Busy, Busy and New Companions

So, just hit my good ole 6 month mark in beautiful sa lone...wow wow wi
wow. but, I'll let you know all about it later ;) I just wanted to
thank mother, father, rebecca, drew, Julian, Sis Peterson, Jen, and
Kristen Evans for the letters I received this week!:) thank you for
everything and I love you all so very much. Julian my man,
congratulations again on your call. I will definitely have to get
writing you soon, I want to keep in touch, just busy as tish this week
:/ but, can you write me again and send me your address So i can write
you? thanks buddy :)

Mother dearest! So good to hear from you and see all the pictures and
thanks for the compliments on the poems ;) I try haha. Maybe if I feel
inspired this christmas I will write some more and send them to you.
thank you for encouraging me in everything, even the small things ;)
hahaha

I GOT THE BOX and package! thank you so much
mother :) you are such a sweetheart and I am enjoying everything in it
so much. Thank you lots for the gum! I will definitely be enjoying and
giving myself cavities for sure! The pictures were awesome and I love
them all so much, especially our family 2010 ones! Ah, I love those,
even with Nick and his blue steel ;) he looks so good in his senior
pictures and you are looking amazing my mother dearest. father your
muscles look gigantic, thomas your head looks smaller ;) and Laura,
you are an angel :) The soccer catalog is awesome...I finished it
already ;) hahah i love that thing! thank you so much! so many sweet
new shoes! The stickers are awesome and one of the Elders here, Elder
Wolfgramm actually worked at the shop in Park City that printed out
that sticker haha, so that gave him lots of good memories. Love all
the protein bars, they are going to last me a good while I hope...well
at the rate i go, probably not ;) thank you so much for the card and
all the packages, everything that is wrapped I left in the box and I
am planning on opening Christmas day, but thank you so much mother,
you are so sweet to always be thinking of me...random ren and stimpy
hahaha but i like it!

So, on to my crazy week...So, the transfer news just keeps changing.
Elder Burton ended up leaving earlier then expected on Thursday
morning at 7, and I was told we would be going to the mission office
at 9 to pick up my ward missionary who would be working with me until
monday, when my new missionary was supposed to arrive from the
mtc...man I miss Elder Burton...I love that guy. but, they told me the
ward missionary's name was Brother Koroma and he would be leaving on
mission soon...and I was like oh gosh I get a rando commando to go
pick up hahaha so i went with the zone leaders and walked into the
mission offfice and to my great surprise it was one of my best friends
from Hill Station! He had proselyted with Elder Ngerem and me like 10
times and even came and cooked with us and stuff. His name is Solomon
Koroma!! ah, I was so pumped. So, for the last couple days I have been
training the good ol ward missionary and we have had a blast together!
waking up every morning at 5:45 and jogging down to the cotton tree
and back. He is a great guy. But...even better news....guess who is my
companion right now??????????????????

ELDER HALES ELDER HALES ELDER HALES! he is in the cafe with me right
now and we are companions until Friday :) he is leaving to go to
Kenema and the mtc flight got delayed so my new companion will not be
here until Friday. so, i finally get to be companions with dear Elder
Hales :) I am super excited for this week. we are most certainly going
to enjoy! well...my new companion is a Nigerian.....and Elder Barth
said he looks scary old and big hahaha so, chances are I will be
training an old man who is like 25 years old but, I will do my best
and let the Lord do the rest. I am really excited/nervous to train
but, I know the Lord will help me as I turn to him...He already
is...as I will talk more about later :)

Well, some sweet sweet experiences this week. Had one mother referred
to me...remember the boy who ran into Elder Burton and fell down and
started having a seizure? yeah, he was at church on Sunday. His mother
heard about the priesthood and wants him to be baptized and receive a
priesthood blessing and be healed of the seizures that are troubling
him his whole life...So, I went to her house the other day and taught
her the restoration and at the end she asked us to give her son a
blessing, which we gladly did. I know that the Lord heals according to
FAITH and his WILL, and this woman has so much faith...but, I know
that all things are according to God's will, not ours, but the boy has
a date for baptism on January 5 :)

Taking over the area has been kinda scary and stressful. Filling out
all the records and everything and dealing with ward meeting times and
my bishop ...its super great but, I am
learning patience super quick :) I know I have many lessons to learn
from the Lord and I am willing to humble myself and learn them...small
small

Well had our first FM of the whole transfer on Wednesday night from
our investigator JANE. She heard Elder Burton was leaving and made us
the most unhealthy delicious meal I have had here in Sa Lone! A bowl
full of fried chicken, fish, potatoes, onions, pepay, all just
smothered in oil...ah, gosh it was so good but made us feel so sick,
we could barely even walk around the apartment when we were done
hahaha. Jane even gave me a bottle of honey the other day...legit
honey, with chunky stuff inside? not sure what it is but it tastes
good to take in the morning when my throat is dry :)

Also, tried grapefruit for the first time this week...grapefruit is
not tasty! bitter as tish!
Also, tried some star looking fruit???Like google it our something, I
have never seen it before, either end is shaped like a star, so I saw
it and bought it and it tastes super yummy. like a really watery pear
or something, idk but super good!

My staple food since elder Burton has left...the Sa lones call it
"Kaka soup". It is taking dry oats, adding sugar, water, and enjoying
haha, I have been too lazy/tired to even cook so I just eat plain oats
with water...and add pnut butter and it is actually super duper
delicious! or maybe I am just super weird, because no one else will
even try it....

