Zone Conference Picture




November 2012

 

Thanksgiving and Elections

Thank you so very
much for the Dear Elders momma, pops, sis Peterson, Cassy, Bekki Brau
(I wrote you a letter and will be sending it Friday) Drew, Rebecca
(also wrote you a letter dear cousin), and Thomas and Laura for the
most amazing postcards I have ever seen :) also wrote you 2 a letter!
Well, to address everything in your letter first mother.
Thanksgiving: Pretty Awesome! Well, we celebrated on Thursday evening
and made some delicious stuff! We started by boiling some chicken,
like usual, then added some carrots, and then made some mashed
potatoes and used some gravy packets Elder Hales gave me for my
birthday to have some delicious sausage flavored gravy. Ah, it was so
good and we enjoyed so much haha. Just looking at it all we were
smiling and geeking out and we ate until we were so full…then just
crashed in bed by like 9 hahaha. Ah, it was so good :) But, I know I
missed out on the normal family madness at our house and I hope you
all enjoyed. I can’t wait to come and join you all once again in a
short while hahaha.
I do vaguely remember running around the Sacred Grove haha, but, I
really would like to go back and visit now that it would have a much
more personal signifigance to me haha. So I will most certainly plan
on doing that sometime when I get back.
Wow sweet to hear that you ran into Nikki. Glad to hear that she and
Angel are doing well. Thank you so much for sending my message to all
my friends mother dearest, I know it probably was a hassle and I am
very appreciative that you did that for me.

Also, I gave Saidu my music player and card this week, and he went
all over Freetown trying to get it to work, and nothing would work,
until he randomly tried putting the card in his phone, and then
transferring the music to another card, and for some reason it worked!
So, now I got all the music and stuff, but I am pretty sure the card
was a 4gb you sent me but I got most of the music on my little 2gb
card and me and Elder Burton are throughouly enjoying the music so
thank you thank you thank you mother and father :) you should see us
singing to Mulan and Toy story haha, we have had such a good time with
it, but unfortunately, no power, no battery :/ but thank you so much
hahaha I love all of it, especially the teachings of Joseph Smith,
can’t wait to listen to all of those!
My supplies are doing pretty well. Haven’t even finished my first bottle
of solution, nor my first pack of contacts, nor my first shaving cream
can, but baby wipes are always sweet ;)

