going to burn the van they were driving in. Luckily they got out of there, drove all the way from Abidjan to Lome. The Mission President and his wife and the ivorian missionaries are still over there. Keep them in your prayers.

Things are still going well in my area. We have five baptismal dates set for the 19th so we'll try to get as many possibe to go through. We had a big breakthrough yesterday at church- Beni, the young men's presidents cousin finally came. He really is an awesome guy, had a great time at church so he'll be baptized the 19th. Before it was always hard for him to go to church because he has a crazy work schedule- he goes to work mon-sat from 7am- 6pm, comes home and eats, and then goes back from 8pm to 3am. Sleeps for a few hours and then goes back at 7. Insane. But he says he needs the money. He says he might have found a new job though so thank goodness.

Nathalie is doing a lot better too. At church sunday, we fixed a pretty definitive baptismal date for the 27th (a sunday). Another reason she had been hesitating is that she is kinda dating the district clerk and she doesnt want people to think that she is getting baptized for him. But we talked about it and her testimony and she feels more comfortable now. I really like her, shes one of those investigators where you cant help but become really good friends with.

Other than that nothing too exciting happened this week. Just getting ready for our next baptisms on the 19th. Praying that everything goes ok. Well thanks for all of the emails!

Love,

Elder Bertoch

February 28, 2011

Christmas at the Herrs (Missionary Couple)

Monique's baptism

The water they have to baptize in. Yuk!

Hey again!

So first I'll answer your questions:

We are flying into Ghana and I'm not sure how long our layover will be but I'm pretty sure we wont get to go to the temple.

I'm not sure where we are staying the Amsterdam, the couple didnt know. They said we might just sleep in the airport.

It looks like I'll be splitting up with everyone in Amsterdam. Elder Starita and Elder Zuffelt and Elder Cunningham fly into Portland and then Idaho/Utah. I'll be going to Detroit by myself.

Haha I join Elder Starita's work out on the roof every once in a while but I'm not as consistant as him. And as for the pictures, I'll try to send some more today.

That's cool about housing. I should be fine there. I'm sure its better than the apartments I've had for the last two years :). So, that should work very well. And, ya, I'll probably stay for spring and summer next year too.

Also, thanks so much for the pictures! I loved seeing you guys! A ten mile run, Dad?! Aren't you supposed to be turning 52 this week?!

So this week went very well. The dad and his two kids got baptized on saturday. That was a very emotional baptism for me, I loved watching his face light up as he smiled watching his two kids get baptized. And them him hugging them both while all three of them were still wet afterwards. Really it was priceless and one of the best moments of my mission. We also baptized another investigator, Michel, whos really good too. All in all it was good to see four more people join Gods Kingdom.

Also, good/bad news with Nathalie for this week.The good news is that she has buckled down and decided to be baptized in March. The bad news is that she has to do it against the wishes of her parents. I mean, shes 27 so shes not really a minor but she is really close to her family so that makes me feel bad. We'll keep working with her and keep trying to get in contact with her parents.

Elder Bush and I have been working super well together too lately. Seriously, I love this guy. So humble and charitable. Which makes the next sentence kinda stink. He was transferred yesterday. Things have gotten a lot worse in Abidjan again so all the Non ivorian african missionaries that are still there are being evacuated and joining us in Togo or Benin. My new companion is a new Congolese, so i'll be training again. Togo has now gotten split into two zones and there are now two new branches. I'm still living with Elder Starita and Elder Shaffer who both will also be training new africans. Should be interesting.

And that is so awesome about BYU! I wish i was there and could see them!

Well that is about it for this week! I'm glad to hear you had a good birthday Jack! We celebrated it over here by baptizing four people! And, Dad, Happy Birthday!!!! I hope you have a good day! I love you all!!!!

February 21, 2011

Great news!! Sam got his flight plan. It seems a rather round about way to go, but, as he says in his letter, he'll be home on June 4. Yay!!

