Mudslide

Monday, August 14, 2017
Good morning all!  This is not an official post from Jeanne and Dad.  However, if any of you have seen the world news this morning, you'll have heard about the devastating mudslide that has struck Sierra Leon in the area that Dad and Jeanne serve.  Cho got a text this morning from Dad assuring us that they are safe and sound but several in their area and congregation have been killed.  I will keep you posted if we get any other pertinent news.  Just keep them and those they serve in your thoughts and prayers!

Sunday July 9

I saw President Sesay this morning at the Forut Branch and he told me about the boy drowning (which I already knew) but he added "They found the body this morning and removed it from the river but the fish had eaten his eyes, nose and parts of his face. The funeral is today because his body has already started to decompose."

In Sunday School today the lesson was on "Establishing the house of the Lord". There were about 20 people in the class and I was the only one who had been to the Temple. The young man was doing a great job until the class members started asking questions about the Temple and the young man, with the help of some of the men who only imagined they knew what they were talking about, was teaching false doctrine. I let it go so far and then I asked if I could explain about the Temple. Every person in that room was glued to my every statement. They were sponges, soaking it all in and were in awe of what beautiful blessings await them. I apologized after the class to the young man who taught the lesson for stepping in. He said, "Oh, no you are part of the class and you can make contributions. I learned from you. Thank you." Gracious!

Saturday July 8

OH NO! Tragedy! Today a group of teenage boys were at the river playing as they often do and one drowned. A 17 year old boy jumped off the bridge into the river but the Chinese are building a road and pushed all the loose sand and dirt into the river. When the 17 year old jumped into the river, feet first, he sunk up to his waist in the soft dirt and was lodged and could not get out. He drowned.

tuesday july 4th

Happy Independence Day America! We miss you!!

 No celebration in Africa. We all worked hard all day.

I taught my second Temple Prep Class tonight and it was very good.

July 3 Monday

We went to the office today and Don was beside himself. He is so tired he is grouchy and impatient.

He is working hard on writing up reports on each well he evaluated and 4 of them another NGO came in and painted our well with their colors and put their logo over the top of ours. These local NGO's are hired by very large NGO's from other countries. What the local NGO's do is paint someone else's wells, put their logos on them, and send pictures to the foreign NGO's billing them for the construction of the well plus their workmanship. When they get paid they pocket the money and all they are out is paint and the workmanship for painting. Don is so angry, he says he IS going back to the WASH meeting in July and confronting the local NGO in front of the entire committee.

Sunday July 2

Geneba's 60th Birthday - my African friend.

 A very nice Sabbath. Don came home from Kenema. He got all 58 wells evaluated this week. That was quite an undertaking. He is exhausted and went to bed at 7:00. At 8:30 he came out wide awake and can't turn his brain off. He is thinking about his victory vision and the farm and how to reorganize our facilities to make them easier on two people getting older but who don't want to throw in the towel quite yet.

 He brought me another nice batch of cocoa beans and two pineapples, We cut one up for supper and ate the whole thing, It was very sweet and so delicious.

Saturday July 1

Is there anything sweeter than getting an e-mail from your 5-year old granddaughter. Don left two of his favorite goats in the care of the Sodens and one of them delivered twins. Elizabeth fell in love with the little female and asked her grandpa if she could do work to buy the little goat. Grandpa told her "yes, we will discuss the terms when I get home in November".

 Elizabeth named the little goat Uptown Girl. Don received the following e-mail from Elizabeth this week: "I walked and brushed uptown girl. I walked her from the dog place in the yellow place where the sun is shining. And I found a place to get ready for the fair, And I got all my stuff that I need for uptown girl. And grandpa I want to do all the same things brushing walking and halters every day. Signed Ellie

Friday June 30

44 years ago today I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A sweet Spiritual 44 years.

The Clawson's have left for Guinea this morning to open the country to Missionary Work and Guinea will be part of the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission. It is a 6 hour trip there. It is really only a 4 hour trip but there are so many police stops it takes 6 hours.

