Freetown Rocks

Another week has passed her in Sierra Leone and
everything is going great. Belliar Park is doing nicely and we are
keeping plenty busy, trying to meet up with all of our investigators,
train a new mission leader, meet with our bishop, re-activate less
actives who were baptized before I was even born… we are plenty busy
here haha. Had my first district meeting here in Freetown on Tuesday,
and it went very nicely. It was sweet having sisters, zone leaders,
and assistants in the meeting, and made for a very spiritual and
effective discussion.
The people in our area continue to kalo kalo us like crazy! Our
teaching pool expands everyday because everyone ditches out of our
appointments and we are forced to go and find new people to teach,
making our pool over flow too much! But, we are doing our best to
narrow down the serious ones and focus on the legit ones, no bad.
Had a sweet referral come from East Freetown though, 
and he was already taught almost everything and desired to be
baptized and he is just a boss. Boy learns so quick and wants to go
and serve mission and he will be baptized this Saturday, so its super
exciting. He looks like he is 30, but his information says he is only
19 hahaha, oh sa lone records, you can never really tell. Making
baptismal records here is quite painful, since they don’t have
records, and mostly just guess, since only 1/3 of them can actually
tell you their birthday, which is kinda sad when you think about it,
but then again, its not essential to know I guess…well except for
everything in life! Like school, job, church, um everything really,
but no bad.
Last Monday Elder Dancan and I had some extra time to go to town after
emailing so we just went looking around at some jerseys, and then our
eyes caught something awesome, and we just had to get them… Bob Marley
collared shirts! Why we got them? Who knows, but it sure was funny
when the zone leaders came home and found us closing for the day :)
hahaha, good times.
Mother! I got your package, tankey tankey tankey! I was just running
low on protein bars so I am super happy for the restocking haha and
oatmeal is just heavenly, and can turn my gloomiest day in today my
best :) those zotz candies are super yummy though, I have never had
those before ! super delicious momma tankey tankey. I enjoyed the
pictures as well haha, oh our family is so great.
Teaching at one house, and gosh it is complete chaos!
She is preparing to be baptized and all the 10 some kids there are
members and some of the older guys too, but the kids are just crazy,
jumping all over me and my companion, biting and scratching us and ah,
its just too much for me to handle hahaha I started hurling
kids this way and that way and oh my oh my, by the time we leave I am
just exhausted, completely drained in every way haha.
Tried some new sort of food they call like ground mango. Which is
where they cut up a mango into slices, then put pepay, dried fish,
magi, salt, water, and those sort of things on it, and its actually
kinda tasty haha :) I rather enjoyed it.
Had a baptism for Samuel on Saturday which was very nice,
except for it was delayed since we couldn’t find the plug to the
baptismal font :/ but, all is well. We then formed our assembly line
like usual to carry the buckets from the font to the tank, so that got
done pretty quick, but Samuel hurt his foot very badly and couldn't make
it down the mountain for his confirmation :( so hopefully next week he
will be doing better and able to make it!
Enjoyed TOO MUCH pineapple this week haha, every night almost I was
eating like a giant pineapple, and I love just freezing it. Not just
cold pineapple, but frozen pineapple, whew that is some good stuff,
that can make a tired crying old/young missionary man smile… oh the
small things in life :)
Have been studying the Book of Mormon manual and gosh it is so good!
Played some football today and it was sorta fun. The field is just so
terrible I just can’t describe it. Just bumpy and hilly and rocky and
cans and bottles and razors and cds are all over the field, including
rocks bigger then the football itself, not to mention if you miss the
goal you drill somebody house, knock over someones clothes on the
line, or knock over a pot of rice like today (well at least it wasn’t
me ;) ) hahaha so very uh not relaxing, but trying to find a new place
for next week to enjoy ahhaha.

