Greetings from Freetown,
Ok, so let me first try and answer all of your eleventy-billion questions. My week was great thanks for asking. The most exciting part of my week was definitely the baptism we had on Saturday. We baptized a young boy of 16 yrs old who is amazingly educated for this country. His name is Wusu Samura and he is the son of the Man we baptized 2 weeks ago. Now the whole family is baptized and active. Now the fun part was filling the font before the service. Water here is not always running so in order for anyone to have water in case the pump is locked then you need a huge tank of water that you can draw out of. Well, the tank was not full at the chapel at belliar park (the font is outside) so we could not fill the font. We had to go to the Mission office, which is next door, and steal the water from thier tank to fill the baptismal font . . . Bucket by Bucket. It took like an hour for 8 of us to fill the baptismal font. But we were determinded to baptized these people so we were working hard in our shirts and ties. I actually got to baptize this time and it was pretty sweet.
When we are teaching someone we usually extend the commitment either during the first or second lesson. Now people here learn slowly so we split the first and second lessons into 4 different lessons. So we usually extend the invitation when we start the Plan of Salvation. Their response? Well they have two choices - yes or no. Mostly everyone will say yes, but its up to us to determine whether they will remain active after they are baptized. Teaching straight out of preach my gospel - like having the book in front of me, No. But all of our lessons are derived from it. We teach each lesson differently according to the needs of the investigators. Does it still rain alot - Yes, people here tell me that august is the worst month for rain, but I'm pretty sure September stole the crown from august this year. I'm used to being wet all the time and it really doesn't bother me.
How does Freetown dispose of Garbage? Well in a perfect world we would have trash cans and a dump but this city has NO trash cans so that means that their is trash everywhere. People here litter like its nothing. Our apartment has made friends with the neighbors so we give them our leftover rice in exchange that they take out our trash. Where they take it I don't know but as long as it out of our apartment I'm happy. Other apartments burn their trash, which if jimmy and cj were with me that would probably not be a good thing.
My Krio is coming along just fine. It comes and goes. Some days I can speak it like a Sierra Leonian and others . . . not so much. Krio is dominant in freetown. If i ever go to Bo then the dominant language is Mende but everyone can speak english as well. In Liberia everyone speaks English so no worries.
Elder Kpodi and I get along just fine. We both have a desire to work really hard and our numbers this week showed. We taught 35 lessons this week!!! We had a branch conference this week so our attendance was just shy of 200. We had 41 investigators at church. We have another busy week planned in teaching all of these new investigators.
Mom I'm fine, to answer your last question. This internet is really slow today so I'm not even going to try to send pictures. Osh ya.
Elder Degen
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
E-mail dated 9/22/08
Hello there,
My week was very fine thank you very much. I recieved a new companion this week as Elder Sadare was transferred to Monrovia. My new companions name is Elder Kpodi (the K is silent) from Liberia. (Sadare was from Nigeria). I am enjoying the change as he is a great teacher. He came in March and is only 3 months older than me on mission. He is like 25 yrs old and I am enjoying. We had three leave our apartment and three more come in. We now have four americans in the apartment and two Liberians. So my week was pretty much a farwell tour for Elder Sadare, as he tried to visit every member of our branch in two days. He had been in this area since the beginning of February so it was time for him to leave. Now i am leading around my new companion showing him around the area and telling him who we need to teach. It is kind of weird because he is still my senior companion.
I don't really have any exciting stories like what happened to us last week, but yes Elder Stice and I were the ones Elder Peterson was talking about. We did have an all African service project on Saturday and All the church members in the Freetown District cleaned the streets of Freetown up from all the litter. It looks much better now. I
do get to go to the primary often. I am currently teaching the primary a new song every week. Last week I taught them "Book of Mormon Stories". Its hard for them to learn songs they have never heard of so because I am the only one that knows the tune I go and teach them how to sing. Every week. I love it.
