Wow, what a crazy week it has been. Mukendi left
early morning last week, so sad. The next day Olela left and I was sent to
Jericho to stay with Elder Dorsey for the week to wait for our new companions
who were in Togo. But it also happened to coincide with one of the seasons here
in Benin. I don’t know really what it’s called but I call it the dusty season.
It is ridiculous from day to night. It looks as though there is just a fog throughout
the city but really it’s just dust. idk what it is but it makes my throat
really hurt breathing in that stuff all day. Kola says it lasts about a month.
It means things are a little less hot, but not by much, and you have to de-dust
everything about every thirty seconds or there is another centimeter of dust already.
It’s super weird. Nothing like the snow I usually see at this time.
Anyway, so I arrived in Jericho and Dorsey's trainer
was there with a huge smile on his face. A smile that you could tell today was
the day he was getting on a flight to go home, and indeed was he happy. Elder Ndibu
was a little crazy, but I loved that guy. He was there just for the morning as
happy as could be and then we said good bye and off he went leaving me and elder Dorsey with all of
Jericho. Jericho, a place most missionaries hate, not Dorsey because Dorsey
loves everything. However it is overflowing with Muslims selling things in bulk
and not a ton of people to teach. We taught a few lessons here and there. Their
rice cooker was a little messed up so I jerry rigged that thing with a floor squeegee
thing and a chair to cook some rice. I thought I would be at Jericho for only a
little while so I only brought one tie one shirt and one pair of pants. What a
mistake, but oh well that’s what this mission is like. They said on Friday is
when Kola and Kiala (Dorsey’s companion) would arrive. So we waited and waited
then we got an emergency call from the office elders to go to my apartment in
Menontin immediately to wait for Kola to come so I grabbed my stuff and Dorsey grabbed
some stuff too and we called my taxi guy. He was too busy at a short notice and
kind of mad I even asked. Dorsey didn’t have a taxi guy to call so we just went
out in the street. I’m carrying my pillow and mosquito net and a box of the African
knock off of top ramin and Dorsey had a big suit case and his pillow and we are
walking around Jericho trying to find a taxi. We find one guy but he says he won’t
take us because it’s too close to be worth his time and lots of people were
shouting at us however I bribed him with some money, explained where I live and
he got us there. I was so proud of myself. I was able to explain, by myself,
how to get to a place in one of the craziest cities in the world. Kola didn’t
arrive in Menontin though until midnight that night. And to this moment I’m
still with Elder Dorsey because his companion still isn’t here.
Kola is a Congolese missionary he was in the MTC
with my trainer Mukendi. He started his mission here in Benin in Jericho in
fact and after a while he went to Togo and now he’s back in Benin to finish out
his mission. He was born in the church he has 11 brothers and sisters he is the
fifth to serve a mission in his family and his father was an area 70 for a
while. He is super cool. I was scared because of all the rumors. Most were true,
but this guy is really a case by case basis. And Mukendi and Olela put in good
words for me and he talked to me that first day and he is like yeah this will
work. He is different then Mukendi for sure, but this will work.
Haha this mission... the stories I’ll have when I
get back will blow your minds.
A older picture from Christmas. President and Sister Morin, Mukendi, and other missionaries from our zone.
Me and Dorsey
The city of Jericho and all the dust
How I jerry rigged the rice cooker
There was a rubix cube in the Jericho apartment. I solved it so the OCD people would go crazy
Me and Kola (my new companion)
