New Pictures!

These are just a few pictures Elder Sumrak sent from Elder Hales' camera but you can see many new pictures here at Elder Hales' blog.  (Thanks Elder Hales' dad!)

Letters, Cool Ties, Moving Soon

So, I got like 3 weeks worth of letters this week So i want to address
everyone really quick!

Momma i got your package and it was sweet! except for a rat got in and
ate whatever the chocolate and raisins were haha but the rest was
awesome and I loved the pictures :) thank you so much mother, you are
so sweet! though, in the envelopes and packages, crackers do not
survive, but i still enjoy the crumbs ;) your amazing momma thank you!
Plus, Jenalyn! I got your picture and 3 Dear Elders so I sent you a
big long letter this week! got the money and stamps momma so thank you
tons! Thank you Jenalyn, Sis Peterson, Aunt Deb -yes, my shirts are
starting to turn a lil yellow ;) , Katie, Aunt Julia - yeah, xenocide (the book)
is awesome! it is hard to start but easy to finish :) i love it,
Mr.Whitley - There are some old old crazy people here who claim to be
90+ but I don't know my good sir,
All of them are very receptive to the
Gospel, baptizing 2 this weekend actually :), Cassy - Alex Morgan!
what a beast! thank you for the soccer info, i love it!, Jeff Hales -
We sent you letters this week :), Aunt Deb - wow rachel and her bags,
high maintenance ;) just teasing!, Moma, and Rebecca - I loved your
email, you will hear from me soon dear cousin!

and again...more letters... Aunt Deb- Happy late birthday! I loved the
picture you sent me and keep it in my wallet :) beautiful family i
love you so much!, rebecca, Jen, Miranda, mom - love the soccer stuff,
dad - I am proud of your lifts and runs but sheesh you need another
vacation old man,....get the shoes!, Jenalyn!, Kendall boyd - i
sent you a letter today buddy, i loved hearing from you, Cassy, Sister
Peterson - the only thing I hear about school is the exams they are all
taking during the summer that really determine the outcome of
their entire lives, but since it's still summer I know little about
schooling, Rebecca, - ah work sounds so exciting! and i miss wii mario
kart! so much fun, Katie, Thomas and laura- got 5 post cards from you
guys, thank you so much :)

So...on to the week!

Well, last Monday I actually bought 4 of these sweet Nigerian ties
called Jatallas, they are straight african! they never spoil, no rain
or nothing hurts em and they are super shiny and super awesome. They
are like the coveted missionary ties that are super expensive unless
you find  people selling em. They usually like 70-100,000 but we
got em for 12 :) I also bought myself a little music player and have
400 + church songs on it so that is very enjoyable! I finally had
snail this week which was actually really tasty. My companion and I
made ground nut soup, which is a super yummu soup we use with our
rice, and we put snail and fish in it and it is super good, but I told
my companion no more snails hahhahaha....sketchy....

I did get hit by a car this week! or at least my backpack did haha
almost knocked me over :) but that was pretty exciting!

Last night Elder Hales and I had to jerry rig my fan because it
wouldn't turn on...so we lifted it off the top bunk and grabbed
another fan...a standing fan...which wasn't tall enough to blow on
me, so we ended up duck taping it in the air to the side of the
bed....its pretty hilarious to look at, specially since we did it with
a flashlight in the dark, but hey, it worked! :)

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! which is pretty awesome :)
only took me 7 weeks, and finished Our Heritage and 50 %  of the book
of mormon manual, so my studies are going great! but, I was kinda
bummed when I finished the Book of Mormon because I realized how hard
salvation and exaltation was...but, talking to the Elders last night
we had a really good conversation...and its not that hard as Moroni
sure makes it sound hahah, because it is by GRACE that we are
saved....after all that we can do :) so...you may not be perfectly
charitable, as is the requirement for exaltation, but, if you did your
best, Jesus Christ and the atonement will do the rest. So, that was a
very nice lesson I learned this week!

So, on to the biggest excitement of the week, which seems like is
always on saturdays and usually included baptisms. but, I have been
kinda sick this week. Got caught in the rain all wednesday with no
umbrellas or jackets, so got soaked...and got a cold/fever, that I
didn't treat right (which means I continued to do the Lords work
hoping that would cure me ;) ) so now I am pretty sick, but I am doing
great now! got a blessing and some Sinutab and feelings Tons better!
but, then I thought I had ring worm on my chest...but, Sister Roggia
told me that it is probably something else, so also that is cleared up
and I WILL SURVIVE :) the Lord's work must go on and I am here to do
it SHABANG!:) I love this gospel. So much hope and so much love, but
wow I strayed off topic didn't I? Back to saturday action. SO, i was
texting sis roggia about my condition and accidently took the phone
with me to the baptismal font to go clean, like Elder Ngerem and I do
every saturday pretty much. Well, I didn't realize i even took it, but
at some point while cleaning it must have fallen out of my pocket...so
we went back up to the apartment, where I ironed about 15 clothes
again, then we went to call our investigators but....no phone. so we
grabbed the other Elders phone and called ours...yeah someone answered
..but in Krio!
 and they said "who na dis?"
Elder Ngerem replied "da missionaries" they hung up the phone and
turned it off.
OH NO THEY DIDN"T! so we sprinted down to the chapel and started
interoggating every young man! no luck.. we grabbed the assistances,
they started making kids turn out their pockets... no luck! and gosh i
was praying and praying because I did not want to lose another phone!
so we went and got one of the main missionary men, President Marcus
and he and the security guard locked down the compound. nobody is
allowed out....yeah, so the person who has the phone gets scared..and
calls us
they say "da titi done go down to charge de phone."
so we run out the compound and go and check the 3 nearest charging
stations...no luck...
we search and search and eventually get a call from the zone leaders
in the apartment. They found the phone. the person got scared and
threw it in our flower bush and ran for it...SO in the end, we got the
phone. I forced myself to love whoever it was though, and not get angry
hahahah oh I love my companion :) the mission is so exciting and so
great! I absolutely love it. and I love the people here, they truly
are amazing!

