Ow di bodi,
This week went by very fast. It seems like all the weeks are going by so fast these days. I don't know if that means I'm lost in the work or if the world is speeding up and time really is going faster. Or maybe I'm just getting older. We had a great day at church yesterday. We had 12 investigators at church!!! The past couple of weeks we only had like 5 and 6 (I know that sounds like a lot to everyone else on missions) and I was really feeling like a crappy missionary. But this week completely brought me out of that phase. I was so excited to see all of these people there. The three sisters that we are plannin to baptize this saturday were there and all participated in the Invesitgators class (in which I led a great discussion on repentance). I'm so excited to continue serving these wonderful investigators.
So this past week I got something like a staff infection on my foot. I'm pretty sure it was just a crappy boil but walking around in shoes really hurt. After getting some serious antibiotics from the hospital I was on a no shoe order. That meant I was proselyting in flip-flops for a couple of days. I didn't like flip-flops at home and this experience didn't change that. I was hiking up and down mountains in sandals. My feet were completely black (which made me fit in) by the end of the days. No worries now, My foot is completely healed and my affection for sandals is still the same.
We have been giving a lot of priesthood blessings lately. And everyone tells us the next time we see them that not to long after we left they were healed. My companion loves helping others and looking for opportunities to serve others (other than teaching them).
I also met a sierra leonean from Ogden. Yeah, Ogden! That one city in Northern Utah. I was so suprised when he told me where he was from. He actually worshipped in my branch on sunday and is attending a funeral here and will go back in a couple weeks. If I see him again I will give him your number and tell him to call you when he gets back. Cool huh?
I have just finished a book by Neal A. Maxwell titled "All these things shall give thee experience" It is really good and has some really good ways in which we can improve our lives. One chapter talks about how God really does know everything and Wow. We are literally nothing compared to him. He is so smart!!
I can't remember all your questions because I'm replying to the one that mentions Richard's mission call. And what the heck. You think that living next to each other for 19 years would deserve a break from each other. But nope. All I can say is that God's ways are not our ways and I know that both of them need to be where they have been called. If that would have happened with me and CJ . . . . wow, God was smart to separate us.
Elder Degen
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
E-mail dated 2/16/09
Good Morning my good people,
We just got back from an awesome p-day. We went to see this sweet waterfall in the middle of nowhere. Like its on some random dirt road at the end of our area with the bush all around us. We take a small hike it get to it from the road and Holy cow, it was so cool. Even though it is the dry season their was still plenty of water flowing. In the rainy season it would be so huge. I ended up climbing it to the top and it was so beautiful at the top. We also saw some people living up at the top and i was amazed because they have to go to town to get anything (except water, which they have plenty) and town is a good 30 minute drive. I know they don't have a car so I wonder how they survive. I wonder that alot over here. But anyway the waterfall was really cool and i will try and send a picture when i'm done.Everything else this week was wonderful.
We had a powerful zone conference where president squires gave us some much needed instruction. We are still planning to have the baptism in a couple weeks and they seem to be on target. Not really much else to report except that we walked a lot in the hot sun and taught a lot of lessons. No cool priesthood story this week or killing baby mice. sorry.
About the boils . . . I got a really really big one under my arm in November. Yes everything that you described it happened to me except that it was huge. I got a picture on my camera when it just started (at that time i had like 10 small ones all under my arm) but I never took a picture of it when it was big. he he. Boils are very common here because we sweat all the time. They grow in places that are always wet. Now when I fell i'm getting them then I take cloxycyline (or something like that) and they go away. I will never let them get that big again. Josh, sorry I know how they feel.
We do have an equivalent of stake conference. It is DISTRICT CONFERENCE and we have it every six months just like stake conference. The only difference is that the church makes DVD's and sends it to us and we watch the brethren for 2 hours on the specific needs of Africa. I do not speak in Sacrament meeting a lot because i provide the music everyweek. I guess they feel that I do enough everyweek. We have interviews with mission president every six weeks.
Tell Matt and Scott Congratulations for me. That is so sweet. I guess everyone will be speaking spanish when they get back. CJ and I can speak in our cool african tribal languages. Maybe Richard will be joining them in speaking spanish.
The bottom on one of my shoes are falling apart, but I am still wearing them because they are still comfortable. Another Elder has the same shoes and the exact same thing happened to his and he had is mom go and get him some new ones. I will send some pictures home next week of what the bottoms look like and see if you can get me some new ones. But the ones i'm wearing are fine as long as it stays dry, so I think i'm going to wear these out until rainy season and I know my other shoes will last me a very long time. So I don't really think I need new ones. Maybe we should try so I can have some new ones when I get back. ha ha. That is so beating the system. I'll send some pictures next week. But don't worry.