Don is still in Kenema. I talked to him shortly after they left to do well evaluations and Lamin told Don they were going to do "small Africa" today. That means they are only going to go on roads that are paved. Yesterday was a nightmare for all of them.

"Just a friend thing" - I opened your card today because I miss you.

Thursday June 29 - thats one way to find a bride

The rains have come and have hit hard. Many of the dirt roads are washed out or have big ravines running down them. Don, Lamin and Jonathan went to evaluate wells in the Kenema District today. They have 40 wells to evaluate. They did 4 today. The wells were so far out into the provinces and what was once roads are now just paths big enough for an okada or are deplorable ruts full of water. I do not understand why they forged on. I would have written up a report saying this is the wrong time of year to do an evaluation telling them why we need to wait until the dry season. Don says he is sure there is damage to the underside of the truck. All three men are basket-cases tonight from being on an adrenaline high all day.

Don shared one story from today. They were in a far-out village and they were asking the caretaker of the well how often the well has broken over the past 3 years and who they get to repair it. They told Don they have their own technician. REALLY!? Now the rest of the story: When the well crew were putting in the well, one of the men from the village paraded out several single women and asked if any of the men were interested in taking a woman to wife. Their was silence among the men and then one of them said "I am". He chose a woman, has stayed in their village, and maintains the well.

Mudslide

Monday, August 14, 2017
Good morning all!  This is not an official post from Jeanne and Dad.  However, if any of you have seen the world news this morning, you'll have heard about the devastating mudslide that has struck Sierra Leon in the area that Dad and Jeanne serve.  Cho got a text this morning from Dad assuring us that they are safe and sound but several in their area and congregation have been killed.  I will keep you posted if we get any other pertinent news.  Just keep them and those they serve in your thoughts and prayers!

Wednesday June 28, 2017

Jack and Jim's 70th Birthday!

Don attend the WASH (water and Sanitation) meeting in Kenema only

to have it cancelled after 4 men sat for over an hour to have no one

else show up. The man who conducts the meeting is always telling

everyone how important it is they attend. He chose to attend a

different meeting. No one was happy. Don doesn't think he will attend

another meeting. I vowed not to attend another WASH meeting last

month when they asked us to contribute a ream of paper for their

copier. These people beg money, supplies and food for this meeting

from the NGO's monthly and the meetings are a waste of time.

Nothing of value is accomplished. We have not contributed from our

Humanitarian fund, but we have contributed out of our own pocket.

Tuesday June 27, 2017

Don and John finished evaluating the other 14 wells. Three or four are

not working because the water committee failed to function and did

not collect any money for the water so when the submersible pump

failed, they did not have the money to repair it. One well was

completely abandoned because the people would not pay 1.3 Cents for

40# of clean-drinking water. So they get all their water from a dirty

contaminated stream. They use this stream for a toilet, washing their

clothes and for cooking and drinking water. They get free medication

monthly for everyone in the village from the government to keep them

from getting cholera, etc. So here is a perfectly good well not being

used. Frustrating!

Tonight I taught the first lesson in the Temple-prep class which was to

be for the District Presidency and the 8 branch presidencies. There

were over 30 people there but many of them were women. I don't

have a clue who many of them were. I was later told two of the

branches opened this meeting up to anyone in their branch who was

interested in attending. Because most people here speak Krio and

many women in Sierra Leone are illiterate that put an interesting twist

on the class. I taught the class as simply as I could and I am very glad I

had visuals. That helped many to understand. President Charles, the

man who asked me to teach this class was skeptical, originally, to

having a woman teach a class of men. But after the class, he held my

hand in his and said "I couldn't have done it any better". I later learned

he is a counselor in the Stake Presidency of the Freetown Stake and

works for the Church and is over seminary and institute for all of Sierra

Leone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday June 26, 2017

Don left for BO this morning with John Blackie our site manager for 18

wells in the BO area and with Samuel Samba our favorite contractor.

