Letter 14

1-Nov-11 – We went shopping for Zone Conference’s meal tomorrow and spent the rest of the day preparing the food for it. We are serving tacos with the trimmings, the taco sauce we figured out how to make over here, pineapple and Chocolate/Oatmeal cake with ice cream. We use Lebanese bread for our taco shells and it works out real well. They are round and much bigger than the taco shells at home. The Elders can eat 2 of them and be pretty content. It’s fun to watch them. So today we cooked the hamburger and made the taco sauce for tomorrow’s lunch. Sister Weed will bring the “trimmings” and drinks. We also called and talked to our dear friend, Shelia Ray. We are so sorry to hear of Terry’s death. Shelia is a very strong lady and gave us some really good advice, she said, “Treasure every moment the two of you have together. The time goes so fast.” We love you, Shelia, thank you.

2-Nov-11 – We met at 8:00am for Zone Conference. It was very good. We served the tacos for lunch and they were a hit! Everyone really liked them. In the afternoon and evening we went to Menontin and then to Gbedjromede to teach piano. Some of these students are doing really well. We have one member, a former Muslim that is doing really well. Richard Gnatsiko, formerly Elder Gnatsiko, came to visit us today. He wasn’t feeling well so he stayed overnight with us before going back to his home in Lome, Togo and we watched him. He thinks he has Malaria. [And sure enough, he did. Les and I tried calling him during the next 2 weeks but he never answered his phone. I should have called Elder & Sister Gubler to see how he was, but that thought never came to my mine. We saw him about 2 weeks later and he told us that when he got back to Togo he was put into the hospital for 5 days. The doctor told him that it was really good that he had been taking the doxy because this was a very serious case of malaria and the doxy really helped him. The Gublers and President Dieudonne took good care of him.]

3-Nov-11 – We had a ton of visitors today. One was Nadia, the Primary music leader for the Gbedjromede Branch who came to learn Primary songs to teach the children in her branch. This is a young lady who cannot read or keep count for music but she can learn the songs as she sings them with Nancy and Carole and then she teaches them to the children. The branch president didn’t think that she could do such a calling but Nancy asked him to give her a try. She is terrific. We have two sick elders today, Elders Cellan and Palmer. They both have ear problems. Elder Cellan has an ear infection and Elder Palmer has wax build up in both ears and it is affecting his hearing. We went to the pharmacy to get some medication that Dr. Fife told us to get. We took it to the elders, made sure they were okay and then came home. We are having Sister Silvi Allred and Sister Rosemary Wixom from the General Auxiliary Board coming to Cotonou, Monday November 7, 2011. Imagine that! We are all excited and are trying to make sure the branches and groups all know about the 2 meetings that will be held here. The mission doctor, Dr. Fife, is even coming. It will be nice to meet him. We only talk to him on the phone. We have 2 missionaries with ear problems today so I have been talking with him. Pres & Sister Weed are in Togo so Elder Southam and I are taking care of the Elders, which we love!

4-Nov-11 --- Today our door wasn’t shut for but a few moments in between people coming for one reason or another. But it is good to keep things busy. We were able to listen to a volleyball game tonight that Whitney, our grand-daughter, played in. Her team lost but she did really well. It was so fun hearing, “Whitney Southam returns a kill!” or “makes a great block!” or “Wow, what a ‘kill’ by Whitney Southam!”and he said that she was his, “player of the game!” What a neat thing. Way to go, Whit. It’s really nice to have the technology so that we can be more a part of our kid’s things and yet, being so far away. #4,Whitney Southam MAKING THE KILL! Oct 2011Whitney won an award for: “The most outstanding front row player.” Her stats for her year as a junior playing volleyball are: 519 attempts, 178 kills, 82 errors, her Kills were 0.18 percentage and she had 52 blocks. She out pointed the senior volleyball player. We are so proud of you, Whit. In Divisionals, Whit made the news with her single block. The center Jackie said, “Nice single block, Whit.” And that made the news. I asked Whit where this “killer Whit” came from and she said that she feels like it’s the new coach. Her coach used to coach the college girls at Univ of Montana. Her name is Jenny Peterson and she has taught Whit a lot. Whit is 5’11”. Sooooo, way to go, Whit! We are very proud of you.

5-Nov-11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEIDI. Today is the eve of Tabaski, a Muslim holiday celebrating the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. A ram was provided by the Lord for the sacrifice instead of Isaac after Abraham demonstrated his obedience to God. Now the Muslims sacrifice a goat in remembrance of this event. Tomorrow there will be fires all over the city. Goats will be killed and cooked over an open fire. The entrails will be cleaned and used. The contents of the entrails along with the blood will be buried on the side of the street where the sacrifice has taken place. The carcass will be dismembered then thrown onto the open fire to burn off the hair and to cook the meat. The head will also be cooked on the same fire. They will share the meat with those around them. We had some cooked goat last time we were here. It wasn’t too bad. We were told it tastes like chicken but it’s not as good as KFC. Tonight as we drove around there was an unusually high number of goats being led to their last meal. They are washed and cleaned up and look really good for this last day outside of some ones stomach. The market for firewood has really heated up as of late and I suppose mint jelly is in high demand also. The following is an excerpt from the internet.“According to the Qur'an, Allah asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Though Abraham was deeply troubled by Allah's request, he agreed to perform the sacrifice as a sign of his obedience. But just before Abraham began the sacrifice, Allah told him to offer a sheep instead.”To remember Abraham's offering, every family sacrifices a sheep on Tabaski morning. The rest of the day is spent in prayer and celebration. Everyone wears new clothes. Parents give their children presents and money. People feast on roast sheep and share the meat with others. They visit family and friends, and give thanks to Allah.For the past few days, the streets and markets have been filled with sheep for sale. But more goats than sheep, I believe. Even the poorest of families will try to raise the money for a sheep or at least share one in a smaller village.We taught piano at Akpakpa today then took our TV over to the church for our General Conference tomorrow. We are one month behind the actual broadcast but at least we finally get to view it. This will really be great.

6-Nov-11 – Conference was great and what was even greater, we got to listen to it in ENGLISH! We only watched 2 sessions, today, but we will watch the other sessions later. As we came home our neighbors across the street were just about to kill their third goat. They had a hole dug in the sand then two men laid the goat on its side next to the hole. A man with a really sharp knife cut its throat. The blood ran into the hole and when they clean out the entrails the contents will be put in the hole also. The hole will be filled in following the butchering and by next year there will be nothing left when they dig the next Tabaski hole. In a twist that we haven’t seen before they shaved the goats rather than burn the hair off. Our neighbors to the left burned the hair off as usual on a small fire on which they were now cooking the head and the four legs from the knees down. We took Elders Owasu-Femyi and Ilunga to their apartment from the conference because they have trouble finding a taxi to Gbegamey. In fact, all of our Unites or Groups and even Menontin, a Branch, have a hard time getting taxi’s to take them there so we are happy to help them out.For lunch we had goulash (a family favorite---well, some of our family J) and fried potatoes along with some salad and some fresh pineapple. Ah, the smell of favorite foods, this will be a lovely dinner. We sat to eat. But wait, the air that was blowing through our open windows and doors carried in the odor of burning goat hair and smoldering flesh, horns and hooves. It was too hot to close the doors and windows so we proceeded to eat dinner anyway and it was still reasonably good. The smell of Tabaski would waft through the house for the rest of the day.We got a call from Susan, our daughter in Medina, Ohio, today. She said that they have just received a new elder from Pleasant Grove, Utah. His name is Elder Jordan Read and his parents, Danny & Laura Read, are in our home ward. We also talked to Elder Workman’s mother. She told us that one of Elder Workman’s very best friends, Elder Poll, has just been called to our mission here, the Benin Cotonou Mission. This will be great for them.

7-Nov-11 – The smell in the air is quite nice today, the fires are out, the goat is cooked and the revelers are taking it easy.No FHE today with the Elders. We had the Menontin Zone come on Halloween day because of our visitors; Sister Silvia Allred, General Officer of the Relief Society and Sister Rosemary Wixom, General Officer of the Primary coming today from Salt Lake City. Well, today Elder Southam and I met Brother Lionel Missigbeto at the airport where we met with the Director of the Airport. He was very kind as we introduced the Church to him and told him of Sister Silvia Allred General Officer of the Relief Society and Sister Rosemary Wixom, General Officers of the Primary and we told him of their arrival at the Cotonou Airport in a few minutes. Along with them would be Elder & Sister LeGrand Curtis(in the back seat) our Area Authority from Accra, Elder & Sister Fife our West African mission doctor from Accra(in front seat) and Francis O. Nmeribe, Country Security Manager, over the Church Security from Nigeria (not in this photo). The director was very kind and allowed President & Sister Weed to go into the baggage area to greet our guests and help them come through the baggage check much easier, in fact, I don’t think they even checked their luggage. Les and I prepared a bowl of pineapple as a snack for our guests to enjoy in between sessions today and Sister Weed brought a cake, cookies and water. The members had cleaned the church very nicely and the meetings began at 2pm. I would like to make a comment here about the members in our first mission and how they are today, as far as cleaning the Church goes. When we arrived on our first mission Les and I always helped clean the Church. #1, because we liked doing it with the Saints and #2, because we wanted to teach them how to clean. Most of them live in cinder block houses without indoor toilets, running water, power, tile floors and etc. So, they are not aware of how to clean some things. It seemed that cleaning the toilets was always Nancy’s job! Les swept and worked outside and inside. Today, as we watch the members clean, it is so neat because they really do know how to clean and they very happily come to help clean the Church. In this photo are the Saints in Benin that came to hear Sister Allred and Sister Wixom. They were so excited for them to come and so were we. Lionel wanted us to take photos and to write a documentary of the events with the General Officers from Salt Lake for the Public Affairs committee, so we were busy during the meetings taking notes and photos. We had 2 sessions, one was a training which was really good and one was a fireside which also was very good. The Saints learned a lot about the love the prophet has for them. The minister of The Interior of Benin was invited to come and he did. He sat on the stand with Pres. Weed and Elder Curtis, a counselor to President John B. Dickson, our Area Authority President. The minister seemed to really like it and readily interacted with the saints. The meetings were very good and Nancy even got a photo with Sister Wixom.

8-Nov-11 –We now have another big event for Benin. The Pope will be coming on the 18th. There is an excitement amongst the Catholics that is kind of fun. This will be a great day for them. The government is very keenly aware of the visit and so is cleaning up the city as best they can. Men and women are sweeping the sand from the paved roads at an incredible rate. Many roadside buildings that don’t seem to have a good reason to be there, even though people are using them for shops, have been demolished. We have seen a couple of fairly nice small buildings have to come down to meet the beautification committee’s arbitrary decisions. It is really sad because the people who can least afford to lose their small place of business are most affected. Nearly all have no resources to buy another place to set up their work. We are sure the Pope would not be offended by these small shops. Nancy, Lionel and Carole worked today on a report about the visit of the Sisters on the General Board here in Cotonou, Benin. It has been sent in to Salt Lake and they said it might be put into the Liahona magazine. I got a strange call tonight from Elder Palmer. This elder is a great young man who is fearless in trying new types of meals. He loves to cook. Tonight the question was. “Elder Southam, how do you cook snake?” Fortunately I have had some experience with cooking rattlesnakes so we discussed how to skin it and how to cook it. He said it was just about as long as he is tall. We don’t know what kind it is. He said he couldn’t find any fangs and so he didn’t think it was venomous. I told him I wanted to have photos of the great adventure. This should be good.

9-Nov-11 – Les: He said it tasted really good. He now wants to tan the skin. Having tanned a bunch of rattlesnake skins I know how to help him with this. Nancy: Nadia came over today and Carole and I worked on a few Christmas songs for her to teach her primary children. I love teaching Nadia because she is so excited for what she can learn.We taught piano in Menontin and Gbedjromede tonight. Both groups are doing well.Carole called tonight and told us that the government is shutting off all electricity and water for the next 3 days. Now this is the thing that keeps Africa struggling. The news says that due to a lack of funds they are cutting back on these two items. It seems to me that if they had a lack of funds then why would they lower their income by turning off the utilities? We made sure that all of our empty bottles are full tonight and tomorrow we will fill our gas cans so that we have the generator ready to go. We also got 4 large containers to store some washing water.

10-Nov-11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIEL. The water cut off has been changed to the 14th. That will give everyone a chance to fill the water jugs. Don’t know yet about the power shut off however it did go off about 4 or 5 times today for short periods of time. One very interesting side note: Carole told us that most of the people are not even concerned about the water shut-off because they just use their well water anyway. Nancy and Carole made cookies all morning for Elder Palmer who needed them for a wedding luncheon. He told us that the man who is getting married will be a mission president one day. He is really a great man. The couple will be baptized on Saturday now that they are legally married. We then went to Finagnon where Nancy helped Sister Tchango with the Primary Sacrament program for this next Sunday. It is going to be good. We got to talk to the elders for awhile. Elder Shumway is a good kid. He is so humble.We went then to Gbedjromede for Primary leadership training. Nadia is in center of front row. The ladies were great and they love Nancy and all she does to help them learn.

