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30 June 2014

Miracles

Hello!
Things are going well here in LIB!
I'll just go a bit through the week:
Tuesday: We had district meeting! In the Logantown apartment. I'm not sure if I ever told you that we have our district meetings there... Anyway, the Berrett's joined us, and I received the package! :D I loved it! I loved all the photos. And the shirt. And the food. And all of it, really. I completely colored the wizard of oz thing! Did you know Dorothy is black? 'cause she totally is. FYI. But we stayed inside all day for that day because of some apartment work [screen doors were being attached to iron gates in Doe Community and Logantown apartments].... It gave me a great chance to absorb that package! Elder Kamara loves that ring and the garments! He says a big "THANKS!!!" :) Also, did you put the chip with all that music in there or not? I couldn't find it... I remember we talked about it, but I'm not sure if you put it in there or not. I read all the letters and everything! It was sweet. [out of seven packages sent, this is the first time any part of one has gone missing, not a bad track record--and it was only a 2GB microSD card with church music.]
Logantown Apartment. Tuesday's District Meeting, courtesy the Berrett's blog
Then on Wednesday we had lessons! We taught a few great ones. Two of them I want you to copy and paste from my letter to the president. [story about J. on Wednesday:] This week there were several miracles in our teaching. First great experience came from a new investigator. This new investigator's name is J. He came to church on Sunday the week previous, and we taught him this past week. He just came from Nigeria a few weeks ago. When he arrived in Liberia, the person who he knew here had switched off his phone, so J. was stranded. J. said a prayer and heard a voice saying, "I will send someone." Shortly after this prayer, J. was in a cab with Sister Maimen, wife to the 2nd counselor in Doe Community branch presidency. He explained to her his situation, and she said that she would help him; she knew a place he could stay. So he moved into a place close to the chapel. Later, as Sunday was approaching, he knew he had to go to church, but he didn't know which church. He asked his neighbor the name of the church close to him, referring to a Pentecostal church that is also close to his house. His neighbor told him, and he wrote it on a piece of paper. He then asked another neighbor the name of our church. They told him, and he wrote that name down too. That night he prayed asking which church he should go to. He had a dream in which he saw a candle near the name of our church, casting light upon it, while there was a candle next to the name of the other church, too. The second candle, however, did not cast any light upon that church's name. He woke up that morning, unsure of exactly what the dream meant. He prayed again, and he heard another voice explaining that he should go to the church that the light was cast upon. With this experience, he has nicknamed our church, "Light of God Ministries," and he recognized it to be true. We are working with him to truly understand the doctrine, and gain a greater testimony, but he strongly said yes to being baptized. He said he has a wife in Nigeria with kids, but we haven't found out if they are legally married yet.
And Thursday was good too! [M. story:] We also had a great experience when we taught a less-active named M. who is an endowed member, mother of a very active branch missionary. We sat with her and found out that she's been visiting other branches occasionally, occasionally not coming to church, and once in a while visiting her old Catholic church. As we sat with her, the Spirit was so strong, and we helped her recognize her own testimony. She knows the church is true, but she has negative feelings for [a branch leader] because of past events. She shared with us a story of an event that drove her to saying that she would never worship in Doe Community branch again until [the current leadership] was released. We explained to her that it's not the church of [the leaders], but the church of Jesus Christ, and His servants aren't perfect, but we need to sustain them. The best part of this lesson was that it wasn't us who taught her, but the Spirit was working so strongly inside her heart. She accepted the invitation to come to church on Sunday, and she did come. She came in near the end of Sacrament meeting, and her first words to us the missionaries (after sacrament meeting) were these, "I'm late." but with more behind those words than just being late to the meeting. It was an amazing experience.
Friday was good, too. We taught more peoples. We saw a couple less actives, one named K., the other named F. I mean, K. is the one we scheduled, but F. was walking by and Francis Essomba, our member, called her over and she was saying, "ah, how'd I fall into this..." We told her that we weren't forcing her to sit with us, but she stayed. We had a good lesson! It started off pretty bad because of the noises around, but it got good at the end. We drove it home... We were inviting them all to church, but F. wouldn't say she would come. We didn't understand why, so we dug deeper. She said it was personal, so we didn't dig deeper right there. We closed, and dismissed some people that were with us, and talked to her. She explained, and I won't tell you what it was, but she feels like she can't go back to the church... Really, it seemed like she didn't feel like God loves her anymore. It was such an interesting lesson, especially because it was such a heartfelt broken-ness... The spirit was so strong; I could feel God's love for her. She was crying (which you understand how big that is here). We are still trying to help her come back, and the Spirit was so strong in that lesson. I just came away from that lesson happy from the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 really is true. And I like it. [Gal 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.]
It was a good week. :) My companion and I are doing awesome, and there's only two more weeks in this transfer! Time's sailing by. Who woulda thought? I love all the support from home, really. Other random things to note... Hm... I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every morning! They seem to make me feel the best throughout the day compared to anything else I've had on mission thus far. Even better than egg sandwiches. Pretty cool, though. I didn't really have much written as far as notes go... It was just a sweet week. I've been trying to improve a lot in everything, especially my patience with kids that are yelling whiteman and chinaman nonstop and grabbing my arm as I walk by. It's really helped as I've been praying for patience! I've been more friendly with everyone, and I've found myself being happier. I've had more energy to do all that, too! That part is good.
Things are going awesome here in Liberia. I love you all so much! :)
Love,
Elder Price


