Au Revoir, Côte d'Ivoire - Manhattan Beach, California

Hi everyone! Surprise! I'm in America. 

As you know, I’d fallen pretty sick during January and February and was brought down to Abidjan towards the beginning of March in order to get some answers and, we had hoped, solutions to my health problems. 

I spent two weeks with the office Elders while I was being tested. All the while consulting with my parents and my Mission  President. When the results came back, we didn’t receive any satisfying explanation. It was clear, however, that staying in Côte d’Ivoire and trying to push through the pain like I’d been doing for so long would possibly result in life-long health issues. 

So after a lot of prayers and a lot of blessings, we all felt that it was time for me to come home. 

A month ago today, I landed in Los Angeles and was reunited with my wonderful family. It’s been a long month filled with medical appointments. Adjusting to America had been a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. Especially so considering how abrupt my return was.

One thing that I’ve come to learn over the course of this month is that, as devastated as I was, and am, to have had to return early, I know that the Lord is still satisfied with my service. I did all that I could to give my all to Him while I was in Côte d’Ivoire. A part of my heart has been left there. It will always be a part of me. 

I’m not sure what my next step will be. For now, it seems that I still have a lot of medical appointments in my future. I hope that we’ll have some answers soon. I’m already feeling much better and much stronger than I did a month ago. 

Thank you all for supporting me during the last year and a half. I am so grateful for you all. 

I love you all! God has a plan for us all, no matter how many surprises and twists may come along the path that he sets out for us. Just keep going and do your best to seek out and follow His will. 

Love,

Thomas Farr

If you want to reach out, my personal email is tjfarr3@gmail.com

President and Sister Bendixsen

Sister Fortie (Sister Bendixsen's Sister)

Leaving Abidjan

Welcome Home, Elder Farr!

An Unexpected Detour - Abidjan,Côte d'Ivoire

What a week. So for those of you who don't know, I've been sick to varying degrees over the last couple of months. Last Monday I got a call from President Bendixsen letting me know that I was being transfered down to Abidjan to go to the hospital where we can, hopefully, figure out what's been going on.

So on Thursday, Elder HoChing and I packed up our bags and left our little village for the last time. I'm sad that my time in Ahoutoué has come to such an abrupt end, but I'm glad to be here where I can get some actual medical care.

After I had a couple of days of testing, Elder HoChing was transferred to another area where he will spend the rest of the transfer. It was sad to see him go but I'm glad that he will be able to get back to work.

For the time being, I'm with the office Elders. It might yet be a couple of weeks before we are able to get everything situated and I'll be transferred to a more permanent area. But for now, I'll be working with he office Elders down here in Abidjan while I get my testing and, eventually, treatment for whatever business is going on inside me.

This wasn't exactly the direction that I though my mission would go at this point. Regardless, I am already seeing a lot of the blessings that are coming from this slight detour. Soon enough, I will be better and be right back to work.

One pro is that I'll get to spend my birthday in Abidjan later this week. Anything to make it better than last year's birthday when I was stuck inside the apartment with no water or electricity in a village out in the middle of nowhere.

I pray that I will get some results back from the hospital soon and that whatever the problem is will be treatable from here. I put my trust fully in the Lord and in His plan for me.

Have a great week! 

Elder Farr

One Year A Foreigner - Ahoutoué, Côte d'Ivoire

It's been a good week. Right at the end of last pday, the other Elders in the apartment got a call that they were to be split up mid-transfer to train to knew Elders from the Congo. On Wednesday, they came back to the apartment with their new companions, Elder Mahata and Elder Kabongo. It's been fun having a couple of French-speaking Elders in the apartment again.

Other than that, we've had a good week meeting with our amis and finding some good new ones. I really do love the people here. Going out and meeting new people is such a great joy. Every day, we find a new trail that we haven't found and walk down it until we find to what or to whom it leads. We've had some great experiences at the end of some of those trails. This village is so fun.

This week I hit one year in Côte d'ivoire! I love this place more than I ever thought I would. This has truly become my home. 

That's all for this week, love you all!

Elder Farr 

The Pig Man - Ahoutoué, Côte d'Ivoire

Hey everyone! Here's a bit of an update on what's been going on for the last month:

I'm still in Ahoutoué with Elder HoChing. The work here has started to get a lot better. It was pretty rough for the first few weeks. We arrived to find a pretty dead area. But since then, the work has started to pick up some good speed.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a lesson fall through and I was showing Elder HoChing a cool part of the jungle that I had found with another Elder when we went on exchanges. Eventually, we reached a dead end on our trial and we stopped for a minute to look at all of the beauty around us. (I don't think that I've mentioned it much, but Ahoutoué is completely surrounded by the most beautiful jungle). A few minutes go by and we hear somebody calling out to us. We'll after we respond, a man comes walking out into view on a hill a little ways off. He asked us if we taught about Jesus and we said that we do. He invited us to come to his house.

