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