Wow, that is so much crazy snow back home, I can't believe that you guys have had that much! That is insane, and I know you guys are probably all tired of it by now, but I hope that you are careful and that nobody gets hurt.
Oh, this week was so crazy and busy, but we really enjoyed and worked hard and felt the spirit continously through our busy schedule but sweet lessons and baptisms.
Tuesday, Elder Nwosu and I left early in the morning with Elder Penia with us as well, our favorite Samoan, who is now our permanent companion until the end of the transfer, and we all went over to Goderich district to attend Elder Evan's district meeting. The meeting went great and he did a great job instructing on humility and planning and we are benefited from it! Then, we all piled in vans and taxis with the Elders and sisters and made our way to the closest Rokel bank, where we met up with about 15 other missionaries to wait in the long queue to obtain our funds. It was great seeing all of our fellow missionaires, and even greater having our much needed restoration! After, we went down the street to a NICE restaurant, Tessa's, to enjoy our subsistence and we all enjoyed a very nice environment and even better food. My companion and Elder Weller and Lokpo enjoyed giant pizzas and most got hamburgers, and I enjoyed a grilled chicken panini, whew it reminded me of Panera bread to be honest :) after that fun experience, we hurried home and got to go out and see some of our wonderful investigators. We have one, his name is B. and we had such a powerful lesson with him this week and I really enjoyed it, because he is a big intelligent man (my favorite to teach) and by the end of the lesson he was wanting to compete with Joseph Smith haha, "well, of course I'll pray...how long did Joseph Smith pray before he got an answer" US: "well, you don't have to pray all day and all night, Joseph Smith had a desire and a question and he knelt down and prayed and received his answer." "But, how long did it take?" US: "Minutes" "I'll pray...and if Joseph Smith can get an answer in minutes, then I know I can get one in seconds!" US:...YEAH, thats the spirit!" hahaha...oh I love Sierra Leone :)
On Wednesday, we had a super fun day. The Kanzlers showed up around 8:30 to take us on the trip to Makeni to give our wonderful Sister Trainer Leader there from Uganda some advice and training. It's such a new calling and its no wonder they are lost sometimes, because there is no preach my gospel or white handbook instruction on the calling yet, so we have to manage and go help our wonderful sisters out. It was ALSO sister Kanzlers birthday! so, she packed way too many snacks for us and we enjoyed too much junk food all the way there on the 4 hour drive. We arrived in Makeni and were able to help the sisters out by fixing some of their apartment issues and fixing them up some new fans and the like. We were able to give our sister some training and it went super well, then we jumped in the car for a LONG LONG drive home. It was pleasant though, as Elder Kanzler is a former bishop, I had a great time talking to him and learning all I could from his experiences and expertise while the others slept most of the time haha. Of course, we hit our village markets and was able to talk down the prices on all their fruits and walk away with some pineapples, watermelons, grapefruit, and cucumbers...SUCCESS! Traffic in Freetown was horrendous, and it tooks hours to get through town, Didn't get home till about 9:45 or so, just time enough to close and prepare for bed.
Thursday was a busy day in the office, but we managed to get out in the evening time.we went out teaching and had a pretty bouncy day unfortunately, so I tried to contact as many people as possible and actually saw some success in that one of whom we contacted without any further communication actually attended sacrament meeting on Sunday :) it's just all about finding those who are prepared honestly, even if it seems unlikely haha!
Saturday was a bit crazy...We had our baptism early in the morning for our wonderful convert, H., and everything went smoothly and nicely for the baptism. She is such a sweet young sister, who has attended church ever since her first invitation and every single activity as well, so she is diligent and reaching out to many of her friends as well and already was fellowshipping investigators on Sunday, and even was given assignments in our coordination meeting, so we are going to work hard to build her a strong foundation and make her roots strong in the gospel :)
Saturday the Spirit comforted our hearts and allowed us to go and teach some of Heavenly Father's children, which really cheered us up and helped us to finish the day strong...Craziness in the mission right now, but its all exciting and keeps us on our toes. Finished up the evening with getting a haircut from my favorite Samoan man, Elder Penia, and he gave me a nice fresh barb and I'm feeling good and light again :) love that guy so much and we love having him here with us in the apartment.
Sunday was good, even though NOBODY we planned to come to church came, but it was pleasant in the fact that those we DIDN'T plan for did come haha :) it was fast Sunday and it was funny because I started the day with NO strength at all, and ended the day going so strong haha, it was funny, inside church I was drained, but when we went to go teach a lesson, I received so much strength and was just bouncing up the hills...but, who knows, I taught Elder Rogers, my pikin, that that is the time of the day when you reach "NIRVANA" when you no longer feel anything and you're not actually hungry anymore, so everything is sweet :) finished our fast with a sweet binge + rice dinner at our beloved Bishops house. SWEET STUFF!
Monday, today, got up early and did crunches and curls and what not, then had some sweet studies in Isaiah and also 1 Nephi 7-8. We then got all suited up to go and play some sweet football and I had a great time today, just dancing away and scoring and gosh its so funny here. Had a bunch of Jamba boys come and sit down and watch us for 2 hours hahaha...oh and then a giant Truck passed by with 30+ africans in the bed, all screaming my name "ETO!!!!!!" on the back of my shirt...oh, I love this place so much haha...speaking of football though...Manchester United...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
But, we got a sweet lesson planned today with a family man on the top of the hills, so we are excited to go and see him this evening :) This week is going to be pretty busy though, and next week is the beginning of the CRAZY week, when we receive transfer news on Wednesday, and then work tirelessly until Wednesday the next week when we dish out all the new missionaries and what not...but, 3rd times a charm, maybe I'll get used to it ;)
Oh, by the way, can anyone tell me if keeping my journal on Dropbox would be a good idea one day? We have it installed now on the computers, and I was wondering how I would keep a journal for the rest of my life...because my hand writing is wretched haha, what do you think?
Father, you asked about how the bishop inspired me...Well, our bishop is a mortal man, a great man with a great testimony and a return missionary with a temple sealing... we love him and his sacrifice he makes for this work. But, while he was preaching at the missionaries one day in coordination, he talked about how he was so very disappointed in the return missionaries who come home and wait to come to church to even talk to their bishop...he said that shows they don't want to work, they are ready to come home and blow...so, I was inspired to go ahead and write bishop an e-mail this week :) haha
Miracle of Forgivness I see each and everyday...and as I apply it in my own life It makes me so happy to know that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is able to do the same for me and even more perfectly. I have been blessed with a forgiving characteristic, which often has come to bite me time and time again in the past, but I would never wish it any other way. I would rather forgive and forget and be punished for it rather then not forgive at all. I truly have a testimony that if we can forgive AND forget, that the Lord will do the same for us. True forgiveness is really forgetting, being able to look at someone who wrong you and just be like, I love you, its okay. Repentance is the same way for ourselves, as we are forgiven, the pain goes away, and we can remember what happened, but the pain is gone...my I sure do love the atonement...I love you all, have a spendid week!
Love,
Jesse Elder Sumrak
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