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