Sweet is the Work!

Hahahaha, I am glad that you enjoyed the pictures mother...Saidu has
been enjoying taking all of them.

And when I return home it's going to be very sweet momma.
It's not to far off! actually,its next year!;) haha,
oh boy isn't that funny. ugh I'm tired...but, I
am doing my best to enjoy every single moment here as well!

Well, I got a haircut today, isn't that exciting? Sister Randall cut
it for me and it actually doesn't look too bad. They took pictures so
maybe they will post them on their blog haha but it was getting pretty
long, so finally got it cut. its been since October that I got a
haircut ;).

Hahaha oh mom, you being a Grandma...that is funny :)
oh you're not old yet momma, you're a young hip grandma,
isn't that so cool? and I'm almost an uncle haha, at
my 1 yearish I will be an uncle! ah that is so exciting :) can't wait
to hear if its a boy or a girl! and oh mother, (you being late for church)
that is pretty funny.
quite similiar to me. Last night after i broke my fast i went and laid
down to listen to some of the teaching of the prophet Joseph
Smith...yeah, layed down at like 7ish and woke at 10:25...boooooo,
tish nights sleep last night, I am not the type to get 12 hours sleep
haha but, gosh my body is still worn out.

The celebrations for New Years they had last Sunday night were really
the only celebrations...the one that kept all of us up all night haha,
but that is about it :)

And wow! you went out with the missionaries?! kushayo mother :) I am
so proud of you. that is sweet. You are such a wonderful missionary,
you really inspire me along. well, here, they only need to come to
church legitimately twice, but i like to shoot for 3 to make sure they
are nice and serious. but, we interview plenty after only 2.

And that is so cool about Elder Hales father and his nephew serving
with Thomas! that is so sweet! the mormon world is so incredibly
small, but i really like it that way :) so many crazy coincidences!
along with 3 sisters from my freshmen ward are coming to serve in
Richmond Virginia! isn't that so sweet. that girl Miranda from Canada
i told you about, and also 2 other girls in the ward. so sweet!

Well...on to my week i guess.

I will start with the amazing baptisms on Saturday. Had all 10
candidates interviewed during the week, after much stress, and much
hiking, and many lessons, and stress stress, but it was completed. had
to borrow clothes from some of the other wards because we didn't have
enough, but i guess that is a good thing to complain about :) had
about 17 people being baptized, with all 5 wards in the area in
attendance, also with our entire bishopric present (for the first
time) and all 10 candidates showed up on time. 9 of them asked me to
baptize them and 1 asked Elder Etuk. So we got dressed up and prepared
for the battle. you know, got to do your curls, your stretches, your
dips, to get ready ;) hahah, no it was really sweet. I had the amazing
opportunity to baptize 9 of them...but, only 8 were baptized...more
about that later. 4 little children (sheka, mable, anima, and nabi)
and 4 young ladies (Alice, Sarah, Fatmata, and Isatu) while Elder Etuk
baptized another young lady (Fanta). yes, concerns have arisen that we
only baptize women ;) hahaha. but, all of them went really smoothly
except...for Ivan....

Ivan is the young boy i talked about long ago who ran into Elder
Burton and started having a seizure. He has epilepsy i think, and has
them quite often, about every other day at least. His mother has the
faith that if he is baptized then the "evil spirit" will come out of
him and he will be healed. but, because of his condition, his whole
life he has been cautioned to avoid fire and water, because it can
kill him. so...stepping into the font, he immediately started crying.
I was able to calm him down and do the ordinance, but he went berserk
and started kicking and screaming and all the adults tried to calm him
down and I, but it was useless, he had to leave and be calmed down. I
continued the baptisms and he came later and we tried again, but he
freaked again and kicked his foot out of the water...so he has been
pushed until a later date, I will go and practice and stuff with him
until he is comfortable hahah :) poor kid...it was really really sad,,
but he will have his chance.

Had quite an uh...awkward moment in the testimonies following the
baptism. the 20 year old young lady we baptized, Alice Marie Sesay,
got up to bear her testimony and all she said was...i am so happy to
be baptized today and I just want Elder Sumrak to know that I love him
so much...Elder Sumrak I love you! and then left the
pulpit...Yes...the other missionaries are STILL giving me crap for
that one hahaha

All 9 were confirmed on Sunday and I was able to confirm Mabel and
Nabi, which was really sweet. I love being able to participate in
priesthood ordinances! It is so great to be a direct part of the
Lord's work and I can feel his love while administering these saving
ordinances to those prepared :) Also, had 8 more investigators in
Sacrament...What!? yes! that means my pool didn't die! which is really
sweet. hoping for 4 baptisms on the 19...the work never stops...never
stops. :)

Well...sweet lesson this week. had a referral given to us and somebody
gave us the wrong address. so we went to this house and knocked and
some "half cast" (the word they use for a white/black mixed
person...gosh i don't like the word) answered the door. She was an
older women who REALLY reminded me of Grandma Betty. She was awesome!
We told her we would come back in an hour after we found the other
young lady. so we went and taught and then returned. she has a super
nice taken care of place and invited us inside...and in walks her
niece who was uh one of the first non black girls I have seen in like
6 months but she wasn't able to stay for the lesson hahaha, but the
old lady, Sis Conteh, could speak perfect english. she is actually
British, so i was able to teach my first whole lesson in full english,
with big words and everything and it was so sweet to actually say how
I really feel and my real testimony in my real words :) it was amazing
and the lesson went awesome. She then offered us like 20 pieces of
cake, because she is a caterer , so we gratefully enjoyed all hahaha :)
how sweet!

