District Conference with the whole District of Cotonou... I really like my Mission President.

"Just a chubby little kid... had to snap a pic."

Dear Family,

     My goodness!! You act like we don't have calendars here! Sheesh! Haha of course I knew that I hit my 8th month mark! I mean yeah it snuck up super fast... But it's here! 2 more till 6 months... I can't even say it without not laughing! So unbelievable... It's good to see that the time is passing fast in front of your face as well! Funny how time works, isn't it? About your email, that is so awesome that Shelby got asked to Prom! And of course I read how she got asked and everything! That is awesome! I love Linc too so that is super awesome! She totally deserves that for sure! That is awesome! That'll be such a good fun time! Make sure you tell Lincoln that I give him a shout out ;) Awesome kid, and that is super funny about what dad did at the market! Haha I can totally see him just hangin' out in the wrong car... I would have loved to be there to watch it! Did he leave the groceries in the car too!? Ah man that is priceless. Haha and his riding lawn mower! I guess dad knows how to strike up a conversation with the Hislops now ;) That'll be a different way to do it for sure! I remember watching the Barkers do their house with a riding lawn mower and thinking it was pretty cool... But yet again what are we going to do with our old one!? We have had that for such a long time! We can't just ditch it... If I remember correctly, it is still wearing the number 59 that I painted on it! Gotta love it... Good times, good times. I will be sure to find "joy" mowing it now! No questions asked. It sounds like you guys had a pretty good week! Mine was pretty good as well! Been having some challenges with my companion... But life goes on I guess, right? 8 more months. That is all I will say of that matter. Always thinking of dad telling me not to hit my comps... Haha hanging in there! Barely.

     This week was a pretty eventful one. I was able to go on a split with Elder Dagrou, my old comp that I love who is my favorite companion in the world! If I had to take someone home to America with me, it would be him in a heartbeat! Such an amazing guy. And a super good soccer player! He was breaking peoples ankles left and right at the soccer tourney. On the way over to their apartment with my companion, there was a big traffic jam. There is usually not traffic jams at this certain spot, so we were wondering what was going on... Well family, I think that it is safe to say now, that I have seen my first dead person... They said that she got hit by a car. It was pretty crazy to see. I mean, I can't be sure that she was dead, but like.... You could just kinda tell. On the way back luckily, we did not see any dead people. The split was nice and it was fun to see some of my recent converts and old amis that I had there. And working with Dagrou of course. And hanging out with Baird. My personal sector is going good. We have a couple that needs to be baptized.. But they aren't married. They want to do it, but they say that they just don't have enough money. That is always a brick wall here in the mission. One that is a little more difficult to break though.

"Large room where we had our District Conference."

"A little blurry, but me and Eloi!
He is the Elders Quorum Pres now!!"

     This last Sunday, yesterday, we had our District Conference with the whole district of Cotonou. We had all of the members and missionaries in a big room that we rented out, seeing that we don't have yet a big chapel here like in Togo. It was fun to see all the missionaries, and of course my recent converts that I haven't seen in years!!! I got to See Elio, Roxane, and Daniel! I was so stoked to see that they were still rocking solid in the church! And one of them is getting ready to leave on their mission! How awesome is that!? I was so excited to see them! In the hype of it all, I failed to get a picture with them... Well I did with Elio, but you can't even see it. It is so blurry! We also had our interviews with President Weed which is nice. He is usually pressed for time and you feel like you can't really talk, but this time was a lot different and I was able to talk to him about everything that I wanted to. I really like my mission president :) We were kind of talking about me going home and how fast the time passes. He said that he can send Elders home up to 30 days before with no problem, but more than that he has to contact Salt Lake City. I have never really thought about it before, but if that is the case, I could totally be home for Thanksgiving!! How awesome would that be!? I guess it's something to think about a little further into the future. But kind of hard to get out of your head am I right? ;)

     So that is just about it for this week... I love you all so much and wish you a very happy day, and an even better week! Love you!!

           Elder Layton!

Exactly what I was talking about last time about people putting weird things all over the place... "SANG DE JESUS" That means blood of Jesus... Who puts that on the back of their moto!? Ah! So weird...

Some of our chat...

*(Asked me what I was doing today & I said laundry and mommy duties.) I could use some of that. I left my laundry to a lady in our branch that needs some extra money... Win win situation!

*(About getting African clothing for home.) Here is what I am going to to. I am going to get clothes for the kids, ties for the boys, and then buy pines for each of the girls. And they can just do whatever they want with them? (I told him perfect! He said it could be expensive and confusing to have them made for everyone and I agreed.)

* (Told him the name of someone that was asking to friend me on FB)..."I have no idea who that is... Don't accept any friend requests from people like that..." (Ya they might want to stalk me!)

*Seriously... Or people that are just going to try and fraud me into giving them money... See it all the time here! Hate it! (Hmm so beware!)

*(His convert Daniel is preparing for a mission!) I am so stoked for him! I was really happy that he was still active... You never know these days ;)

*(About his sister Kylee and Sam buying a home by ours.) That is going to be so fun to see them there when I get back!
*Said he had to dip into personal funds this week because he's had to pay a lot in taxi's to get around and his comp isn't interested in that. He wondered if that was okay. He really tries to live within his budget and not do that. I assured it it was okay with me.