Week 23 - December 16, 2019 "Transfers!!!"

I have so many thoughts going through my head right now, I don't even know where to start, so much to say. I guess the most exciting thing is that I got called to be the Zone Leader in the Niangon Nord Zone. To say the least I'm kinda freaking out in every way. I'm super excited to have this awesome opportunity but I'm also kinda nervous. I guess change is kinda hard and I feel a little pressure to be the best I can be but I know I'm called here for a reason. I'm worried about people disrespecting me and not knowing what advice to give people. I know I just gotta work hard and be the best I can be and then God will help me and the Spirit will Guide. 

Niangon Nord is the biggest zone in the mission and it even encompasses some villages and fun stuff like that. I will get to do splits in places where white missionaries aren't even allowed to go which will be interesting. My new companion is from Haiti and his name is Elder Cola. I honestly know nothing about him yet I've only been here for like 2 hours. Next week i'll give a good update on him! 

I'm going to really miss Koweit though. I love that place so much. I loved my companion I loved my apartment, I loved our amis, I loved everything about it. Ill never forget the sun beating down on me and making me sweat so much that it felt like I jumped into a swimming pool. It made putting sunscreen on kinda pointless because it just came off as soon as I stepped outside. But really I was just so comfortable there I'm going to miss it. Most importantly the experiences I had there I will never forget. I found God in Koweit. 

We had a Zone Conference this past week and in every Zone Conference our President calls on someone randomly to give a short talk and he chose me to give the talk. I decided to talk about integrity. I love this characteristic and I think its something as missionaries we need to have. I talked about the example of the stripling warriors. It talks about them being true and honest in all things and at all times. I shared that as Disciples of Christ, which WE ALL are, we must follow this example. We need to be honest, we need to be hard working, we need to be obedient to the commandments. 

I love you guys. I am especially happy to have you guys on my team right now as I start this new adventure. Thanks for praying for me!

Bises,

Elder Freedman

Week 22 - December 9, 2019 "It's a White Christmas! Sort of..."

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

Week 21 - December 2, 2019 "Thanksgiving Feast"

Bonjour! I hope everyone had the best Thanksgiving ever because this year's Thanksgiving was one that I will never forget! They don't really sell Thanksgiving food here in Africa but we did our best and it actually turned out pretty successful! We were able to find some of the ingredients to make mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, peas,  and rolls. Elder Nokes had gravy packs we used, and we made apple pie for desert. If you ask me that's pretty dang impressive for a couple of guys that don't really know how to cook. Oh yeah and I forgot... what's Thanksgiving without meat? Unfortunately the don't have turkey here but they sure do have a whole lot of chickens. So my comp and I, after sector went and bought 2 chickens for $5. It was classic just walking through sector with our missionary clothes on carrying live chickens. They kept trying to fly away but I had a good grip on their feet.  They weren't going anywhere! Everyone loved seeing the white guy carry chickens. They all got a good laugh out of that. Luckily we have 2 Malagasy in our apartment and they know how to kill and clean chickens so we weren't just completely in the dark with this part. They let Elder Nokes and I kill them and they said the best way was to just grab them by the neck and swing 'em around. It actually worked pretty well but what I didn't know was that when you swing them around they poop a lot.... Unfortunately, I was behind Elder Nokes when he started so I just got blasted with chicken poop, which was not pleasant. The whole time we were doing this they were just laughing saying if your mom knew you were doing this I don't think she would be happy... SORRY MOM! After we finished that the power went out in our apartment which made preparation super tough and put a real damper on everything but it was still good and just made it even more memorable. The Malagasy cleaned and cooked the chicken. Thanksgiving was a real feast! 

We have a lot of Amis that are so close to being on the verge of progressing but our church time is super tough. Our church starts at 7 here so everyone always just sleeps through. It's hard for us as missionaries too because we have to wake up at 5 so that we can go find people before church. We always go knock on people's doors that said they would come and they are just asleep. It's the biggest bummer. We have one Ami that comes but her problem is that she doesn't speak french. We have to teach with an interpreter every lesson and I think its super hard for the interpreter to translate into tribal and his explanations end up being long and confusing so by the end of the lesson she ends up forgetting everything. She wants to get baptized but she doesn't know anything and doesn't speak french so I don't even know how she would do a baptismal interview. It's ok though Gods got us.  It'll all work out. 

I've been surprised with how un-Christmassy this December has been but I honestly think it's a blessing that absolutely NOTHING happens here. No Christmas decorations anywhere and it's still just like 100 degrees and feels like any other day. Everyone is always telling me I look like a tomato and need to find a hat. I'm always just like, trust me if I could find a hat here I would've bought it! hahah I'll keep looking. 

But the work here is advancing. I'm loving being able to speak better and actually hold my ground in a lesson. It makes the work so much more fun!

I love you guys. I'm so happy we are in this work together! Thanks for all the prayers!

