We typically write about the sights and experiences that are new to us. But most of our time is spent on our calling as Young Single Adult Area Missionaries. Within Africa West Area are nine countries where the Church has a presence. Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Cote d’Ivorie, Liberia, Sierra Leon, The Gambia, and Senegal. Four are French speaking, the others claim English as their official language, but there are literally hundreds of tribal languages spoken making communication tricky. For example, among our 34 newly called missionaries there are 22 languages spoken, 19 are tribal. Each person carries the accent of their mother tongue.
When we arrived June 2021, there were two groups of remote senior missionary couples serving here but living in the US. The first group supported AWA coordinating councils. They worked with stake presidents to establish and launch 108 Gathering Places. Quite a thing considering all their interactions and trainings were through Zoom. The second group worked with young missionaries during their last transfer to support their Transition from mission life to home life. Amazing, dedicated people who loved their callings so much, each extended just to make sure the work got done.
With the approval of the Area Presidency, 18 local African couple missionaries (one couple per coordinating council) have recently been called to replace the US missionaries who will be released by the beginning of June. It was felt that local couples who know the people in each stake and know the languages and culture will be more sustainable.
The new African couples will assume the duties of both Gathering Places and Transition. Our US couples initiated the training, and we will continue. The new couples are dedicated and love serving. The tricky part for us, is communication. Many don’t have computers or stable internet. Much of what we do is through Zoom, but without good internet, calls constantly drop, if a connection can be made at all. And then there is the issue of our French couples. To this point, we had French speakers working with GPs and Transition. Now, they are released. Fortunately, there are several French speakers in the Area office who can translate for us. Google Translate is our new friend for written communications. We understand it is good in a pinch, but we shouldn’t rely on it. Yesterday I laughed when I read a short message Dale wrote and signed Elder Munk, in French it became Ancien Munk, then when we translated back to English to check the accuracy of the message, it became Old Munk. Perhaps Google Translate is more accurate than we thought.
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