Elder Degen
My week was very fine thank you very much. I recieved a new companion this week as Elder Sadare was transferred to Monrovia. My new companions name is Elder Kpodi (the K is silent) from Liberia. (Sadare was from Nigeria). I am enjoying the change as he is a great teacher. He came in March and is only 3 months older than me on mission. He is like 25 yrs old and I am enjoying. We had three leave our apartment and three more come in. We now have four americans in the apartment and two Liberians. So my week was pretty much a farwell tour for Elder Sadare, as he tried to visit every member of our branch in two days. He had been in this area since the beginning of February so it was time for him to leave. Now i am leading around my new companion showing him around the area and telling him who we need to teach. It is kind of weird because he is still my senior companion.
I don't really have any exciting stories like what happened to us last week, but yes Elder Stice and I were the ones Elder Peterson was talking about. We did have an all African service project on Saturday and All the church members in the Freetown District cleaned the streets of Freetown up from all the litter. It looks much better now. I
do get to go to the primary often. I am currently teaching the primary a new song every week. Last week I taught them "Book of Mormon Stories". Its hard for them to learn songs they have never heard of so because I am the only one that knows the tune I go and teach them how to sing. Every week. I love it.
Elder Degen
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Eric's e-mail dated 9/15/08 - Not too chatty this week!
Hello guys,
My week was great this past week. We ended it with another baptism. This time it was an older gentleman, who in my opinion will serve as a branch president one day. The other baptism was a sister of a member. Sunday was also a good day. Most of our recent converts came to church and we were also blessed with some new investigators that visited the church as well. My companion, Elder Sadare, is going to be leaving me on Wednesday for Liberia. So that means I will be getting a new companion this week. I'll find out if that is a good thing by this time next week.
So I have a story to tell but sadly its not as good through email as it would be if I were telling it. But I will try. So on thursday it rained extremely hard. Elder Stice and I (I was on splits that day) decided to wait it out and sat in an investigators house for like an hour. We realized that it was not going to stop and we needed to start heading back to the apartment because it was getting dark. We had no choice but to trek in the rain. Lets just say that the closer we got to the apartment the worse the rain got. It started out that the water was up to my ankles, then it got up to my knees. By the end of it I was wading in water that was just below my waist. Now that I look back it is very humorous, but at the time. . . . no. I will never forget that day. And the crappy thing was that we only taught two lessons that day and we got filthy dirty.
I won't need a copy of the conference because we get the ensign. we will watch conference on discs like a month after it happens. We have a freezer in our apartment so our water is either frozen or warm depending of if we have power. There is absolutley no milk in this country. Unless you count the powder or the condensed milk. Maybe rechargeable battries would be nice, so i guess go ahead and send them for christmas. I don't need another memory card yet. For the rest of the day we are going to family home evening with a member family tonight. And i'm sure tomorrow we will be visiting almost every member in our branch for my companion to say good-bye.
Elder Degen
PS. Go utes. I am sorry to hear about Sis Nunley. Dad how was work today?
My week was great this past week. We ended it with another baptism. This time it was an older gentleman, who in my opinion will serve as a branch president one day. The other baptism was a sister of a member. Sunday was also a good day. Most of our recent converts came to church and we were also blessed with some new investigators that visited the church as well. My companion, Elder Sadare, is going to be leaving me on Wednesday for Liberia. So that means I will be getting a new companion this week. I'll find out if that is a good thing by this time next week.
So I have a story to tell but sadly its not as good through email as it would be if I were telling it. But I will try. So on thursday it rained extremely hard. Elder Stice and I (I was on splits that day) decided to wait it out and sat in an investigators house for like an hour. We realized that it was not going to stop and we needed to start heading back to the apartment because it was getting dark. We had no choice but to trek in the rain. Lets just say that the closer we got to the apartment the worse the rain got. It started out that the water was up to my ankles, then it got up to my knees. By the end of it I was wading in water that was just below my waist. Now that I look back it is very humorous, but at the time. . . . no. I will never forget that day. And the crappy thing was that we only taught two lessons that day and we got filthy dirty.
I won't need a copy of the conference because we get the ensign. we will watch conference on discs like a month after it happens. We have a freezer in our apartment so our water is either frozen or warm depending of if we have power. There is absolutley no milk in this country. Unless you count the powder or the condensed milk. Maybe rechargeable battries would be nice, so i guess go ahead and send them for christmas. I don't need another memory card yet. For the rest of the day we are going to family home evening with a member family tonight. And i'm sure tomorrow we will be visiting almost every member in our branch for my companion to say good-bye.
