A little of this and that ……..

Here's one of the stands we like to stop at to get fruits and vegetables.

At the far left is, Jenneh, the owner of the stand.  This is a great place to get wonderful pineapples, bananas, cucumbers, avocados, and some things I'm not even sure what they are!!

Every time we drive over to  Bushrod Island, I notice this cute little blue shop.  We finally stopped and I bought one of the large hand carved wooden spoons they sell.  Cost?  

150 LD or just less than $2.

Yep, the Rainy Season has begun.

It was nice when Elder Price and Elder Kamara left for church!  Some nice members gave them flip flops to wear home and bags to put their shoes and scriptures in.  Some of the puddles were so deep, that they had to roll their pants up above their knees to walk through them.  We stopped to give them a ride, but not before I took their picture.

This is Abraham - a security guard at our compound - his girlfriend Princess and their daughter Jocelyn.  One day, Abraham asked Elder Berrett if he had something he could read about our church.  He gave him some pamphlets and had the missionaries come talk to him.  Now he and Princess are scheduled to be baptized next month.  Elder Berrett had just helped them fill out their application for a marriage license.  They will be married on May 31.  Abraham asked Elder Berrett if he would baptize him! 

Could not get Jocelyn to smile.  Loved those chubby cheeks!

We were fascinated by Princess' hair.

  Another great hair do - This is Sister Muzambi's.  She told us it took the lady who did it only 30 minutes and it should last for about a month.   

Here's Rose, a little girl we meet at church.  Notice her fun hat.  

This is a little boy in our New Kru Town Branch.  His name is Obama.  

We are always amazed by the 'toys' the Liberian children play with.  Notice this little guy with a wheel on the end of a stick.  He was having the best time just running around, pushing his stick, and watching the wheel turn around and around.  We also see kids with paint rollers on the end of a long stick and they will be doing the same thing - just pushing the paint roller along watching it spin around and around.  

Some fun pictures from our week….

Sometime we have a craving for something like a good Whopper Junior from Burger King.  The missionaries told us about a place called King Burger.  With a name like that, we knew we had to go try it!  Can you read on the menu where it says, "With burgers, crunchy chicken, once you eat, you will never forget."  They are right.  We won't!

For months I've watched the pregnant mama goat at the mission office wondering when she was going to have her babies.  Then, I didn't see her for a while and thought she was gone. This week, there she and papa goat were with their two babies.  If I 'baaa' at them, they will lift their heads to look at me.  Wonder what I'm saying to them?

Took the Mission AP's - Elder Finau and Elder Dahlin - to exchange their US dollars into LD - Liberian dollars.  You can see what the exchange rate was for that day - 87.5.  That means, every US dollar is worth 87.5 Liberian dollars.  

Picture of a beautiful Liberian sunset taken from the parking lot of our apartment compound.

Last Sunday was the Bushrod Island District Primary Easter Program.  This is Isaac Weah who is 12 years old and in the 10th grade.  He played for the program and did a beautiful job.  His father, standing by Elder Berrett, taught him to play.  The interesting thing about that is, Brother Weah can't play the piano himself.  

Isaac told us that when Elder Holland came to visit, two years ago, he played for that meeting.  Sister Holland told him she had never seen someone so young play for such a large group.  That she expected to see him playing for the Tabernacle Choir some day.  He could do it!!

Here's a picture of the Primary children getting ready for their Easter Program.  I wish you could have heard them sing.  It brought tears to our eyes.  They knew the songs so well and sang out LOUD and clear.  They also acted out part of the Easter story. It was a beautiful program. 

Some day, they will be the leaders of the church in Liberia.

Welcome to Bushrod Island

This past week brought 6 new missionaries to the Liberia Monrovia Mission - 5 Elders and 1 Sister.  President Kirkham tells us that when new missionaries come, the work really seems to picks up.  Everyone works harder.  Their arrival is a real blessing to the mission.

Here are the 3 Elders that were assigned to our Bushrod Island District and their trainers.

Elder Gunnell with his new companion Elder Agyei from Ghana.

 Elder Osei Narty, from Ghana, will be trained by Elder Anderson.

Elder Amoah, also from Ghana, will have Elder Backman as his trainer.

As the Liberians say, "You are welcome!!"

As we 'carry' ourselves to Bushrod Island.

When Liberians are offering someone a ride, they say, "I can carry you."

***

We wanted to show what we see as we drive onto Bushrod Island and down UN Drive.  We make this trip almost daily.  Sometimes twice a day.  

This is what it looks like as we drive over the Gabriel Johnson Tucker Bridge.

This man is hauling heavy mahogany boards over the bridge on a 'push-push'. 

As we leave the bridge and look to the right, we see all these zinc roofs that have many small businesses under them.  

Motor bikes are no longer allowed on the main roads, so we are now seeing theses Huasha taxis.  They  are like a motorcycle in the front with a seating compartment on the back.  We've seen as many as 6 people get in for a ride.

Need to learn how to drive in Liberia?  You can come to the Island for driving lessons.  We are curious what they teach new drivers.  The condition of the car might show you how the driving is here!

This is the landmark that helps us know where to turn for the New Kru Town Sister's apartment.

The Logan Town, New Kru Town, Point Four, and Doe Community Elders' apartments.

