So Here's Some News!‏

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a week full of new experiences and the introduction of some daunting tasks that fall into my lap to fulfill. Have no fear on my part though; I am sure it will all work out!

So I will first start with explaining our Cours d'Anglais (English Class), which has nothing to do with the load in my lap, but I haven't mentioned it in past letters and I thought you might all be interested in knowing what goes on in the life if Elder Haggard, super hero! Je blague!!! :) Néanmoins, Cours d'Anglais is pretty awesome (when people are there) and in general we have them there, so that isn't really a problem. In all honesty we should first have a French class before due to a small problem of illiteracy, but that is also because we attract the more youthful crowd so they haven't had much experience in the French language. The tongue spoken at home is that of Ewe, so it hinders the speed of learning here in Togo. 

Each Wednesday we, Elder Oliverson and I, teach Cours d'Anglais as a means for finding new investigators. It is effective at creating friends, but because of how young our group is, their vision on the eternal aspects isn't as widened as you might hope. It isn't to say they are incapable, but they just have never looked very deep into the religious spectrum due to the nature of "inherited religion" and therefore generations of "faithful" members of a particular denomination begins. God had much reasoning when He decreed to the Latter-day Saints to be fruitful, to multiply and replenish the earth, it is a great way of anchoring people; here the problem becomes in what one is anchored to. No matter how secure the anchor is on a sinking ship you will still go down, but if your ship and anchor are secure you will stay afloat and can weather the storms. (Not sure if that expression truly captures the idea of anchoring yourself to a religion.) They are learning English with us slowly but surely!

Friday was super sweet with our Conference de Zone! We have such an awesome set of leaders here on the mission, it is mind-blowing how much you can learn as they teach. We learned much about humility and the necessity of it on the mission, and how in developing our Christ-like attributes here we can relieve ourselves of the fear of falling away after the mission. It is a sad reality that as we live proud lives here on the mission, we will neglect the aid that came from the Lord on our behalf and we will believe ourselves to be too good for the life of a saint after the mission. You find yourself belittled by the mundane tasks of everyday business thinking yourself to be a great success, but you are too 'humble' to say that you should be one with more responsibility. Crazy little fellas there! I don't want to be prideful after my mission, which should be easy to avoid, but we also have to be sure we have self-confidence and faith.

Saturday we had a HUGE activity trying to find new investigators in our area. We have been in a bit of a dry spell on the whole investigators to teach thing, so we brought in the big guns! We had all the missionaries from our zone, and a good part of our Ward Missionaries there to help. We set up four tables and distributed pamphlets and received their contacts in hopes that they will be interested in the message. After the three hours that we were there, we got 144 contacts! That is amazing, and I am hoping that many will be sincerely interested in the message we have to share. One tiny hitch is that we still have "pay-as-you-go" phones that require credit... It will be hard to call them all based on financial circumstances, but there are many ways that we can handle this situation, we will get it worked out! Another thing was presented that evening, but we knew it was coming....

TRANSFERS!!!!!! I am not leaving Bè-Kpota! Elder Kouadio (my companion) is heading over to Bénin to be Zone Leader over the Finagnon Zone. I am going to be training! That is kind of crazy, but I have been out... nigh on nine months, and in many other missions around the world it isn't uncommon to train sooner than that, but it is still crazy! He is supposed to be an Elder Bile, but President is known to have changes made to the transfers after the interview he has with them. We shall see if it goes through. My new companion is planned to arrive the 19th, Elder Kouadio is heading out the 14th or 15th, so I have a few days to work in a tri-comp with Elder Oliverson and Elder Sahue, that will be fun!

In this week there is a special group of missionaries heading home... it is kind of hard to see them go as they are my group. Those that I started my mission with in 2012 are in their final moments on the mission, and it does hurt a bit to see them go. I don't regret having gone home in the first instance, I was not ready to serve, but the regret that I have is that I didn't ready myself to serve the Lord as I was younger. I took much of my youth for granted, but I have learned from it and am on the track I need to be on. I love that group of Elders dearly, and I will miss them.

The Lord has been extremely good to me in my life, and in turn it becomes my sacred duty and privilege to serve Him at this time in my life. I am excited to continue in the work, to labor in the vineyard of my Father, and I look forward to whatever life has in store for me. I have the support of angels, both living and those on the brighter side of the veil, so I know there is nothing that will hold me back if I put in the same effort to match that of their faith. Thank you everyone that prays for missionaries, those prayers are well-received. I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!!