Life in BO

Wow! So exciting to hear about all the sweet stuff going on in the
missions in the world and also I must say it is sweet to hear about
Cristiano Ronaldo :) I hope that deal goes down! Wow, kushay to
Gabriella and Uncle Chris. Congratulations for reals! And a happy
happy birthday to you Nick, you old man you. I hope you enjoyed your
18th birthday lil bro, and probably your last one with the family for
the while, so treasure the memory and if you're not keeping a journal I
recommend you start small small now...I love being able to look back
at any day to remember what happened and everything...it's a great
blessing :) but happy birthday man!
And i will definitely write Sister Gopp today, so thank you for the
address moma dearest. It will be nice to hear from her again, but  I
guess she isn’t Sister Gopp anymore haha!
And don’t send me any t-shirts mother dearest ;) if you see anything
you like and really want to get, just stash it with my shoes back home
haha...I am leaving everything here when I go home, and these shirts
are getting torn up from the brooking board here haha, so I don’t want
to destroy anything more then I need to here :) but thank you!
Well, I have had quite the week here in Bo. I will try to fit it all
in here in my short time to email today haha. So, first, we got
Hammocks! We went to some guy and gave him some money to go and sew
some rice sacks together and make some hammocks for us. So, we finally
got them, tied rope through either end, and set them up last night.
Not being a boy scout, it took a couple falls on mine before I got a
good knot haha ;) I encourage scouting now. But, they are pretty
legit, if not very small, and I will hopefully get some pictures off
today if I get some time. Super awesome though!
We went to teach one man this week,  and he came 2
hours early to his appointment and walked about 2 miles to the chapel.
He called us so we closed companion study early and caught bike over
to him. We rode with him back to his place to see where he lived, and
he drove to the in construction Bo-football stadium. So, we pull up at
the gate and the security guards with AKs are just freaking out,
telling him that Missionaries are not allowed in, but eventually the
Chinese manager came and let us in. So, we got to enter the stadium,
which was super sweet, if not completely crappy to be totally honest
haha, but small small. We made our way around back and got to teach
him in the sketchy barracks, where he lives with the other workers
who work on the stadium haha it was totally sketchy and scary but a
sweet lesson at least. The stadium looks not to betta, but they dey
try small small. Just a bunch of Chinese overseers walking around
screaming at the Africans who are working in the most mundane of ways
on what is supposed to be a modern stadium...we will see how many more
years it takes to complete the stadium. My guess...5 years.
We made our way back to our area and took the bushiest path haha! We
had to cross fallen trees and swamps and what not, and Elder Jones
showed me where we are probably having our baptism this week...Yeah,
it looks exactly what the Doctor told me NOT to ever enter in hahaha!
Stagnant swamp water in the middle of the bush farming fields...but,
if we have to do it then we will have to do it, and I will be
moderately excited to do a river baptism while also a little hesitant
due to whatever lasting worms and diseases will plague my body as a
result. Nowhala.
I found a wood carpenter in our area and he was making a sweet (and
kinda scary) mask that probably is used for ju ju or something, and I
asked him if he could do a special project for me...he said yes. So, I
brought him the little miniature Finn, you sent me, and he told me he
could make me it. So, I am getting a foot high wood carving of Finn
done, and if it is sweet, I am going to put this man on some more
projects for me haha :) not too expensive either. $5 ;) so we will see
how that turns out. Said it should be done by March 5.
Elder Jones and I videoed a crazy thing I never had before seen until
I got to Bo...A woman feeding her child (and I’m not talking breast
feeding because I have seen more than my share of that just trying to
teach a lesson haha) but, this is trying to feed a baby who is not
hungry and will not accept the spoon...So, they put the baby in their
lap, and cup their hand around the baby's mouth, they then drain all
the mushy food in to their hand, practically drowning the child,
giving the child the only option to eat, or die pretty much, because
then they close the baby’s nose...if the baby screams or anything or
tries to throw it back up, they flick the baby on the thigh until it
opens its mouth to swallow the nasty mush. It was pretty horrific to
be quite honest, but we videoed the whole thing...so one day you will
all see this  feeding...oh my.
So, we found the roof is a sweet relief to the intense heat we have
experienced this week...the past 3 nights I have gone to sleep it has
been above 90 degress... so miserable. So we took all of our
mattresses and put them on the roof...yes, the crappy zinc roof
hahaha, but no bad, it was super cool and nice up there and we all 6
chilled up there for like an hour haha, it was a lot of fun!