11-Nov-11 – We got an email from Lynn & LeeAnn Southam receiving their 2nd mission call. They have been called to the UKRAINE DONESK MISSION and will enter the MTC February 27, 2012. We are so excited for them but wished they had been called to the BENIN COTONOU MISSION. We can still use more couples here so if any of you would like to come we would be happy to put in a good word for you. We stopped to get some nuts from our, “nut lady” today. Her very large display (this is her large display, sorry you can’t see it all) has been taken down and the only way she can display her nuts is to use the wall behind her to set a few bottles of nuts on. She said the government made her take it down because they are cleaning up the city for the visit of the Pope on the 18th of November. She also said that if she wants her display like it was before, she will have to pay for the materials to put it back up with, even though they were the ones that made her take it down.Brother Lionel was telling us about the problems with the water and electricity. He told us that the directors of these two utilities earn 600,000 ($1,200) francs per month. A school teacher earns about 60,000 to 80,000 ($1200 - $1,600) a month. But the big problem comes where the government also gives the directors a bonus each month of 10,000,000 ($2,000) francs. That is astronomical. They also pay no utilities or fuel for their vehicles as additional perks. There are so many poor people here that the president of the country said that the bonuses have to go. The directors say they want their money or they will strike. The three days of turning off the utilities each week for as long as it takes to get their way is their way of striking. And the kicker is that the utility strike will begin the Monday before the Pope arrives. And the president doesn’t want the Pope to see these problems so it looks like the poor people will continue to be poor and the rich will get richer. Life in Africa is hard, unfair and not likely to change until many more people accept the gospel. We shopped for a while to get what we need for Monday with the elders.

12-Nov-11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN. We helped Elder Palmer bake some more cookies today for a little party following the baptism of a family of 4 and 3 others. The husband and wife of the family were civilly married this week and now could be baptized. “He is going to be a mission president one day” said Elder Parmer. “He is a great man.” We went to Akpakpa to teach piano. While at the church the rain began and in 30 minutes the soccer field across from the church was inundated with water. The kids were running and jumping and splashing water and having a great time. The rain quit and we gave Elders Leach and Mbunga a ride to their apartment.

13-Nov-11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASH. We attended church in Finagnon where the Primary presented its program for sacrament meeting. It was really good. Because most of the children speak the local language, Fon, they were not able to memorize the French songs and lines to say, so the missionaries in Finagnon helped with the program. They were Elders Tshibasu, Royer, Gbedjangni, Mundu, Shumway and Mukenga and they did a great job. We then went to Akpakpa to help the Primary get ready for their Sacrament program for next Sunday. Following the block we called Pres. Weed and asked him if he would like to look at a potential new building for the branch. He came right over and we looked at the building. He was very impressed and told me to press forward in having Ghana come to do their inspection because it now falls under their jurisdiction. We will press them to come and look right away.

14-Nov-11 –We enjoyed the Gbedjromede zone in our home for Family Home Afternoon. We had the Gbedjromede District Elders: Muteba, Cellan, Browning and Kazadi and the Gbegamey District Elders: McCray, Rakotodronsoa, Ilunga, Owusu-Fenyi, Leavitt and Ndibu. They ate hamburgers, chips and macaroni salad with cake and ice cream. We noticed that the ice cream was melting as we pulled it from the freezer. We looked to the floor and noticed the surge protector was off. Nancy had mopped the floor the night before moving the electric Automatic Voltage Regulator Box which the fridge was plugged into jarring the plug loose. The power went off and everything in the freezer was either melting or thawing. We found the problem, plugged it back in and then watched to see if it would cool down. It struggled. 6 hours later we brought in our old refrigerator, washed it and plugged it in. We waited another 2 hours to see if it would cool down. It did. We transferred all the food except for vegetables from the new refrigerator to the old. We will see how things are in the morning.

15-Nov-11 – Well, they didn’t shut off the power yesterday and Carole said the people don’t think they will. The old refrigerator is freezing just fine and the new one is freezing just about as well. We will watch them both for a few days. Pierre picked up all of our kitchen chairs to re-cushion them today. The foam rubber from 1999 has finally broken down. Nancy: Finally, it was broken down when we were here on our 1st mission! Pierre’s workers brought them back this evening but had forgotten to screw the seats back in. They will come back tomorrow to finish that. Brother Lionel came by to finalize a report to the Area office of Public Affairs and to Salt Lake City concerning the recent visit of General Officers of the Primary and Relief Society but it had all been done and sent in. Nancy and I finished it! He was happy!

16-Nov-11 – Carole and I began teaching Nadia a couple of Christmas songs for her to teach the Primary children in her branch. Nadia is the member that cannot read or count the beats in music, but she can teach the children! She is amazing!!! Anyway, she is learning a song from the “Chant [The Children’s Sing Book] called, D’ou viens-tu, bergere? It is only in the French book, not in the English one. It is awesome. Nadia is doing a skit with it and they will use it at their Christmas activity. The kids are so excited. Nadia is such a good young lady. We then went to the Gbegamey Group where Carole and I helped Chefiath with their Primary Sacrament presentation. They needed the help but they will do well, they still have two weeks and Nadia is going there to also help Chefiat. See, I told you she is amazing!!! After helping Chefiath we hurried to the Menontin Branch for piano class and then to Gbedjromede Branch for their piano class and finally getting back to our apartment after 9pm. Long day, but very good. I love sitting next to the students and helping them. It just feels so rewarding.

17-Nov-11 – Today the Herrs left for their home in Tucson, Az. We went to the mission office to visit with them and then took them to lunch at Festival des Glaces, Sister Herr’s favorite place to eat. They seemed very happy and talked and laughed with us. We went to Akpakpa for Nancy to help the Primary presidency with their presidency meeting. The sisters did really well. This is a new president, the other president, Mercy, moved to Nigeria. After the meeting, we went shopping for a few minutes and headed home. The Pope arrives tomorrow. There will be many roads shut down and the government has declared Friday to be a holiday. The preparations for the Pope’s visit have been intense. The roads have all been swept by hand by hundreds of women. The cleanup of unsightly buildings and shops has been remarkable. The sad part of the cleanup is that it will only be temporary but the disruption of everyday lives for the thousands of people displaced will last a long time and for them, the least able to afford the change, the new costs of this unexpected displacement will have an extended effect.

18-Nov-11 – Just when I think that I cannot be shocked anymore at the lack of honesty, the deficit of moral integrity and the ongoing trust in criminals, I find myself shaking my head and becoming speechless at the same time. Carol came by today to clean. She told us that her power had been shut off because of nonpayment of bills. What had happened is that the property manager collected the power bill money from all of the renters in the building. He gave the money to a friend to pay the bill but this friend happened to need money so he only paid half and kept half. Then the guy takes off for another country. This is so incredible I can’t even begin to understand how they think. And the worst part is that the very same thing happened just a couple of months ago with the previous property manager. Carole told us that a new renter came to check in and in finding out the situation lamented that this was the 4th apartment he has paid for this year and all of them had the very same problem. I think this cycle will continue because it is so hard to find responsible honest people. I think there is not an honest person in all of Africa outside of the church members and inside still not all are honest yet (kind of like home). My hands are shaking, spell check is working overtime from the lack of control of my fingers and my sense understanding is in a state of flabbergastation.The Pope arrived today! There were many different forms of welcome for him such as the lavish governmental welcome, dance and singing groups, torch light walks up the main road after dark, refurbishing of the Catholic churches in the area and many Catholics who made new sets of clothes with the pope’s photo on them. It is an exciting time for the Catholics in Africa and in Benin in particular.

19-Nov-11 – We attended a baptismal service for two new members today. It was a good service. We then went to Akpakpa to teach two classes of piano. We bought some hamburger for the elders for Monday.The Africans have some very strong and deep rooted traditions and one of which is when a family member dies, is very sick, has medical needs or any other thing that requires money and the can’t pay it themselves, they go to the oldest in the family and it becomes his responsibility to come up with the money. If they do not, they are disgraced and ostracized by the family. Landu has a nephew that needs surgery and his family in Congo has called him for some monetary help. Landu feels so bad because he does not have any money to help and he has no income. He had 2 new cameras that he bought from his friend in France and he thought if he could sell one of the new cameras and send that money along with the other new camera, his family in Congo could sell the camera there and use the money for his nephew’s surgery. He sold the camera, sent the money and other camera and finally was off the hook, at least temporarily. The fact that he found some money only means that he can find more in the future. It is nice to depend on family first but horribly wrong to disown them if they cannot come up with money. The man in the center of these yellow barrells is heading to get more illegal gas! Can you believe what they can carry on their motos? This is another moto from the back.

20-Nov-11 – We attended the Akpakpa Branch to watch the Primary Sacrament Presentation today. They did great. We then went to the Gbegamey group to help Chafiath and Elder McCray with their presentation for next Sunday. Following church we went to the Gbedjromede Branch to watch Sister Nadia work with her group of Primary children and to give them the photos that Brother Lawyer from Pleasant Grove, Utah sent to them. He attended church here several months ago and since his assignment at home was with the 11 year old boys in the Primary, he went to the Primary for the last hour. He took photos and then sent them back to us along with a whole bunch of letters from his home ward Primary. The kids here thought that was super.This evening we went to the mission office and traded our truck for the van so we could take the elders to Porto Novo, Benin’s capital city. As we passed the airport there were tons of people, vehicles, police and military. It dawned on us that the Pope was to fly out soon. At least we got past the airport before the traffic got stopped. We picked them up from the bus station at the stadium and brought them home to give them a meal. They brought a bunch of things for us and a lot of clothes for the members.The van Duyse, Carol, Nancy and I went to a welcome home party for a returned missionary, Elder Kossemou. Nancy made 2 Chocolate/Oatmeal cakes to serve as a treat. The van Duyse bought drinks. It was an enjoyable evening.

21-Nov-11 – We picked up the Akpakpa Zone (Akpakpa District: Elders Cline, Bukasa, Gnamatsi & Makubu and Finagnon Dist: Elders Tshibasu, Royer, Gbedjangni, Mundu, Shumway & Mukenga) and headed to Porto Novo, the capital of Benin. Frere Tchango went with us to show us the town. We went to a museum, da Silva’s Museum of Afrobrasilians Arts & Culture, (the first one we have seen) that was made on the property of its namesake, Mr. da Silva. Don Francisco Pelix da Silva had 52 wives, 99 daughters and 106 sons. They told us that he was a Voodoo king, The Vice King of Ouidah. He would take a chicken in one hand and a goat in the other. He would walk on the sea and then go under the water and when he emerged he had a hot meal for everyone. Believe it or not most of the people here believe that story. Another story they tell as gospel true is that he was invited to Brazil. He refused to take their offer of airfare or ship passage. But he showed up mysteriously at the event anyway, having traveled mystically through the air. Most people swallow that story also. He did have a nice home and it was fun to walk around and see the living conditions of a rich African of years gone by.We went to a zoo next. This is not a zoo as we know zoos. We saw two baboons, a hyena, one deer, a vulture, two lions 4 crocodiles, a couple of guinea hens and some peacocks. It was fun to see the animals. This photo was taken at the beginning of this Zoo park. It was pretty nice. It was only about 40 minutes from where we live. Gregory and Evelyne van Duyse arrived here in Cotonou today. They are a couple from Canada who are here for a week to select a place to live for the next year with their family. They just wanted to have a missionary experience with their family in Africa. This will be a great adventure for their 5 kids. We returned home and made hamburgers for the elders. They liked that a lot. It was getting late in the afternoon and I suggested that it was too late to watch a movie and still be able to get the elders home on time. Elder Shumway was devastated, he was so looking forward to watching a movie. Soooo we let them watch, “Remember the Titans” and we got them home a little late today.

22-Nov-11 – We had Alex Boateng from Accra come to train leaders about the Seminary and Institute programs. We met with them in the morning and then went to Sister Weeds where Nancy and she talked about the upcoming Christmas celebration. We then went to the church again for more training. The van Duyse couple translated and did a great job. It was good training. If the leaders can follow the directives things will go really well.

23-Nov-11 – We had piano class today at Menontin and Gbedjromede. Some of the students are doing really well. We have a unique problem here in finding a time for students to come for practice. These kids have early morning seminary at 5:30 a.m. then they start school at 8:00 a.m. getting out for lunch at noon. They go home to eat and rest and then return at 3:00p.m. and get out again at 7:00p.m. It makes for a pretty long day and the week is even longer for many of the students who go 6 days a week. There are a few variations in time for different schools but this is a pretty common schedule.Pierre told me tonight that there are no longer blacks and whites in Africa. I was interested in his reasoning. He told me that when it is not so hot as it is now that only the whites sweat. Now it is much hotter not only are the whites sweating but even the blacks are sweating so we are all the same now.

24-Nov-11 – THANKSGIVING DAY!!!!!! As we drove around today we didn’t see any turkey sales, pumpkin pies or cranberry sauce for sale, and nowhere did we see the colorful Autumn decoration nor see advertisements for the madness of Black Friday. Today was pretty much like any other day here in Africa. So Nancy called Sister Weed and the two of them decided we needed some sort of celebration and they decided on a meal at the home of the Weeds. It was nice to be there, just the two couples, as we ate a nice dinner but it was somewhat hollow at the same time. We didn’t get to play games with the family, the grandkids were strangely silent, there was no football game, no family gathering and no leftovers for a yummy sandwich tomorrow. Never the less we were thankful for being here in the service of our Lord and thankful that we could set missionary examples for all our family members at home, especially our grandchildren. Next year will be wonderfully different, in reverse. But, at that time our grandson, Todd Southam, will probably be on his mission. Oh, one other thing about Jim & Bekki’s son, Todd, he made the basketball team for his senior year. He has played every year and we are anxious to listen to his games this season! Way to go, Todd!

25-Nov-11 -- We went to Calavie to Carole’s mother’s home to pick up some things for Sister Weed and to leave 3 skirts and 2 blouses for alteration that Kim just sent to Nancy. We went to the mission home where Precious was cleaning. She was so sad and upset because she had been told that the missionaries couldn’t go into the home of a single woman and she didn’t know what to do about getting a blessing for her son, Victor, who was sick. She said, “Just because I’m a single mom does that mean we cannot have the priesthood in my home? My kids will just have to die without blessings?”. She was very upset. We talked to her for a while then we headed off to a store where Nancy picked up some cookies for the boys and a nice small box of chocolates for Precious, to lift her spirits. When we took them back to her she was surprised and happy that Nancy would do this for her. Nancy asked her if she felt better. She told her she sure did. Nancy is often thinking of others. Carole made an Old Testament Reading Chart for Alex Boateng, Seminary & Institute Director and emailed it to him. It was good.