Other non-essential comments:
[Elder Curtis’ middle name is Raine! LeGrand Raine Curtis Jr. (Elder Curtis is a member for the Seventy and the Africa West Area President)]
 WHAT? Mind blown.

[Response to photos I shared with him from our family blog]

The cat... goodness... my family...

23 June 2014

The Week Was Sweet

Hi there!
Six weeks ago he wrote about baking cookies. Finally the photo.
You can order these great missionary aprons here: (www.missionaryaprons.com).
They make fantastic gifts! (which is how Elder Price got his)
Ah, I see... Rikki's in Alaska... Rikki is so far away.. O_o What's that time difference? [8 hours between Alaska and Liberia]  I've always wondered what it's like to ship your stuff like that. I miss family parties! Especially the nacho bar. Hey, those are sweet pictures! Rikki will be all on her lonesome. And Ryatt will get a sweet room. Is my stereo system still there? [she won't be lonesome, she's joining her husband who is stationed in Anchorage, haha!]

:) Scripture reading! Scriptures are good. Read your scriptures, kids! [I shared with him that we came across his "mission scripture" during our family reading last week (Alma 26:12: "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.") I wrote, "As we were reading scriptures this week, we read Alma chapter 26. Verse 12 made me happy. I stopped Dad for a minute and reminded everyone that was your mission scripture. I also like verse 37: “Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.”]

Ebola is here! True story. I'll get to that...

Notes!

So this week started off with Zone Meeting. To our surprise, President Kirkham came! It was cool. It was really new for me to be giving instruction with a companion, but it turned out well. It was nice to have President there to keep the peace. He announced all the Ebola stuffs: New Kru Town is the real center of it, from a ground view. Nowhere else in the mission, really. Deaths are getting more common than they already were in that area, and it's seeming to be because of Ebola. The elders in NKT and in Point 4 have had to promise to be extremely observant of the rules and very very careful. It was really interesting to hear! Danger is nearby! The zone meeting was good though.
Outside Sis Bah's house, where we eat very regularly. Vera is the one in the black and white, Elizabeth is in the middle
There was a sweet experience this week when Vera and some of the other people like Helena were sitting around and I heard them listening to a song. I walked over and, yep, it was Shania Twain. It was cool. :) [He didn't remember which song. When Rain was young (like 3 & 4), he LOVED Shania Twain. Just last week, Rikki and I heard a Shania Twain song and talked about how it reminds us of the little boy version of Rain. Funny that he would mention it here. I told Elder Price and he said, "It just felt like 15 years ago. ;)" ]

