Dental Work in Salone

We didn't get a full email this week from Eli. He had just returned from a long day visiting the dentist again this week to get his tooth fixed. It's a 5-6 hour bus ride either way, so it was later in the day for him when he started chatting with us. 

So, it turns out that they don't use Novocain or pain meds for dental work! He had a filling done without either. It was a rough visit to the dentist and by the time he got home today, he was ready to just call it a day.

We'll hear from him next week, and it looks like we actually may be able to talk to him!

Tooth Pain and Bus Rides

What is up everyone?
Hope all had a great week and ate tons of food!

I had another great week, and I will be sharing a few experiences that happened. First, pertaining to the new form of communication between missionaries and families. This is pretty exciting news and will be well accepted of course! I bet it was super nice for all of the missionaries in every other country to experience this. But for us in a REAL mission, we don't have the convenience of this. It is a little bit more of a challenge here. President Clawson along with The Area Presidency are trying to work on a compromise for us missionaries. It is really expensive to call every week, and the internet cafes can't handle Skype, so I believe they will figure something out...hopefully soon! 

This week I went on an exchange with my Zone Leader. Just like last time Elder Pasikala went and I stayed. Elder Iyalla came and stayed with me. He is from Nigeria and has been a Zone Leader for a year! He is a really cool guy and I got to learn so much from Him. At the beginning of the exchange He told me that He had never seen more than 4 people on an exchange, His whole mission. I took this as a challenge and we ended up seeing 5 people. He was pretty surprised haha. After the exchange He said some really nice things and of course a few things that might help me out. Over all, it was a great exchange and I am glad I got to learn from Him. 

About 2 months ago I began to have some tooth pain. I brushed it off until I was reading my scriptures one day and got the impression I should probably get it checked out. I called the nurse and was soon scheduled to go to FreeTown for a dental appt. It was scheduled for yesterday. So on Sunday me and my ward Mission Leader went to FreeTown. It was one of the worst rides of my life! We used a bus to get down there. First let me tell you a little something about vehicles, buildings, or whatever else you can fit any amount of people into. If the capacity says 60 people, they will pack in about 80-90 people. So we get into the bus and each seat is about 1 foot wide. So we sit down and people start piling in, pretty soon I was squished and sweaty! The seats had about 1/2 inch of cushion and then hard hard metal, it was a bumpy ride! It took 6 hours to get to FreeTown. I ended up seeing the dentist, who showed up an hour late and in sweat pants and a t shirt, and have to go back next week for a filling. It was awesome haha.

This week was a good one, we are working hard on our two candidates for baptism!! We will be having a baptism the last week of the transfer, hopefully it all goes well! Anyways love you guys! 
See ya next week!

-Elder Morgan

The sign in front of our compound that keeps all the tief men away. Wounded Dogs means Attack Dogs where he's at.

Trip to Freetown to See A Dentist

We got a short email from Eli early this morning. Here's all he wrote:

Pertaining to the new missionary calls and Skype- we are not able to do it here. It is very, very expensive and troublesome to do it, so until further notice we are not able to do anything except email. But we think President is working on a way to do it, but we will receive news within a week or two. 

This week I am in Freetown. I rode by bus last night for about 5 hours. Not too fun because the buses are very crammed and have hard seats! But I was having some pain in my mouth, and so I called Sister Moomey, the mission nurse. This resulted me in seeing the dentist in Freetown. No need to worry, I will be coming back next week to get a filling done. The tooth had some cracks in the previous filling. I will be traveling back after I am done emailing. I feel pretty bad because I feel like I'm adding more headaches to President's head...haha.

Hope your week was well!
-Elder Morgan

What Happens to "Tief Men" in Salone and Zone Conference

Hello Everyone!
This week was a good one! We witnessed what happens to a "Tief Man" (Thief Man) in Salone and lets just say I don't plan on stealing anything while here. We also had a Zone Conference with President and Sister Clawson. This was super spiritual and really inspiring. 

Like I said above, I now know what happens to "Tief Men" in Salone. I think It was Wednesday. We had an appointment out of our usual area, and so it was a little bit of a walk. As we are walking to the appointment, we begin to hear everyone scream "Tief Tief Tief!" And they ran toward our appointment. We did not think much of it because no one gives missionaries trouble over here. We arrived at the house and soon saw a large crowd. They were yelling and stoning the house. We asked what was the matter and heard that 4 thief men had stolen a phone and stabbed a boy. They then fled the scene and people chased after them. They were followed into that house. We then went to our lesson which was two houses down from the crowd. We began to teach about Joseph Smith, when the crowd broke down the door of the house and dragged 1 man out. They began to stone him and beat him with sticks and anything they could grab. It was crazy. The Thief is lucky this happened in the middle of the day, because if a thief is caught at night they are killed and left in the middle of the street. The worst part about it is, is that a garbage truck will come and pick up the body a few days later. Believe me they do not like thief's! So after they beat this man to near death, they picked him up and held him in a house until they brought him to the Police Station. Let's just say that man was not having a good day!

