I'm still alive!

After around four months we finally had some rain. Everyone says that the sorcerers/voodoo practitioners do rituals to keep the rain away. Well, they must have gotten tired or needed some rain because ... there's rain now. The rain also conveniently transformed our apparent laziness of not washing the car into the wisdom of not washing the car because the rain would have ruined it. 

This week has been busy again with some random jobs. The mission president had me design an invitation to be distributed everywhere for the first stake conference in Benin. We needed several designs so the district leaders could decide on which they preferred. That was pretty fun, I enjoyed it.

Then as usual, we had some missionaries finish and return home. One of these was Elder Destribois from our district. He is home now in France. We are expecting, among other missionaries, the arrival of an Elder Asher. Seeing as how people already pronounce my name "asher", it will be interesting to see how this works out.

When bureau work is busy, missionary work is kind of suppressed. There are many preparations going on, such as getting the mission history ready to submit, creating documents concerning the stake conference, collecting new investigators contacts from the missionaries to send an invitation text for the conference, and sending out messages in regards to the elections coming up. On the other hand, our chinese investigator called us last week and said he would like to see us. We will go visit him today after writing home! Hopefully he still remembers that we don't drink fancy imperial chinese tea, or beer. (Those were offered to us in past visits)

Well still alive, still doing well. Until next time!

    - Elder Archer

 -  Picture with Elder Destribois and Elder Ajo at the airport..... and "Officework" picture

Last week was kind of interesting!

First of all, the assistants had asked us to drive the "bus" to Ouidah last Monday (the snake place). It was for a zone activity. This was the third time I had been there but only the second time inside. I didn't go inside the last time because whats to see had been already seen, but, seeing as how my it was my companion Elder Adjo's first time, I figured I'd have a second go. The only interesting part about that trip was when an African tour guide was translating French into German for a group of German tourists. There is actually a pretty solid German presence here in Cotonou along with Chinese people, and maybe some French people.

Sometimes Elder Adjo and I eat random things at the office. The other day, we realized that we had switched cultures. He was eating what we Americans could consider a "meal", and I was eating African food:

We contacted some of our online mormon.org referrals and met an English tutor who is interested in listening to our message. In the evening he teaches English at his own private business which just happens to be on the second floor of one of our favorite grocery stores. We feel that he is sincere in his desire to learn about the message of the Restoration and we've had two appointments so far. Maybe one day we will stay to attend one of his evening English practice sessions.

The best part of the week was seeing our investigators come to church! Lincoln and Komlan. Lincoln is our Chinese friend and Komlan is our Togolese friend. Considering that the missionaries in "the District" missionary training video taught a Chinese guy, I think that we have followed their example to the fullest extent possible.

Apparently I wore the same tie in those two different photos taken on two different days.

Until next week!

Elder Archer

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

I haven't written a "long" letter in a while, so today's the day.

Well, besides a rather momentarily painful stomach problem two days ago, I have been doing just fine.

My companion and I are generally at the office during lunchtime and we buy food from a woman down the street who sells rice, pâte, chicken, and all kinds of sauces. (Not that this has to do with the stomach problems) She has come to be known as the "rice lady". The rice lady didn't work during the Christmas-New Years period, so we had to find food somewhere else. That somewhere else became the bakery down the street where a "meal" (a cookie and chocolate milk) costs 3$ instead of your standard and filling 90 cents plate of chicken and rice. We ended up eating random things during this week and a half or so, things like cookies and avocados. A balanced diet. But thankfully the rice lady is back now so we eat more normally now.

Mondays are a special day, preparation day for the other missionaries and bureau meeting for us. The assistants from Togo travel here to Benin and all of the leaders and office people have a meeting to plan things for the mission. 

Last Monday in the evening, president Morin stepped in and asked to borrow a pen with black ink, I gave him mine (which is a little nicer than your ordinary every day pen). He said: "merci, je le rendrai après" which means, "Thank you,I will bring it back afterwards". We went back to whatever it was that we were doing when president exits his office, says goodbye to us and leaves the office with my pen in his shirt pocket. I guess he likes my pen! He came back later and I asked him about my pen and he kind of jumped in surprised and smiled as he gave it back to me. We all laughed.

