Another week come and gone so quickly. Elder
Gnenenon got here on friday. he is really tall and skinny. he came
with elder gomun and elder digbe. they are going to go home on the 16th
of july. only about 3 months left for them crazy! i got lucky again today and
hopped on one of the only available computers and..... no USB plug ins.... so
sorry again no pictures.... but there's always next time... haha.
this morning we had a zone activity. we went to the national museum of togo.
it was pretty small compared to a museum back home and we were kind of
rushed, but it was fun to visit. its always fun to get together with the
other missionaries. i took a picture in front of this big old monument
thing that was around the corner and i'll send that next week.
but the biggest news for the week was joel's baptism!
i felt the spirit really strong during his baptism. it was great.
he bore his testimony about joseph smith after, which was powerful.
he is really timid but he was the only one to get up and bear his
testimony in front of the group out of the people that got baptized.
there was a little 8 year old kid that got baptized by his older brother
there too. when he was coming into the water he was just beaming ear to
ear. and right when he was pulled up from the water he smiled even bigger
(which honestly i didn't think was possible) and then gives a big "thumbs
up" to the crowd and walks out of the font. haha he was awesome.
i forgot that it was march madness. i am really disconnected
from the world. but everyone is getting psyched for the world cup that is
coming up this summer. i already know that it is going to be really hard
to work, everything is going to shut down for the games. we'll see how it
goes though. there's this song playing in the cyber in french that says
" c'est petit à petit que le oiseau fait son nid". in ewe it's something like "vidé vidé
hevi woh na toh". it's a little
saying in french that means "it's little by little that the bird makes his
nest"- basically saying that it doesn't all come at once and that it's
just one little twig at a time.
i think i have time for one more story for this week.
i was on a split with one of the newer elders (he is about 1 month into
training i think) in our zone this past week. he is from france. we
went and got him and brought him back leaving elder rav in his secteur [area]
with his companion. i asked him what we were going to study the next
morning and he said he didn't know. then
he said that a lot of times he has trouble having confidence in what he says
and he struggles to find words and so he doesn't talk a lot. i said ok
and next morning i studied about the authority and power of the missionary
calling. i was noting things that i liked and i felt i should mention to
the other elder. at the end of my personal study i felt like i had really
been led by the spirit. we read and studied some of that during our
companionship study. all was going well but not amazing until we read the
scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 100, i think 1 to 8 or something like that.
when we read i asked what touched him in this scripture and he said
everything. i replaced joseph and oliver in the first verse with our
names and then he explained that when he was leaving one of his relatives told
him whenever he was down or having a hard time to read the scriptures. but he said he wasn't really convinced, but he
says now i'm convinced. it was really a great experience. i'm
grateful for the help of the spirit in all i do. it's so essential for missionary work.
ok everyone i love you all! have a great week!
loves
Elder Rybin