26-Nov-11 We started the day with a baptismal service, came home for lunch and went back to church for another baptismal service. 6 people were baptized today. Both services were very nice and the spirit was so sweet. President Rogatien Lokossou has just recovered from a surgery he had about 2 months ago. His surgery was done by a French doctor that came here to do it and it went very well. We are so grateful for that. He looks and feels so much better. President is probably in his late 60’s, just a guess! In his Welcome talk, President Lokossou told the new members, “Now, don’t stop coming to Church because you are now baptized. Come, so the Lord will recognize you! The missionaries will not be here forever, but Jesus Christ will, so if you are faithful to the end the Lord will give you a crown, a crown of glory. So, don’t stop coming to Church, you need it and we need you.” This was so awesome.We went to Akpakpa for piano class. Victor, Precious’ son, was still sick and did not come. He has been very sick for the past few days and the doctor has been treating him for malaria, but this morning he mentioned a pain in his jaw. So, off to the dentist they went where he had a tooth pulled. This bad tooth was the cause of his sickness. Precious said that the shots the dentist gave Victor to deaden the pain were very painful. She was in tears as she heard him screaming in pain. But the shots did the job and when the tooth was pulled there was hardly any pain at all. Victor is 14 years old so that pain was probably not created from fear, it must have really hurt. Right after the shot, Victor started feeling much better. It is not often an African goes to a dentist, especially an African from a lower standard of living because they simply cannot afford anything with sugar in it. No candy, no ice cream, no soda pop, no junk food at all and no sugar to put on anything to make it taste better. This sounds awful but the payoff is that these people have beautiful teeth. When they look in my mouth they cannot believe the silver and gold and missing teeth. A lot of candy did that to me. I suppose if Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Adamson had the same tools that Victor’s dentist has then I could have been persuaded quite easily to knock off the sweets.We closed out the day by going to a fireside at Fidjrosse. The van Duyse couple played a video about a part of our church history. The people seemed to like it a lot and the feeling there was so nice. The people stayed and talked and just enjoyed each other. Also, it was the birthday for Brother Gregroy van Duyse and a little cake made it easier to stand around and talk and to start a few more cavities. They had purchased 1, 1-layer cake and I didn’t think it would serve everyone, but the pieces were small and there was enough for everyone that wanted some. There were about 30 people there tonight.van Duyse found a home to move into today. It is about 200 Kilometers from the Church. They will be returning to Canada this coming Wednesday. Where they will prepare “every needful thing” so they can return with their 5 children in January 2012. They will live here for a year and then if they like it they will stay longer. They want their family to have a missionary experience firsthand. They will be an absolute blessing to the Fidjrosse Group. Brother van Duyse is an entrepreneur and he can do his work anywhere, so he will still be working while living here. I think he just turned 43 years old.

27-Nov-11 – We attended the Gbegamy group this morning for the LAST of the 6 Primary Sacrament Presentations. The kids did a great job as Nadia lead them and Elder Browning played the piano. The chapel was filled with members and investigators who enjoyed the meeting very much. After the meeting, we took a photo of all participants and gave them a treat for a job well done. We then went to Menontin to see the Primary there and give them a treat for their presentation a few weeks back (we forgot earlier). Then we delivered an English Book of Mormon to Elder Palmer. While there Elders Palmer and Leavitt surprised us with their latest adventure. Elder Leavitt had a few moles he thought would be better removed rather than keeping them. Elder Palmer said he would perform the surgery. So a razor blade was secured and disinfected and a pair of pliers were used to hold the mole as the razor blade sliced it off. I was squirming at this as they related the procedure but then we watched the surgery room video of the next step which got worse. Elder Palmer heated a fork to RED hot over the stove burner and then seared the open wound. In an understatement of colossal proportions Elder Leavitt said it hurt a bit. We are not sure what will happen next in that apartment!

28-Nov-11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TODD! Well, today, I, Sister Southam, got to share my birthday with Todd, our grandson who just turned 19 years old! I kept thinking of Todd today.
The missionaries gave me a wonderful Surprise Birthday Party! They said they knew it was 2 days early but this P-day is the day they could ALL get together and they did. All were there except for Elder Kitaka & E. Noumbolibona, the Office Elders. They had to stay in the Mission Office. They are so good to do that without a problem. What a great example they are to us!Nancy’s Surprise Party was incredible. She told the Elders, “Thank you, thank you so much. I have NEVER had a birthday like this and I will NEVER forget it!!! This was incredible and they made her feel so SPECIAL!” Okay, here is Les’ account of “SISTER SOUTHAM’S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY @ the Finagnon Branch.

28-Nov-11 – Today was an incredible day, and it started way last week. Elders Royer and Shumway decided to have a surprise birthday party for Nancy. They contacted all the missionaries and asked them to prepare talents for the party which would be on Monday, our P day, and the very P day that we didn’t have any elders coming over for a meal. The Assistants came over to borrow our coolers to keep the drinks cold and told Nancy that they had to take some meat to TOGO. LIE. Elder McCray called and asked if we could take the elders from his apartment to Finangno (where the party is). Nancy asked him why. He told her they were doing an activity with them and they couldn’t find a taxi to take them. LIE. As we got in the truck to leave I had Nancy’s gift in a sack. She asked me what I had. I replied that one of the elders had left it here and I was just getting it back to him. “What is it” she asked. “I don’t know, it’s wrapped up.” “Is it a secret?” “I don’t know, it’s just some stuff in a sack”. LIE. When we got to the Gbegamey apartment all of the Elders came out to the truck except for Elder McCray. He had received a call from the Elder Shumway telling us to stall a bit as some of the elders were not there yet. The other elders started getting in the truck with Nancy while Elder McCray went back into the apartment “to answer some questions for the electrician”. LIE. Nancy asked the Elders if the electrician was going to stay and work while they were gone. They told her, “Yes, because Pierre would be there.” LIE. Nancy believed that because Pierre often does that. I waited in the truck a bit and then went inside “to see what was keeping Elder McCray.” We walked around killing a little time while poor Nancy was going crazy waiting for us. After we waited the amount of time needed, we went out to the truck and headed for Finagnon. I haven’t driven this slow in ages but we finally got there. When we opened the gate, Nancy walked through and there were 40 plus missionaries lining each side of the sidewalk and singing Joyeux Anniversaire (Happy Birthday, in French). She was really SURPRISED!!!!! President and Sister Weed got there just after that great line of missionaries broke up. They had just gotten back from Togo that morning. Nancy and I were there along with Gregory & Evelyne van Duyse , Carole, Precious and all the missionaries except Elders Kittaka and Noumbolibona who had to man the mission office but Nancy insisted that we take them some cake to them after, so they weren’t totally left out. And Elder Kitakka and Elder Noumbolibona were so sweet and gave Nancy an African oil painting about 1 ½’ by 2½’. She loves it and will get it framed in the African frame.
No, this is not a gift and Nancy thought holding a lizard was not one of her favorite things to do but the Elders wanted her to, so she did! Happy Birthday! Joyeux Anniversaire.
Okay, back to the party….We moved inside the building to be seated in front of the audience for the viewing the great talent that was now to be performed. There was a skit by Elders Royer, Shumway and the rest of the Finangnon Zone. Elder Browning played the guitar and sang a song in which he used Nancy’s name to personalize it. Elder Kazadi composed a poem and used Nancy in it. Elder Gnamatsi played the Recorder really well and did a fancy dance step as he played. Also, some of the Elders from Togo danced as he did for Nancy. Elder Tshibasu played the piano using some real neat cording and making it sound so “African”. Elder Harding played a harmonica selection. Sister Evelyne van Duyse sang a song and more. The most original talent was by Elders Leavitt and Palmer. They wrote a song and sang it while Elder Palmer played the guitar. It was really clever because they personalized it for Nancy. Here are the lyrics that they remembered:
Song: You and me by Lighthouse

Tribute to Soeur Southam:

What day is it? It’s your birthday and we are going to roast you right now.
Woke up this morning and looked in the mirror and what did I see, a big beard.
And you shaved it off like you’re supposed to, like it says in the handbook.
And you shaved it off like you’re supposed to, like it says in the handbook.
(Lucky for you, we’re talking about your hubby, husband.)

Sweet Home Alabama tune:
You’ve aged really well. It looks like you’ve been (pause) to the cosmetologist.
You don’t have any grey hair because it’s all fallen out.
(There is more here but Elders Leavitt and Palmer couldn’t remember what they sang. They just made it up as they went along and I couldn’t remember either, but I hope I have it on the video . It was great, though.

Song: Good Riddens by green bay
Another turning point, the roast is over.
And now a little tribute song that we wrote for you:
Once there was a p-day, didn’t know what to do. Thought I was going to sleep all day
But then the phone rang. It said we’re going to the Southam’s for (pause and look at each other) ice cream, chocolate cake, watch a movie, take a date, It’s your companion.
If, Pop’s retirement check came, we’re eating peanuts!

Chorus:
But if we were at home, we would call you Nancy,
Or whatever thing we fancy.
But we’re not at home, my dear, So it’s Soeur Southam while we’re here.

Takin’ pictures, breaking cameras, driving around, teaching piano. They’re you’re hobbies. Taking Elders to the dr. trying to be their mother. It’s part of the job.

Chorus

A few months ago and we’re going to miss you
From the very first time that we met you.
Fell in love with you from the start
Little did we know Elder Southam has your heart. The following photo is of all the missionaries at the party!

The whole day was so special, one Nancy will NEVER forget. She hugged all the elders and they expressed their love for her. They told her it was because of all the good things she does for them. It was a nice tribute. We then had birthday cake and drinks. I drove home, Nancy ‘floated’ home. We came to the apartment and tried to make an account of everything that had just gone on but all we could do was just sit and reflect back on all the things that happened. Oh, and the president said it was OK to LIE in situations like this.

29-Nov-11 – We worked all morning with Lionel on materials for the Institute program. Later we went to do some training at Fidjrosse. When we arrived we found the church unlocked and 3 teenage girls showering inside. This was not a good thing. We got it all sorted out and it won’t happen again. We found the lock to the church was broken (poor quality material) and so in the morning we will repair it along with a couple of other locks that are not working well. We picked up Gregory & Evelyne van Duyse and took them to our home so that we could get them to the bus stop at 6:30 in the morning.

30-Nov-11 – Nancy’s birthday today. It was not as exciting as Monday but then nothing could have been. Still we found nearly 50 birthday greetings on our internet and we had phone calls that lasted until 2:00am on Thursday December 1st from our kids. Nancy was well remembered this day.
We started today at 6am, taking Gregory & Evelyne van Duyse to the bus stop for their trip to Accra, Ghana. They rode in a shuttle van from Cotonou to Accra, Ghana. The van was very crowded but they traveled with no problems. We were all grateful for that. Lionel and Landu came over this morning and when they heard our kids singing Happy Birthday on messages left for us, the two of them joined together to harmonize a beautiful, Happy Birthday song to me. The magicjack phone on our computer rang just as they were singing to me and Dave, our son was on the other end. He asked me who those beautiful voices were. They really were nice. Les and I then went to lunch with President and Sister Weed for my birthday. It was such a pleasant time.
Following lunch we went to Menontin for piano class and then to Gbedjromede for another piano class where I decided to make me a birthday cake and share it with these two piano classes. They were all so happy to see the cake and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. I hadn’t planned on that but it was really nice and made my day even more special. Landu & Carole stayed to do piano while Les and I went to the airport to pick up Elder Demoines and Sister Joyce Findlay who have returned to do more work on the wheelchair campaign for the church here in Cotonou, Benin and also in Accra, Ghana. It is such a welcomed gift from the Church through the Humanitarian Program. They flew in on Air France at about 8:40pm being about 30 minutes late. We always wait until the plane flies over our apartment, get into the truck and then drive to the airport. We still have to wait for them to come out but the wait is much shorter. They will stay with us until Sunday morning when they will fly to Ghana and stay 6 days there working on wheel chairs before they fly home on Saturday. They are such good people. Just thought I’d show you how long my hair is now!
Okay, what do you think, should we include the photos in the document or at the end? Is it worth the time it has taken these amateurs?
I just wanted to end this email with a beautiful African Sunset. This really is real, I (Nancy) took it! Believe it or not!
Love to you all,Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa Southam, Les & Nancy, Elder & Soeur Southam



BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Began: 1 July 2011
Pres. Robert F. & Rebecca Weed; email: rfweed@gmail.com
MISSION HOME – Located in “Haie-Vive” (means, hated-lives)
COTONOU, BENIN WEST AFRICA
Mission Home Phone #: (Office) 011 00229 21 30 84 23

CONTACT INFO:
ELDER & SOEUR SOUTHAM (Les & Nancy)
Our Blogspot: http://africadejavu.blogspot.com/
Call us by phone: You can reach us with a local call by calling our MagicJack phone # which is a
801-850-6506. You can leave a message and we can get that, also.
Landline: 011 00229 21-33-07-35
Cell Phone: 011 00229 97 92 58 55
OR
MAILING INFO:
(For letters & packages by Priority Mail)
Missionary’s Name (Elder & Soeur Southam) or other missionary
BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Cadjehoun Lot #1158 Bloc F
01BP 3323
Cotonou, Benin AFRICA
West Africa
You can track your mail. The tracking number is on your receipt from the post office.
Or you can send a letter to us through the:
Pouch **
Elder and Soeur Southam
BENIN COTONOU MISSION
50 East North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-0001
***These can ONLY be a single sheet folded in thirds and closed with a piece of tape. This takes a regular stamp.
Priority Mail comes really good. We use this one. It takes about 3 weeks, but all packages have made it that have been sent to us here in Benin. There was a problem in Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan but I don’t know how it is now.
DHL or Federal Express You can send packages. They are the most secure, but they are much more expensive. You can track your mail with them, also.

