First Week in Bo

First off, Happy Valentines Day! I love you so very much, and
gosh I have so so so much to talk about this week...ah so much, hope I
don't miss anything. But, first I was not able to receive the box
before I left .. :( but, I got a text saying that the box has arrived
in the mission office and I will receive it at zone conference on
February 26, so not bad ;) and thank you thank you to Bekki and
Patriarch Keaton! I received your letters this week and I was so happy
to get them.

Well...lets just try to fit everything. Monday night I spent in the
assistants office and tried to clear out my bag so I would take less
stuff to Bo. Had 7 lbs worth of dear elders, so so so many, and they
said I should probably get rid of them....so, it was really sad and
hard but we took them all outside and burned the dear elders...but, I
love everyone so much and I'm so grateful for everyone that has sent
them to me. I kept all the hand written letters and everything, but at
the rate I was going if I kept all my dear elders I would just have
paper coming home with me in 16 months haha but I really appreciate
everyone who has written me.

Well, Tuesday morning we got up and got ready and by 8:30 the
humanitarian couple, the Burns, were there to pick us up. We piled in
everything and got into the truck and headed off on the sweet 5 hour
drive to Bo. Wow, the country is just absolutely beautiful outside of
Freetown, and the Burns are just the most amazing people in the world.
They are so sweet and loving and compassionate to these people- it is
just amazing. We did not stop at the wells on the way, but they did
stop by a Polio Camp in Grafton, which was just so touching to visit.
Everyone in the village has polio and it is just so sad, they all look
like pictures of the holocaust and Elder Penia and I got to go in and
play with the children and some were so excited to see us and others
were just horrified of us but still, it was a wonderful experience to
go and show our love to these people...The drive continued and it was
just awesome. Saw a different side of the world and just so much I
can't even take it all in. Saw diamond miners, saw mud huts, thatch
roof houses, so many coconut trees hahaha.

Sister Burns was sweet and packed us a great lunch of sandwiches,
apples, and even oreos! so we were completely spoiled haha but such a
great time with them. we showed up and met the other couple in Bo, the
Scheluhubers and then we went inside for 30 minutes because Sister
Burns was having computer issues and wanted me to fix it, so I did my
best, and father you might be half proud of me, but I was able to fix
the problem and get her computer running at 100% again haha and then
they took us on over to the infamous SEWA ROAD APARTMENT, the DUNGEON!
THE WORST APARTMENT IN SIERRA LEONE!

But, it is awesome and I love it. Once you get past the 4 rats we
caught this week, the 10 cockroaches I killed, and quite possibly the
most gigantic spiders I have seen in my life, and the dusty floors
that can't be mopped, it really is awesome and I love it. We have a
well outside, and wells in Bo aren't like Freetown, these ones you
have to lower you bucket down in the well and then pull it out with
the rope, straight manual style, no crane or anything haha :) so sweet,
makes me feel so legit!

Well, now I am in the heart of Bo, I don't know the place very well
yet but I think this is the only actual city in Bo, but all elders in
both zones come here to email. so there are like 20 elders in the room
and I haven't even met half of them, so it is super cool getting to
know all of these awesome guys! so much fun.

My apartment mates are awesome and my new companion Elder Jones is so
cool. I love the guy so much and I am so glad we are serving together.
A really honest hard working elder and he and I are working out now
and just doing everything and working so hard and its going great. we
are cleaning out the area book and just spending hours of nonstop
working trying to get this branch up and running and boy we are seeing
success. He is super
excited that I am here and ready to work hard, and we are going to
turn this place around, and we are already seeing the fruits of our
labors.

So, I get to take bike everyday, and it is so sweet! I love it so
much, just jumping on the back of an african bike and speeding down
the road, with a prayer in my heart that we don't die constantly, it
is so much fun haha! I love it and I look forward to everytime we get
to jump on bike.