So, on to the randomness of my week that I just love sharing with all of you!
ELECTION MADNESS: So, the election finished up last Saturday, but
this week…the results came out. Friday night, we got an emergency text
from the zone leaders telling us all missionaries had to immediately
return home because the election results were about to be announced.
We had just opened with prayer in our lesson, so we closed with prayer
to the delight of our investigator who prayed something along the
lines of “I know we just started but, now we are ending, and please
bless…” hahaha so that was nice. We hurried on home, and then realized
that the boy we were planning to have interviewed for the baptism
Saturday was waiting for us at a later time, so we would not be able
to do it once we were in the apartment. So, we went to his house…and
waited…and waited…but nothing. As the results were sooner to being
announced, we began to pray in the middle of the street that the boy
would show up right then, so we could take him to be interviewed by
the zone leaders. Well, God answers prayers, just not always the way
we want. So, instead a little girl came running up and said she had
seen him in the Playstation arcade. So, she led us down there, we
grabbed him, took him back to the apartment, and finished the
interview right before the chaos erupted. The results came out, and
the city just lit up!!!! For hours! Everyone just singing and dancing
and banging pots and cars coming by and parades and just complete and
utter madness. The APC party won…
There were a couple conflicts in the city during the weekend
regarding the election, but we didn’t see anything fortunately, just
were told by President to be on alert. Saw some more Devils though
hahaha
Homeboys (hoodies): Well, got some material last week and took em to
our gnarly tailor to get them made into homeboys. So, he is crazy like
usual and is just ranting and showing us his karate and trying to
teach us push ups and calling us his handsome white princes and gosh
this guy is just so crazy haha but he made our hoodies but
unfortunately he made mine too big :/ so I will have to take them back
this week and get them refitted hahaha crazy man.
Okay, also random, Laura, you told me something about a new star wars
movie and Thomas said nothing about it….so please tell me because I am
awfully curious now, and also would love news on the Hobbit and
everything regarding that…thank you :)
Pull up bar: So, last week I bought a metal pipe to make my pull up
bar, and then proceeded everynight this week in sanding it down with
sandpaper, to get all the rust and the paint off. So, after a couple
nights it was ready, and we attached rope to either side, and threw it
over the balcony, so now we have a legit pull up bar that I will be
taking with me for the rest of my mission haha. So, I am pretty
excited about that, but geeeeze! My pull ups are lacking haha, I was
doing like 15-20 before I left and it was hard to do even 7 now. So, I
got some work to do ;)
We had surprise zone conference this Tuesday which was pretty
awewsome. Had some pretty inspirational instruction from President and
Sister Roggia and I really enjoyed it. We talked about signs, gifts,
and fruits and it was a super awesome conference, topped off by normal
egg burgers with fries and chocolate cake courtesy of the amazing
Sister lauritzen :)
So, remember how my shirts were all fitted way too tight? Well, they
have slowly been tearing hahaha and I had to take them to the tailor
to get them restitched under the armpits haha, so now they are even
tighter, but they are holding on.
Food of the week: Well, we have been eating this one food every day
this week for lunch which they call ochecke. Which is like ebba, with
spaghetti, with beans, with lettuce, with boiled eggs, with ketchup,
with some other things and ahhhhh so good :) we love it. Also, thought
I would get pretty funky with it and bought a coconut this week. That
was fun. Got to cut the holes open, drink the water out, then smash it
on the concrete outside before cutting it open and eating it. It was
actually really yummy and surprisingly very filling! But, I cut my
finger with the knife, so that is a nice little scar to add to my
nicely growing African Collection.
Also, bought a papaya this week since I had never tried that which
wasn’t as tasty as I wanted it to be. It was like a crappy cantelope
haha, which made me really crave cantelope, but there is no cantelope
in this country :( boo!
We have almost run out of subsistence, so we have been enjoying “poor
man’s chop”. Which is Gehrie  + sugar. Gehrie is like dried cassava
root that has been shredded and grinded into a fine powder. It is the
cheapest thing you can buy haha and contains zero nutrional value I am
pretty sure. But, we add it to some dry oats and yeah…enjoyment. Also,
makes it nice since we have run out of water this whole week…with  6
elders in the apartment again it is not too easy to maintain
water…but, elder burton and I went out early this morning to carry
those fun 6 gallon tanks of water back to the apartment so everyone
could bath this morning :) hahaha but, water should have ran today so
hopefully tonight we will be back to enjoyment!!!!!
Also... had tuna with ketchup today which was surprisingly delicious :)
Mother…could you send me some gauze wrap maybe? I wounded myself
playing football and have been using elder burtons gauze wrap so I can
gym in the morning without opening the wound again and now it is all
healed up, but it is rather handy and I would like it in the future if
anything was to happen. Thank you mother dearest :)
So…Also, at the zone conference, President Roggia enlightened us on
the progress and history of the Sierra Leone Freetown mission… pretty
much amazing. We currently have 100 missionaries in Liberia and Sa
Lone combined, but in 6 months we are planning to have 80 in Liberia
and 100 in Sa Lone…also, apparently our conversion rate in this
mission is 220+ baptisms a month…which apparently makes us by
percentage the highest baptizing rate in the whole world…not sure how
accurate that is but our Mission President said it and uh…it was very
motivating and made me smile very much :) the people of Sierra Leone
are so amazing and are accepting the gospel so readily and it is
incredible to watch the expansion of the church here. Even the
formation of a stake by Elder Holland on SUNDAY!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!
But, its not all easy, especially since so many new members
are given responsibilities in the church haha, so
we end up with elder’s quorum classes with false doctrine being thrown
around, but thank goodness Elder Burton and I were there this time to
clean it up hahaha. They were teaching that Coca Cola was against the
word of wisdom and that it + tea + coffee all contained Nicotine, and
they also said that if you eat too much it is a sin, and yeah, we
definitely had to calm all that down and clear that up hahaha oh its
so fun watching the church so fresh and growing here :)
But, speaking of which, we had 2 amazing baptisms on Saturday of
Elizabeth Katherine Augusta Thomas, and Emmanuel Bendu, and both their
conversions are pretty sweet.
Elizabeth is the sister of Onike, who was baptized 2 weeks ago, who is
the sister of Henry Thomas, who has been a member for 6 months now, so
it is awesome to watch the whole family come together and then bring 3
investigators with them to church on Sunday :)
Emmanuel is pretty awesome as well. We were contacting on the street
about a month ago, while adjusting to our new area, and we were
telling some serious looking people about the gospel, when Emmanuel,
some punked out kid came up and started asking questions. He was young
looking, with a bleached Mohawk (known as the Balotelli). We didn’t
think him serious at all, but came and visited him the next day. He
had already shaved his Mohawk (with any connection to us, we are not
sure hahaha) and came to church the next 3 Sundays and was baptized :)
ah, so sweet to see the Lord touch the hearts here…too amazing.
Well, my family and friends I believe I have ranted long enough in
this e-mail. I love and miss you all so very much and hope you had a
wonderful Thanksgiving. Grandparents I love you and happy birthday
wonderful grandma. Please take care everyone and know you are in my
thoughts and prayers every single night :) I love you all! Farewell
and be safe and remember Jesus Christ and what he has done for us
everyday!
-Love, Elder Jesse Sumrak