Elder Curtis and a Ghanaian member of the 70 came to church on Sunday! Total surprise. I was thinking.. "What?!?!" when I walked in. President Kirkham was there, too. Nothing big announced, just visiting our branch it looks like. Probably 'cause Doe Community is more like Dope community. It's sweet. It's "dope". ;) [I asked him to tell me more about their visit:]  I shook his hand! He remembered me from zone conference a long time ago. He bore his testimony, shared a sweet story. ;) his accent is so thick though... it's crazy! The other guy's name was really hard to remember and pronounce. [he thinks it was Elder Yirenya-Tawiah. I asked where Elder Curtis was from, to have such a thick accent. He said, "Utah!"]

I realized something as I went on an exchange this past week: I never told you that Elder Widdison is my mission grandfather. He was Elder Manqana's trainer! I went on exchange with him. It was a really great exchange; I learned a lot. Of course, I was the one to give "training," but he's an old missionary and is really good. It was awesome.

Also, thinking about Ben's practice and Uncle Leif, an adjustment would feel AMAZING. I'm pretty sure my back has never been this messed up. [one uncle is a physical therapist and the other is a chiropractor]

This week has been really good! I've been doing my best, spending good times with other elders and teaching. We haven't had as many people super close to baptism this week, but we're working to find more people, mostly families. It seems like this graduation business is really messing with everyone's schedules though. Graduations here are different, they throw a big party no matter what, and they even have more graduation stuff for other grades graduating, not just at the end of 12th grade.

June 14th Baptisms
May 24th Baptisms

Teaching's been good; I'm trying to improve a ton lately. I'm trying to just be a better teacher and get more used to it all again. The exchange with Elder Widdison had a couple good lessons, but one about a guy named... is in my letter to the President. On Sunday we mostly spent the afternoon going to Elder Burr and then Elder Ayim 'cause they both had interviews for baptism. It's so cool to do baptismal interviews with those that are truly prepared. I contacted the guy from Elder Ayim's place when I was with Elder Nakale on exchange into Point 4. The guy is legally married and now he and his wife (who used to be a Muslim) are getting baptized. It's amazing. :) I did his interview while my companion did his wife's.

The week was sweet. It feels like it's been going fast... already into week 3?! [of this transfer]  Yeah. June is almost over. But it's pretty weird to think about it, 'cause my brain still interprets months to go with seasons, but here... it doesn't!

Truck Ride (May 24th)
Things are good. I'm doing well! I'm just trying to improve as much as I can. There are new experiences every day that I forget to write down. I haven't been doing too well with my journal, either. But anyway, last week playing football [soccer] was pretty fun! Didn't hurt my feet as much. I can't wait to get back to exercising for real. Running exhausts me now; I just want to be strong. Can't wait to train for an ironman. When I put bleach in the bucket to bathe with, it always makes me think about the swimming pool back home 'cause it smells the same. Swimming will be fun! And cycling, and running.

Hey, can I have Dad's motorcycle? :D

Anyway, I love you guys so much. :) Have an awesome week. Rikki, stay safe, do good things, remember your name. :)

Love,
Elder Price

[He followed up with a whole bunch of photos. I posted most of them separately. Click here to view the photo post.]
-----------------------
Excerpts from this week's letter to his mission president:

Dear President,
...
Doe Community is doing well, and it was neat to have you, Elder Curtis, and the member of the 70 from Ghana with us in church yesterday. The branch is doing great things, and there are many members that are wanting to proselyte with us. We are trying to improve on referrals, however, so we are encouraging the branch to bring us their friends and family. We're focusing on this one because Elder Kamara and I have noticed our pool of investigators getting smaller as we are baptizing, though this has given us a great chance to increase how many lessons we have with recent converts each week. It's the first time that that I have personally experienced such consistency in teaching the after baptism lessons, and I see a huge difference in the converts' strength for the better.