Letter 13

1-Oct-11 – We had a great rain storm today—no lightening. It started in the night and continued until the afternoon. Early Sat morning, very early we watched the BYU vs. USU football game which was played at BYU on Friday night, the night before Oct. General Conference. We had 4 people baptized today. Following the service we took Elders Caycho and Perkins along with several members back to Akpakpa. We then picked up a few items for Monday’s Family Home Afternoon meal. We also ordered hamburger buns from La Jadore that we will pick up on Monday for our meal.
The Saints returned from the Ghana Temple trip tonight about 10:30pm. I was sitting at my laptop and Les was in the bedroom asleep when the doorbell rang. We never have visitors this late and I couldn’t imagine who was here. Not wanting to wake Les, I called Elder Browning, waking him up (which I didn’t know I would do). I asked him if he could see who was ringing our doorbell. He said he could only see a lady standing there and he said it was not Carole, our good friend, tudor, translator, housekeeper, you name it and she can do it. But it was Carole, he just saw another lady and could not see Carole. She, Josiane (her sister) and Sonja (Josiane’s friend) were standing with their luggage from the trip with 5 boxes (60 books) of Cantiques (Hymn) books for us. Carole said that coming back from the temple took them 15 hours and it should have taken about 8-9 hours. I don’t know why it took so much longer but I’ll ask her.
Les and I got to listen to a little of General Conference. We heard the announcement of 5 new temples that will be built in; Barranquilla, Colombia; Durban, So. Africa; Kinshasa, DRC Congo (This is Landu’s home.), Paris, France & Star Valley, Wyo. We were all excited to hear this.

2-Oct-11 – We attended church in Fidjrosse. Nancy played the piano for Sacrament Meeting. She does a great job because she never knows what hymns are going to be sung. They sneaked in a hymn that she had never played before for the closing hymn. This tested her but she still passed with an A. The attendance was down some. It was a good meeting with Elder Attissogbe teaching Sunday School. He is a good teacher. Elder Palmer helps Armelle, Nicase’s wife, in the Primary but today Armelle was not there so Elder Palmer and Nancy did the primary. They worked on the songs for the Primary Sacrament Presentation program. These kids really enjoy singing.
We put some pork on to cook so that we could have pulled pork sandwiches tomorrow for Monday’s Family Home Afternoon. Elder Palmer thought of this meal and so bought some fresh pork yesterday, Saturday. It looked not near as nice as the cuts we find in our stores at home, hope it tastes good. After about 5 hours of cooking the meat. I removed the fat and kept it along with the good stuff. My hunch is that if we heat up the fat and the pulled pork tomorrow and put it all on the table the African elders will want to eat the fat, also. That’s fine with me. They usually utilize every part of the animal and that is as it should be I guess. Today Joyce & Demoines Findlay flew back to their home in British Colombia today. The measles campaign is now over in Benin and they finished the work they were doing in Togo which has to do with getting wheelchairs there. They are incredible people and never seem to tire with all the work they are doing. Thank you, Findlays! J

3-Oct-11 – We got up early today and went to Ganvie, the City on the Lake, with the Menontin Zone; Elders Harding, Bokolo, Robison, Wolthoff in the Menontin District and Elders Attissogbe, Ngunda, Palmer & Kisa in the Fidgrosse District. Elder Harding got permission for the assistants; Elders Shaffer & Lamboni and us to transport the elders there and back. It was a very pleasant day and the elders really enjoyed it. My friend that owns a crafts booth was there and he let Les and I use his hats. Last trip there he gave me a hat, Les didn’t want one. So this time he knew I wouldn’t want to buy one but he had a great hat for Les so we bought it along with 3 necklaces for me which the clasp on 2 of them broke just after I got to the apartment.
We rode in a covered boat that had a motor that he kept revving practically the whole trip. I was wondering if we were going to make it, but we had no problems at all.
Les: I thought you might like to know a little about the history or Ganvie. Ganvie is a part of Africa that is seen only by a few non-Africans. The water stains from last year’s floods were starkly evident on the sides of the wooden homes. The water rose to about 3 feet above the floor of the houses. The approximately 40,000 people who live on this large lake in dozens of villages had to leave their homes, find temporary lodging and wait for the water to recede. That process took several months. It was the worst flooding that they have had in over 25 years, some people say even longer. After our great boat ride, we returned home for lunch. While Nancy and Elders Harding, Palmer and Shaffer started getting the meal ready Elders Wolthoff and Robison went with me to pick up the buns at the bakery. They were not ready. Someone had not told the cook about our order. The owner told us to come back in 30 minutes. Elder Palmer went with me this time. When we arrived we heard another song and dance. They were not ready because we did not pay enough for them on Saturday. They wanted to charge us 2 ½ times what we paid on Saturday. We asked them to give us our money back and we would go buy bread elsewhere. They said they couldn’t give us the money back. I don’t know why, they didn’t cook the buns and they had plenty of money in the till. They said “no”. I asked them to call the owner. The girl at the register called for the cook to come out and talk to us. We explained to him that we should either pick up our buns that we paid for or get our money back. He and the two girls talked in their native language so we could not tell what was going on but the upshot of it was that the cook told us to sit down and he would get the buns. They were not cooked yet but the dough was ready and so in about 15 minutes we had two boxes of HOT fresh buns to load into the truck and take home. (THE HAMBURGER BUNS! YUMMY)
We set out the pulled pork and the bowl of fat. The fat was the first to go. I know it has a lot of flavor but the texture and unhealthy nature of animal fat makes it so we cannot eat much of it. The pulled pork was really good though. We also had macaroni salad, chips, ice cream and that great chocolate/oatmeal cake. We watched “The Other Side of Heaven”. The elders really liked it. There were things in the movie that sure parallel life here.
After the movie we played the Golf game with several of the African elders for a few minutes and they really liked it. I was on the losing team almost every time. What’s up with that? It’s our game and we showed them how to play. Well, I guess that makes us better teachers than players. They want to play again.
We took the Fidjrosse elders home and then came in to type this and hit the sack. I hope I don’t dream of Golf games.

4-Oct-11 – Our Internet has not been working since Saturday so, we are trying to catch up on our emails. Carole came by to clean today. She told us about the trip to the temple. Amongst the really neat things that went on were a few things that make us wonder if the message is getting through. Carole’s little sister, Josianne, went to do as Paul explained in 1st Cor. 15:29. She enjoyed it so that she didn’t want to come home. Overall the trip was a great success.We met Sister Weed and Precious at Orca, a store where they were buying sheets for beds in the Mission Home for the new missionaries coming here. She and Nancy get along so well together. They could be blood sisters as well as sisters in the gospel. They like the same foods: cooked onions not raw, they wear the same type of clothes and are always want to help someone. Later while Nancy and Carole went to train the Primary leaders I went to the post office to pick up a “treasure box” from home. Wow, what cool stuff, black licorice, sunflower seeds, jerky, Tootsie Pops and breakfast bars. The customs personnel were quizzical about the array of things they had not seen before and not wanting illegal drugs or other contraband coming into the country they needed to sample a few items. The black licorice (my favorite flavor & Nancy’s….well, she likes the brown licorice also.) was not too high on their choice of goodies but the cracked pepper sunflower seeds were a real hit after I showed them how to eat them. I left them with a handful each. We think they really like it when we come to pick up packages. If there are not any goodies in the packages to share with the workers, Nancy runs out to the truck and pulls out some treats in the glove compartment just for an occasion like this. They are always happy. JWe went to training for Seminary and Institute tonight. Wow was it ever long well, Les thought it was long. At the end Lionel said it was time to close because Elder and Sister Southam were tired. We didn’t think it showed but we didn’t argue, it had been a big day. They are always telling us that we need to get some rest. But Nancy rarely needs it so she tells them that she is fine and then just keeps plugging along. We have some new members in our Groups that are going to be teaching seminary & institute. What a challenge. Two of them have only been members for 3 or 4 months.

5-Oct-11 – We had a great rain storm today, it was wonderful. Nancy: Elders Bush, Gbedjangni and Tchibasu returned a DVD “An Introduction to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” today and while here I gave Elder Bush a haircut. He is heading to Togo in a Transfer tomorrow and he didn’t want another “companion haircut” so I told him I would cut it for him. I loved doing that for him because it gave me a chance to talk to him and get to know him better. Before the Elders left us, we fed them a simple lunch of goulash, pineapple and bread (Les just bought these loaves from a lady selling them as she walked past our apartment calling out, “Hot bread”) and then left them in our apartment to listen to one of the Conference talks while we went with Elders Rambeloson and Muteba to teach a man who calls himself, “the prophet”. Les: Now don’t get your hopes up this is a prophet that we really can teach something to. On his card it lists who he is—“Prophet, Teacher, Souls Catalytic Converter, Healer and Deliverer”. That is a pretty impressive list of titles. And here I thought there was only one Deliverer and the prophet lived in Salt Lake City. Wow, the things we learn!!! His home was a house for prayer. He doesn’t have a church and he encourages prayer groups to go to the church of their choice. I am not sure how he survives financially but he did comment on how we don’t pass the plate at our church and asked if the money to run the church just comes out of the sky. He was gracious as we explained the restoration and the need for it. I don’t think for a minute he accepted our message, except that he said he agreed with our doctrines as explained in the pamphlets that the elders had given him the day before. He had various questions but we ran out of time. We will go again. We dropped the elders off at the church, picked up the other elders at our apt., and took them back to Finagnon. We ended the day as Nancy and Carole taught piano in Menontin and got home about 8pm, which is earlier than usual. I was ready for that, me too (Nancy J)!.Nancy: We have transfers tomorrow and we have some very sad Elders. They have all been working on the Primary Sacrament Presentations in the various branches and groups which will begin this coming Sunday and go to the end of November and they so wanted to be a part of them. We are having one presentation each Sunday so that Carole and I and Les, our driver, can attend all of them. We want to see all of them because we have been helping all of them. Today is TRANSFERS and the Elders were doing much better when we saw them. They are kind of excited for a change, it just came a little early for them, I think. We gave all the elders a Chocolate Candy bar and a Granola Bar to eat on the trip to Togo! (Only about a 3 hour drive and that’s crossing the Benin/Togo Border) Elder Robison told me that he remembered receiving the American Granola Bars that we gave them when we picked them up at the border and drove them back to Cotonou. He thought that was so great. So, he is really excited to have it now. (Does doing a little thing make a difference? I believe it does.) We are receiving 6 new Elders from the Ghana MTC. They are Congolese (RDC Congo) and Malagas (Madagascar). We are also receiving some American Elders in the transfer from Togo. These transfers are changing the companionship's a lot, and that's good. It’s just keeping them straight!!! We are, however, very excited to meet the new Elders that are coming here to Cotonou. The biggest challenge is their names!

6-Oct-11- Les and I worked with Christian and his stick balancing talent for the talent show Saturday. It should really be good. It was fun spending some time with Precious today taking sheets and pillows to the new elders. Sister Weed had to go to Togo and did not get them taken around. When we finished we took Precious, Carole and the pianos and went to piano class in Akpakpa. Yesterday we received 11 new missionaries from the Ghana MTC and today 7 of them went to Togo. Several of the elders are from Madagascar and they have really long and interesting names. The names are: Elder Rakotondrasoa and elder Ragodonandrasana. And, there are no mistakes in the spelling. To pronounce them we will either shorten them or learn how to say them. Wish us luck! Along with the new elders, we FINALLY received the mission 12-passenger van. YEAH!!! We are so excited to have it. Now we don’t have to drive so many vehicles when we go special places.

7-Oct-11 – We went to the mission office to look up some information on leases for our buildings. While there we noticed that the front glass sliding door was not being used. We were told that it wouldn’t roll easily. I looked at it and asked Elder Kittaka to help me remove it so we could check the rollers on the bottom. They were both broken and so the door just slid metal to metal. The other half of the door is never used but it rolled quite nicely. So Elder Kittaka and I removed it, put the bad door in its place and put the good door in the service position. Precious was there and told us that just yesterday she told the elders that if Elder Southam were here he would fix the door. I’m glad of her confidence but even happier that things worked out OK. Nancy: Les and I practiced our dance with the “live African band” for the talent show tomorrow. The Africans like it and they make us feel so good. It’s really awesome dancing to their African music made by 2 guitars, 2 African drums, little shakers and a singer.I saw twisted feet on a young girl, maybe 12 years old today. She was walking home from school with some friends. The bottoms of her feet were on top and she was walking on the part of the leg where the leg bone and foot joins. It just makes my heart ache. :( I never saw this on our first mission here but I also saw another one just a few days later. This one was st one foot on a man.

8-Oct 11 - Les and I were pretty busy today. First, we attended a baptism in the morning. She was a lady that lives in the same compound as our little friends, Belvina & Casso. They are so cute and we love them. We met them here on our 1st mission. Anyway, this lady’s husband was baptized 2 weeks earlier and they were so excited. He is a bit smaller than her so he did not baptize her. He also was so new in the Church that he just wanted to watch. We did not have baptism clothes to fit her so Godwin, the DMB (Branch Mission Leader) and Elder Browning found one of the baptismal dresses, took it to a tailor by the Church and she made it large enough to fit her. I thought that was so thoughtful of those two, and they are men! Awesome, they would think to do that. Tonight was the “Talent Show” for the Gbedjromede Branch. The show started at 4:00pm sharp African time (about 4:45). There were several really good talents. Landu (he helps Nancy teach piano), Paul Mukoli and a couple of others had a band that they called Liahona Jazz. They were outstanding. Nancy and I did a swing dance to the music that the Liahona Jazz played for us. It was called, “Labamba”. They really liked it when at the end Nancy jumped into my arms and I turned her around twice as her skirt flowed out and she waved to them. When we returned home I took some ibuprofen and had Nancy rub my back, well…..almost.Christian did his talent and the crowd loved it. He did a balancing act of 12 sticks, ranging in length from 8” to about 8’ long. Les taught him this act and before that Les and Nancy both were able to do this act. It is really pretty awesome to do.