Hey there!

So President rescheduled our interviews for tomorrow morning so now we have time to write!

Zone conference was this morning. It went really well. President talked a lot about things we can improve on in the new year. They also announced that the new mission president for Togo/Benin is President Weed. Dont know anything about him yet but I guess it doesnt matter because I wont ever meet him. They also called another Ivorian to be mission president in Abidjan so looks like they will be keeping the mission open for the moment. The big problem now is that they are closing all of the banks over there so the church is having trouble getting money. But President Ayekoue is still happy and positive. His visits are all really inspiring.

So other big news. My flight plans came. I fly out of Ghana to Amersterdam the night of June 3rd. We stay there the night and then i leave at like ten in the morning to Detroit. From Detroit i fly into Denver, should get home at about 12 30 or 1 30 your time the 4th. Kinda exciting. They said the flight plans should get sent to you guys too, so you might know all of that already. (Not yet)

So Saturday Ghislaine got baptized without any problems. We are still working with Nathalie to commit herself. Her last idea was to get baptized on Easter but since that is like two months away i shot it down. Shes a really good girl and wants to get baptized, just kinda scared about fixing a date. Our goal is to go talk to her whole family pretty soon so that she'll feel more accepted by them when she does get baptized.

This saturday out baptism number fell from seven possible total to a maximum of five. We will still work really hard and do everything possible to get them baptized. I think everything should go through. I have really grown to love this branch. I would really be juuuust fine finishing out the rest of my mission here. The members are just awesome.

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON! Twelve years old? That seems kinda crazy. I'll try to find you something cool for your birthday. Side note: If anyone wants to make any requests on things that they want from Africa, now would be a good time to make them. (Or sometime in the next three months)

Dang well i guess that there was not too much to say this week (this is probably where you ask yourself "does he ever say anything?!") Well, sorry about that. My bad. Just whenever i get in front of the screen i freeze up and forget everything haha. But we'll have a lot to talk about in three months haha :P But until then, there is work to be done! Talk to you next week!

Love you all!

Elder Bertoch

February 14, 2011 (Part 2)

Oh sorry Dad! For some reason i just got your email so now i'll reply to a lot of it! (slow computers in Africa)

Elder Bush is adjusting just splendidly. If Elder Tshibasu (now zone leader) lets me down and doesnt become assistant i have another hope in my second son. (Sam is training Elder Bush and also trained Elder Tshibasu) He hasnt gotten stolen from here yet, unless you count somebody ripping him off in the Ghana Airport on the way here.

It is kinda weird not being with a lot of African missionaries anymore. In a lot of ways its a lot more enjoyable (dont mean to sound racist, its just easier to joke and have fun with people that speak english and come from the same culture) but there are times when i miss them too. Like i said in the other email, President is coming out next week which is nice, we never ever hear from him except the two days we see him for zone conference. We also see the senior couples at least once a week i really love them too. Oh ya, forgot to say, got your guys' packages saturday! Amazing! By yesterday at noon there was nothing left. Not even joking.

Haha so actually i've actually been writing my homecoming talk in my head for a while now. I think i'll want to talk on charity. Good thing i've got an in with the bishop.

Dang thats too bad about Sloan. Does that mean that the Jazz havent been doing good?

Haha i was trying to decide if i want to come home with a shaved head or not. I guess i'll have to start growing it out soon. I dont know if I ever told you but Mama Ayekoues (Mission President's wife) rule on hair is a milimeter max in length. Im not sure it she quite knows how small a mm is. Also, i dont know if i informed you all on the rule she made a while ago that we need to mix a raw egg with concentrated milk and drink that once a week. I love my mission.

I just have a baptism goal to get to before i get home. I dont know if thats superficial but it keeps me working hard. I've actually was getting pretty antsy to get home too, like thinking about how nice it was going to be and everything. Then just last week i was in a taxi looking out at Africa and i realized how much i was going to miss it. The people, the sights, everything. I dont know if i will ever have another chance in my life to be here again. Made me pretty sad. Gotta make the most of it.

