At the end of the day...

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis,

Comment allez-vous? ça va bien ici.(How are you?  I am well here.)  This week has been pretty great.  It has been kind of a harder one because we are waiting for the new missionairy to come.  It has been kind of fun though because we have worked with Ward Missionaries a lot to complete our campanionships.  Also this week we found out that a couple that we have been working with for a long time and who has been coming to church for a few months now are going to get married.  Wohoo!   It is pretty awesome.  Everyone is really excited for them.  

Also we found out that our branch is going to be splitting soon.  So that should be intresting.  I had a very intresting experience this week that I felt like I should share.  We were talking to one of our amis about the importance of the Book of Mormon.  Then we seem to get on the subject of Baptism.  She told us that we could definetly baptize her brothers and sisters, but that she didn't need to be baptized because she had already done that.  We started talking to her about the nessacry authority.  We helped her come to the conculsion that either her pastor had the authority or that authority was found in our church.  It really seemed to make her think.  Now, she hasn't came to a conculsion quite yet, but it renforced an idea for me.  That really we are here to explain our message and to help people to know our church but always at the end of the day it is for them to decide if it is true or false. That is one of the things i love about being a missionary.

Well, this week has really been a good one.  It has been really fun working with my new campanion.  He really loves our amis and tries to help them.  Also i thought i would tell you a funny story.  So yesterday, we were teaching our english speaking couple.  The couple semkens did a great job teaching but left a part for me to tesify at the end.  I totally messed up.  I was trying to  tell them that we were there to help them have faith in Jesus christ, repent, ..., and endure to the end but i couldn't remember how to say endure in english.  I kept saying endurer or perserver.  My campanions thought it was pretty funny.  It is probably good that i get to teach in english once everyweek so that i don't totally lose my english haha. 

 Je vous aime tous!  Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine,(I love you all!  I hope you have a good week)

Elder Corey Kimzey

Bonjour maman,

Comment tu vas?  C'était bien passé.(how are you?It's been good.)  Alors, I can't believe that casey's call didn't come yet.  I rushed to the cyber in annticaption. Oh well, i guess we will get to know next week.  That will be great if Casey, shane,a nd Shean get their calls all at the same time.    It is pretty rare that a ward recieves three calls at the same time.  That is great that Ashley Vogel is going too.  I bet she'll love Nebraska with all its hardcore fans.  

That is great that casey ran so fast.  I think he destroyed my time.    That is amazing how well the XC team did too.  

Answers(daily double)

1.Can you believe you have been out for almost a year? no, i can't believe how fast it has gone by.  

2. Did you find out if you can watch a video if we post it (like on youtube) of Casey opening his call?  I don't think you have enough space on your email (since they limit it to 12 mg). maybe if I send it in a separate email....

 Bon, we aren't allowed to go on anyother site but that of the church.  But if it won't go through the email, i could probably talk to president weed to see if i could watch it.  

3. Do you have a guess for where he is going?  Don't guess paris, we have like 6 guesses for there haha 

I know Elder Noumbolibona,my district leader, thinks he is going to paris but that is mostly because he is from paris so he would like to see my little broother.  Personally, i would love for him to come to Benin but i'm not sure if that is possible.  So i have been debating picking Kumasi, Ghana mission or Congo as my foreign choice.  I think i'll go with Kumasi because it is a new mission and he can learn twi there.  And for my choice closer to home i'm going to chose Orlando Florida Créole Speaking.  

4.they announced 58 new missions to open this summer- but not a split for yours?  Do you think that it will still happen?  Maybe next year?

No, i don't think it will happen.  I say that Dyllen's mission got split.  I think we will probably stay the same till maybe next year.  

5. How is your greenie?  where is he from (city)?  tell us about his family?  He is doing good.  He is still trying to get used to teaching but ca va aller.  He is actually doing pretty good for such a new missionary.   I know he lived in Abijan for a while but he spent most of his life in a village near Ghana.  I know that he has 1 sister and no brothers.  