9-Oct-11 – Today was our FIRST Primary Sacrament Presented Program for this year. It was held in the Gbedjromede Branch. It was really good. President Rogatien Lokossou is the Branch President. This was the first time Nadia has ever done anything like leading and presenting a program for the Primary or any other Auxiliary. But, under the watchful eyes of Nancy and Carole she did a great job and the children love her. In the evening we met with the branch presidents and the financial clerks and instructed them in the policy and procedure of budgeting. This will be a great challenge. For most of these people budgeting means spending whatever you earned today to buy food for tomorrow. That doesn’t take a worksheet or a calculator. Some who earn more seemed to catch on to the concepts easier because they save some money for other things, but there is a lot of training to do yet.

10-Oct-11 - Today was the first day of Seminary for the students this school year. We had the Gbedjromede Zone here for lunch today. We had tacos, salad, ice cream and cake. We watched “Remember the Titans” in French and I didn’t even know the French knew how to play football. But the French speakers really enjoyed it. The Elders were Cellen, Muteba, Browning, Kazadi, Leavitt, Mdibu, McCray and Rakotondrasoa. I think Rakotondrasoa is the Malagash equivalent of Smith or Jones. They all enjoyed the day and so did we.In the evening we went with Pres. and Sister Weed to see Pres. Lokossou Rogatien. He is home recovering from some surgery. He was feeling really good and we had a great time talking with him and Lucie, his wife . Lucie imports kitchen items from China and Tailand. She spends a lot of time on these foreign buying excursions.

11-Oct-11 – While Nancy and Carole spent time with the Primary leader, Sr. Tchango, working on the Primary Sacrament Meeting, in the Finangno Group, Les went with Landu and Pres. Desire to look at a possible building for the Akpakpa branch. It would about 5 times their present size and would serve the area for many years to come. Pres. Desire was pleased with the building and so now we will approach Accra to see what they say.We then went to the Gbedjromede Branch where Landu and his band, Liahona Jazz played for us as we danced our swing dance for photos. Carole was our photographer. The photos on Talent Night were blurry so we wanted a memory so we decided to do this again and the Jazz Band was happy to accommodate us. Following that Paul, who is so talented and versatile on the guitar started to play different rhythms and asked us to dance to them. We danced a waltz, cha cha, Polka, swing and a Latin thing that neither of us knew. It must have been funny seeing an old gray haired fat man dancing with a cute, trim, young blond. Never the less they really liked watching us dance for them and it was fun for us also.

12-Oct-11 – Nancy and Carole worked with Sister, Angele, in the Menontin branch as they prepare for Primary Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. They are doing well. It is fun seeing the growth of the members since our first mission. Sister Angele was baptized while we were there and now she is a strong convert helping and teaching the branch. Elder Harding and I attended a meeting with the branch president. We went over a lot of things that were helpful to them. They do their best but sometimes don’t know where to find answers or sometimes don’t know that they need answers. It was fun being with Elder Harding, he is a great missionary.

13-Oct-11 – We went to the mission home today where Nancy and Sis. Weed studied French with Carole and I studied with Precious. This hour of study was really good and this will help Sis. Weed in her command of French. She doesn’t know as much as Nancy and she feels quite inadequate at present but Nancy’s studying with her will help. We went to Akpakpa tonight for piano and a meeting on the branch budget with Pres. Gbedjangni.While at the mission office, Sis. Weed told us of a double murder in her neighborhood. It seems that two men tried to rob a person in the early morning hours and somehow the alarm was sounded and “guardians” of the private properties around ran simultaneously in pursuit of the two and beat them to death, literally. There is something about this justice system that is scary but there is also an element of justice in short order. It also eliminates the need for lawyers, appeals, endless expenses for society, and more often than not a sentence that is meaningless as a deterrent. There have been several robberies in the area recently and always by two men. We will see if the robberies stop now.We had another odd experience today. One of our regular beggars uses a crutch because he can’t walk very well. Today we pulled up to the stop light and by the time he made it to us the light turned green. He pointed to the other side of the intersection where we could pull over and said he would meet us there. As we started off we noticed that he was running through the traffic with the crutch in his hand and with hardly any impediment that we could discern. As soon as we pulled over he was right there at my window. I don’t know how much English he knows (he speaks some) but I told him, “You run pretty well for having a bum leg”. He smiled at me, took the coin and walked away. I wish I could run as fast.

14-Oct-11 – Sister Weed and Precious stopped by this morning and Carole and her mom, Julianne, were here. Julianne had come from Calavie to bring the things she was working on for us. My yellow outfit she made me didn’t fit well, blouse too tight, so she made it to fit me better plus she had extra tissu (material) so she made me one more top. She brought 4 pillow cases that Sister Weed wanted her to make. They are really neat. I sure hope she gives me a set when we go home. That is what she is giving the missionaries when they go home. It’s a great memory for the missionaries. The pillow cases are made out of the African tissu (fabric). I know they will I love them! Sister Weed is a good, good person. She and Nancy could be sisters. They think alike, dress a lot alike, like the same things, and they even have Osteoporosis! Strange, isn’t it! We spent the evening with the Gbedjromede Branch, Nancy with the piano class and me with the priesthood committee. My meetings went well, but Nancy has a bit of a problem with the piano class in all branches. Since school has started, the times we are holding piano are not good. We are working on finding a better time and maybe a better day. We think we have found it and will know after a few weeks of trying it out. Hope it works. We have some really great elders in the apartment across the street from us, Elders Browning and Kazadi and Muteba and Cellen. They are always here to help us with whatever we need. We use them a lot when someone rings our doorbell and we don’t know who they are we just call them on the phone, they look out and find out all we need to know. It is nice.

15-Oct-11 – We had a baptism today and at the close of it the rain just poured. We loaded the new members in the truck and 6 elders in the back and headed to Gbegamey and Fidjrosse. Wow, it was a good storm. Had we not taken them home it would have been miserable for them. We weren’t worried about the police pulling us over today, because they all headed for dry ground.After taking the missionaries home, we went to Pres. Weeds home for Precious’ son, Destiny’s 8th birthday. Sis. Weed made sloppy joes, Sis. Herr made a salad and Sis. Nancy made a cake. It was a very enjoyable evening. We then traded our truck for the new mission van so that we could take the elders to Ganvie on Monday. We stopped to get fuel and I got another education on how to get money from the stupid Yovo’s (white people). I checked the gas pump and it was set at zero. Well, I won’t have to worry now. We will get what the pump says. All is good. A note of necessary information: the service stations are NOT lit up at night and it was pitch black outside, the only way to tell if they really are open is to pull in and look for an attendant. We pulled into the station and a dutiful man ran up to our window. After checking the pump to make sure it was at zero I opened the gas tank and asked him to fill it. He proceeded and when the pump turned off we were at 31,500 cfa about $70. I looked in my wallet and pulled out 4-10,000 cfa bills and handed them to him and said “40,000 and may I have a receipt please?” He walked around the end of the pump, tripping over a garbage can because it was dark. Then returning he handed me my receipt and change for 35,000 cfa. I said, “Wait a minute, I gave you 40,000 cfa.” He pulled the money out of his pouch and showed me the 35,000cfa, 3-10,000s and 1-5,000. I think he tripped over the garbage can as he was shuffling bills. I insisted that I gave him 40,000 and he insisted that I gave him 35,000. The lighting was so bad that in all honesty I could have made a mistake, but I had no 5,000 cfa bills in my wallet anymore and I did look at each bill as I counted them out. Well, at least the pump was right this time and next time the cash will be right BEFORE he takes it. I’ve been schooled 3 times now. That makes high school graduation, college graduation, Master’s degree and now I am wondering what my Doctorate will be like. Just when I think I have it figured out I find I should have done more homework.

16-Oct-11 – We attended church in Fidjrosse which is one of our “Group” buildings where we hold church and the missionaries live upstairs. It was their turn to present their Primary Sacrament Program. Nancy was so excited and happy to watch “her kids” perform in this program. Most of these kids are not even members. They are children of the investigators. There were only 3 that their parents are members and the other 9 were the investigator’s children and they did a great job. Elder Palmer helped Sister Nicase with the songs and the children did great. We then went to Menontin where Soeur Southam & Elder Leach helped them practice for their Primary Sacrament Presentation for next week. It will be really good, also. Following church we brought the mission office elders to our home for dinner. They were really happy for that. They are Elders Kittaka, Leach, Nbunga and Noumbolibona. We took the Elders back to their apartment and then pick up Precious and her boys to show them the building we are looking at for a new chapel for Akpakpa. The landlady is the sister-in-law to the President of Benin, Yayi Boni. She says she hates politicians, they are all liars. We told her we have the same problem at home.

17-Oct-11 – We were able to use the mission van today to take the Akpakpa Zone (Elders Cline, Bukasa, Gnamatsi, & Makubu in the Akpakpa District & Elders Tshibasu, Royer, Gbedjangni, Mundu, Shumway & Mukenga in the Finagnon District) to Ganvie, the City on the Lake. We can travel with 12 in the van at one time. It is a little rough to ride in but the motor and transmission are great and we only have to take 2 vehicles rather than 3 to take a Zone somewhere. We had to go through the customary haggling to finally get a boat. I don’t know why this is a part of the deal. Last time we were charged 2500 cfa each and a single man who had just arrived from Switzerland, paid 7500 cfa. When we told him what we paid he was steamed and demanded his money back and stomped off. We had invited him to join our group for the group rate but he was too upset to think about it. We had the usual tour and they all thought it was a cultural highlight and said it was one of the best things they had done in Africa.We went home to prepare lunch with the Elders. We had real KFC gravy with hamburger in it to pour over rice. They loved it. Elder Shumway just couldn’t say enough about the taste from home. Elders: Cline, Shumway, Bukasa and Gbedjangni helped cook. We watched “The Other Side of Heaven”. It is such a good movie about Elder Groberg’s mission. Boy, this was sure a full day for us today!

18-Oct-11 – Wow, what a great rain storm today. It poured!!!!!!!!!!! We; Carole, Pierre, Les and I took our truck to the body and fender shop to have the dents taken out and the paint touched up. Les was glad that he didn’t put any of the dents in the truck. Today the generator started leaking gas from the carburetor and before I had noticed it we had lost nearly a full tank of gas. We called Pierre to get a repairman here. He arrived and took the bad part that I had removed from the generator and said he would return with the new part. He didn’t come back and so I called Pierre to see where he was. It seems that he couldn’t find the part that was bad and so he had to buy an entire carburetor. He will do that in the morning. Sure hope the power doesn’t go out tonight.

19-Oct-11 – The repairman returned with the new carburetor and installed it. We also have our old generator that we bought on our 1st mission here. It was not working when we got here so we had to buy this new generator. I was able to repair it. The biggest problem was that it had very old gas in it. With the help of some starting fluid I got it running. It ran really rough for several hours while the cleaner worked its magic. Then it smoothed out and ran really well. Unfortunately it was still a bit difficult to start so I took the needed part from the good generator and it now runs really well. So, now we have two really good generators. I took Nancy, Carole, Landu and 11 keyboards (pianos) to Menontin to teach piano tonight. Since school has started there are not as many that come so Nancy is trying to figure out which night, day or whatever will be the best to get the greatest number of people here to learn piano. It is a challenge. The moto driver in the photo above is shuttling contraband gasoline. This business of transporting and selling illegal gas is a huge business in this area. The police would stop it but they make too much money under the table thus it continues. He has 4 large plastic cans of gas tied to the back and he is balancing 2 more on his gas tank in front of him. This is actually a suicide bomber if he hits something. It is so unsafe

20-Oct-11 – We took our desk top computer in to see why it wasn’t working. Before they even looked at it they told us that it would cost $95.00 to repair it. I sure hope it wasn’t just a loose connection. It wasn’t and it cost us $95. They had to take everything off the computer to fix it and then download everything back on. It seems to be working well now. We went to Akpakpa for piano and then to Leader Price, a super market where they had some potato chips on sale. Les looks for potato chips and Nancy looks for cold cereal, cookies and candy on sale! We tried a couple of chip flavors and decided to get a bunch of them for our Monday meals with the elders. It was a good price! It was about 7:30pm when we got there and it was pitch black outside. The lights of the motos and cars gave us plenty of light to go into the store to make our purchase. As we left we found the heavy traffic made it difficult to cross the street but our good friend with only one leg got his crutches out in front of him and hopped into the traffic to get them to stop. Bless his heart. He does this for a 20 cent tip. We started the van and again he stopped the traffic as we left the parking area. He was so happy for the 20 cent tip and we were so happy to be back on the road safely and without many problems! Just as Nancy was getting ready for bed, about 11:30pm, she looked into her little pack that she carries around her neck for her contact lenses case which she took out earlier in the evening to put her contacts in because she couldn’t see through them because of the film that gets on them because of her dry eyes. Phew, what a sentence! They were nowhere to be found. She woke me up and asked if I had seen them. I had not so I got up and we went outside to see if they had fallen to the ground when she got out of the truck to open the garage door so I could drive the truck in. No luck. We searched the van. No luck. We looked in the house. No luck. We finally concluded that the contact case must have fallen from her pack as she got out of the van at the grocery store.We prayed for help in finding them because we had done all we could do tonight. We felt that we should return in the morning to see if they might be in the parking area. That they might still be there would be a miracle.

