Elder Hales

I would also like to include an excert about Elder Hales. Gosh, that
guy is great. He helps everyone out so much. He is always fixing
everything for everyone, making up crazy handy solutions to
everything. Makes me wish I was a scout haha. He washes everyone's
dishes sometimes, which can be a lot considering we were 9 people
until Elder Essel got transferred.  We talk about home, the future, our uh FrIeNdS
our mission and everything and its great to have such an amazing
friend out here. TIA, pretty much all day everyday you know how it be.
But, he is a great guy. Tell his family hello and that they raised one
amazing son. He is the man and they should be very proud, which I know
they are. I love when he finds the notes his family hid everywhere. He
found one in his socks today hahah:) great!

Service is Great!

So, I got my BOX, thank you so much momma, all the missionaries loved
watching me open it haha and all the stuff that was inside. I am making
sure to share with everyone but gosh everything is so great! I did
not go hungry thanks to you momma. okay so i went a little hungry but
not TOO hungry  hahaha but it was amazing. thank you so much momma.
but here is a lil note to it, No more sunscreen, baby wipes, baby
powder, saline solution, hair gel, or bug spray will be necessary :)
seeing as I have not even opened the ones I came with. but thank you
so much momma. Love love love the snacks, GUM poptarts vitamins
protein bars, and PEANUT BBUTTTER :) so good momma thank you so much.
Oh and I loved the  Jesus pictures you posted all over it hahaha
:) mom you are honestly the best. thank you :)

But I just wanted to thank some wonderful people I got some mail from
this week!:) you people give me awesome stuff to look forward to every
week, and I am sooooo grateful! Gosh, i had a big ol pile of letters
when I got home and i was so happy.Thank you Thomas and Laura, JEN,
Rebecca, Aunt Deb, Katie (as well), Miranda, Rachel, Mr. WHITLEY,
Gabriella, MOMA, sisterdowd, and Casssy! the soccer highlights and
everything were great. The africans all ran away with it all and went
and locked themselves in their room reading all the highlights and the
transfers so they are very grateful and wanted me to tell you guys
thank you!:) Miranda, your letter was amazing, I was laughing the
whole time. Rebecca, I am glad that life is so exciting for you right
now ;) I love your letters and stories so much! thank you all for
taking your time to talk to me :)

So, on to another amazing week in the amazing mission field of the
amazing Sierra Leone. So lets start on a high note...and talk about
all the dead dogs I see in a day. There are DOGS EVERYEWHERE in this
country. They just roam around  and nobody really claims them. You can
on average see at least 10 on the street dead everyday...it is really
sad. :( i am sorry animal lovers...I am moved and I don't even like
dogs that much.

My fingernails are actually looking normal now...Before, i used to
bite them, but gosh you would never ever bite your nails after shaking
hands all day here haha, so they are actually growing for once in my
life :) so hidden blessings  right?

So there is a strange INDIAN/ Chinese culture here.Everyone loves their
music and their movies? its really quite strange. But, get on the
street or in a taxi and I have not heard a white musician/actor yet.
Not even American music for the most part. Mostly just Nigerian
rappers haha, which are suprisingly really good, and sound kinda like
American music,but like no cursing, as far as I can understand with
the slight langauge varients hahaha. So that is really interesting.
Speaking of taxis, we managed the impossible the other day, and fit 7
people in a taxi...with 2 obese people in the back....yes my face was
smashed against the window. what an intresting time :)

So,on Fridays, it is prayer day. So starting around  6 or so in the
morning, the Muslim chants start up, and people get out these giant
microphones and just yell for hours, and people grab their heads and
start yelling and bowing and wow its interesting hahaha but that goes on
pretty much all the day long. So its uh...rather peaceful to sit down
and listen to after a long nights sleep? Um...sure :)

Everyone here has the same last names forreals hahaha. There are SOOOO
many Conteh's Kamara, Kallon, Banguras. Wow like seriously I know 20
Contehs. and Muhamed....oh my gosh I have met at least 200 people with
the name Muhamed hahah gosh there is no orginality when it comes to
naming children here hahah :)

Oh, By the way, there is a cotton tree in our compound! MASSIVE.gosh
it is so sweet :) Hey, Miranda, here is some answers to some of your
questions. We started teaching women a lot this week, so yeah. Most
jobs I see are just lil markets on the side of the road, hawking in
some places, taxis and motorcycles everywhere, and manual labor for
very menial jobs (breaking rocks), everywhere. The people dress: well,
1 of every 5 people you see if wearing a socceer jersey. Young or old
male or female. They wear shorts, jeans, but every single shirt you
see is very faded, even the jersies you can't read the names anymore,
because the only way they wash is washboards which just grind the
material off, so yeah. Women will dress a lot in these long  dresses.
The city is pretty sweet at night. For such a giant
city there are not so many lights, but most people do have electricity
here, at least in the city area. Outskirts, not so much.