Wow, I can't wait to do that new puzzle with you Mom  haha, I forget the
ones I have done...I think I did a chicken one with Laura, and maybe a
cow one? or alligator? or something? remind me mother!:) and Cristiano
Ronaldo and Rooney?! whatawhat!? that would be so crazy :) keep me up
to date on that, but I believe if that happens sa lone will text
everyone for free haha, we know where their priorities are.

But, all is well in Sa Lone, we have some super sweet investigators
right now and I'm really enjoying the people... :) haha I
love you family and I hope you all enjoy your time reunioning and what
not on all sides and don't let these moments pass. take advantage of
them. take pictures. write it down in your journal. these are the
things that last forever, our family. take care everyone. love you
lots!

Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak

A Year Has Passed

I love sharing my mission
with you ...it makes it almost seem unreal and like an adventure
to me, which keeps me sane and keeps a humorous light on my realistic
living conditions, which might kill me if forever I realized that this
life I'm living right now is real...and not some other dream. deep
right? lets keep it that way :)
I did celebrate my year mark haha, I tried to get some MTCs to join me
but they were too far away at the time, so we had a baptism on
Saturday morning which was quite stressful
then had an amazing baptism :) so all in all that went nice. Then, I
took my companion down into town to go and eat at a restaurant I used
to eat at with the assistants, quick take! and we got nice eggburgers
and then ice cream and just enjoyed and had a little fun. Then I had to
go district shopping and dive into the back alleys and streets of
hassling for boots and pans and all that tish and it was very
stressful...but the day ended okay, with a nice big pineapple and some
chicken...so all in all I enjoyed my 1 year mark :) but, I have one
more year to enjoy so I'm trying haha :)
oh, and yes that is my companion Elder Dancan in the picture with me.
thats my BOY! love this kid haha.
and  love shopping with you momma and can't wait to go food shopping
with you when I get home because now I love to cook, so we can cook
some fun things together and I'll prepare tons of African dishes and
what not for you guys, because maybe by then I won't be exhausted
all the time haha ;) how much is a pineapple back home? here they are
less then one dollar haha, so i eat one a day!
So jealous about this big family reunion but glad that I will
photo shopped into the picture haha, tankey tankey! take lots of
pictures of our big beautiful family and have a safe trip to Utah my
dear momma. you fly safe okay? :)
My missionary friend is in Charlottesville and she loves it so much :)
she says that VA is the most beautiful place in the world...sorry
Utah, i second that!
So my diet this week: Oatmeal for breakfast, with a bowl of cornflour
as a snack before I leave. 2 boiled eggs for lunch. and a piece of
chicken with half a pineapple and some cornflour for dinner...
ENJOYMENT! I sure do love cornflour :)
Also, just remembered, don't know why it took me this long to realize
it but Elder Liufau reminded me. Call of Duty 2, that map by the name
Freetown, heck yes that is Sierra Leone, and now that I'm here, they
are really similar haha, go check it out! that's my proselyting area
right now!:) WHAT :)
So, had a batch of like 8 elders show up this week to be sent out to
various proselyting areas, but had nothing to do for the day since
they showed up early, so the assistants called our district and we
went to go take em. Elder Muthoni, from Kenya, joined us for the day
and we had a great time with him, haha the 2 Kenyans got along great,
and it was funny seeing his impression of Sierra Leone just
coming...and mine after being in this area for a year...oh boy haha,
good times.
Had a very uh bouncy week...had my first day on mission where we
didn't see a SINGLE person we planned for..but still taught 4 lessons
so I wasn't bummed out to tears, but pretty close since I had made
follow up calls that morning (which I never did in BO because nobody
had phone) and had confirmed all appointments. Kalo Kalo picking dem,
dey go sabe me just now, you go see.
So, was up at 5:00 a.m. on Friday to go outside and hook up the hose
to the water tap and fill out water barrels haha, the tap gets busy by
the other tenants by like 6 so we got to get up early to take care of
it...so that was fun and left me bitterly exhausted for the rest of
the day...fortunately my area is at the top of the mountain, sweet!
yes much sarcasm, I know. but thats me.
During sacrament yesterday, Cynthia Kargo, a convert I baptized in Bo
walked in and I was so happy I jumped up from my seat in the
intermediate hymn and went and sang with her haha, went and found her
house after church and got 3 referrals from her haha :) gosh it was so
good to see her! then, during investigators class I was busy running
around the church getting signatures and filling records and helping
the clerk and I saw so many of my recent converts that I was almost
like Ammon, so overjoyed that I fell over haha. had one little 8 year
old, Sally, come running at me, and the other 5 kids from ages 9-11,
and ah, it was awesome :) seeing all my little ones I baptized at
church haha....suffer the little children. AMEN!:) I want to see them
all on mission one day, gosh that would be AMAZING!
Spiritual contemplation for the week, The tree of life = the love of
god = John 3:16 = Christ = atonement. The tree of life is that God
loves us so much so he sent his only begotten son to come and die for
us through the atonement. We partake of the atonement (tree) through
the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost,
enduring to the end). I know that my redeemer lives and what sweet
comfort and peace this sentences gives, he lives who once was dead, he
lives...I know that. I know God loves us and misses us so much,
because i miss my family so much and God's love and feelings are even
more then mine, so I know that He must miss us incredibly, even if I
am "a wretched man" but, awake my soul, and be a man! I am trying :)