There are 3 apartments on the second floor of this building where the Elders live.

Many people take a wheel barrow and turn it into a business.  This man is selling bread from his.

Put up an umbrella, set up a table under it, and start a business.  Need a pair of tennis shoes?  

OR a mattress?

A quick stop at Family Bakery and you could get some bread, rolls, or even a donut.

We travel under the Bong Mine Bridge as we go further onto the Island.

The Elders on Bushrod love this store.  It's one of the few supermarkets there.  We like to stop there also.

This is just a small sampling of what we see as we travel onto Bushrod Island.  We very much enjoy our assignment to serve with the members and missionaries there.  

Our Beautiful Liberia!

We wanted to share some of the pictures we've taken here in Liberia.  There really are some beautiful things to see here.

This is the view from the balcony of the Mission Office.  You know how I LOVE the ocean, so I especially enjoy this view.

This road is found as we travel to Duala.  Because it is paved, it feels like real neighborhood.

The view from the Mission Home veranda.

We missed not having a garden last year, so we thought this Branch garden project was beautiful.  They grew cabbages that they were able to eat and still have enough to sell.

This is our view as we looked back at the fishing village where we got on a boat to travel to Monkey Island at Marshall.

Look at the interesting way the branches of this palm tree grow.

A view of Broad Street from the top of the Ducor Hotel.  Broad street is the main street in downtown Monrovia.  It has planters down the middle that have iron fences, trees, grass, and benches.  The Ducor Hotel is on the highest point in Monrovia.  It was closed just before the start of the war and has pretty much been destroyed between the war and looting. 

Took this picture as we crossed the bridge from Bushrod Island back into Monrovia.  I loved the reflection of the sun in the water.

Up close look at the boats in a fishing village in Banjor.

Notice the American flag on this fishing boat.  

From the top floor of Hotel Africa.  This hotel was also destroyed during the war.  Look closely and you can see what's left of the swimming pool.

The Liberia YSA Summit will held this July at Rick's Institute in Brewerville.  The school has 500 acres and raises some of their own meat to help feed their students.  I loved the picture of the cows among the palm trees.

It was hard to know when to stop sharing pictures.  We've seen some beautiful places as we've traveled around.  

"I can see it!"

This last Tuesday, we received the final box of reading glasses from our Butler 10th ward.  It was about a month's time between the arrival of the first box and the last - even though they were all mailed on the same day.  It really was just like Christmas for us to get these boxes.  We had the best time opening them up, sorting them by strength, and handing them out.

Here are just a few of the people who have received glasses -

This is Francis Wreh.  He is the reason we suggested sending reading glasses.  We noticed when he came to our Eternal Marriage Class that he would hold a piece of a broken magnifying glass and try and read through it.

He would move the glass up and down, trying to get it just right, so he could see.  You wouldn't believe how happy he was to have 'real' glasses to wear.

 Sister Howard tried on several pair before deciding that these were the one.  After class, she carefully folded up her glasses and put them back in the plastic sleeve they came in before putting them in her purse.

This is Richard Desmond.  He is very shy and quiet so it took real courage for him to ask for a pair of glasses.  Look carefully and you can see he chose the glasses that have small reading lights built into the temples.

Selena Joloka first tried on a turquoise pair of glasses to match her shirt, but these are the ones that worked best for her.  When she put her glasses on and looked down at her Book of Mormon, she said, "I can see it!"  She was so happy.

This is Selena's sister, Theresa.  During the war in Liberia they went to live in Ghana in a refugee camp.  They just recently returned.  They are delightful women!!  

These are just a few of the people who've been helped - so far.  Thanks again to all those who helped with this project.  You really have blessed the lives of many here in Liberia.

"To teach and preach and work as missionaries do..."

 The Ghana MTC was looking for pictures to put up in their classrooms.  They wanted pictures from each of the West Africa Missions showing missionaries teaching.  Here are a couple of the pictures we submitted of our Liberian missionaries.

  We teach an Eternal Marriage class at the Paynesville Chapel on Wednesday night.  We love it when we drive up and see the missionaries teaching under the big tree there in the yard.

L to R - Elders Price, Pearmain, Pishl, Tolar

Here are the missionaries teaching one of the guards at the compound where we live.  Abraham asked Elder Berrett a few weeks ago if he had anything he could read about our church.  He gave him some pamphlets and contacted the missionaries to meet with him.  They've been teaching him and his wife, Princess, for several weeks now.  

L to R - Elder Guymon, a branch missionary, Elder Bosomtwe

 Elder Berrett is doing some training in the yard of the New Kru Town Chapel with Brother Geeplay, the branch clerk, and the branch president, President Doe.

This is Sister Weah, the branch Relief Society President, and me, in the Relief Society room of the New Kru Town chapel.  We were doing some Visiting Teaching training.

When we were home in January, we met a great young man named Alex Vandi from Liberia who is now living in Utah.  He told us about his sister, Margaret, who lives in Paynesville and gave us her phone number.  We were finally able to meet with her this last week.  We gave her some pictures of her brother and had a nice visit.  She wasn't interested in hearing about the church, but we were able to tell her a little bit about it.

The Monrovia Liberia missionaries are working hard to bring the gospel to many.  We love being able to serve with them.