New Companion!

Hello World! Back at the King Harman Celestial apartment
and things started out stressful as tish! So I came into
an apartment with absolutely nothing, not even
beds for my Elders, so I had to completely destroy my new companions
first day by going shopping the whole day to get half the things our
apartment needed to just survive...but, no problem, now things are
going great and I got the place looking nice with all the supplies it
needs, or most of them, and things are going nice and
smoothly...mostly.

Yes, I am still District Leader of a brand new District, the Dwarzak
District, in which I am in charge of 8 Elders, (Elder Labrum and
Eshun) (Elder Bogh and Kollie) (Assistants Elder Wooton and Nwosu)
and ourselves. It is going very nicely though and I will be having my
first district meeting with them all tomorrow. We are going to have a
good time though, things in the district are sweet and 3 of us Elders
have Lord of the rings and 3 of us have good workout ethics, so I am
feeling quite comfortable :)

Stress level now? reduced...fortunately, although our baptism was
depressingly cancelled on Saturday as our beloved brother P. called
Friday night to inform us his  Auntie refused to let him be baptized
but, we got to see him yesterday and he is still enthusiastic and
praying for a miracle and we are as well, and I know that God will
make it possible for this amazing young man! our investigators aren't
PLENTY at the moment, but WE DID have 2 full families at church
yesterday investigating and that just made my day to be honest.
Husband and wife and child. and husband wife and 4 children, so I am
super excited for these progressing families!

My new companion is...ELDER ROGERS! and of course The Best 2 Years is
the first thing that pops into your head, but me too, and I'm just a
great Elder Calhoun aren't I? Hope I'm a little cooler than that, but
he is a great Elder and we are having a great time. Only 18 now, so a
young gun, but has great desire and work ethic so we are having lots
of fun climbing these mighty mighty hills. Going to the orientation
was nice too, and when we found we were companions we really just
become best friends immediately, so we are going to enjoy the next 6
weeks for sure :)

and I'm glad that you got to go and enjoy that video of us missionaries singing
haha, as you can see I don't know how to do it very well, either that or I am very
tired...or maybe both :)

and I would love to come visit Primary and show the kids WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN PEOPLE ARE RIGHTEOUS AND OBEY THE LORD AND GO ON MISSION! 
they get a rich abundance of blessings and an experience that changes their
lives, their spirit, and even makes them age and look like they are a
30 year old! 

Well, this week was honestly a week of big and small miracles, and
Elder Rogers is seriously loving it and we are having such a great
time, the Lord is truly watching over us and helping us in this great
work.

First...Rain Miracle # 79:

So, we are teaching one family on the VERY TOP of the mountain,
seriously, the tip top, and we are teaching a great lesson to
A, his wife, his nephew, his sister, his son, his
cousin, and his best friend. So the rain
starts POURING at the end of this super spiritual lesson (and Elder
Roger's first lesson in fact) and we come to the end and we pretty
much closed, but a hurricane was going on around us and I couldn't even
talk because they couldn't hear me...so after about 5 minutues, I Yell
"I go pray for we ya, for beg Daddy God for let de rain stop!"
A. nodded and everyone closed their eyes. So I prayed, and as
soon as the words left my mouth, it started to lessen...and lessen...and
my shout turned into a talk and then a gentle conversation with God,
and before I said amen it was finished. And all the kids started
laughing and everyone was just amazed and Elder Rogers was more amazed
than all of them haha but it is so cool how the Lord hears our prayers
if we have the faith to pray and ask him. I know our Heavenly Father
loves us an He is so great to show me so many signs and wonders in my
own life, not to give me faith, but to confirm my faith...mission is
sweet!

