week 34

brothers and sisters bonjur!

So I am walking down a road with my companion and we're passing by the chicken fight place for the millionth time... But this time the door is open and a guy is sitting outside the door. So I decide that we just have to get in there and see it.  So I tried to convice Elder Chidester to contact the guy, but he wanted no part of it.  So I took matters into my own hands and I walked up to the man and put my arm around him and said;  "You know I am quite the chicken fighter."  He starts cracking up and we talk for a little while.  I inch my way to the door with a grin on my face and asked if we could look around.  He's still laughing and he lets us in.  It was super sweet.  Grand stands with two drop cages above the ring.  Its 5 euro a person...maybe I'll drop in when they have an actual fight?

Spits balls and less actives

"1/6 of you will be inactive 2 years after your mission."  7 months ago I was sitting in the MTC when this statistic was anounced.  It has been on my mind ever since then because well, how is that even possible?

Now, as a missionary I am now more convinced then I have ever been before that when we are baptized and become members of the church, a light is opened up inside of us... some sort of chamber or part that was never there before.  This past week we spent a lot of time teaching less active members of the church. And after teaching so many this week, I have realized that even if one goes inactive in the gospel, when the chamber opens it never can be fully closed.  

Sitting across from someone who claims they have no testimony or don't believe in the church any more is a tricky game.  You can try helping them realize they do or that they have had real experiences but more often then not they have no desire to remember such experiences. It really can become a game of shooting in the dark as we attempt to find their inner light they've somehow forgotten they possess. 

This week we taught an inactive youth an inactive Returned Missionary and an inactive mom.

That being said, there was a lot of us shooting in the dark, and attempting to find some sort of connection they had with the gospel. After each lesson however hard it was though, I knew we had found that inner light in each of them. However dull the light within them had become, when we began talking about their testimonies their lights would begin to light up again. I have been working with the inactive mom for a while now and she has been able to come 3 weeks in a row (which means she has officially become active again!) 

With all three cases this week I realized that we needed to ask God for help. I realized quickly that there was no sure answer for everyone's problems, and therefore we really relied on the spirit throughout the lessons. I know as we strive to stir up their remembrance of what once was that they will come back.  It takes time and sometimes a lot of throwing out random questions you don't think will mean anything to them, and yet it somehow works out. I realized this week seeing a chamber be renewed with a less active is more joyful for me then seeing it be opened for the first time with an investigator.

I know with all less actives and inactives they can come back to the gospel and be stirred to the remembrance of what they once knew to be true-all it takes is stepping into the dark and finding that light switch. 

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

CHICKEN FIGHT

the arena

my life motto

just taking my goats out for a walk

week 33

Bonsoir!

Well this week was way sweet so let's hop right down to new of the week:

Elder Chidester finally arrived!

He is from Sacramento California, and graduated in 2014...so he is 18 years old. He was into skateboarding throughout high school and all I can say to him about all that is that I know tony hawk has a video game and nitro circus makes me laugh... He is also a hipster-like he's working on making a pair of short denim shorts right now...don't worry, it's still the beginning of his training so I'll work on that one. He's a goofball and I like him a lot.  It gives me déja vu doing the whole trainee/trainer thing again.  But all is well in cayenne!

This last saturday we had a baptism!

so now the conversion story of Fréré Manuel

A few weeks ago we had planned to meet with a convert after having family home evening with another family. It was planned to just have a quick lesson with him before heading home for the night. We were sitting up against a wall just waiting for this guy to come for the lesson. There was an intersecting road in front of us and we could see a guy on a bike slowly coming down the road towards us.  As he got closer to us it was easy to tell he was drunk...and the wiff of air when he approached us confirmed it. He then said hello...and then:

"I have done something terrible i need to change my life i want to change my life"

I dont know why but right there i turned to Elder Smith and said lets teach him.  We shared a brief message and set up a return rendezvous. He told us we could follow him home to his house to find the address.  As we were riding to his home he pulls over to the side of the road and starts talking to some guys and begins to drink again, so of course, we shrug it off and go home.