My companion and I are doing well; we have been trying to find more serious investigators and lift the branch as much as we can. There was a good experience this past week as we visited one of our investigators. We met with a man named Au., and afterwards we decided to talk to his daughter about us coming to teach her. Although she's an investigator's daughter, she's still mature, probably in her late 20s or her 30s. She was very open to us coming to teach her, and we set an appointment for a couple days later. The lesson with her was sweet, and we were able to really focus on families. Even though her father has had a hard time understanding very well as we teach, she was very quick to understand. As we were teaching, her daughter was talking a ton, and such a family atmosphere gave us an amazing chance to talk about how our message helps families. She told us that she isn't living with anyone, and her father comes to church nearly every Sunday, so I have hope for her to progress.

I had the chance to go on an exchange with Elder Widdison... Elder Widdison is a great missionary. He teaches powerfully and by the spirit. He's pretty far on his mission, but he's still humble, trying to improve and to learn. He is trying to finish his mission strong... He's patient, and I learned a lot from him on the exchange. On that exchange we had the great opportunity to teach a man who is currently awaiting a signature from the president of Liberia so he can be appointed [to a prominent position]. He doesn't see himself as a "bossman," so he humbly listened to our message sincerely. Yesterday he came to church for the second time, and he is the man who was sitting behind you on your left who asked if it is okay for him to invite other people to visit the church. He's a great investigator, and it is wonderful to see how the Lord prepares people to receive his message.

...

I'm doing my best to incorporate doctrines as I'm teaching, and I'm trying to continue to become a better leader and teacher. Thank you for all of your help and counsel.

Sincerely,
Elder Price

Photos!

It's been many weeks since Elder Price has sent us photos--this was my exciting Monday morning bonus. Only a few descriptions, but I'll update with more information if/when I get it from him.

Panorama off the balcony [his apartment on Bushrod Island]:

massive dragonfly
the sisters told me to be in the picture



Catching a ride in a truck
View from the back of the truck.



 
those piles are made into bricks
 

Not just about the pineapples.
He found that Proto paintball jersey for sale in Liberia.
A Lego Paintball guy we sent
"look at the labeling on the nutella jar ;)"
His CTR ring is sure getting worn. CTR =  Choose the Right

And this one, from early March in Paynesville. Go Chargers!

16 June 2014

I Caught a Fish

Dear Family!

Your trip looks awesome! I do miss that, I do. :) The pictures are great! Plus the stories are good too. I miss the temple, that's for sure! I sometimes think about the last family reunion; I can't wait for the next one!
[This week's letter from us was mostly a photo log of things we did in San Diego last week--part of which was celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.]

That's a sweet Father's Day article. I forgot about that picture! I'm glad you used it. :)
We took this last summer, shortly before Rain left for Liberia.
The work is great! I'll start with my notes ('cause I didn't prewrite this one):
I spent three days proselyting with Elder Gharbin! That's the first note. My companion was showing Elder Osatohangbon his area, so that's what we set up! It went really well. It was good to feel like I really have a handle on my area, where things are, etc. It felt like a strong week for me, just in my mood, etc.

"How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?" --great quote from President Uchtdorf. :)  [I'm always thanking God for "Rain."]

I caught a fish! I'll get back to that.

Still no package, but it'll come eventually, right? ;)

Uh... I have a story about a breast infection thing that I saw this week, I'll get back to that.

Did I ever tell you that I got a paintball jersey? Heck yeah! It's a Proto jersey. It's not bad, I like having it out here! The only problem is that it's huge. I wear it around the apartment.

This transfer is 5 weeks! [instead of the normal six week duration]

Okay, here's some real email stuff:
Tuesday: Proselyted. District meeting first though! The two districts in our zone combined so that President Kirkham could come to them (he was expecting our zone meeting this week. But that's this coming week! Tomorrow!) and that wasn't bad! We taught six lessons, and it looks like J's husband isn't helping her for the marriage. Ever since that lesson, we haven't seen her anywhere. People told us that she went to Red Light, but we don't know if she's coming back.. I think it has something to do with this marriage stuff and that her man isn't helping to reach that goal. Su. bounced us all week, so we haven't had a single chance to see her. We've been helping some less actives and recent converts more, though!