But, the day went on, and we baptized A.  and M.
 so what a great day! :) it was pretty sweet, and
they both showed up on sunday to be confirmed as well. ah and we have
possibly 3 more baptisms this sunday :) so exciting. we are so so so
so busy though, specially with Elder Ngerem being District Leader. Like yesterday,
Saidu and I had to teach lessons to people after church because Elder
Ngerem was interviewing. Ah this was so frustrating.

I am practicing the interview questions with this lady and I'm like
"whattin na repentance" and she looks at me and is like huh so I
repeat myself. She then turns to Saidu and says something like "ah de
white man done speak English, whattin ne he tolk?"
TO which Saidu responsed "Whattin na Repentance" and she proceeds to
answer...I almost flipped...hahaha he laughed so hard when we were
done. I was like was that not clear what I asked and he said its just
because she is an old lady but ah, frustrating day yesterday, felt
like nobody could understand me...well as compared to amazing friday
:):):)

So, friday, we did exchange again. Idressa and Elder Ngerem and Saidu
and I. We taught 4 lessons up the mountain and ah they all went great!
we went to this one guy and we invited all his friends over and they
were all our age and we just had a great lesson and everything went so
sweet :) we had 3 more lessons with everyone the same age group that
day and everyone was so sweet! they all are such awesome people and
were begging us to come back this week. I am really excited to go see
them...ANDANDAND

I might get to go with ELDER HALES THIS WEEK!

Since Elder Ngerem has to do exchanges, I might get to go with Elder
Hales this week, which I am super excited about. Gosh, we are just
going to take people and throw em in the river and baptize em ;) ah
just kidding but yeah I am super excited to work with him. Love that
guy.

Also, ELDER Ngerem received LOTS of Dear Elders this week. At least
10. SO THANK you everybody that sent him one. you have no idea how
much he lights up when he realizes he got more letters than the other
Africans, who have dates and what not. So thank you everyone.He may
not write back but he is more grateful then you will ever know. He is
super stressed with the new position and your letters really cheered
him up!

So, big big news of the week! our apartment is getting torn down in
less then 3 weeks! we have to find apartments PRONTO! so, they even
told us that except for those extremely progressing investigators, we
need to drop our plans and focus on finding a new place to stay...each
new area. so Elder Ngerem and I did just that On thursday! and we
found the NICEST place...but, in the end too nice. Sweet apartment
place that had 6 flats, total of 18 bedrooms and just perfect perfect
perfect, beautiful absolutely beautiful (that meaning it looks like a
Best Western  that has been trashed, but beautiful for Sa Lone ;) ) So
we toured for an hour, took 200 + pictures, showed the assistances,
they loved it, we could have moved ALL the missionaries there, not
just our companion ship but everrone, the president, and the couples,
but the lady was not willing to remove the furnishings...so in the
end, no deal. but the assistants found another place the next day so 6
of us will be moving there in the next coming weeks...but, not Elder
Hales and his companion, so we will have to depart :( i am so sad! ah
it is going to stink so much to leave Elder Hales...ah don't want to
think about it.

so I know a little bit of like 3 languages now, or at least how to say
hi and what not in KRIO, Mendes, and Timini, so it is fun to
communicate with people on the road now. I do my best, but I can
always improve, but we try to teach our lessons in as much English as
possible. Since it is an English speaking mission :)

Also, scripture I read yesterday that I really really loved! it is in
Matthew 7 and it says about broad is the path to hell or whatever but
narrow is the path to heaven but "few there be that find it". Well
everyone kows that one but they always interpret it like oh yeah well
duh there is more people going to hell then heaven, but it says few
there are that "find" it, not follow it. SO, it really inspired me to
go out and help people find it :)

But, this week has been awesome. I love you all so much and I am super
duper busy but am doing my best to try to stay healthy and do the
Lord's work. Today, we went to the wood market, and I bought some hand
carved (see,hear,speak) no evil monkeys. SO, its pretty awesome :) and
only cost 5 $. also, because of Zone leaders, elder Symons and I ended
up losing Elder Hales and Elder Ngerem and couldn't find each other
for 30 plus minutes. NO phone, because we left it at apartment, but gosh
could not find each other.SO, elder symons and I stopped in the middle
of the market, and I offered a quick prayer...he then asked, "where do
you think we should go" while I had the inclination to not move...I
was feeling tired and lazy...but he was about to head down, and I was
like no...and then didn't move or think for like 10 seconds, and then
right behind us in the opposite direction he spotted Elder Hales
entering another alleyway :) so we found them! only by the power of
the Holy Ghost I tell you :) it is truly amazing and a great blessing
in our lives