So, here is a great story about the baptisms yesterday...bet you never
heard a baptismal story like this. So, we joined with 6 other
missionaries for the baptism of 4 people. We had one young lady being
baptized by her brother, Her name is Sally Comeh, being baptized by
George. So, we have our opening hymn and all that stuff and then make
our way out back to the baptismal font. President and Sister Roggia were
with us as well. Took some pictures, then proceeded to the baptisms.
Elder Ngerem and I were the witnesses and the baptisms began. First,
was Sally. So they could not get it right for the 5 times they tried.
He grabbed her neck one time. He was like almost drowning her, and
could not get her all the way under with any of his attempts. It was
really sad because she was shaking so bad because she was so cold (and
you don't play when Africans are cold because they ALL get sick very
very easy if they are cold). So, President Roggia asked for Elder
Symons to baptize the young lady, which he did. He then baptized his
two young converts. Then the last companionship was baptizing a very
tall man....and uh I don't really know what happened. He said the
prayer...then slammed the man in the water very hard hahaha which
splashed me and Elder Ngerem al over, but he didn't go all the way
under. He also arose with a gash on his forhead which was bleeding
pretty quick :/ so I bet he won't forget that baptism. But, all in all
it was a very beautiful experience when it was all said and done and I
am very grateful that 4 wonderful people were able to accept this
amazing gospel and enter into the waters of baptism :)

The following day I gave a talk in Sacrament as well, :)

Oh, I also got kissed on Saturday by a drunk African...Yes, that was
very strange. He wanted us to teach his family but they were all
drunkie drunk so we gave them a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and tried to
depart and he gave me and my companion a hug and kissed our necks.
Very strange...very very strange experience....

I got to witness some awesome changes happening in the mission when I
was on my exchange with Elder Walker the other day. I think we took a
picture that went on the blog but who knows. Some sweet stuff is going
on in the mission and it is very exciting to witness :) wish I could
say more , but I'm really not sure if  I am supposed to so as for now I
will not.

I had an amazing spiritual experiene when I was with Elder Walker the
other day. I was telling Elder Walker (district Leader) that I wasn't
sure how to truly recognize if the spirit was in the lesson. The
lessons were going great and I don't know how they could go any
better, but how could I be positive the spirit was in the lesson?
so...I continued on with the day after not receiving a complete answer
to my question...So,we taught this one lady and I was bearing
testimony of a modern day prophet and when I finished she looked me in
the eyes (as if nobody else was in the room) and she was like I can feel
the Spirit testify to me what you said is true, and I can feel at this
very moment that you have the Spirit with you and it is very strong,
and I can feel it, and It is of our Heavenly Father....I was just like
uh...woah :) so of course, I recognized it as an answer to my prayer
to recognize the Spirit. It is not always a powerful impression, but
oftentimes just comes as a result of obedience and being a "good boy"
(see Elder Bednars talk on the 100 mark not, I think it is something
like that) :) so that was a great experience for me :) and I know the
Lord is in the work and is with me through whatever I may go through!
I am so grateful :)

By the way, random, but I sent a letter home to send to Thomas and
Laura :) yeah...

Service is truly amazing. The other day we went to a brand new area.
No missionaries have any records of having ever visited there, but I
felt promted that we should go and try. My companion wanted to...but
insisted the jounrey would be very difficult for the people from there,
but he is a great companion and Saidu decided to take us. So we met
one of his old friends who was out farming on the side of the
mountain. So we all grabbed his buckets and walked down about 300
yards to the lil riverish/lake and filled the buckets. along the way
these girls were all yelling at me "Pumwei, Whattin you do?" so I told
them that we were just helping water the plants, so they were
interested and we got like4 new investigators down there. Keeping in mind,
not akward anymore, but everyone down at the river was
naked...yeah...Thomas knows I bet, but gosh its like uh...your
naked...and you speak to me as if nothing is weird
here....yeah...still kinda weird. but we went on to teach the boy we
helped and even got to teach his family later in the week :) So I can
testify that service is divine, and the Lord wants us to give as
much service as we can. When we are in the service of man,we are only in
the service of our Heavenly Father.

I have been CRUISING through the Book of Mormon! Gosh I am already in
like Helaman hahaha.I am trying to finish so I can get started on the
New Testmant. But, I have received so much amazing personal revelation
reading and studying this time through. I have been using the manuals
and cross references and ah it just has been great. I have learned more
then all my studies combined before my mission :)

So, a hard experience this week. Apparently, (found out after an
exchange), one of our stubborn older investigators does not like me at
all. She says that I cannot speak Krio and does not want me to come
back to her house. So she said this while I was gone, so of course we
went to her house the next day. So we sat and waited and she came back
in the house and was just like, I will not listen to a word you say if
you do not speak in Krio, you might as well get outta of my house.
(keep in mind this is me trying to understand her krio, arm movements,
slash yelling hahah :) ) so I am just like "me no sabe nothing! Me only
sabe small small krio, but dis na de tru Gospel of jesus Christ, and
me sabe dis na tru bain bain. (so that is rougly interpreted as " I
don't understand anything! I only understand a lil krio, but I know
this gospel is true, and i know its very very true! )And she starts
laughing so hard, like rolling on the floor, and she just loved me
since that :) just smiles at me and tries to teach me Krio and at the
end of the lesson she wouldn't pray...but asked me to pray...in
Krio....So I knelt down...and did not say one word of my prayer
in Krio. As soon as the prayer ended I told her in straight English " I
will not pray to God in Krio if I don't even understand it myself, you
know what I am saying, he knows what Iam saying, that is all the
matters" and she did not argue at all (which is a first for this
stubborn woman) hahah so great times :) :) great great times. Ah, I
love the mission SOOOO much!:)

So please everybody, write my companion Elder Ngerem, Moma I know you
already did and gosh you have no idea what it meant to that poor guy.
He has nobody to mail,nobody to talk to. His family says they don't
want to distract him. So he even has permission to email anyone he
wants, but nobody emails him back. So please, anybody, please write
him at least a short letter, I know my momma knows the address so maybe
she can put it up. Thank you so much! you don't know how much it means.
NOTE FROM MOM:  I USED DEARELDER.COM TO SEND A LETTER
TO ELDER NGEREM - I DO NOT KNOW HIS EMAIL ADDRESS BUT
WILL TRY TO FIND IT.  IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL IF ANYONE
COULD SEND HIM A LETTER BY WAY OF DEARELDER.COM


Well,my time grows short. or shrinks short or something. I don't even
know anymore...but I love you all so much. Thinking about you guys
makes me so happy. I miss you guys lots but I know this is where I am
supposed to be. The mission is amazing. I urge everyone to go on one.
It truly will be the best 2 years of your life. It is hard! oh, it is
hard :) but it is oh sosososos worth it. I love you Family, I love you
friends. I love you all so very much. I will keep
you in my prayers everynight, especially my dear cousins serving in
Spain and China. I love you all. Have an amazing week!!!!!