21-Oct-11 – We woke early (6am) because we were impressed to drive down town to the area where we had parked last night. The store would not be open so no cars should be parked where we were last night. We offered a prayer asking for Heavenly Father’s help and explained Nancy’s real need for her contact lenses. When we arrived a man was sweeping up the parking area. I thought that since Africans never pick up bits of trash by hand that there was a chance that the contact case would still be there. The man asked me to move the truck inasmuch as he was sweeping. I explained that we had lost something last night and we needed to see if we could find it. He pointed to where we were parked last night. He recognized us (we were white) and he knew right where we had parked; these guys see everything (except contact lenses). We looked over the path that we had walked from the store to the truck and made our way to where we had parked. There in a little plastic bag was Nancy’s contact case with her lenses inside. No car had run over them and no one had picked them up. In about 10 more minutes they would have been swept up and thrown away with the garbage. Nancy’s spirits were brightened immensely. When we got home our first order of business was to kneel and offer a prayer of extreme gratitude. Since getting our truck back from the repair shop we now had two vehicles and had to take the van back to the mission office. Nancy was feeling brave and thought she would like the challenge of driving in Africa. So I took the truck and she took the van with Carole riding shotgun (the van is nicer to drive) and I watched her in my rearview mirror as we made our way the nearly 3 miles to the office. She didn’t run over anyone nor did anyone run into her, she did a great job. Now coming home was not as good. While we were stopped at a light a moto driver ran into a street hawker and knocked him into the newly painted side of the truck. We could determine, after a few African expletives, that he was ok. Thank goodness for that and the truck survived quite nicely also. We took Nancy and Carole to the Gbedjromede church for piano practice and then Godwin and I went to pick up our computer from the repair shop. We hooked it up and it seems to be working well. Godwin knows some things about computers so that was nice.

22-Oct-11 -- 4 years ago Precious was baptized. Today I had the opportunity to baptize her youngest son, Destiny. This is one good solid family. Victoria, Precious’ mother, and Joy, Precious’ sister, and her 4 children came. They are no longer active so it was nice to have them come and support Precious and her boys. Following the baptism we loaded Joy’s 4 children and Precious’ two into the back of the truck and loaded Victoria, Joy and Precious in the back seat. We then headed for Akpakpa as it started to rain. It poured down for about 30 minutes. It was lucky for them that they didn’t have to take motos home today. Because of family feuding in the recent past we found it refreshing to see Joy and her mother talking to each other for the first time in about a year. After taking Precious home, we went to President Desire’s home and spent about an hour with them. They are such good people. Nancy made brownies tonight for a birthday cake for Destiny. That was his request. He will have a small party after church tomorrow.

23-Oct-11 – We attended church in Menontin where the Primary children presented the Sacrament Meeting service. Elder Leach played the piano for the songs and Sister Angel led the songs and helped the children with their reading parts. They did a good job. We then headed for the home of Precious to drop off the brownies. Carole went with us and decided to stay for the party later that day. We had enough things to do that we headed for home.

24-Oct-11 – Wow a Monday without elders over for lunch, this should be restful. Mark (Herve) just stopped by to have us go with him to see some bayonets and then try to sell us some. After about 30 minutes he left with the idea to show up at our home at 3:00 with the swords and we can see which ones we want to buy. He never came back. Then Pierre stopped by to have us help him with some computer work. About 3 hours later he finished. Godwin then showed up to wash the truck. While Godwin was washing the truck, Elders Browning and Kazadi came to help us with some computer problems. We fed them a late lunch just before Kossoko came to help us with our computer problems. In all of this, the power went off 7 times today (so far). Sometimes it was but for a few moments and other times for an hour or so. We had planned to go shopping but ran out of time. We will do that another day. Sure glad we had extra time today. The clouds opened again today. Wow we have had a lot of water.

25-Oct-11 – The power continued to go off and on today for a total of 4 more times. We went to the mission office where Nancy and Sister Weed were tutored by Carole in French and I was tutored by Precious. We then went to the Post Office to pick up a letter from Mike Lawyer. He is a man who spent some time here earlier this year on business. He came to the branch and attended primary. He took a photo of them and when he returned home he showed his ward primary his new African friends. Then his primary wrote letters to our primary and sent a photo of them. It was a very thoughtful gesture. The kids here will love hearing from a primary in the United States. We will give them to the Gbedjromede Branch next Sunday because this coming Sunday is our “General Conference”. We now have the dvd’s of Conference and the Area Authorities want us all to watch them together the 1st Sunday of November, and that is November 6th. Also, Sister Allred President of the General Relief Society and Sister Wixom a counselor in the Primary are coming here November 7th where we will be able to receive training from them. We are all so excited.

26-Oct-11 – Nancy is trying a new schedule for piano lessons. It seems that many of the students attend school until 6:00pm or 7:00pm and that makes it tough to attend the piano class. They do have Wednesdays off so today we will have lessons at 2:00pm and 5:00pm. It’s Wednesday. Then on Saturday we will have lessons for the last branch. This will free up two more evenings, which will be nice. Pres. Weed called to tell us there was a package for us from Henry and Mary Yoder, our dear Amish friends. They sent some cheese, jerky, licorice, root beer drops, a book of Bible stories and a lot of chocolates. It was a wonderful treat. The rain poured again tonight.

27-Oct-11 - We were able to do some shopping this morning and pick up some needed items. Nancy and Carole spent several hours with Nadia teaching her primary songs for her branch primary. She is a good young lady and she does a great job.

28-Oct-11 – Precious went with us to visit Brother & Sister MVONDU. He is a maturnity doctor and a member of our Church. They are moving to Cameroon where Sister MVONDU will live with her parents and have her baby while her husband goes to some more school. It was a very nice visit. Brother MVONDU was the leader of the “group” building where we held church and the missionaries live above it. He is a very good man and he will be missed and so will his wife. They are a good family.

29-Oct-11 – Today was a day of training on the how’s and whys of budgeting. We spent two hours each in the Menontin Branch and the Gbedjromede Branch. Tomorrow we will train the Akpakpa Branch after church. Elder Browning translated for me today and Elder Cellan will translate tomorrow. Soeur Southam went with me to do this training. She was able to help the sisters with their budgeting when they needed it.
Landu took care of the piano lessons today inasmuch as Nancy was with me in the training and then went to Akpakpa to help Landu and pick up the pianos after the class. They had finished class just as we got there so we loaded the pianos and came to our apartment. We were glad for a little break! We have nothing new with Carole today except that she spent the day with us.

30-Oct-11 – We attended Church in Finagnon today and were surprised to find President and Sister Weed there, too. It was nice being in a Sacrament Meeting with another couple. Elder Shumway translated from English to French for a non-member as she shared her feelings. He did a good job. We went to Akpakpa next where we had a training meeting with the auxiliary leaders and the branch presidency concerning the budget. It went really well with Elder Cellen translating for me. We dropped off the elders and took Carole for an interview with the mission president.

31-Oct-11 – HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! & FHE with Menontin Zone at the Southams. [Menontin District: E. Harding & E. Harijoana, E. Rambeloson & E. Milambo. Fidjrosse District: E. Attissogbe & E. Ngundu, E. Palmer & E. Kisa]
We were just getting things ready for the FHE meal when the phone rang. It was Sister Weed telling us that Elder Ilunga was sick and the doctor wanted him to have a blood test and would we take him. So, Les went to Gbegamey, picked up Elder Ilunga and Elder McCray, took them to the hospital for the blood test and I stayed at the apartment getting the food ready for the missionaries. Elder Harding bought 4 beautiful pineapples and 4 salt breads and helped me prepare the rest of the food. Elder Harding wouldn’t take any money for them. He said it is they that owe us, but they really don’t. This is just something we like to do for the missionaries.J I had made the hamburger gravy and was cooking rice and green beans when the Elders came. Elder Palmer had just mixed and put the Chocolate/Oatmeal cake into the oven to bake when Elder Southam and Elder McCray & Ilunga arrived. Just in time for a photo and to eat! It was a nice day with the Elders! Okay, we are going to work on getting some photos to go along with this letter, so we hope it works. Love to you all,
Mom & Dad

BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Began: 1 July 2011
Pres. Robert F. & Rebecca Weed; email: rfweed@gmail.com
MISSION HOME – Located in “Haie-Vive” (means, hated-lives)
COTONOU, BENIN WEST AFRICA
Mission Home Phone # : (Office) 011 00229 21 30 84 23

CONTACT INFO:
ELDER & SOEUR SOUTHAM (Les & Nancy)
Our Blogspot: http://africadejavu.blogspot.com/
Call us by phone: You can reach us with a local call by calling our MagicJack phone # which is a
801-850-6506. You can leave a message and we can get that, also.
Landline: 011 00229 21-33-07-35
Cell Phone: 011 00229 97 92 58 55
OR
MAILING INFO:
(For letters & packages by Priority Mail)
Missionary’s Name (Elder & Soeur Southam) or other missionary
BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Cadjehoun Lot #1158 Bloc F
01BP 3323
Cotonou, Benin AFRICA
West Africa
You can track your mail. The tracking number is on your receipt from the post office.
Or you can send a letter to us through the:
Pouch **
Elder and Soeur Southam
BENIN COTONOU MISSION
50 East North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-0001
***These can ONLY be a single sheet folded in thirds and closed with a piece of tape. This takes a regular stamp.
Priority Mail comes really good. We use this one. It takes about 3 weeks, but all packages have made it that have been sent to us here in Benin. There was a problem in Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan but I don’t know how it is now.
DHL or Federal Express You can send packages. They are the most secure, but they are much more expensive. You can track your mail with them, also.

Letter 12

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope you are all doing good and that life is keeping you doing good things. We were able to listen to a few General Conference talks and are wondering about President Monson. Does anyone know why he was 1 hour late for the 1st session of Conference. It was on Saturday, wasn’t it? We pray that he is okay.

We hope that the month of September has been good and now we are all going into a fun and exciting month of October. Have a wonderful time.

Love,

Les & Nancy

1-Sep-11 – We went to Paul Dansou’s chicken farm called “SOUTHPAUL FARM”. He had cut some palm limbs for Les for our upcoming talent show. While there Nancy got to watch and videoed one of the ladies cook pat. In the afternoon we went to Akpakpa for piano lessons. That was really good. They have between 12 and 14 coming each week for lessons and this is for only the Akpakpa branch. Menontin has 8 coming and Gbedjromede had 6 coming. It is great to watch. Landu and Nancy are doing a great work. There is great hope that we will get at least 1 piano player for each branch out of all these students.

Elder Harding told us about one of his and Elder Perkins investigators that was there for a baptismal interview with the mission president. It seems that the past of this man has been somewhat checkered. As a young teenager he impregnated a maid girl at his home. After the baby was born he had a desire to tell his church leader about the situation and ask what he should do. He was told that it was not good to have only one baby because he will grow up spoiled. He needed a sibling so that they could listen together to their parents. So amongst other things now he has two children, no wife--the maid grew up and left the family and the grandmother is raising the children. I love some of the thinking we run into here. Then he told us that instead of three being baptized this Saturday, there will only be two. It seems that one of the young men had not been telling Elder Perkins and Elder Harding the truth about himself. They were all set for his baptism when his brother came to them and told of an incident that happened this past week. They were in the kitchen cooking when the brother being baptized, got upset because he was cooking himself some food and the other brother came in to take some to eat. He told his brother he was not going to take his food and he pulled a knife on him. The Elders learned that the one to be baptized had gone back to his own ways and he been drinking when he pulled that knife on his brother. So, this young man is not ready to be baptized.

2-Sep-11 – Nancy taught piano at Gbedjromede tonight. Their number is growing and they had 9 playing tonight. They also teach conducting to them so they can get people to sing together and also so they can learn to feel the beat.

3-Sep-11 – After the baptismal service Elders Harding, Bush, Perkins and a new African missionary, Elder Tshibasu took us to lunch. Elder Harding treated us. That was really nice of him. He says that it is only right for the elders to treat us once in a while because we seem to be treating them all the time.
We then went to Akpakpa for the big talent show. It lasted 3 hours and a ton of saints took part. Pres. Weed played his guitar and sang “Grandma’s Feather Bed”. That was fun. [This is Nancy: Jeanie, it brought back many memories of you and I singing it and the many other songs we used to do together. Ho, Humm, a walk down memory lane….] Nancy and I did a swing dance which culminated in Nancy jumping into my arms and then we turned in a circle. They loved it. [Nancy again: It seems that because we are the “Senior Couple, they don’t think we can still do things like this. I was kneeling down taking photos of a wedding one day and one of the branch members came to me after and told me that I am so strong and young. I’ll take that compliment any day! J]

4-Sep-11 – We attended fast meeting in Gbedjromede. It was packed, no chairs to be found anywhere. The Primary is doing very well with sister Nadia leading and teaching them music. . [Nancy again: Nadia is a single young lady who cannot read but her heart is so full of goodness, she loves children and she loves her calling as the Primary Chorister. It’s just so incredible to watch her with the children. She just wants to learn all she can about Primary so, she can really teach them. In teaching the children a song, 1st I teach the song to her, she goes home and works on it until she has learned it and then she goes to primary and teaches it to the children just as she learned it. It’s so awesome to watch her. She is so full of fun and is always making everyone laugh.] We went to the home of Precious tonight. Her sister Joy was there with Favor. This is the first time we have been able to see Favor since we have been back. It was so good to see her. She is a sweet young lady of 10 years. Precious pays for the schooling for Favor because Joy would not send her to school because she has no money and her live-in boyfriend will not pay for it. Mike, her live-in boyfriend, beats Joy often and runs around with other women. We have a hard time trying to reason why she stays with him. He beats her, he gives her no money, he runs around with other women and he drinks “his” money away. But she says she “loves him”. Well, that trumps all reason.

