First Baptism

Bonjour!

Alright so I'm glad that you're all doing good! I'm sure its kinda weird adjusting to an empty house. Oh yeah Chelsey told me all about her Birthday and I'm glad things are going well! And those costumes are pretty awesome! So I would chat with you a little more but you have asked a lot of questions and I feel its important to answer all of them. Oh and also I haven't received the package yet but I asked around and my companion told me to ask you guys what like mail company did you use to send it? I'm probably going to ask around a pretty soon because i don't know if he completely knows how it works. Also there's no addresses in Benin so its kinda hard to tell you where I live. Its somewhere in Porto Novo kinda next to a big green water tower. Also down the streets there's a statue type thing made of bronze and a round about. That's pretty much all I can tell you. Were near a white mosque if that helps.

Alright so for Christmas I think that I'm doing pretty good but thanks though!

I have one who speaks pretty good English but even still its not the greatest. I'm teaching my companion a little bit of English and the other Elder doesn't speak it at all besides yes!

Alright so how I'm doing? I'm doing pretty good right now! At the start of this week I was actually super homesick, one time to the point where like I actually felt sick. Also I have lost some weight but in a good way! I've started doing some push-ups and stuff like that but yeah!

Average day. Wake up at 6 have a prayer and sing a hymn with everyone in the apartment get ready for the day. Study up until about 10 for the most part come in at 12 eat then study or take a nap. Sometimes its super hot so we don't go back out till 4 but usually we end up back out there at 3 or so. Then we usually come in at around 6:30 or 7:00 because by that time its dark. So we really don't have much time because the days aren't very long and they don't want us out after dark. With all the time in the evening we have dinner, study a little or just relax. And that's the day!

So yeah she did get baptized! Her name is Mamma Sabine and shes really funny! Her memory is a little difficult so she had to really study to pass the baptismal questions but she has a super strong faith in God and its good!

Anyway I love you guys and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Mamma Sabine - First baptism

Nice day for a walk.

Delish!

Bonjour toute le monde!

I wish that I could reply to you all personally but I only have so much time and the internet connection here isn't the best but I'll try to fit in as much detail as I can into these emails!

Alright, so our arrival into Benin was a little crazy. Originally we were supposed to go to Chicago, catch a connecting flight to Paris, then in Paris catch one to go to Benin. Didn't quite work like that. So we missed our flight to Chicago because the plane was having problems so we were going to take a direct flight from Salt Lake to Paris and we almost missed that one because we didn't have a plane. It was a wreck anyway we got on and we landed in Paris and barely made our flight to Cotonou! We spent 38 total hours either in an airport or on an airplane it was a mess. But now I'm here!!

This place is insanity and I love it!! There is so much going on all the time and all of it crazy! Some of the people here are the nicest people I've ever met and they're so patient with my terrible French! That's the other thing, I wasn't trained for accents like this. It's so hard to make out their accents and some speak rapidly! I can understand the American missionaries but some of the others its a little difficult,

My companion is pretty much the best that there is! He is so cool and is so patient with me all the time! He's pretty much a stud!

Another thing I want to say is that the traffic here... is complete and utter madness. There are no rules and its just pretty much every man for himself! Also I've never seen so many motorcycles in my life, it's ridiculous. You can take a motorcycle but its strictly forbidden by our president because if you get hit while riding one, your dead.

Oh and the church here in my Branch isn't very big cause it just opened up like 5 months ago, oh and my branch is in the capital city of Porto Novo and its awesome! Every one just loves the gospel and really wants to help it grow. They're always willing to lend a hand and its awesome!

Alright i gotta get going but I love you all and I just want to say thanks to everyone for your support! If you want to forward this email go on ahead because I don't have everyone's emails that I would like.  So if I'm missing people please forward it! That would be great thank you all!
I love all of you! Have a good week!

Is that a goat down there?

Apartment

Roomies

His Companion Elder Hypote

View from the apartment

Dinner time

Elder Hypote

Elder Hypote

From the Mission President

Good Morning,

We would like to inform you of the arrival of your wonderful son in the mission field October 4th, 2016. He will be serving in Benin in an area called Porto-Novo with a great companion named Elder Hypote from The Ivory Coast. His next preparation day, the day he will be able to write home, is Monday, so you should be hearing from him soon. We also attached a picture of your son with my wife and I. He is looking great and is happy to finally be here, and you can be proud of the service your son is doing at this time for the Lord. May God bless you.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Morin.