That is all for this week. Enjoy the cold week to come.
Elder Degen
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hi I'm Elder Degen, Howdy, Howdy, Howdy,
Well, Well, Well, another week gone by. Once again we were very busy throughout the week, teaching like crazy. I don't really know how I do it because my area is one big hill. All the members live on this hill and I really don't know how I get the strength to climb that hill every day. And then get up to do it again. But the Lord truly does bless those who are doing his work. I still haven't lost or gained any of the lbs.
Here is an experience that happened this week. Early Friday morning we got a phone call from a number we didn't recognize. My companion handed me the phone to try and figure out who it was. I honestly couldn't understand anything. I recognized the voice as one of our investigators named Isata Sesay. All I heard was hospital . . . . george . . . not well. George is her small child and I was very confused as she cut the call. (Everything is pre-pay in Africa so we didn't have any units on our phone to call back). We went out to buy units for the phone but when we called back the phone was off. We were already planning on seeing her today so we decided to stick with our schedule. We went to the house to find her just returning from the hospital with her son. She mentioned that it was her that was calling us in the morning and she didn't think we could come fast enough so she took George to the hospital. Now this investigator is illiterate and she has no knowledge as to what a priesthood blessing is, but she felt that we could help with her son. We offered to give George a priesthood blessing and she responded with an emphatic "Yes". We asked if she believed if Jesus Christ could heal her son and once again she answered "yes". I had the opportunity to give this child a blessing and I honestly can't remember anything that I said but I could feel that this blessing was already in effect. On Sunday I asked how George was doing and she responded that George was better that same night that we offered the blessing. I don't know how serious the sickness this child had, for all I know it could have just been a fever. But Isata showed such faith in us and Christ that the blessing worked immediately. The priesthood is real. I'm just humbled that I'm numbered among the very few that God trusts with it.
I recieved the package this week. And thank you very much. All of the candy is being enjoyed by the 4 of us in the apartment and the children in the Hill Station branch. I think I'm good on battries for the rest of my mission now. Thanks again.
So we decided that we need to work with the two sisters that we were planning for baptism this week. We are working towards the 28th of February instead. Thier names are Bintu Tarawallie and Sarah Coker. They are actually sisters. We also have an assignment from President to work with thier husbands and try to start teaching them the gospel. As we know, families are very important so if we can create a support system inside the family then the chances of going less active are less.
Questions now. Is it one-third already? Wow, it feels like I just got here. About the transfers, I have no idea whats going to happen. I think that I'm going to stay with my companion until he goes home, but crazy thing have happened on transfers so we shall see. I'll become a senior companion when the lord thinks I know what I'm doing. My companion learned English in Samoa, in fact everyone in Samoa can speak English, its madatory for them to take in school. I play the piano every sunday in sacrament meeting. Yup, that 3 to 4 hymns a week. I've had to learn a few more songs. I keep track of everything in my journal.
Thanks for the updates on everyone. I'm excited to hear about the mission calls for Scott (brazil is my guess) and Matt (Japan) and Richard (Australia). If they are reading this then I expect to get an email or a letter from them. hint hint.
Have a good one Elder Degen
P.S. I solved the rubiks cube this week
Well, Well, Well, another week gone by. Once again we were very busy throughout the week, teaching like crazy. I don't really know how I do it because my area is one big hill. All the members live on this hill and I really don't know how I get the strength to climb that hill every day. And then get up to do it again. But the Lord truly does bless those who are doing his work. I still haven't lost or gained any of the lbs.
Here is an experience that happened this week. Early Friday morning we got a phone call from a number we didn't recognize. My companion handed me the phone to try and figure out who it was. I honestly couldn't understand anything. I recognized the voice as one of our investigators named Isata Sesay. All I heard was hospital . . . . george . . . not well. George is her small child and I was very confused as she cut the call. (Everything is pre-pay in Africa so we didn't have any units on our phone to call back). We went out to buy units for the phone but when we called back the phone was off. We were already planning on seeing her today so we decided to stick with our schedule. We went to the house to find her just returning from the hospital with her son. She mentioned that it was her that was calling us in the morning and she didn't think we could come fast enough so she took George to the hospital. Now this investigator is illiterate and she has no knowledge as to what a priesthood blessing is, but she felt that we could help with her son. We offered to give George a priesthood blessing and she responded with an emphatic "Yes". We asked if she believed if Jesus Christ could heal her son and once again she answered "yes". I had the opportunity to give this child a blessing and I honestly can't remember anything that I said but I could feel that this blessing was already in effect. On Sunday I asked how George was doing and she responded that George was better that same night that we offered the blessing. I don't know how serious the sickness this child had, for all I know it could have just been a fever. But Isata showed such faith in us and Christ that the blessing worked immediately. The priesthood is real. I'm just humbled that I'm numbered among the very few that God trusts with it.