The manufacturing facility of wheelchairs for all of Sierra Leone is

located in BO. They need their facility re-wired and a 3-phase electrical

system connected. A local contractor has given the church a bid but

the work of most Africans is so poor the Church wants a second

contractor to look at it and see if they can do it for the same cost of the

first bid. Don and Samuel stopped and took a look at the project and

were aghast! I don't totally understand electrical language but the

problem has something to do with the first contractor trying to put 3

phases into a one-phase box. Samuel is going to put in his own bid

which will be considerably more costly but it will be done right.

Don and John visited 4 wells this afternoon and were pleased all four of

them are working and the water committee in each village is collecting

small amount of money for each jeri can and are using the money to

improve their village and our keeping their well maintained.

Sunday June 25, 2017

We went to the Jui Branch today. I didn't know it, but Don agreed to

have me speak to the Branch Presidency and their wives, Elder Quorum

President and his wife, clerk and his wife, Relief Society President and

her Husband about the Temple. He told me as we were walking up the

stairs to the Sacrament room. He said I was suppose to talk to them

and find out what they know about the temple so I would know how to

prepare my lesson for Tuesday. After Sacrament, we met in a small

room and my goodness! They threw one question after another at me.

I answered everyone of them. I actually felt invigorated. It was so nice

to be in a teaching situation.

Friday June 23, 2017

We are out of budget so we are concentrating on finishing up the many

projects we have going. However the 14-stall toilet at the PMB Bus

Stop has not started yet and I just finished writing the contract for the

200 tables/benches for the schools in Kenema. When those are

completed, we will be out of projects for this year. We are beginning

writing up projects for 2018 for the couple that will come in after us.

They will get a new budget January 1.

Don will be going to Kenema and BO next week to do an evaluation on

58 wells we have put in in the provinces. The roads are nothing but

huge pot-holes (they call them pit-falls) and this is the raining season.

Those pot-holes are now full of water and you cannot tell how deep

they are. Don is going to hire an okada (motorcycle) to take him

around. An okada can go around most of the pot-holes. I am going to

stay at the Mission Home for the week except for one night. I have

been asked to teach the Temple-Prep class to the Kossoh Town District

Presidency and 8 Branch Presidencies. Of the 8 Branch Presidents only

2 have been to the Temple. The other 6 are return missionaries but all

served missions when there was not a Temple in Africa so they did not

have a chance to go to the Temple. I am thrilled to be given a chance to

teach. This is the first time since I have been in Sierra Leone that I have

been asked to teach. They really want the natives to do the teaching.

That is how they will learn. I really miss teaching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Jeremiah (11 year old grandson) had knee surgery today. He will have a

3 month recovery period.

We miss our grandchildren and our children.

I made a cake and hot chocolate out of the cocoa beans I got in Kenema

a couple of weeks ago. It takes a little more cocoa than the storebought

stuff to make a good tasting cup of cocoa. The cake was good

though.

Monday June 20, 2017

We visited 6 of our job sites today. That was a lot of climbing up and

down the mountains. On one hike down, my feet slid on the loose

gravel and I slid into the back of Don. I was going pretty fast and I

intuitively tried planting my walking stick into the ground. Instead, I

planted my walking stick right on the top of Don's right foot. That kept

him from going anywhere but luckily I didn't throw him off balance. He

turned and looked at me with the sweetest smile and look of happiness

on his face. Melted my heart.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Don is still not bright this morning. Still running a fever and runny

tummy is worse. We will not be going to the office. Don has a hot spot

on his phone so we can have internet service, but all our data is on the

computer at the office. So today will be a P-day.

Friday June 16, 2017

Don has been ill most of the week. We have not worked hard or as long as normal.

Monday June 12, 2017

Don is not bright today. He is in bed with a massive headache, body

aches, runny tummy and fever with feelings of freezing. These are the

classic symptoms of malaria but he has been faithful in taking his

malaria medication so the chance of it being malaria is small.

Bob asked me tonight if I would make a birthday cake for him. His

birthday is in March. I asked him if he got a cake for his birthday and he

said "no". I wasn't aware of that. I told him I absolutely will. He got so

excited. I will let him help me make it and we will have a party for him

and Michaella together. And they will each get a present!