Well....Most exciting eventful day of the week, as usual, SATURDAY! my
6 month day of December 15, 2012, and I even got to enjoy it with MTC
mates Elder Hales and Serafine. Well, got a text from the assistants
informing us that the tanks were all empty at the baptismal font...so
we would have to bucket water to the font :/ Brother Solomon and I
skipped studies and ran over to the font and cleaned it all out first,
then to our fortune and the Lord's aid, Belliar Park elders showed up
along with 4 ward missionaries, and we took buckets from the
assistants water tank, about 50 yards to the font. took us about an
hour or so of non stop back and forth bucketing to fill it half way
(or, in better words, high enough that I can shove someone all the way
under the water ;) ) well, after that was done, the hill station
elders joined us for the baptism and it was so sweet. We had a sweet
sister Jane, being baptized and she is amazing. hasn't missed church
once, loves it so much, bore her testimony before she was even
baptized last week, and wants to cut her nursing program early to go
on mission in one year. she is amazing!:) and then Belliar Park had one
sister baptizing as well...

Well, I invited our recent convert Emmanuel to speak at the baptism on
baptism and even let him borrow my preach my gospel and he got up and
did great...(by great I mean he tried really hard so I know that is
what matters)! and even asked his mom and she is allowing him to come
and proselyte with us tomorrow :) we have lots to teach him. going to
be training ward missionaries and fulltime missionary all at
once...this will be exhausting hahaha, but back to the baptism.
I had the wonderful opporunity to stand in the shallow water and
baptize Jane Banguar and Ruggiatu Sesay and it was so sweet! no
problems with the baptisms at all either, even with the lack of water.
the spirit was so sweet and reverent there and it was an amazing
experience!

After the baptism, I was given an OLD MAN elder to come and proselyte
with us for the day. He is from Zimbabwe and has finished his mission
and is going home on Tuesday, so he came and taught with us for the
day. Elder Svangwa...yeah, try to get a Sierra Leonean to say that one
time slow haha :) It was really sweet going out with him.
Well, after dropping off our senior Elder, Solomon and I proceeded to
empty the entire font back into the tank by ourselves, after all the
Elders completely ditched us and didn't show up...so that took about
an hour. came home to shower to find out there is no water...they had
even drained my entire storage unit. so, all 6 of us missionaries went
trooping around in the night until we found  a well, and we all
carried water back to the apartment so we could have water to shower
on sunday hahaha and eat with!:) oh, water...how i will always
appreciate you when I return home, I promise I will never take you for
granted again. I will love and cherish you. I will love and cherish
showers...oh my, its just an unreal dream that never happened...what
are showers? non existent, thats what!

So, Elder Hales made me a present on saturday...6 month birthday cake
in an oreo box that crumbled before I even got home, but it was still
yummy as tish and I enjoyed very mucho! what a baker!

Sunday was crazy as usual...wish I could enjoy the sabbath day to be
honest, but as quoted by my companion "are you sure you're a
missionary....I think you might be the bishop here" as I ran around
taking care of everything sunday morning. lets see how my phone call
went with the bishop earlier during the week...oh boy, here goes.
"Hello bishop Hinckley, so you told me church was on sunday at 12:30,
correct? Where are we meeting?
"Yes, Elder Sumrak, we will be meeting in the same apartment building
at 12:30 on sunday."
"Bishop, I just got off the phone with President Roggia, that building
is being demolished on Saturday..."
"Okay, I'll call you back."
.....
"Hello bishop, you never called me back, what's up."
"Yes, we are having service at 12:30 on Sunday in the apartment."
"Bishop, that building will be gone."
"Its okay Elder, we will take care of it sunday morning"
"So bishop, um...I spent one hour moving out all the stuff out of the
apartment last sunday evening...there is nothing there....you told us
the plan was 2:30."
"Don't worry about it elder, i will get the members to take care of
everything this weekend..."
"Okay bishop...thank you"
So, show up at church at 11:00 on sunday, yep the building is
demolished. Bishop shows up at 11:30, bishop what are we going to
do,....okay after about 30 minutes of phone calls, okay, we are having
service in the stake office, um yes, that is correct, an office room.
so, of course, i am in charge of rallying the troops to squeeze like
rats 65 chairs in to a room, almost stacked on top of each other to be
honest...and still had 20 people sitting in the hall during sacrament
meeting. ugh stressful as tish......but, its all over with. the Lord
blessed my patience and we had 11 investigators there yesterday :)
wow, it was SO hard trying to grab them all to get them to go to
gospel essentials class. I literally had people by their shirts haha,
they think church is over and run for the gates and I am trying to
tell them where to go and we don't even have a class room secured but
the Lord truly helped me and somehow I was able to get everyone to
class without losing a single investigator...whew...:) it was
sweet...but, never got to rest. just work work work the whole church
service...one day I will enjoy the sacrament and enjoy sundays...one
day ;) hahahaha

Well, running short on time, got to get over to Belliar Park for the
Christmas program practice. as performed by the LDS missionaries ;) so
I love you all so so so much and take care! Merry Christmas everyone
and a merry full year upcoming on mission, along with my dear Elder
Hooper and Sister Cutler! love you both!
-Love, Elder Jesse Sumrak