Missionary work is going kind of slow for us. We give out brochures in public quite often as we come across lots of people during the day but we don't have many stable investigators. We are currently teaching a student named Moïse (Moses). He lives next door to a convert from Ghana and he picks things up pretty well. We hope that we can continue teaching him, seeing as school has just begun. As for our Chinese friend, he has been quite busy at work and we weren't able to visit him last week. Hopefully tomorrow. We asked for contacts from the members during the branch council meeting last week and they have promised to send us some. The most effective people to teach are contacts from the members. They automatically have support and an example from their friend.

We are expecting the visit of the first counselor in the Relief Society presidency and the second counselor of the Primary in February. I made some announcements for that.

I will keep you up to date.

I hope you are all doing well and are doing good things.

love,

Elder Archer

   here is "the bus" picture

    Christmas 2015

                                          Moïse

The Winter Letter

Bonjour la famille! 

I hope you are all doing fine. You are probably freezing and I'm over here ... in the sun. Hehe. 

☀☀☀  ❄❄❄

☀😧☀  ❄👪❄

☀☀☀  ❄❄❄

So I've been driving the mission bus around. "Bus". In french they say bus ("boose") instead of "van". I like driving it, it's rides pretty smooth. I found out that you're not supposed to park your "bus" in front of the minister of taxation facility's front gate or they will call the police to come take your bus away :(  now hold on a moment before you get worried.

Experience: [It was a hazy Tuesday morning, the day that certain missionaries are supposed to go to immigration to renew their visas. Elder Adjo and I are the ones that transport them there, by bus, which is what we did once they had all arrived. There is a sidewalk alongside the immigration place for parking. I have been to the immigration many times so I was familiar with where the car is parked. I found a large empty spot and I parked the van there.

We followed the others inside to the place where much waiting and little work happens. The mission bureau secretary Sister Precious told my companion and I that we could leave to run other errands since they wouldn't be finishing anytime soon.

We walked out alongside the busy road when a short old man wearing a white suit approached and he seemed to be upset. He was saying things like: "are you crazy? What were you thinking? Do we park like this?  What do you think you're doing?" I asked him if he was talking about the "bus". He said yes. We hurried over and the van and the gate that I had apparently parked in front of was open and there were two armed military watch people over there. I told them sorry sorry, I didn't realize I had blocked the entrance. The short old man said "it's not a matter of saying sorry, the police are coming to take the vehicle". I think I would have normally been quite nervous in this situation but I was actually very calm, my mind was clear, as though I didn't think much of the situation. I'm sure there was a lot of help. We just stood there for a second and I asked the group how long it would take for the police to get there. They said they didn't know. I asked if I could move the vehicle.. since that was the problem, but they said that they had already called the police so we couldn't just leave the site. 

Suddenly, the short old guy turned to my companion and said: "and you, you're African, you should have told your friend that it's not good to park here, you know that, you're an accomplice". My companion is indeed African as the man had said, but he is from Ivory Coast and I had the impression to tell the man this. "He's not from here, he is Ivorian", I said, "we are both foreigners". This simple phrase seemed to neutralize the whole situation. "Oh, he's Ivorian?" the man said. "Yes, he's not from here", I replied. The three guys exchanged glances as though they had realized an error on their part. The short old guy in white looked down and started talking to himself, kind of re-explaining to himself what had just happened, "they're both foreigners? So ... they arrive here, the white guy is escorting this Ivorian to immigration, they parked in the wrong place... huh". They also seemed to feel sorry for having called the police. Their hearts were softened, we could say. Eventually one of the military guys went back inside to call it off. He returned and told us that we could leave. We told them sorry one last time and that it wouldn't happen again. Then we left.]