Look! It's Elder Sumrak

Just saw a couple of pictures on the mission blog, here at http://sierraleonefreetownmission.blogspot.com/

It is always great to see Elder Sumrak's face show up on the blog.

Elder Ngerem and Elder Sumrak (companions)

Questions & Answers

Tom (Elder Sumrak's Dad) Questions:
Do the prison guards you mentioned with the AK47's point the guns at you when you walk by and if so why?  From what other Elders say, how does your current area compare to other areas?  Hear much about Liberia? Will you ever have to serve in an area where Anthony Bourdain's (the Food Channel) Witch Doctor lives?  Do you have the opportunity to eat in members homes or do you mainly take care of your own meals? Have you been able to develop a workout routine where you are and what you have to work with?

Elder Sumrak's Answers:
hahahah okay pops so i had some extra time so please share these
answers with mother and the blog...but here are some answers to your
questions....


no, they do not point guns directly at me haha...just in the
vicinitiy...according to other Elders, this is the hardest area in the
mission. lowest baptisms...hardest terrain (only place with
mountains...where I am MT.Aureol) hahaha dirtiest area. Apparently
Liberia is beautiful and has beautiful apartments which are very clean
and what not. The missionaries say our apartment is the dirtiest they
have been in.

The areas like we watched Anthony Bourdain go to, I go to everyday. Talked with the
elders yesterday actually and they said they have seen many Witch
Doctors (devils) wandering the streets right outside our compound
before. Apparently, they love to bring the white missionaries into the
act so we are advised to avoid them and stay away. People follow them
and dance and chant but they are in Freetown, not just the BUSH. But,
I go to Bush areas like twice a week. Random village like areas in the
mountains...but they are very civilized and they eat lots of food
like on Anthony Bourdain hahaha.

We mainly take care of our own meals...but free meals are sometimes frequent
and sometimes end badly for our bodies. hahaha

My workouts are random and sporadic. Some mornings we don't have power
so I am not exactly motivated. but there are some weights in the
apartment. meaning a bench....with cinderblocks on either end haha and
one pair of like 20 lb dumbbells. and yeah that's it. But I try to keep
up benching and crunching at least. But, I really don't care to be
honest. I am too exhausted to workout some mornings. running...not
really an option. roads are too crazy. too many cars. too much holes.
not safe hahaha.

And here is something interesting as well: the mission here in Sierra
Leone/Liberia might split soon. and if  it does, missionaries are
stuck wherever they are. So, i could be here in Sierra Leone the rest
of my mission, or possibly in Liberia. But, nothing assured yet,
but there is a chance. :) Also, there are measures being taken to make
the first stake here which would be pretty amainzg. I love you all -be
safe. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Thankful!

EVERYBODY!!! Hello! okay so first I would like to thank every single
wonderful person who sent me a DEAR ELDER. That was so awesome :) I
had like 20 plus letters and after a long day of proselyting it was so
nice to come home to that Friday night :) So i don't have time to
write everyone individually because I have a very strict schedule so I
would just like to thank Aunt Julia, Evan, the Castillos, Uncle Chris,
Aunt Deb, Rachel, Rebecca, Uncle Dave, Jullian, Cassy, MOMA, Aunt
Lanae, Rebecca again, JENALYN :), Rachel, Matt Adams, DAD, Aunt Deb
again, Cassy again and Thomas and Laura for the wonderful letters. You
have no idea how much they mean to me :)and Thomas and Laura, i got
your post card on July 20, so it doesn't take nearly as long as you
believe I guess haha. But thank again everyone, please send more :)
They make me very happy haha. But, just to address some things people
asked or talked about. My district has about 13 people in it. 9 of the
missionaries live in my apartment. There are 2 sisters and the 2 Assistants

to the President are in the district as well. We walk everywhere and take taxi to go

to far places. The Ghana temple is the closest temple. Soccer is going on in every
field, on every street, and on stairs pretty much. Anywhere kids can
play. Everyone tries to call me over and talk to me because I am the
white man, and I am sitting in a YMCA crappy computer cafe sending
this. We cook all of our food on the stove, we get 500,000 leones a
month to spend and there is a bank about 2 miles away from our apartment
that we go get our cash at  and THE COTTTON TREE is in my area :)
google it. To answer Jenalyn's questions. The kids are absolutely
everywhere, just crawling around and doing whatever they want
everywhere haha. I am the ONLY WHITE MAN. I can go a whole day without
seeing another white person. Its a big deal when I do see one haha. My
boots are way too big but the Lord strengthens my feet so no blisters
;) and Jenalyn you did not write a novel so write more :)
So, here comes the week and the facts, so get ready for chaos, because
I don't even know what I will say half the time. Oh, Thomas and Laura
thank you for your mail and I apologize for not including you in the
last letter, I love you very much.  I am so grateful for your
postcards! They really light up my day. The wolf story sounds very
scary Thomas...I would not run there anymore haha!
So I wanted to talk about the Spiritual influences I have been seeing
so much every day! It is so sweet, and I have never experienced it
before in my life, but I know if stuff is going to happen. The Spirit
is so strong and it is such a sweet experience. Like I told you about
how I knew we would find the radio? Yeah, like the other night we were
walking to go get transport, way late, like 9:30 and transport does not
come that late, but I said a prayer and I knew one was coming...so my
companion trusted me and we waited 5 minutes and a taxi came! it was
awesome. Then the other day our branch missionary showed up at our
house and he was like I lost my key to my apartment in a taxi and I don't
think I will ever find it. I told him, I don't know how I knew, but I
just told him not to worry and that it would be okay. Say a prayer and
don't worry about it, he is going to find the key very soon. He called
me about an hour later and said the key was sitting on his door mat.
It is so sweet :) The Lord is truly in my life and it is amazing!

