One Dark, Dark Birthday - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire

Sœur Lilliane's baptism!

Week two in Côte d'ivoire! (I know that title sounds scary but I promise it's not that bad. I'll explain in a minute)

I hope you're all doing well. It's been a bit of a wild week for me. 

To start, on Wednesday we took a taxi with one of our amis, Sœur Lilliane, to the next village over where we met with a member of the Mission Presidency for her baptismal interview! But since Abidjan, where the mission is based, is pretty far away it took him a few hours extra to get there. So we ended up hanging out at the church building in that village for almost the entire day.

When we got back to Affery, after a successful interview, of course, we discovered that around lunch time the power had gone out and, unlike the usual outages that last only a couple of minutes, it had yet to come back on. Unfortunately, the lack of electricity meant we had no running water either so we went to bed hot and sweaty that night. 

The next day, Thursday, was my birthday! We still didn't have any power but Elder Dent and Elder Christensen came into the room right at 6, singing happy birthday and holding a couple of donut-hole-type-things with matches in them for candles. 

Since we still hadn't regained power, we had an electrician come over. Unfortunately, since he was over the entire day, we never got a chance to leave the house and go work. So I spent my birthday stuck inside the hot house. We played a lot of UNO that day.

When the electrician left at the end of the day, the problem still hadn't been fixed. So we went to bed, once again, hot and sweaty. 

On Friday, after going to the church to charge our phones a bit, we found out that there was no power because nobody had sent in a picture to the mission office of the power bill that came a few weeks ago. So Elder Kamenan and I got a taxi to the next village over as fast as we could to resolve the issue else we had to live without electricity for the rest of the weekend. Luckily, we got there just in time and returned home to electricity! 

On Saturday, we had Sœur Lilliane's baptism! It was an awesome experience to be able to baptize her. It was a super small and simple event but it was spirit-filled nonetheless. 

On Saturday afternoon we went to a party at the church building put on by the Relief Society. From what we three Americans could tell, it was probably pretty sacrilegious. So that was an interesting experience to say the least. 

Unfortunately, the work ethic Elder Kamenan had our first week seems to have been a rare occurrence. I've only been able to go out proselyting for a total of about 4 hours this week. So that's been really tough on me. I really want to be able to serve.

Love you all! Hope you all have a spectacular week!

Elder Farr

Blanc Frère! - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire

 Well, its been a couple weeks since I've been able to talk to ya'll but I'm in Côte d'Ivoire now! It's been a crazy couple of weeks so buckle up!

My last few days in Sanford were jam-packed with goodbyes. It was pretty hard to leave that amazing ward and area so soon after I had the opportunity to join it. I said goodbye to the other Elders in Sommersworth after a couple final exchanges. I said goodbye to Colby after Elder Greene and I took him out for icecream. I said goodbye to Bishop Shaw after he excitedly drove to our apartment to drop off a really old Ensign with the history of the church in Côte d'Ivoire. And I said goodbye to Elder Greene after one last road trip to Manchester. 

The day before I left to Côte d'Ivoire, I had the awesome opportunity to see my parents for a couple of hours so we could swap suitcases. It was hard to say goodbye to them for the second time but I'm so glad to have had that brief time with them again.

On Friday March 5, I left to the airport with President and Sister Beck, said goodbye to them, and boarded a plane to Charlotte. In Charlotte, I had a 4.5 hour layover so I found a chick-fil-a and had one last chicken sandwich. I then flew from Charlotte to Atlanta where I met up with a bunch of other missionaries also going to various missions in Côte d'Ivoire! I also got to meet Elder Card in person which was awesome! The flight from Atlanta to Paris was around 8 hours so I slept most of the way. Then in Paris, we had just enough time to go through security and get our documents re-verified before our final flight took off. And then, before we knew it, we were on a plane to Abidjan!

The first thing that hit me when we got off the plane is the humidity. I'm a little more used to it now but that first night was brutal. It's, quite literally, heavy.

We stayed in a hotel that night that, by some miracle, had air conditioning. The next morning was Sunday so we went to church in a chapel right next to the construction site for the Abidjan temple! As we walked up to the chapel, my eyes were filled with tears realizing that I'm finally  here.

After church we had some training at the mission office for a few hours and then we were off to our zones. We drove through the crazy traffic of Abidjan which was brutal but we eventually made it to the Zone Leaders' apartment in Adzopé. The three of us from my flight group that came to Adzopé stayed the night there with a bunch of other Elders. Many of which had come in the night before and were also waiting to head out to their areas.

On the following Monday, I got to meet my companion, Elder Kamenan. He's from Côte d'Ivoire which means he only speaks French. So that's been a fun challenge to figure out this week. After a few days, I came to find out that he's a pretty goofy guy. He's a good companion. 