Wednesday and Thursday: Another couple of days! Five lessons on Wednesday, Six lessons on Thursday. Saw some people, I taught a man named Vorkpore for the first time. He's working hard to get married, Elder Zaugg and Elder Kamara taught him a bunch before. He's awesome. Nothing of note, just preparing our four people to be baptized that Saturday!

Same with Friday, really. But we had a bunch of bounces throughout these days. So many people not being there, it was unusual for Doe Community! Our investigators promised on Sunday to be there better, though.

One one of these days we were by Samuel's house, which is on the riverside (I've taken some pictures in the past [although we have yet to see said photos]), and there were some kids fishing on the edge! They just had a hook, a small piece of metal tied as a weight, the fishing line, and the bait. Just throw the line into the water and draw it in! I caught a fish! A catfish. It was pretty neat. :) [Did you keep the fish?] Haha, no, we put it in a bucket with the other fish. :) [for the fisherkids to eat]

Saturday was the baptism! We baptized Ja, Ev, Bl (Fa's sister), and Ch (our security guard!). It was a good baptism. :) Afterwards we went and taught people! We saw A. again, but on our way something gross happened. We were walking when we saw this guy who contacted us once, so I invited him (again) to church ('cause he's never visited). He was telling me that his wife/woman/or something was ill, and that it was a hard time for them and that they didn't have money for the treatment or anything. He proceeded to go into his house and bring out a woman holding her exposed breast. Now, seeing that out here isn't uncommon, but this was different. There was some greenish/grey paste around the whole thing ("country" medicine), and there was a giant infection. Giant one. My companion was texting the APs at the time, so he didn't see, but... yeah. I did my best to look at the man, even though he was pointing to it a ton, and I just invited him to church. Cool thing about it is: HE CAME! That was sweet. He's only here from Sinoe county to try to get some big position in the government, so we can't baptize him 'cause he'll be going back. But if he ever moves, he said he's going to join us. The branch president had a good interview with him. :) Well, seems like I've jumped to Sunday. Sunday was a bit smaller than usual at church, only 14 [investigators] (in comparison to the 24 of the week before? yeah, small...) but it was good. I think it might be because we baptized four investigators, so they stop counting. We're going to be filling our pool of investigators in the coming weeks. :)

It was a good week! APs told us last night in followups that this transfer is only five weeks long because of missionaries going home, etc. So it might be my last five weeks with Elder Kamara, but then again, he might stay... Who knows! The apartment has been different now that we have four people there, but I'm adapting.

The work is great. I'm trying to really find myself lost in it more, and I've been trying to improve so much. It's crazy that in two transfers I'll be one year on mission, but at the same time... It feels like I'm still a young guy on mission. I know this mission is different, but I'm sure there are reasons for me being sent here and learning these things.

I love you all, have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Price

Q: What happened with your cold last week? Are you feeling better now?

A: yep! feeling better. I've been working out a bit harder every morning, too. So that's helped my energy. Gonna go play some soccer on the beach today!

Q: Cool!! Do you guys hear much about the World Cup there? Dad said that Portugal is playing this morning. I think he may watch it. 

A: Haha, yeah, we do. :) Ghana vs USA! Can't wait to hear that result. I knew that one was today. Isn't it at 10 pm Liberian time? yep. It's cool. I like watching football... but we aren't allowed to, really. We see it in passing. Us elders are really looking at who wins that one. Two Ghanaians in my apartment complex. ;)

_________________________________

Dear President,

This week has been a week of adapting for most of the missionaries in the zone. It has been a good chance for the missionaries to put into practice all the things they have learned about finding families and kingdom builders. Both Logantown companionships, the new Doe Community elders, and the Point Four sisters reported an increase in their finding opportunities because of the recent changes, and they all reported to be searching for families. Even in my own area my companion and I have been teaching several families, and I found the Lord's hand in our missionary work as we have begun teaching a man named A. He's been coming to church, and we recently discovered that he's already legally married! This felt like a miracle to me, because not only is he coming to church and married, but he has a very strong desire to join the church, a desire that has been created through divine preparation. I was planning to share this experience with you before I came to email today, and after reading your email, my testimony in the Lord's hand in our missionary work, who we're supposed to find and HOW we're supposed to find them has been strengthened. They really DO come and ask to be taught.