So, to answer your questions moma. No box for me yet :/ but other
Elders are getting theirs. So i just keep hoping and praying. I haven't
lost any weight, but my clothes are super baggy haha, but life is
still good. Rainy season last until like November but it’s all good.
Aww, tell Quinn and Kennedy happy birthday for me :) and tell Grandma

and Grandad hi for me and that I love them very much!

So, Today was P-Day, obviously. Woke up and hand washed our clothes,
mostly my companion does it and I dry them and put them on the line.
We are outta food....outta subsistence but we will press on until
next Monday haha :) i exchanged some money to hold us over temporarily
but everything will be okay so don't worry about that. After laundry,
I wrote Jenalyn a letter, like usual. Then Saidu Conteh (if
anyone would like to add him on FB do so, he is a great guy who helps
us out so much, he is a branch missionary leader and we are currently
helping him fill out his mission papers, great guy) does our laundry.
He then (barbed) my hair....oh, gosh its scary stuff. They just use
razors...like just razor heads attached to combs. But, I wanted to try
African style so I let him use those. Ended up a pretty okay haircut,
with 4-5 bleeding wounds on my head hahaha. But it was a little uneven
so i got out my clippers and he evened it all out. The Africans love
the haircut :) but then I got to play FOOTBALL (soccer)! First time since I
got here. Rainy day, but it let up for a little so I played with like
3 of the branch missionaries. They were all barefoot of course,
playing on sharp rocks, gravel, trash, and sticks. But, they are all
great. It was so much fun to play again :) ah gosh i love football (soccer)!
So much fun. But, then we made our way on over to the YMCA internet
cafe.

So yesterday was great as well. We had 7 investigators at church!
Sheesh I was excited. The whole chapel was full this time (because
there was no rain, thank you our prayers were answered!) So, we get up
to go confirm the 2 boys I baptized the other weekend, and...the
branch president asks me to do it...I whispered to my companion as I
passed him "I have never done this before!" but continued on with a
smile. So, I get up there and the Holy Ghost did it all. I had no idea
what to say but suddenly I knew everything, and I said it all and it
was awesome :) I was so relieved. So church was awesome, but we had a
sick young branch missionary missing. We went to his house early in
the morning and gave him a blessing. We got a phone call at church
telling us that he now has Malaria. He had been admitted to a local
sketch hospital. Took us forever to find it, but when we did, we were
both freaked out! The place looked like a haunted house. Broken glass,
chairs upside with holes in them, flickering lights, Tarantulas on the
walls, cob webs everywhere. Well, we went in and found him attached to
lil water baggy, and we talked to the poor guy for a while, and then made
our way back to the apartment to make him dinner (no...hospitals like
that do not feed their patients). So we took it back to him and he was
very grateful. We will be stopping by to see him on the way back from emails.

So, this week my companion fell sick, and he was just exhausted. So on
Tuesday we went up the mountain to Treeplanting, and he looked like he
was going to die. So we went to Saidu's house and he went and laid down
on the couch for a while. In the meantime, I sat outside and Saidu
taught me Krio, so I could understand people better and introduce
myself. We are supposed to speak only English because this is an
English speaking mission....but nobody I teach knows what I am saying
:( so I wanted to get the fundamentals down so I could at least start
a conversation with someone....so I can say some little stuff
like.......

WWOWWOW!!! Just lost power and lost some of the email....no big deal
whatever....

but, like I was saying. I can say "Me sabe small small krio, pas me
sabe dis gospel na tru bain bain." I can only speak a little bit of
Krio, but I know that his gospel is very very true. hahahah it makes
people laugh when I say it :) but, I learn small small everyday, but
we teach in English whenever possible, which isn't as much as i would
like. The camera is crap, but we went to some sweet spot the other day
to reach a less active and I took some pictures. We had to cross these
rapids and like waterfalls on a bridge made out of sticks and nails.
SKETCHY SKETCH SKETCH, and yeah there are people just bathing on the
side of it...still am not quite used to the whole 5 % of the people I
see everyday being naked...but whatever hahaha.

Moma, could you print out my emails by the way? I would really like
them when I get home because I feel like I tell you guys more then I
even have time to write in my journal. thanks momma :)

So, Elder Hales and I made Melo every night this week which is pretty
great. He is very kind and shares his food with me since he knows that
I am running very low. I hope that I get to be his companion one day
because I feel like we would have very much success together. hahaha
He welded a lot before he came on his mission and actually passed
through VA and the Outer banks so we talk about that lots. He shows me
pictures of him working underneath the road right outside theWashington DC temple, it is pretty sweet!

I miss the temple so much. It was such a peaceful cleaning relaxing
experience to go. I feel like we should be able to go once every 6
months at least to get that spiritual booster haha.