Elder Degen
PS. Go utes. I am sorry to hear about Sis Nunley. Dad how was work today?
Monday, September 8, 2008
E-mail dated 9/7/08
Family,
That is cool that the Utes won again. I had a feeling that this season was going to be a good one. And Utah State next . . please we might as well play Murray. Once again, I think that this job change is awesome. It really makes me eager to work with Miro when I get back. Dad you are going to love it. The people you are going to be working with are really good people (excpet for milt and his cussin). I want to hear about it and any other changes with work. And sure, send me your talks for stake conference. I want to hear some deep doctrines. I am finding that I am having so many questions that I know you could answer but your not here. Don't worry we will have discussions when we get back.
To answer your questions. I gave the scriptures to the mission president when I first arrived and he made sure it got to mariamas boyfriend. I actually met him yesterday and he was wearing a university of utah tie. he said thank you and i told him to find me when ever mariama comes back to sierra leone. We always have new investigators every week but the important thing is progressing investigators. And we actually have two progressing to baptism this weekend. One of them is a great man, whose wife has been a member for quite sometime. He was not ready to be baptized when she was but that didn't stop previous missionaries from trying. This sister had actually fallen inactive by the time that I came and we had no knowledge if she was a member or not. While working on a tracting list (finding less-actives) we came across this sister and invited her back to church. She came and this time brought her husband and he is so humble and willing to change I can tell that the Lord has prepared him for bright things in this country. The other baptism is a young woman who is a neighbor of one of our members. Her understanding is slow but she is keeping her commitments and she is ready for baptism. One thing about teaching here is that you have to put everything in simple terms. Part of the reason is that we are teaching young adults and the other reason is that this Krio is like impossible to explain deep things. The krio vocabulary is about 1/10th of the english vocabulary. But the work is still progressing.
We actually had a zone conference on saturday because the second counciler in the Africa West Presidency was visiting. Elder Golden is from South Africa and I really enjoyed his teachings. I learned a lot from this doctrinal man and I hope to put his teachings into practice. So that means I recieved your letter with the schedules on saturday. but the bad thing is that our next conference isn't until october. Oh well. That is all I have for today and have a great week.
Elder Degen.
That is cool that the Utes won again. I had a feeling that this season was going to be a good one. And Utah State next . . please we might as well play Murray. Once again, I think that this job change is awesome. It really makes me eager to work with Miro when I get back. Dad you are going to love it. The people you are going to be working with are really good people (excpet for milt and his cussin). I want to hear about it and any other changes with work. And sure, send me your talks for stake conference. I want to hear some deep doctrines. I am finding that I am having so many questions that I know you could answer but your not here. Don't worry we will have discussions when we get back.
To answer your questions. I gave the scriptures to the mission president when I first arrived and he made sure it got to mariamas boyfriend. I actually met him yesterday and he was wearing a university of utah tie. he said thank you and i told him to find me when ever mariama comes back to sierra leone. We always have new investigators every week but the important thing is progressing investigators. And we actually have two progressing to baptism this weekend. One of them is a great man, whose wife has been a member for quite sometime. He was not ready to be baptized when she was but that didn't stop previous missionaries from trying. This sister had actually fallen inactive by the time that I came and we had no knowledge if she was a member or not. While working on a tracting list (finding less-actives) we came across this sister and invited her back to church. She came and this time brought her husband and he is so humble and willing to change I can tell that the Lord has prepared him for bright things in this country. The other baptism is a young woman who is a neighbor of one of our members. Her understanding is slow but she is keeping her commitments and she is ready for baptism. One thing about teaching here is that you have to put everything in simple terms. Part of the reason is that we are teaching young adults and the other reason is that this Krio is like impossible to explain deep things. The krio vocabulary is about 1/10th of the english vocabulary. But the work is still progressing.
We actually had a zone conference on saturday because the second counciler in the Africa West Presidency was visiting. Elder Golden is from South Africa and I really enjoyed his teachings. I learned a lot from this doctrinal man and I hope to put his teachings into practice. So that means I recieved your letter with the schedules on saturday. but the bad thing is that our next conference isn't until october. Oh well. That is all I have for today and have a great week.