On a more Spiritual note, we had a Zone Conference on Thursday. a Zone Conference is where all the missionaries in a zone get together to receive counsel from a Mission President and His Wife. This was a spiritual meeting. The big points we were counselled about were Personal Revelation and Responsibility for our choices. When I first got here, and still to today it is very challenging to feel the spirit in lessons for me. There are many distractions and it is always loud loud loud. Whether it be by kids playing in front, in between or on us during the duration of a lesson or loud music blasting all day. It is just tough. So this was a good reminder to always strive to receive the Spirit throughout the day. He then spoke about the mission rules we have agreed to follow. The big point was to take responsibility and consequences for our actions. Also that we should never be relaxed about the rules. It was awesome! After the meeting, He asked to do interviews with all of the missionaries. When it got to be my turn, He gave me some praise asked me one question and then asked if I had any questions. A great interview to say the least. 

Overall just a good hard working week. We are still trying to see all the potential investigators, which is going very well. We are planning on baptizing 2 people at the end of this month. I am very excited because one of them has been taught for almost 2 years! The other, we began teaching my first transfer and I am so excited to have them be baptized! Such an awesome experience so far! 

Brother Saidu and I. He will be baptized this month.

 Brother Hindowa and I, He will also hopefully be baptized this month.

The weather is still getting hotter here. This week has been especially hot. This is all preparation for March, which is supposedly the hottest month, and I already know I am gonna struggle if it gets worst than this! This week I woke up every night drenched, like after wrestling practice drenched, in sweat. Realizing I cannot do anything about it is the worst part, so I just try and fall back asleep! But this is a good lesson for me to learn so I welcome it. Well that is it for this week! Enjoy!

-Elder Morgan

Bo East Zone work out

Bo East Zone work out

Eli....being Eli

Kids Love Elder Morgan...And A Very Humbling Week

Hello People of the Promised Land!

How was everyone's week? I had another great week. I went on an exchange and just had tons of fun.

I went on an exchange with some Elders in my District. They are in the area neighboring my own. It is always nice to be able to learn from new missionaries and to see new places. A few weeks ago, my companion Elder Pasikala and I were called to this area, so He could do some Baptismal Interviews. While He was doing these interviews, I waited in another room with the candidates. I began to play and talk with this girl who is maybe 8 years old. After the interview I said goodbye and didn't think much of it. Well while on the exchange, we went to this little girls house and I came to find out by talking to Her Mother that She talks about me all the time. So once the little girl got out of school, she heard we were at her house and she ran all the way home. When she arrived, she ran and gave me a huge hug and stayed by my side the whole lesson. She was pretty sad when I had to leave and she told me to call her haha. Pretty funny story.

The Reggae Gang

Other than that, we had just a good hardworking week. We are having a Zone Conference this week and so our zone has been making preparations for that. We have been really trying hard too see all of the less active and potential investigators this week. That has been pretty exhausting, seeing as that our bikes have not been fixed yet..remember what I said about Black Man Time? Yeah, that works for days of the week as well. We are trying to get 2 more people ready for baptism by the end of this month. It is really hard to get people ready for baptism here. It seems as if every person here struggles with the Law of Chastity. They are all from villages deep with in the bush. And they have traditional marriages, so we have to figure out if their marraiges are legit or not. But of course it is all worth it!

This week really humbled me. One example: Our Ward Mission Leader who goes and proselytes with us everyday, has been digging a well this week. We went to go and visit him and I asked if He needed anything. He is preparing for a mission and shared with us His struggles. He has almost no clothing; He eats maybe one time a day; He has no money and His family has rejected Him because they are jealous of His Father. But after naming all of these horrible things, we found Him reading His scriptures and studying. He told us he thanks God for His life and all he has. It really put my life into perspective. Coming from such a nice country, I took so many things for granted. Even here I still live like a King. But I have really understood how blessed and lucky we are in America. I am so grateful for my experiences here! I hope everyone has a good week!!

Love, Elder Morgan

Elder Pasikala and I cooking at Bro. Hindowas house.

Our usual meal

The inside of a house here