Arrivals to Liberia Sept 13th

Elder Liufau, Elder Nickle, Elder Martin, Sister Edem, Sister Notayo and Elder Taylor flew into Monrovia where they were met by Elder and Sister Kirkham.  The Kirkhams took them to their apartment, fed them a nice dinner, had them fill out paperwork, took some pictures and after all of that, took them to their new companions and apartments.  We start driving to Monrovia Friday and will have a full scale orientation and training for them.   We will also have border transfers on Friday.  With so many coming this time, it helped to fly some from the MTC and drive the current missionaries to the border for the transfer.

At Kirkham's apartment...Sister Kirkham sent us these pictures.

Arrivals in Sierra Leone Sept 13th.

We took the van and President's Everest on the ferry to Lungi, then drove to the airport to pick up 13 of the 19 missionaries arriving today.  The other six arrived in Liberia where Elder and Sister Kirkham picked them up at the airport, gave them a good meal and got them to their apartments for the night.  We have eight sisters in this group.  Four will go to Bo, two will stay in Freetown and two went to Liberia!  more snaps to come

Returning home with honor

We just had a farewell dinner for Elder Visser, Elder Intsiful (leaves in two weeks) Elder Amoa and Elder Chikwendu.  Elder Visser flies to Ghana with Elder Amoa and Elder Chikwendu, then takes the long flight to Iowa!  We love you all and will miss your leadership and examples!  Thank you for your two years of selfless service to Sierra Leone and Liberia.  We will post more in the next few days.

Scenes around the mission

Big caterpillars ...the orange one is the oldest and is getting ready to die.  We were also told that they are not good to eat.

My favorite little yellow birds who sit on my kitchen window every day and chat with each other, fluff up their feathers and rub beaks.  One of my most enjoyable things to see ....

As we drove down to the mission office, this praying mantis held on for about 15 minutes, then took the opportunity to crawl to the top of the car and out of sight.

One of the missionaries took this pretty picture...We see so many lovely sunrises and sunsets both in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

 We see sheep and goats all the time.

 I continually marvel at what gets carried on top of motorbikes.

Yes, we have lots of mangoes, bananas, cucumber, tomato, onion, avocado, pineapple, potato, peppers, papaya, apples, oranges, limes, lemons, cabbage, garlic and more.  Vegetables and fruits are fairly cheap.  You can get four bananas for about 50cents. 

Next week we receive 19 new missionaries and send three home.  We will post as many pictures as we can before we go on the border transfer Friday.

Decisions, decisions....

It was raining hard the last time we drove to Liberia on the bumpy roads.  This piece of the road was washed out and was moving pretty fast.  We didn't know how deep or how soft the bottom was...we were ready to turn around--- then this car came through after a motorbike successfully maneuvered it (but its motor drowned out)  We knew it was okay to cross after this car did it without a problem.  Whew...

Recent events and travels to Liberia

Last Friday, we had seven missionaries go to the Missionary Training Center in Ghana.  It was a special occasion for their families and friends who came to see them set apart and say good-bye while they serve for two years and 18 months for sisters.  All were going to the Nigeria Enugu Mission except for one who went to the Ghana Accra Mission.  Elder and Sister Neves took them in the van on the ferry.  Then, they drove them to the doors of the airport.  All had never flown before....that is an act of faith in and of itself.

Elder Priddis and Elder Intsiful, our Assistants, (standing) giving the new missionaries going to the Ghana MTC some orientation about missionary work.  They take about an hour to talk about the mission handbook and help them set up their LDS mail email account.

We put together a sandwich, drink and snack for them as they had a few hours wait at the airport.

Arriving in Bo for some meetings and spending the night at the Imperial Hotel... We met up with Markus and our office elders who were preparing an apartment for the new sister missionaries that come September 13th.  They were taking new beds and fans to the apartment.

Elder Barth, Elder Stott, Elder Priddis and Elder Intsiful in Bo.

Rice paddies along the jungle road to Liberia.  It was pouring rain and everything was so green.

This is a little sampling of the roads.

The next morning after arriving in Monrovia, Liberia, we visited each missionary apartment on their preparation day.  Each apartment who had a trainer received a small DVD player for "how to teach" training. It works on 120/240 voltage. This is the Matadi apartment.

Elder Ellsworth enjoying mail from home. I liked the red flip flops...

 Logan Town apartment

Elder Lambson showing his belt and the hole that he is now using.

Caldwell Apartment (Elder Kirkham in the background)

Sister Kirkham at the Sisters Apartment (old Paynesville Apartment)...Sisters Jibba and Monsaray will be training the two new sisters who come on the 13th.  There is plenty of room in their apartment for the four of them.

Paynesville Apartment

Elder Mazani's bed and net....very clean!

Elder Kotey and Elder Otaniyuwa with President Roggia

Wow, a really clean kitchen in the Gardnersville Apartment!

Pretty flowers in the Sisters compound.

Monrovia Zone Conference

"son, father, grandfather"....Elder Raymond who was trained by Elder Lambson who was trained by Elder Intsiful

Elder Taylor and Elder Tims after serving everyone finally getting the last little bit of rice and chicken.  (Plate looks pretty full though, don't you think?)

Elders Njaga, Milton, Kotey, Marveh and Boateng

After zone conference...

Roads coming back were much dryer and it was so pretty driving along---even with all the bumps and roughness.

 Elder Priddis, Elder Nyaku, Elder Allred and Elder Intsiful when we stopped in Bo for a few minutes.  We drove 13 hours to get back to Freetown.

These little boys have the neatest "moto cars".  We see these quite often.  I like the creativity in making your own toys.

Great Things Come in Threes!

First, On August 21, 2011, Kissy Chapel was dedicated by Elder Joseph Sitati of the Seventy (1st counselor in West Africa Area Presidency).  Second, the Freetown District became two: Freetown East and Freetown with new district presidents called.  We now have three districts in Sierra Leone.  Third, everyone was blessed to receive spiritual instruction from Elder Sitati who presided.

The missionaries helped prepare the programs for Freetown District Conference and also played the keyboard for all the meetings.

We had an Open House the day prior for VIP's.  It was well attended with lots of questions answered.  Because the Freetown District was so large, we held two District Conferences in separate buildings in Freetown.

Elder Sitati and Sister Sitati looking at the program Sunday morning with President Roggia.  We put chairs outside in order to provide seating for the 970 who attended.

Latter-day Saints leaving after the dedication and district division.

It was a wonderful gathering.

Elder Sitati with the new Freetown East District Presidency.  The Freetown East District President is President Kpullum.(center)

We then drove over to the Miata Hall to attend the second portion of the Freetown District Conference and complete the district division.  We had 690 there. There was a joyful spirit !

Elder Sitati with the new Freetown District  presidency.  President Swarray (center) is now the district president.