Hello Everyone!
I had another great and busy week in Salone. I hope everyone else had a great week as well. We had some fun experiences, I will share just a few.
This week, it seemed like we just did tons of service. It seemed like everyday we either chopped wood for the Elderly, carried buckets of rocks long distances or pulled water from the well for a few hours. It was all super fun and sweaty as usual. Service has a funny way of making us want to do more and more. I really enjoyed serving the people of this community and creating good bonds with them! We also played a soccer game with like 30 little kids. Every time we walk by this field, they always yell at us to come and play, so when we finally decided to, they were so excited!! It was Elder Pasikala and I against all of them, to say the least it was really crazy! As we were playing a big group gathered together and cheered and laughed the whole game. I am not sure if it was with us or at us, I choose think with us! It is just so fun to play with the kids in this community, and all the parents love it as well!
When a child is born they have what is called a "Naming Ceremony". This is where they celebrate a child being born. They have tons of food and loud music, it is really fun. On Sunday, our neighbor had a big naming ceremony. She is a member but Her Husband is not. So we get there and begin to chop, we are having a good time. All of the sudden four Pastors from The Holy Ghost Fire Church arrive and begin to yell and sing songs. Then everyone joined in and began to sing songs and dance. Once that was over, they then gave The Baby a blessing. While this was happening Elder Pasikala are just so confused and not really sure what to do. After this was done, everyone started screaming "Hallelujah" and"Amen". It was pretty funny and really kind of cool to see. Now I can say I know what goes on in The Holy Ghost Fire Church!
Saturday was a pretty tough day. It was so so hot, we had not eaten anything all day, all of our appointments fell through and to top it all off both of my tires on my bicycle popped which led me to carry my bicycle on my shoulder throughout my area. To say the least I was pretty frustrated. After complaining in my mind for most of the day, I realized that I represented Jesus Christ. I could either let my day go negative or positive. I just began to tell myself "Man Eli, you are just getting a really good workout! You are gonna be so buff!" Although it may sound funny, having a positive attitude about any bad situation can really make the difference in your day! I know that I could not have learned all the things I have so far if I did not come on a mission, although some things are hard, it is all worth it! Hope everyone has a good week, just like I am!
-Elder Morgan
Elder Eli Morgan
Serving in Sierra Leone
Monday, January 28, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
First Baptisms and Learning Patience
Una Kushe! (Everyone Hello! in Krio)
I hope everyone had as good as a week as I did! We had our first baptism that I took part in. We baptized 3 people and it was just really awesome. Other than that, this was just another hard working and sweaty week! I think all of the excitement and new things have worn off, so now it is just keeping up on the grind and really putting some trust in The Lord. I have realized how important it is to have a positive attitude in all we do. I will share my experience from the baptism.
Before I get too much into the story, I want everyone to know about Black Man Time (BMT). This is a real and prominent thing here in Africa. BMT means that if you schedule something for 7 o'clock pm, no one will arrive until 8:00 - 8:30 pm. So nothing here starts on time...ever. Church is better, but still no exception. We usually start 15-20 minutes late every Sunday. When I first arrived here, I really struggled with this because it would completely mess up our day, but that is just the culture here!
So now knowing that, this story will make more sense. We had the baptism scheduled for 9:00 am on Saturday. We thought that people would actually show up on time because we really stressed the importance of it to the people we are teaching. So 9:00 am rolls around and of course there is no one around. The baptism actually started at 11:00 am because that's when everyone showed up. After everyone showed up, we came to realize that the guy that was suppose to bring the baptismal clothes did not bring them. So He ran back to get the clothes and that took time because he actually had to run. After He came back, we realized he did not bring enough clothing and so I got stuck wearing a women's baptismal gown. To say the least I was pretty annoyed and so I said a few prayers to soften my heart. I was still pretty annoyed, until I got into the baptismal font and saw my investigator come down the stairs. I then had an overwhelming sense of love and compassion for these people. I realized, that the circumstances did not matter, no matter how many things went wrong, they were still being baptized. That is what really matters. I am really pretty grateful for this experience.
We had a nice week. On Friday we had our Transfer News. Our zone got together and had some food and received the news. We were all expecting my Companion Elder Pasikala to go, but He is staying for another transfer. It will be nice to have Him finish off my training. He really is an awesome guy who teaches me so much! We also had a District Activity on Saturday, where we ate food and watched a movie. It was a fun activity!
