Hello from Liberia

Hello All!

So today the internet is really slow and I want to reply to more people so I'm going to try to be short. So the moment is finally here that you've all been waiting for I'm sure. My first baptism! More specifically, three of them. My companion was nice and since he knew it was my first one he let me actually baptize the three girls. It was awesome and I'm looking forward to many more. I wish I could send pictures but I can't do that until I'm in an area that has wifi or something. So as soon as I can I will send many pictures. 

In other news, Friday was pretty much the worst day of my life for reasons that I won't explain on here but if you ask me personally I might get back to you with a funny story. (It involved stomach issues) I don't want to focus on the negatives though because there are so many other good things that happen!

For example, I'm still blown away by the numbers and goals that we set. On I think Tuesday this week, we didn't end up eating lunch because everyone seemed to be at home so we just went from lesson to lesson. We taught 10 lessons and gave a lady a blessing that day. It was nuts. I know some missionaries may not get that in a few months. 

Things here still make me smile and laugh. We eat so much rice you wouldn't believe it. The people are so nice and are always willing to talk to you. The hardest part is just getting them to church. They always say that they have their church that they go to. And everyone says they are baptized but they usually start to question themselves when we ask how they were baptized, by what authority, by who, and how they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's a big issue. Along with being legally married. They all say they're married but it’s always a traditional wedding which technically doesn't count and that makes things difficult. 

So I'm just going to share a couple of things from their little language before I sign off here.

wha yer ma knee?   ----   What's your mom's name?

Wha yer knee?   ----- What's your name?

How you comin on?   ----- How are you?

There's a few more that I can't think of right now but I'm improving small small. Which they always say also. Small small. 

Also, the kids love me and always shout my name or white man hello! Except occasionally when kids are under 2 years old they're really afraid of me and cry which is kind of funny. Not many white people here. 

Okay none. 

Love you all!

Elder Bush

A Little Less Crazy?

Hello everyone!

So I'm going to make this week’s letter a little shorter so that I can actually respond to other people. Right now we're only getting an hour so I'm working with what I got. 

Anyways, Liberia is still crazy but I adjusted a lot this week. I felt like this entire week went faster than the first four days here.

We teach more people in a week than most missionaries probably do in a month or year. Seriously. Like having 5 lessons in one day is kind of disappointing. Our goals for this week are like 10 lessons with a member present, 25 other lessons and like 10 recent convert or less active lessons. Baptisms will be coming soon so stay alert :)

I'll just share a quick story with everyone that was pretty interesting from this week. We met a guy on the street and he told us that he was a member of the church and he wanted us to come teach the children at this orphanage that is in our area. So after walking for an hour to get to the place we walk into to orphanage and it really just hurts my heart to even think about it. We are so blessed. These children are sleeping on the floor with just towels laid down to sleep on top of. It's just dirt ground with trash all over and cement walls. There are probably 15 kids who sleep in that one room but only 4 were there that day. So we go into another little shack place and we teach the kids that were there a lesson about the restoration. One was 10, the other 11, and the other two were under 8. After we get done teaching the man that took us there told us that he was an apostle in the church... My companion and I just kind of looked at each other. A little while later we left and pretty much knew we couldn't come back. The man even came to church on Sunday and had an interview with the branch president where he still claimed to be an apostle and endowed in the Ghana temple. The branch president gave him a Liahona magazine. It's sad, but it doesn't seem worth it to go and teach those kids. It's so far away and we already have so many people to teach I just don't think we can do it. And we don't know how they would get to church either. 

I'll give more updates soon, my companion and I are getting along pretty well now and I'm really starting to enjoy it. Sometimes when I'm taking a shower out of a bucket I think wow this is awesome I'm really living a crazy life in Africa. Other times I think wow I'll be taking a shower out of a bucket for the next two years, that sucks.

Education is a really big issue! Most people either can't read or have a really hard time reading which makes me sad. 

Okay that's it for now I'll say more next week!

Love you all! :)

Elder Bush

(Answers to a couple of questions I asked)

I do get to sleep at night. The generator runs from 7 at night to 5 in the morning which is really really nice actually. It's very hot and I sweat more than anyone on the planet. You know how Jesus bled from every pore? Well I think I sweat from every poor which is great. I started on the very first hole on my belt and I've now tightened it to the third one so that's awesome. Many spiritual experiences and baptisms will come soon. My companion and I are getting along much better now and I'm much more involved with the teaching which is great. I have a lot of studying to do but I'm improving.

We are here. Liberia is nuts.