Bisou,

Elder Freedman

Week 20 - November 25th, 2019 "All is Good in Abidjan"

Life is goooooood in Abidjan! Best news this week is that Sr. Evet got baptized! I'm honestly so proud of her and I have learned so much from her. I'm not gonna give many details but let's just say her path to being baptized wasn't the smoothest. But watching her get baptized was a real testimony builder that God is there and that through Jesus Christ we can be forgiven of anything we do. He loves us that much. I'm so happy for her just SO happy! 

I had a couple super cool experiences in sector this week I want to share. First, one time we were just walking in sector and this girl just came running up to us. She came up and her face was just distraught and she asked us if we were Christians. We said yes and she told us to follow her to her house. When we entered into her super small house we saw her husband laying there on the floor just absolutely just crippled. He had  band aids covering her neck and you could every bone in his body he was so skinny. His wife asked us if we could give him a blessing and we continued to ask if she had faith and all that stuff that he could get healed. She said yes and so we gave him the blessing. I'm telling you I felt the spirit so strong it was amazing! The whole time I was just thinking about Jesus healing Lazarus. I honestly felt like I was doing the same thing that Jesus did when he was on the earth. Unfortunately her drunk brother came storming in after and started trying to speak English with me and was just saying how he wants to go to Las Vegas and he just totally ruined the spirit. But either way it was an unforgettable experience. Secondly, we were out doing some contacting and my companion presented us as disciples of Jesus Christ. The women then asked us the question "if you are disciples of Jesus Christ would you really die for him?" For some reason this question just really hit me this time. I've been asked that a bunch of times and always responded yes but never really knowing why. When we walked away I started reflecting on this question.... Would I really die for Jesus Christ? As I reflected on this question I really found a why to my answer yes. I would die for him because hes my savior, because I love him and because I know he loves me. Because of him I know that I can live with my family forever and that's something that I am so grateful for. 

I'm getting used to the food here and actually, I am really enjoying pig snout and rotten fish now. Like, I'm happy when I eat it which always amazes me. If you think that that sounds gross you're crazy! Its good stuff! Also our water got turned off for 4 days again this last week which was tough but we made it through. Smelled bad but that's ok everything here smells bad hahha. 

My french is actually getting pretty good. I can talk to people pretty decently and like teach lessons and everything. Its honestly the biggest blessing ever. Its so cool being able to speak even a little bit of another language.

Well that's about it for me this week. Just know I love you guys so much and that I pray for you all day. I'm thankful that we are all in this together!

Bisou,

Elder Freedman

Week 19 - November 18, 2019 "I Love Praccali!"

This week has been super good! Not gonna lie I was super uncomfortable switching companions, just because I was pretty comfortable with Elder Ayinde but I have been LOVING my new companion. I was really nervous or unsure about how things would go with Elder Solofoharimana at first just because of some rumors that I heard about him but I put those out of my head and it has been great! Working with Elder Solofoharimanana has been a major blessing. The Lord really knows what I need and what the people here need as well. Elder Solofo has been helping me everyday with language study which has been SO helpful. 

Getting Elder Solofo wasn't the only awesome thing that happened this week, we also had a multi mission conference that was so fun. We had missionaries from the Benin Cotonou mission, Abidjan East, Abidjan West and the Yamoussoukro mission there. It was seriously super fun seeing all the different missionaries from everywhere. President Kearon from the presidency of the 70 came and spoke to us. His message he shared with us I felt was just for me. Seriously I had a notebook full of notes I wish I could share them all but I'll just share one that I really loved. The message he shared with us was based on the fact that God created us to be happy. Nothing else but to be happy. But he's given us specific instructions on how we can be happy and that's by keeping his commandments. While I've been out here I have found that obedience really does bring the most happiness. And hearing that God created us to be happy was a good reminder to me that really I just need to be happy. God wouldn't have sent me here unless he knew I could be happy. I really feel and know that that is true. 

I have loved Sector this week. Being the veteran missionary in the sector I've really had to step up and lead this week. I've honestly seen that God qualifies us for what he calls us for. As he has needed me to step up he has been with me and helped me get to a new level. I have been so surprised with how I have been able to choose what appointments we will go to, start conversations and lessons and teach much more effectively and simply. One really kinda fun and interesting thing in sector this week was we taught this girl who came straight from the village and didn't speak any french so we had to have an interpreter there to help translate the whole lesson. Nothing can stop the work of the Lord. We should have a baptism for Sr. Evet this week if all goes well which i'm super excited about. She's been a super good investigator and shes had a super hard life with her husband leaving her and other really sad stuff. 

I'm finally starting to adjust to the food here. Sr. Evet made us some Praccali which is literally my least favorite thing. I saw her bring it out and like wanted to die. It's just like salty dough that you dip into sauce with cow skin covered in hair. I started eating it and literally just couldn't stop. It was so good! I was downing the cow skin and all just couldn't stop dipping the praccali in the sauce for more! 

Anyways that's a little bit of whats going on for me here in Africa! 

I love you guys so much, grateful I have the best team ever to be in this work with!

Bisou,

Elder Freedman

At the birthday party of the bishop's daughter. Andrew's companion and the other Malagasy elder in their apartment. 

