Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bo, Monrovia, Museums and Missionaries

Elders waiting to catch transport after we arrived in Bo on Saturday.  The Assistants went with the Zone leaders to visit families they are teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had Sisters Conference in Bo. It was great!
Love this picture of the sisters in the circle in the wall...
One more picture of us Sisters in Bo...
Beautiful.... right after a rain in Schlehuber's compound.
Last Sunday in Bo, I got to attend Sewa Road Branch's Primary.  She was teaching about thanking Heavenly Father for water.  The children were all participating. One of the best primary classes I've sat in.
Sewa Road Branch was split into Lewabu Branch.  This is the Lewabu Branch who will meet at this chapel.
Sewa Road Branch who will be meeting at the Njaiboima Chapel.
Mingling after pictures...
We had Seminary and Institute Graduation at Bo that same Sunday.  There were 209 attending!  These are all young single adults. A Seminary graduate attends four years of early morning scripture classes. Seminary ages 14-18 and Institute 18-30.  All receiving education about gospel principles and doctrine, provident living, missionary preparation, marriage preparation, and much, much more at no cost. 
Roads to the Liberian border we wet and muddy.  Six hours on this at least.
We took two vehicles and drove both into Monrovia with 11 of us.
Sheep along and among the villages...
And then, we get to see the other sweet, little "lambs" along the way... Some are in blue because they came home from school.  We stopped in the village because some of our missionaries were vomiting from the rough ride.  The village "Elders" came to see why we stopped.  We told them we were stopping for just a moment and only passing through.
Our passengers...Our dear sisters... The Assistants had the roughest seat and the bounciest.  They felt every bump, dip, turn, slip, slide and heads touched the top of the car!  No indentations, however, either on their head or the car top!
Stopped for a "bushroom" break and saw these pretty little flowers...
Peanut butter, jelly sandwiches, water and snack cakes for lunch at the border.
We took time to have a Couples Conference with the Kirkhams and Krumms.  We visited the National Museum of Liberia in Monrovia.
These are Identity masks.
 In July 1827 a ship named Norfolk carried 131, 143 or 144 Africans to Liberia from the United States, of whom 78 were adult women and another eleven or twelve were under ten years of age. One hundred twenty of those people had been found on the slave ship Antelope when it was seized off the coast of Florida in 1820 They had been held in Georgia for seven years waiting for the courts to settle their fate. After being kept under supervision in Monrovia for a while, the people from the Antelope were settled along Stockton Creek on Bushrod Island about four miles up the Mesurado River from Monrovia. The settlement was named New Georgia after their home of the prior seven years. Although "recaptured" Africans (people taken from slave ships by U.S. Navy anti-slave trade patrol ships) had been brought to Liberia previously, none were still there when the people from the Antelope arrived. Most, if not all, of the people found on the Antelope in 1820 and taken to Liberia in 1827 had originally been loaded on slave ships at Cabinda, and were probably Congos.  (check wikipedia about New Georgia, Liberia)
The faces on this carving are very interesting.
We had a really good meal of pasta, fruit salad, cole slaw and even pumpkin pie with whipped cream!  
We played Skipbo and Zilch!  I won one Zilch game so am doing the "wave" of victory.  lol
Celebrated Sister Kirkham's birthday with cake made by Sister Krumm, ice cream and root beer floats.  We were all enjoying every taste!  We appreciate our good couples in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  They are the anchor and the rudder of this great work! We thank them and pray for them. 
We also had a wonderful Sisters Conference in Monrovia!
 

Monrovia Zone Council

 I didn't get to see Elder Anderson so here is a snap from about May timeframe.
More rain and more mud going back
 The vehicles were really dirty.  Boxes and luggage got pretty wet in the truck even with the top on it.
 What a way to move a car!
Always amazing what the human body can do.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Couples Conference and Super P-day

We had a Couples Conference with our three Senior Couples.  It was a day at Lumley Beach with the Freetown East Zone, dinner at a Chinese place and then time to talk and some training.  It was fun to be with each other.
Playing volley ball
soccer 
Elder Appleby
Lauritzens and Randalls
Frisbee
Elder Symons
The Schlehubers
A fun day for all
Elder Lambson and Elder Norton, companions in the MTC 2 years ago, and finishing mission as Assistants together in two weeks. L + N = First (MTC) and last transfer here.
President Roggia walking with the new Assistants to the sand to do some zone activities.
We wrote out "Laying da Foundation For Zion"
Freetown Zone!
Free form...
Couples Conference was, as our younger missionaries say, "SWEET"!
Our Freetown Zone Leaders, Elder Emanuelson and Elder Assumang.  Elder Emanuelson goes home in two weeks!
Just love these jumping pictures with the reflection...
Elder Purcell from America Samoa
 Elder Barth and Elder Appleby. The new Assistants.  They will drive with us to Liberia on Saturday.  New for Elder Barth but not Elder Appleby--he came back to Sierra Leone after about a year or more in Liberia recently.
HELP!  The Schlehubers stayed in our extra room while here from Bo.  The door in the bathroom locked on the outside.  They had a cell phone and sent a text to me.  I didn't see it; so they called President Roggia.  He was wondering why they were calling from the other room...
Here's the text I found on my phone!  We all had a big har har!
Since we are doing Specialized Training this month, we also had a day for a Sisters Conference with the Freetown Sisters! What a great week!  We are driving to Bo and Liberia on Saturday; so, we will post some pictures around the first week in July.  We will be on the road till then!