Well, on New years day there was SOME celebrations...a lot a lot of
devils about that day. we were teaching one lesson and a parade of
about 7-9 of them went by, all in various shapes sizes and
heights...and one saw us and broke from the parade down the street
where we were teaching. I didn't really recognize it until it was
right behind me when I was teaching. it was dancing and going nuts and
had a big long staff and kept pointing it at me and everyone around
us, including the people we were teaching looked really freaked out,
but i half acknowledged him, and turned around and continued teaching,
much to the amazement of those present hahaha and he got bored and
left after about 30 seconds. so yeah...my encounter with the
devil...not as epic as I could have made it, I should have battled it!

I had my first mango this week! they are not very plenty here yet, but
I found one lady selling some, and I was able to buy an almost ripe
one, which was just absolutely delicious, but it was super ropey, and
got all stuck in my teeth...but, I am going to seriously enjoy mango
season, especially since I am praying I will leave in 3 weeks and go
up line (bo, or kenema ) :) hahaha where mangos are like doitch marks
in WWII...people just use em for soccer balls hahahaha

Got up Friday morning and had to use the bathroom before district
prayer...yeah...there was a rat stuck in the toilet trying to get
out...i shut the lid and used the other one. we left him there all day
until night time he still hadn't died. so we bucket him out, pushed
him off the balcony, and watched 2 sa lone bobos beat him to death
with sticks...oh my life :)

Well, I have been working out super hard every day this week, and
doing some nice gyming exercises, making sure I do at least 30-40 mins
every morning. also, been eating just a protein bar for lunch, and was
able to lose 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks :) so, not bad, might be
water weight, but its getting there. I am keeping up my vigor and hope
to continue to see results. lets go sa lone! get your boku boku rice
and oil outta my house. i can say NO ;)

Well, leaving the apartment Saturday afternoon, encountered a boy
walking down the street that might be in competition with Katie's
friends.
T-shirt of the week - this boy was wearing a shirt that said in bright
red letters "I <3 Mormon Boys" and I just could not let that guy alone,
so i pulled him off the road, and then introduced him to the Book of
Mormon haha :) oh, and invited him to church, but he didn't come :(
not too surprised but people here don't know what mormons are. we get
excited if someone calls us mormons...that means they are from the USA
:) so we love to go talk to them. Came to find out at the end of the
night that the freetown elders ran into the same boy and talked to him
after us...poor kid, probably doesn't want to wear that shirt
anymore...almost bought it from him :)

Went to teach one young lady Mayeni on Saturday and showed up to find
a man there cooking in a giant pot. he invited us to join him and I
got to try something new:) it is called ebay (prounounced eh-bay) and
it is cassava root, potatoes, pepay, salt, maggi, fish, and beef mixed
in a sort of warm gravvy. it was super yummy though and my companion
didn't like it but all the people were very happy that I sat down on
the ground and enjoyed with them. then shared a super sweet message
about prayer, and the spirit was super strong. the spirit is always
stronger on a full stomach ;) or so our apostasy says out here hahaha.

While we were waiting for ward council to start yesterday, one of the
older women in the ward approached me and gave me 10,000 leones and
thanked me and tried to run off haha i chased her down and gave her
her money back and she got super upset with me, until the other women
explained that we aren't allowed to accept money, and encouraged her
to cook us a tasty meal with the money, to which she beamed brightly
and told us she would be having us over this week :) hahaha oh what a
sweet woman.

So...a sweet week, and more to follow. the work never stops, even if
my legs want too haha. I am tired but the spirit is quickening me. I
will continue on in this marvelous work with my head high and my hopes
higher. I love sierra leone so much and i love this opportunity to
serve the Lord. I love misssion. I love life and thank the Lord for it
:) I love you all so much and must say that this church and gospel is
oh so very true! thank you so much to dad, aunt deb, katie, drew, mom,
miranda, Mr. Whitley, sis peterson, and uncle andrew for your awesome
letters this week! thank you all and may everyone press forward in so
great a cause. there is none great. there is none that brings the
lasting joy that this one does...others do bring joy...let me tell
you. but, this one will last forever. i love you all. take care :)

-Love, Elder Jesse Sumrak