So, I got to run but I love you all so very much my friends and
family. your letters are so amazing and I had such a big pile this
week that made me so happy! ah, so happy. you are all so sweet and
I'll never forget you for sacrificing even a little bit of time :) I
love you all! please be safe and take care! Moma and Papa I love you
:)

-Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak

Growing Mission & Sweet Soccer

So, Good evening family :) To answer some questions:  haven't received the dear elders for the week so that is why I am not responding to anything anyone said specifically because no here yet :) that is sweet that there is a video of us hahaha! that's awesome. My shirts are still super tight, but less tight at least, I keep in shape so that they are still fine though ;) I love how the pictures are now. More the better so i really like it! thank you! thank you for everything you have sent me and I sure hope I receive it soon! Also, THANK YOU EVERYBODY for the dear elders to Elder Ngerem. His first name is Smart by the way :) but, he was so excited when he opened them all and he wants to write you guys but has no stamps so I am sharing but I only have about 15 left :/ so hopefully I will find those ones you sent me if you did mother.

Rebecca, you poor girl :( I am so sorry to hear about all those rough things going on in your life :( I love you so much and I am praying for you dear cousin! also, wrote you and rachel a letter this week, so hope you get it! Cassy! your letters are great and everyone enjoys them so much!:) thank you! one of my apartment mates Elder Baffou Appiah requests Arsenal information! Thank you so much :) Thomas...I wrote you and Laura today...but really man, 5 finger shoes....sheesh.....

Thank you so much everyone that wrote me dear elders or letters last week (haven't received this week) Thank you dear moma, Elder Hales Father (by the way, he was on to me right away when I said fence stories and started laughing and was like "jeff jeff jeff...." but, he really enjoyed it. Your son is doing well and we are taking extra good care of him here. I make sure I share all my snacks with him so we both enjoy various american goodies. Thank you also Jenalyn (even though your letter was incomplete ;) ), Dad, Rebecca, Aunt Deb, Rachel, Nicole Gledhill (funny, Nicole, I wrote you the week before I got your Dear Elder, so you will receive that sometime soon :) ), Cassy, and Thomas and Laura for 3 of your postcards, thank you all so much!

So, on to the week. Today is some Muslim holiday weekend like Ramadan or something so everything is pretty much closed. We are sitting in the mission office and it is 8:30 at night and we are writing our emails :) yes, I love you that much that I was so anxious to talk to you family. So, today was SWEET! Finally got to play my first real Sierra Leone Football game. We had like 15 branch missionary/members show up today this morning to play, so we all went out to the field across from the chapel compound. So, let me be very descriptive. The field: The field is various made of rock and dirt, mixed with drainage holes, large puddles, large rocks, and also serves as a parking lot, so the field is lined with cars horizontally, on the ends the goallines are the zinc houses. so...pretty awesome right. EVERYONE comes to watch when there is any sort of football game, so at one point there were probably 75 Africans lining the field all sitting on the hill and the cars watching the game. It was pretty legit. We had jersies, we even had a referee. So SWEET! so it was the missionaries, versus the ward...keeping in mind we have 4 white guys who do not play football. Well....we won :) it was pretty awesome! I scored 3 goals and we ended up winning 7-4! Wow, I was BLOODY after the game! I had fallen so many times and gosh i was so dead. They washed me off with water satchets but ah, after the game so many people were hugging me and lil kids were all jumping on me :) it was nice to show the people that even white man can play soccer. I'm not so different to them anymore now at least....or I hope. So, it was very refreshing to play football again and I really enjoyed :)

So, on to Thomas's questions from his postcard. The weather here is sweet. Rain a little here, little there, lotta there, lotta here. Its nice though, but the sleeping conditions...hahaha well, until last week they really sucked. I sleep on the top bunk, and the fan has to be placed underneath my net so it works. So...the fan is making contact with my face while I sleep. Also, there was not room for the net to be taunt since I was on top bunk, so it hang really loosely and sometimes would touch me...which is a nononono. I sleep with the stretchy sheet attached to my body (the one meant to go on mattress) so that the air from the fan doesn't get inside the sheets hahah, funny huh? At night, especially when it rains, it can get freezing, while I still got fan on of course ;) I have to put my hoody on and also my blanket, but I have to keep fan on to block out the noise from my companions radio (that I bought him) because he plays it so loud every night. But, Elder HALES TO THE RESCUE! The other night he went outside and broke some sticks and smoothed em all out, attached em together with duck tape, came and nailed extra hooks into my celiing, placed the makeshift poles at all corners of the bed, and made my bed sweet and the net doesn't touch me any longer. Gosh, that guy can do anything, I am very grateful for him :) 

So, some funny things that I felt like sharing! There are HIV billboards EVERYWHERE. Always saying something like "I take my pills, and I'm happy" ah they are funny.  Also there are cholera safety things everywhere, which show graphic cartoon demonstrations of diarrhea and how to clean it...yeah weird. 

