When Sister Jones isn't working at her desk in the office, she is out in the yard helping Sister Peterson and Sister Squires. Sister Peterson is trying to get all the mission office landscape in shape before she leaves to return home in September. This picture gives you a little idea about how the grounds are taking shape. This was during the beginning stages of the project. We now have Canna Lilies, pineapple plants, etc., planted on various levels. We have covered all of the areas with woodchips. Many of the Sierra Leonans look at the crazy white women out working and want to join us. We must look like we are having fun. Many times the security guard at the front gate of the compound comes and helps with whatever is being done. It is really starting to look great. Look on future blogs for the results.
I don't know if you have ever seen bananas grow before, but we have quite a few banana trees in the Mission Office area. Here is one of the trees with the bananas just starting to develop. You can see the big flower part down at the end. A few days ago, one of the workers cut off the red flower part at the end, rolled the stem up a little and then stripped off some of the banana leaves and wrapped it around the end of the stem. He said that it would help the bananas to grow better.
This fine young man is Elder Jonathan Kamara. He is a branch missionary from Bo (another city in Sierra Leone). During May we needed some branch missionaries to come and help the full-time elders. Jonathan was one that was asked to come and serve as a full-time missionary for the 6 weeks. As he was also in the process of getting ready to leave on his mission the middle of June, it was quite a sacrifice for him. He only had about 3 weeks to finish getting ready. Part of what he was trying to do was to earn a little money in order to buy some of the clothes that he needed for his mission. You have to understand that the African missionaries come with very little. Bro. Kamara worked with the full-time elder in the branches we were assigned to attend so we got to go out with Bro. Kamara on Sundays to visit investigators and less-actives. It was a great experience. We truly came to love this young man. Jonathan has now left for his mission in Kenya. He will be a great missionary. It was hard to realize that we won't get to see this young man again as we will be gone by the time he gets back from his mission.
Last week we had the opportunity to go to Bo for a District Conference. Bo is about a 3 hour drive from Freetown. The road used to be horrible, but now it is actually pretty good except for a few stretches where it is dirt road. You really get a feel for the country of Sierra Leone when you get out of Freetown. I took these pictures as we drove along so they might be a little blurred.
I love the more rustic look of these roofs as opposed to the tin roofs you see in Freetown. All along the road you will see people walking to the nearest little village to market their wares. You see people in all states of dress or should I say undress. National Geographic was pretty accurate in some of their pictures.
In Bo, we participated in the Saturday session of District Conference. As there was no one to play the piano, Sister Jones helped out. It is always an interesting experience when you volunteer to do something like that. There was a special musical number by the Young Adult Choir. I was informed about it as they passed a piece of paper to me indicating to me the title of the hymn. During one of the songs, I played the introduction. The conductor wasn't ready, so I played another short intro. He still wasn't ready, but the congregation had decided they had had enough. They started without either the piano or the conductor. We then had to join in when we could.
On Sunday the district presidency was changed. Elder Ounleu, an area seventy from Ivory Coast, presided at the conference. Elder Ounleu joined the church when he was 25. He was made a bishop when he was 27. He served there for 3 years, then became a Stake President. After that he was a Mission President in Ivory Coast. His primary language is French. He also works as the Area West Seminary/Institute Director. Elder Ounleu arrived on Tuesday night, spent Wednesday with the Seminary/Institute people in this mission. We all went out to dinner Wednesday night. Then President and Sister Squires drove to Bo with Elder Ounleu. Elder Ounleu went out with a couple of sets of missionaries while in Bo.
Anyway to get back to Sunday, after the district conference Elder Ounleu met with the district presidency from Freetown (whom the Assistants to the President had driven up that morning) and the new Bo district presidency. After the meeting, we drove the Freetown District Presidency and Elder Ounleu back to Freetown. We then spent some time with Elder Ounleu on Monday and part of Tuesday before he left to go to Ghana to do some Seminary/Institute training there.
Below is a picture of the two district presidencies. The man in the middle is Elder Ounleu. President Squires is the man on the end.
One of the most interesting parts of the trip to Bo was the motel room. It is quite the experience in itself. The mission president stays there whenever he is in Bo. Our room as you can see below doesn't look too bad, but things aren't always as they appear. The light in the bathroom didn't work because the light bulb was burned out and hadn't been replaced. The light in the room was in the same state. When we got back into our room on Saturday night they told us that they were on the small generator so we couldn't turn on the air conditioner until about midnight when the National Power came on. In trying to turn on a light (since I didn't know at the time that all the bulbs were burned out), I was trying to find a light switch that would turn on the lights. None did, so I resorted to attempting to turn on the lamp that was on the table. Well, I didn't know that the lamp needed to be plugged in and when I turned on the switch that I thought was the lamp, it was the air conditioner. You should have seen the sparks fly as it tried to run off the small generator. Quickly we heard a knock at our door. It was one of the employees informing us not to use the air conditioner. I told him that I was merely trying to turn on a light. After he plugged in the lamp, we had a little light. While there he also turned off the hot water heater since it would also drain the small generator. We could turn it on again after midnight. Well in the morning, Elder Jones gets up and turns on the hot water heater, but lo and behold it doesn't turn on so we both took cold showers--as did anyone else staying in the same area of the hotel as us, which was the Petersons. Now you have to understand that you have to have anything that requires electricity done by 7:00 a.m. because that is when the power is turned off again--even the use of the small generator. So after we both got dressed, I opened the door of the room to the outside so that I could get enough light to at least do a little reading. Life is always interesting!!!
The rain here is awesome. Lately we have been getting showers about every day. This is a picture of the mountain behind our house. It is beautiful to see the clouds roll in through the valley and surround the mountain. The clouds roll pretty quickly in and out.
Now those of you who are squimish, you might want to avoid the next picture. We found this little friend just outside our door. We have not named him but we might call him Cal the Cockroach. He is friends with Burt the Bug.
Sometimes we are very busy and sometimes we are looking for things to do. We have now been here long enough that we know our way around a little and we are starting to get more involved in what is going on. The problem with senior couples is that you don't have a trainer for a month or two to figure out what and where. We are concerned that the other senior couple here will leave in two months and there won't be anybody to replace them. We then may be much busier than we want to be. If any one doesn't have enough to do let us know and we can help you get signed up to come to Sierra Leone.
Sometimes we are very busy and sometimes we are looking for things to do. We have now been here long enough that we know our way around a little and we are starting to get more involved in what is going on. The problem with senior couples is that you don't have a trainer for a month or two to figure out what and where. We are concerned that the other senior couple here will leave in two months and there won't be anybody to replace them. We then may be much busier than we want to be. If any one doesn't have enough to do let us know and we can help you get signed up to come to Sierra Leone.
We love you all and think of you. Keep smiling and happy!!!! Life is good. Heavenly Father loves and watches over all His children.
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