This week I really learned that I cannot control everything. This is somewhat hard for me to learn, not going to lie. Back home, I realize that I was somewhat of a control freak, at least in my mind I was. But being on mission, I am forced to be more comfortable with not letting the things I cannot control get in my head. I think this goes for every situation! We can control ourselves and that is about it. Over all, a good lesson and much needed for me at this time! A good week to say the least! Sorry no fun or super exciting stories! Maybe next week!
Love ya guys!
-Elder Morgan
I hope everyone had as good as a week as I did! We had our first baptism that I took part in. We baptized 3 people and it was just really awesome. Other than that, this was just another hard working and sweaty week! I think all of the excitement and new things have worn off, so now it is just keeping up on the grind and really putting some trust in The Lord. I have realized how important it is to have a positive attitude in all we do. I will share my experience from the baptism.
Before I get too much into the story, I want everyone to know about Black Man Time (BMT). This is a real and prominent thing here in Africa. BMT means that if you schedule something for 7 o'clock pm, no one will arrive until 8:00 - 8:30 pm. So nothing here starts on time...ever. Church is better, but still no exception. We usually start 15-20 minutes late every Sunday. When I first arrived here, I really struggled with this because it would completely mess up our day, but that is just the culture here!
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| Their Chapel |
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| Eli's First Baptisms |
This week I really learned that I cannot control everything. This is somewhat hard for me to learn, not going to lie. Back home, I realize that I was somewhat of a control freak, at least in my mind I was. But being on mission, I am forced to be more comfortable with not letting the things I cannot control get in my head. I think this goes for every situation! We can control ourselves and that is about it. Over all, a good lesson and much needed for me at this time! A good week to say the least! Sorry no fun or super exciting stories! Maybe next week!
Love ya guys!
-Elder Morgan
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| I Gave My Monkey Friend a Lollipop |
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| All these kids always sit with us when we go to a specific lesson. I asked to take a picture and they all jumped on me! |
Monday, January 14, 2019
Bo Games and Training Leaders
Una Kushe!
What's Up everyone?! I had another wonderful and exciting week this last week. I hope everyone did as well! I will share two experiences from the week that I really enjoyed and found somewhat different.
Before I share those experiences, we had a multi zone activity today! My Zone made this big activity called Bo Games. We do different team building activities and played Rugby and Soccer. We ended up taking second place, but it was still just super fun to go and run around and get sweaty!
On Thursday Elder Palacay, one of our Zone Leaders, went on an exchange with me in my own area. This was a great experience for me. I planned out our day, which was nice because I made it so we left earlier and came back later. We had a busy and successful day. It was also good for me because I could not rely on my companion for directions. I had to show Elder Palacay everywhere by myself, which I was a little bit nervous about, but it was great because I did everything by myself. Throughout the day I learned so much from Elder Palacay, He truly is a great example to everyone in the Zone. He really said some nice things about my planning and enthusiasm for the work that made me feel pretty dang good! Overall, just a very successful day and made me really want to get out of training and hopefully train another missionary!
On Saturday Night our Stake had a meeting with the Stake Presidency, all of the Bishops and all of the Missionaries. Our purpose was to talk about how our Stake was doing compared to 2017. it sounds like a great idea right? Well not really. Let me just say first that our purpose in this mission is to not baptize for quantity but for quality. To really find the people who will help build up the Church in Salone. So the meeting began and it was going well, until it came to the topic of baptisms and missionaries. Oh man, I think they just called us there to roast and yell at us. It was a rough meeting to get through because these leaders do not understand the importance of having Active Members. They just want to baptize baptize baptize. When we explained that it was not our purpose to just baptize anyone with a face, they really blew up on us. It was quite an experience. But you must realize that The Church is literally 3 years old here. We have to have so much patience because it is hard when even The Stake President does many things wrong. But it just makes me want to help that much more. I have realized that trying to correct every little thing is not the way to go. We must have patience and a spirit of charity and humility with these leaders. It is quite an experience.
Overall, I had a great week. I am slightly sad because we think that Elder Pasikala will be getting transferred this Friday! I have really come to love Him as a friend, leader and companion. He is such a good guy. I am excited to see if I do get a new companion though.
Being in Salone at this time is really a once in a life time experience. I wake up almost every night now drenched in sweat because it is dry season, and sweat continuously throughout the day. But I love it and I am really realizing that 2 years is short! And so I am trying to soak it all up!
Hope you all have a good week like I am going to have!
-Elder Morgan
What's Up everyone?! I had another wonderful and exciting week this last week. I hope everyone did as well! I will share two experiences from the week that I really enjoyed and found somewhat different.