Preparing for Thanksgiving

We are actually preparing for thanksgiving
We went to the market today and just bought a ton of stuff!
potatoes, chicken, ground nut, pepay, cucumbers, carrots, papaya or
however its called which I have never tried but wanted too haha
plantanes, onions, and geeze we are going to make sure it is a
delicious thanksgiving for us as well :)

The water situation? that is going a whole lot better! this week we
fixed the pump and everything and water flowed and we had a full tank
:) we got to take shower all week and clean the dishes and wash our
clothes and everything. but today we were outta water,
but it should have flowed so we can hope
for the best :) even went and bought some nice axe shampoo today to
spoil myself small. also, been wearing my chocolate axe spray. no
difference in bugs. they only come out at night.
About the chapel...uh yeah, they said it was too expensive or
something....they have no idea what its like down there...We just need
to bypass everyone and talk to President

Well, when we come home we just kinda chill...or go to bed. usually too
tired to gym these days. my body is slowly dying so I don't gym at
night anymore. Like, last night I just opened up the old testament and
started from the beginning with the manual so...yeah, just get my
flashlight out and lay in bed and enjoy some good personal studies.
sometimes I write letters. usually cook or something, maybe wash
clothes...always something to do since everything takes so much time
haha, and never can have enough chikcen mother ;)
Electricity works about...1/4 of the time. none today, but last night
it was on all night which was really nice to have the fan on hahaha

and mommma...we will have thanksgiving again soon. I promise :)

but, a thank you thank you to to the 3 dear elders I received this
week from Rebecca (wrote you cuz) and Uncle Dave (wow, I loved your
analysis of Jaws...that was pretty awesome, not going to lie) and Jen.
Thank you for taking the time to write me everyone. it always makes me
smile smile smile :)

Well...I do have one request momma. Nothing I can do to that USB will
make it work on my player :/  It works on Elder Ekpo's player, and it
also works on all the computers, but it won't work on my lil player,
but maybe dad will know better, but yeah it just won't work. We even
tried putting the songs on one of my lil cards and putting it in and
it wouldn't work...So I don't know if maybe you could send a micro Sd
card with the music on there? or maybe just a different format? I
don't know. I thought they were all mp3 and my player plays mp3 so I
have no idea. Its very frustrating...stupid Sa Lone tish. just makes
life difficult hahaha.
Another request...my card reader broke :(
Also, do we have the Apocrypha back home? I don't want it here, but
was just curious.

Also, random question...um idk if we have ever talked about it but I
feel like I visited the Sacred Grove when I was younger with the
family? is this true? My memory is failing me...I couldn't have
appreciated it at that age, but just wanted to know.

So, , Elder Burton and I bought the Testaments this
week to show to a group of investigators. So, there were 12 of us in
the room and we watched it and it was just great. It was spiritual,
entertaining, kept their attention, and they even understood, and at
the end, all 12 committed to be baptized, one 18 year old boy wants to
go on mission, and ah, it was just really sweet, the spirit was so
strong, especially during Christ's visit to the Americas. Man, that
ending gets me everytime, whew, I love it so much :)

Well, I was trying to amp up my workouts, so upon crossing the street
the other day, i noticed some guys welding a metal desk outside a
shop, so I ran over and we got them to weld us a 1 1/2 yard thick
metal pipe, that I can use to do pull ups. we are going to get a rope
today and hang it from the balcony of the apartment so we can start
doing pullups :) we are so legit. I bought it with my personal though,
so I can take it with me wherver I go next...and hang it from a tree
if I have to.

Speaking of spending money, I bought a football(soccer) last week for like 15
dollars and have been using it almost every morning to go and juggle
and have a good ol time. It is super nice to have and the ball
actually isn't that bad, but considering it IS Sa Lone, I anticipate
it will survive less then 3 months...as opposed to the soccer ball I
have had since 9th grade that is still good back home....I miss you
ball.

I have a craving for oranges currently, and have just started buying
them off the street. they pre peel em so I just grab em, rip the top
off, and suck all the juice out before peeling the rest and eating it.
straight Sa Lone style and I can sometimes get 4 for 1,000 (25cents)
So I enjoy that. Also, tried grilled Cassava root this week, which
just looks like a big ol ugly potatoe on a grill haha...but, super
yummy. they cut it open and put butter inside...but you know me, i no
can like butter too much (FAT) so I tell em no.

