Elder Kanzler putting things back in their place after completion of the floor tile project.

 President's assistant, Elder Liufau.

 The tile crew.

Removing dirt from the new mission home excavation pile.

 The excavators buried the driveway. Hopefully we will get to use it again some day.

 The first floor over the garage area at the new mission home is poured.

 Workers preparing to pour the floor.

 Each pile of rocks used to be a boulder ... all broken by hand.

 New mission home/office well.

 Digging the well by the gate.

 Refurbishing a fishing boat.

 Packing the cracks with "bag". They shred a heavy bag and use the fibers to fill gaps.

 Shaping a new board to fit flush.

 After the gaps are filed with fibers the gap is sealed. The captain at left in the picture was very happy to show us the work they were doing. He wanted us to come and buy snapper from him.

 The crack sealant is made by pouring gasoline on chunks of styrofoam. It creates a gooey silly putty that is waterproof.

 The hole in the back of the boat is where they put the motor.

The rainy season has arrived and ferns and moss are coming to life everywhere.

 President and Sister Roggia disembarking from the hovercraft. The hovercraft had engine problems and couldn't make it all the way up onto the beach so it is stuck half in the water and half out and people had to come out the front and go down a ladder.

 New sister missionaries bravely coming down the ladder.

 Eleven new missionaries with President and Sister Roggia and the two assistants.

 One of the mission home guards caught this young bush pigeon and asked Sister Lauritzen if she wanted it. She kindly declined. We asked how he caught it. He said he chased it until it got tired.

 A carpenter adjusts a piece of baseboard for the new porcelain tile floor in the mission office. He actually has a plane.

 Sister Lauritzen showed the painter how to keep paint off of the floor by using an old file folder.

Here's how you tile a floor in Sierra Leone:

1. Bring in mountains of sand

2. Add a sack of portland cement

3. Stir with a shovel and spread evenly

4. Level with a stick

5. Sprinkle portland cement on top

6. Lay out tiles

7. Pour buckets of water on top

8. Beat tiles with a stick (breaking many of them)

9. Let set overnight

10. Replace all broken and uneven tiles the next day

What it really looked like the night the lights went out at the mission home.

Misleading flash photo. We were sitting in the dark because we had power problems at the mission home.

New Waterloo Branch leaders. EQ pres, Joseph Adams, Branch pres, Sulaiman Kamara, First Counselor, Richard Carlos.

First meeting of new Waterloo Branch in their new building in Waterloo on the 28th of April, 2013.

Assistants, Elders Liufau and Otaniyuwa moving the president's table.

Making room for the tile workers.

Repairmen heating a makeshift soldering iron to try to repair Sister Roggia's refrigerator circuit board. After five visits ... success.

Departing elders, Dyngee, Purcell, Rochester and Wuthrich.

Mission home slowly progressing.  No work done in over a week due to a difference of opinion about the bitumen used on foundation walls.

Transporting lumber Sierra Leone style.

Stuck behind a firewood truck on the road in front of the mission office.

The reason for the power outage at the mission home.

We have had two brief downpours in the last couple of weeks. Crocuses at the mission office hail the end of the dry season. These flowers just popped up this week. Everything has been very dusty and brown. The blossoms are a metaphor of the Lord's work in Sierra Leone. It really is a miracle.

 Another kitchen gecko. They are fun to watch as they gobble up bugs.

The new mission home is progressing. They hammer the big granite boulders into small ones and then into chunks small enough to carry. Then they break them into gravel, one hammer blow at a time, and that is what they are using to make all of the concrete.

 This is what you dream of when you have been in Africa for ten months. Katie and Spencer put together a care package for us. We are savoring it.

 I like that smile.

A very hard working and dedicated couple. The Randalls left us last week.