Sunday,
December 22, 2013
We
attended church with Kissy 2 Branch and low and behold the newlyweds
showed up! Decided to come to church before leaving on their
honeymoon – NOT! They probably spent their first night together as
husband and wife in one of their parent's homes. I did notice that
Brother Kamara had taken his blue tooth out of his ear. He wore it
for his wedding announcement pictures as well as his wedding
yesterday – nice accessory.
We
had dinner today at the Ghazzawi's – wonderful Lebanese food and
people. It is always a treat to be with them. Marian gave me a skirt
for Christmas and Manal gave me a pair of shoes – I feel pretty
special.
Tuesday,
December 24, 2013
What
do you do in Sierra Leone on Christmas eve? Leave at 8:00 am in the
morning to meet up with “finders” and investigate apartments they
have found, and blessed day, we rented one for sure with a second
pretty secure as soon as we determine the price. Here in this
country, you rent for two years from the get-go and you pay the
entire two-year lease amount up front prior to taking occupancy. When
we arrived in Sierra Leone 8 + months ago, there were 11 existing
apartments in Freetown East and West. As of today and our involvement
with finding apartments, we have found 11 more (with at least 10 more
before we complete our mission). I say “found” loosely, because
of the belief I have, we are just instruments in the hands of the
Lord; we do the walking, driving and asking and the people come
forward who either own the apartments or who know the owners. In
September when we were first given the assignment to find 4
apartments and got a bonus of one, I was very stressed and anxious
the entire 6 week transfer period. But as we get more entrenched in
this part of our service, it is quite wonderful to see the
acquisition of an apartment unfold; it is truly a miracle.
We
got home tonight to internet for about one hour and then it went down
so I have not been able to complete my email for the week and all the
accompanying pictures. Hopefully we will have it tomorrow so we can
contact our families.
Wednesday,
December 25, 2013
Woke
up this morning to no internet; that isn't good with our desire to
make contact with our families today....
We
had a brunch with the Burns, Ostlers and Lauritzens which was nice.
Food was good as well as the company.
Walked
this morning with Rachelle – not too much traffic – even better.
Very
uneventful Christmas day – able to Skype Loren, Ryan and Megan, Dan
and Bethanne, and Deb/Stan/Mom Kanzler. My family on the other hand –
I zigged when they zagged and we did not get to speak to each other
today; it made me sad.
Thursday,
December 26, 2013
Week
continues to be slow and quiet. Scott drove out to Calaba Town to
finalize the apartment with a contract; I stayed in the office and
don't really recollect what I did....not good.
Friday,
December 27, 2013
In
the office again after two apartment inspections out east, for a
transfer week meeting in order for everyone to be on the same page.
There is a lot that goes into transfers, besides the acquisition of
apartments such as, setting up the new apartment(s), new missionaries
coming from the MTC, companionship assignments not only for the new
one's, but existing missionaries, orientation, food prep,
transportation of new missionaries to their areas of assignment, and
farewells for any missionaries going home. Whew! We the senior
missionaries are always relieved when the week is over with
relatively few hiccups. Oh, and by the way, transfer week is next
week!
We
went to lunch with the Burns and Ostlers after the meeting and from
there drove down to Aberdeen near the hovercraft dock and did a
little after Christmas shopping. No sales per se, just a lot of
bargaining in order to reduce the price. Bought some fun stuff, one
being a great looking West African shirt for Scott.
Saturday,
December 28, 2013
Back
in the office today around noon, and I spent a good portion of 5
hours putting away supplies for 3 new apartments, while I kept out
all that was needed for the Calaba Town apartment that will be
occupied in next week's transfers. There really is a lot to getting
an apartment ready.
We
are hardly into the dry season and we are already having water
issues; the more apartments we acquire, the more water problems we
will continue to have; my challenge is discouragement over this and
concern for the missionaries particularly when I can't seem to solve
the problem within a day.
Snaps:
Young boy, his brother and their mom each with 40 pounds of water on their heads.
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