August 26th, 2013, Elder Liufau is on his way home to Texas, then BYU Hawaii. We enjoyed swapping stories.
Sister Lauritzen's Belliar Park Ward primary kids. Sister Lauritzen teaches them songs and they love it.
Elder Liufau helping get subsistence payments ready on the night before he left. Strong to the end.
Three assistants enjoying Sister Ostler's pineapple upside-down cake.
Sister Lauritzen saying goodbye to Sisters Awouche (Kenya) and Owusu (Ghana). We thought they might be starting a singing group with their matching dresses.
Hoisting steel trusses to the top floor.
They use lots of manpower and do amazing things.
A new printer arrived today and the missionaries were being very helpful. Elders Narteh, McDonald, Weller and Mongalo.
A siren kept sounding and we looked to see why. There was a funeral procession passing. Most of the people were dressed in white and the line of mourners seemed to go on forever.
There is no spring season in Sierra Leone so the assistants are deep-cleaning their apartment in August. (Elders Wolfgramm, Wootton and Liufau)
We pulled the screen frames from the windows and found a considerable amount of insectoid wildlife + lizards.
Elder Wolfgramm was surprised to know the screens were actually blue ... not black.
Elder Liufau borrowed Sister Ostler's vacuum cleaner and filled it with cobwebs and hornet nests. See that smile ... six days and a wake-up and he's flying home.
Elder Wootton and laundry ... missionary style. After all the cleaning their apartment has never looked (or smelled) so good.
Aberdeen beach was divided so each ward in the Freetown Stake could take a section to clean. We joined the Hill Station Ward. There was some fun along with hours of work.
When we started there was a driving rain so we were all soaked. The heavy rain came and went. The locals were freezing. We thought the temperature was very nice.
There is no garbage service in this city of 2 1/2 million people so the trash comes down to the ocean in the streams and washes up on the beach. We must have picked up a thousand flip-flops.
Marlene wanted a picture of the Latter-day Saints working around the "God Bless Islam" fishing boat.
One of the young women in the Hill Station Ward who liked working beside Marlene.
The man at the back is Barnard Jamirez. Marlene is giving him piano lessons on Saturdays.
The girls were acting goofy.
Following a taxi back up the hill to the mission home. They don't pack light.
Elders Nickle, Donaldson and Stewart on their way home. Great missionaries.
Goat on a rock.
This kids called hello and goodbye to us until we were out of sight.
When we go for walks we have to ford this little stream. The water is high now that it's the rainy season and someone keeps moving our stepping stones. This family lives by the stream and they are always excited to see us. They put some rocks in place for us to step on and helped Marlene across. Then they all lined up for a "snap".
This football team was practicing. Their young coach asked us to stop and watch, so we did. They are all very good and they know how to play on a gravel-covered hillside.
The president's assistants, Elders Wootton, Wolfgramm and Elder Liufau, made me a birthday card and a cookie. That is Yayah Sanoh with the black hat. He is over facilities for the area.
Sister Lauritzen helped Elder Wootton with a picture of a jet. It's the wrong one. Humph!
The "cookie?" Elder Liufau made it. It was a cinnamon sugar cookie and it was a bit tough, but good. One of those goes a long way.
President and Sister Ostler returning from their first trip to Accra. Sister Ostler is taking a picture of Sister Lauritzen taking a picture of Sister Ostler.
August 15th, 2013. Making a birthday pepperoni pizza.
It was perfect!
Rainy season in Sierra Leone.
Deep puddles on a muddy and narrow road in front of the mission office. The road is usually very crowded with people, motorcycles, and Coca Cola trucks.
My birthday tie from Ryan and Rachel and our new printer. That's a box of African Kleenex. It's a knockoff called Cleenex.
Rainy season has really slowed work on the new mission home.
Foliage in front of the mission office.
The bee tree next to the office driveway. The bees lived in the crack. They were very aggressive, but all the construction has driven them away.
Inside the bee tree the honeycomb is barely visible.
DHL always delivers our shipments to the lower driveway. Sister Lauritzen was carrying them up to the office African style.
We stopped to get some things at the small provision shop down the street from the mission home. Kids had turned box straps into a game. They had to jump over the straps in turn. The kids on the end kept raising the straps to see who could jump the highest.
They are all pals.
Richard Carlos and his wife, Zainab, had a baby last month. They said they would name their baby Marlene if it was a girl and Michael if it was a boy. His name is Michael and they blessed him today.
This little guy came walking into church in search of a friend. It found an elder and was very happy with him. It spent some time in his pocket where it fell asleep. But missionaries can't have pets so he had to go on his way after meetings
We had nothing big scheduled at the office today and we had no vehicle so we decided to walk from the mission home to the office, down the side of the mountain. We knew generally where to go but asked directions on our way. We got one bum steer but found someone else who redirected us. There are trails and shacks everywhere but everyone was happy to guide us. Half way down the mountain we met a gentleman and he helped Marlene down the steep spots. I paid him 10,000 leones (about $2.50) for guiding us and he gave me a big hug. The trip took an hour and a half.
When we took a picture along the way, everyone wanted their picture taken. This gang was no exception.
It was a beautiful mountain trail ... a little muddy and slippery because of the rain.
Mud shack with a zinc roof. Corrugated tin is called zinc.
The little girl had been crying so she looks pretty sad. Cats are uncommon.
We liked this rocky stream.
She said: "How de day?" "Fine" is de answer.
Cute kids along the trail.
A princess in her fancy gown. Flip-flops instead of glass slippers. Much more practical here.