So, the language in bo is Mendeh, and its not all like Krio in
Freetown, because here if people don't speak Krio, they speak Mendeh,
where as before in Freetown it's if they don't speak English they speak
Krio, haha but it is such a goodtime! The language is straight tribal
and its exactly what you could imagine the stereotypical african
language would sound like. and its so fun to try to learn it and speak
it, but there is like 10 different dialetics of it, so its hard to
learn them all because each person is speaking it differently and ah, its
just a lot of fun. My area is straight BUSH! BUSH BUSH! we travel
through cassava and rice fields to our area on fallen trees and dirt
paths under giant palms trees and coconut trees and trees of things I
have never even seen before. The houses are okay and most are pretty
legit, but some are mud houses and even some thatch roof houses haha,
they say I am in one of the most bushy areas in Bo, but I love it :)

I am working hard every morning and evening as well, still gyming and
jogging and what not, and its going well. They have a nice little
bench and one dumbbell so I haven't done very much with that but, I
keep my running and everything up and crunches so that is nice. Elder
Jones and I went on a 30 minute run today through our area which was
just super refreshing to go on a legit run again! no fence or
restrictions just freedom!:) Ah! he is a cross country runner so he is
in shape still (with a rice belly of course, as typical of all elders
here) but he also plays football, so we are going to go enjoy next
monday!

we don't have power very much in the apartment, so the nights are
super hot, and we don't turn the generator on too much, so often we light
candles and just write by candle light so we don't burn through all
our batteries...so more batteries would be sweet momma ;)

We got a giant 1,000 piece puzzle we have been doing all week at night
and we finished it last week and taped it up on the wall haha, maybe
when my camera finally gets here I will take some pictures and let you
guys see, I am going to take so many pictures when that thing gets
here haha!

Our church is actually pretty legit, an actual building all to
ourselves and there were like 50-60 members on Sunday which was nice :)
They are super friendly to me already so we are getting along great,
and even had successful coordination and PEC this week, which hasn't
happened really my entire mission, so that makes me super stoked! But,
for our baptism this saturday we have to draw all the water out of the
well by hand to fill it...so its going to take forever, but its okay
:) had a super sweet spiritual experience with it...

We wanted to see how deep the well water was , so we attached a rake
head to the rope and dropped it down the well...then we found that the
rake head got stuck to the pump pipe and we couldn't get it out for
like 7 minutes...so, I told Elder Jones "power of prayer" and then I
said a quick prayer, and immediately the rake came out...Wow, I know
that the Lord is really watching us missionaries out here, even with
the small things. I know he loves us and he helps us with anything we
ask for as long as we have the faith to ask him. and my faith has
grown so much more ever since I embarked on this journey, and I know
that the Lord is always there waiting for us to just knock and he will
open.

We then met our district leader and took him to our 2 candidates in
our area to have them interviewed and while one was being interviewed,
this one man came out and started talking to us elders. He told me I
had american written all over me, called Elder Penia an Asian (when he
is a Polynesian from Samoa) and then called Elder Jones british, and
then told us that we would all be "leaving our seed" in Africa to
which we had to have a very long talk with him that THAT was
absolutely not what we were here to do, and he couldn't really fathom
it and just kept saying, we're all men aren't we? and ahh, so stubborn
haha, he then called me frisky! he just looked when I was leaving and
was like Elder Sumrak...I can just tell, you are frisky! Ah, Do I look
frisky?! haha

But, all in all BO IS AMAZING and I love this area so much. we had 10
investigators in church yesterday, and they have been averaging 2 a
week, so I just know the Lord is watching out for us and if we do our
best and serve righteously he will pour out an abundance of blessings
upon us.

I know this gospel is true and I love everyone so much. I love this
mission and I am so blessed to be here laboring in the hot african sun
for these people. My eyes hurt from the bright Bo sun, but small small
price to pay for this great opportunity!:) Farewell my dear friends and
family and know that the Lord is always there watching and waiting for
you to call on him...so call on him... he will answer :) Farewell and
happy valentines day!

PS. here is some attempted Mendeh I have picked up with no idea how to
spell it of course

Klo Klo (small Small)
Klo Klo Mayajavei (small drops of water make a mighty ocean)
Boah (hello)
Becey (thank you)
Cowyena (how di bodi)
Kaingoma (thank god)
Bungo (red)
Pumwe (white man)
Ndulelley(black man)
Nessi (pineapple)

haha oh, this language, I am learning as much as I can haha
Elder Jesse Sumrak