February 11, 2019

Just wanted to share not only 1, but 2 miracles that happened to us Wednesday night!! So first one is that the office elders that are in our ward lost their phone. Well, they didn't know where they lost it during that day, but we found out when we called them and a taxi man answered! He said they had left their phone in his taxi and he had tried to go back and knock on their door but they weren't there. Well, on our way to a rendevous the taxi drove past us and saw us and gave us their phone so we could give it to them. Well, we had a meeting together that night at the church so we thought we would just give it to them there. So, we get to the meeting and they weren't there! After that we decided to swing by their apartment and they weren't there either! Well at this point it's started to get awkward cause people are calling like the President, and his wife, and their amis (friends) and we really need to just get it back to them. So, we go and eat and then went back to their apartment. They still weren't there! By this time it's getting late and we decided we would just wait for them to come back but then we both had this weird feeling that if we went back to our apartment, they would be there. So, we went back and guess who was sitting in front of our door. YUP. They had decided to stake out by our door and had been looking for the phone the whole day and were so scared they had lost the phone (with all the contacts for the whole mission). 

Gaining my respect for the Togolais one bucket of water at a time... IT. KILLS.

Second Miracle. I bought this bag of popcorn for 100 francs down the street from us. I'm eating it and I get down to the bottom and in the bottom there was 100 francs! So, I got my money back and that was the second miracle! 😉 JK no, that wasn't the miracle. Well, we decided it must have just fallen in while she was making popcorn and should probably just give it back so when we were passing by we stopped to explain what had happened and give her the 100 francs. Before we could even explain what happened this dude standing by asked us in english "are you guys buying some popcorn?" we just said yes so we wouldn't have to explain the real reason why we were there and then he was like "I got you, don't worry about it" and bought us both bags of popcorn! And then as he was walking away he said, "Do you believe in the 3 Nephites"?... Ok he didn't say that but I'm convinced one of the 3 Nephites is black cause that was the first time anyone in Togo has bought something for us! It was like when we were in the process of trying to do what is right God blessed us and we ended up with 2 free bags of popcorn instead of just 100 francs! It's a really little example but the principle is true that if you are trying to do what is right God is going to bless you, whether seen or unseen. 

Sorry for the long email but hope y'all have a great week! Love ya!

Elder Briggs

Shout out to Sis. Briggs coming home this week! Love you!

Missionaries in Togo

Ya dad and I heard another one yesterday! I picked up this gecko at a member's house and they freaked out and smacked it with brooms and burned it with coals!! Haha, apparently, they say that they are acidic and can kill you but I think it is a lie cause I've held a ton of them and they don't do anything. . . and ask grandpa for me how much he actually wants to be cured because I got the solution 😉  

As for the places I would like to come back there are a bunch of things I would want to come back and see but they are not super touristy just like going up to villages and stuff. There is this place called Kpalime that is kind of touristy up north that is like a jungle and suuuper pretty that I want to go to. The strength of the branches is pretty iffy. My ward is probably one of the strongest but they are all mostly less than 5 years old, so they all have their own problems with different things that have to get corrected. Haha it's just definitely not like a ward in America. We are working to get a branch started off of our ward in a village in our sector that should be pretty strong. The main problem is that if the ward doesn't do service pastoral  (giving of spiritual advice) everyone would literally fall inactive. But if the person gets a calling after they are baptized the retention is pretty good. The leadership can be iffy in some wards and sometimes they treat it more like a hierarchy but it's all slowly starting to get better. As a missionary what helps retention the most is to just get them a calling and a friend and if you get them that and help them continue to set temple goals etc., its usually pretty good. My favorite food in Togo is probably this foufou with this peanut sauce that is pretty good. It was best in my last sector but it's still pretty good here. The elections are every couple of years, so I don't think every year, but the military goes pretty crazy when there are elections. 

Mom! haha ya that lady came to my ward and is from Utah! She said she would take a pic of us and send it to you because you would like that. She was here doing anti-drug stuff.  I hope I looked good in the pic 😉 She comes here every once in a while, I think, or I don't really know but she's been to Africa a bunch of times to talk to people. Love you mom and dad! (grandma /grandpa Briggs) 😨 still looking good!😎

Votre Fils,

 Elder Briggs