Andrew and Elder Knoll. Getting pizza after the multi-mission conference. Knoll serves out in Lakota so it's super fun for these guys to get together. They started their missions together.

Andrew and his companion Elder Solofoharimanana

Sweat stain after a day of work from Andrew's shoulder bag.

Andrew loves his new companion. Says he is so easy going and a really good teacher. 

Jean Luc fromt the ward took his camera and snapped a bunch of pictures.

Andrew's first package from home.  Good times...

At "Picasso" for real pizza!

Elder Ah Quin - Timpview classmates

Elder Evans from the East mission

An elder in the Yamausoukro that 

MTC Companions and awesome friends

Andrew got to hang out with Elder Deiderich today!

Week 18 - November 11, 2019 "Training Complete!"

Hellloooooooo everyone! This week was pretty exciting because I finished my training. Honestly I didn't mind training at all and I feel like the time during training flew. I probably owe a lot of that to Elder Ayinde who was a dope companion. He taught me so much about Africa and how to teach and helped me a lot with french. 

So as far as the transfer for me... I'm going to be staying here in Koweit working with Elder Solofonahana. He's from Madagascar which is pretty legit. He only speaks Malagash and French which has been kinda tough so far but its ok. I know that working with him my french will get a lot better so I'm excited about that. I only met him like a couple hours ago and honestly don't know much about him yet, he has been really nice and patient with me so far so that's been really nice. I'm excited to work with him i know I'm with him for a reason. 

We are still planning on having a baptism for Sr. Evet this week which I'm pretty excited about! She has a sister that is in our ward so that's how we got her contact and it's honestly been so easy teaching her. She just understands everything and has accepted all of our invitations which has been super nice. 

I went on splits with Elder Nokes this week and it was super fun. Having 2 white guy was pretty crazy haha. People just constantly yelled Le Blanc at us which got old quick but its ok. We were in my sector I had to lead everything which was super fun, I didn't do half bad actually. I felt pretty comfortable which was awesome, I could really see the gift of tongues in action.We also got a bunch of free food and new investigators which was good. We would just be teaching people and then whatever they would be making they give to us because they wanted to see if we would like it. Most of the time it was good actually. Somebody gave us alloco, fried plantains, and it was super yummy.

This morning I was feeling pretty down on myself just nervous about my new companion and all the change happening and I just was not feeling good. I decided to study God's love for us. When I started the study I was really hoping for a big revelation that God loves me... but that's not what I got. One scripture that I read and really put things into perspective for me was in Doctrine and Covenants 6. It talks about remembering. It says something like remember that one time I spoke peace to your heart. As I read that I just started to really reflect on everything and I could really see all of my blessings. I realized that God really is there. Sometimes it's just hard for us to see it. It totally brought peace to me just thinking about everything like that. No doubt I've felt him there so I know he always will be.

Love you guys I'm super excited to see all that this week will bring. It'll definitely be super interesting.

Bisou,

Elder Freedman

Andrew and his new companion

Andrew's trainer, Elder Ayinde

Elder Nokes and Elder Freedman on splits

Week 17 - November 4, 2019 "First Baptism!"

This week was one of the best yet! I really just focused on making every day the best I could. Whatever I did I tried to make it memorable. It made the week so much better! I didn't miss home as much and just was super focused on the mission. It was so awesome and it just felt like I was actually happy.

 Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was we had  baptism of Sr. Miriam and Fr. Kiyali! My first baptism of the mission CHEEHOOOOOO! It was such a cool experience. I got to do the baptizing which was really fun too. The coolest part of the whole thing for me though was after it was all done and we were back at the apartment. This week I studied humility and I set a goal to just thank Heavenly Father for every big and little success we have. So I prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for the baptism and while I prayed I felt the spirit so strong! Like it was so cool, really big testimony builder for me. I know that this is really Gods work. Having that baptism just makes me want to work even harder and go get another one.

This week the hardest thing has just been that we have had no water or the past 4 days. We had a little bit in our reserve tank but we ran out of that in a day so we just have no water now. To say the least I smell awful and feel super sticky and gross. It really stinks because I can't workout or anything because I don't have any water to shower with so I just have to stay as clean as possible and its no fun. But we did go out and buy a bunch of little bags of water that are good to drink so I'm not dehydrated.

I'm really starting to like Cote d'Ivoire! Food is still not my favorite but i'm loving the people more. I love speaking Nushi, the Ivorian french, with all the teenagers they all go crazy when I start talking Nushi to them. I know that this is where I need to be and I'm happy to be here. 

Something that I love about this church and the gospel is just how happy it is. It is honestly the happiest thing ever. Its a church of HOPE of LOVE and every other good thing anybody could ever want in their life. When I picture Jesus in my head I just see him smiling saying I love you, carry on. I hope that as a missionary I can share just how happy one can become through living the gospel. It's real and all of this I did not really understand until I got here. I love it! Next time I send an email i'll be done with my training which is absolutely insane to think about. Time to go make the most out of this last week!

I love you guys thank you for praying for me. I'm happy. I have the best team to be with in this work!

Bisou,

Elder Freedman