The zone is doing pretty well. We struggled with member presents this week, but after doing some follow-up we discovered that it is because of the high amount of contacting done this week. It was a good week, however, for recent convert and less-active lessons as well as having new investigators.

My companion and I are doing well in Doe Community. The branch is doing great, and many members are working with us. Of course, just because the branch is awesome doesn't mean there isn't anything to improve on! One thing I see that the branch can work on is home and visiting teaching. As missionaries we are trying to help by teaching less actives more. The branch previously had assignments made, but now several of those assignments are less actives, so we are working with the branch to bring home teaching back and reactivate less actives.

I'm trying to really understand the lessons we teach, and I'm working hard to be a better teacher as well as a better missionary. I will definitely pray more sincerely for miracles, thank you for the counsel. I am trying to remove my habits of pontificating the lessons, and I know this will help in all the ways you have mentioned.

Thank you,
Elder Price

09 June 2014

Earrings in the Mud

Hey, Family!
Basically, I wrote my letter before I came to the cafe... So, here goes it!:
This week has been interesting! First thing to announce: transfer news! Surprisingly, most everything stayed the same. We are receiving another companionship of sisters, and Sister Iwenofu was transferred. So three new sisters in the zone! Next, wait, I haven't mentioned what's happening to me yet: I'm staying, and Elder Kamara is too! Six more weeks (at least) of zone leader and Doe Community ahead of me. Oh, and now I'm "apartment leader," meaning I handle the funds for apartment supplies for our Doe Community apartment! Which, I should mention, is getting two new missionaries. They will be in Doe Community 2 (we split our area), taking over a portion that has... Well, nearly nobody. two? Yeah. Well, the Elders called to be in my apartment and branch: Elder Gharbin and Elder Osatohangbon (Sp?). You've heard of Elder Gharbin before, and Elder Osatohangbon is from Nigeria, about Elder Widdison's MTC [talking about how long he's been serving]. For the rest of the zone only Elder Smith and Elder Widdison changed. Literally, they swapped places. Hah!
So this week:
Tuesday: We had district meeting! I gave instruction for this one (Elder Burr can ask others to give it). I gave it on.. This: Our purpose as missionaries -- power & authority -- having the spirit -- faith -- diligence -- obedience. I hit pretty strong on that last point at the end, and I felt good about how it turned out!
Wednesday was mission council, so we went in town to the mission office with all the other zone leaders! I really enjoyed it; President talked a lot about teaching the doctrines contained in Preach My Gospel, not expounding other doctrines. As we went through that, I felt like a light bulb turned on in my head about how I can improve more! I've been reading PMG more than ever lately, and I see exactly what I can do better in my teaching. That's mostly it for Wednesday; we taught Chr., our security guard who is being baptized this coming Saturday.
June Mission Council - photo from Liberia Mission blog
Thursday: We taught mostly a full day! Saw a couple people that are near their baptismal dates. Ja. and Ev. are being baptized this Saturday - we taught them. In general, we taught people. Hotel California was playing nearby, however, during the lesson with Brother Botoe. That was funny! His wife fed us Palm Butter, too. Doe Community feed a TON!
Friday: Another day of teaching! We are trying to see all our progressing people... Nothing big of note. Esther fed us after we taught her daughters and son. Oh yeah, a cool experience! We were teaching Su. the law of Chastity, and everything was going smooth. We were continuing with modesty, and I started talking about earrings. Su. has a stud that's a mid-ear cartilage piercing as well as the one standard lobe piercing. Right as we taught it she began to take her extra earrings off, and she threw them into the mud nearby. It was a cool experience to watch her change that fast. Unfortunately, we're postponing her baptism for another week or two to make sure she understands everything very well. [I asked more about this, and he added:] The interview is to see if they've repented, are converted, and such. We want to make sure she understands the commitment she's making. She understands the obedience, but we are just trying to help her to learn the things. Not accept or believe, but learn. 