The other two Elders in our apartment are Elders Dent and Christensen. Elder Dent served on reassignment in New Hampshire just like me! And Elder Christensen was one of the Elders in my flight group here. It's pretty rare to have three Americans in one apartment. 

Our area is in a village called Affery. It's only been a week but I've come to really love these people, language barrier and all. I've also come to love the work. In fact, being in the apartment is my least favorite part of the day. I'm the most happy when I'm out among the people and the culture, as crazy foreign as it may be.

Last Monday was so crazy busy that I didn't have a chance to write at all. This ending my many-week-long streak of weekly's. But I'm here now so I suppose that's what counts.

I'm not gonna lie, it's been a crazy tough week. And had I written this email a couple of days ago, there would be a completely different tone. I never quite understood homesickness until I came here. I've been, in literal terms, sick from how much I miss my family and my country. But I'm gaining a strong testimony of how Heavenly Father blesses us for our sacrifice. 

I've already written way too much so I'll probably get into some of the nitty-gritty details of Ivorian culture next week. But there is one thing I want to share that's been brightening may days here. In Côte d'Ivoire, it's always hot. And nobody has air conditioning so everyone is always outside during the day. So every day when we're walking down the winding dirt roads of our village, there are loads of kids who yell out "blanc frère!" as I walk by. It's become second nature now to respond with a wave or a "bonjour!" or "bonsoir!". It really makes my day. Elder Kamenan says "You are star!"

(Unfortunately, the internet here is really bad so I can't send pictures)

First Day in Côte d’Ivoire

(From Mom Melissa):

More photos of Elder Farr. We can’t wait to hear from him in a few hours. This was after he arrived in Côte d’Ivoire. He is all smiles here. These pictures have gotten me through the week. He was assigned to a wonderful area. His companion is from Côte d’Ivoire and only speaks French. We are praying he learns the language fast. We are so excited for his adventures.

Arrival in Côte d’Ivoire!

(From Mom Melissa):

After 34 hours of traveling Elder Thomas Farr has made it to Côte d’Ivoire. Kent and I can’t be any happier. He is smiling so big under his mask. Sleep well Elder Farr. There is great work ahead.

President Beck saying good bye

Arriving in Côte d’Ivoire

Visit from Mom and Dad - Sanford, Maine

 (From Mom Melissa):

We made it to Boston/ Cambridge Massachusetts last night. The weather was nice so we walked around our hotel for awhile. We then woke up this morning and headed up to exchange luggage with Elder Thomas Farr.

We were so excited to see where he lived and the area of Maine. We took Elder Farr and Greene out for lunch and visited and ate in the car. It was fun getting to know Elder Greene. We said our goodbyes and then headed out to Portland Maine and Cape Elizabeth. The wind was blowing hard. So of course I was freezing. I don’t love the cold weather. There was snow on the sand of the beach. That was insane to me. We stuck our hand in the Atlantic. The lighthouses were beautiful. Tomorrow Elder Farr flies out to Côte d’Ivoire. We are so excited for the next adventures he will have.

Au Revoir Amérique! - Sanford, Maine

 Je pars en Côte d'Ivoire cette semaine! 

Well, this is it. My final week in New England. Next time y'all hear from me I'll be in Côte d'Ivoire!

This week was pretty good! We did a lot of service and I said goodbye to many of the people who we regularly serve with throughout the week. I'm sure I'll have a lot more of those goodbyes over the next few days. 

On Tuesday I went to my first and only Zone Conference here in New England. It was awesome to get to see so many other missionaries in person for once.

I've already had many of my final lessons with our friends. It's hard to say goodbye so soon but I'm so beyond excited to finally get out to Côte d'Ivoire.

Yesterday Elder Greene and I both spoke in Sacrament Meeting! We were asked to talk about Loving Thy Neighbor, the Second Great Commandment. I pulled from many examples of the Savior to talk about how we need a combination of service and forgiveness to follow this commandment. I also got to talk a lot about the early latter-day saints and how their example shows us how to serve and forgive one another. 

At the end of my talk, I was asked to bear my testimony in French. Which is usually an end-of-mission thing but, oh well. So I did my best with my very broken language skills. I'm excited to get out there and really be surrounded by the language. 

This week I finished reading the second volume of Saints. It goes through church history up to the point where the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated. As I said when I finished the first volume, I implore any of you who have not already read them to read them. And any of you who have, reread. There is so much good in knowing the good and the bad of church history. All of the great triumphs and, occasionally, brutal missteps throughout church history have something different and important to teach us.

Today we had district pday and held a little funeral for me and Sister Spencer, who's going home next week. I'm really gonna miss this district. 

Well, I suppose that's all. A week from now I'll be writing y'all from Africa which is, for lack of a better phrase, mind-boggling. I'm so excited to get out there. I'll need all of your prayers for sure. 

Until then! 

Elder Farr :)