Elder Degen.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Eric's e-mail dated 9/1/08
Holy Crap,
My UTES!!!!!!!!!!! ha, Michigan!! Were they ranked when we beat them? Were we supposed to win? who do we play next? That is wonderful. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA. I am screaming on the inside right now ( if it were to be vocal that would attract way to much attention, white man screaming at a computer monitor?) Oh baby. I am sure we will be ranked now. oh and go justin.
Matthew, my man. I heard it was good. I am way excited to hear about Canada and what missionary life is like there. Enjoy your last week at home and I want your writing address and your email address as soon as possible.
I am sorry to hear that Jessica passed away. I didn't really know her that well but death is never a fun thing to endure. President monson talks about death in Augusts Ensign. I know that heavenly father loves jessica and her family and I hope that it brings them closer together in this time of trial. Let the family know that I love them and pray for them.
Yes I did recieve my package this week. I got a backpack, cd player, journal, and 4 bags of goodies. and a letter. Thank you so much. my companion wants to know how much he needs to pay me so just let me know. I i don't really "need" anything because my basic needs are covered-food, clothing, and shelter.
So my saturday was good as well. WE baptized 4 young people into the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. I was a long day because we started the day with a service project at 7 in the morning. We cleaned a hospital and let me tell you I never want to go to a hospital here. But it is clean now. Sharing testimony is powerful. We went to go and visit one of our baptism candidates after the service and we met with his uncle. We briefly had talked to him before and gave him some pamphlets to read. Suprisingly when we met with him again he had many questions about joseph smith and the book of mormon. We took the opportunity to teach him the first lesson, but he seem unsatisfied with his questions. He persisted in asking more questions. We answered a couple but he still wasn't accepting. I began to bear testimony about joseph smith and the book of mormon and after his questions had ceased. he committed to pray and read the BOM. But I was amazed at how effective a testimony can be. it reminds me of what preach my gospel says "teach and testify, there is no better combination"
The Church is true. Oh and president Golden is coming to visit the mission on saturday. i think you said you know him. that is neat and i will let you know how it goes. i love you and good bye.
Elder Degen
My UTES!!!!!!!!!!! ha, Michigan!! Were they ranked when we beat them? Were we supposed to win? who do we play next? That is wonderful. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA. I am screaming on the inside right now ( if it were to be vocal that would attract way to much attention, white man screaming at a computer monitor?) Oh baby. I am sure we will be ranked now. oh and go justin.
Matthew, my man. I heard it was good. I am way excited to hear about Canada and what missionary life is like there. Enjoy your last week at home and I want your writing address and your email address as soon as possible.
I am sorry to hear that Jessica passed away. I didn't really know her that well but death is never a fun thing to endure. President monson talks about death in Augusts Ensign. I know that heavenly father loves jessica and her family and I hope that it brings them closer together in this time of trial. Let the family know that I love them and pray for them.
Yes I did recieve my package this week. I got a backpack, cd player, journal, and 4 bags of goodies. and a letter. Thank you so much. my companion wants to know how much he needs to pay me so just let me know. I i don't really "need" anything because my basic needs are covered-food, clothing, and shelter.
So my saturday was good as well. WE baptized 4 young people into the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. I was a long day because we started the day with a service project at 7 in the morning. We cleaned a hospital and let me tell you I never want to go to a hospital here. But it is clean now. Sharing testimony is powerful. We went to go and visit one of our baptism candidates after the service and we met with his uncle. We briefly had talked to him before and gave him some pamphlets to read. Suprisingly when we met with him again he had many questions about joseph smith and the book of mormon. We took the opportunity to teach him the first lesson, but he seem unsatisfied with his questions. He persisted in asking more questions. We answered a couple but he still wasn't accepting. I began to bear testimony about joseph smith and the book of mormon and after his questions had ceased. he committed to pray and read the BOM. But I was amazed at how effective a testimony can be. it reminds me of what preach my gospel says "teach and testify, there is no better combination"
The Church is true. Oh and president Golden is coming to visit the mission on saturday. i think you said you know him. that is neat and i will let you know how it goes. i love you and good bye.
Elder Degen
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