Transfer on Christmas eve

Maman!
There is no problem. I bet you are really tired from the christmas party. I saw the photos, they are awesome. I'm sure everyone loved it.
Yeah, i'm so excited that we get to talk this week. But i'm getting transferred to Togo tommorow. Kind of crazy huh to get transferred on Christmas Eve? But i'm sure there is a reason. My new number is...And also it is an hour difference than Benin. It is an hour earlier. So right now it is 3:39 pm in Togo right now. But don't worry i've already started working on fun things to do here in Benin. Also i think it would be fun to visit a few recent converts too. Also i've been talking a lot with the assistants, so i'm sure they help me out a lot too.
Also, i bought that fabric the other day for you, carli, and Chelsea, but i think i'm going to leave in with a tailor here in Benin. Because one of my old investigators is one of the best in Benin(he is getting baptized this week too.) But I think i'll need some measurements. So i'll talk to him and maybe at christmas i tell you what i need. Would that work?
This week has been a pretty good one. We had quite a bit of teach and a few amazing lessons. I have to admit that it was pretty hard to say good bye to them. Especially a lot of the members. I have to admit if we get to visit a branch while you guys are here i would love to take you to the branch of Cococodji. Also this good bye was kind of hard because i'm leaving the country. I have to admit i like Togo,
but Benin is kind of like my second home.
It will be fun to go back and work in Togo for a few weeks. Also my new campanion there is Elder Sery. We were in the same branch before. He is a really nice guy and a good missionary. So it will be fun to work with him too.
Mom, i'm so excited for you to come here. I know you are going to love it. I know somethings are a little different, but i'm sure you will love the people like i love them. Also i'm sure the members are going to love you too. Also you'll have a chance to practice your french. 

 Alors je t'aime maman, et j’espère que tu vas passer un
joyeux Noël. Salue tout le monde à ma part. 

 We get to talk in a few day. 

 Love you more than pie,
Elder Corey Kimzey

My release date has changed!

Bonjour maman,
comment ça va? How has your week been? I can't believe that you still have snow on the ground. Maybe you'll have a white christmas how fun would that be? The ward christmas party sounds like it is going to be awesome. When is it? Say hi to everyone for me.
That is fun that chelsea and skyler will be down for christmas. Are you still thinking of going over to nanny jo's and grandpa's.
Ok so i kind of some big news. President Weed called me this week and told me that he has decided to bump up my realese date. I guess there are bunch of missionaries who are coming in soon and they don't have enough room for everyone. So he said that my realase date is now Feb 15. I know holy cow! When he told me that it blew my mind. That is like in 2 months from yesterday. But he called me because he
wanted to make sure that that didn't ruin any of your plans. Also Elder Semkens called me to ask me if i could cordonate with you guys so that he can reserve my flight plans. So if you still wanted to come, he could set the flight plans for latter.
Answers:
1. Carli and I watched some classic christmas movies today. What is your favorite christmas movie?

My favorite christmas is it is a wonderful life.
2. Did you have a ward party? How do they celebrate in your branch?

We haven't exactly planned a ward party yet. But i think that they will do one maybe the 24th. But there already doing a primary party this saturday.

3. Thanks for the phone number- so I'll call you at the end of the week and  arrange for christmas call? 

Okay that sounds like a plan there is no worries.

4. Did you happen to find a nativity set? Do you need me to put money in you account? 

So today, my companion and i went to Tokpa and the Hall of arts to do some shopping. I found a pretty awesome nativity set. It is a full 12 piece set. My campanion talked the guy down to the equalivant of $50 dollars. Which is pretty good considering he started at around 100. Also a lot of other missionaries have got them for more expensive

and worse quality so i was pretty happy. Also i found 2 statues for 20 bucks in total. They're about 6 inches and pretty awesome too.
Then we went to Tokpa. I decided to buy you, carli, and chelsea a present. So I bought some traditional fabric. I found a really good one too. And not very expensive for how awesome they are. So i'm going to ask a lady in the branch if she can do the sewing for me.
She is really good. But I'm not sure what measurements she will need, so i'll ask her and get back to you on that. And also i found carli something she can run in. It is a t-shirt that says I love africa. I thought she'd like that.
5. So, one of the great things about missions that I've heard is that you can learn from each companion. what have you taught, and learned from you new companion? 

I have learned a lot from my campanions. Elder Rav is so good at being personable. He is really good at getting a long with people.  Also he always seems to make an akward situation better. I think that one of the things i try to teach to all of my campanions is to just enjoy the journey.