Well, had Peanut Butter and Jelly about 3 times this week, which was
super yummy and satisfying, so thanks again mother for the Peanut
butter, Elder Burton also tells you thank you very much and he loves
you for all the food. we just finished the last of the protein bars
today, we were rationing them to Sundays haha but we couldn't resisit
:)

Um...Elder and Sister Lauritzen are pretty much amazing. They are the
coolest senior couples missionary in the world. For some reason I can
imagine myself going and visiting them when I get home as much if not
more then the other missionaries. They are so sweet and nice and spoil
us so much haha. They also came the exact same time as me, so we will
leave at the same time, which I feel priviliged to do with them.Sister
Lauritzen even gave us like 40 bananas the other day...they are such
great people. I feel like they are as much my friend if not more then
any other Missionaries hahaha :) you should talk to them mama, they
probably would love to hear from you.

Sad event happened this Tuesday morning, as one of the Elders in our
apartment got a little bit too trunky, missing home, but
apparently the assistants took him proselyting with them this week,
and now he is back in the apartment with us :) so, we are really happy
that he changed his mind and manned up to finish what he started. its
not easy for any of us. but, we don't expect it to be. We enjoy the
mission, no doubt, but in those moments your not enjoying, its about
enduring. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not say Faith in Jesus
Christ, Repentance, baptism, holy ghost, enjoy...it says (endure to
the end) we will enjoy the blessings that Christ has made available to
us...maybe not in this life, but in the life to come. that is where
faith comes in. that is where hope comes in. that is even where
charity comes in. we can do it....we all can do it.

SATURDAY!!!!! Election day! so, absolute chaos. Friday night, we
packed our bags and made the trip over to the assistants apartment
inside the church compound, all of our apartment did, so that we
wouldn't  be cooped up in our small apartment with no power/water for
the whole day. Well, we came friday night, I got my letters, which was
pleasantly wonderful and rather unpleasant at the same time, but
fortunately Elder Appleby and Elder Burton were there to cheer me up
and Elder Barth was sort of there hahaha :) just started calling
everybody fat hahahaha so, got to sleep there on the multiple bunk
beds, with the ceiling fan seriously less than 2 feet away from my
head...hahaha and got to use a sofa cushion for a pillow...but it was
awesome!

Woke up Saturday morning to the absolute chaos of African politics.
They had a polling station right across the street from us on the
basketball courts and it was absolute madness. The line looked like a
line at Busch Gardens duuring Hallow Scream! it honestly was a 3 hour
wait line! Well, ignoring the distractions, I joyfully went on a run,
which I haven't had the pleasure to do at our new apartment in a
couple weeks...a lil while later, the crazy started, and the people
started going crazy, the lines started pushing and looking like a
wave! and then the soldiers and police men showed up and yeah...we
went inside for a little while to do our studies hahaha....
After studies, we went out to the parking lot area and played a fun
game of football (soccer) with the Elders and some of the guys who wash mission
cars haha, which was a lot of fun. well, like usual, I got tripped and
yes. BLOOD. so, gashed my knee open, and my other elbow, and have a
hole in the middle of my right hand (yes, the one I shake hands with)
so got myself all bandaged up right now and keeping the wound clean
clean clean :) but, no big deal. I was really scared when I got the
football that I would be SOOSOSOS rusty! and I am rusty...small. But,
I can still do all my jukes, i lost some speed and precision small,
but I can still juggle to at least 500 and do all my flair, so that
made me very very happy!

After that, we all just sat around and talked and were lazy and sent
little children outside the gates to go and buy us food haha because
we forgot to pack enough. sat around, wrote letters, talked , and then
went and watched a general conference session, and then a New
Restoration video, which I did not like as much as the old ones. This
one had some new scenes and had taken out some other scenes and was
narrated by the voice and character of Joseph Smith's mother. I do not
know if you have seen it or not, but it was okay...not as good as the
classic Temple Visitor center one...but it was okay :) slept at the
assistants a final night, then woke early sunday to return home.

Sunday...complete and utter embarrassment and dissappointment.
Everybody was afraid of violence, or tired from voting, or tired from
working the elections the whole day(all branch missionaries and branch
presidency) so we had 23 people in Sacrament meeting...and of course
it was the week President and Sister Roggia decided to attend ....so
that stunk :/ but we had 5 investigators which was super nice and sort
of uh like what the heck members, even these people came, grow up
forreals!