Miracle 2

So, I come home to a dark apartment, as some Elders are out back trying
to turn the generator on, so they all call me with that annoying title
that just indicates something bad has happened "District Leader
District Leader".... I have a name hhaaha, so I go out back to
look at it and as soon as I do, everyone scatters and goes back to
their own thing, cooking, reading, relaxing, and I'm super tired and
frustrated and the generator is on and nothing is turning on and I
can't fix it and Im super not happy and just yelling but nobody can
hear me hahaha im not a mechanic! im not even a boy scout! why do I
have to fix it?! hahaha and so in my frustration and utter uselessness
I bowed my head and prayed for peace and I felt the spirit just bring
such peace and relief to my troubled heart, and I prayed to God saying
I have NO idea how to fix it...please help me....I walked over to the
gen, flipped a switch, messed with some knobs, unplugged something,
turned it around plugged it back in, and all the lights came on...and
I just prayed again thanking the Lord because I am just a useless
instrument, that can only be played when the sweet Spirit is at work,
I just need to continually improve myself to let the Spirit more fully
and more frequently use me. :) Oh, life is great and frustrating and
great haha,

and uh...well that's all folks, not much else going on in the Belliar
Park area, my poor legs are getting quite tired of the mountains, or
maybe my 30 minutes of jump rope every morning haha, either way I am
getting old, but trying to fight it and stay as young as possible :)
life is sweet...life is sweet

Love,
Elder Sumrak
Jesse

More Training !

Hello Hello! So, just straight off the bat, we received transfers
news, and Belliar Park is splitting into Belliar Park and Sorie Town,
and Elder Labrum and I will both be training, and will be moving back
to the Celestial apartment at King Harman road, and will be training
there together, so Papa, Pikin, and grandpikin all together! AND all
of my trainees are ALL training now. Elder Dancan is finishing training
Elder Koopmans, Elder Etuk is training, and now Elder Labrum *tear,
they grow up so fast...

And Hermana Hiebert is my great friend from BYU! She is Canadian and
is awesome :) she wanted to email you and I encouraged her to but I
guess she wrote a letter instead, she is awesome! you will love her :)

Well, this week was well, extremely relaxing and chill and spiritual
and hard hard working and I am at the most peace and least stressed I
have been in a longtime...now all those things don't quite meet up,
but as I have relied more on the Lord and less on my own strength,
Elder Labrum and I taught the most lessons this week in all the 12
weeks we have had together, took the most pictures, enjoyed and
relaxed the most, and worked our hardest haha, we were seriously doing
it the way it was meant to be done. Missionary work doesn't HAVE to be
stressful, if led by the spirit and a spirit of hard work as well, it
can be very peaceful, very rewarding, and satisfy by the mind, body,
and soul. This is true in everything I believe. Don't let things
stress you out that you can't control, control what you can and leave
the rest alone, when it comes it comes, deal with it, till it comes,
leave it.

But, talking about stress and surprising peace, I sat down in Bishop's
office 30 mins before church started yesterday and began helping the
clerk with some errors in the MLS and other paper work, and trying to
give the illiteracy class teacher his papers and teach Musa how to
read at the same time haha bishop asks
"Elder Sumrak, can you give a talk?"
well...wanting to be a blessing and not a burden and aid in whatever way...
"Sure Bishop"
"Okay, tenki, 10 minutes on Home teaching."
"Today?"
"Yes, today."
"Okay, no problem."
So, I grabbed a Book of Mormon and drafted up a quick talk and the
spirit guided and it went rather well actually. I thought it was
pretty cool how much I have changed as I thought about it....before,
if I had been given a talk 2 weeks in advance I would have been
stressing about it for 2 weeks! but, when given only  30 minutes the
Spirit was able to comfort and guide me...To be honest, 6 months
before my mission you might ask me to turn to Jacob and I would take
out my bible hahaha, but I am grateful to the Lord for how much he has
taught me and how well I have come to know the scriptures. I love
them so much and I am always So happy when I read them...ah the Book
of Mormon, and even the Old Testament haha, I love it too much!

