I Ate the Fruit of Good and Evil

 December 2, 2019

 Hope y'all had a great week and an amazing Thanksgiving!! As I explain the week a little you will understand what I mean by Good and Evil.

Baptism of Ephraim! The son of our convert fr. Eugene

So, last week I didn't send out an email because I wasn't feeling very good and, whoops, turns out it was malaria! And also let me tell you that it is exactly as bad as it sounds 😂 I was hoping I would get through the 2 years without it, and I thought I was almost there, but I guess not. I'm really thankful that I saw the symptoms early and got the medication (6 pills!) because if not it can get super bad. Basically, it just consisted of vomiting, loss of appetite, killing headache, your whole body just hurts, and it hurts laying in any position, and a fever. It lasted about Monday till Thursday morning but the worst part of it was that we were out of water for these 3 days. Haha, Iremember one of the days I was laying there listening to a talk about afflictions and as he was talking I thought, "ya, this isn't too bad" and then boom, the power cut and I was left lying with a fever in a 90 degrees apartment with no water. Haha, I literally just laughed out loud to how funny that was and luckily the talks got me through till the power came back on.

Now to contrast that with the good 😉 we got invited by the president to go eat Thanksgiving with an American family who live here working for the Embassy!! They live in this super nice, secured neighborhood behind the airport and DUDE their house is so nice!! I felt like I walked in a portal to America. Everything I saw and did was for the first time in 1 1/2 years. They had a playground in their yard, there was real carpet, nice couches, furnishing, it even smelled like America! It was hard core culture shock sitting down in what I think y'all call living rooms and eat "refreshments." The member started going off naming what they were, all these fancy cheeses and stuff- I didn't even know what it was (I did recognize the broccoli and olives, though).

Thanksgiving dinner

Bon Appetit my friends

She introduced us to two other super cool guys from the Air Force who joined us and were not members! Then came in their little girl! I realized I'd completely forgotten what white kids act and look like. They're hilarious! Haha, I tried talking to her in simple gestures then realized that she spoke English better than me! I had forgotten how white people talk to each other and I think us 4 elders just kinda stared at everything most of the time. We ate so good, no joke like probably better than I would have back in the states. I was still sick so I couldn't feast like I should have, but you bet I savored every bite. (pic below) She even let us take some pieces of pie home in a bag! Anyways I could go on and on about it but let's just say, it was good.

First white kid in 1 1/2 years! The pics looks awkward because I think either she was scared of me, or I was scared of her.

So, I'm a living testimony that 2 Nephi 2 was right. Without the bad there is no good! And when the bad gets worse, it's so that the good is even better! The amount of joy that I felt during those couple hours were only made possible by all the hard things that had happened in the week! The malaria, no water, dying heat,

Benin in general, etc. And it was 100 percent worth it!  But who knew that all those things were necessary so that I could experience the 100 percent opposite and receive a fullness of joy!? So, when things blow in life, don't worry. Just remember that because of that, life can get really good and can help you more fully feel joy, peace, and love. Another good quote I heard once was that "hard times will come, and they will either break you, or break you open. Let them break you open."

Love you all!

Elder Briggs