Okay, so this boy approaches me the other day, and he is no older then 8, but he has sweet dreadlocks, all braided awesomely, and I'm like man I love your hair, and talk to him for a good while. Later, I was talking to Elder Ngerem, and I mentioned the hair, and he was like yeah it's sweet that they are able to be born with hair like that....and i was like uh what? he was like yeah all them Jamaicans are so lucky to be able to have hair like that when they are born...I never said a word, just laughed my insides silly.... 

But, I heard dinosaur noises the other day while a fence rattled violently behind me in the bush...so I believe there are dinosaurs still in Sierra Leone :)

Also, the football games are sweet here! The local clubs, which are like 10 + for a community, are so fun to watch .EVERYBODY comes out to watch them and enjoy and its hilarious. The boys will score and take off their shirts and run down the street and ah its very entertaining to stop and watch.

So, we are running short on funds, so we got hungry the other day and stopped at a roadside shack to get some food. Food being, a big piece of bread with mayonaise on it...yeah, just mayonaise, and then they hand it to you...and yes, they wrapped it in used computer paper...I kid you not that there were letters on the paper that they handed me hahaha :) Oh, TIA (This is Africa), you just got to love it.

Saw some young boys playing bottle cap football the other day. Had 11vs11 bottlecaps and they were flicking a piece of like rice back and forth, it was very cool to see :)

Also, taught an 11 person lesson this week which was pretty awesome. People just kept flocking to the area we were teaching but it was really sweet! Also, came to learn about some Muslims in the area, and how they tried to tell us that Adam partaking of the fruit, was him actually having sex...so that was interesting to talk about with them :)

Something I find hilarious, and I have chastised Saidu and his culture for, is the way some people greet here...here is an example

ME: Oh, hey,

Person: HI!

ME: Ow di bodi?

Person: eh Fine! How youself?

Me:fine fine

Person: Kushay! (translated to "Hello")

Me: Kushay?

Person: Kushay ah....

So, translated to English

Me: Hey there

Person: oh hey

ME: how are you doing?

Person: Im doing well how about yourself?

Me: I'm doing well.

Person: hello.

Me: Hello

Person: yes, hello....

Its like talking to a crazy person! except they all do it hahah!

So, our area and this mission is growing super fast. 30 new missionaries are on the way, and 9 new apartments need to be found in the Sierra Leone mission, so Elder Ngerem and I are one of the ones who need to find a new apartment/chapel (conjoined preferably) in the area. So, that is very exciting that I get to help look for potentially my new home until December hahah!:)

Ah, on Saturday we got to take part in a HUGE service project at the Sierra Leone Broadcast Center! It was awesome. We had like 6+ branches there to come help out. We all got to wear those sweet Mormon helping hands yellow vests, and go out with our various branches and clean the area for like 3 hours. So, cleaning is like sweeping, cutting grass, picking up trash...but remember, TIA!!!! So, cleaning is taking the end of a broom, just the end I might say, and sweeping all the rocks, trash, and trashy trash trash into a pile. Cutting the grass, oh boy, various ways. You can :

1. Do what I did most of the time and use your hands to pull on the grass. No, not just the weeds, but the grass.

2. You can take a shovel to the ground, and hack up the dirt, grass and all.

3. you can take a machete to the grass and start chopping at it.

4. you can take a hatchet and violently stab the ground.

All ways are pretty awesome :) but, gosh we were all so dirty when the day was through, but we enjoyed very much! it was great to be able to give service to the wonderful people of Sierra Leone, and great to see so many wonderful members show up to help out :)

So, the other day I had a very awesome experience with my companion while teaching this boy. This boy's name is Bamie and he is the super shy guy, who is super ripped, super popular, super good at football, but in a religious setting looks like he is about to cry. But, while talking to him, Elder Ngerem and I were able to discern his needs so well, and I was able to ask him questions in Krio ( so he could understand) with words and statements I had never practiced before, and scriptures I never before noticed were popping into my head, it was so awesome!:) I loved it! DC: 84:85 is so true :) I know the Holy ghost is there to always help and will help us know what to say as long as we are diligent in treasuring up the word.

Ah, what a sweet week! We have so many progressing investigators that we do not even have time to see them all! There are people coming to church 3 Sundays in a row that we haven't even been able to see! So, this Sunday I was asked to teach Elders Quorum, but Elder Ngerem wanted to teach the investigators, so we went on splits haha and I taught the Elders Quorum while he taught the investigators the restoration. After church, it was raining so hard that nobody could leave, so we ended up teaching them Lesson 4 as well :) it was pretty sweet! they were all so receptive! I think we will have one baptism this Saturday, and maybe 2-3 next Saturday, so we are staying very very busy!:)

I love everyone of you so much! your letters are so amazing and I am so grateful for them! Thank you for all of your prayers :) I love you all and pray for you every night as well. I miss you so much family. You truly are amazing and I am so grateful for everything you have done for me in raising me :) I can only repay you by serving honorably for 2 years, and then marrying in the temple and having grandkids huh? I love you :) I love you parents, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, you are all so amazing! I know this gospel is true! And if its true, what else matters? I can see it bless the lives of so many people, and especially myself. I miss you all like crazy! but, I know this is where I am supposed to be...It no easy. But it sure is sweet :) Farewell everyone! Take care!

