More Photos!

Me and a new concert named Meashell

 Zone Conference:

 Some cute children 

Photos

This guy said he found rubies... I don't know if they are real or not.

Watering Hole w/ Elder Hawkins

Beautiful Beach in King Gray Town

Apartment plus nice sunset

Me and E Hawk

Exchange

Oh man this week was quite a busy one! It actually went by fast even though I don't like to say that because that's what every single missionary seems to say.

Let's go through the week because this letter will be better than last weeks!

Monday we had a fun activity with the zone at my old chapel in Paynesville. We played games and did some skits and had some church trivia questions. It was really good but I should probably work on my church history knowledge! I also got to talk about my recent converts with one of the missionaries that is now serving in my former area. He said that most of them are doing really well and come to church every Sunday and are really happy. It brings me so much joy to hear about them and how they're doing now.

Tuesday was not so great because I got pretty sick and was throwing up and stuff. Not too fun. We stayed in the apartment for a little bit, but after a couple hours I decided that I would rather feel like crap outside doing something than feel like crap inside doing nothing so we went out to teach some people. That is one of the blessings of Liberia, even if you have no real plans you can still go out and just have lessons with people without calling or anything. I think that is cool at least.

Wednesday I went on exchange with Elder Merritt. I took him to my area and we had a nice day. I don't really know why, but it seems like any time that I go on exchange with another missionary all of our plans fall through and the day doesn't turn out the way we planned it would. I guess my plans aren't really as good as the Lord's plans... Oh well. He's a good missionary and everyone loves seeing two white men together so that they can ask them for money. For whatever reason, the people here get surprised by anything a white man does. For instance, the other day I bought a banana and I was walking with it in my hand on our way to another appointment. A man walking next to me saw it and said, "Oh! White man can eat banana?" I don't know what is wrong with their brain sometimes but I guess it's part of the experience. Yes, white man can eat banana.

Thursday was super solid because we had Zone Conference in town. I always learn a lot from them because a lot of missionaries gather together and basically we get to discuss how we can teach and just be better missionaries in general. I always feel that I can gain a lot of knowledge from what others have to share. After the conference we went to a place where they sell some Italian ice cream. It's actually not as expensive as you would think, but everything seems like it's expensive to me now. While we were there President and Sister Carlson also came in and ate some of their own and we got to talk with them for a little bit. Once we finished we asked if they could give us a ride part way back to their apartment so they did. The best part was when I asked if we could see their house and they said yes. Their house is so nice... It kind of made me miss home but it was also way too freezing in that place. I liked how clean it was. I miss things being really clean. Anyways, Elder Hawkins was with me because we went on another exchange so he came back with me to the apartment that night to sleep there so we could go out together the next day.

So Friday was kind of weird. I loved being with Elder Hawkins, he's a super great missionary and he's a Zone Leader in Paynesville. I felt the spirit a lot while we were together and our lessons were really great. Unfortunately, a lot of the people that we went to see were not around so again we did a lot of walking and finding. No problems there though. We were supposed to swith back but apparently there was a little problem so we went to dinner together. Elder Hawkins got a letter that his father sent that had money in it so he said that he would buy me dinner. I got a chicken sandwich :) He ended up staying another night which was fine.

Saturday we got back together with our companions and had a normal proselyting day... We're just so busy every day!

Sunday was kind of sad. Most of the people that were supposed to have come did not make it to church. We had a nice lesson after church with a family that I contacted with Elder Hawkins. All in all I can't complain the missionary work is good.

So I also had some questions from my aunt that I thought I would answer for all of you!

Do any of the members ever feed you? If they do what is the food? Yes I think I'm very interested in the food that you eat. So that's my question. I also am wondering about the water now in this area do you still have to go get the water? Do you still have to shower in the cold? Do you still only have a generator at night? When you say it's hot how hot are we actually talking? I also am wondering about their houses. What kind of dwellings are they? Are they like huts and they cook outside? Are they like cardboard boxes? Are they tin shed type things? What are they like? Do they have dirt floors? Do they have running water inside like we do? Paint a picture for us so we would understand I suppose you could actually take a picture if you wanted too. When you say you traveled a little farther out are the people who live out there in worse circumstances? Or it's just another part of the city? Well there you go there are a lot of questions so now your life is complete.