Well, did shake things up a little bit yesterday when 2 white men and
a beautiful sa lone woman came walking into the church compound after
our sacrament meeting. One was P., a British business man who
married a sa lone woman and is a Jehovah witness has been receiving
lessons from Elder Hill, and his buddy, R. , a return missionary
from the U.S. was visiting him and invited him to church. so. they
were wrong on the time, and joined us, and Elder Hill and his
companion joined us as well and it was really cool and the whole time
I was thinking...I have NO IDEA how to teach a white person the gospel
hahaha, but it was a lot of fun and they were really cool people.
R. served in Chile in 1981, and he is  awesome good :) super
sweet people in all the strangest places.

Also, started a random project the other night, when I realized how
many sweet memories I have that I experienced BEFORE i started keeping
a daily journal. June, 2011, I started keeping a daily journal and
have not missed a day to this point, but there were 18 years of
memories before that, so every night I write a story or 2 from before
then, and it is a lot of fun and makes for a lot of good stories, but
I'm not quite as good as my dad in telling stories ;)

Well, after our service was over, immediately a man had me
by the hand and was leading me to a seat and telling me he wanted to
talk to me...a missionary for some church and just was
going off on some program of his or something and  I
just cut him off, bore testimony, told him our purpose, introduced the
Book of Mormon, and some how he committed to read and pray abut it and
left...well, about an hour later passing up the mountain, we saw him
sitting in a small shack reading the book...so, we hope that a miracle
might happen to "Missionary Prince" or so he called himself hahaha :)
good times!

Well, all is well here and I am surely enjoying mission. Of course,
uncertainty lies ahead, and I'm nervous about training, as always, but
I put it all to the Lord and peace enters my heart, for where fear
abides, faith is not, and the spirit is not, so I will close my eyes
and trust "one step enough for me".

Miracle of the week: The apartment was dark and I was using my
headlamp as we prepared for bed. Elder Labrum fumbled around the room
as he prepared to get into bed, and failed to mount his fan on the
table, which we place on top of my chair, so as the fan can reach him
on the top bunk.
"Whatever, the powers not coming back on anyways" he said as he started
to climb his bed.
"Where is your faith Elder Labrum, the power will come back on in less then 5-"
*lights come on*
Elder Labrum peeks his head around the door and just stares at me...
"Dude! that is so cool!"
"...Yes...Yes it is...."

Oh, The Lord even hears our smallest prayers when we have the faith to
act and do and ask. I have a testimony that I KNOW the Book of Mormon
is true. Haven't heard of it? Well, I beg, try it, ask for a copy,
they are free! Don't you want a free book? Who doesn't want a free
book? Try to read it, don't like it? decorate your shelf with it, no
problem! But, I promise you will love it, and it will change your
life. My invitation to all, family, friends, neighbors, anyone
reading this, please just try to read the Book of Mormon...if you
haven't before just try it. If there is something missing in your
life, you will find it. If you have everything you need in life, you'll
find more. This is my PROMISE to you, and I love you all...If you love
me, this is the most serious request I have ever made to you in my
life...Please just read The Book of Mormon introduction page, and pray
about it. If you do that, then any debt you have ever owed me is
fulfilled, and any debt I owe you...well, I'll take care of it later :)
just try it, I love you all and your Heavenly father loves you so very
much! take care!

Love,
Jesse,
Elder Sumrak
Sa Lone Bor Bor
"Saidu Conteh"
Ginger beer man
your friend

Miracles and Blessings

Hello Family and friends, so good to be able to talk again, as for the 
rain...well, its October...it's not supposed to rain anymore.but it 
still tends to do it at the most inconvenient times and when I do not 
have an umbrella on me...as last Tuesday went, where a random 
hurricane force rains and winds bombarded us in our area and we were 
wearing sandals...my ankle was still hurting, we were on the top of the 
mountain, and we had a FAMILY of 6 waiting for us...so the zinc roofs 
were actually blowing off, which might I add if one hits you you might 
be going home early from your mission, but we said a prayer and ran 
off into the rain, and were soaked to the bone in less then 10 
seconds...but, the family was happy to see us and welcomed us 
warmly...we came home and drank hot chocolate and put hoodies on, 
closed, and went to sleep hahaha 