-Love,

Elder Sumrak (going to the mountains of Mount. Aureol!)

More Questions and Answers

Mom Questions:  I guess when it rains like a waterfall that you just keep walking
 but how do you manage to stay on the road?  Do you fall down or slide down the hill?
 I know you have told us you have boots but do they fill up with water too?
 I have seen some pictures on the Lauritzen's blog and the water is rushing
down the entire street - it looks like a river.  Does it rain for an hour or two or all day?
Do you have a zone conference coming up?

Elder Sumrak Answers:
If you want to add to my other email, I forgot to answer your
questions about the rain. Not every street floods super bad, so we
find the nice ones, but if it does flood...you just do your best. Yes,
our boots fill up with water, sometimes for up to 7-8 hours my feet
are submerged, but the Lord takes good care of me, so no problems with
my feet or anything. my health is perfect :)

I have not heard anything about a zone conference, but I believe you
;) i will let you know about it. We usually have them beginning of
every transfer. But, nothing special. Just 2 districts get together
and have meeting. Very spiritual though, I love it :) But, I already
know all the guys because we had Super P-Day last week with them.

Also, I forgot!!!!! EXCITING! Transfers: On Sunday, Elder Walker, our
beloved District Leader got transfered out, and Elder Adah has been
transfered into the apartment. So, the number stays at 8 for now. My
companion, ELDER NGEREM is the new district Leader!!! Yay! hahah so we
will be very busy now, because we have to go and do everyones
baptismal interviews haha. I am really excited though because it means
I get to go on up to 8 exchanges this transfer! so sweet! I get to
serve in so many areas! :) and GET TO SERVE WITH ELDER HALES, which I
am super excited about. but yeah, pretty awesome stufff :)

Lessons Learned

Oh mother,  I smile so much when I see I have an
email from you :) ah, I love you moma and Father. Thank you for holding
on to letters for friends, possibly more on the way
Mother, I got YOUR BOX! well the envelopey box :) ah it was very great
momma thank you so much.  Everyone was jealous
like usual but they always get unjealous when I start to share the
goods, and naturally in an apartment of 8 + guys it can go quickly, but
it sure is a blessing and I am very grateful mother. I know it must
not be easy but thank you so so so much for the boxes and what not, we
all enjoy them very much and everyone says thank you :) So, the
goldfish is amazing, the Africans LOVE the protein bars, as do I, I
should be good on hand santizier for at least 2 months i believe ;),
Nature valley bars are Elder Ngerems favorite haha, pictures I loved!
My beautiful Cutler family, loved the pictures of all the Pigs!
Smithfield is truly growing. The stickers are sweet! I put the ham one
on my Business Binder so I love those sort of things, very homey! also
momma, I can buy envelopes here, but I need stamps! I only have like
25 left, and I am sending letters out at a rate of 5+ a week haha, so
many wonderful people write me so I want to write them back. Thanks
mommma dearest! Gum is super awesome, I love to have it during my
studies and what not around the apartment and we can buy some gum
here, but they are this offbrand Asian stuff that literally lasts less
then 5 minutus, so we love the gum. Elder Hales has been generously
sharing his gum with me while I waited :) you are so sweet momma. If
you get a chance could you maybe send some pens? they are kinda crummy
here haha, they bleed through and rub all over my pages, and all the
Africans took my pens at the MTC. just like the small tip ones we got
at wal-mart before. But, mother, like I said before :) if you never
send me another package again, I will be find, super fine, and survive
very healthily hahaha you are so sweet for sending me so many and I am
only so descriptive because you made me promise before I left ;) but I
am so grateful mother and thank you so very much.

I want to thank the wonderful people I received Dear Elders from
because you guys are so sweet to take time to write me. Even the
assistants came down and were like wow! that is the biggest stack of
dear elders letters I have ever seen haha. I was so happy :) Thank you
thomas and laura for another awesome postcards, Jenalyn for your
dearelder, I love drews letters momma so please keep sending, as well
as Katie's aunt deb :) thank yoU! Sis peterson, Rebecca, Mom, Dad,
Jeff Leavitt ( the man) Aunt Deb, Grandma and Grandad, President
Arbuckle, Uncle Sid, Rachel, Miranda (I sent you a letter today and
Cassy, for the wonederful soccer updates :)

Rebecca, I loved your commentary of your family and the olympics, and
your job sounds more exciting then Africa :) I wrote you and Rachel
this morning but Aunt Deb will probably have to forward it :/ sorry
and I am so jealous about the Dark Knight Rises, ahhh but I am patient
:)
Rachel - the nazi joke made me spit my gum out, maybe my humor is
slightly more vulnerable in my bubble hear :) but thank you very much!
I love hearing about your life and I am so excited for you to go to
BYU!

