August 30, 2010

Well, Sam's already got a new companion and he may be sending pictures next week, so stay tuned. We received another update on Elder Leavitt and it turns out he needs a knee replacement, so they will have to be released as missionaries. They were hoping to be reassigned, but the recovery for the knee will take too long.

Hey everyone!

Another good week gone by! Me and Elder Boty worked and set a lot of baptismal dates so now we have about seven fixed for the moment. Two SHOULD get baptized this week and the other five later this month. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Other than that nothing too exciting happened this week. I had fun working hard and me and Elder Boty have really started to work well together. Which is actually too bad because he just got transferred today. This area was actually pretty hard for him because he grew up here until about 2007. So everyday we would run into his old friends or teachers or cousins or something. But now hes in a different zone. My new companion's name is Elder Aiba. Hes also Ivorien. I can tell already that he is a really good missionary. Hes been on his mission for about 11 months. In his old area he was district leader too. I actually have a pretty strong feeling that he is here to replace me, a lot of missionaries finish their missions this month (including Elder Bowman) so i wouldnt be surprised if I get transferred in about three weeks but we'll see. I'll enjoy it here while i can- the ward here is very focused on missionary work and there are at least three new investigators at church that they have invited every week and the bishop is very focused on missionary work too.

I love being a missionary still! And not to brag or anything, but since my year mark i've gotten pretty good at writing in my journal.

Thats too bad about the Leavitts! Hopefull i will see them again one day, i need to thank them again. Apparently they came on their missions just to take care of me and elder starita and geisler and as soon as we left they did too!

Hmm, i guess i've kinda been slacking on the pictures lately. I'll see what i can do next week.

Ok well I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Bertoch

August 23, 2010

Great story about having to fill the font with rain water because the water was cut. It must have been some rain storm to collect that much rain. God always provides a way. Sam also mentions Elder and Sister Leavitt, the senior couple in Benin, who are having to return to the states early to get Elder Leavitt's knee repaired. He was robbed and pushed to the ground in March and his knee has never been the same since.

Hey everyone!

Things are still going splendidly here. Zone conference was pretty good. Elder Sitati talked a lot about planning. After that we had to hurry back to the ward for our baptism (us and elder starita and his comp). Me and my comp had a baptism and elder starita and elder myinguila baptized a couple that finally got married after being investigators for a year. When we got to the baptism though, there was no water in the font. We asked why nobody had filled it up and they said that the water was cut. So we had no idea how we were going to do the baptism that was in an hour. Just then, it started pouring rain. So, naturally, my district and i started collecting all of the rain water in buckets and then throwing the water into the font. We did that for about thirty minutes until the rain stopped. Now we were soaking wet but there was at least some water in the font (a little less than knee level). So we decided to go ahead and do the baptism. Basically the canidates had to lay down on the bottom of the font to be completely immersed but after multiple tries for each person, everyone got baptized haha. It was quite the experience but showed that when God wants someone to be baptized, he will even provide the water.

We still working really hard here. We have at least five people that will get baptized next month so things are really moving. I still really love it. We had another good lesson with the Diomandés this week. We got the first counselor in the ward to write his testimony and put a picture of his family in the book and then we presented it to the Diomandés. They were very happy to recieve it. We talked to them about marriage too and they said that they are planning their wedding for December. That is so awesome (even if i probably will not be there).

I got your packages this week! Thank you so much! The white shirts are perfect, i wore one to church yesterday! Now i can throw away a lot of my old shirts.

That is way sad about the Leavitts! They were so awesome, i got here and really started missing them. That will be a big loss for the mission.

O well that is all i got this week! I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Bertoch

August 16, 2010

Hey again!

So you did get my email last week? Thats good!

My address...i have no idea!!! I didnt like tell you that a long time ago, like maybe when i was leaving the MTC?

I did see the pictures! Thanks! I always love seeing you guys. When i left Benin to come to the Ivory Coast like ten pounds of my luggage had to have been all the pictures you've sent me but it was totally worth it!

I show people the photo of me at Sydney's wedding and everyone also mentions how fat i was! (here being fat is like a good thing/compliment. it means you are healthy but at first a lot of american missionaries take it the wrong way when they get called fat haha). I have a diet to suggest for you- its called walk all day under the african sun and eat african food diet! It works miracles!

My french is always improving which is encouraging. The difference here is just that the french is a lot more slangy- they never use articles before the words and add some fun sounds but i like it. Its a lot more fun to speak.