Well, another exciting week done...life is great. Freetown is..great-
but I just try to smile and be optimistic haha i miss
BO so much, but just pretend I'm a perfect missionary and I'll continue
and say I love my area, its so amazing, and all my investigators are
amazing and life is stupendous ;) try to figure out which ones are
real haha. love you all always and forever.

Love,
Elder Sumrak

Freetown Again!!

WOW! congratulations to Rachel on her mission call, 
that is so exciting and I am so happy
for her :) wow...Brazil, I belive she has opened the flood gates to
South America for our family, but we will see if my prophecy is
fulfilled!

Haha that is so awesome hearing about teaching that 2nd grade class :)
Book me when I get home and if I get home early enough in time I will
come visit them in 3rd grade and do a powerpoint of my own :) go ahead
and book me for the assembly for the fall 2014 :) haha momma you are
such a great missionary, you know that! kusheyo!

Wow, that sounds like a pretty crazy graduation, but I am so glad to
hear CJ is doing okay. I love that boy and that family...they really
are special :) and the priesthood truly is amazing, we really are
lucky to have it and I am so grateful...

So...my crazy crazy week has ended and another has begun...but, I will
try to cram all the adventure into this email for you.

My last district meeting in Bo on Tuesday was very nice with the whole
district gathered, including the zone leaders, and I gave an
instruction on sacrifice and the spirit guided it very well and I hope
everyone gained from it, because I know I did...I love doing district
meetings because they hardly EVER go as I plan them haha, the
spirit always carries me whichever way He prefers and it's a greater
blessing to everyone assembled...because let's be honest, I'm completely
incompetent, the Lord really has to take over for me haha, but He
just asks me to be available, He will do the rest :)

My last day in Bo was crazy and hectic. I had planned a day of seeing
my beloved recent converts to encourage and uplift them before I left,
but before 12 noon even reached I got a phone calling announcing a handful
of elders had arrived at the apartment and were awaiting me to unlock
the building. So, we rushed home and gathered the new missionaries. My
wonderful picking was there, ELDER ETUK! and it was great seeing him
again, and my best buddy mtc mate Elder Hill, so great to see him as
well...but, with Elder Weller and I our companions had just received
their new ones, so we decided to let them get straight to work and we
went and did our own thing.  We went off into his area first to say
goodbye to his recent converts, then to my area. Some tears were shed
and some laughs as well, and it was really a special day for the both
of us...one I will not forget.