Friday night I had my hair cut by Elder Widdison with clippers! A slightly more conservative form of the .."Youth" haircut. I like it!
Saturday started with a baptism (in Logantown branch) and went on to lessons. We taught all the people we're going to be baptizing plus another guy. So we started with Ja. and Ev. The reason I always put those names together is because Ja. was a referral from Gardnersville (because her boyfriend is a member) and Ev. lives right next to her, and they always come to everything together. Ev. passed her interview yesterday, and Ja.'s is later this week. Then we saw Su.! That was when we decided to postpone the day for her baptism. Hopefully it's soon! We also taught Bl., Fa.'s sister. She passed her interview yesterday too! Then we taught a man named A. He's married, ring and all, and he's been coming to church for the past month. We taught him for the first time, and he wants to be baptized so much. He recognizes his baptism wasn't done by the proper authority (or procedure, he just tagged along with his wife to her baptism and was baptized too). So, I'm excited to be teaching him. Our last lesson was with Chr., just making sure everything was good for her interview, which she passed yesterday. Transfer news came that night!
Sunday was good! 24 [investigators] at church - Doe Community is always great. Right as church finished Elder Burr and Elder Smith came for the interviews, and then we all crammed (like sardines) into a bus full of other Doe Community members and went to a meeting at the Sinkor chapel in town. The meeting was because they officially created the Paynesville District, which means Doe Community and Logantown branches were moved to the Monrovia District! So now our zone is split in districts. It's interesting! Zone leaders meet with the district presidencies on the first Saturday of each month for the district their zone is serving in, but now I don't know what's supposed to happen now that we're split! We may be going to both Monrovia's and Bushrod Island's!
An Historic Event - Creation of Paynesville District in Liberia
Yesterday I started what I thought was having really bad allergies. All the same symptoms, BAD. And no temperature. This morning I measured my temperature, it's gone up a bit, and I've been getting more of a headache. I'm gonna call Sister Kirkham about that (again, I called her yesterday, and we were just gonna see what allergy pills did) later today. :) Don't worry about me, though. :)
I love you all so much! Things are going well over here. I love hearing about what's going on over there. Thank you for the [Elder Holland] talk, by the way, Mom, that you included in a dearelder. I got that this morning, and it's really good. So, yeah! Until next week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Price