This week was great again. We kind of had a miracle happen on Saturday. We have been kind of struggling with finding members to teach with us because there isn't that many in our secteur. But on saturday, while we were walking to our next rendez-vous we saw one of the members who lives in our secteurs. Which was kind of strange because she works usually on saturdays. She told us that she had the
day off and she asked if she could come and teach with us. We accepted gladly. She did a great job during the lesson too. Then we invited her to come teach another investigator later. Her prescence in the lesson helped so much. Her testimony about how she was tired of all the churches and that through prayer, church attendance, and the book of mormon she came to know that the church was true. The ami
de l'eglise was really touched and promised to pray about our message. It was great.
I'm so excited to talk with you too. At what time are you thinking about calling at? Also Elder Semkens told me he would really like to set my flight plans soon. So we probably need to figure that out together.
Also i thought you would think it was funny that i taught an english speaker the other day and she totally thought i was french not american. haha It was pretty funny.
I love you more than pie mom and can't wait to hear from you,
Elder Kimzey

no snow here...haha

Bonjour maman,

Comment tu vas? Je vais très bien. Wow, you recieved a lot of snow huh? holy cow! I don't think i have ever seen that much snow ever in st george. The only time that i have seen that much snow is when i was in logan. I remember that feeling of waking up to a bunch of snow in logan. It is kind of wierd. That is too bad that hunter got into an accident. I remeber how hard it is to drive in the snow. Remember
the time that you, casey, and i went driving in the snow to practice? haha That was pretty fun.
That is crazy that you even had to start snow shoveling. I don't think i have ever even done that in st george. haha. That is crazy that they canceled church too. Thanks for the photos. They were pretty great. I think he told me before that it doesn't really snow in Madagascar.
I think that you're right, that it would be better that you call me this time. My number is ....... I went to the bureau the
other day but i think someone said that we were leaving around the 12 of march. But i get some more details about that later. Also I think this next week i'm going to go to Tokpa, to do some shopping. If i got it right you wanted something to put on the table(would a small stuate or maybe a african mancala set work?), also carli wanted something to run in(would an african t-shirt work) Also i was think
of buying some african fabric because it is pretty cheap and pretty cool. Is there any thing else that you would want me to buy?
Ok this week has been pretty awesome. We recieved a bunch of contacts. Got to love that! Especially because most of them are families. Even one of our amis started giving us contacts. She gives brouchures to all of her friends and she isn't even baptized yet haha. She even came and helped us teach her next door neighboor. Which was an awesome lesson. We taught a husband and a wife about the restoration. They seemed to be way intrested. Our ami even taught
part of the lesson haha.
Also the assistants gave a contact of a young husband and his wife. I guess the husband is about to give his disertation soon to get his docrate in business fincance(or something like that.) Lets just say he is really smart. We had a really great lesson about the savior minstry, the apostasy, and the restoration. He seem to be really touched by the lesson. He was telling us that he is searching for the truth so hopeful he keep progressing too.
Well, mom i love you. I glad to hear that everyone is doing well, even if they are freezing. Here, it is has been pretty toasty.
I love you more than all the christmas treats,
Elder Corey Kimzey

Bad Cold

Maman!
Bonjour Comment vas-tu? Moi, je vais bien. It sounds like
thanksgiving was awesome. That is great that so many people were able
to come up for it. That is great that all of our football teams seem
to win too. haha
...This week, i taught gospel principes. We were talking about
Obessience(obedience). And a lady asked a question but the way she worded it was
kind of wierd. So i did my best, but she wasn't sastified with the
answer. Good things, some of the investigators and members explained
it to her better and she seemed to be ok. So i guess it happens to all
of us.
Answers(daily double)
1. Did you try out your card? did it work?
 yeah i tried out my card. It worked. I don't know why it didn't
work before, i used the same bank and everything. But it seems to be
working now.
2.  sending your last missionary package- so last requests??? Did you get your xmas package?I got my xmas package, but i haven't opened it yet. scout's honor. Although, it was pretty tempting haha. I can't think of anything particularly, maybe some granola bars.haha
3. could you look for a nativity set from there? I could put money in your account, anything cool, like wood carved???Yeah, i think this next week we are thinking of going to Tokpa(the
big market) or the hall of arts. So I think i'll be able to find it. I think Elder Poll bought one, so i'll ask him for how much it got it. Also, i was wondering if there was anything else you guys wanted?
4. I got a note from the semkins- are you feeling better? was it a cold? Yeah, i'm feeling a lot better. I had a really really nasty cold. haha. I wasn't able to leave the appartement for like 4 days. But
now, i'm doing great.
5.What is a cool christmas tradition there?

Well, on christmas day if you visit someone you have to eat at there
house. They just constantly cooking that day. haha. So that day we
get super stuffed.

Wow, i can't believe that cj is coming home already in 13 days. That
is absoutly crazy. Did I tell you that Elder Poll is going home the
same day? So we got a new assistant in our appartement. His name is
Elder Ritchie. He is one of my best friends, so it is pretty fun.
6. (arranging for xmas call!!!)Ok i can give my number to you when ever you want.
This week wasn't really exciting because i stayed home for most of it.
But Sunday was pretty great. I hadn't planned on giving the lesson
in the 2nd hour but no one else had prepared a lesson either. So i
volunteered. It turned out pretty well actually. Like i said before
it was all about obedience. We had a intresting discussion about when
motivates us to respect the commandements. Is it fear, blessings, or
our love for God? It was really intresting but we decided that in the
end we have to be motivated by our love for God if we want to endure
to the end. I learned a lot from that lesson.
Ok, i can't wait to hear from you too. It is crazy to think that it
will be the last time that i call.
love you more than pie too,
Elder Corey Kimzey