Then, we all met up at Sabs to enjoy lots of food and each others
company. I invited Sonaldo to join and Elder Flament and I chipped in
to buy him his first meal there...I believe maybe one of the first
legit meals in his life. We bought him a plate of roasted chicken with
tortilla wraps haha, he looked like he  was about to cry he was so
happy :) it made my day! I slept at the Lewabu apartment and my
sleeping situation started off hilariously. They only had one net that
was covered in gas, so I hung that up, and had no pillow so I was
using toilet paper rolls, but Elder Clawson and his charitable self
came in and gave me a pillow :) what a great guy. so actually slept
okay, woke up at 5 and had some nice oatmeal before the van was there
to take us back to Freetown..and what a company we had. My papi, Elder
Ngerem, Elder Burton, Weller, Gyewu Appiah, Mills, and the dying
men....Elder Barth and Elder Esiaba...surprisngly we rode in silence
through the bushy plains of sa lone...listening to John Bytheway,
while I'm sure these old missionaries contemplated the next couple days
for themselves...their last time in sa lone.

We arrived and I was dropped off close to last, and it was so weird
to be back in Freetown....our apartment is a 30 minute walk away from
our area, but it's not bad. the apartment is really nice, with constant
water and light, and tiling, and its quite nice inside, but small, but
it's just me and my companion and the zone leaders, so very nice.

My new picking...Elder Dancan, only been out 6 weeks. KENYAN BOBO, man
he is such a great guy. his accent is hilarious and I love it,
especially when he tries to talk krio, which is painful. He sounds
like what you would imagine a stereotypical Indian guy to sound like
haha, but he really is a great missionary with great desire and work
ethic and I'm so happy to be with him...it's another trial of patience,
but this one I'm more prepared for :)

and by the way...a lot of people here want CTR rings...haha so if you
want to throw a couple of those cheap ones in a box these simple
people would appreciate it more then any of us could expect hahaha :)
tankey momma bear

So...news for the week. gosh it was so so so so sweet to see my boys
again from Mt. Aureol and even to hear their exciting news for the
week! they literally came rushing at me and it was great seeing their
smiling faces! Saidu - porta court nigeria, Idrissa - legos nigeria,
Patrick - ngu nigeria, Mohamed - sierra leone (liberia), Mabel -
calaba nigeria, George - nigeria. WHAT!? that is my mount aureol ward
missionaries, representing the Lord Jesus Christ...I am so very proud
of all of them :) they are going to change the world and this church
even more when they return. what great people, please keep them all in
your prayers, some are sacrificing and risking more than you would like
to imagine.

so, Elder Otubu and Aseidu, the zone leaders, cook the most oily
delicious fatty meals in the world and are so nice to always share with
me...but it was hard to tell them yesterday...I WILL NOT BE EATING
with you guys anymore haha they are so funny, they still try to give
me food but i humbly deny...they want to see me bump I know it! but
boy can they cook!

We had a wonderful baptism on Saturday for some people I really didn't
know TOO well but I had actually come to know and love pretty quickly.
It was a really special moment for me on Thursday when I went to go
teach my first lesson with my companion and get this. July 3rd last
year, my first lesson taught, in the chapel compound in the security
guard post to the security guard, towards the end of the lesson, I met
Saidu for the first time as he walked in.

June 6, 2013 my first lesson back in Freetown, the security guard
post, new security man, Saidu walks in at the end of the lesson...WHAT,
there are not coincidences with the Lord and it really was a special
moment for me and made me realize just how quickly mission is going
by...but that young man was baptized, as well as another strong young
man and a shy girl as well...and the 2 men already received callings
on Sunday as youth sunday school secretary and 1st counselor in the
young mens or something like that haha, so crazy!!! back to
Freetown...sure is a lot more fruitful then Bo...but boy do I hate the
city. honking cars, already got hit again, back to this tish and nasty
air...but, I will endure cheerfully and do all I can to love it :)
hahaha just pray...just pray :)

Well Sunday was SUPER sweet and I was so happy to find that...everyone
remembered me! and it was so awesome and I was almost brought to tears
as I went to give my opening testimony in the ward and I saw 2 of my
recent converts walk in the door and sit down...AHHH I saw lots in mt.
aureol ward and it was SOOO SWEET! it really feels so good to know
that I have made a differencein the lives of some people...and of
course it hurts not to see some people...but, just got to keep doing my
best and let the good memories and feelings drive me!