Hahaha and wow, I love that story ( INSERT FROM MOM - 
this is the story that was in my letter that Jesse is referring to: 
Oh and great story told in conference. It made me think of you.  So this 
man in a village in a remote country was burning his field in preparation 
for planting season but it was dry and his fire got out of control and he 
knew if this fire spread beyond his area that it would ruin his neighbors 
harvest and it would hurt so many people.  He prayed and pleaded with the 
Lord to stop the fire and he saw a black cloud appear just over his farm 
and it rained so hard and put out the fire.  All around were blue skies but 
over his farm was a thundercloud.  He was overcome with the knowledge that 
Heavenly Father knew him and answered his prayer.  Cool Story and made me 
think of you and your many experiences with rain.  You are so wise my dear 
Jesse – the Lord does know you personally and answers your prayers.  Thank 
you so much for sharing your testimony with all of us.) END OF INSERT 
because it definitely applies to me 
and I can bare testimony that it is true...its so true. I don't 
believe in coincidences anymore, and its almost funny how casual I see 
miracles now, but it really is incredible how much the Lord does for 
us, and more specifically his mission work. His work is hastening on 
and its amazing. 

So, our baptism on Saturday was frustrating and not well planned 
but, it all got accomplished fortunately, even though people were 
sharing wet clothes and no towels were present, at least the spirit 
miraculously was, then found out after it was finished THEY CHANGED 
SACRAMENT MEETING TO 12:30...well, maybe this may seem a minor 
inconvenience, but may I remind you not everyone has facebook or a 
phone?! so, we showed up 2 hours early for church to greet all the 
members and investigators who didn't get the memo I mean heck, why 
tell the missionaries, why would they need to know?! but, they 
attended the earlier session and we went up to the mission office and 
got to help put baptismal records into the church  system which 
actually was mildly entertaining :) Our service we only had 2 
investigators...but 8 had gone to the previous session so I was put at 
ease. Fast Sunday was sweet yesterday when we ended it with strawberry 
pancakes by chef Sumrak haha, just pancakes with strawberry pop drink 
mix, super good though ;) 

I made the sweetest groundnut stew this Monday, that I can't wait to 
make for you all when I get home, with 6 pieces of chicken, carrots, 
green beans, onions, pepay, garlic, tomatoe, groundnut thick paste, 
and just um deliciousness, and it lasted me the entire week hahaha. 
also made some no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies in a put, wow, not 
too bad...but I actually used oil! what?! is it me? am I possessed?! 

The work is going sweet and we are teaching many families and having 
much success together. I love Elder Labrum and we are having a great 
time! I am sad to see some of my best friends, Elder Burton, Wolfgramm, 
and Walker go home tomorrow...its sad, but they have served great 
and I have enjoyed serving with Elder Burton and the others as my 
leaders. they are great men who gave great service and time to this 
great work. I got to go on a an exchange back to Mt. Aureol with Elder 
Gyewu Appiah this week and it was so cool to see my area and my recent 
converts and everything that is exactly the same and the new areas 
they are now teaching in and see SISTER CONTEH and her husband. She is 
the sweet woman who fed me my first cassave leaf on my first day, and 
she was living in a small shack with trying circumstances. her 
husband had the faith to pay his tithes and attend church...they now 
moved into a BIG house and are enjoying the blessings of obedience and 
righteousness as they prepared to go to the  NEW church building, 
now 45-60 min walk away, I am so proud of them. May the Lord continue 
to richly bless them for their sacrifice and everyone that is on that 
Mt.Aureol hill. I love them all and know that the Lord is mindful of 
their work. 