But, the work is great! I love it! We are very busy all day everyday
trying our best to share this gospel. So, we had a goal the other day
to try and contact at least 20 random people, to practice me talking
to people. So, I stopped to talk to one guy, and next thing you know
we had 8 contacts haha because people just keep coming asking if we
can sit down and teach them some time. It was pretty awesome. Of
course probably only 1-2 of them are serious, and the other just like
attention from the only white man for 20 blocks, but it still is nice.
They call me over when I am walking by and they all tell me to write
down their name and teach them the gospel. So, I try my best, and its
a good thing the branch missionaries are there for us helping us
explain everything because they do not understand me most of the time
when I talk...but fortunately we have a lot of educated investigators
who can read and speak English so that is always a good refresher. :)

 
Well, I must depart but I love everyone so much. Thank you for all the
letters of support and just telling me what’s going on in your lives. I
honestly am interested and I am sorry I do not have time to write
everyone individually. But, I love you all so much thank you thank
you. Your letters are amazing. I know this gospel is so true and I
know this is what the Lord wants me to do. It is hard, and life is
hard, I am never clean, but I am almost always happy :) I love you
family. I miss you dearly. Love you everyone. Farwell till next week!

Prayers and Blessings

FAMILY! Wow its so great to hear about all your info and everything.
Dad’s stories about the raccoons are great haha . First I will answer

questions about Dear Elder and what not. For Dear Elder they send

them here (somehow) and they print them off and we go pick them

up on Friday. But, ANYBODY can send me dear Elders.

I would prefer if as many people as possible did,
because it is free free free. But it can take about a week to be
delivered to me. If you send them by Sunday, I should receive them by
Friday,, so none this week :/ but I can pray for next week. And Mom, for
the box...here comes the needs, haha and of course you can determine
the wants : baby wipes, hand sanitizer, American FOOD!, anything that
doesn't weigh a lot like goldfish or something haha I just want sweet
American food, pictures of home would be great, toothbrushes...and
maybe some stamps, I would also like some addresses of any friends who
would like me to letter them...like I sent some home today, for you to
distribute if you would please :) but I would like to send them
directly. So just post on fb maybe if any friends want me to write
them. and uh yeah, other then that I am surviving :) don't needa worry
about me. So that’s enough of my whining and wanting...on to my
exciting exciting week haha, here it comes, its probably going to be
sporadic again, but I will do my best to answer all questions you have
first, then go on to story time....

No box yet but I am waiting eagerly :) The money works that we get

500,000 Leones a month. Which equals about 120
US dollars. So....A taxi is about 2,000. So I transferred some money
and got some branch missionaries to buy me a sierra leone jersey for
about 25,000. Which directly equals like 5 bucks sorta? roughly
that...hahah so i am buying many jerseys before I come home. They are
not super good quality but heck...any t-shirt for 5 bucks is a grab
right? much less a jersey? :) so i will make sure to get everyone one.
we usually go to a market which is like a town...made out of shanties
and sheet metal and wooden houses and what not, but its a market where
everyone is selling and buying...and it looks like the streets of New
York in busy comparison. But, we also go to a small lil store the size
of a dollar store and its run by Indian men where it is
easier to find stuff. I eat OATMEAL! like everyday. make it over the
crap stove....not the best, but it gets me through. I am learning to
cook small small (krio for a little bit) We do have electricity which
is a blessing, but its no surprise if it ever turns off randomly...no
shouts of surprise no nothing haha just go stumble through the dark
and find your flash light. We are supposed to be in before 7:30 every
night but the other night we didn't get back till 10!! no transport :/
 We don't go to the mission home ever though, its about 20 minutes
away. (fun fact though, they are tearing down our apartment soon and
building the mission home there in the compound to be next to
mission office) ...

So on to life here :) well let me tell you about Saturday
first...since that was a very eventful day! BAPTISM DAY! My first. Three
of the companionships in the apartment had baptisms scheduled, so we
all went and ironed the dirty baptisms clothes, that didn't fit the
people at all really, and we made our way down to the church, so about
100 yards away :) and then we had our program and prepared for the
baptisms. There were I think 7 people being baptized, and 2 of those
were for our branch. They both couldn’t be a day over 10, but they have
no families who are members and I got the opportunity to baptize them :)
Ones name was Michael, and the other was Francis, but I won't butcher
their last names by trying haha. It was really awesome! We went out to
the dirty font outside and I was able to baptize both of them :) it
was so special. I took lots of pictures before hand so you guys will
be able to see the little lads one day. So we finished the program and
continued on with our proselyting. We went up the mountain to
Treeplanting. It was pouring down so we had our raincoats on. We
taught about chastity, Word of Wisdom, tithing two separate times, but
then I started to feel a little ill. So we went to the branch
missionaries house and I laid down in his bed for a while, but I
wasn't feeling any better...but we had an appointment and this is the
Lords time...I’M not wasting it. So we got up and went over and I had
to lead the discussion  (been doing it all week) so no big deal, but
gosh I was dying. My stomach was killing me, I was sweating, I had a
headache...and the lesson went WAY TOO LONG. Went for like an hour and
a half (not my fault) haha. but, at the end I felt like crap, but one
of the boys we baptized in the morning had fallen sick, so we went
over to his house and gave him a blessing real quick...and then it was
like 8:00 (pitch black) so we made our way back to the taxis to wait
for a ride. When one finally came it was a truck. We were riding along
the crap crap road (bouncing along more like it) and I couldn’t
contain myself anymore haha and proceeded to violently throw up out
the window hahahaha oh boy...well I felt better but when we got down
the mountain we still have 15 minute walk home and I felt like tish
and by the time we got to the apartment I threw up for what felt like
5 minutes...and thus started possibly the worst night of my life.
Threw up countless times mixed with runny tummy (you can imagine) and
yeah...sucked so bad. woke up and called sister Roggia and she
diagnosed me with either Mild Typhoid or food poisoning. I died all
Sunday. Was on so many drugs, slept after church...pretty much worst
time ever hahaha but I am feeling a lot better today :) so I had
gotten a blessing...prayed lots...and the Lord has blessed me. I am
very grateful for my speedy recovery and I know that the Lord is
looking out for me...so that was my exciting day.

