Boku Baptisms and Big Transfer News!

Hey Everyone!

Man oh man this week was eventful. We had a 5 ward combined baptism, and I got transferred!! Lets take a look at how it all went down.

Going into this week we thought it would be a regular week but it definitely was a bit different! I'll skip some of the things that happened earlier in the week and talk about the fun stuff.

The whole week we were looking for Friday. Friday was the day that we received our Transfer News. The whole day was pretty crazy and hectic. It reached to 7pm and our District Leader called us with the transfer news. I have been assigned to be an Office Elder. I now live in the Mission Home in FreeTown. I have 3 companions. Elder Dunn, Elder Hansen and Elder McCracken. We have 4 Office Elders because next month, President Clawson is going home and President Harper is coming. We have 4 Elders because of the big projects going on before that switch.  There is a lot of work to be done and we are the ones to do it! It is a lot of work but it is a good time. 

The next day on Saturday we had a Baptism. The day before on Friday, our Bishop called us at 8 o'clock am and told us to go and check the water in the baptismal font. We agreed to go and went to our church at about 11 o'clock. We opened the baptismal font to find very dirty brown water. You couldn't even see the bottom of the font! So we told Him we could not baptize there and then spent the whole day trying to find a baptismal font to go to. We went to 4 other missionary companionship's and came to find out that they did not have any water and were planning to do baptisms the next day as well. So we searched the whole day and finally found a chapel at 6pm! We had 5 wards at one chapel! We then scrambled around till 9 o'clock to tell all the investigators and members. We then baptized 20 people the next day! All turned out alright, but it was quite an experience!

Overall, a great week. I am excited for the new experience and work load. It will be tons of work, for example, we started at 7am today and will stop at 9pm!! Wish me luck and send some prayers for me!

-Elder Morgan

Solar Panels and Killing Cobras...No Big Deal

Hello People,

This week was one to remember. Nothing too exciting happened, just a few funny stories and some good hard work!

First of, we have truly been blessed! We got Solar Power in our apartment!! Since I have been here we have not had any National Power. We have had to use the generator. That means having it on for 1 hour in the morning and 3 hours at night. That also means going to bed sweaty and waking up sweaty and sweating the whole day! Sounds pretty fun right? Well all I can say is that you never truly appreciate the small things until you lose them. But this week we finally got 4 solar panels and can run the fans throughout the night!! It sounds pretty lame but I was pretty dang excited. Made me really grateful for all of the advanced technologies we have in America. 

It also made me realize we take things for granted. Being here I have seen how the poorest of the poor live. Let me tell you, we have many many many good things in America. We are very lucky.

We really did have a good week. We taught many lessons, will be having a Baptism on Saturday, and already committed one other person for next month. The work is sweet and God is good!

This week we had kind of a funny experience. On Wednesday, we stopped by Peter's house, a member of the ward to say hello. As we were talking He pointed out a Cobra on the ground next to me. I looked over and indeed there was a Cobra right next to me. Now before I say this next part, let me just remind you that all Africans are TERRIFIED of snakes. So Peter went to grab a stick to kill it. As soon as He tried to hit it, it slithered inside his house. He kind of screams and said something in Mende and ran into the house. Of course I could not let him go alone and so I followed suit and grabbed a large stone. We entered into the house and tried to kill it but after some failed attempts it slithered back outside and went into a hole. By this time Elder Uko was freaking out because He did not know where it was. So you have me laughing and 2 Africans freaking out. We eventually dug it out, and it tried to bite and spit at us. Being the big strong men we are, we eventually prevailed and relieved it of its life. But then His little snake friends must have heard, because we had 2 of them that were in our compound. But again, being the big strong men we are we were able to relieve them all of this life. It was pretty fun  and a new experience for sure! 

Killing Cobras....no big deal...

Overall, a very good week. We will be receiving Transfer News this week, and I will also hit 6 months. Transfers will be on Monday, so if I am transferred, I am not sure if I will be ale to email. Hope everyone has a great week.

-Elder Morgan

Another Miracle, A Last Zone Conference, and Skype with the Family

Hey Everyone,

This week has been a roller coaster. I have been so filled with Gratitude for my Family and for the Savior. And here is the reason why....

On Tuesday we were leaving our apartment to go and start the day of proselyting. We had just walked past our neighbors house when a young girl named Massah, ran out and told us that Her Auntie was not feeling well. Massah and Her Family are our Neighbors. She asked us to come and do something. We walked into the house to hear screams of pain and see Sister Josephine (The Auntie) rolling on the ground. We quickly calmed Her down and put cold towels on her to cool her down. We then gave Her a blessing. During the blessing she was still screaming and moaning in pain. But right after the blessing, She was totally calm and quiet. We stayed for a while to watch over her while she slept and rested. After our day of proselyting, we went back to check on her and she came out and answered the door with a big smile! She thanked us for the blessing, and I went home feeling grateful and very humble for what had been done. What a great experience we were able to have.

On Friday, we had our final Zone Conference with President Clawson. We sang in a zone choir and had a great meeting. He is such a great President and will be deeply missed. I am also looking forward to see the new mission president, President Harper. He will have a lot of work to do, but I am confident the Lord chooses special people to come here!! 

Eli is in the 4th row, 3rd person over from the left

On Saturday, President Clawson stopped by our apartment and did our final interviews with us. We had a very nice and uplifting interview. He thanked me for how I was training and the diligent work that is happening, He said a few other nice things as well. I left feeling good and grateful I could work under Him as my President!

On Sunday, I also had the opportunity to talk with my family over Skype. Man, those guys are so awesome. I love my family and am very lucky. It was fun to joke with them and talk about my mission life and their life as well! 

Over all such a good week, I am very blessed!

-Elder Morgan

"Untucked" Teaching Elder Uko how to cook

Trying something new to eat

A small house in Batiama Village. Not the greatest quality, because I had to be sneaky!

Happy Mother's Day & Always Being Ready to Teach

Hey People,

First of all, Happy Early Mother's Day to my Mom and all the other Females out there!

I was really thinking about all of the wonderful and hard things my Mom has done to support our family. My Mother really is an angel on this Earth and deserves all the best. She is awesome and I have so much love and appreciation, words can't explain!

Secondly, I just wanted to congratulate Jordan King for receiving His mission call! Tahiti is one lucky place to be receiving such a good solid guy. Jordan has always been a great example of diligence and hard work to me and I am sure He will have the same  effect in Tahiti to other Missionaries and the People. They are very very lucky. So glad to hear about that!

We had kind of a quiet week, nothing too much going on. Just lots of lessons and sweat. 

On Wednesday we had an exchange with our District Leader and His Companion. He is training a new missionary named Elder Obinna. Elder Obinna came to my Area with Me. Elder Uko went to the other Area with Our District Leader.

It was a really awesome exchange! I was glad to help Elder Obinna with a few things and had a good time showing Him my area and learning from Him as well.

On Sunday, we were asked to teach a class for Sunday School. The Teacher came up to us at the beginning of class, and told us He wanted us to teach. So we prepared in 2 minutes and gave an awesome lesson on How we can all be missionaries and tied it in with The Atonement of Jesus Christ! It was a good lesson!

We did have a successful week. We committed 4 more people for Baptism this month! I am super pumped about that because it has been a longtime coming with some of these guys. We have also been having Choir Practice this week in preparation for President Clawson's last Zone Conference!! Nothing too exciting this week, but just good solid work on our part! See you guys next week!

-Elder Morgan