Trizone conference yesterday with Elder Dickson was amazing. President
and Sister Roggia gave the most beautiful farewell talks and I was
unbelieavably sad when we sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again as
our departing hymn...those wonderful people have changed my life
forever and I pray the Lord will bless and preserve them. The
conference was great and Elder Dickson was great and they even gave us
mini preach my gospels which was awesome!

We went out teaching and ended in the evening when we saw the darkest
of clouds approaching over the mountains. we ended the lesson and
began a fast walk home, as we were a good 30 minutes from the
apartment...well, it didn't take us that long because it soon turned
into a dead out sprint as we were in danger of very fast winds and
crashing cars as we ran home. fences were falling down and wind storm
kept hitting practically blinding us. cars and bikes were sliding
everywhere and we barely made it to the apartment before the real
winds and rain started coming, but gosh it was almost a 2 mile dead
out run...glad to know I'm still in shape :)  haha

Today was crazy and still is. played some football on a nasty ugly
dangerous field, but i just love football too much to care, and now
just got lots of stuff to still take care of haha, so I love you all so
much, I know this gospel is true. family means the world and even
beyond the world, especially I am drawn to this as my new neice is
quickly approaching. family is the most imporant eternal unit in time
and all eternity. i know that to be true...it is the heart of
missionary work. it is my pursuit and my mission, eternal family, I
love you all dearly! take care and be safe and don't forget to pray,
God be with you till we meet again!

love,
Elder Sumrak

Transferring Back to Freetown!

Wow, sure sounds like an interesting baccalaureate, but I am super
happy that you got my letter momma and hope you enjoyed it. I love you
and father so much and thank you for everything! Nick is hilarious,
I can't believe that boy is going to graduate! he is graduating on the
day that my best buddies are going home, so its pretty sweet, and one
day before a special somebody's birthday!:) happy birthday in advance
momma dearest and I hope it is an amazing one. You are still looking
like your 25 so grow up a little why don't you :)

Awww Raleigh...that is so beautiful and congratulations to her. I love
you Raleigh!

as for food, that's about right momma, as for cobras...well we find all
sorts of animals and snakes are here quite often. We usually don't
make too big a deal of it anymore. just kill it and toss it. no bad ;)
rats are back in the apartment as well. Caught one this week. One
touched one of my oatmeal bags...big mistakes, because now there will
be A GENOCIDE IN OUR APARTMENT. you don't TOUCH my oatmeal. I will
burn the whole apartment down to get vengeance on them...but not really
its okay :) I just like being dramatic.

As for baptisms for the week, we had one this past Saturday of Matilda
and it finally wasn't in the river, we felt inspired
to try to fill it at the chapel and the missionaries found it
depressingly difficult, until Heavenly Father came to the aid and sent
down rain from the Heavens, allowing the missionaries to pull the roof
gutters to empty into the font, success! so, it was a good thing too
because we found our river spot had flooded and would cause a drowning
in the attempt of any baptism haha, but Matilda is great. Nobody could
believe it when she showed up at the baptism, because she has been
taught by missionaries for close to 2 years now, but she finally kept
her commitments and decided that now was her time. She is a beautiful
young lady of about 20 years old with one child. She is great and
super sweet and really would have made an amazing missionary...but a
mother is nice too :)

Electricity is in abundance and we have enjoyed ALL week! Elder Weller
and Woodhead and I made the most delicious stew because we were able
to freeze it. Beef, Sausage, Chicken, egg, all thrown into a tomato
sauce with onions pepay and flavoring sauce and OHHHH it was great, we
put it in these wraps and enjoyed. Always have cold water, and YES!
for the past 2 nights I have been wearing a hoodie because we are all
too happy with light to ever turn the fans off, so I froze myself last
night and now I have a cold but I'm just too happy to have a fan to do
it any other way :) same with all the Elders in the apartment.
Sniffles for all! but, the days are still blazing hot and humid, but
when it rains at night it can get nice and chilly, especially for a
bunch of weak fasting missionaries haha :)