So, like I said before. I led a bunch of the discussions this week. My
companion Elder Ngerem is great! he really has helped me develop very
quickly and I am starting to feel very comfortable which is a big
relief. I am starting to understand the people a little bit more and
their constantly mixed Krio, and can speak a little bit :) so I know
the Lord is answering my prayers. We had a rough week, not many people
were home so we taught probably less then 15 lessons, but its okay.
But, we had about 12 progressing investigators...but only 1 came to
church...and you want to know why? BECAUSE IT RAINED!!!! RAIN!

I can sympathize and I understand that its not easy....but
you know its worth it to take the sacrament. to renew those
covenants. I will gladly walk all the way to my investigators and
members area with no rain jacket on and walk back to prove to them
that rain shouldn't stop them from coming to church...but I rant too
much. Forgive me haha they are great people, they just need to get
their priorities straight.

So I ate some potatoe leaf this week which is now my favorite, in
comparison to cassava and krin krin.

So, unorganized but gosh that is so sweet that Elder Bednar came and
visited! i am so jealous! I doubt an apostle will visit while I am
here, having Elder Holland so recently. But as the saying goes

for everything here, well at least for me and Elder Hales,
TIA (This is Africa). Spider in your cereal? TIA. No running water
today? TIA. Someone pooping on the side of the road? TIA. Get your
pants splashed? TIA. PUMWEI, WAMPATU, WHITE MAN....TIA. but, it is
okay :) we love it here. Let me talk a little bit about my Dear Elder
Hales:

Elder Hales is my MTC mate from Spanish Fork, Utah. He is companions
with Elder Symons. He is pretty much the man! He lives on a farm back
home, so he can pretty much do anything here. From fixing the toilet,
to the stove, to the shower, to jerry rigging just about anything, he
is the man to go to. We usually have our nightly conversations about
our day, and have started a tradition of our nightly melo (hot
chocolate) and we talk about how the day went and about everything
TIA. and about our Dates back home (DATE = girlfiend, but you don't
say girlfriend here because that implies that you have violated the
law of chastity) hahaha. So, we are pretty much best buds. I am really
happy that he is here with me. Both being fresh, it really is a giant
relief to have someone chill to talk to. He wants me to come home and
work with him on the farm, like 15 minutes out of Provo. I am
strongly considering it hahah. Well, not interfering with my school
time at least, or my time with Jenalyn :) but yeah, that would be
maybe something to do.

So, my companion, and the Zone leaders believe that I will be training
someone after my 12 weeks of training are up. I am kinda nervous but
they believe I will be. There are 17 new missionaries coming and only
2 leaving I believe, which means that I will probably be training a
freshie, as will Elder Hales, which means I may get to be with Elder
Hales for 6 months, which would be super sweet :)

So, everyone in the apartment loves music. Everybody is listening to
something all the time, and there can usually be heard at least 4
different sources of music at a time. From the lion king, to church
music, to african soul music, to country music, to everything! church
talks, john by the way, they all have everything. But, my companion
LOVES music! loves it so much, but can't afford one of the players. I
gave one of the branch missionaries 70,000 and he went and bought my
companion one, so now he has music! and he is so happy! he is always
listening to something now and its great to see how happy he is :) I
wanted it to be a surprise and didn't want him to know it was from me,
but He almost killed one of the branch missionaries for ditching out
earlier so I gave it to him early...big mistake haha. He ended up
losing it in the taxi on the way home!!!!but for some reason, I never
worried for one second. Not one second. I just felt okay about it the
whole time...a missing radio player in Africa....and I didn't worry a
second. TADADADA Holy Ghost maybe? :) I think so. Because the next day
the branch missionary found the taxi driver and he hadn’t stolen it
but was holding onto it for us....So now STORY TIME

We were approaching the taxi bus driver who had the radio to get it
back, but here we go....He had a coffin on the top of the bus. He was
delivering for some boys. Yes, there was a body inside. So the boys
wanted him to take it down the mountain and back up, but wouldn't pay
to go back up. So when the boys saw us approaching, they snatched the
radio out of the taxi driver’s hands and ran up the mountain with
it....We were so lost as what to do. The bus driver couldn’t do
anything...but we pressed on and did our mission work. The taxi driver
found the kids the next day, and bought the radio back for 10,000 for
us, and wouldn't even let us pay him back? Wow! What a great guy :) we
were so happy. Yet, I knew all along it would work out. Crazy huh? The
Lord is truly a part of our work, and a part of our everyday
interactions. So, we promised the man we would come teach him about
the gospel hahaha :)

But, I have so much more to say but I am running out of time
unfortunately...But, ask me more questions so maybe you can hear more
about what you want to hear about haha fun fact ( whenever i am in a
taxi visualize 7-8 people in a 5 person taxi....) :) there yeah go.
But uh yeah, I love hearing about home so please send me Dear Elders
during the week and make em as long as you want. I am allowed to read
those any day, so no limit on those :) I love you family so much. I
know that this gospel is true. I see the Lords hand in every way in
every aspect of this living and this work. I know that prayer works,
or else I would be dead....or worse...on the way back home (gasp!!!!)
Pray to the Lord...He answers prayers. This work is hard. I find
myself longing for home sometimes....but never for a second would I
leave a minute before my 2 years are up. This is not my time. It is
the Lords. I truly appreciate everything of the US now....and forever
will when I return. I love you mother (Mother, oh how well you have
prepared me. thank you for everything you have packed for me and
prepared me for. You are so wise and I am so glad that I have you.
Everything that you packed is helping me immensely. Gosh, I am so
grateful for you:) you help me more then you will ever know) Father
(thank you Father, your letters keep me smiling and I love that you
still use tish, thank you for your example of boldness but humbleness,
Nick (I wrote you your own letter buddy, that’s how much I love you)
grandparents ( I miss you dearly, please send me their addresses mom
and dad because i want to write letter to them) aunts and uncles, and
all my dear cousins. My friends from back home, I miss you very much
and you are in my thoughts and memories. I miss you so much.

Have a great week!

Some New Pictures

First week in Sierra Leone

Dear Family and Friends,

After you read this letter from Elder Sumrak, I know that he would really appreciate hearing from you.  It is very easy and free to go to http://www.dearelder.com/ and click on the tab Write A Letter.  Then you just need to select Sierra Leone Freetown West Africa in the drop-down menu and fill in the boxes.  Your message will be printed out and mailed for free to Elder Sumrak.  There is a countdown clock to tell you how long before the next batch of letters are sent.  Thank you so much for taking the time to serve him as he spends his time serving the Lord.  Love from the Sumraks

Well guys hello from Sierra Leone. I have so much to say that I will
not even try to organize it, but I am here in beautiful Sierra Leone.
I may rant and I may say some things but in the end everyone know that
I know this is where the Lord wants me, I'm not coming home, I love the
people, I love this gospel, and I love the mission. So first off, we
rode the ferry on over, and 2 of us 9 missionaries were immediately
sent off to meet our companions from the mission office...and the rest
of the missionaries spent the night at the mission office...yes I was
one of those two...and my apartment is a stones throw away from the
mission office hahah so if you have PLEASE DEAR ELDER me because those
only take 5 days to get here. Use dear elder send me a message, they
print them on Fridays for me :) so please tell Jenalyn, and ANY
friends to do that because I would love to hear from everyone and I do
not have time to read all on PDAY. But, Monday is our Pday. So back to
the story. They walked us up to the apartment, me and my buddy Elder
Hales...and gosh the apartment is complete tish. Dirty cement floors.
There are 9 of us Elders in this. The zone leaders, district leader,
and other companionships....so its bugs everywhere. cockroaches.
toilets don't flush. We have to poor water down them to clean them.
bucket showers. I pour antiseptic in a bucket and take some freezing
bucket showers. We must use a bicycle pump to pump the water through
the filter to drink. Everything is dirty. You can't be clean. We walk
around in flip flops in the apartment. But, it's not all bad I guess. I sleep
on the top bunk...so my giant fan has to be under the mosquito net
with me...so its pretty much on top of me haha and if i turn it off I
get too hot so i need it. I have gotten sick about 7-8 times by
now....but its all good :) I have tried all the food I can while I
have been here. My companion is Elder Ngerem. A nigerian elder who has
been here for about 9 months. He is the man. He speaks the language, is
the best cook in the mission, and takes awesome care of me. He doesn't
talk much, but he teaches with real power, and he is helping me tons.
But he cooks me lots of stuff. Stuff you would look at and say what
THE HECK IS THAT! But, i have eaten it all. Cassava Leaf, Potatoe
leaf, krin krin, Eba. Its crazy. Eba or whatever is like this doughy
stuff that you dip in some sauce and eat (like anthony bourdain in
liberia) and we (all the africans and I) sit around a bucket and just
dips our hands in and eat haha...its pretty gross if you think about
it but it tastes good! I love the food here! It just doesn't love me
so much yet if you know what I mean. So weather....It has rained
pretty much everyday, it rains everynight and every morning. My zone
is the Freetown, Mt. Aureol zone. Google it :) its pretty intense. I
have only been to 2 of our zones so far but our area is HUGE! But we
have 2 really good areas that we went to all last week. The first one
is on top of the mountain. We hike a little bit and catch a taxi and
then go proselyte up there all day. Its way up high in the moutain so
its nice and chilly up there fortunately. :) gosh, i have so much to
say. The PEOPLE! They are so amazing. Everyone listens to our message
and everyone is so friendly to us. They all call me PUMWEI which is
krio for white man, and some people just shout white man at me and I
turn and they smile and wave. The children crawl all over me and pull
at my hairs and poke my nose and my ears and chin and tell me to buy
them stuff haha. It's so funny. They are all so sweet. They all try to
teach me Krio. I can't really understand the people so much. Lots of
them speak krio...which is not easy to understand yet. and english
sounds about as close to spanish for me depending on who I am talking
to :) haha but I have already taught about 15 lessons and me and my
companion pretty much go 60/40% on them so he is giving me some great
experience. The people all accept the message. We have taught
everything to them haha and I have invited about 4 people to be
baptized and they all accept...and they all want to be baptized...they
just all struggle to keep committments. and if you don't come to
church, it doesn't matter if the message is true, you can't be
baptized until you show God that you know its true and you're going to
live it like it's true. So we have about 15 people commit to come to
church on Sunday...and only 1 showed up. Because it WAS RAINING!!!!
Gosh, it ranis everyday! Get over it! haha. But, church was funny
yesterday. Me and my companion had to bless the sacrament...then I
bore my testimony AND there was about 25 people in the room where
about 150 chairs were set up haha. There are so many members but
nobody comes to church when it rains beacuse they don't want to dress
up and then get wet. and when it rains here...it pours!!! SHEESH!!! so
a little about where I live and serve. I live in a lil apartment
inside a giant compound. There is a church building, the mission
office, and our apartment in the compound. The mission home is about
15 minute taxi ride away. Outside the compound is the world. Just people
everywhere and little shacks and houses everywhere. There are houses, sure,
but most people stay in clay, zinc, brick, concrete lil shacks and huts. Our 2 areas:
The one Tree Planting on top of the moutain is like a little village. All the
houses are on different levels and there is no road pretty much. The
road leading to the village is really bad. I don't understand how the taxis survive.
I get nauseous from how many bumps we hit hahaha!  So the first lesson I taught
up there it was pouring down rain and I was basically yelling to even
be heard. So the other area we go is like downtown. Its Solider
street. We have to pass a prison on the way there which is really
scary since there are people with ak47s everywhere and light machine
guns and its crazy.  But we pass that and go into the city.
and those houses are just no organization,  everywhere. Huts, metal
houses, wood, brick, but there are some legit houses.
Gosh, this email is so crazy unorganized hahaha. It rained so hard the other day
 and all day that 15 people died in Freetown. The rain almost knocked me off the mountain.
A giant rapid waterfall was on our path when we were up on the mountain and
you know there are people on the otherside just waiting to hear the
Lord's gospel so we tried to pass through it. So we are wearing giant
yellow rain jackets and big rubber boots. Everyday it rains (85% of
the time, except today fortunately) we go out in those. So we are
crossing this river and gosh it almost knocked me off my feet, and if
it had I WOULD have died. Its so nuts. But, on the people again. Every
single person we have taught is between ages 15-22, I would say. They
are all young guys, no girls right now except for 2 older women. They
are all young guys looking for some hope and light in their life. They
are great guys. They knows its true. You can see it in their eyes. I just pray they act
upon it. BRANCH MISSIONARIES!!!!! What great people. There are about
10 in our branch I think haha.A bunch of young guys who just want to
go on missions so they help as much as they can. They even wash our
laundry every Monday. But, they will go out with us all day. Brother
Igreasa went out with us the other day for about 7 hours! That is
sacrifice. Brother Sido, who can't be a day older then me, just got
called as branch mission leader, so that's really cool. He is always
out helping us, buying our food, and setting up our contacts for us,
because we can't find the people we are going to see if we don't know
where they live. SO pretty much EVERYONE wants the gospel. But we
can't teach everyone. So its hard but we have to only teach those who
we think are legit investiagors, because everyone wants to sit down
and talk to us. We can't even give Book of Mormons away unless they
are legit, because everyone wants one to read. We just don't have
enough to do that. So traffic...I thought traffic was bad in
Ghana...wow. I almost die, everytime I walk out the front door. A road
the size of a one lane road in the USA has two cars going either way
and motorcyles weaving in and out. I almost get hit every five
seconds. Imagine the closest call a car ever made to hitting
you...Yeah, that is about the most comfrotable distance you can be
from the cars here....Hahahah So crazy. But, I kinda love it. :) Its
hard work. Its exhausting. At times I really just want to come home,
but I know this is where I need to be. This is where I want to be. The
Lord has sent me here and I am ready to serve :) I love this gospel and
I know it is sososososososososos true! Oh, there is so much I still
want to say but there is just not enough time. Please send me lots of
questions because that is so much easier to answer then just ranting
like I have for the past 30 minutes. I love you all so much! I just
sent a letter off today Jenalyn, so it will get there in about a month
or so haha but please dear Elder me :) that would really make make
make my day! I love you all so very much....