I got like pink eye or something hahaha or just a really irritated 
eye and had to wear glasses most of this week, which people called me 
Spiderman, and instead of being offended I was just happy they knew who 
Spiderman was :) but, it hit me this week how funny things here are. 
you have people with iphones begging for food, you got people sitting 
in tin shacks watching dstv satellite. you have children wearing harry 
potter book bags to class. if this is 3rd world and the close to 
poorest country in the world, you might laugh at some of the things 
you find here...its interesting, that's for sure :) 

Next week should be interesting and I should have some juicy transfer 
news, but life is great here. planning a 7-8 mile run with Elder 
Labrum tomorrow morning, so we are excited for that :) or at least I 
am poor guy probably is begging for a transfer hahaha I'm such a good 
companion. I love being able to work so closely with the leaders and 
the members in my district. it is fun to get to know them and help 
them to the best of my inadequate capabilities, but I try my best and 
that is all that matters.. 

I started a project yesterday and its going sweet! I am taking my 
patriarchal blessing and cross referencing EVERYTHING pretty much so 
that everything is found in the scriptures for explanations and what 
not, it is really cool and I'm enjoying it. I will let you know how it 
turns out in the end! I love all of you so much and wish I had more to 
say...Oh, I did get to participate in my first naming and blessing of 
a child yesterday, as they apostately (?) slowly raised the baby up 
and down as they said the prayer, while Elder Labrum and I tried to 
muster our strength to hold the child still, so maybe the people were 
confused but you're not supposed to do that hahahaha oh I love Africa :)
peace out scouts! 

Love, 
Elder Sumrak 

"Twenty-One Years Ago" by Elder Sumrak

We received this poem from Elder Sumrak
in honor of his 21st birthday:

21 years ago I looked down to see
And chose my beautiful mother to be

20 years ago I only pooped and cried
My parents' patience I surely tried

19 years ago I began to talk
Shortly after I began to sing and walk

18 years ago I made my presence known
As Nicholas came and we were not alone

17 years ago "I hurt my head"
That is what I most commonly said

16 years ago I gave soccer a try
And a stubborn little girl made me cry

15 years ago I was never shy
A new friendship I would never deny

14 years ago I loved Playstation
When "Santa" brought that new sensation

13 years ago I was baptized
And still too short to ride most rides

12 years ago I certainly had sense
And "I didn't know" was a lousy defense

11 years ago I began to sin
My parents taught me how repentance begins

10 years ago I enjoyed the pool
And enjoyed chips and dip until I was full

9 years ago I did not have a care
I was happy and chubby with boku hair

8 years ago I became a teen
Puberty made me moody and mean

7 years ago my voice began to change
And girls began to seem not so strange

6 years ago high school I entered
And soccer was where my heart was centered

5 years ago I began to date
And could drive a car and stay out late

4 years ago I loved to drive
It's quite the miracle I'm still alive

3 years ago I became an adult
I graduated with a good result

2 years ago at college I felt the Spirit
Avoiding Utah drivers trying not to get hit

1 year ago I left on mission
To the Sierra Leone nation

This year I will continue to serve the Lord
I will learn and obey His every word
Next year I will return with honor
And rejoin my Father and Mother
Rejoicing and giving them an embrace
And endure until I see my Savior's face.

Elder Jesse Sumrak

Where is the Missionary Without His Legs?

The Lauriztens...I love them so much, they are the sweetest people in the
world and cheer me and Elder Labrum up so much. Everytime we go in
there I just feel so happy talking to them and more encouraged to go
out and do the work, and he cuts my hair very well. He is a boss! He
actually flew fighters in the Air Force, and actually chased a Russian
airplane during his career :) he is awesome! also used to be Bishop,
so super experienced, and Sister Lauritzen is my mission momma and
takes good care of me. Always inspiring me and keeping me motivated
and helping me out with whatever I need. They take good care of me
haha :)

I am so jealous that you guys went down to Corolla...Maybe NC will
actually take my idea that I wrote for Oceanography and build a bridge
to help us get there quicker ;) wouldn't that be so sweet!? Gosh, the
beach is my 2nd home, honestly, I think about OBX so much, I have no
idea why since I only spend 1 week or 2 weeks there a summer...but I
would LOVE to have a place there one day. that would be a dream come
true!