Love you all!

February 14, 2011

Hey family!

Things are still going awesome here! We had an awesome baptismal service on saturday, Monique was able to get baptized without any problems. She is maybe one of the baptisms that I am the most proud of, she will really lift up the church here and be a real leader. This next saturday we are praying to have two baptisms, Nathalie and Ghyslaine. Ghyslaine's should go just fine, not too worried but its Nathalie thats been having a lot of trials. She's 27 and has been coming to church for about two and a half months, every week, she goes to institute too. She really has a testimony and wants to be baptized (even got her own baptismal dress made, shes wealthy too) she just really wants her family to understand and accept her decision. For the moment she is just a little worried about telling them. We finally convinced her to talk to them but then her big brother got in a really bad accident so thats something else that might stop the baptism. Please remember her in your prayers.

But we have been blessed with a lot of success lately. Besides the two baptisms we could have for the 19th, we also have six planned for the 26th. We are working hard to make sure that they will all be ready, mainly they just have to keep the sabbath day holy. Among them we have a Rasta man and his two kids, a ghanian, and a college student, and the young men president's cousin. A good mix of just really cool people. I just love them.

I'm still lovin working with Elder Bush too. He is learning really fast. Sometimes i forget that he only just got here a week or two ago.

Other than that I'm not sure if anything else toooo exciting is going on. President is coming next Monday to do zone conference and interviews which is always nice but dont be too surprised if i end up not having time to make it to the internet next week. We'll try to find time though.

Also lately we've been running into a Nigerian pasture thats been giving us some laughs. The first time we saw him he walked up to us and grabbed each of our hands in turn, blessing each one of us as he went. I think i was blessed with the power to peirce the hearts of men with the sword of God or something cool like that. Anyways, he keeps asking us if he can come preach at our church and talks about how "the white man" made him rich on the internet. He also calls his house a palace. Unintentionally funny guy that really spices up our days.

Ok well I've been wracking my brain but I cant think of anything else to say. Im sure I'll think of a bunch as soon as i leave. Oh well! Have great weeks and i love you all!

Elder Bertoch

February 7, 2011

Hey fam!

Dang sounds pretty cold there! Minus twenty? No school or church? I think they should cancel church here when it gets too hot. February is heating up!

So my new companion is Elder Bush from Park City, UT. Super cool and his french is already pretty good. He'll be talking just as much as me in no time. We have about five or six people we are going to try to baptize this month which will be good. We already have a really fun time together and i'm enjoying being able to show him around. Reminds me of how i was 20 months ago.

Im still living with Elder Starita so thats cool too. Our apartment has a lot of fun together. For the moment Elder Shaffer doesnt have a companion (he was supposed to come from the MTC but ended up going home) so hes been working with us in a threesome a lot. Hopefully that will get figured out soon, we have an odd number of missionaries in Togo and Benin.

So this saturday we are baptizing an older lady named Monique. She is very very rich and was very very catholic (years ago she almost became a nun). When we finally convinced her to come to church she loved it so much that she decided to be baptized this saturday. She is really nice and will be awesome for the Relief Society.

The major problem is still that people have a very hard time coming to church. We have ten investigators with a baptismal date they just never make it on sunday. You can see them the day before, or even the morning of church, ask them if they are coming, watch them say yes, and then be infinitly disappointed when only four show up. This week we will pray for and find a solution.

Still no news on the flight plans. They are apparently supposed to come sometime in March. Dont worry i'll let you guys know the second i get them. Here they are really good about getting you home right around your release date, go ahead and count on me either the week of, before, or after the third.

Ok thats all for this week! Im excited to get out and get working with a new missionary full of energy. He'll be sure to kick my old body into gear. I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Bertoch