Ran out of gas earlier this week...so couldn't cook anything, so had a
surprisingly almost tasty experiment breakfast. apparently all the
Elders in other places endure it, so i tried it. Its dried Gehrie
(which is like dry powder like idk, rice) and oats, mixed with water
and sugar...hahaha it was endurable and kinda yummy at the same time
:) hahahahaha

Well, the mission is going sweet. Africa is sweet. I love life. I love
the mission. I am tired and pday is not ever relaxing hahaha too much
tish to get done but, its okay. I got some more material today and we
are gong to stop and get some more hoodies made this week, which
should be very nice!
I love you family and I love this gospel, thank you for everything and
thank you for your prayers....Farewell everyone:)

-Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak

Good Things Happening

Hello, dear family! Wow, I got a lot of dear elders this week which
was super nice :) I just want to thank Elder Mann, Rebecca, Sis
Peterson, Miranda, Mr.Whitley, Mom, Drew, Kristen Evans, Mom, Dad, Sis
Peterson, Thomas and Laura, Rebecca, and Aunt Deb :) thank you so much
for writing me this week! I love you all so very very much :)

Miranda! That is so sweet that you got your mission call!
Congratulations! Miranda got called to serve in the Virginia Richmond
mission, she is my very good Canadian friend from BYU. So my family-
You may see her hahaha :)

So, some super awesome things that happened this week...I got the
opportunity to meet the General Relief Society and Young Women's
Presidents! Yeah, they came all the way to Africa to have a conference
and it was awesome. Only women got to go, but my companion and I were
coincidentally there on some district business so we got the
opportunity to meet them and their husbands and also Elder Satati
again. Pretty sweet!

Also, awesome awesome awesome news...Sierra Leone Freetown is becoming
a stake! on December 2! Elder Holland is coming to make it and also
they are making a Bo District and a Kenema District! ah its so so
sweet :) I am so excited, finally finally a stake! So many changes are
about to start taking place and it will be so cool to be a part of it
all.

We had an awesome baptism on Saturday! Onike Zenobia Princess THomas
was baptized by her brother Henry Thomas. She is the sweetest 15 year
old girl. She is so shy and awesome haha and was confirmed along with
Christiana yesterday in church...so awesome!

Well, Saturday night was not sweet...Water did not come on Friday, so
on Saturday we drained what was left in our storage tank and had
absolutely zero..so at like 8 at night, Elder Burton and I trooped
about .5 mile away and filled up 4 giant 6 gallon + rubber tanks from
the only flowing well...yeah, uh heavy as tish. So, we finally got back to
the apartments and our backs were finished...so, we were so happy the
next day was Ssunday...NOT-----
Because, we showed up at church to find out they had taken all the
chairs out of our chapel and put them in the main hall....about 200
yards downhill. So, Elder Burton and I got to go cart chairs back and
forth up the hill for about an hour, and then cart chalkboards and
everything up as well. In the end...a brown stained shirt, ripped
under the armpits, and blue pants that are dirty beyond tish! but,
church went well and we had 6 investigators which was super awesome :)

Had chicken every single night for dinner this week, which was super
nice. Just would come home every night and throw some chicken in the
pot to boil and then whatever else we wanted with it. Made some pasta
which was really yummy thanks to that super sweet sauce you sent momma
:0 thank you very much! and made potatoes one night, chicken
sandwiches another...not too bad. just chicken chicken chicken. so
good. oatmeal for breakfast, chicken for dinner. Life is good. Still
been getting up every morning at 6 to gym so that is going well as
well. Shirts are getting super duper tight on the chest, causing some
to rip :( but, its okay hahaha.

Also, internet just came back up and saw the thing about Captain
Wesley momma...and you can send it straight to the mission office or
the theological college. probably the mission office would work best,
but I am 75% sure that the theological college is about 5 mins from my
current location...but who knows :) but, that would be super sweet
momma dearest thank you!

I am still in Sa Lone.
The busyness of the mission President with all the recent stuff has
caused him to look over the transfers hahaha...no transfer news until
probably december they said, which is okay since he is super busy, but
it is going to throw off a lot of things having zero transfers this
time...but, who knows what will happen :) but, yes I am still in my
area for the 4 transfer now, and going to be at 5 months this week,
which is super crazy. I don't really need anything I guesss...I am
doing great. If I can fix this music problem then everything will be
sweet ;) the protein is still in supply and that is great as well.
Have it every morning...but yeah, thank you so much momma dearest :)
and you can send as many packages as you want momma...I know it makes
you happy and it DOES make me happy. I just know it costs a lot haha
and I don't want you to feel like you need to. I will survive without
them, and probably still come back a lil chubbier then when I left ;)

Um, on to the craziness at the apartment stilll...we still have to
bucket the rest of the little water we have...still not enough water
has come to wash my clothes, but we are really praying for the water
to come today, so then Saidu is coming to help me out and get all of
those washed...