Sis Peterson - some answers to your questions. Our branch probably has
around 100 members, but the activity rate as you can imagine is way
less, but I think we had around 60-70 at church this sunday :) SO
SWEET! as far as football goes, I haven't been able to play much, but
from watching and playing a little bit I am (without pride) better
then most here I would say. They have endurance and speed on me but as
far as technical work I'm up there with PAUL SCHOLES (or for kendall
boyd, PETER SCHOLES). One of the africans at the MTC played
professionaly in Thailand making 60,000 a year and said he had a
promised spot back in 2 years. He wants me to join him...I told him I
would think about it...So yeah :)


So, on to the fun stuff you know, the beautiful Sierra LEONE!!!!! TISH YEAH!
Let us start with Saturdays, because those are my favorite days of
course. Let me tell you all about it :) I spent a little over an hour
Friday night ironing 20+ items of clothing for the baptism on Saturday
morning, yes...I iron now...first legit time of my life since Momma
taught me before college...but, I was fortunate enough to have an
amazing friend, Jenalyn, who was kind enough to iron them for me :)
(thank you Jen). So, now Iron everyday here. Try to look my best, but
back to Saturday. Got up and did a 30 min jog with Elder Symons around
the compound, then had to go iron some extra clothes for the baptism
since the sisters had 2 being baptized as well. At around 7:30, Elder
Ngerem and I went down to the font, to find it absolutely filthy. The
drain doesn't work all the way, so there was about 4 inches of
standing water. Elder Ngerem used his weapons: a towel, a bucket, and
a dust pan, to work for about 30 mintures cleaning the font, while I
swept the surrounding area. We went to turn on the font (sketchy
procedure) and when the water came out it was dirty...so cleaned it
again and started the font back up...but then couldn't get it to
stop....after much tugging and both of us trying our own methods we got
the water to stop...but it was a little full :) but, no harm done. We
got ready for the baptism which was amazing! Had 4 wonderful people
being baptized for our branch and 2 for Freetown area and so many
people showed up!
The best part was that these were all people that I had contacted and
was with from the first lesson :) so it was a really special
experience to watch them all grow in the gospel and all come to
baptism and confirmation at their own times. ah...So, Sister Margaret
Teneh Conteh, Josie Muhamed Peter, Osman Caulker, and Alie Kamara were
baptized and all came and were confirmed on Sunday. One woman Sister
Sandy, did not show up for her baptism...but we pray for the 25th of
August. But, I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize Osman and Alie,
who are both my age, so it was wonderful to see 3 guys my age all make
the decision to follow Jesus Christ, and come into the waters of
baptism :) such an amaznig experience...Ah, you know me, I'm a baby so
of course I cry so much on the mission, like everyday forreals! It's
embarrassing but I am good at hiding it. The spirit is so strong and
so amazing and I love this mission so much. Gosh, it is spiritually
exhausting! ah, but it is so sweet. by the end of the day, I am as
Lehi, so exhausted after his vision that he collapses in bed and
"Methinks I saw god", which us Elders love to ask everyone why he
thinks he saw god but doesn't know? Yeah, run on sentence from heck
right? :) hahahah :) OH, i love mission humor. we are so easy to
please.

So, fun saturday, but not so fun Friday. We had SOOOOOO MANY
appointments. We had 10 set up, so it was not possible that we could
do them all alone, so we got permission and requested the branch
missionaires WA FLOW (hurry quickly) down to the apartment so we could
go on exchanges. I took branch missionary Idressa and we were to go up
the mountain to Gloucester, teach 3 lessons, then walk to Treeplanting
and meet Eldner Ngerem and Saidu...Yeah, our plan went to kaka. After
Idressa and I got out of the transport, our first 2 appointments
bounced on us, and were not home. I went to search my pocket for the
phone...but yes, sadly, gasp and be sad or surpirsed STOLEN! boom
shackalacka, no phone. So, we ran down to a store, bought credit for
Idressa's phone (fun side note, Sierra Leone phone holders don't buy credit
for their phones...they prefer to have phones, keep less then 5 credit
on them and FLASH everyone ( meaning they call someone and then
hangup, so that person with credit will call them and waste their
minutes)) so we called Elder Ngerem but they were in lesson so he said
wait for the taxi to come back. We waited an hour and the taxi showed
up but..as you can guess no phone. So, when you know a phone has been
stolen and not lost, you call the phone (if it is stolen, the person
has removed the sim card, so it won't ring, meaning yeah, your donzo)
so of course, nobody picked up. Stolen. Eventually met up with Elder
Ngerem and Saidu, ran down the mountain to the crowded market, dished
out 105,000 dollars of my own money to buy a new phone and a new card
and then went on the dumb task of regathering numbers. Fun fact again,
Elder Ngerem had lost our previous phone the week before I showed
up...so 1 transfer, 2 phones lost. But, I have learned my lesson. Do
not put the phone in your pocket while traveling in taxis. Put it in
your chest pocket, or inside your back pack. Ah, I felt so terrible
all the day but, I prayed about it. I learned my lesson :) there is a
reason for everything and I believe the Lord has a reason for that as
well. I may never know the reason, but I have faith that it was
necessary. Not my will but thine be done right? :) yeah, I am dumb I
know but everything is okay now.