6. What is the name of the new american in your apartment? I'm on a Facebook page for your mission for parents, and so I know a couple of the missionaries that are coming.  I'm sure that you will help him with the "shell shock" of arriving in Benin- you've been there.

The funny thing is we don't know his name yet.  He should be here around wednesday.  I'm sure he will do fine.  Most missionaries it isn't a problem.  

Well, je t'aime plus que la tarte,

Elder Corey Kimzey

New companion to train

Bonjour tout le monde ou bien tout le monde qui lis mes lettres,(Hello everyone or everyone who read my letters,)
Comment ça va?  ça va très bien chez-moi.  This week was so great.  I hope you get the pictures of the baptism.

 It went really well.  There were 7 people getting baptized.  It was great to hear all of their testimonies.  It was cool to see Elisabeth get baptized because she has been looking for the truth.  She asked me after her baptism what  caused us to knock on her door.  I told her that we were just walking down the street and felt like we needed to knock on her door.  It is crazy to think that just because we followed a simple feeling to knock on a door, that she ended up finding the  answers to her questions and was able to get baptized.  How amazing is that?
Also, this week we had transfer calls again.  My companion is getting transferred.  Which was sad to here because we had a lot of fun together. So my new companion is actually Elder Kognani who is the new ivorien elder who just moved into my apartment.  Which means we get to do training together.  It should be pretty exciting.  He is a pretty awesome missionary, so i pretty excited for the future.  Also we found out that soon,  we should get a brand new american straight from the Provo MTC coming to our apartment to work with Elder Noumbolibona.  So it should be a great apartment.
Je vous aime tous.  J’espère que vous aillez avoir une bonne semaine. (I love you all. I hope that you got to have a good week)
Je vous aime,
Elder Corey KImzey

Sister Missionaries for the mission

Bonjour tout le monde,(hello everyone)

Comment ça va?  Moi, je vais bien.  (How are you doing?  me-I'm doing great)This week was a pretty big week for our mission.  For the first time since our mission was a part of the Côte d'ivoire mission, we have sister missionaries in our mission.  Also they have been opening up a bunch of new areas.  It is really exciting.

This week was a great one for us too.  Honest got baptized this week.  I sent the photo of the baptism.  He is pretty awesome.  He actually called us to find out about the church because his pastor moved to Nigeria.  Then 3 weeks latter he is baptized.  Talk about someone who was already  prepared.  His baptism went really well too, so that made me happy.  

Also this week, we were late to one of our appointments with one of our amis.  By the time that we got there it was too dark, so we were talking at her door.  She said we could come back the next day, but before we left she said she decided that she wanted to get baptized this next week.  It was definetly a shock, but a good shock.  I'm really excited for her because she has been looking for the true church of Christ for a really long time.  I'm happy that she finally found it.

So that was kind of my week.  We got a new missionary in our apartment.  His name is Elder Kognani.  He is from Côte D'Ivoire like my campanion.  So now in my apartment there are two ivoriens, one frenchmen, and one american.  We have a lot of fun together.  And also  it really helps my french because every in my aparment are native french speaker.  It is great! 

 Well je vous aime tous, ( I love you all)

Elder Corey Kimzey

Bonjour ma mère qui est plus belle que la soleil à midi(i learned that expersion this week),(Hello my mother who is more beautiful than the sun at noon)

Comment tu vas?  ...

Wow, i can't believe * already getting married.  I think she is the first.  I haven't talked to** in a long time so i might be wrong.  If it true that the better my wife is the better i speak the language, I definetly going to study hard during language study. haha- (insert kim laughing at corey's english)

Wow, that is crazy that Casey is all set already.  It is crazy how fast time flys sometimes. 

Questions:

1.  How was your birthday?My birthday was great.  My apartment suprized me by buying sparkling grape juice.  We had a fun time shooting off the cork.  Then for dinner, we eat some charawambas and hamburgers.  It was a pretty good time.  

2.  I was talking to Dyllens mom and she said he doesn't have running water for long periods of time. How about you?

We have water a good percentage of the time.  Sometimes we will go a few days without running water, but it isn't that bad.  