Bonjour mes parents!

I know! It's coming so fast and it's really crazy! I'm super excited though! I just hope I can fit everything in my bags and stuff! And yeah I'm definitely recovered pretty much all the way and thank you guys for your packages and the doughnuts they're so awesome! Oh yeah I'll have to look into that. I'll try and get it before I depart!

Is there a certain time that you want me to call? Cause if so, it would be pretty easy to do that! The phone was a great idea so thanks for that!

Thanks for sharing that experience! Chelsey talked to me about that too and that sounds quite honestly like an amazing talk! I'm so excited to be in the MTC for all of general conference, because I probably won't fall asleep during it ;) While I've been in the MTC I've seriously learned so much that I never knew about and it's really been an amazing experience for me and I can't wait to take what I've learned to Africa. I'm so excited to be able to share it with all of them and hopefully it's going to be awesome, even though I know that it will be!

I'll make sure to tell you about all my experiences with Africa next week! I'll also start probably using my group e-mail a little more often. If I haven't shared enough with you guys that will probably be where you can find more! I'm sorry this e-mail is a little shorter! A lot of people e-mailed me this week and I'm trying to get a reply to all of them! Hope you guys are doing good! I love you guys!

Like the rain?

I got to admit seeing the rain was pretty nice too. I have some pictures of me and my companion in it but they didn't turn out all that well but it's whatever.

Yeah chasing around the girls is more fun than watching old men play baseball ;) 

Don't tell Jeff that I called him an old man.... Cause he's not and he could still kick my butt so... just keep that on the DL :) Chelsey sent me a bunch of photos of her baby and he's pretty much the cutest thing I have seen! I miss that chubulubs and he looks like he's doing good. Chelsey said that he's starting to crawl as well so that's pretty crazy!

I just thought I should let you guys know that I've actually been sick for the past week. It started out as a pretty mild cold but it got pretty bad so I went to the doctor the first time and they just got me some medicine for a cold. That didn't help much so I went back a couple days after and it turns out I have a sinus infection and an ear infection' I got all the medicine I need so I should be good in a couple of days. :)  I thought I should just let you guys know that! I also have lost like 5 pounds while I'm here because of it so I guess that's fun but it's all good!

Thanks for that scripture! It's been really awesome to be able to find a ton of cool scriptures and that's been really fun to discover more and more about the gospel! About your story, I feel like that's a good reminder to keep that in mind. I feel like I'm pretty decent at knowing that he's the one that does everything but at the same time that is a wonderful reminder, so thanks for that experience.

We're supposed to get our travel plans today and I couldn't be more excited! It's crazy to think that it has already been 5 weeks in the MTC and I am just so pumped to be going to Africa! We have continued talking to our teacher about some of his experiences and every little thing just gets me more and more excited. He gave us some good advice too, that instead of being nitpicky about all the different things in Africa that we should just love all of it and that's what I plan on doing! The thing I'm most excited for is playing little kids in soccer who are going to school me because that's all they know how to do so I'm really excited.

Everything is going well and I cannot wait for what Africa will teach me. Some of me wishes to go right now. Je sais que Il y a beaucoup des choses que je vais apprendre avec mes temps dans Afrique at je ne peux pas etre content pour cet occasion. Je suis tres contempt pour mon mission et aussi etre un missionaire. Je vous rate beaucoup mais, je sais que c'est tres important pour moi etre ici. J'aime cet occasion et le beaucoup des chose que J'ai apris

Howdy!

Hey guys!

Yeah it's kinda crazy how fast time is going by and it really is pretty fantastic. I seriously can't wait for Africa! I've heard so much and I'm just so excited to go and serve the people there. From what I've heard it's pretty awesome! Of course there will be some down sides but hopefully I can focus well enough on the good that it'll will go well!

Oh that's all good! Just keep trying eventually you'll get it :) It does take time and it's a little frustrating but it's fun to speak in a different language. It is kinda frustrating because every once in a while I'll forget the easiest words in French. I still don't know how to form all the sentences that I would like. That's a little frustrating but I'm sure in a few months I'll be speaking it like it's nothing! Quite honestly I actually feel like French in school helped a lot because it gave me a pretty good knowledge on basic sentence structure. How to ask questions and the conjugations for most verbs. It's actually been pretty helpful. :) Whoever told you that obviously didn't pay too much attention in French class.

