I got transferred

I got transfered? already? what? nooo! leave me alone!!!!

Alexandre Magre	so, i got transfered. Yeah, I only spent five weeks in Akpakpa. Its all good ...	Mar 7
so, i got transfered. Yeah, I only spent five weeks in Akpakpa. Its all good ...

 

so, i got transfered. Yeah, I only spent five weeks in Akpakpa. Its all good though. Im going to miss it over there. So, I just arrived in my new area. Its called Zogbo-menotin. Its more in the center of cotonou. 3 Months ago, if you would of asked if I would ever serve in benin, i would of laughed. and here I am in my second area in Cotonou! what!

So, im working with Elder Kadima from the DRC (Congo). He is a pretty rad guy. Elder Kola is training a new american. so, good for him.

So, my week went pretty well! Last week we taught a good amount of lessons. Elder Kola and I turned that area around. So, im happy I left Akpakpa better than I found it!

So, this week was interesting. On tuesday I get a call from Elder Phillips. He said "hey, my comp saw some Elders on Motos" (Motos are motorcycles. motos and motorcycle taxis are everywhere here in west africa. The inter region has said that if you get on a moto you get sent home) So, Elder Phillips didnt really know what to do. so I told him to call president.

So, this last week Elder Phillips and I had to do some investigating for him because he need more witnesses to be sure that the elders took motorcycles. So, that was exciting.

So, In akpakpa there is a village built in the middle of a lake here. so, we didnt know where it was. but now we do. we started going to the northern part of our area and we just ran into it. so, we contacted a guy that lived there. It was cool. teaching people in the middle of a lake.

so, lastly we started teaching this guy named Pierre. Pierre Is almost blind. He can see nothing. but, we started teaching him and invited him to church. so, sunday we went to pick him up (since you cant tell a blind guy to meet you there). he got into the chapel and started to cry. this was the first time he had been to church in years. He cried three times!!! It was insane! He even cried when I said that i was transfered! He was like "How can you leave me after BRINGING ME BACK TO CHRIST" that phrase hit me. It really helped me see the importance of 1.church. 2. my call as a missionary. So, the guy is probably going to get baptized... but im here in Zogbo.

anyways, Menotin is cool. we live next to a super busy road so all day long i hear motorcycles and trucks driving by!

so, i love you all!

Elder Magre

below is a picture of ruths baptism!!!

 

 

 

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Driving in Africa

"Driving in Africa is a contact sport"-President Morin

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Alexandre Magre <alexandre.magre@myldsmail.net>	Jan 25

It is also a sport where you get to tell off (and pay off the referees).

So, after seven months it finally happened. somone hit us. not a motorcycle, because that happens all the time, but an actual truck hit us. (more on that to come later)

So, this week was a lot of fun. we started off the week by going with the hedzranawoe zone to their zone activity. They went to an old slave house. It was a place where they kept the slaves until they were shipped off too "occidental" countries. It was really interesting. The poor people lived underneath the floor boards of the house. They couldnt stand up. only sit, squat or lay down. to go in, they made them crawl through little holes and live there. Upto 100 people lived there. We got to go down and crawl around underneath the floor boards. It was really cool activity. Afterwards we went to festival of glace. Elder Hanks the zone leader (who goes home next week) ate ice cream for the first time in 2 years. He cried. We have a lot of pictures. and a video.

On tuesday we had a flat tire, so we had a fun time fixing that.... we lost our car jack so fixing it was difficult. but being in africa, impossible isnt a word so we went to a guy on the street who puts air in tires and he fixed our tire! he pulled out a jack out of no where, and fixed the tire that had a massive hole.

Im not kidding when I say that nothing is impossible here.

We taught Dele. we are trying to help him get his dowry problem fixed. Elder Archer(who is next to me) just told me that we can buy whale meet on amazon. But they just recently banned it.

anyways, we taught Dele. We have been talking a lot on repentance with him.... since he has made a lot of mistakes in his life. But he is a great guy.

On wednesday President came to Togo. He is going around to talk with all of the BIshops and Branch Presidents. He is wanting to see How they are getting along with the missionaries and things like that. HE is also discussing the new plan we have as a stake/mission in TOgo. The Ward missionaries are going to have proselyting secteurs. They will find and teach investigators, then the assistants will come in and do a baptism interview to see if the people are ready. Our mission is suffering on missionaries. so, its really the only thing we can do to double our forces in TOgo. Benin, they dont have a stake (Africans say that they are to wicked... BIRTH PLACE OF VOUDOU!!!!) seriously though. In Benin people our obsessed with voudou. On the road we see people in these huge... cages? that are decorated with cloth and look really cool. they claim that an evil spirit is underneath and things like that... oh, Benin. 