Also, while dressing today, I finally tried one of my Sa Lone shirts
I bought, and when putting it on, I realized that it is a McDonald's
Manager shirt! It has a big M on the pocket, and I was so stoked when
I saw it haha, unfortunately its covered by my tag, but it is so
awesome!:) probably going to use that shirt to wear home from mission!
I have also given myself the Mende name of Tai( proncouned Tay)
which means Chicken. Some of our recent converts named me Gorjo (which
means our Father) but they said they gave me that name because my chin
reminds them of a strong man like a father :) haha, and then a woman
named me last night Batoley (people’s picking(child) ) to which I am
to respond Hopanda (take good care of it) haha so, we are always
having fun with the Mende here!
Had a rather uncomofortable lesson later this week with Michael at
the chapel. We couldn't get it, no key, so we pulled up some stones
from nearby...mine was very sharp and not so comfy, so I spent the
next hour shifting from cheek to cheek every 5 minutes just trying not
to destroy my poor backside. Geeze it hurt! But, we took some pictures
of the stones and everything :) so, another sweet memory is added to
my wonderful mission haha
We wanted to go fill the font Friday, because the other branches font
is under construction, so we have to fill our own. SO, we went over to
our branch presidents house, but he was in the farm. So we went out to
the bush farm and gosh it was awesome. A bunch of people were in the
swamp with nets trying to corner the fish and it was awesome, they
were catching a bunch haha, I was tempted to just jump in and help em
out, but knowing me, I would cause problems ;) we got the key to the
chapel and made our way back to the font...the beginning of a painful
experience.
Some branch missionaries met us there and we had a short coordination
meeting before we spent the next hour and a half filling the font...we
lower a small bucket into the well, lift it out, sift the water
through a t shirt into a bigger bucket, then dump the bucket in the
font... well, you can imagine how painfully slow that is huh? We only
made it about 6 inches the first night...but, we decided to come back
in the morning.
So, we woke up early on Saturday, ate, and then made our way out the
door. Hadn't even opened the gate before we realized it was national
cleaning day in BO! Every last Saturday of the month in BO is  a
national cleaning day, and nobody is allowed to do anything but clean
until 10:00 am...enforced by the police. SO, there are no cars out or
anything, just people cleaning their compounds and the streets...but,
we asked our district leader and he told us we were allowed to go. So,
we had about a mile or so to walk to the chapel and we dodged most of
the police blockades...but, the last one got us, and the police
started shouting at us and called us over. The conversation went a
little like this.
“you understand you are breaking the law?”
“we are going to go clean our chapel”
“you are breaking the law, we are going to have to take you down to
the headquarters” He grabs me by the wrist and starts walking me down
the street...
“Okay, let's go” I grab him by the other wrist and start walking him
towards the headquarters....
Made it about 10 feet before he says he is going to just let us off
this time with a warning, but we better never do it again...yeah, he
was just trying to scare us into bribing him...yeah, not going to do
that ;) hahaha so the Lord helped us off and get to the chapel safely.
We got to the chapel around 8...and we filled rapidly for about 2 and
a half hours...gosh we were dripping, dirty, and so sore, and the
water was barely up to the knee...and it was BROWN. You couldn't even
see your feet in the water...so our investigator
showed up and I had the sweet blessing and privilege of baptizing
him...so we enter the water, I kneel down, and we had him sit down,
and baptized him coffin style, just laying him down under the water.
It took about 3 trys to do successfully, but it was done :) and he was
confirmed yesterday in church so what a sweet baptism, if not
completely gross...because I saw worms swimming in the water...my gosh
I have so many things in my body I am sure.
Sweet weekend. Had 2 interviewed for baptism yesterday and one more
tomorrow so, we should have a sweet sweet Saturday! But, I think we
are doing river baptism... Nose goes ;) haha
Got to play football again today, and it was a lot of fun, but we
lost! But, it was a great time :) didn't even bleed today! So, that is
a success in my opinion. First time for everything!
Well, another sweet week on mission. I love this mission so much and
I am so excited to see tomorrow who will be our new mission president
in June. I am sure going to miss the Roggia’s but change...its pretty
consistent on mission. Never can really get too comfortable, but that's
life :) I love you all so very much and I know that this gospel is
true. I will be receiving all letters and mail tomorrow so I will be
trying to write you all back slowly over the next coming weeks...I
love you all. Never forget the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and
I promise you will never be unhappy...Take care all! Farewell
-Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak