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
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
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 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
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 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
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!
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 the
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!
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