02 June 2014

Doing Crazy Things Every Day

Dad told me about his stuffed cats... whoah. That's certainly... Unique. And the lion switched to unicorn? Yeah, I suspect the Swallow's. :) Tell 'em hello!  [Dale now has a "cat" series going on our family blog. Here's the latest.]
Haha, yeah, a new district soon. [there are currently two districts (similar to stakes) in Liberia--Bushrod Island and Monrovia. They are in the process of creating a third, the Paynesville district.] And Logantown zone is filling up in a week! We'll be having another companionship of sisters and another of elders. More people! It'll be an interesting transfer. We're supposed to divide Doe community into two areas, while some crazy stuff might be happening with Logantown areas. Point 4 is splitting their area, too. Exciting!  
[I told him, "And I heard from Elder Fairwell's blog that "Elder Pentreath, is engaged after being home only a few weeks!" His reply:]
Elder Pentreath is an example to us all. ;)
No more security issues this past week! The other apartment set up a noise trap with glass bottles and thread. Pretty funny. :) The wind blew it over one night and Elder Smith got up yelling "rogue rogue rogue!!!!"... I slept through it.... Haha, looks like I won't be the one to catch him. Which... might not be bad. Logantown actually has dangerous rogues. So... It might be a blessing that we aren't seeing him.
Notes:
For Rikki!: I saw a GIANT crescent wrench and I thought of... Ratchet and Clank. Heck yeah. I was tempted to throw it and see if it returned to me. :)
A Liberian was talking about a woman who flew to America (not her first time going there) and died. Some funny conversations occurred between people there. They said "she's already gone to heaven!" I asked more about that, laughing, and she said that America is "the second heaven!" Haha, what a place.
I bought a cheap small shoulder bag (like the size of my scripture bag, but shoulder bag). It already spoiled... The strap broke off while I was walking over wooden plank bridges and it fell into the nasty nasty NASTY black water puddle beneath. Ah! My stuff was fine, but while cleaning it off, the zipper broke off it! Haha, looks like that bag failed. Don't worry, it was SUPER cheap.
At the baptism, one of the members was baptizing someone... Took them 5 or 6 times! Because of the prayer, which kept on being messed up like this: "father, son, and the blessed holy spirit" (verbatim.). I found the mistake kinda funny. :) It turned out okay, though.
Fa., a young woman, is AWESOME. We were in a lesson with her, her nonmember younger sister, and her mom. Her mom is working to baptism, but we're prepping her sister to be baptized sooner. Her mom went off on a tangent about what Fa. does with her free time. She sits in her room, the hot, mosquito filled room, reading her scriptures and praying. That's all she does. She doesn't go and watch movies ("witness show"), 'cause she knows that could lead her astray. She's converted. DANG!
Yesterday was my first Sunday ever to plan the whole week with our investigators during church! Doe community does that, but Elder Kamara has been doing it. It was new, but good! I like having our plans all figured out beforehand.
Journal entry:
Dear Journal,
I figured I should write, but I am so tired. Today was cool: Vera and Helena taught an entire lesson 1 (restoration) without me saying a word. Go branch missionaries! And to think- Vera is a recent convert of 2 or 3 months. Say what? Yeah. Go her.

I read a bunch of dearelders today-more letters of my friends' emails home. I feel like I hardly talk about my area, my people, my experiences in my emails home. Oops. Sorry, yeah? Taught four lessons today, had a good time, bonded with members, ate Liberian food, basically... lived my missionary life out here on my adventure. Wanna know about how the lessons went? Well, I already had to write that in the area book... Wanna know the cool experience? Well, every second out here is a different experience.
I don't know why I don't share spiritual stories... I guess, I just see it as a part of life!

So, I'm 8 months out! Do you know what that means? It means I'm 1/3 finished! 16 months to go. I'm doing crazy things every day. Walking on bridges of tires and planks, walking through mud and grime (wearing rainboots, but Vera and Helena weren't. God bless them.), eating pepay 'cause Liberian food is good, serving with a Sierra Leonian companion because I'm in West Africa.

I've been trying to take more photos lately. I think that will help describe my mission a bit more than words.
I hear horrible stories . . . One, for memories' sake: [edited/omitted from the blog, maybe a bit much for some readers] ... Also, members sometimes tell me stories of what Liberia was like in the war. I hear stories of their fathers, their mothers being killed, butchered, [and more,  edited]. Grotesque stories coming from a first person witness or two. I hear those stories fairly often... The world is messed up. The news reels don't show jack. . . .
(finish)

There's one! Though it was kinda depressing one... I forgot to write for a few days this week. Oops! It's been good. :) Yesterday there was a guy with an out of tune guitar with 4 strings on it just playing "strum strum strum strum" While saying gibberish! When we were walking by, he said bits including: "white man preaching" "book of mormon" "church" and other random funny hard to hear gibberish. He was crazy energetic and dancing around while yelling this stuff. It was hilarious. :)
The analog dial thing on my watch busted... Like, the adjusting wheel on the side. It's there, but I can pull it out of the watch, 'cause it's not attached to anything. It's still set pretty close to the right time, so it's not a problem right now, but it's something to note!
That's about all for this week. :) Love you guys so much. Next Monday I'll be telling you transfer news. I don't think I'm going, and I don't think Elder Kamara is, either. So... yeah! Love you guys so much!
Love,
Elder Price

[Random Question: is Logan Town one word or two? I think I've seen you write it both ways. Answer: Either! We don't really know...]