Before I share those experiences, we had a multi zone activity today! My Zone made this big activity called Bo Games. We do different team building activities and played Rugby and Soccer. We ended up taking second place, but it was still just super fun to go and run around and get sweaty!
On Thursday Elder Palacay, one of our Zone Leaders, went on an exchange with me in my own area. This was a great experience for me. I planned out our day, which was nice because I made it so we left earlier and came back later. We had a busy and successful day. It was also good for me because I could not rely on my companion for directions. I had to show Elder Palacay everywhere by myself, which I was a little bit nervous about, but it was great because I did everything by myself. Throughout the day I learned so much from Elder Palacay, He truly is a great example to everyone in the Zone. He really said some nice things about my planning and enthusiasm for the work that made me feel pretty dang good! Overall, just a very successful day and made me really want to get out of training and hopefully train another missionary!
On Saturday Night our Stake had a meeting with the Stake Presidency, all of the Bishops and all of the Missionaries. Our purpose was to talk about how our Stake was doing compared to 2017. it sounds like a great idea right? Well not really. Let me just say first that our purpose in this mission is to not baptize for quantity but for quality. To really find the people who will help build up the Church in Salone. So the meeting began and it was going well, until it came to the topic of baptisms and missionaries. Oh man, I think they just called us there to roast and yell at us. It was a rough meeting to get through because these leaders do not understand the importance of having Active Members. They just want to baptize baptize baptize. When we explained that it was not our purpose to just baptize anyone with a face, they really blew up on us. It was quite an experience. But you must realize that The Church is literally 3 years old here. We have to have so much patience because it is hard when even The Stake President does many things wrong. But it just makes me want to help that much more. I have realized that trying to correct every little thing is not the way to go. We must have patience and a spirit of charity and humility with these leaders. It is quite an experience.
Overall, I had a great week. I am slightly sad because we think that Elder Pasikala will be getting transferred this Friday! I have really come to love Him as a friend, leader and companion. He is such a good guy. I am excited to see if I do get a new companion though.
Being in Salone at this time is really a once in a life time experience. I wake up almost every night now drenched in sweat because it is dry season, and sweat continuously throughout the day. But I love it and I am really realizing that 2 years is short! And so I am trying to soak it all up!
Hope you all have a good week like I am going to have!
-Elder Morgan
Monday, January 7, 2019
Hard Times and Tender Mercies
Hello Everybody!
Well yet another exciting week in Salone. We really do have new experiences everyday! Here are a few I want to share this week:
The first- On Tuesday we were teaching Sister Gifty, who is preparing for baptism, while we were teaching her I saw her Grandmother fall and nailed her head on the concrete. I ran over there and we ended up taking her to the hospital. I had blood all over me! After the hospital just went to our next appointments and I got some pretty weird looks haha.
Second- We have recently began to teach a blind man named Brother Kouja. He was a member of The Holy Ghost Fire Church. He is so faithful and loves to speak with us. He recently began to say that He is possessed by a demon. He says that His wife was a witch and had cursed him and now he is overcome with a devil. He asked for a Priesthood Blessing and asked me to give it. He wanted us to cast out this devil. I really did not feel like that was right, and so I gave him a blessing of peace and comfort. Afterward, we talked with him about having faith to precede the blessing. He said that since that blessing, He has not had any 'episodes'. What a great experience.
Third- On Sunday we had to go to a neighboring area so that Elder Pasikala could do some Baptismal Interviews. On our way back to our compound, we were stopped by a minister preaching to a big group of men. We walked over and they were arguing about 2 questions. (1) Was Egypt apart of Africa or was it separated by a canal in The Old Testament and (2) If Jesus was black. I actually was trying not to laugh when they were explaining the reasoning of these questions. We actually never got the opportunity to say what we thought, because 2 new questions were brought up - Jesus Christ is not the real name of Jesus Christ and something about Adam and Eve. We explained to everyone that Jesus Christ is His real name. The Pastor was speaking very incorrectly about the commandments God gave Adam and Eve and making us read all of these scripture verses in the Bible. He was screaming pretty loud and so a big crowd assembled. Once He was finished I just simply said ' All these verses are very nice, it seems like you are very knowledgeable about the scriptures. That is very impressive. But the Lord actually gave Adam and Eve two great commandments.' I proceeded to show Him and he got really confused and said He had to go. After He had left we taught a small lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel and gave out some pamphlets. A good experience! This truly goes to show that small things really do confound the wise!