Had another good week this week! Since i love doing door to door here we found like 32 new investigators among which there were some pretty awesome families that i have high hopes for. Some of our baptisms for the month fell through (we found out the one lived within the boundaries of the other ward so we gave her to the other missionaries, and another just went on a trip to 'village' whatever that means) so we'll need the new investigators. One was a family where the lesson went EXTREMELY well. They said they had been searching different churches but had never found the truth. After hearing the first lesson they said they felt their hearts burning in them and that their eyes were opened. The only problem is that they are unmarried. They are rich which is a good and bad thing- good because the church will need them and it wont be hard to get married, bad because the travel a lot and are going to Italy next month. Dangit.

Ok well thats all i got time for! I love you all so much! I miss you all but I'm so happy to be where i am. Have a good week and i cant wait to hear from you again next monday!

Elder Bertoch

August 9, 2010

Hey family!

Another good week gone by! Here in the Ivory Coast there are meetings all of the time so last week was full of zone conferences, zone meetings, and leadership meetings but we survived and with pretty good numbers too which is great.

First, zone conference was good. President talked a lot about improving ourselves and becoming more Christlike. I liked it a lot. Then he interviewed us and that was good like always. The 21st Elder Sitati (the only black 70 from Kenya) is doing a conference in Abidjan too which is exciting. I'm excited to meet him and listen to what he has to say. Appartently he is pretty intense.

Besides that, i still have fun doing door to door here. In other missions thats like the most boring thing but here i love it! We found some good families to teach. Since it is so easy to find people here, we dont have to waste time with people who dont progress, we just find people who will!

We have four baptismal dates for this mont so we are praying that they will go through. We had thirteen investigators at church (the members here are very proud of the church and will invite their neighbors and friends all the time) so im looking forward to teaching them too.

Today was an activity at the beach to say goodbye to the Baileys. It was really nice, we ate, bore testimonies, did funny skits (where i may or may not have dressed up like Sister Bailey). It was fun being with all the missionaries, in Benin when we did an activity it was with twelve missionaries, here there were like 54 there, crazy.

Also, saturday was the ivory coasts fiftieth independence day from france. Nothing exciting really happened.

Haha my companion is pretty short, maybe about to my nose or something. Ivorian french has a lot of slang in it and they call Yupougun "Yup City" or "Poy". Luckily we dont have to haul the water up everyday, every once and while the faucets work and when they do we fill up giant reserve tanks and use that to wash ourselves and the dishes and our clothes.

Well I'm already out of time so sorry if i didnt reply to all of your questions! I'll try to do better next week! Love you all!

Elder Bertoch

August 2, 2010

Hey Family!

So the transfer went fine! I'm here safe and sound in "Yup City" living the life in the heart of Abidjan. I'll give you a list of first impressions:

My Companion- Elder Boty. Ivorian. Short guy but a hard worker (so we'll get along fine), has been on his mission for almost a year, likes to laugh and talk fast. Dont really have any problems with him.

My Appartment- On the fourth story of a building. We never have running water because there is not enough pressure to get it up there. Bucket showers. Other than that its not too bad, we cleaned it pretty well today too. All four of us (Me, Boty, Starita and his comp from congo) were all just transferred here so nobody really knows their areas yet mais ca va aller.

My Ward- Such a relief. All the pressure of being in a small branch is gone. Nobody even pays us much attention, except if they are introducing one of their friends to us (a common occurence). The Bishop is awesome and very invested in missionary work. A great source of joy in my life right now.

My area- Dont know it too well yet. I'm actually taking over for Elder Zufelt who was in my zone at the MTC. He has three people with baptismal dates for August and we also had eight people at church so things seem to be going well here. The members give many contacts too. I worked a little bit with our DMP and a ward missionary so we're starting to get things down.

So anyway i love the Ivory Coast. The people here are just so stinking nice and welcoming. I didnt realize how cold the Beninese were until we did some tracting here. The following happened like almost every time:

knock at the door

us-We say something to the effect of- Hello monsieur we are missionaries for the church and we have a message.

them-Come in, sit down.

-We sit down

them-Would you like water?

us-No thank you.

them-And the news? (an ivorian greeting)

Us- the news is good. Our message is simple. God loves us...

Wow, it makes missionary work so much easier. Finding investigators is really not hard at all. And everyone speaks french. So awesome

SO this week is pretty much packed for us. Tomorrow we have zone conference, wednesday and saturday mornings we are practicing a sketch with the zone to perform at the Baily's goodbye party (they are leaving in a week, their replacements the Googlers or smthg like that will be here soon), and friday morning i have a leaders meeting with the zone. It will be hard to fit all of our rendez vous in.

Ok so on to your questions

The plane ride was fine. I was next to Elder Tshibasu. At the airport President was there to pick us up in the mission van. We went to the bureau and got matched up with our comps and headed out.

Nope, i havent gotten the packages yet. I told the Leavitts and they said theyd send them to me

I love Elder Canon! He was in my zone in the MTC but i havent seen him since ive gotten here. I hope that i'll see him soon.

