Je Serai Un Formateur!! - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was pretty relaxed. After the baptisms last week, we suddenly had a lot more open time in the schedule. So we took a lot of time to visit some old Amis and recontact some people I haven't seen since my first couple weeks here. It was really fun to meet and remeet so many people this week.

We got some news about transfers today. I'll be staying in Affery for a third transfer and I'll be training! I haven't heard anything about my trainee yet so I'll have some news on that next week but I'm really excited for this opportunity. In the MTC, we all used to say "You'll be training in french before you know it!" and that's absolutely true.

Kinda ran out of time for this email so that's all for this week. Should have loads of updates next time!

Au revoir,

Elder Farr

Cinq Baptêmes!!! - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire

It's been a jam-packed week my friends! 

So on Wednesday we had Zone Conference down towards Abidjan with a bunch of other zones in the mission. Unfortunately, when we showed up there was no power. So at the start of the conference, we all knelt and said a prayer so that the power could come back on. After that we continued on with the conference in the dark.

A few hours later while we were eating lunch, the power came back on! So we all knelt again and prayed to thank Heavenly Father for answering our prayer.

At that Zone Conference they announced that our mission has been chosen as a pilot mission to bring English Connect to Africa. English Connect is a program designed to teach missionaries how to speak English for use after the mission. And we're the first mission in Africa to get to try it out. So that's been really fun to start doing that with Elder Kouadio.

After Zone Conference, we learned there was a big protest going on down the street which meant we had to stay at the church building for a couple extra hours before leaving. Eventually though it did clear up and we were able to head back to Adzopé.

On the way back to Adzopé, the bus broke down. We were in the middle of the jungle at about 8 at night and now we were stranded on the side of the road. Eventually another bus came by with about half as many open seats as we needed but we hopped on anyways. I don't know how to properly explain it with words but this bus was the sketchiest thing I've ever seen. That was a fun last half hour of the trip.

On Thursday afternoon we finally made it back to Affery. We had five people planning to be baptized on Saturday so we had a lot of work to do over the next day and a half. By what can only be described as a miracle, we were able to get everything situated in time and we had the baptism on Saturday!

I want to talk specifically about one of our friends, Michelle. Michelle has never gone to school and knows very little French. She also has a really hard time retaining information. Weve been working with her for a while and it seemed at times like it wasn't going anywhere. But she had a genuine desire to be baptized and to come closer to the Lord so we did everything in our power to help her be ready for that. 

Well Saturday came and we were really worried over whether or not she would be able to remember everything weve taught her and pass her interview. After much prayer and preparation, the interview turned out a success! For probably the first time in the month and a half we've been working with her, she was able to remember everything! We were so happy and excited for her.

Anyways, the baptismal service was beautiful and it was awesome to be in the water as Florent, Kevin, Kimou, Michelle, and Tryphène made covenants with God and set their lives on a course that will change them forever. What a perfect way to end off the week.

As always,

Elder Farr

Nous Progressons! - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire,

Bonjour tout le monde!

We've been really busy here in our little corner of Africa. We've been progressing a whole lot with a few of our amis and it's been such a great blessing to see them grow and progress.

This week we went down to Adzopé for interviews with Président Bendixen. It was great to meet some of the new missionaries in the zone. There were a lot I still hadn't met even though we're now most of our way through the transfer. So that was a great experience to meet some new people and to talk with Président again.

The rest of the week since then has been work work work for Elder Kouadio and I. When Elder Kouadio got here, we more or less started fresh with finding and teaching new amis. And weve had some these last couple of week who were all really solidly progressing, but all were at about the same stage with the lessons. Well this week we finally got the chance to invite them to be baptized! So this next Saturday we'll be having a bunch of our amis enter the waters an baptism. It's so awesome to see our work coming to fruition. I couldn't be more excited to see them make these covenants with the Lord.

In other news, our running water hasn't worked for a month. But today it finally got fixed which means we don't have to take bucket showers anymore! I haven't felt so clean in quite some time. I've learned to be grateful for a lot of things like that.

I hope you all have a great week! 

À la prochaine 

Elder Farr

Our Best Friend Denis - Affery, Côte d'Ivoire

Hey everyone, big news! I've officially been a missionary for six whole months! It's crazy how the time passes. I can't necessarily say that it's been quick, because sometimes it's felt super super slow, but it's still crazy that I've already hit this milestone.

It's been another awesome week here in Affery! We've been working really hard and we've found a whole bunch of really solid people to teach! We've been putting our all into the work I couldn't be happier about it.

We've been teaching Seminary the last few weeks and it's been a great experience. It's awesome to be teaching and talking with all of these future missionaries. The coolest part is that Sœur Lilliane, who I baptized my first couple of weeks here, has come every week because she wants to serve a mission! That seminary class has really become a highlight of my week every week.

Story time: Every two weeks we have to take a "bus" down to Adzopé, about two or three hours away, to use the ATM and go shopping for our food. So that day was today and about half way there, Elder Kouadio realized he forgot his card. The thing is, my card was stolen just before I left America. So we had no choice but to have them drop us in another village and take a taxi back to Affery. 

So after we got back and got the card, we went back to "la gare" only to find that all of the buses were already gone. 

Now for the next part of the story, I have to introduce a new character: Denis. Denis is a man who we've seen around the village a few times. He wears full winter clothes and a big motorcycle helmet 24/7. I can't even begin to explain how impossible that is in this whether. Anyways, this guy is actually insane and he's tried to follow/chase us and the other Elders home a few times. We're all pretty scared of him. He's also superhuman strong it's freaky.

So now that we've introduced Denis, Elder Kouadio and I had to find a taxi to Akoupé, the next village over, so we could find another bus to Adzopé. So we finally find a taxi, get in, and wait for the three other people that'll inevitably be sharing that back seat with us. And who happens to be one of those people but our best friend Denis. So I shared a seat with him for that taxi ride. That was probably the most uncomfortable car ride of my life. This guy is terrifying. 

Anyways, we eventually made it to Adzopé with barely enough time to get our money, buy our food, and make it back on the last bus to Affery.

So that's been my week. We oughta have another baptism fairly soon so watch out for that one!

Love you all, stay safe!

Comme toujours, à la prochaine!

Elder Farr

The Affery and Akoupé Elders!