Also, have only 5 chairs in the apartment for 6 missionaries...so,
right now elder Burton and I are switching off using a rubber bucket
hahah....yeah, we are cool. Flies have officially invaded the apartment
and would now be deemed unsuitable for any place in the USA hahaha. We
don't have enough water to wash dishes everynight so they start to
pile up and get pretty stinky. The trashcan was flooding with maggots
and we had to pay someone to take it somewhere else to dump it...we
used to just burn our trash but we have nowhere to burn it here :/ so,
we are still adjusting. The pump broke...so now we have to bucket all
water...

My Krio is still improving which is nice. I know all the words I need
to say for someone to understand and have a conversation with pretty
much, now it is just getting the accent down. It makes a tish load of
difference! Its crazy how me switching my accent can make someone
 understand so much better. I was talking krio and this girl was like, Elder
Sumrak...Your krio has improved so much since the last time we
talked...I was like tish...the worse I sound the better they
understand...shoot me!

Had a super duper windy night this week in which I had to get up out
of bed at 3 because our apartment had turned into a tornado! the
windows were all blown open and papers and everything were flying
around the parlor, so I wandered half blind around the room and shut
everything up and climbed back into bed...hahaha what a mess. But, I
always keep my gyming area so clean! its hilarious in contrast to the
rest of the room because I sweep just the gyming area everyday :)
hahaha I am so silly. My pushups are getting pretty awesome...can do
70 consecutively now. Working on getting to a 100. That would be
pretty sweet :)

Teaching an awesome kid named Ellis...Who, lives with Christiana in
what we had supposed to be a crazy house. still may be, but, we are
teaching EVERYONE there. We taught like 6 people our age the other
night there, and two of them came to church yesterday, and ones name
is Ellis. He is like mr. break the commandments, but its so sweet to
slowly watch him change...and I honestly think he is going to make the
changes necessary to allow the Lord's blessings in his life. He came
to church. He committed to the word of wisdom...now, we just need to
help him....Or, help him help himself :) that's better

But, life is good. Its a lil hard but we are getting by. The only
problem really is that the menial labors take up all the free time, so
I don't have much time to write letters, write in my journal, or any
of those things, but I am still keeping up with it as best as I can. I
can't chop any more sleep haha, but I will do whatever I need to do to
stay on top of things.

Life is sweet. the mission is sweet. the gospel is sweet the church is
sweet and I love life. I am so grateful to be serving here and
wouldn't go anywhere else in the world. I finished the New Testament
for the 1st time yeseterday and it was totally awesome! and I received
such a powerful witness from the Holy Ghost after I had read the last
word that I could never deny the truthfulness of the book
I know its true and I know the
things I have learned from it will bless my life, but I am super happy
to be back in the Book of Mormon again. Today, I decided to trace the
Urim and Thummim through the scriptures to Joseph Smith which was a
lot of fun hahaha, yeah, I do dumb things, but I enjoy. I also have
started reading 2 pages of the Bible Dictionary a day so I should finish
that in a couple months ;) hahaha oh mission is so sweet...

I know this gospel is true and I feel so close to my Heavenly Father.
I pray so often that its hilarious and I can feel his love and his
arms around me as I strive to do my best. We really do work hard
here...From morning until night hahah hiking around Africa teaching
teaching teaching. Even though the teaching here is so different then
anywhere else in the world...I learn so much. Seriously, we teach like
Ammon and Lamoni haha, so so simply, and still its so hard for some of
them to understand...really frustrating sometimes... "so, who is the
current prophet"?
......
Thomas S. Monson
oh, okay
So, who is the current prophet?
......
Thomas S. Monson
Ok i got it this time.
Who is the current prophet?
Joseph Smith
.....WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?
hahaha oh boy, patience is what I am learning. patience indeed :)

Also, got to go on splits this week! which was a lot of fun. There
were 6 boys heading out of Sierra Leone on their way to the Ghana MTC
to start their missions in Nigeria. So, we were coincidentally in the
building and waited for them to be set apart and then we went on
splits, both taking one of the new boys. I got to take Elder Khan, a
boy from Bo, who has never proselyted with missionaries but it was still a sweet
experience going and teaching a couple lessons with him. Really quiet
boy, but, I am sure he will break out of his shell when he hits his
mission field.

AND, Elder Burton and I finally found a suitable legit chapel! Our
branch president called us during the week and we went and met him in
town and took some pictures and then brought one of the senior couple
members there the next day and its almost approved! so, we may have a
large new pool of investigators coming soon soon soon in a beautiful
new building...located on the 4th fllor of a hotel :) hahah best we
could find!