The next day Elder Smith and Elder Belnap were on exchanges in the area and by a miracle found the drunk guy's house.  His wife turns them away but another women in the house tells them he is there. With lethal persistency on Elder Smith and Elder Belnap's part, the wife finally lets them come in.  They have a little lesson with Manuel-who is hungover. They then gave him Alma 7 to read and set up a return date.

Later, Elder Smith got me up to speed on Manuel, and we decided to go over and see how his reading went. When we got to his house however, we were greeted by an entirely new Manuel. He told us he had read Alma 7 three times and that he was ready to change his life. 

From that day on we taught him four times a week to ensure he was changing.  After Elder Smith left to Remire, Fréré smith and i made sure to pass by multiple times to check up on Manuel and see if he was progressing. He was true to his word, as Manuel had been born again and really had changed. He has not touched alcohol since the night we met him and has instead, became a book of mormon junky.  

When this past Saturday came around i felt like a dad.  We went to his house before the baptism and taught him how to tie a tie and fix his newly-bought white shirt for him.  You have never seen a guy so happy to be baptized.  Fréré smith baptized him on Saturday, and I gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday during church. 

Manuel's story has really brought to life the hope and change that comes along with the gospel and it has really changed me as a result.  I am very grateful and humbled to have met him.  

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

baptism shenanigans

his first double madras

Esthefany is still the realest

Hatian Creole plaque welcome to the family

make shift umbrellas with Elder Moux

week 32

hey y'all

Well I would love to tell you all the sweet things about Elder Chidester but I'm afraid he's not here.  There was some confusion when he was going through St Lucia so he had to spend the weekend in Martinique.  He comes in tonight so next week i'll fill you in.  

So for the week I was off with the zone leaders in Remire. Which was unfortunate because I didn't get to be in Cayenne as much as I hoped but it was still good.  Something that was sweet was Frere Smith was my mini missionary for most of the weekend, so he stayed with me all day long and taught lessons with me.  It was super fun.

I took him contacting (knocking on doors) and intially he was hesitant-he would turn to me when he got nervous talking to people but by the end he was on fire.  One girl threw out an awful excuse on why she can't meet with us and smith would not have any of it. It was something really special to be honest. 

We went to teach our investigator Manuel and during the lesson I had Smith share his conversion story.  It made me flashback to when we were initially teaching him his first lesson, and meeting him and the person he was, and then seeing him today just 4 months later as a mini missionary with me...It was a really sweet moment. 

We are wrapping up the lessons with manuel this week with his baptism is this Saturday.  We were about teaching persevering through life to return to live with God. Something that I have kept in my mind my whole mission and something I will keep for the rest of my life is this day dream that I sometimes like to share with investigators: Jesus Christ will one day stand as our advocate before God.  He will plead our case for us. Imagine how its going to feel when Jesus presents you simply; "This is Elder Sackley he has done all he can. I am proud of him."

I like to meditate on this thought and then resolve in my mind how I can get to being the person I want Christ to introduce me as.  I know this day dream can be reality for all of us. The choice is now ours to do the things to get there.

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

im gonna fry this bad boy up-like the locals! 

Elder smith banged his head and earned himself a couple staples

 Frere Smith aka my companion for the weekend just with his swaggy umbrella

No im not fat i dont know why i look so gosh dang fat.  You will be missed Elder Savage Guadelope and Elder Dayton St martin

Frere Jose fears no snake

Esthefany broke her wrist this week and you best believe i got the most real estate on the cast

week 31-New Changes

Alo!

Well this week flew by but with lots of big news:

Firstly, Carnaval finally died off. It peaked Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday but now we just have the aftermath of it. It's nice being able to go through town without worrying about people wearing clothes (or not.)  We're just thankful its over.  

Secondly, Saturday was transfer call day...and the verdict is...