We had our first 2-hour church today. It was pretty hectic. Like I said a few emails ago, we truly are building the church here. They do things a bit different over here.The saints here have exceedingly great faith. The big problem we have is that they are all very used to loud screaming and music in their old churches. We have to be very patient with everyone because sometimes they don't teach correct doctrine form our Church haha. I truly love these people. There is a sense of innocence among them that I have never seen! It is wonderful.
Like I mentioned last week, it was tough. It has been a tough month. It took some hard thinking and praying, but I know prayers can be answered! I have realized that it is all a mindset, you can either let all these things get you down or you can simply not. I think I like it better the second way. This week has been full of blessings. I will mention two.
The first is a package I received. I received a big box from another missionary. He is home for a big surgery, He was a total stud out here and well respected. His family had sent a big box full of American snack foods and treats. Along with all the snacks was a calendar made for me by my family! It was such a much needed and enjoyed package.
The second blessing was in Church on Sunday. We were in Sacrament meeting and there were a few things that they were doing wrong. Instead of thinking negatively about it, I had the overwhelming sense of love for the members. I knew they were trying the best they knew how and that it was not done in bad intention. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from these people!
Overall just such a good week with many blessing that were much needed! Hope all is well in The United States!
-Love Elder Morgan
Well yet another exciting week in Salone. We really do have new experiences everyday! Here are a few I want to share this week:
The first- On Tuesday we were teaching Sister Gifty, who is preparing for baptism, while we were teaching her I saw her Grandmother fall and nailed her head on the concrete. I ran over there and we ended up taking her to the hospital. I had blood all over me! After the hospital just went to our next appointments and I got some pretty weird looks haha.
Second- We have recently began to teach a blind man named Brother Kouja. He was a member of The Holy Ghost Fire Church. He is so faithful and loves to speak with us. He recently began to say that He is possessed by a demon. He says that His wife was a witch and had cursed him and now he is overcome with a devil. He asked for a Priesthood Blessing and asked me to give it. He wanted us to cast out this devil. I really did not feel like that was right, and so I gave him a blessing of peace and comfort. Afterward, we talked with him about having faith to precede the blessing. He said that since that blessing, He has not had any 'episodes'. What a great experience.
Third- On Sunday we had to go to a neighboring area so that Elder Pasikala could do some Baptismal Interviews. On our way back to our compound, we were stopped by a minister preaching to a big group of men. We walked over and they were arguing about 2 questions. (1) Was Egypt apart of Africa or was it separated by a canal in The Old Testament and (2) If Jesus was black. I actually was trying not to laugh when they were explaining the reasoning of these questions. We actually never got the opportunity to say what we thought, because 2 new questions were brought up - Jesus Christ is not the real name of Jesus Christ and something about Adam and Eve. We explained to everyone that Jesus Christ is His real name. The Pastor was speaking very incorrectly about the commandments God gave Adam and Eve and making us read all of these scripture verses in the Bible. He was screaming pretty loud and so a big crowd assembled. Once He was finished I just simply said ' All these verses are very nice, it seems like you are very knowledgeable about the scriptures. That is very impressive. But the Lord actually gave Adam and Eve two great commandments.' I proceeded to show Him and he got really confused and said He had to go. After He had left we taught a small lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel and gave out some pamphlets. A good experience! This truly goes to show that small things really do confound the wise!
We had our first 2-hour church today. It was pretty hectic. Like I said a few emails ago, we truly are building the church here. They do things a bit different over here.The saints here have exceedingly great faith. The big problem we have is that they are all very used to loud screaming and music in their old churches. We have to be very patient with everyone because sometimes they don't teach correct doctrine form our Church haha. I truly love these people. There is a sense of innocence among them that I have never seen! It is wonderful.
Like I mentioned last week, it was tough. It has been a tough month. It took some hard thinking and praying, but I know prayers can be answered! I have realized that it is all a mindset, you can either let all these things get you down or you can simply not. I think I like it better the second way. This week has been full of blessings. I will mention two.
The first is a package I received. I received a big box from another missionary. He is home for a big surgery, He was a total stud out here and well respected. His family had sent a big box full of American snack foods and treats. Along with all the snacks was a calendar made for me by my family! It was such a much needed and enjoyed package.
The second blessing was in Church on Sunday. We were in Sacrament meeting and there were a few things that they were doing wrong. Instead of thinking negatively about it, I had the overwhelming sense of love for the members. I knew they were trying the best they knew how and that it was not done in bad intention. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from these people!
Overall just such a good week with many blessing that were much needed! Hope all is well in The United States!
-Love Elder Morgan
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| Elder Pasikala's Long Walk |
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| Elder Pasikala's Long Walk |
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| Elder Pasikala's Long Walk |
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