Lauritzens in Africa

We missed our connecting flight from Accra (pronounced "a craw" with the emphasis on the "craw"), Ghana, to Sierra Leone because Delta switched jets and had to re-cook the meals and store them in the proper configuration for the new jet. They should have just said the jet was broken and spared us the aggravating details. Delta ended up putting us up in the Travel Xpress International hotel by the airport. This is a picture taken out of the window of our room. Concertina wire on brick walls with a gate guard is standard here.

The next flight to Sierra Leone wasn't for two days so we took a day to go to the Accra temple and did some ordinance work. It's a beautiful temple.

Our flight to Freetown was two hours late but we finally arrived on the 14th of June. We hopped the ferry with President and Sister Roggia (pronounced "road ya"). The ferry departed three hours late and we finally pulled in to our part of Freetown about 9:30 PM. This is a picture taken on the ferry with frizzy-haired Marlene (it was windy and very humid) on the left and President and Sister Roggia on the right. When our driver pulled our van off of the ferry it slipped off of the ramp into the water and got stuck. It took a while, but a group of young men bounced the van until it got a little traction and we were finally on our way. We arrived at the mission home late and very tired. We were very grateful to the president and his wife for giving up their day to take care of us. Sister Randall (office missionary) had soup ready for us. She even had a few groceries set out for us in our room.

Nothing in our baggage was damaged or stolen ... actually a bit of a surprise.

Elder and Sister Lauritzen at the mission office. The mission home is a few miles up the hill from the office. The office has some nice landscaping. The home has no landscaping. It's hard to describe so I'll post a picture later.

Can you see the mission office lizards?

Just one of the attactive trees growing at the mission office. We spent the day getting information about the people and the progress in the mission. We took some of the money we brought with us and bought some Leones ... 4,340,000 Leones. We're millionaires! The Randalls took us grocery shopping and we spent a good chunk of our fortune on a few small things. A can of beans cost us 7,950 Leones (about $2). We found just about everything we needed in a couple of stores. We will survive.