It is not every night that we hear the drum beats of Africa but once in a while when we do my mind rushes to an old Tarzan film and as we listen to the drums and the tribal songs drifting through the air I can visualize Tarzan swinging through the trees on the long vines. But, we are in the city and have never seen jungle as in the movies, nevertheless, the drums are still alive and the songs, reminiscent of movies, sit in the heart of Africa. When my mind wanders too much I walk out on to the balcony to see the motos driving by, the vendors carrying their wares up and down the street, the electric lights of the houses nearby and the bar with its patrons listening to modern African rock songs. It’s then that I find myself back in the Africa that we know every day. But even though life in downtown is modern by their standards, Africa is still not too far removed from what my memory conjures up.
Nancy here: This may seem strange, but the other night I was out on the deck listening to the African music and seeing in my mind, also an image of Tarzan swinging from tree to tree clinging to the long vines. Interesting that Les and I both had that experience. I guess it was at different times, we never shared that with each other, but yet the feelings were so similar.

5-Sep-11 – Today we took the elders from the Akpakpa Zone (Akpakpa District: E. Perkins & E. Harding; E. Gnamatsi & E. Makubu. From the Finagnon District: E. Tshibasu & E. Bush; E. Gbedjangni & E. Cline.) Because of the number of elders going we needed President & Sister Weed and the assistants (E. Shaffer & E. Lamboni) to take their vehicles so that we would have enough seats to get us all to the city of Ouidah (wee-dah) the birthplace of Voodoo and the location where millions of Africans were loaded on ships to be sold as slaves. When we were being guided through the Portuguese fortress which was used to house the slaves while awaiting the next slave ship, we were told that never did the whites capture slaves. It was rival tribal leaders who took, by conquest, peoples of other tribes and sold them for liquor, tobacco, guns, mirrors, and other trade items. 21 women were worth a canon while it only took about 10 men for the same item. Men were considered more valuable as laborers in the new world.
At the Voodoo temple Elder Perkins gingerly accepted the offer to have a python placed around his neck. He “hates” snakes but a photo of this sort is a good one for family and friends at home. This is a nice diversion from the daily schedule and the elders really like it. Elders Cline, Perkins, Harding, Bush and Shaffer were the elders from the U.S. They are such good elders.

6-Sep-11 – We visited the mission office today and then Nancy and Carole went to the church to train the Primary leaders. They are doing a great job.
My mind went back a short time ago to when we were picking up some new elders from America. We mentioned that we would go to our home first to have some beans for dinner before taking them to their areas of labor. We sat them down and proceeded to ladle up bowls of nice white beans seasoned with carrots, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and hamburger. One of the elders asked where the beans were that we were to eat. I told him that they were in the bowls we just served up. He looked a little confused because he had never had cooked beans before and he thought we were going to be eating dried beans for dinner. He was very pleasantly surprised, beans were not going to be bad after all here in Africa. Today is Scott Hamner’s birthday. Scott is our long-time great neighbor. We even called and sang Happy Birthday to him.

7-Sep-11 –TRANSFERS TODAY! We went to the mission office early this morning to say goodbye to Elder Nyuiadzi. He returns today to his homeland of Lome, Togo (the adjoining country to us here in Benin). He was a great missionary. He translated for Les in the Menontin Branch at Branch Presidency’s Meetings. We really like him and he speaks pretty good English, too. We also took a jar of cooked white beans with carrots, onions & a little ground beef to Elder & Sister Herr. Sister Herr has been sick and we thought she would enjoy something homemade. Elder Herr loved it, too.

I, Les, woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck this morning. I guess I slept wrong last night. The pain got progressively worse so at lunch I laid down for a while. I dozed off and when I woke up I couldn’t get up because I couldn’t move my neck without excruciating pain. Nancy came in and I asked her to call for the elders. Elders Browning and Kazadi came over and gave me a blessing. It wasn’t long until I was up and at it with very little pain. We were going to cancel piano for tonight because I drive them to it, but not now. I asked Elder Browning to pull my head away from my body in hopes that would “undo” the pinched nerve. That seemed to help. We also called our chiropractor, Dr. Rosequist, but couldn’t reach him. We left a message and he called us back later and gave us some further instructions which really helped and we got to talk to him for a few minutes, getting that feel of home! Thank you, Dr. Rosquist that was so kind of you. Also our mission doctor, Elder Fife, gave us some guidance on some medications to get. But with the rapid recovery I had we don’t think we will need them. I had already received the best medication possible. So, after all that, Nancy & Carole got to go to the Menontin Branch for piano after all.

8-Sep-11 – My neck was just fine today. Nancy here: Since finding a Laundromat is near to impossible, we took our blue comforter to Sister Weeds to clean it in her washing machine. It is larger than ours but not that much. Precious was cleaning there and she watched it for us. It came out very nice but that was because Precious was very particular and had to wash it 2 times. She was so sweet to do that. We left and had piano class at the Akpakpa Branch tonight. It is much slower for the piano students to learn to play in this mission than it was in our first mission because we do not have enough pianos for each of them to be able to take one home and practice on. We only have enough for each one to play on during our piano classes. We have 11 pianos and we use them in each branch. Right now we take these pianos from branch to branch every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and they are used by different members in each branch. We are providing them 30 minutes before class time to come and practice but that still is not a lot of practice time. I’m sure something will work out.

9-Sep-11 –Carole and I trained the Primary leaders and then helped Sister Weed (she had to go to Togo) in doing a little training with the Young Women leaders this week. Today was the last Young Women’s leader in the three branches that needed to be trained; Christine in Menontin Branch, Precious Branch in Akpakpa Branch and Félicité in Gbedjromede Branch. We taught her about Personal Progress and gave her some ideas to help her get t;he young women started. Sister Weed made a 3-month’s schedule of things to do each week to help the leaders in understanding more about this and hoping that the girls will want to continue. She made a memory game with the 1st Presidency and the 12 Apostles for each leader. We played the game with them so they would know how to use it. They loved it and said they would use it with their girls. We also went through the 3-months schedule with them so help them understand that, too. Following that we taught piano in Gbedjromede. It looks like we have 1 or 2 potential piano players in each branch. That would be so great to have more piano players for these branches. We have been blessed to have Elders that can play when we have a piano there for them but it would be great if it can be a member. We are hoping to get more pianos so we can have 1 or 2 for every building. That would mean we would then have a total of 12 pianos here. That would be so awesome.

10-Sep-11 – Tonight was the talent show for the Menontin Branch. We will have a talent night in the other 2 branches also and those are coming up. The talent night went on for about 2½ hours. Some of the talent was really good. Nancy and I did the swing again and they really liked it. Following the activity we loaded our truck with 15 people and headed home. Sure glad the police were not out looking for someone to pull over tonight. BYU played Texas tonight and beat them. Les stayed up and watched part of the game. When we woke up we learned that BYU had lost by 1 point; BYU 16 - Texas 17.

11-Sep-11 – Today was 9-11 and we were not aware of any notice of it by the people here in Benin. We were glad for that and hoped all was well at home and throughout the world.

We went to Church in Fidjrosse today. We have noticed that the attendance is down in the Unitee groups. In analyzing the drop in attendance, it occurred to us that the saints in these new units have contact with the Church only on Sunday and no other activity during the week. Since they have plenty of time for activities, they are going somewhere else to find friendship and association. We talked with the leaders and now we will start to have activity nights for the adults and children. We will have Institute, game nights, talent nights, and other activities to involve everyone. One of the things each member needs is a friend and we will try to facilitate that. If any of you have some more ideas to use please send us an email.

12-Sep-11 – We had the elders from the Gbedjromede Zone over for burgers, chips, pasta salad, and ice cream and Chocolate/Oatmeal Cake. Then we watched How to Train Your Dragon. It was very enjoyable. Elders McCray, Browning, and Winter helped prepare the meal and do the clean up. Elders Attisogbe, Muteba, Rambelolson, Kazadi, Ilunga, and Owasu-Fenyi were also here. Because of language barrier it is easier for the English speakers to help. Also it is easier to explain the whys and wherefores of cleaning up properly so as not to have germs left lurking around. However, Nancy always likes to include everyone so they feel a part and know that we care about them, too, so she went in to talk to them.
Elder Browning brought his guitar over and did a little singing, he is good!!! His “Hey Jude” by the Beatles took me way back to my first mission in Liverpool, England just as the Beatles were really getting famous and it took Nancy back to Weiser, Idaho and Los Angeles, California where she spent a summer working and living with her sister, Julie. That is almost 50 years ago, wow, are we that old? Where has the time gone?
The elders were so nice and mentioned how good it is to “hang out” with us for a taste of home and a little diversion of the daily routine. I guess hanging out with the “old people” isn’t so bad. We went shopping after the elders left and then bed. It was a good day.

13-Sep-11 – Nancy and Carole trained the Primary leaders again tonight. I planted some tomatoes in our pots out on the balcony. We have 5 tomatoes growing now. We can’t wait for them to ripen and then to eat them. Actually, one is beginning to change color and is a nice reddish/orange color. We did however find some surprisingly good tasting tomatoes last night while shopping.
Elder Tshibasu helped Nancy find an English Course online so the missionaries could teach an English once a week to anyone. Our printer would not print it out so we put it on our USB drive and made a copy at the Mission Office. Then we made 6 copies for each building so they now can teach English. The Elders are excited to get this class going. I made some “wonder sauce” to pour over rice tonight. We found a can of thick cream so we used that and flour, seasonings. We didn’t have a recipe but it seemed to turn out really good. I wonder if we can duplicate the taste another day? We put the sauce over rice. It was a nice meal.

14-Sep-11 – We went teaching with Elders Browning and Kazadi, the ADJANO Alain family. They are really a great family. They have 3 children and the parents are very interested in our Church. They are attending Church on Sundays, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying together. They do, however, need to be civilly married before they can be baptized. Sister Tammy Starr sent us 2 Book of Mormons with a picture of our Ward’s primary children and their testimonies in it. She wanted us to give them to the missionaries so they could give them to 2 different families. We gave 1 book to Elders Workman and Muamba and the other to Elders Browning and Kazadi who gave theirs to the ADJANO Alain family. Both of these families were so thrilled to receive this book.
Landu, Carole and Nancy taught piano in Menontin tonight.

Joachim Lokossou’s daughter-in-law 7 months pregnant was washing clothes and her back began to hurt her real bad. She went to the hospital and neglected to tell the doctor that she was only 7 months along. The doctor thought that the baby was ready to come so he gave her a shot to help bring the baby. When he realized what he had done, he tried to save the baby by doing a surgery, but the baby died. Another sad thing in the everyday life of Africa.

15-Sep-11 – Les, Carole and I took the bedroom curtains to Finagnon so Pierre could hang them with the wooden rods he made. Elder Sitati, of the 1st Quorum of 70’s is coming tomorrow to the Elder’s apartments to see them and we wanted them to be nice plus these poor Elders have been without any cover on their windows since they moved in, which was about 6 months ago. Sorry, Elders! We got a Hawaiian pizza at a Pizzareria shop before piano class. I liked it but Les thought it tasted like cardboard. He did eat 3 pieces, though. When we arrived at Akpakpa for piano the power was off so we came home early. We were so happy for that! We didn’t mind getting home before dark for a change.

16-Sep-11 – Today we started meetings with Elder Sitati. He is from Kenya, Africa but with his calling in the 1st Quorum of 70’s, he has not been there for a while. He is currently living in Accra, Ghana. He had a flight scheduled to get him here for Wednesday and then that flight was cancelled. He could not get another flight until next week so he drove here with his wife and the Zone Conference was changed from Wednesday to Friday & Saturday.
Today, Elder Sitati met with many of the elders in their apartments and had interviews with them. In the evening we went to Menontin to give Elder Wolthoff his birthday present. He was more excited with the small box of Oreo cookies than he was with the new Jatala tie! And he really liked that, too. Looks like Nancy guessed right, again! She usually gives them a chocolate candy bar with a Jatala tie but she had 3 boxes of Oreo cookies and decided to give Elder Wolthoff one! Good choice!
On the 13th, 3 days ago, I planted some tomato seeds and today we have 6 plants up and out of the ground. Is that crazy? Only three days from seed to 1” plants. The hot humid nights here really help at this stage of the growing process. We will be looking forward to more really nice tomatoes.

17-Sep-11 – We had Zone Conference this morning with Elder Sitati. It was really good with his instructions on obedience in relation to the plan of salvation. We had a nice lunch of sandwiches, mixed-fruit salad, macaroni salad, chips, a cookie and a drink.
At 6 pm we had a fireside with Elder Sitati. Being African, he understands how traditions and customs go here. He told the group that in the church we ask the men to express verbally their affection for their spouses. He noted that this is certainly NOT the African way but we need to change and recognize the women in our lives.

In the evening the Weeds, Herrs, Sitatis and we went to the Marina Hotel for a nice meal. It was really a nice relaxing get-to-know one another evening. Sister Herr told of a story of a family in Kenya who hired a bus to take 30 people to a wedding. The road they had to take was treacherous. Something went terribly wrong and the bus wrecked. 20 family members were killed. What a sad sad happening. They said this road is really bad and some of the big trucks at places have to slow down to walking speed. This is where bandits jump onto the trucks and start to throw off anything they can get. The truck drivers are aware of the ongoing robbery but are afraid to stop for fear of being killed. There are some strange things that happen here. Elder and Sister Sitati leave early tomorrow morning. They will be leaving for October conference later in the week.