So that is our immigration bus experience. Then, just a couple of days ago, we were driving the bus on a beach road and we got stuck in the sand. Normally we drive a 4x4 pickup truck but it was in the shop, so we drove the bus. Needless to say, the bus doesn't do well in the sand. A buff guy walked over and asked us if we wanted him to get the bus out. We said sure. "Avez-vous de l'argent?" "Do you have money?" he said. Haha, people here and money. He asked for 5,000 CFA which is about 9$, a good sum of money here. We refused at first but then a small army of people showed up to help, so... we agreed. The left back tire was practically buried in the sand and they picked up the back of the bus and swung it over to the more solid sand. (That makes it sound easy but they actually lifted it like five times, gradually scooting it over) Finally they got it unstuck and I pulled out a 5000 bill. Now the problem was "who am I going to give this to?" Everyone wanted it. They were like the seagulls in finding Nemo: "mine mine mine!".  I gave it to the guy who first approached us and he said he'd split it with the others.The other's seemed okay with this.

So far, the only difficulties with driving. Vehicle placement I suppose. We are now in the Harmattan season. It pretty much means that air leaves dust behind whenever it touches anything. Dusty winds. If we leave a window open, everything will be covered in a layer of dust after a few hours. It's also kind of cold in the mornings. As cold as it gets here.

We are supposed to balance our office work with missionary work in the field. It is hard to do but we are working on it. Sometimes we are very busy and sometimes it seems there is nothing to do. It's very different.

I think we will finally be able to do skype! The internet here at the office works great and we will get a webcam. I will let you know at what time we will do that.

I will send more pictures in a few days. For now here is the baguette picture. 

See you next time! :)

Elder Archer

Back to Benin

Well, I'm in Benin now. I was transferred to the "bureau" or mission office after having spent around five months in Togo. It surprised me when I found out that Id be working in the office and I felt sad about leaving my area in Togo. I had many converts there and made many friendships. I am happy however for the new experiences to come. I work with Elder Bretherton from Ventura California and we fill out paperwork, read emails, go to the post office, take people to and from the doctor, and takepropanetankstothesistermissionarieseveryweekbecausetheyinsistonnotcookingtogetherandcookingfoodindividuallyforsixpeopleonasinglegasstoveusesupthefuelprettyquickly. We have in our apartment Elder Destribois from France and Elder Yamapia from Congo. Elder Destribois likes to talk about technical sciency things like trains, cars, engines, and astronomy. He speaks pretty good English and helps us improve our French. Elder Yamapia is also a nice guy and will be finishing his two years next week.

It feels different. I feel like I'm not a "regular" missionary anymore, just because of the difference in the daily routine. We still teach people but our schedule is so variable and inconsistent that appointments aren't really sure. Recently, however, we met a chinese man at the hospital and did some "OVB". So in French we don't say "door to door" (porte à porte), we say Ouvre Votre Bouche "open your mouth" (which can be done anywhere and doesn't necessarily require a door). We introduced ourselves, gave him a brochure, and took his number. Later on, the 29th of November, we were able to go to his house and teach him. His name is Lincoln and he has a Beninese colleague that he works with named Komla. Lincoln speaks Chinese and English. He knows practically nothing about christianity but is interested to know all about it. Komla on the other hand, speaks French and English but is part of "Assemblies of God", an evangelical church, so the two are an interesting mix to teach. We taught Lincoln how to pray and he gave a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson! It was very special. The two enjoy our company and we will see them again next week.

We recently had a visit from Elder Vinson of the Seventy. He came to speak to the missionaries and also at district conference. He and his wife are Australian, so they speak English. BUT, he gave his whole talk in French on Sunday! He spoke slowly and simply but what he did say was correct. It was a rather wonderful gift of tongues demonstration. "The gift of tongues" here in Africa (outside of the church) translates to somebody that has been "gifted" with a knowledge of the tongue of angels, translated again: somebody who screams nonsense into a microphone for the whole world to hear. Apparently "the spirit had descended upon them" a little too violently. Anyways, the Vinson's visit was a very special experience. This took place at an interesting building called Palais des congrès (palace of congresses?).

Until next time!

 Standing next to Elder Nsengyumva at the zone conference, the first missionary in our mission from Burundi.                            

 At  Palais des  Congres with people from my first area!
                             

Thanksgiving feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, meatballs, and cinnamon apple cobbler stuff.

Halloween in Africa!