It looks like Jeff is training Vaughn pretty well then! It's good to hear Mason is staying good and busy! Elyse is pretty awesome and I'm glad the kids are taking a liking to her. It's so nice to hear about all the goofy things that all the kids do. I miss being around them and just observing all the funny things that they do!

It's good to hear about that regional conference. In fact we had Elder Ballard come and talk to us just this past Sunday. Then we had Elder Cook come and talk to us. So we've had 3 Apostles right in a row! It's been super cool and Elder Cook has had my favorite talk so far! I think I may have already said this in my letter home but I'm not exactly sure. Brother Callor should be on my mission right now! There is honestly no way that that man couldn't touch the hearts of all the people in Africa. It's good to hear that he's doing well and still doing typical brother Callor stuff :)

So far being a zone leader has been fun! It's not all great though. Hearing about struggling Elders in the zone and not really knowing what to do about them is kinda saddening. But it's nice to try and be involved in helping them stay and just trying to get them so excited to go out and serve.That's kinda what comes with being a zone leader. One thing that's pretty awesome about being a zone leader is talking to all the new missionaries that come in! We just kinda tell them some pretty basic stuff but then we get to take them on a tour. We talk to them about where they're from and that is just really awesome!

No worries momma, I love to hear about everything it's a nice change of pace from all the missionary work that we do so it's fine by me! Thank you guys for everything!

P.S. I have some pictures but I can't get them right now because the computer I have doesn't have a SD card reader. I forgot my reader in my bag but I'll send you guys some later! Oh and something that would be appreciated is if you guys could send me my black davis tryout shirt! The one I like so much! If you could that would be awesome cause it would be kinda nice to have on workout days because it's getting colder. Anyway thanks for everything! I love hearing from you guys. It really just makes my week that much better! Adieu, j'espère que vous avez une bonne semaine! :)

Blast from the past

Alright so here goes my e-mail! So far things have just been getting better and better! My French is getting a ton better but I'm still speaking in broken French which is to be expected. I'm starting to be able to understand a lot better. That's been what I've been looking to do since the moment I got here so it's going well. I'm ok if I don't know how to speak that well. I would rather be able to understand everything, so yeah it's a progressing.

Maybe mom could send me a sleeping bag just for the MTC ;) it's starting to get pretty cold around night time and morning now. I won't have to deal with it too much longer! It's still crazy to think that I've already been at the MTC for almost 3 weeks and it's already almost over! I can't tell you guys how excited I am to go to Africa!! Our teacher went there and has told us some things and it sounds like the coolest thing! Every little thing I hear about Benin and Togo just get's me more excited to go!

I'm glad grandma and grandpa got to be apart of that because that sounds pretty awesome! :) Oh and thank brother Myles for sending me his letter will you! It's amazing to see how good he is. Honestly, when I saw the letter, I knew what it was and was so excited! He's pretty amazing!

It's good to hear that Mason is bringing Elyse around more! I thought that she was pretty cool when she came so I'm glad you guys are seeing more of her! I guess I won't be able to spend all day with Mason playing too much 2K anymore. If I get back and she's still around. ;) I miss playing 2k with Mason and quoting The Office! I also miss all of you guys. You guys have all helped me so much. I wish I could put it into words but really I can't! So just know that I appreciate you guys a ton! And thanks for the popcorn and doughnuts :) those were the best packages.

Alright so I guess for my closing paragraph I just want to let you guys know that while I'm in the MTC for the next 3 weeks my companion and I are zone leaders now. I don't really know what to expect yet but my companion is super excited about it and is willing to work so it should be a good time :) Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that and I don't really have anymore than that cause it's been a pretty standard week. Not to concern you guys or nothing but I got flipped over a kid playing basketball. It hurt for like 2 seconds and was a little sore the next day. Nothing serious so no need to worry! I'm being a lot more careful though.

Anyway I hope you guys are doing good and will continue to do good! It's really nice to hear from you and thank you for all the packages and letters! You guys are the best! :)