Well one missionary went home for worthiness issues, the other two went home because while they were his companion they knew what was going on and didnt do anything.

Have fun at the wedding, let me know how it goes!

I love being a missionary! Getting here has just boosted me full of energy! I dont want a waste a second, there is just not enough time! I know that Heavenly Father loves us and listens to our prayers. I think it is here on my mission that i have learned the difference between just saying a prayer and really praying. I have really grown to love my Heavenly Father and open up to Him. Sometimes if i feel like i am having a conversation with him, telling him how im feeling and why, where i need to be blessed, asking for forgiveness and help etc. The biggest blessing of my mission might be the how much closer i feel to Him. I have prayed for and felt his love on many an occasion.

I love you all! Thank you so much for writing! Talk to you next week!

Elder Bertoch

July 26, 2010

Moving on to the Ivory Coast!!

Hey again!

Wow, sounds like the Leavitts filled you all in on all the news so I dont have to write anything this week!

So I'm transferred to Cote d'Ivoire on Friday. More specifically I'll be going to the zone of Niangon in Niangon 3 ward. I'm still district leader and i'll be living with Elder Starita which should be pretty cool (we are just inseperable). My companions name is Elder Boti, he's an ivorian. I'm pretty excited, i always like change. It is pretty weird that the whole district here got transferred, first time i'd ever heard of that happening, although the whole mission got pretty redone(a lot of missionaries got sent home early recently). So anyway, I'll be showing the new elder my area this week until i leave. I think the investigators will survive the change just fine.

On a related note, i will need some money in my account to buy some things before i go. Like forty dollars will be good. I also hope i get your packages before i leave.

We all said goodbye to everyone yesterday at church. They were all pretty sad. I took some pictures that i'll try to get to you.

Also, the couple invited us over to eat at their house last week which was extremely delicious and nice. I dont know how i'm going to survive without them! They are what i will miss most about Benin, they do so much for us missionaries.

Well, sorry i didnt really write much this week! I guess i'm just really preoccupied right now so that even though i didnt really write anything, it took me forever. I have mixed feelings about going, i've really grown to love this branch, but i'm excited to see new things. I'll let you know about how everything has is different next week!

Love you all!

Elder Bertoch

July 19, 2010

Hey family!

Glad to hear that everyone had a good week except Jack! Feel better, little bro! Maybe kicking Dad's butt in Mario Kart a few times will help!

Yup, we'll be moving to a bigger chapel soon! Its a very welcome change, yesterday we had over sixty people at church so that meant the missionaries plus some other members were forced to spend sacrament meeting outside haha. Also, during sunday school and the third hour, there were not enough chairs for all of the classes. Those are always both very welcome problems at the church, it means things are progressing! There were twelve investigators at church which was really great too! Our prayers are really being answered. I was in charge of teaching the first ever Young Men/ Young womens class at Akpakpa and then the deacon/teacher class (there is one of each). It was very fun. Afterwards we went to a few appointments and then the evening our branch president invited us to his house to eat. It was very good food. A good way to end a good sabbath day.

Whoo, cant believe i'm almost already back into August. I have fun recently by reading my journal entries from one year ago and seeing the difference now.

Its heating up there? Its actually been cooling down a lot here. Like some nights i dont even sleep with my fan anymore. I'll enjoy it while it lasts- i remember last August when i first got here it was scorching ( or maybe thats just because i wasnt used to it). And its still been raining like crazy. Last thursday it was our turn to get stuck out in a flood. We were at our investigator Migan's house so we tried waiting out the storm for a couple hours but at about 7:30 we decided just to roll up our pants and go for it. We were about twenty mins from the appartment and we had to hike home in shin deep water. It was quite the adventure and luckily my new shoes survived it.

Haha wasps have very good eyesight and sense of smell? Where do you learn this stuff?

A scripture that helped me this week. Hmm, there are a few. One thing I have discovered on my mission is a love for the New Testament. So, i really like the Parabole of the Two Sons in matthew i think. In the Book of Mormon, i read a scripture that i could relate to in the last verse of Alma 27 or 28 i cant remember which. It talks about how he experiences sorrow in the destruction of the people but joy in the light of Christ. I have never had so many reasons to rejoice and sorrow at the same time. Some people will reject Christ and keep on persisting in their stubborn wicked ways, but i can always find joy in the people that accept the gospel and seeing the light of Christ bring so much happiness to them and their families. Its those moment that keep me going and give me the strength to try to find more of them. Those are the moments that strengthen my testimony and make me thank our Heavenly Father for letting me serve him as a missionary. I love this work.

Ok well i love you all! Have a good week! Cant wait to hear from you again next week!

Elder Bertoch