So, last night we had a very inspiring talk with an old man. An Elder
Taylor was in our apartment...he dies tomorrow. (THIS IS MORMON
SLANG FOR A MISSIONARY WHO HAS FINISHED HIS
MISSION AND IS GOING HOME ) Going back to Wyoming.
So, of course, I asked for some words of wisdom. He taught Elder
Hales, Symons, and I many things and was very inspiring. He really
brought my confidence up and my love for the mission even more :) as
we like to say here after a long day "It no easy", to which someone
always replies "Notta all". This isn't easy...but we all love it :) if
it were easy then it would be no fun. We secretly love the challenge.
We love the work. Or at least I do right? So, on to the food!!!

Food: YES :) SO, some new foods I tried this week. OYSTER! and
Cassava, not the leaf but the actual food, whatever it is called. very
yummy :) very yummy. Elder Ngerem caught a bunch of snails this
morning and a sister cleaned them for us so I am very excited to try
that later this week.
Elder Hales makes a yummy creation that we all love to have now but
he makes definitely the best. It is Chocolate Rice + Oats pudding.
Lets see...Today I sent Rebecca the recipe but I want to share with
all in case you want to try...

Elder Hales Chocolate Rice + Oats Puding
1. Boil rice, stir very often to make sure rice keeps wet and soft texture
2. when rice starts to boil, add the oats,
3. add ovaltine (nesquick pretty much) till brown
4. add sugar till tasty
5. add powdered milk
6. add spoonful of cinnamon
7. Eat deliciousness!

For africa...It is amazing and Elder Hales is chef master breakfast.
Elder Hales and Elder Symons also made some delicious pancakes for me
this week. Super awesome Elders :) they keep me strong and healthy and
doing well! Ah, love them boku boku.

So, life is amazing. I love you all so very much. Did not get letters
this Friday :/ but hopefully tomorrow, so thanks in advance to any
wonderful person that took the time to write me. It means a lot :) be
sure to also Write Elder Ngerem. He needs lots of letters. Even if it
something so small. Like one sentence. I would cry with joy to see a
pile on his desk this week...since last week he received zero. I love
you all so very much family, friends :) The mission is great! best
choice of my life. Elder Taylor said "Live everyday on your mission,
like your mission ends tomorrow." "Your mission is eventually going to
come to an end, so why rush it? you're never going to get to go back.
Too many people waste their time hoping for tomorrow, wasting today."
I have taken those words to heart :) I love this work and I will work
as hard as I can everyday! I can rest in two years.... TAKE CARE
EVERYONE! LOVE YOU!

-Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak
The Pumwei (except now I get kids to call me black man ;) )

Waterfalls and Gratitude

Hello, Dear Family and friends. Another exciting week here in Sierra
Leone :) So, I just got my letters and dear elders this afternoon, so
everyone that sent them I have not had an opportunity to read them yet
but I am so grateful that you sent them :) I know one is from Jeff
Leavitt and one is from Katie Cutler so thank you guys and I love you.
I got 12 letters! more than the whole apartment combined hahaha so I
love you guys so much. Your letters cheer me up and really make the
day bright. The mission is great! Life is great! the gospel is great!
and you guys make it Great(er)! So thank you so very much. I love you
all :)

So, on to some of the super sweet things of the week. One of the days
Elder Ngerem and I were going up the mountain and the taxi was playing
like loud rap music, but Elder Ngerem and I had the lil radio thing,
so we were both listening to that in the front seat, and the driver
looked at us, and asked if he could plug it into the stereo. We were
like sure, So the whole taxi ride everyone got to be edified by church
hymns and church talks :) so that was a really fun experience haha.

This week I studied Helaman 5 a lot, and gosh I love that chapter so
much! The church hardly ever talks about that chapter but it is so
amazing. So many awesome things happen at the end of that chapter.
Everyone should read it :) I love it so much.

We have a possible 6 baptisms coming up this Saturday! An assured 4
that have already been interviwed :) and 2 more possibly this week.
Gosh, I am so excited! Mostly, because these investigators are ones
that I was part of the conversion process since the first lesson. So I
am super excited because I didn't just come in at the end, like
before, but now I got to help along the whole way in them finding
their testimonies :) It is going to be sooooo sweet on Saturday :)

I am glad to hear that Grandad is doing okay. I was really worried
when I read the beginning of Grandmas email but I am so glad to hear
that you are both doing okay. I love you both so much and pray for you
guys everynight :) I love you guys and all the memories we have
together. Thank you so much for being the perfect example for me in my
life!

So, I got Saidu to take me to somewhere where I could get my shirts
fitted, because they were SUPER baggy and made me look all chubby and
what not. Well, I got my measurements taken and everything and asked
him to just fit em a lil bit, but I just got them today and WOW they
are so tight hahha, no room for my chest to grow. The african elders
love it, and want to go get theirs more fitted, but gosh my chest
feels like it is going to burst haha, so i may take them to go get
loosened some time this week but hahaha :) just can't be perfectly
happy. Too tight, too loose, no in the middle. On the plus side, it only
costs 2$ :)

I bought me and my companion Real Madrid jerseys this week and we are
going to get them customized to have one of our investigators names on
our back. He is a big footballer and he is super good so we are trying
to earn a little of his trust for a little price since we really love
the guy and want to see him progress further in the church. We can
only hope and pray and do our best though :)