Hello everyone, I've got some more exciting things for you.
So we decided to celebrate us some halloween and we carved watermelons
because there are no pumpkins here in Togo. They turned out great and
we took a lot of photos. We also took a special trip to a voodoo
market nearby that sells "medicinal ingredients". I don't know what
kind of medicine you make out of dog heads, monkey hands or dead
chameleons but it can't taste good. The place smelled pretty terrible.
We had a tour guide who showed us around and explained some
interesting things to us. Near the end Elder Atherton managed to
barter a python spine necklace down to 1000 francs (about 2$) when the
initial price was 8000. He refused to pay 8000 and started walking
away when all the vendors came over to sell him one cheaper. I was
standing off to the side but decided to take advantage of the
situation and had him buy me one too.

Before I left home, yolo became a popular saying in our culture.
What's funny is that yolo is said here in the local language. Yo is
said after dialogue to indicate agreement and lo is added at the end
of phrases as a kind of endearing touch. People often put the two
together and say yolo. It surprised me when I heard it for the first
time. People get so happy when they hear foreigners speak their
language. Elder Jackson and I decided to go find dictionaries in Ewe
today so we can learn their language better.

I am getting transferred to Benin at the end of this week. It is sad
to be leaving everyone here in Togo especially since there are going
to be around six baptisms this Saturday, but I know that more good
things are to come. I will be working in the mission office, there's
A/C there :). It is very possible that I will start driving also. That
will be interesting. Ill write about it next week!

Au revoir,
Elder Archer

Le Chat

This last couple of weeks has been very interesting. I feel that the
Lord has really been directing our efforts. There have been countless
times where an appointment would fall through, and we would find
someone right nearby who we were either supposed to teach a different
day or someone new who just “happened” to be available. When things
don’t go as planned, there was a different plan in mind.


Our mission president recently counseled us to find one new friend
every day. So far Elder Jackson and I have kept up with the challenge.
We have so many things to get done that we don’t have to “search” for
things to do during planning. I love it. We have the work set before
us and now we just need to chip away at it.  We also learned that it
is most effective to invite investigators to baptism on the first
visit. At first we thought it was a crazy idea, but we now know that
it prepares the investigator for what they need to do. First we invite
investigators to pray to know that our message is true. Then we ask
them if they will accept the Savior’s invitation to repent and be
baptized when they receive an answer to their prayer. Most people
accept. We invite others to be baptized and then we help them build
their faith and guide them to receiving an answer.


Recently an investigator named Gracia was baptized after waiting
almost two years. One of the difficulties of a mission in Africa is
helping couples who live together to get married.  The bride’s family
demands are often unaffordable. The process of obtaining the list of
items dragged along until Gracia had enough of waiting and took the
dot papers to her own father to have them signed. He agreed and
signed. Now the problem was getting them legalized. First of all the
two, Gracia and Patrick, work during the open hours at the state
office. Second was the cost. Elder Jackson and I finally took it upon
ourselves to go deposit the papers ourselves. We found the office and
were told that the ID card wasn’t acceptable and that the cost was
only 500 francs (1$), a lot cheaper than we had thought. We returned
to sister Mimi’s house (where Gracia learns tailoring) and spoke to
her about the problem. She told us: “I have a little brother that
works at the central office, I’ll call him up”. She got off the phone
and told us that her brother would legalize the papers for us if we
took them there right away. We sent Gracia over there with 1000 francs
and she called us later in the day saying that it was done!

Second baptism was Eugene who also has been waiting a long time. His
problem is his work schedule. He is busy every day except Sunday. He’s
been coming to church every Sunday and we had taught him all the
lessons. There were complications for several weeks in trying to see
him for his baptismal interview but everything finally fell into place
last week.


Last week I had scheduled a cat “mangez-vous” (dinner appointment)
with a member named Gloria, a returned missionaryAfter seeing a cat
get drowned in the morning, we met at Gloria’s house in the evening
for dinner. The cat had been fried and it pretty much did taste like
chicken. It wasn’t bad except the mental factor that it was a cat.
She had a brother from another ward that raises cats help us out with
the cat and she made a dish called jenkumeh (not sure how to spell
that). It’s basically tomato-spice-infused corn dough. Very tasty. Now
I can check off eat cat from my to-do list.

     Baptism of  Gracia and Eugene

                                       Fried cat, "Le chat"

 Next time you think about complaining about doing laundry, remember this picture. Next picture, on the way to zone conference.