Actually, a Pretty Normal Week . . .

 July 15, 2019

Well first off me and my Comp are pumped cause after a time of famine, the rain finally came! The last transfer was kinda rough just because we were teaching tons and tons of people, but no one would come to church, which was really frustrating. Honestly, that is the biggest problem teaching wise is just finding those people who truly want the blessings of the Gospel and show it by their actions. We had a couple amis finally come and 1 of them named Fr. Cyril finally came after 3 transfers and we have a date fixed with him! Haha, it was hilarious we went over to go teach him and when he opened the door I saw some glitter on his eye so I told him and he was like "ahhh not there too!" Then he showed me his painted toe nails, fingernails, graffitied body by a marker, and apparently sparkle eye liner that his niece had drawn on him just barely while he was sleeping. I died, it looks like kids are the same no matter where you go! I wanted to meet her and congratulate her for her great work but she is extremely scared of white guys and shut the windows and locked us outside so we never got to meet her. 

America's got ice cream trucks... and Togo? We got Blood tonic trucks. 😖

We had a cool experience with a member this week. This family let us visit them and they are one of the few members who have gone to the temple and were in the first ward that was created in Togo. Well, because of that, let's just say they have seen a lot of very, very messed up bad things go down as the church has been getting started and he got sick of dealing with all of it, so he decided to stop going to our ward and started going to another ward on the other side of Togo. So, his wife went to our ward and he went to a different one. He said that he just felt trapped inside and gross so he started going to the other one where he was free and could forget it all.  We had a really good talk and we told him that the reason he felt gross and trapped wasn't because the things had happened, but instead because he hadn't forgiven and forgotten the things that have happened. We had a really good talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it works, and the spirit was so strong! He said he would pray and fast for the ability to completely forget what happened! I know that is true for all of us. That when we decide not to forgive or forget something that someone else has done, whether they hurt us or someone else, our judgement falls on no one but ourselves. Because Jesus Christ will be the only judge of all of us When we take that judgement upon ourselves, we play a role that is not ours, and in turn cannot feel fully at peace or full of joy. Simply put, its only when we dwell on the good, that we feel good. Love you all! 

Elder Briggs

I swear everything is just bigger in Africa!