But. thats enough of me talking today, I love you all so very much and
miss you all more then you can imagine. I pray for all of you and
can't wait to see everyone again one day! Love you mom and Pa and nick
and thomas and laura and grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins
and friends and not friends but potential friends and wonderful people
and people who aren't so wonderful who could be if they wanted to be
:)
-Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak

Do Not Take Water for Granted

Wow! so glad to hear that everyone is doing well and you guys weren't
affected too bad by the hurricane. Elder Laurizten told me about
his brother meeting Laura and I thought that was totally awesome!:)

Well....Let me apologize in advance for any pessimistic subliminal
messages or very obvious messages found in this letter. The past
couple days have been very stressful and I am going to try to make it
as cheery as possible. So, lets begin with the best news of the
week....I GOT ASSAULTED!!!!

Yes, Saturday evening after a very very bouncy day (8) bounces, Elder
Burton and I decided to forget it and go and get some district errands
off the list. So, we went into town and got some more keys made for
the new apartment and uh, there was this guy all dressed up in white
sitting on the ground writing on a sign board. We walked by and a
couple guys nearby were like talk to this guy, he needs help. So, we
talked to him and he introduced himself as Prophet John. Elder Burton
asked him how he became a prophet, well he said because he received
the call while he was in his mothers womb, like Jeremiah...so, Elder
Burton asked how he did that? and he told Elder Burton that if he said
another word he would slap him in the face. So, Elder Burton and I
immediately backed off and started to turn to leave him, and he stood
up and started screaming saying stuff like Your devil prophet Joseph
Smith and your demonic book of mormon, and we were just like woah,
lets get out of here. Next thing I know the guy is up and like drop
kicks me in the quad, and we are continuing to back off and he comes
and does it again hahaha and all the guys around came and grabbed him
and we kinda just hurried off and got around the corner and started
laughing our heads off....we weren't sure if he was possessed/crazy/
or just really wanted to start something but gosh he kicked me hahaha!
there were shoe prints on my pants!...so yeah...that was the
excitement for the week...gotta love it

Well, Tuesday we had our apartment moving day, which took the whole
day. We took apart EVERYTHING in the apartment, beds and all and
dressers and anything and packed it into vans which 2 vans had to make
3 trips to our apartment to drop everything off. not too bad I guess,
but it took the whole day and was a tish load of work and lots of
things still weren't put into place...
The dressers finally showed up Friday, so were finally able to move
them in and get unpacked. The apartment isn't bad. It has tiling (woot
woot) um, 3 bedrooms that are smaller than your master bathroom, and
our kitchen is smaller then nick's and mine bathroom...for 6 guys. One
shower...no curtain...and uh....tish we don't even have a study table,
so we are using the parlor eating table..nasty.

Uh...current situation...no water for the past 3 days pretty much. Um.
the pump is broken, we kinda fixed it, but the rest of the compound
residents are taking the pump water and we get well water that has to
be pumped up to us (when we have power) and first it has to fill the
3rd story tank before it will fill our 2nd story one, so we are screwed
on that end...the man in charge of taking care of the missionaries is
swamped right now and wasn't able to get us our electricty on
saturday...so our prepaid meter died last night...and we lost over 10
pieces of chicken from spoiling this morning...yeah, that was fun to
clean out of the freezer...no water...so I couldn't gym, and slept in
my own filth. We went to the street and bought satchet waters this
morning, (lil sacks of bacteria filled water) so I could cut them to
shower. Also, sucked yesterday because I fasted, then came to find NO
WATER when i got home, not a happy Jesse at all, so I pretty much dove
inside the well, trying to reach my bucket in enough to get a bottle
full at least haahaha, yeah it was pretty pathetic, but we are getting
by. Hopefully we will have water tonight and maybe electricity...I'm
kinda in a bad mood about the whole thing, but its okay. I know it
will end up okay, im just bummed because all our food spoiled, I'm
super dirty, breaking out everywhere, and just feel gross...but, this
is only one end of missionary work in Sierra Leone. The first
part..Surviving. The second amazing part...proselyting...so at least
one thing is going successful right now ;)

We have met some amazing people this week and are starting to refill
our teaching pool, which is totally awesome! and Saturday I had the
wonderful opportunity to baptize Christiana Samba, the girl who had so
many problems and everything. She gave it all up and chose me to
baptize her and it was awesome. She started laughing afterwards
because she was so happy and couldn't stop talking about how she felt
so "holy". hahaha so that was really sweet. Lots of people here are
totally receptive of the gospel and are just like sure baptize me, but
this girl had to change, she had to make committments, she really had
to have that desire, and it was really awesome to watch this
conversion :)

I have been getting up 45 minutes early everyday to gym now...so I get
up at 5:45 and workout from 6-7. which is a really nice way to start
the day. But, I got up the other morning and forgot that I had had no
water to wash my hands the night before..and had cut pepay...so, yay
when I put my contacts in in the morning and couldn't open my eye for
about 5 minutes because I was crying so much hahaha, I laugh now, but
it was terrible! I couldn't even get my eye open to take out the
liquid hot contact...ah.....! so I just went and gymed and cried it
all out hahaha. so pathetic.

um...more dogs. the compound doesn't have money to buy a guard, so they
have viscious dogs that are just as bad as the ones before! ah it
sucks!

and our neighbours are crazy! there are some cools guys our age, but
their is a crazy woman who I am pretty sure is a mom, but gave me a
handshake the other day and did this thing with the index finger that
is the Sierra Leone way of pretty much saying you want to do bad
things, so ran away up stairs and haven't seen her since. thank
goodness. so thats nice and awkward.