Hello my wonderful family and friends! So, internet is kinda slow
today so I am just starting this  before looking at any
e-mails, but yeah… So my birthday passed yesterday, and I’m 21! Woot
Woot! So, it doesn’t feel too different and unfortunately it was
Sunday so I couldn’t go buy my 21 year old drinks…because of course I
have to keep the Sabbath Day holy…So, for those who might not know me
that well I AM JOKING. But, it was kinda uneventful, we had a nice
Sacrament meeting with lots of investigators and then taught some
lessons at the church, for reasons I will explain later, and then came
on home and I made Banana Pancakes because Jack Johnson popped into my
head early in the morning. They were quite delicious after I managed a
formula so the pancakes would quit sticking to the pan :) oh Sa Lone.
Me cooking them IS pretty funny. We didn’t have a spatula (until I
bought one today) and I would have to use a spoon to scoop it, and
then a wooden spoon to flip it, oh, it was entertaiing at least. Then,
enjoyed some Ginger Cake I had bought the day before, which is my new
favorite snack! It is like ginger snaps, but Sa Lone local style haha,
just ginger, flour, and sugar baked into a very very very hard cookie,
which will probably break my teeth during this week :) but no bad.
I did some pretty sweet cooking last Monday and made myself a
delicious stew! I boiled up some carrots, onions, green beans, and
then cooked in some tomatoe paste with pepay and chicken as well, which
made a sweet vegetable soup for the week, ah it was yummy! I enjoyed
very much to the envy of the other lazy Elders who don’t feel like
cooking much haha. Today I am going to make a groundnut soup with the
same thing so I will let you know next week how it goes…

So, um Friday something rather unfortunate happened while
proseltyting. While a small boy was showing us to his older brothers
house who is being baptized this Saturday, we were traversing some
rough terrain, and while coming down off a ledge I landed on an uneven
surface and rolled my ankle BAD ONE! I tried to walk it off and then I
almost blacked out haha and fell on Elder Labrum, but, I was under the
impression “just walk it off”, so I sucked it up and we went and
taught our lesson, and it really wasn’t bothering me too much, so up
up the mountain we went to go teach some more. We then went to the
mission compound to take care of some district needs…and then it hit
me, “my ankle feels kinda funny”, so instead of climbing back up we
decided to go home, and gosh I almost didn’t make it, my ankle started
swelling up bad one! So, we finally got to the house and I got it
elevated and got ice and ibuprofen and what not, and I couldn’t walk
for the rest of the night haha it was terrible, I almost fell over
just trying to go use the bathroom (that would stink…) and ah, it hurt
so bad. And, Where’s the horse without a rider? Huh? Where’s the
warrior without the sword, where's the soldiers without a gun, where is
the missionary without his legs!?!?!? So, I asked for a blessing, and
as soon as it was finished I said “tomorrow I am going to walk,
tomorrow I am proselyting.” Elder Itomo joked and said, yeah, and I
bet you will be up working out in the morning too, huh…oh yeah.
5:45 rolled around and I WAS ABLE TO WALK. It still hurt bad but I
limped on into the parlor and began my workout haha, just lay there
benching and curling for an hour. Sister Ostler told me I couldn’t
leave until she came to check it, and she finally showed up around
11:30, and she said that it was a miracle, but I shouldn’t waste the
miracle by climbing the mountain and screwing it up worse, so I begged
her to let me at least go to the chapel and teach there, and she
agreed :) So, we went on down to the chapel and we called some of our
investigators to come meet us there, and only got in 2 lessons…but, we
did our best and I didn’t feel COMPLETELY worthless. But, now I am
doing a lot better and tomorrow I have permission to climb the
mountain again, so I am very excited to be back at it tomorrow :)
I saw Henry Kaiwo-Pratt from Bo yesterday at our service and he told
me that he named their child Dominique Nephi Kaiwo-Pratt :) and I was
just like YES! That is the only Nephi in all of Sa Lone haha, so that
was pretty cool!

I am guilty...I fried plantanes this week...AH, but it was so good
and tasty and ah :) Elder Labrum even took a picture, because you will
probably NEVER see me do that again...oh, it was yummy....well, a
pretty awesome week and life is good. 21 years gone by and never
thought I would live this long ;) but here I am, serving the Lord and
doing my very best to do everything in the Lord's way. Not the same
boy I was 1 year ago, and I still have lots of space to grow...have an
amazing week family, thank you for all the birthday wishes and
messages and I love you all so much. You most certainly make the work
a lot easier!

Love,
Jesse
Elder Sumrak

Super Sweet Conference

Hahaha thank you for sending those pictures momma, you are so sweet :)
and I don't know what I am looking at, but if you look at Elder Hill
he is looking at me, so maybe there is a link there? who knows!? But,
could be anything, could be a crazy lizzard, drunk bikeman, incoming
torpedo, sun imploding, all possiblities :) and it only rained like
once last week and for like 5 minutes today ,so I still take my broken
umbrella, but wear my sandals everyday again :) so that is nice!

But...this week was pretty simple and eventful sorta...I guess. busy
as tish. We almost contacted half the people from the conference and
then a bunch of random people came to church who we didn't expect all,
and only like 8 from the whole group at the conference haha, but we
are doing our best to still try and encourage everyone so small small
:) we are trying our very best! we had a super sweet conference with
Elder Curtis this Tuesday and it was super spiritual and uplifitng. He
talked lots about modern revelation and also working with our members
so we have been trying hard to put that into practice...I taught a
hardcore Jehovah witness this week (as well Katie)...and the
conversation sounded a little like this (keep in mind I was tired, he
was stubborn, and I was tired "Give me proof of the BOM in the Bible."
READ IT AND PRAY ABOUT IT! yeah something like that :) and then taught
a muslim for about 2 hours haha good times...good times...

So, while proselyting Saturday a group of guys were playing
basketball...so we went and challenged them much to their laughter and
surprise, the white guys in shirts and ties who came and ROCKED the
black tall africans haha. we owned them 11-6 and then taught one of
them the plan of salvation haha :) good times, we represented the US
of A well. Lebron might not have been proud but at least my mother
would be :)

I also had a service idea while out teaching so we went to the local
little bakery on the mountain and went and helped women make
kingdrivers, much to their enjoyment, laughter, and surprise as well.
They couldn't comprehend that we were there to help and as I listened
to them all talk in Krio (they didn't know I could understand) they
were so grateful that we would come up there and how we were so
different than the rich pastors who just preach and bluff and are too
prideful to do this sort of thing, so I have a testimony that if we
humble ourselves and become as the people we can win their love, the
first step to winning their hearts and salvation. Just as Paul
did...become like the people, do the things of the people. It sure was
fun and tasty as well and they all want us to come back on Saturday,
so we promised to come help again, and I think we will make it a
weekly service project. :)

We took us some ward missionaries with us earlier in the week and gosh
it was hilarious having our recent convert try to tell some guy that
John the baptist received the priesthood from Aaron...hahaha :) small
small, learning will come with time and patience hahaha.

Also, Yesterday, our recent convert, the one who overcame smoking,
gave a talk in sacrament meeting on honesty, and
it was so great! the only thing lacking was his finish. "thank you
all" and returned to his seat haha :) he did great and I was so proud
of him. I think I was more nervous for him then he was haha but the
Lord really helped him. It made my week to walk by his house and see
him sitting outside with his gospel principles manual taking notes.
The gospel really does change lives. I used to walk by and see him
smoking with buddies. now he sits and studies....the gospel is REAL :)
repentance is REAL!

The mission is amazing and I can't belive I will be turning 21 on
Sunday. It really doesn't feel real and gosh it is going by TOO
quickly...Where has the last year of my life gone? haha, I still haven't
even gotten used to saying I'm 20...before I know it I am going to be
dead! ah whatti happen? Oh everyone, enjoy your week, I love you so
very much! onward press onward!

Love,
Elder Jesse Sumrak

New Pictures!

Thanks to the Lauritzen's for posting new pictures on their blog.  It has been so long since I saw a picture of Elder Sumrak.