So, I have been trying to exercise a little bit more so me and some of
the Elders go out in the morning and run the hill in our compound.
Geese, it is truly amazing how quick you can fall outta shape. I can
still run pretty good and lift okay, but not nearly as good as the
week I left. Only takes 2 months of being lazy to fall out of it :/
But, I put the Lord first. 2 years of mission. I got the rest of my
life to workout haha, but for now I do my best. Not easy to eat
healthy though...when you got food you eat it, no matter what it is
hahaha :)

Oh and momma im not starving or anything silly hahaha I have plenty of
food, it just is really nice to have american food you know? We have
rice and Gehrie and tons of it! enough to feed us for years. That just
gets really old really quick if you know what I'm saying :) So if you
can't send any boxes for the rest of my mission, i will still survive.
But, you are very sweet my loving mother :)

So, I was reading some of your questions and I thought I would answer
them dear mother. Church ends at 3:30 for us, and we usually do
meetings and try to see everyone real quick at the church, but we just
go with the flow. We went out last night for a lil bit after church
but they want us home by like 7:00 - 7:30 for safety reasons and to
get away from malaria. So, we do the best that we can. So we usually
try to proselyte for just a little bit on Sundays. But, speaking of
which, we convinced a young man to take his mission papers out
yesterday, so we were so happy for that :) his name is George and he
is a great guy!

We drink mostly water, but sometimes buy sodas, like
coke bottles or sprites, and make sure they are glass so nobody
refilled them ;) i would love flavor packets, the ones you sent me
were great! we buy some here but american stuff is so much better
hahaha. My clothes are okay. They will hold up for a while. They get
dirty. and handwashing is not the best. But we endure :) American food
is here. Like cereals and stuff, haven't seen Special K though, but it
is EXPENSIVE! for Sierra Leone at least. Where as 4 bananas are 1,000
leones. A box of Corn flakes is 45,000! so very very expensive food.
The olympics are on on a couple televisions, I try not to pay
attention though, but when you are stuck in line at the bank for an
hour and fifteen minutes your mind starts to drift hahaha :) but its
all good. I have seen a monkey. They sneak into our compound to steal
bananas from our banana trees hahah. Sneaky lil monkies. And we have
one in our area too. Some people keep it on a leash and we go and
visit it and feed it snacks. It loves gum, and then if you give it
more food, it tries to eat it with the gum, it is rather entertaining
:)

So, after I saw the doctor she did say I was doing strong. And I feel
strong. Life is great here and my body is holding up well. To be
honest though, I know this mission is going to realistically take years
off my life...the sanitation and just the smog is enough to slowly
kill a man, but I pray and I know the lord will provide for me :)
Speaking of which, but no need to worry mother, there is a mild
cholera breakout somewhere around here the doctor says. So she just
warned me to be extra careful, but I know the Lord will take care of
us missionaries. She says its not too bad anways, we can live ;)
hahaha oh the Lord truly loves us missionaries. I can feel it
everyday. I love the Lord and the help and guidance He gives me
everyday. How could this gospel not be true. and if it is true, then
what else matters? and for thomas and Laura and Jen and Katie and
Rebecca....."We respect all decisions" :)

So, ummm....yesterday was a very neat experience. We rushed up the
mountain in the morning through the pouring rain, I'm talking like
waterfalls were coming off the houses and what not, and we went to
gather our investigators. We had to fill out 2 boys forms for their
baptisms real quick before their interviews at church, so we split up
with the branch missionaries and went to go do it. So, I am filling
this boy's form and he reminds me that he wanted to change his name to
a christian name in the church. and We had agreed that that was okay
for him to do, but I had forgotten about it. His name is Mohamed so he
wanted something else to be known as in the church. So, I asked if we
could kneel and pray and ask for inspiration in choosing one. We prayed
and we came up with the name Jacob, but he said that he liked it alot,
but his stepbrother had that name, so the branch missionary suggested
ISSAC, and he really liked it so we wrote that down, but then Elder
Ngerem and Saidu showed up and Elder Ngerem said he fasted about it
and it was supposed to be Peter, so we eventually sided on Peter
hahaha and that is what he will be known as now once he is
baptized...so yeah...very interesting :)

Also, had the opportunity to ordain someone to the office of teacher
in sacrament yesterday. didn't know that was done in sacrament...but
we did it anyways. I had no idea what to say (once again) but with the
help of the Holy Ghost I was able to say the appropriate words and was
able to pronounce a blessing on him as well. The influence of the Holy
Ghost is so strong in my life :) I am truly grateful!!:)

This was such a great week. I am working very hard and trying to do my
best. The mission is very hard, but is very rewarding. We had super p
day today and went to the museum and then came back and ate and
watched the Other side of Heaven. Didn't get to finish because I loved
you guys so much I got my companion and others to leave so we would
have time to email, but my time grows short. I love all of you soooooo
much! Have an amazing week and I am forever grateful for you for
taking time out of you busy schedules to send me even the smallest of
messages. You will never know how much it means until you have nothing
;) I love you all family! Have an amazing week and life! I love you
friends! I love you grandparents and I love you fellow cousins serving
missions. I wish I had time to write you guys invidually,....I am
really trying my best! Farewelll :):)

-Love Elder Sumrak

Doctor Visit Pictures

New pictures posted on the mission blog

Elder Sumrak and Sister Roggia