With transfer calls you just get a call Saturday and you're told where you're going to be going, and who your companion will be and all that. Usually its just one of the Mission President's Assistants in the afternoon ,but if you get a call in the morning it's always from President Mehr. His calls only mean one thing: a leadership position.  So we're sitting at our desks Saturday morning studying  and the phone rings... after playing hot potatoe back and forth between Elder Smith and I, Smith loses and answers the phone... 

Elder Smith is being transferred! (which is what we assumed,) and he is headed to Remire to become zone leader!  Its deffinately well deserved (I mean he had to train me for goodness sakes).  But we were super pumped he gets to stay in French Guiana.  Elder Smith is talking to president and then his eyes get big and he hands me the phone explaining that I needed to talk to President too... So the minute I get the phone, Elder Smith starts jumping up and down and going crazy. 

"Elder Sackley how are you doing?" President says, "Well you have had a lot of successes so we're going to make you a trainer. His name is Elder Chidester.  Are you worthy?"

"yes president"

"Ok i love you and good luck"

And just like that I got thrown the curveball and now I am in the one in the Lion's den! Elder Smith continued to laugh and laugh as I wondered what in the world I had just gotten myself into. 

My feelings now? I am one of the youngest missionaries right now in the mission as there are many missionaries with 18 months or more. I am a little panicked because I'm not super sharp in french.. But my attitude towards it all is lets see what two young missionaries can do. I'm a little nervous and feel like I'm swimming in neck deep water, but I feel like we are going to rock these next couple of transfers. All I ask is for your prayers and support-we're going to need it!

Love,

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

Well i guess you could say its monsoon season

Leno made the branch president's daughter emma sit in the corner as he tried out his sketching skills

some real missionary feet

Frere Litampha and Frere Bady

week 30

Bonjour!

This week has been sweet for sure. But it's always sunny in Cayenne...

Carnaval has now hit its "peeking point" these next few days. Apparently this is when it's at its worst so we're going to just be working the outskirts of Cayenne, since the city has nothing for missionary work. 

This morning we went to the zoo. The zoo here is super sweet, all you do is walk through all the exhbits and its just throughout this big forest.  It was dumping rain so the zoo gave us some umbrellas to use throughout. So of course, we got to this monkey cage and me and Elder Moux start yelling at the monkeys and these are just the classic monkeys- (I'm going to attach a picture) but just imagine the monkey from Night At the Museum. Well one is on the cage just shaking the bars and we began to egg him on. So being the smart guy I am I try poking him with an umbrella. Right as it is in reaching distance he shot out and just rip my umbrella to shreds.  It was all funny until I got soaked the rest of the zoo tour.

Ephraïm has been a real stud for us.  Friday he spent the entire day with us just teaching. Because he lived in Brazil, we refer to him as our weapon because he can speak Haitian creole, french and Portuguese. Lots of our investigators are Brazilian so it makes their lives a lot easier, since they can understand his Portuguese. So since we were working with him all day, we started to get really excited for him-and began discussing him going on a mission. He talked about going on a mission a year from now. 

I think that recent converts have the most powerful testimony.  Yes they are usually simple, sometimes just a couple seconds long-but what they say is so precious, you can just feel that it's real in the sense that they aren't stale in their feelings of the gospel. It is fresh in their minds rather than a faded experience. I just love it. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a recent convert invite someone to church or bear testimony.

transfer calls this Saturday: pray I get to stay in Cayenne! This place is too great to leave so soon.

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

ps: my shoes that i wore for the baptism were gifts from a member named frere bady i have sent pictures of him before he hooked me up

estfany is my valentine

me and my guy Boye Steele he says hes from america he has an american accent and he says he use to run it with flavor flav

Cayenne

check out this little guy

elder smith carrier me from lesson to lesson on his handle bars

i dont know what they teach the kids in school here but does that not look like a KKK costume?

i made a little friend

the snakes were all in cages i put my finger in and petted one but not this bad boy

CURSE THIS MONKEY

aint she a beauty?