Sometimes members and also people that we teach like to feed us, however we are cautioned a little bit about doing it because missionaries tend to get runny stomachs when they eat a lot of food from people outside. The food is rice. Sometimes fufu but rarely. I don't believe it's possible for me to describe what the food tastes like but sometimes that take leaves from plants and either mash them or slash them and cook them with oil and seasoning and stuff. It wasn't good at first but I'm used to it now. Water gets delivered to us by a truck right now since they are digging a well that will eventually feed water up into a big black tank that then goes into the apartment to give us running water. By some miracle this week the water lasted us until Friday when it should have finished on Tuesday probably. There is a big generator that supllies current to several houses in the community. I think it's pretty expensive, about $1.50 US per amp of current per night, not including the day. I believe we get 3 amps but I'm not sure, that's what it was in my last area at least. The water is cold when I take my bath but right now it's really hot so that's okay. Most of the heat comes from the humidity so I sweat a ton. The heat is really bad because it's very difficult to escape. I'm pretty used to it now though and I sleep with a bed sheet on me, although I so have a fan on me as well. Most of their houses are zinc huts with dirt floors, no running water and no electricity and full of plenty happy little African children. They draw their water from a well outside which sometimes is a little walk away from the house. Many houses are made out of cinder blocks though so they are not all like that. Most do not have running water though or electricity. When I say we went further I just mean a little bit further on the main road, still in the city part so the houses there are similar to the ones that are closer to the chapel.

Wow! Super long letter! Love you all, I'll attach some pictures.

Elder Bush

Random

This is going to be a short letter!

Not too much from this week. We of course had a busy week with a lot of lessons and whatnot. We were fortunate enough to find a lot of less active members of the church this week who we hope to help encourage to come back to church again. I find that usually less actives have not started going to different churches, but for whatever reason have just felt weak and decide to sit at home. 

We had some interviews with our mission president this week and that went really well. I spent way too long with him just talking about different things and asking questions. He had a career path that I am considering to take as well so I asked a few questions about that... No promises there yet :)

My companion and I are doing fine. Coloqua de come-o. Everything with me is also fine. My stomach was giving me hard time but it's chill now. Our investigator was also confirmed, brother Augustine. I know that other things happened but I just wanted to make my email really lame this week. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOY CONNOR

Oh we met with a returned missionary the other day that said he was the first missionary to serve in West Africa. He had a lot of stories and I don't know how many of them were true but he had a super strong testimony. 

I also saw a monkey. That was cool. We saw the monkey walking from an appointment. It was on a leash basically, or rope. It was kind of funny but it was really afraid of me. The people thought that it was afraid of me because I'm white and it wasn't used to seeing white people. I'm not sure if that was true or not but if it is that is kind of funny actually. I'll send a picture.

Super random and lame but that's it for today I'm tired.

Church is true.

Elder Bush

Softy Softy

WHAT YOU SAY MY PICKIN WHAT YOU SAY?

What's up guys how you comin' on? This week was cool nothin too crazy but I'll just give a quick update.

On Wednesday I went on exchange again with another missionary named Elder Titi who is from DR Congo and speaks French. He only has like 3 more months to go now though so he speaks English well. He does things very slowly, but I like him. The whole point of me telling you this though is that when I was on exchange with him I had to do some interviews for some people that are supposed to be baptized to make sure that they are ready. The first guy I interviewed basically told me everything he had ever learned and how he knew it was true. This was before I even asked him any questions... He was super solid though and his name is Alfa. I think it should be spelled Alpha. Whatever. The second interview went fine, but we both decided that it would be better if the guy waited a little bit longer because he still has a lot of things that he needs to learn more about and strengthen his testimony. Not a big deal though he can be baptized later. NOW, after that interview the guy let me play with his little pet that they call a softy softy and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. It was almost like a small sloth, but it was faster and way cuter. Maybe closer to a koala. It just grabs you and won't let go. I'll attach some pictures. Basically I want one and want to figure out how I can get it home.

We had zone training on Thursday. That was cool. New zone, although it's my old zone now.

Not much else happened the rest of the week that I can think of. The work is going really well and we are always busy with so many people to see. We had another baptism, this time on Sunday and it went really well. Brother Augustine was baptized yesterday and the service went really well. I think that having the baptism on Sunday instead of Saturday will be much better.

Today we went in town to a nice restaurant that had a lot of air conditioning. It was way too cold man I felt weird.

That's all I can think of. Love you guys.

Elder Bush

He loves to cling onto things and finally he got to my tie and would not let go of my tie. Whenever you would try to pull him away from it he would screech and I would feel bad. I was afraid to put him upside down also and they were like, he can't fall. I love that thing so much I need one. I'll send some more pics of him and some other stuff.