All of the land between us and the hill where he and his house were was marsh. Regardless, we had been invited over and we were determined to fulfill the invitation. So we found what seemed to be the least muddy path and batted away the trees that crowded it. Arriving at the man's house, we found that he has about a dozen pigs or so. We walked with him for a moment as he explained to us what he was doing as he worked with his pigs. After a few minutes, we all sat down and started talking.

The man told us that his name is Ibrahim. Ibrahim is more interested and serious about learning the Gospel than probably anybody else that I've met here in Ahoutoué. He's brilliant. Since we met him, he's come to church a couple of times and he's read nearly the entire Book of Mormon! I'm so happy that we met Ibrahim. He's been a great blessing to my life in the short time that I've known him.

One of the Elders in my apartment often says that we forget to ask for the things that we want. We forget that we have a 24/7 hotline for absolutely any need we might have. We need only ask. I've prayed many times during my mission to be able to find people just like Ibrahim. And on many occasions, that prayer has been granted. Heavenly Father desires to bless us and to help us be a blessing to others. We need only ask.

I love you all. More importantly, your Savoir loves you all. Look to him and you will find true joy. 

Elder Farr

I'm Alive - Ahoutoué, Côte d'Ivoire

Hey there folks, here's a very short email for lack of time. I'm still alive, still in Côte d'ivoire, and still loving it. I'm serving in Ahoutoué with Elder HoChing for one more transfer. I'm loving the village life. I've spent most of my mission serving in small villages like this and I hope that that stays the case. Anyway, I'll be sure to write more in-depth stories next time around. Love ya!

Elder Farr

Elephants, Malaria, and a Blind Man - Ahoutoué, Côte d'Ivoire

Bonjour tout le monde! 

It's been a few weeks, but I'm alive and well. Here are some of the highlights since my last email:

We went to the zoo as a zone. They had all kinds of animals from all over Côte d'Ivoire. It was really cool to be together as a zone. I finally fulfilled my long-standing goal of seeing an elephant in Côte d'Ivoire. 

I was sick for about a week and a half with what they suspect was malaria. So that was exciting. We were stuck inside for days on end and it got really boring. I mean, not for me, I was either asleep or on the toilet, but Elder HoChing must have been bored out of his mind that week. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now and things are back to normal.

The last week and a half since that sickness ended and we got back out to secteur has been one of the best parts of my mission. Something about being locked up for such a long time made me really start appreciating the days that I get to go out and do missionary work. We have found so many opportunities to serve others. On our first day back out, we helped a group of boys throw a pile of logs and branches up to the hill where they were building a house. We've become village-wide legends for it. And thanks to that, we have been given more and more opportunities to serve. It's been a great week.

We spent quite a bit of time out in Ahoué, our second branch that only has two active members. With every formerly-active member that we meet and talk to, it seems that we're uncovering layer after layer of the mystery of what happened to this branch. We're trying our best to help these people rediscover their faith in Christ. We've met some amazing people in the process.

While on an exchange with Elder Nelson in a village called Memni, I met a member named Frère Jonas. Jonas has been working alongside the missionaries for more than five years now. Probably the first thing that you'll notice about him is that he's completely blind. Despite it, he walked us around that village and took us from house to house, person to person, as if he cod see them all perfectly. He's a brilliant man. We helped him out by taking his water buckets to the river about 10 minutes from his house. We filled the buckets with water and carried them back to his house by carrying them between us on a bamboo stick. 

There is a great work for us to do here. I'm grateful everyday that I have the opportunity to do it. There is nowhere that I'd rather be than right here. 

I hope you all have a great week,

Elder Farr

Christ Nous Souleve - Ahoutoué, Côte d'Ivoire

Bonjour tout le monde,

It's been a pretty good week over here in our little village. This secteur is a lot different than any of the others that I've been in here in Côte d'Ivoire. There's a surprising lack of interest in the Gospel in this village. That being said, we have been blessed to find some of the people here who have a real, genuine interest to learn of and follow Christ. Through all of the frustration and all of the trials, I've learned a lot. For example, in all of the lessons that we have had over the last couple of weeks I've felt the spirit guiding us perhaps more than in any other time on my mission. It might be difficult sometimes, but we're being helped and lifted through it.

I hope you all have a fantastic week,

Elder Farr