Okay so I'm in Liberia now and its the most insane thing I've ever encountered. So first of all let me tell you a couple things about Liberia. First, during the civil war apparently the power source that Liberia had got blown up and they still haven't fixed it. So, if anyone wants to use power they need to use a generator. We have one at our little house that runs from 7 at night to 5 in the morning so we can use the fan at night which is really a blessing. Another thing, be grateful for little things like America's proper waste management system. It may not be perfect, but its a thousand times better than it is here. There is trash EVERYWHERE. The sad thing is that there are no garbage cans or anything so even when I buy something I just throw it on the ground because there's nothing else to do with it. That hurts my soul. Besides that the people here are dirt poor. And I mean dirt poor. They live in little shacks most of the time that probably don't have running water and maybe not even a working toilet. They have nothing but they are so sweet. My cousin Josh and I are probably having the exact opposite experience because I will teach probably around 30 lessons a week but I also live under a mosquito net and don't have running or clean water a majority of the time so that's the trade off I guess. He may not teach as many lessons but I'm sure his living conditions are much better. (Josh is in the Stockholm, Sweden mission)
 

Anyways, my companion is once again a Nigerian which is fine but he's difficult to understand. Nigeria is like the Texas of Africa because people are often arrogant and pretty loud about the fact that they're from there but he's pretty cool about it. Ghanean people are very sweet and so are Liberian people. They are hard to understand but I'm getting better at it. I've been having a rough time teaching as well but its my first week so I think I need to give myself a little break. It'll come with time. It's kind of cool too because a few times already people have approached us and asked if we could teach them. They are so humble. If you ask them what God has blessed them with they will give you a list of things from their family to their home and their means which are small.

My companion and I are opening a new area pretty much and he doesn't know much about it and neither do I. Baptisms will come but it may take a little more time than in other areas but we have plenty of people to teach. Too many really which makes scheduling difficult which is just crazy to think about. We have too many people to teach? Nuts.

Our apartment isn't bad. I take shower from a bucket of water at night that we get from a faucet outside that only works sometimes during the day and not at all at night. Or we get it from a well down the street. So I'll be pretty happy to take a real shower in two years.

Besides that, the food isn't as spicy so far as I thought it would be but I'm sure it will get spicier. It's mostly the fact that it's pretty spicy and then you eat a lot of it. Also, I was offered a soda and I drank it for the first time in over two years so that's sad (Steven made a New Year's resolution in 2014 to stop drinking soda) but I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose weight anyways because I sweat like crazy. The branch president's wife makes us dinner every night which is probably the best part about this area. She's super sweet and we love her. 

One story I'll share real quick with you. My companion is district leader so he has to go do the baptismal interviews and so we went with two elders who needed to do that and while we waited I played with the kids. All of the kids love me because they never see white people and sometimes they call me China man which is kinda funny. Anyways, I was just throwing them a ball of trash that they were playing with and they couldn't have been happier. It was so funny and they were all so sweet. And they were super excited when I wanted to take a picture which I'll try to send. They all want to touch me and it makes me laugh.

Church was really cool too, they have a decent building and the members are all sweet. A couple wanted to take a picture with me after too probably because they don't see many white people at their church or ever really. 

Okay sorry that was a lot but a lot has happened this week. I should have listened to my lovely mother and brought sunscreen because that would have made life less painful and sad, but the sunburn is getting better now and I should be able to get sunscreen too. They have some American things but they're usually really expensive. I'll try to get back to everyone I can but this dumpy little cafe we're in only gives us an hour. 

This first week has been really hard on me and I've struggled a lot. I miss home and all of my family and friends and clean things. But I know it will get better and that the Lord will strengthen me. Everyone says it speeds up after a couple of months and I'm sure that's true. I'll get used to everything and end up loving it here, I just need to power through this rough time right now getting adjusted to everything. 

I love you all so much and love hearing from you! I'll talk to you next Monday because that's our P day.

Elder Bush

P.S. Also be so so so so so grateful for washing machines because we hand wash everything and it takes forever and it sucks but that's okay. Oh, and rainy season is coming up in April sometime so I guess it rains hard all day every day. Awesome. Love you all :)

Elder Bush

Steven is officially in Liberia!

Hi Mom and Dad!

I am safe in Liberia and I'm at the mission home right now. Liberia is nuts! It's way more impoverished than Ghana and I didn't know that was possible. And I mean way more. Crazy. Anyways, President Carlson and his wife are super awesome and I really like both of them. As soon as we landed I got an overwhelming feeling of peace that this is where I'm supposed to be. Can't wait to teach. President said I'll have 8 baptisms in my first month probably and people just want to hear about it. I get my companion tomorrow and I met Tanner Wright's old roommate while he was on his mission in Ghana.
 

I love it and I'm safe and I love you guys so much. I can't wait to tell you more soon. My P day is on Monday so I'll let you know how it goes then.

Elder Bush

What Up America

It's ya boy Steve and this is going to be a quick letter so be ready.

So as of right now it is Wednesday morning and its almost 8 am here. We're about to go to the Ghana temple again so I'm really excited for that. I will be leaving for Liberia on Tuesday by airplane to go to Monrovia. Really ready to leave this place but I love it :)

Okay quick story I wanted to share. It's been tough leading a bunch of missionaries who are often disobedient but I've been working really hard and praying a lot. Yesterday our teacher gave a lesson and he got angry with us and totally took the spirit out of the room. We all felt it and agreed that the teacher was not teaching with love.  After this I later apologized to my group and said that I had been really harsh on them and that's not who I am and that I was sorry. I wanted to teach with love. They all accepted my apology. A really humbling experience.

That's all I have time for I think I might not be able to email until 2 weeks but I'm not sure I'll try to reply to everyone then, sorry I couldn't get to many of you this week!

Elder Bush