E-mail from 1/12/09

Una Kushe,

Well Hello guys. I hope you are all enjoying the cold cold cold weather. he he he. I don' even know what to say about it except : Endure. This week was back to business as usual. We are once again teaching like crazy. And with my area being named Hill Station, you can sure count on it having alot of hills. By the end of the week I was exhausted because I was on a week long hiking trip with my companion and my scripture bag. But it was all worth it. We ended up teaching 8 new investigators this week, all of them referrals from members or investigators. We taught a man on Saturday named Abraham Amara. When we finally found his house (which took about an hour of climbing one side of a mountain) we walked in and the first thing we saw was an empty beer bottle and a pack of cigarettes. We both were a little unsure at first but I followed my companions lead in teaching the first lesson. Quickly we realized that this man could speak pretty good English, so we switched gears from Krio and continued on. The spirit was so strong this time. I teach many lessons on the restoration and not many could compare with this one. I'm convinced that its up to us as missionaries to explain things clearly AND its up to the investigator to try and understand Then the spirit will testify. I think teaching in English helped but still I know that this man was touched. We left him with an additional assignment to read the word of wisdom pamphlet. He came to church yesterday and I hope he continues. Its so much nicer to teach educated people. We have another man named Jawah who can speak perfect English and I swear after two lessons this man is converted and is already being a missionary to others around him. The Lord has truly blessed us with people who are willing to hear the gospel. We counted this morning that we have around 26 investigators at the moment. And we will be baptizing three of them this saturday. There names are Lansana Sowa, Bashiru Kamara, and Maada Collier.

Ok now for your questions. Our branch has its own building (but no baptismal font so we have to go to another branch for that). We start at 9 and end at 12. Sundays are very unproductive days for teaching. We usually return to the apartment early and cook dinner. I don't attend the Sunday School class, I go to the Gospel Essentials class ( or the investigators class). My Companion and I take turns teaching the class. It is still hot, but its still humid (not dry). Dry as in no rain then yes. When it rains it gets a little cooler but the temperature usually stays the same all year round.

I'm glad to hear the interim head coach got my team a victory. Josh, teach the team how to run "horns". Giving talks are good mom. The human body is interesting. The man named Millsap is pretty good. And Elder Peterson told me the utes are #2. cool.

I hope you all have a very wonderful, fantastic, and jubilant week.

Elder Degen