Monday,
January 6, 2014
Spent
the day in the mission office and as soon as I get there, Sister
Lauritzen promptly tells me they received a phone from Elder
Lauritzen's family and his older brother had just passed away. This
sibling is the father of the niece who passed away 2 weeks ago! So
difficult for me to wrap my arms around – 3 deaths in a family in 2
weeks!
White man trying to stop traffic in the dark so the missionaries could cross the street.
Safe! Scott is having much better luck getting traffic to stop.
Not sure what I am attempting to do here but obviously it is not working as the truck zooms past!
The
Lauritzen's left for home today and we received 22 new missionaries
tonight from the MTC in Accra, Ghana. It was a very busy day; so many
moving parts and I am exhausted!
Wednesday,
January 8, 2014
Transfer
day! 22 new missionaries had to be assigned to companions and other
existing missionaries were transferred to new areas and or/or given
new companions. Very long day and add to that, I drove two new sister
missionaries out east to the Thunder Hill apartment in very congested
traffic with a standard transmission truck. Thankfully Rachelle was
with me and kept me company on the long drive; once we got back in
Freetown it was to Crown Express to pick up pizza for Elder Aniabre's
last dinner meal as a missionary. He returns to Ghana tomorrow after
serving 2 years in Sierra Leone.
Thursday,
January 9, 2014
Scott
had to leave before me this morning and with the extra truck I drove
home yesterday, I drove it to the Mission office this morning; my
first solo trip from the apartment to the office. We live on a hill,
that reminds me of San Francisco, which I would never drive there
unless I had an automatic transmission; Scott was kind enough to turn
the truck around so it faced forward upon launching myself out of the
compound this morning. So as I start up the truck and the guard opens
the gate, I gun it and start to turn to the right so I can get out of
the gate and up the hill in one motion and not have to roll back and
put on the emergency brake; in the process, I forgot about a cement
block which I zoomed over that kind of bent something that in turn
was rubbing against the back tire; the guard motioned for me to back
up (big mistake) so he could straighten it out which I thought he
did, but he kept on motioning me to either back up some more, or turn
off the truck. I saw my opportunity with the gate completely open and
just threw it in first gear, squealed the tires and zoomed up the
hill onto the main road while I had the nerve to do so. Along the 30
minute ride, I actually passed a vehicle on the curvy road with no
problem! I was so proud of myself. Upon my return home, I noticed a big
chunk out of the cement block....
While
we were recovering in the office from transfers yesterday, the
Campbell's appeared out of no where! They are a sweet couple who live
in Kissy, have no jobs, and we see them a lot at the Kissy Chapel
(they actually do their laundry there when there is water). In our
attempt to find apartments, we have engaged members to help us and if
their “finds” result in a signed lease agreement a “finders
fee” has been set up to reward them. Well, the Campbell's found an
apartment in Upgun that we are very interested in leasing so they
came into the office to inquire as to the status. I was shocked to
see them and asked how they got to the office. They walked
approximately 7 miles! We weren't able to give them positive
information about the apartment, but we did arrange for them to come
to the mission home and clean the Lauritzen's apartment to ready it
for the Jests who will be arriving next week. We “advanced” the
Campbell's money so they could take transport to the mission home
next week and get home today without walking. It was a sweet moment
to come up with a plan to help them financially by providing them
some employment.
We
are limping along in the office with the Lauritzen's gone. The office
elders had only 3 days of training so it is a challenge to say the
least figuring out all the procedures to keep a mission running
smoothly. They are missed!
Friday,
January 10, 2014
In
the office to help out the office elders for awhile, who are sitting
in for the Lauritzen's. From there, we drove out to Calaba Town to
look at a building as a potential meetinghouse and then to Waterloo
to do the same. The Waterloo building has great potential. It is
located in Kissytown, just beyond the 5/5 area and would service a
lot of saints who travel 3-5 miles to get to the Waterloo chapel. One
might think 3-5 miles is no big deal, unless you have to walk it, or
get two transports to get there; 2 transports are the equivalent of
2,000 leones one way, which translates into $1.00 which is 2/3's of
ones total average daily income of $1.50, so that is a lot of money.
While
looking at the Kissytown building, Richard Carlos and President
Kamara told us of a recent convert who lived just down the road so we
paid her a visit. She suffers from some sort of degenerative hip
disorder and has a marked limp. Upon seeing her today, I remembered
attending her baptism, and she walked to the river! We found out she
was taking a motorcycle transport the other day, and just at the
intersection of her home when she was dropped off, the guy lost
control of the motorcycle and she fell off with the cycle on top of
her and landed on her bad hip. Such a cute little young lady, sitting
on a bench outside her mom's home; we took a few moments to give her
a priesthood blessing, surrounded by kids, chickens and people.
Saturday,
January 11, 2014
Today
was laundry and food prep day; we had 6 missionaries from the Hill
Station apartment for dinner – they come from Zambia, Uganda, Fiji,
Tonga, and Utah. Very diverse backgrounds and families. A delightful
evening and when I called upon them to leave us a message it was
themed around companionship’s and avoiding/resolving conflict. I
learned a lot from these wonderful elders tonight as each one shared
personal experiences from their own families as well as their
missionary companionship’s. What they are learning on their
missions will serve them well when they are husbands and fathers.
Love and Blessings to all!
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