Whats up everyone! To start out this week was superrr rough.
All of our appointments just got cancelled and the ones that were good just did
not go the way that I wanted too. Seriously they were like the kind of lessons
were, you read the same scripture for 30 minutes asking the same simple question
and they just don't have a response because they are not paying attention. Its
so hard to teach people that literally just seem to not care at all.
Wednesday
I did splits with Elder Nokes in my sector and I was super excited for that. My
plan was to teach a bunch of lessons and maybe even set a baptismal date. But
when Wednesday came we went out searching for our amis and nobody was there.
We shared two ten minute lessons on God's Love and that was it! When we got back
that night I literally just felt awful. So unsatisfied. Like I was just so
bummed I thought it would be the best day and it just wasn't. But when I
reflected on the day, I realized something that I think will
help me the rest of my mission. I realized that I was just going to
appointments and not looking out for others. I was so focused on what I had
planned I never said hi to others. The lucky thing about life is we aren't
stuck in our mistakes. Instead of weeping in my sorrows I looked at the next day as
an opportunity to be better. Not gonna lie I was singing the Annie Song, The
Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, a lot that night. And sure enough it did. Thursday
through Sunday were some of my favorite days on the mission so far! We found a
lot more people to teach as I just looked out of my way just even a little bit.
We have so many cool new amis now. One is a professional soccer player for some
team in Cote D'Ivoire and each one of the others has a super cool story too. A
lot of them live in this new hidden neighborhood we found. It's called Cartier
Nestle and the houses in it are so nice. I'm pretty sure it's the company Nestle
Chocolate that owns all of them and it's for all the people that work in
headquarters here. It's a super big company here because Cote D Ivoire is the
biggest cocoa producer in the world. You would think people eat more chocolate but they don't and I'm ok with that because it just leaves more for me! But all
of our amis seem so interested and it's been so fun teaching them. Each night
we plan and as I look at the people we are gonna teach I just get so excited. I
actually love them. I was SO happy at church when I got to sit next to 2 amis.
Usually 2 people isn't super impressive but I didn't care. I was just so happy
they were there. It made waking up at 5 so worth it! Also Being able to speak
french and teach makes a HUGE difference. I can actually connect to the people
and I know them and they know me. Much more than just people I see but they are
really my brothers and sisters now and I just want to help them. So even though
this week wasn't like anything astounding I learned some super important
lessons. It's super cool being here on the mission because I can see how the bad
days make the others better. If I never had the super hard first couple days I
never would have learned what I did.
I've always been super excited to serve a mission and share
Christmas messages with people but here in Africa, Christmas just
doesn't exist really. I haven't seen any decorations and every time I tell
people Merry Christmas they tell me I'm crazy and that it's not Christmas yet.
But that didn't stop Elder Nokes and I in our apartment. After walking a mile
Elder Nokes and I found paper to make snowflakes and now our apartment
is looking nice and Christmasy. We are also working on a parody of baby
it's cold outside... Stayed Tuned ^baby it's hot outside^ will be an
itunes top 10 song. hahahah
Je vous aime! I'm happy we are all in this together!
Bisou,
Elder Freedman
I have no clue what he's wearing. It's some African vest "lots of people wear"
They are teaching these guys
Andrew and Elder Nokes
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