What I've learned

Bonjour maman,
Comment vas-tu? et Comment va l’étude de français? Well, that is good that i didn't miss a good game. haha. Hopefully next year it will be better. Yeah, i have to admit when i see carli in photos some times it is hard for me to regonize her. mais ça va aller. Wow, i can't believe that so many people are engaged. A girl that lived across the hall from me at college just sent me an email saying that she is engaged. I think i'm going to have to go to a lot of weddings. haha. That is great that Hunter's papers are already in. Keep me posted on where he gets his call. Praying for Benin Cotonou. haha.
Thanks for the two emails. I think that that would be awesome to room with Danny. We could speak french with each other all the time. haha. I'll send him a quick email to see what he thinks. Also for nanny jo there is no problem. I can always ask the tailor to buy the fabric and make the ties. I just need to know how many she would like. He is actually a member who is getting ready to go on a mission(he is waiting for his call), so he has tons of time. So i'm sure there are no problems. The navities for chelsea will be a little harder. I don't know a place here in togo to buy it .
I know, at the beginning of my mission the end seemed so far away. Now in a few days, it will be over. Wow, to say what i have learned in two years is kind of hard, there are so many things. I think the thing that the mission has done for me the most, is i have learned how to get along and try to love everyone. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but what i mean is that back at home if someone annoyed me or wasn't nice towards me, i would just avoid this person. ON the mission, you can't do that. It has taught me how to work through my problems and to communicate with people. ALso I have learned some much about the scriptures and scripture study.
I would tell at someone who is coming to my mission is to not compare the different cultures or costums. But to know that just because something is different doesn't inherently mean that it is wrong. I think that mindset has helped me some much.
Well, This week was awesome. Elder Clayton came and visited us. He had given us a reading assignement, and then during the meeting asked us what we had learned. And then he let us ask question. So we got to ask question to 2 general authorities, their wives, an area seventy, president weed, and his wife too. How great is that? I thought it was pretty great.
I'm so excited for you to come here. I'm kind of putting the last finishing touches on the plans. I love you more than you can imagine,
Elder Kimzey

I'm #1 (on the stake wall...)

Bonjour maman,
Comment ça va? Et la semaine c’était bien passée? That is crazy that i'm the oldest missionary left. How is Will doing? How many missionaries are there now in our stake? That is too bad that you pulled your hamstring. Have you been icing it and stretching it too?
That is great that you have almost finished all of your shots. That is crazy that you met the niece of the southams. They are really nice. I have to admit that i'm doing pretty good. I have to admit that i'm so excited to see you guys, and to show you around. Also i wanted to ask you a question. I've beeen thinking of making some ties from traditional fabric. What do you think of that? I thought of making them for most of the guys in our family. How many would i need to make?
That sounds like a good plan. Is carli and chelsea going to drive down to pick us up? or are you guys just going to leave the car in Vegas?
This week was great. I've been showing my campanion around. He has learned the secteur quick. This week we had an awesome lesson with this lady who is the girlfriend of a member of the church. We were doing a follow up on the first lesson. She understand the restoration well. She seems to really believe it too. It is kind of hard because she works nights(i know how hard that it.) So she sleeps often during the day. But she is progressing well, so we'll see.
Also this week we have been contacting all of the contacts that we got. It has been a lot of work but we got a few good contacts.
Also we have been visiting a lot of member active and inactive. They gave us a lot of contacts. So hopefully things will keep going good here at Tokoin.
Well, mom i love you more than pie. Can't wait to see you. Also a missionary asked me if you could bring him 3 sticks of deodrant. It is not urgent, so if there isn't space don't worry about it. Bon, je t'aime, et nous allons nous voir bientôt,
Elder Corey Kimzey

3 weeks...

Maman,
Bonjour comment ça va? Comment était la semaine? Je vais très bien.
That is crazy that a canadian woman made it to the quarterfinals. (australian open)  Has
that ever happened before in history? Who do you think is going to
win.?
That is awesome that you sent you vsa applications in. Do you get it
back already? I'll make sure and tell Elder Kunz that you have a
package for him.
Yeah, we do have them in French.  (life of Jesus video)They are pretty cool. I feel like
there are pretty realistic. me too, i always feel the spirit as i
watch them.
That is awesome that Megan is going to Toronto. Although, that will
definetly be a cold one. That would be awesome if Hunter came here.
Right now we have two elders who are here who are cousins. Although,
we wouldn't be here at the same time it would still be awesome.
This week has been a good one. We are still in the process of
contacting all the referalls that we recieve from the members. We
recieved around 40 to 50 referalls haha. So little bylittle we been
trying to contact them all. We have some pretty awesome new
investigators. We have one who is a hairdresser. We had a good
lesson with her about prayer. She was so excited to talk to us. Also
we had a great lesson with a guy who leaves next to a member. He had
a bunch of questions about the plan of salvation especially Adam and
Eve. It went really well. It helped to have a member along who bore
his testimony about it.
Also we got another tansfer call. I guess my campanion is getting
transferred to Benin. It kind of suprised me because i thought he
would be my last campanion. But i guess Heavenly Father planned
differently. So my new campanion comes tommorow. His name is Elder
Diallo. He is also from the ivory coast. So I have 3 weeks to show
him around the secteur, which might be a little hard because i don't
know it very well myself haha. ça va aller. Elder Diallo is a great
missionary and one of my favorite missionary so it should work out
fine.
Wow, i can't believe we are going to see eachother in like 3 weeks.
It kind of wierd to think about. Also i've been planning our trip. I
have some fun things planned. We are definetly going to have a good
time. Also i don't know if you got my email about the measurements
for your clothes. I'm so excited for you to come here. You are going
to love it. Je t'aime maman, plus que la tarte même,
Elder Corey Kimzey

New Year's

Maman!
Comment ça va? Tu as fait un peu? moi, j'ai fait beaucoup même. haha Wow i can't believe that there is only 5weeks left. It is crazy to think that even. That is great that you have finished some of your shots. don't worry about the travel nurse. it isn't that bad. Alot of the things they talk about are in the villages. So no worries.
No way, Kaylee boyer got engaged to texting jordan. That is wierd. It seems like everyone is getting engaged. No way Gimpy got married. Shoot, she always told me that she was going to marry me. oh well haha.
Yeah, i totally know how you feel. I'm suppose to give a lesson tommorow in Zone meeting and it is today i came up with an idea. That sounds like a great lesson though. I like that quote from CS lewis a lot. It is so true that everyone has the potiental to become like God.
This week has been pretty crazy for us. Considering this week was New years, which means everyone is celebrating all week, it went really well. We ate a ton this week. We had so many members invite us over to eat. I really like new years here because everyone is so thankful. If you ask someone why they are celebrating, usually they tell you it is because God has been so good to them this year. We had a great fast and testimony meeting, where many people come up to thank God for 2013 and their goals for 2014. It was one of the better fast and testimony meeting i have every assisted.
Well mom, you know your french is getting better. haha. I'm sure you'll be pro by the time you get here.
I love you more than pie mom, and can't wait to see you.

 je t'aime,
Elder Corey Kimzey

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