Elder Sumrak is now in Sierra Leone!



Arriving at airport




The new group of missionaries




Ferry ride to Freetown







Elder Sumrak with Mission President Roggia and Sister Roggia



Almost time to leave the MTC

Well that sounds like some freak weather you guys are having but i am glad everybody is safe :) today is going great! amazing fast sunday and all of the sierra leone elders actually leave on tuesday morning which is a relief haha! I am super excited. The past couple of  days have been super boring though. We had to sit in one room and listen to lectures for an entire day on friday, but yesterday was okay. We had like an allstar soccer game sort of deal where the best 5 of us missionaries played like the cooks and the teachers and what not...I was the only white man on the field haha but i did awesome and we ended up tying 1-1. Lots of fun :) The spirit has been with all of us so strongly. A bunch of us missionaries gather for a devotional everynight in one of the guys room and we usually have a hymn and prayer and then people uusuallly share a message and what not and it is always so great :) the spirit is strong during the day but it is extra strong when a bunch of guys get together and continue to praise the Lord, even after they have spent the last 16 hours of the day doings so...it really is a wonderful testimony experience :) so we fly out at 9 on tuesday morning and we arriive in Sierra Leone and take a water taxi from the island to the mainland freetown area...There are 2 elders from Sierra Leone and I have been talking to them and its going to be VERY VERY crazy getting out of the airport...once I do that I will be okay but apparently the people swarm the white guys, and will yank off any watch you have or anything they can grab and run away with...So im really nervous but I will be fine :) I will say my prayers and everything will work out like it is supposed to. Tomorrow is just our last day of classes, and we get all of our clothes washed one last time, so we are all super ready to be gone. Its fast sunday today so we don't eat until 5 tonight, so I am on like a 5 hour break right now, but we have interviews with the President in like an hour so that will be nice :)

 

So a little more about the people. So Africans swear a lot haha, but to them its not swearing, im pretty sure its stuff they say in church and what not, but its not uncommon to hear the F word or any other word being thrown around the hall hahaha. Well some find it really offensive, while others say they use it with their parents and everything, so every culture here is very different. Its very strange haha but its fun learning about. Well, time to say goodbye to the MTC, about time! but i am sure i will be grateful for the many blessings I have had here once i am thrown out into the real world haha :) i pray for your safety and well being everyday family. I love you all so much, I guess the next time you hear from me I will be in the wild haha...I love you all. Have a great Week. Love you friends, family, Jenalyn :) BYE!