I recieved the package this week. And thank you very much. All of the candy is being enjoyed by the 4 of us in the apartment and the children in the Hill Station branch. I think I'm good on battries for the rest of my mission now. Thanks again.
So we decided that we need to work with the two sisters that we were planning for baptism this week. We are working towards the 28th of February instead. Thier names are Bintu Tarawallie and Sarah Coker. They are actually sisters. We also have an assignment from President to work with thier husbands and try to start teaching them the gospel. As we know, families are very important so if we can create a support system inside the family then the chances of going less active are less.
Questions now. Is it one-third already? Wow, it feels like I just got here. About the transfers, I have no idea whats going to happen. I think that I'm going to stay with my companion until he goes home, but crazy thing have happened on transfers so we shall see. I'll become a senior companion when the lord thinks I know what I'm doing. My companion learned English in Samoa, in fact everyone in Samoa can speak English, its madatory for them to take in school. I play the piano every sunday in sacrament meeting. Yup, that 3 to 4 hymns a week. I've had to learn a few more songs. I keep track of everything in my journal.
Thanks for the updates on everyone. I'm excited to hear about the mission calls for Scott (brazil is my guess) and Matt (Japan) and Richard (Australia). If they are reading this then I expect to get an email or a letter from them. hint hint.
Have a good one Elder Degen
P.S. I solved the rubiks cube this week
Monday, February 2, 2009
E-mail dated 2/2/09
Hello, Buddy the Elf . .. Whats your favorite color?
So to start of the email this week I have to express to everyone how happy I am that Kristen Lemmert is getting baptized on Feb 14th. That is pretty cool. Ok, the next thing I want to tell is something that happened this morning. The four of us in the apartment were washing our clothes in the morning when one of the Elders heard something coming from the cupboard that holds our corned beef and beans. He was scared to open it because we had seen a mouse inside of the cupboard next to it a few days earlier. My companion comes over and casually opens the cupboard and starts moving the cans of corned beef. After a few cans he turns away and says "WOW". Lets just say we found the breeding grounds for the mice. 4 little baby mice were inside of our cupboard. The other Elder comes running in from the other room with bug spray and he is going for the matches. He torched the mice to death or at least scared them out of the cupboard while the rest of us were holding our flip-flops in our hands beating them to death once they fell. Good clean fun. We then had to clean up the mess we made and we found a lot of mouse crap. We ended up cleaning the whole apartment very well and that took forever. Not really P-day excitement but whatever makes you happy right? The mother mouse isn't going to be happy, but we are determinded to get it. Thats just a funny thing thats on my mind and thats not the first mouse story I've experienced since I've been here.
How does the water system work here? Well, we do have a tap in our apartment but that is a luxury for this country. Aparently wherever the water in cleansed it is perfect for drinking. The problem is that the pipes that get the water from the plant to the city. Here is the logic - plastic pipes that aren't buried and are placed on the paths that everyone walks. So the pipes are always broken and the water is getting contaminated. Seriously everywhere we walk there are pipes that are leaking water all over the street. The solution is to put a rock on top so it doesn't spray everyone. What a dumb idea. We actually wanted to go and fix all the pipes with duct tape as a service project but we haven't got around to doing that yet. We don't drink the water that comes out of the tap unless it goes through our filter. Bathing with the water probably isn't the best thing for the skin, but we do it anyway. Just remeber to say your morning prayer before you shower. And to add to all of that. We only have water half of the time. Normally we have it from 6 in the morning to 5 in the evening. The rest of the time the pump is on "lock". Bucket showers in the evening, WHOO! And yes its cold showers every morning. So wonderful. But I can't complain especially after an experience I had this last week. We were visiting a recent converts house and she expressed a need to fetch water. We offered our services as young men (it didn't hurt that I have a strong Samoan as a companion). But the distance this lady had to walk to fill 4 2+1/2 gallon buckets and one 5 gallong bucket was amazing. And they pull it from a natural well. They have to fetch water every day. If they want to drink it they would have to boil it. And its bucket showers all the time. It didn't help that it was an uphill return to the house. Just be grateful for everything you've got.