Thursday was The best day, and the worst day. We went to go see a branch president in the morning. On the way there, A big truck carrying sand hit that back corner of our pickup truck! Elder Dioulo and I didnt feel a single thing. (I guess he just bumped into us) president was behind us, and said that he swerved into our lane and hit us. Then he proceeded to say that "Driving in Africa is a contact sport". True that.

Afterwards we went to the orphange that we repainted to see how they were doing. THe pastor who ran it said that the money we gave them to but wheel barrows was actually used to buy food for the kids. President then asked if they still needed food. The pastor said yes. SO, we went to the market with pastor and bought a ton of fish, And a ton of cooking oil and a few 50Kg bags of rice with some corn flour. IT was probably one of the most spiritual things that has happened so far.

I dont blame the pastor for not buying the wheelbarrows. He actually asked his staff If we should buy food, or buy the wheelbarrows.

In the afternoon a police officer pulled me over again because I kept going when the light turned yellow. (it turned yellow as soon as i got to the light. I argued with him. HE said "you ran it right in front of me" I said "you cant even see the light buddy, so you dont even know." we argued for a couple of minutes and he gave me "grace" as he said.

Friday we continued to see bishops. That was good.

On Saturday We met with the stake president. It got heated. But thats a story for when I get home...

We saw Fabrice and Paul this week. Finally... we havent been able to get a hold of them for a while, so on saturday it was nice to talk to them. they were just super busy with work, and their phones stopped working. They are actually still interested which was a huge relief for us. WE thought we were going to have to drop them, but nope!

So, my week was full of love and happiness and adventure.

I love you all.

Elder Magre

 

au Benin

It is hot!!!!

it is getting so hot. and they cut the power at night. and the mosquitos.... oh man...

 

Alexandre Magre	it is getting so hot... and its only getting hotter.... and they think its fu...	8:35 AM (3 hours ago)
it is getting so hot... and its only getting hotter.... and they think its fu...

it is getting so hot... and its only getting hotter.... and they think its funny to cut it out at night. But its all good. its all in a days work.

well its been another great week here akpakpa. Elder Kola and I are cooking in the secteur (no really the sun is cooking us). But we are also doing some good work. Weve been finding a lot of new investigators which is nice. we are filtering those who are prepared and those who arent. as sad as that is to say, its something that needs to be done. there are some people who just dont care about what we have to say to them. a lot of them talk to us because a white guy is coming, or they think we will give them money. but, weve been doing pretty good at making it clear why we come.

so,we went to go teach saizonou,she is from togo (and she actually lives in wuiti) and she goes back to togo often to preach the gospel also. hes fun to teach. she totally believes in the book of mormon. anyways she told us a fun fact. they found Noahs arch! haha? Elder Kola and I just looked at each other and then said "okay".

we've been continuing with Baudelaire. he is understanding the lessons, and is attending seminary. he has told us that the church is true... but he doesnt come to church!!!! ahhhhh!!!! every sunday he has to drive down to porto novo (capital of benin) to bring money to some family there. thats causing us some difficulties, but we will work it out with him. The good thing is that a lot of members live in his parcel. so they are helping a lot. 

We are still teaching christina. she is from congo. she told us this week that she doesnt want to come to our branch anymore because "the members arent serious about the gospel". so, she is going to continue to go to finagnon. at least shes going to church. but, we are going to try and help her to come to church with us!!! 

So, Ruth will hopefully be getting baptized on saturday. we went to talk with her parents yesterday. Her dad is mad at god right now. he really wants to get baptized but cant. Him and his "wife" arent married. and they litterally have no money to get married. They need 50000 cfa to get married. but its like he said, "the money i make just goes to feed my children." Julien and Leoni are very very very poor. i dont think i can describe it. lets just say no electricty, house made of tin and sticks. He complained how he is sick of suffering, and it seems like god just doesnt care about him. He explained how his dad died at 3 yearsold, and how he starved for his whole childhood. So he left home at 10 to go and find a life, and now he said he has his family, and that his kids are suffering like him. He then went on to explain how all he wants is baptism for him and his family. but god isnt even helping him with that. he than cried. We explained that God loves him, and that he shouldnt give up, and that christ understands, and that all of this is part of god plan. so.... he said a lot of stuff. i dont know if ill fit it all in an email.

so, my week was pretty great.

I love you all,

Elder Magré 

Another Pday

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