July 1, 2016

43 years ago today I was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A joyous day!

We went to Lungi today and met with Dr. Sesay at the Bai Bureh Memorial Hospital. Oh what a sweet man he is. He is truly a disciple of Jesus Christ - a very good Christian man. We have all the information we need to put in a project for him. He needs 5 pieces of equipment and we are going to work hard to see that he gets them all or at least the most critical.

It rained all day. When we left the hospital is was raining cats and dogs. We were driving down an asphalted road that was full of huge potholes that were filled with water and you could not tell how deep the potholes were until you were in them, and much of the asphalt was gone on the edges. We came upon a woman with a baby on her back and I exclaimed "oh my goodness that woman has a baby on her back". Don slammed on the brakes and rolled down a window and invited her in. She looked over at us with a look of true distraught on her face. She quickly got into the truck. She had just come from the hospital with her sick baby. We had just eaten our lunch and I had a half a sandwich left and handed it back to her. She fed her baby part of it and she ate a little of it. Brother Vandy was with us and he tried talking to her in Kreo asking her where she lived and would take her home. She responded and I asked Brother Vandy what she said. He laughed and said, "I don't know, she only speaks Timney" (I am not sure I spelled that right). He laughed because I am forever asking Don to tell me what someone (Including Brother Vandy) has said even though they have said it in English. Brother Vandy just realized what I deal with. Anyway, we got close to a market and she asked to "be dropped". She then stuck her hand out and asked for 2,000 Le (.40 cents) for "food and drink". Don gave her 5,000 Leones (.90 cents) and told her for "food, drink, and transportation". She took the money, said "thank you", and got out of the truck in the pouring rain. Brother Vandy said, "she will not get transportation. She will buy food."

 When we got home Geneba needed a 50 Lb. bag of rice for the Doe home and Africell (the security guard and handyman for the complex) needed to go and get diesel for the generator. So we loaded them up and went to the street market and got the rice and then on to the gas station to get fuel. The Jui Junction Market was across an extremely busy street from the gas station but I told Geneba I wanted to get her something for her birthday which is tomorrow. I asked her if there was something she would like to have that I could buy for her. She got so excited and said "shoes". So Don took us across the street to the market and Geneba and I went shoe shopping. She found within 10 minutes the shoes she wanted. They cost 15,000 Leones ($2.50). She was thrilled with them. I asked her if there was anything else she would like to have. She said "I haven't had a new dress in many years". That was all I needed to hear. So we went down thru the market and found a tailor who had a huge variety of material. She picked out the material and the tailor is going to make her a dress. The material was 72,000 Leones ($13.00). I also found a piece of material I liked and I will have a dress made, too. When we got back to the compound, Geneba got out of the truck and leaned back in and said, "thank you, I am so thrilled". My heart melted. I did so little, but it was not little to her. We take so much for granted. We are wealthy beyond measure compared to the people of Sierra Leone.