18-Sep-11 – We attended church in Finagnon today. It was a nice day. We came home and straightened and cleaned (even though it is Sunday) because we were to pick up the Findlays from the airport tonight. We brought them to our home, fed them and talked. They are here for the church’s participation in the measles inoculation campaign and then to help get a wheelchair project into motion in Togo. They should be quite busy for a few days. They brought us some movies that can be changed to the French language for the missionaries. They will love them. They also brought some breakfast bars, sunflower seeds, a camera battery, dry seasoning mixes and a calendar for us. That was so nice of them.

19-Sep-11 – Nancy here: We had the elders from the Akpakpa Zone (Elders Perkins, Caycho, Gnamatsi and Makubu from Akpakpa Dist and Elders Tshibasu, Bush, Gbedjangni and Cline from the Finagnon District) over for tacos today for FHE. They were so appreciative of being able to come for an American made meal. Elder Cline was a big help as he deseeded a watermelon for lunch. Elder Bush helped enter the new missionaries information in my computer so we can have the info on where they are from, birthdays and etc. We invited the Findlays to have lunch with us if they had time and they did. They loved being with the Elders, too. Today is the kick off for the measles campaign and that is keeping the Findlays busy. They told us that the Benin Government decided Saturday night where the measles shot centers would be for Monday. That didn’t give them very much time to get the word out where the locations were. We’ll see how it does.
We were sorry to hear that Ashley’s grandpa, Wes Swenson, passed away today (I think). His funeral will be Thursday in Pleasant Grove, UT. Randy and Ashley and family will stay at our home. I’m sure glad it is available for the kids when they need it.

20-Sep-11 – Carole called yesterday to make us aware of a terrible thing that was happening and wanted us to call all of the elders so they wouldn’t have any problems. She said that the news media had reported a warning to all the citizens. If we receive calls on our phone from a number we don’t recognize we should not answer it. It seems that this time of the year is a sacrificial point in time for some Voodoo-like people in Nigeria. If they call you on the phone then you will become sick and in some cases die because of the witch craft power of Voodoo. This happened to at least one man in our city and probably more. Now I know why I had such a sore neck last week. It was from shaking my head in wonderment. We told Carole that this was not true. She then said that if people really believe they will get sick maybe they will. We granted her that much, after all our neighbor died of a curse during our last mission.

Les, Carole and I went with the Findlays on the Measles Campaign to several of the vaccination sites in our area today. The measles campaign covered 6 zones here in Cotonou, we had 150 Church volunteers and 200 banners were made by the Findlays for all of Cotonou. The constant light rain during the morning kept many of the people in, but there were some who came out for the shots. This brought back a lot of memories of having taken our children to the clinics for their shots. I remembered feeling so bad when they pierced their little arm and unbeknownst to them, it was going to hurt. I always wondered if there was some way I could have prepared these little ones for this, but I could never figure out how when they are so young. Les writes: I must be a big boob because as I watched these innocent little children who, having complete trust in their mothers, sit there quietly wondering what was going on then start to scream as they see a huge needle headed toward their little arm and cry in pain as it pierces them, I find myself squirming and wincing as I walk away from the clinic to the quietude of our truck. I would much rather give shots to our horses at least they don’t cry. All of the clinics that we saw were outside but we know there were some in the hospitals. Some were under awnings to protect them from the rain others were just under trees.

After lunch Nancy and Carole went knocking on doors inviting people to the puncture party and found that many did not know where to take their children for the shot. Sister Findlay said that the Government decided on Saturday where the sites would be for the following Monday. There wasn’t much time to get the word out as to the location so signs were posted in a few places and just by “word of mouth” the message got out. I took a couple of photos and Nancy took a lot more.

In the evening Nancy and Carole taught Primary songs to Chefiat, the primary chorister of the Gbegamey Group. Also the talents for the Gbedjromede Branch were practicing their acts. Some of these are really good.

21-Sep-11 – Piano lessons for Menontin tonight. While Landu and Carole taught it, Nancy and I went to President and Sister Weed’s home for a dinner to celebrate the birthday of Sister Herr. We took the Findlays with us. It was an enjoyable evening. Then, we went back to the branch to pick up all of the keyboards for tomorrow night’s lesson in Akpakpa and arrived back to our apartment about 9pm.

22-Sep-11 – This morning we took Sister Weed shopping at Misebo for sheets and pillow cases for the incoming elders. I bought a pair of pants that were guaranteed to be wonderful. Since the legs are too long Carole’s mom will tailor them and they’ll be great. In the evening we went to Akpakpa for piano lessons.

23-Sep-11 – Carole came to clean the apartment this morning. We took Sister Weed out to Carole’s mother’s home so that she could have her do some sewing for her and we took my pants, too. On the way back Nancy had us stop to see Elder Bokolo to sing happy birthday and to give him a gift. (a Jatala tie and chocolate candy bar). He really liked both of them. In the evening Nancy and Carole taught piano with Landu.

24-Sep-11 – We had a baptism again today of 7 people. Following the service we had a missionary social. In the afternoon Godwin and I built the stands for the “golf” game. The golf balls on the ropes were already here, they had been left here from our first mission! That was a great surprise to find them! Then Godwin and I picked up some ping pong paddles for the ping pong table. Because the word didn’t get out very well that we were having this social, we only had 6 missionaries and 3 members to begin with. Since we played in the street people walk by and notice all the activity. A couple of neighbors opened their gate and set chairs up so they could see the golf game and others watched and wanted to play ping pong. All the cheering brought them out. The golf game and ping pong were both hits at the social. It was a good evening.

Well, it was a good evening until we stopped to get fuel for our truck at the Total Station. It was there that we got hammered with an extra 5000 francs ($10.50). One of the tricks the people use here is to hang up the fuel nozzle so that it doesn’t shut off the pump then the next unsuspecting guy pulls in and says to fill it up and the pump starts with the previous 5000 francs and then you are charged with that. The attendant then pockets the money and does very well for the day. A good station always has you look at the pump to see that it is cleared. I looked at the pump and saw the 5000 francs on it and told him to stop. Then for some reason I looked at it wrong and told him to go ahead. Then I realized that we had been had again and told him. He said that the pump was at all zeros when he started. I told him it wasn’t. He won this one. Not the next one. We won’t be back!

25-Sep-11 – As we were about to leave for church in Gbegamey Elder Browning stopped us to see if we could give Paul, the tailor, and Desi, the hair dresser, directions to Gbegamey. It seems that the elders in that area invited them to church and low and behold we just happened to be going there today so we loaded them in and took them. Following church Precious came over to finish some family history for some of our members who are going to the temple tomorrow. Just as she was about to enter the very last name the internet went down. Wow what luck. She headed home and stopped at an internet café which she never does on Sunday but it was her only hope to get the records finished so the members could take their records to the temple. They were to bring a copy of the family records. The internet was working there and Precious was able to finish it and print it out. Brother Tchango came to the internet to pick up the papers and they were all happy.

Carole brought 3 flats of eggs over so that they wouldn’t just be left in her apartment for the week she will be at the temple. She sold one to Elder Browning and we bought the other two. Soon the power went out (about 5:30) and we were all in the dark until midnight when it came back on. We started the generator and invited the elders Browning, Kazadi, Mutaba and Rambeloson over from across the street. We watched “The Other Side of Heaven”. That was good.

Carole needed some copies made of a document they needed for the border, so Nancy made copies of it. Nancy had made some banana nut bread without nuts for Carole to take to the temple tomorrow and had an extra loaf so she had Carole give it to Lionel Missigebto and his wife, Diane, to take with them. The members are all really excited about this temple trip. Just over 40 are going. On our first mission if we got 6 or 8 to go we were excited. The church is doing well here. It’s not perfect but it is well.

26-Sep-11 – At about 6:00 am the saints started loading into the bus. Wow, what excitement. We will get a full report of all who went and what work was done.

At 8:00 we loaded the Gbedjromede Zone, Elders Browning, Kazadi, Mutaba and Rambeloson from the Gbedjromede District and Elders Winter, McCray, Ilunga and Owusu-Fenyi from the Gbegamey District into our and the assistants trucks and headed for Ouidah where the “main attraction” The Temple of The Pythons is. The elders really like this. We did the usual tour of sights; the Portuguese Fort where the slaves were kept until the ships came to get them, the route they had to walk chained together to the ocean and onto the ships, a sculptured tree and the Temple of the Pythons. At the beach Elder Owusu-Fenyi was very surprised and happy when Nancy broke out a birthday present (Jatala tie and Chocolate candy bar) and had all the elders sing happy birthday to him. It was neat to see how much he loved that. We changed the route coming home. We took the beach road and drove about 35 miles along a sandy road parallel to the beach. It was a slow paced drive past several small villages whose main source of income is fishing. We passed several places where men were preparing and moving the nets back into the boats for the next foray into the ocean. In other places we saw people gathered to purchase the days catch and then go to resell or to take home to cook. What a pleasant day. It only took us about 15 minutes longer, but it was a much safer road to travel. (not so many cars, trucks, moto’s and pot holes in the road to dodge!)

In the evening we went to the mission president’s home to watch the Women’s Conference. We had technical difficulties but were able to watch Pres. Uchdorf’s talk. It was so good. Sister Weed then gave us some homemade apple crunch with some ice cream. The evening was very nice.

27-Sep-11 – Christian came over today to learn a talent for the upcoming talent night. Godwin and Landu were here and we used them both to help Christian do this talent. When we first showed Christian this talent he thought it was way too hard to do and he chose not to do it, but when I told him that I did it in the other two branches he gained confidence and knew he could do it, too. Especially if an old gray haired fat man could do it. His first attempt was really good so was his second. He will be a hit on talent night. Godwin handed him the sticks and Landu played the drums. It was really neat. Oh, Nancy has also done this trick. It’s a really neat one.

Following that Landu went with us to the Congo Embassy to pick up his passport. He has paid twice for it and has paid some bribes to be sure to get it done. Today was the day to finally pick it up after 4 years of trying. As soon as we walked in it was clear that there was another hiccup. The first thing they said was, “We have been trying to call you but the number you left us will not work.” He had to fill out the passport form, redo his finger prints and send another photo in because when they emailed the information to Congo things didn’t come through well in Congo and they couldn’t read it. So, they wanted Landu to do it again. Somehow we were not surprised. The ambassador is going back to Congo next week and he will personally get the passport. We are anxious to see but are not holding our breath.

We did some shopping and while unloading the truck I reached across the seat to get a sack and as I stood back up my back began to hurt. It got worse and worse and by the time we went to bed I could not move very well.

28-Sep-11 – I woke with the same sore back. We called for the elders again and they came over. Elder Kazadi anointed me and Elder Browning gave me a blessing. I began to feel better immediately. Some of the pain persisted and so I spent the afternoon lying on the couch. Sure glad Nancy has been healthy.

We went shopping again to buy some apricot jam that was on a great sale. We bought 15 jars for the American elders and 1 African. The African missionaries have never eaten jam before their missions and were not too interested in having any.

29-Sep-11 – We went with Landu to look at a building as a possible replacement for the Akpakpa chapel. We are just growing out of the one we have now. We will keep looking until we find a good place. We have looked at several but none fit the bill yet. We have had an easy week with so many of the saints going to the temple. We have cancelled piano classes for the week and that has been good because it has given us a chance to catch up on things we have just had to let sit. Nancy has worked on preparing things for piano, primary and young women’s Personal Progress and spending some time with Sister Weed which has been nice for them.

30-Sep-11 – We called Dave to wish him a happy birthday today. He and Cassidy were on their way home from Jocelyn’s school class where Dave dressed up like a cowboy and told the kids stories. They loved it. e andIt was fun to talk to him and the kids. We went over to the church and listened to Landu’s group practice for the talent show. They are called Liahona Jazz and they sound really good. They want to play music for us to swing to for the talent show. We think they will do a good job of it.



Well, we have come to the end of another month. We hope you are all doing good. May the Lord bless you all. Thank you for your friendship and love.

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder & Sister Southam, Les & Nancy

Love to you all,

Mom and Dad, Grandma & Grandpa Southam, Elder & Soeur Southam, Les & Nancy


BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Began: 1 July 2011

Pres. Robert F. & Rebecca Weed; email: rfweed@gmail.com

MISSION HOME – Located in “Haie-Vive” (means, hated-lives)

COTONOU, BENIN WEST AFRICA

Mission Home Phone # : (Office) 011 00229 21 30 84 23


CONTACT INFO:
ELDER & SOEUR SOUTHAM (Les & Nancy)

Our Blogspot: http://africadejavu.blogspot.com/
Call us by phone: You can reach us with a local call by calling our MagicJack phone # which is a

801-850-6506. You can leave a message and we can get that, also.
Landline: 011 00229 21-33-07-35
Cell Phone: 011 00229 97 92 58 55

OR
MAILING INFO:
(For letters & packages by Priority Mail)
Missionary’s Name (Elder & Soeur Southam) or other missionary

BENIN COTONOU MISSION
Cadjehoun Lot #1158 Bloc F
01BP 3323
Cotonou, Benin AFRICA
West Africa

You can track your mail. The tracking number is on your receipt from the post office.

Or you can send a letter to us through the:
Pouch **
Elder and Soeur Southam

BENIN COTONOU MISSION
50 East North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-0001

***These can ONLY be a single sheet folded in thirds and closed with a piece of tape. This takes a regular stamp.

Priority Mail comes really good. We use this one. It takes about 3 weeks, but all packages have made it that have been sent to us here in Benin. There was a problem in Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan but I don’t know how it is now.

DHL or Federal Express You can send packages. They are the most secure, but they are much more expensive. You can track your mail with them, also.