3.  I saw a picture of the the dust storms- wow.  Have you had any lately?The dust storms are pretty awesome although it makes it hard to keep the apartment clean.

4.  How was transfers?  Did you get any new missionaries in your apartment?Yeah, we got a brand new missionary straight from the Ghana Mtc.  He is from the Ivory Coast.  

5.  Dad and I were wondering when you talk to Pres. Weed, is it in French or English?(mostly because we didn't know if he could communicate in English well now!)

Usually with President Weed, i speak in English.  Although, sometimes it is more like frenglish because i forget sometimes the word in englsh. haha.  

Thanks for the photo.  I liked it a lot.  Tell carli that is really cute. 

 Bon, je t'aime plus que la tarte,

Elder Corey Kimzey

Bonsoir

Bonsoir, Comment ça va?
So last week went really well.  We had a lot of good suprises this week.  First off, this week we have been working a lot with one of our amis who comes to church often.  She is amazing, but she has visted a lot of churchs so she isn't sure which one is true.  She has been coming to church and praying about it a lot, so we hope that she keeps progressing.  But the thing that was really suprising was her son told her that he wanted to be attend a lesson.  Then at the lesson, he asked us a bunch of question like how can he have faith in Jesus Christ, did Adam have many kids, which church is true, etc.  We answered his questions the best we could.  At the end, he told us that we were the first people that seemed to answer his questions.  He seemed really excited and fixed another appointment with us.
Also another great suprise was we had a bunch of new people come to church.  Which is always great for Fast and testimony meeting.  We have another ami who told us that he wanted to get baptized.  He has been coming to church reguraly, but is busy often so we don't get to teach him very often. He seems to know already that the church is true and the importance of getting baptized, so I'm really excited for him.
Well, that is what happened this week.  I sent two pictures too.  One is of a mangez-vous that we had a while ago that i thought you would like and the other is from the baptism in January.  I hope you all have a good week especially because it is my birthday.
Love you all more than pie,
Elder Corey Kimzey


Bonjour maman,

Comment tu vas?  Je vais bien.  No i haven't heard much about whether the mission is splitting or not.  I heard that if it is going to that usually takes place in July.
That is great that everyone is going on a mission.  I can't believe that Shane should get his call so soon.  I'll start praying that he comes to Benin.   It is crazy to think that most of Casey's friends will all get their call at the same time.  I can't wait to see where they go and to here all their great stories.  Casey is going to be a great missionary.
Thanks for the birthday wishes.  I think we decided we might order hamburgers from a restuarant or something like that.
Answers to question:
1.We were wondering if you wanted us to pick you up?  what does president weed think of that?I think that would be awesome if you could come and pick me up.  I don't really know how that works but i would love to show you around and visit my investigators with you.  I don't know how president weed would feel about that.  He is a pretty relaxed president, i'd have to ask him what he thought about that.  I would love that though.
2.  How are your amies doing? My amis are awesome.  We had a bunch randomly show up to church, how great is that?  We have a few who are really progressing well, so i'm excited for my secteur.
3.  When are transfers? Actually, the next transfer is tommorow.  Elder Ritchie is leaving our apartment and his campanion is going to be training a new missionary from the Ghana Mtc.  So that should be exciting.
4.  When are you getting your next batch of greenies?  So we get new missionary this week and then even more in another 2 weeks.  It pretty exciting too, because for the first time in a long time we are going to have sister missionaries.  Crazy huh?
5.  How are the sand storms?  when will rainy season start? The sand storms have been wicked this week.  There is dust everywhere and the tempertuare drop a few degrees.  Raining season shouldn't start till april or may.
6. Can you believe you are 20?  and that next month you will be out a month?I can't believe that I will be 20 in 3 days either.  That is weird to even think about.  Also i can't believe i will be finished with half my mission next month.  Time really does fly.
Ok, Thanks for everything mom.

 I love you more than pie, Elder Corey Kimzey