So...The big news from Saturday night...TRANSFER NEWS! Gosh, was their
excitement in our apartment, and really the whole mission. New areas
opening up, splittings, and a big change in our whole apartment, and
the entire district for that matter. Well first, Elder Hales is
district leader in Bo now, so yay! sad that I am leaving now that he
is coming but, he will do amazing. And my other MTC, awesome buddy
Elder Hill, is going to take my place as district leader...and
me...well, I'm going back to Freetown to be in Belliar Park ward,
district leader...so, a little background on it. Belliar Park and my
old area, Mt. Aureol, used to worship in the same building, live in
the same apartment, and walk through each others areas to travel, eat,
email and what not...so, I am now in a new apartment at least, walking
the same streets, the same path up the same mountain, worshiping in
the same building, buying my food from the same women, my jerseys from
the same dudes, walking the same streets and talking to the same
people and hanging out with the same ward missionaries...but,
strangely I am NEWLY excited and so excited to return to my roots. I
was such a baby then and its great to come back a little bit bigger
now with a little bit more experience. I am constantly growing and
will continue to do so so I am super happy to go and see my recent
converts again, and especially my BOY SAIDU LAMIN CONTEH! Ah, I can't
wait to see that boy again, gosh I am so so excited!

To top it off, I get to ride back to Freetown with the legendary Elder
Barth (my grandpapa) and Elder Esiaba. SO STOKED! I got to go on an
exchange in Elder Esiabas area with him this week and it was so much
fun, I love that guy so much. The most humble missionary in the world
and the farthest thing from trunky. With a week left the guy is still
going like a boss and I am so proud of that guy. What a great example
and I will be sure to follow it!

Also, I will be finishing training a newcomer, and be living with the
zone leaders, so I am super excited to learn from all of their fine
examples. Haven't served with any of these missionaries before so It
will be great to see some new faces and have some new experiences. Its
going to be GREAT!

Had a great week this week and did a lot of finding trying to build up
a nice big teaching pool for the new missionaries. Messima is
splitting once again, and its already so teensy, so I am happy to not
have that hahah but , I will have to split it today with Elder Flament
and draw the maps and send em in and everything, so that's always
exciting...for the 3rd time in 12 weeks haha.

Gave my farewell testimony yesterday and church and gosh...I'm going to
miss them!

Played an awesome football game this morning. We played on a small
small field and played 5 v 5 against another legit team, and we boys
pulled it out and won 5-4. It was pretty epic and there were more than
30 people watching, so tons of pressure. I got a goal and also
rainbow-ed a guy, so that can go down the bucket list - rainbow an
African - ;) haha it was fun!

 but, the mission is going great. I finished Jesus The Christ this
week and it was such an amazing read. I really enjoyed learning more
about the Savior's life and ministry and it has greatly increased my
love and appreciation for my savior. Jesus Christ is truly the god of
the Old Testament, and came to this Earth and died for us. He rose
again. He lives today. He loves us and this just makes me want to
serve him and heavenly father even more. As our testimony grows in the
atonement, so does our desire to share this gospel. I love this
people, I love them so much and its so sad to leave them again, but I
pray and fast for their well being, that they will remain active and
stay true to their covenant...I love them. I love this gospel for the
purpose it gives me. One boy asked me this week, "Why make me
christian"...I took a second to reply and I really learned a lot about
myself in the process. I am christian because it gives me purpose. It
gives me hope. It gives me knowledge how to live my life now and later
to obtain blessings. It helps me obtain happiness. It helps me
be...FREE! I love this gospel and church and know it is true! take
care my family and friends...I love you and Jeff Leavitt!!!! your
email doesn't work punk!

love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak!