District Conference, Super-P day, and Service

The past couple of weeks have included many events and activities.

The first weekend of March was District Conference for the Sierra Leone Freetown district. There were meetings on Saturday and Sunday. There was much focus on strengthening the family. Below are two great families in Sierra Leone. The Teijan-Coles were baptized the end of November 2009. They had a little baby girl the end of December. The girl holding the baby is a family member who lives with them and helps with the baby.

This family is the Wallace family-- Markus, Rose, Jessie (the little girl being held) and Martha (the one in the red). The other children are extended family members. Markus and Rose will be taking their family to the temple in Ghana in April to be sealed. We are so excited for them. The suit Markus has on is one that Elder Jones gave to him. Markus was so happy and proud to have something like that to wear to church. Even though it was a very hot day, he wore it to district conference.

On Monday, March 8, we had a Super-P day with the Freetown Zone. The zone leaders had asked us to help them with some games that would promote unity. They seemed to enjoy the day. We also did a kind of "companionship game" where the elders had to see how well they knew their companion.
Here they are having to pass water a cupful at a time to the end of the line and fill up a bottle. The first team to fill the bottle won.

We had the companionships feed each other pudding while being blindfolded. It was fun because even President and Sister Squires joined in.

They also had to tie an overhand knot in a rope without letting go of the pieces of rope that each held a piece of.

One of the relay games was putting a tennis ball between your knees and going to the other side of the room and back without dropping the ball.

On Thursday, March 11, we joined with the elders at Victoria Park (a large park in Freetown) and painted part of the fence surrounding the park. It was a very interesting experience. Some of the elders did some prep work. Others came along and painted either the blue or the yellow. In painting, we had a vinyl glove on and then we had a sock over it. The sock was dipped into the paint and "painted or patted" onto the railing. We had many people thank us for the service. There are many who are amazed whenever service projects are done that no one is paying the elders or the church members to do it.
Elder Hickey (from Tennessee) and Elder Mills (from Utah--he just finished his mission last week).

Sister Squires and I contributed our small part.

A group short of the elders with President Squires.

At the park, we also noticed some interesting things in the trees--they are bats. The trees are loaded with them. They are huge bats. At dusk they fill the sky. At first we didn't know what they were, it was like a black path across the sky.

On Saturday, March 13, we joined with the Goderich Relief Society to clean around and inside a local health clinic. It was in commemoration of the organizaton of the Relief Society on March 17.
You can see the "brooms" that they use for sweeping. They actually are very effective. It would kill my back to use them, but you should see the muscles on those who use them quite often. We have a yard man at the mission office who has amazing back muscles because he uses one of these brooms all the time.

A group shot of those who came and helped with the cleaning. The two elders who serve in that branch are in the front. We got up and were at the site by 6:30 a.m. The sister who is the second from the far left will be baptized the first part of April. She has a pretty amazing story. She tells of trying to hide from the elders when they would come to see her. One of the elders finally got tired of it all and yelled out "we know you are hiding from us, so you might as well come out."

On Sunday, March 14, Elder Kpodi returned home to Liberia. (I didn't get a picture of him--you can see him in one of the earlier blogs as he was one of the assistants). Below are the other returning elders who left on Tuesday and Wednesday--depending on where they were going--Elder Borwah (from Liberia), Elder Mills (from Utah), and Elder Djanku (Ghana). What great elders!!!!

We had 6 elders come in on March 16. They didn't arrive until pretty late on Tuesday night. By Wednesday they were on their way to their various apartments--some in Freetown, some Bo, and some Liberia.
Elder Ellsworth, Elder Lakhan, Elder Milton, Elder Guzha, Elder Priddis and Elder Boye-Doe--I hope I identified everyone correctly.

Elder Degen replace Elder Kpodi as the new Assistant to the President.

Such are the events of the last couple of weeks. Below are a couple of random pictures. This is a shop that was just built on the side of the mountain beside the road to the mission home. It would make me very nervous to stand inside this building to sell. Those poles are what is holding up the store.

This is a picture from where we did the service project with the Goderich Relief Society. There is a hymn that talks about the Lord being the lighthouse, and we as members are the lower lights along the shore that warn others of hazards. The pillar that you see behind Blaine was used to place a light in order to prevent boats from running into the rocks. It is a good reminder of the purpose each of us as members of the church are in the lives of those around us.