Washing dishes is fun too hahaha I feel so legit. Sitting on the floor
in the parlor with 3 buckets in front of me, one for washing, one for
rinsing, and one for dries...hahaha oh boy africa...

Well, with no water to gym, and no electricity to do anything, I
passed out at 8 last night, and 9 the night before haha. so lame. I
feel like I am wasting time but there is nothing else we can be doing
:/ the assistants asked us to try to be in our apartment by 7ish
because of the crazy area we are in....blah.

no mail this week :/

Been eating tons of  boiled chicken and fried plantanes

Well, craziness yesterday...um nobody told us that we would be
watching conference at church on Sunday at 9 am...our church meets at
12 and we told all of our investigators that but, they decided to
watch the general conference...um yeah, not even half the district
could fit inside to watch it. we got to watch one talk, before we
decided to get up and give up our seats so others could watch. and all
our investigators who did show up early didn't know what was going on
and it was hard to explain that this isn't how church normally goes,
but we did our best. so sketch. They had bed sheets covering all the
windows to block light, and they were using like a 20 inch tv with a
micropone in front of it haha, oh boy :) but, everything went okay,
and we actually had 10 investigators at church, and even taught this
boy Charles afterwards in a classroom.

Met a awesome kid named Charles who is the smartest Sierra Leonean I
have met. He is about 14 or so and passing the other day asked us to
explain our doctrine. we talked for like 15 minutes and he was
explaining the Orthodox doctrine he has, in a giant book he carries
around. but he asked about our title and stuff and a statement I gave
him really hit him. I asked him if Moses was to start a church, what
would he call it? if Paul was to start a chuch what would he call it?
and he was like the Church of Moses, the Church of Paul, and I asked
him about Jesus Christ and he was like hmm....and we left him, and he
showed up at church on sunday and told us that that had really touched
him, because he wanted to be a part of Jesus's Christs church....the
kid talks so well and he knows so much. I had not even met an adult
here who speaks English like he does. And he understands so well. Like
we were teaching the restoration and he was looking at the picture and
was like...hmm....it appears he is praying, but the way they are laying
hands on his head seems like something else is going on. Are they
giving him the Holy Ghost? or are they like giving him the priesthood?
we were like uh...Out of the hundred some lessons I have taught while
I have been here nobody has even come close hahaha :) he is great!
baptismal date on November 24, along with a friend he brought to
church. So funny...his friend was falling asleep and he woke him up
and told him to keep watching the tv. ah he is great :)

well...yeah...sorry I don't have so much to say. Feeling gross,
looking gross...got plenty of worms inside my body, no mail this week,
no water (which means no food, no washing, no washing clothes, and no
shaving), no electricity....NO PROBLEM:) everything is going great
but, I didn't write letters this week....sorry...don't really have
energy to do anything....just come home, close, and go to bed. but, I
am doing my best to get pumped up and write some. Proselyting just
drains me hahaha

oh, was supposed to get transfer news last night but nope...nothing.
so who knows, maybe I'll be somwhere else next week. maybe not...i
don't know anything anymore. I just miss you all very much and want
you to know that this gospel is true. If it wasn't for trials then we
wouldn't have reason to grow. So, may the Lord humble me and make me a
better person then the whiny baby I am now. I love this gospel, I love
the church. I love missionary work...just wish I could focus more on
missionary work and less on surviving hahaha, but hopefully they will
balance out soon. But, life is great and I really am doing well so
don't worry about me :) I love youu soooo much. I love you all.
I did get the music by the way! but...it isn't mp3, so it won't play.
but its okay, the zone leaders took it today because they said they
got a place that will convert it for free. so hopefully they take care
of that :) but than you so much for the music. Maybe if I get power
tonight I can charge my battery and try it and let you knows :)
It is super hot here by the way and I am tanning too quickly. it looks
gross when you take off your priesthood attire...but, all the white
guys look that way I guess. so no problem :)

I love and miss you all. take care and be safe!
by the way, in the internet cafe with Elder Hales too right now ;)

Love,
ELder Jesse Sumrak