We kind of had a service week this week. That water fetching service project was unplanned during the week. We also had two additional service projects. We, as a District, went back to that school to teach these people math and English. I tried to teach my class how to divide but I learned that they didn't know thier times-tables very well. Just like teaching anyone about the gospel, you can't teach them the fourth principle unless they understand the previous three. You can't teach them the Restoration unless the understand why a restoration needed to happen. You can't teach them how to divide if they don't understand how to multiply. We also had a service project of breaking stones. It sounds really ridiculous, but that is what we did. We broke stones into small pebbles for one recent convert. many of the people here do this for a living. They break stone (black granite) and wait for builders to come and buy the stone to construct houses (the cement kind). For the work I did in 2 hours they would sell it for the evquivalent of one dollar. Its hard work and the pay only comes when a customer comes. The man that we helped hadn't had a customer in about a month. Right as we were leaving a truck pulled up and bought some of the stones that we just broke. I know that story doesn't make any sense to you but that is Sierra Leone.
Thats about all the time I've got for this week. We had a very busy week last week and we are hoping to have a baptism the 14th. We shall see what the new week provides. I love you all bing bing.
Elder Degen
So to start of the email this week I have to express to everyone how happy I am that Kristen Lemmert is getting baptized on Feb 14th. That is pretty cool. Ok, the next thing I want to tell is something that happened this morning. The four of us in the apartment were washing our clothes in the morning when one of the Elders heard something coming from the cupboard that holds our corned beef and beans. He was scared to open it because we had seen a mouse inside of the cupboard next to it a few days earlier. My companion comes over and casually opens the cupboard and starts moving the cans of corned beef. After a few cans he turns away and says "WOW". Lets just say we found the breeding grounds for the mice. 4 little baby mice were inside of our cupboard. The other Elder comes running in from the other room with bug spray and he is going for the matches. He torched the mice to death or at least scared them out of the cupboard while the rest of us were holding our flip-flops in our hands beating them to death once they fell. Good clean fun. We then had to clean up the mess we made and we found a lot of mouse crap. We ended up cleaning the whole apartment very well and that took forever. Not really P-day excitement but whatever makes you happy right? The mother mouse isn't going to be happy, but we are determinded to get it. Thats just a funny thing thats on my mind and thats not the first mouse story I've experienced since I've been here.
How does the water system work here? Well, we do have a tap in our apartment but that is a luxury for this country. Aparently wherever the water in cleansed it is perfect for drinking. The problem is that the pipes that get the water from the plant to the city. Here is the logic - plastic pipes that aren't buried and are placed on the paths that everyone walks. So the pipes are always broken and the water is getting contaminated. Seriously everywhere we walk there are pipes that are leaking water all over the street. The solution is to put a rock on top so it doesn't spray everyone. What a dumb idea. We actually wanted to go and fix all the pipes with duct tape as a service project but we haven't got around to doing that yet. We don't drink the water that comes out of the tap unless it goes through our filter. Bathing with the water probably isn't the best thing for the skin, but we do it anyway. Just remeber to say your morning prayer before you shower. And to add to all of that. We only have water half of the time. Normally we have it from 6 in the morning to 5 in the evening. The rest of the time the pump is on "lock". Bucket showers in the evening, WHOO! And yes its cold showers every morning. So wonderful. But I can't complain especially after an experience I had this last week. We were visiting a recent converts house and she expressed a need to fetch water. We offered our services as young men (it didn't hurt that I have a strong Samoan as a companion). But the distance this lady had to walk to fill 4 2+1/2 gallon buckets and one 5 gallong bucket was amazing. And they pull it from a natural well. They have to fetch water every day. If they want to drink it they would have to boil it. And its bucket showers all the time. It didn't help that it was an uphill return to the house. Just be grateful for everything you've got.
We kind of had a service week this week. That water fetching service project was unplanned during the week. We also had two additional service projects. We, as a District, went back to that school to teach these people math and English. I tried to teach my class how to divide but I learned that they didn't know thier times-tables very well. Just like teaching anyone about the gospel, you can't teach them the fourth principle unless they understand the previous three. You can't teach them the Restoration unless the understand why a restoration needed to happen. You can't teach them how to divide if they don't understand how to multiply. We also had a service project of breaking stones. It sounds really ridiculous, but that is what we did. We broke stones into small pebbles for one recent convert. many of the people here do this for a living. They break stone (black granite) and wait for builders to come and buy the stone to construct houses (the cement kind). For the work I did in 2 hours they would sell it for the evquivalent of one dollar. Its hard work and the pay only comes when a customer comes. The man that we helped hadn't had a customer in about a month. Right as we were leaving a truck pulled up and bought some of the stones that we just broke. I know that story doesn't make any sense to you but that is Sierra Leone.
Thats about all the time I've got for this week. We had a very busy week last week and we are hoping to have a baptism the 14th. We shall see what the new week provides. I love you all bing bing.
Elder Degen
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