Elder smith has begun 6 months till sexy as you can see

week 29

blog blog blog

First off Elder moux the lizard wrangler: 

After district meeting every Tuesday i get on my bike and I ride it behind the church because there always are huge iguanas and lizards in the sun and I like to chase them around.  I never get close to catching them but its funny anyways.  So last Tuesday I ride around and Elder Moux is on the other side of the church helping me try to  catch one.  But this time elder moux gets one to go into a bush... and pretty soon we had all the missionaries surrounding the little bush. We could see the lizard but everyone was too scared to grab it because these things are big.  After a couple minutes of jabbing the plant with sticks and lots of girly screams we sent in the Tahitian.  He shot his hand in and yanked it right out by the tail.  After all the screaming and freaking out we took turns posing with the little guy.  And as you can see he poses for the camera.

quote of the week:

"I need to change because this life I'm living... its just not a life"

Monday night we were sitting on the road waiting to meet an investigator to have a lesson, when this guy rides up to us and instantly we knew he had been drinking. He shakes our hands and says he has done something terrible and he is ready to change.  Since we are missionaries, and teach everyone-we opened up the Book of Mormon right there and started teaching.  However, he was still intoxicated so we shared a quick message and he asked us to come to his house the next day. Afterwards, he hopped back on his bike swervingly he rode away.  The next day I was on exchange in Remire montjoly.  That night Elder Smith told me they met the guy again, and his name was Manuel.  Elder Smith said Manuel had his head down the whole lesson but would talk to them throughout.  They set a baptismal date with him but it was kind of a weak acceptance.

So Thursday we went back to see him.  We called to him from the gate and the door whips open, and here he was with a big smile on his face.  He lets us in and tells us he read the chapter we gave him, (Alma 7), twice!  We sat down and had a prayer and afterwards he flipped open his book and started sharing the scriptures he loved from the chapter.  He looked at us and said "look i can change... it shows right here i can change.  I need to change because this life I'm living...its just not a life." 

I have never seen such a physical difference in anyone before.  He was so weighed down by mental and emotional things that it physcially showed before, and now he was so uplifted by this new spiritual thing that it showed. The power of the atonement was so apparent.  What a wonderful gift!  May we all use it to make this life a real one and not one that weighs us down but one that lifts us up.

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

Elder Moux is a fearless champion for wrangling this guy

like i said cayenne is the ugliest area in the mission

happy birthday elder smith!

LONG LIVE CARNAVAL

week 28

First things first-GO PATS GO

ok that's all for that.  Quick carnaval update: yesterday we were headed into town to teach a lesson.  We knew  carnaval dominates main street sundays so we were going to take a different route... Once we got to the outskirts of the city we did a 180 degree turn and were out of there.  I can't believe how packed all of cayenne was!  And they were just raging the entire city-covered by a sea of crazy french people.  

(now the good stuff)

The conversion story of Frére Ephraïm:

(We were going to title this golden streams lead to golden investigator...sorry mom)

One night we were headed towards frere smiths house to teach a lesson.  Elder Smith has been holding it in for quite some time and he called for a detour.  We turned down a street and he was biking hard way ahead of me, as I was lagging behind, and that's when I passed by a guy who calls to me- "Elders Elders!" (side note: no one calls us elders here as they don't really understand what it means.)  So I slam on my breaks and this small Haitian guy runs up to me. He tells us he has been searching for us and that the Elders in Brazil said they would send his info to us but they never did.  He gave me his number and then took off telling us he would meet us the same place the next night.  

We had planned a lesson for frere Smith that night but instead we talked all about him baptizing this guy named Ephraïm..the guy we had just found.  From that day on smith was at every lesson.  

Ephraïm is amazing.  He knows the gospel better than most members.  On the day before his baptism I was sitting with him and we talked about our goals in life.  I told him my plans and than I asked him what he was going to do. With a grin on his face he said, "all the good stuff" to which I said "whats that?"

"Im going to go on a mission and get married in the temple".

I love it... "all the good stuff" It made me realize I want to be more like Ephraïm.

Love 

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

Eprhaïms baptism!

after the baptism 

baptism celebration

rain!

all the missionaries do here is EAT

Madison's note: ummm...where did he get these shoes?!