The highlight of my week was the baptism we had on Saturday. Because the branch is struggling right now, baptisms come about once a month, and this month is no different. Gifty Cooper (I don't think I've ever mentioned her to you) was a pretty amazing find. One day whilst walking with Elder Seawright we heard someone yelling for us to come to them (read CJ's email as to why that is not always the best thing, it happens here too.) It turns out that the woman that was yelling was a less active woman that was baptized 9 years ago in a different branch in Liberia. It had been a good 4 years since she's been to chruch. Well her reason for contacting us is because she wanted us to start teaching her daughter, Gifty, but she(the mother) made it very clear that she had her "own chruch" and we shouldn't preach to her. So we began teaching Gifty and she was coming to church all by herself. One day after church we were talking with the mother and the conversation turned to fruit. I asked her if she had ever tasted a "pear" before. Now the only way for her to taste a pear would be in the can because they don't grow here. She said no, and I told her I would buy her some pears if she would come to church. I said it jokingly but she took me serious and to make a long story short, she came to church and was reactivated. Once she was reactivated we felt comfortable for Gifty to be baptized. So she was. Cool story.
My emails don't really have many of those, because those kinds of stories aren't from week to week. those kind of stories come month to month and somethimes even longer. Don't worry I have written in my journal everyday since I left so if you want more you'll have to wait a year or so. As I have been writing in my journal I realized that I didn't write very much about my high school years, and I will regret that one day. But I won't make that mistake again. That's about it for this week. I'm very tired right now as we just got done from playing football (soccer). I haven't run around since the end of March so my muscles are all sore. I can't really think straight so if this email doensn't make sense, I sorry-o.
I love you all and have a good week
Elder Degen
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
E-mail dated 6/22/09
Yesterday was Fathers Day? Really. Well, Happy Fathers Day pops!!! I had no idea. But I believe it is Mom's Birthday as well, today if my memory is correct. Happy Birthday mom. You have a letter in the mail, I'm suprised it hasn't got to you yet. For everyone who reads this email, she will be 43 years old today. (he he he).
This week went by pretty good. I really don't even know what to say in this email. Maybe I'll answer your questions first then idea's might come. I'm not exactly sure how many deacons, teachers, and priests we have in the branch. We don't really have quorums, they just have a young mens class. And what usually happens is the melchizedek priesthood blesses the sacrament and the aaronic priesthood passes. The missionaries occasionally help when the members are late to church (which is a huge problem in which i will talk about later). I haven't attended primary in a while, I've been busy with the youth because thier leaders haven't been to church in a while. The youth can't teach themselves (although that is what the leaders are trying to do). Of course I'm staying healthy. I'm eating plenty. Say Plenty. All of my clothes are fine. I've replaced the souls ("The worth of souls is great" soles, souls?) of the bottom of one of my shoes and I'll probably have to replace the others pretty soon. President Squires should be coming at the end of next week.
Oh, yes about the members not coming on time. Time here is really really relaxed. Its not a bad thing, but when it comes to people partaking of the sacrament its really really bad. The sacrament is the most important part of going to church. All the other benefits of chruch are just side notes. I've learned so much about covenants since I've been here and I've learned the importance of renewing our baptismal covenant. How else can we be cleansed of our stupid mistakes from week to week? It is also a time to re-evaluate the past week and set goals on how to improve in the coming week. We are really making another covenant with God when we think of it that way. And another great blessing is the Holy Ghost being with us at all times, in all things, and in all places. As a missionary I know how important it is to have that revelation door open. I would just be guessing if I didn't have the holy ghost. Thats one great thing about Preach my gospel, it teaches the missionaries how to seek for revelation. Imagine how strong the church will be when the Preach my Gospel missionaries are in the leadership of the church. What, that would usher in the second coming so quickly. Elder Perry said in the conference talk that the missionaries today are the best gospel teachers this church has ever had. I truly believe that is because of preach my gospel. So y'all should read it. And when you finish read the Book of Mormon again. It is pretty good. Everything here is in ship shape.
Elder Degen
This week went by pretty good. I really don't even know what to say in this email. Maybe I'll answer your questions first then idea's might come. I'm not exactly sure how many deacons, teachers, and priests we have in the branch. We don't really have quorums, they just have a young mens class. And what usually happens is the melchizedek priesthood blesses the sacrament and the aaronic priesthood passes. The missionaries occasionally help when the members are late to church (which is a huge problem in which i will talk about later). I haven't attended primary in a while, I've been busy with the youth because thier leaders haven't been to church in a while. The youth can't teach themselves (although that is what the leaders are trying to do). Of course I'm staying healthy. I'm eating plenty. Say Plenty. All of my clothes are fine. I've replaced the souls ("The worth of souls is great" soles, souls?) of the bottom of one of my shoes and I'll probably have to replace the others pretty soon. President Squires should be coming at the end of next week.
Oh, yes about the members not coming on time. Time here is really really relaxed. Its not a bad thing, but when it comes to people partaking of the sacrament its really really bad. The sacrament is the most important part of going to church. All the other benefits of chruch are just side notes. I've learned so much about covenants since I've been here and I've learned the importance of renewing our baptismal covenant. How else can we be cleansed of our stupid mistakes from week to week? It is also a time to re-evaluate the past week and set goals on how to improve in the coming week. We are really making another covenant with God when we think of it that way. And another great blessing is the Holy Ghost being with us at all times, in all things, and in all places. As a missionary I know how important it is to have that revelation door open. I would just be guessing if I didn't have the holy ghost. Thats one great thing about Preach my gospel, it teaches the missionaries how to seek for revelation. Imagine how strong the church will be when the Preach my Gospel missionaries are in the leadership of the church. What, that would usher in the second coming so quickly. Elder Perry said in the conference talk that the missionaries today are the best gospel teachers this church has ever had. I truly believe that is because of preach my gospel. So y'all should read it. And when you finish read the Book of Mormon again. It is pretty good. Everything here is in ship shape.
Elder Degen
Monday, June 15, 2009
E-mail dated 6/15/09
Rain eh? Well I'm glad it rained over there. In Liberia we are in what we call the "Rainy Season". But honestly the rainy season has been pretty weak so far, until this week. Its like the clouds just remembered that its june and they are supposed to rain. So this week they made up for all of last month. When you describe raining buckets that would be the normal rainfall here. Now imagine with me proselyting in that. Yes sir I did that everyday this week. I have found that the umbrella works much better than the raincoat and rainboots so that is what I went with this week. But I can't complain because I don't sweat when it rains and that means I don't stink. And people are usually home when its raining. Speaking of the flood. Um. . . I'm pretty sure that happens EVERY rainy season here. Monrovia is a swamp. Doesn't help that the city doesn't really have a drainage system. Oh well.
For this week in missionary work it felt like we took a big step back from last week. But I've learned not to get discouraged because that is what Satan would want me to feel. I had a serious talk with the Branch President yesterday about the needs of the branch. That resulted in both of us talking about the callings in the branch that need to be filled and taking the less active leadership out and give the positions to the active. All in all he did a complete revision of the branch callings and is going to take action soon. finally we are taking a step in the right direction. Now don't misunderstand me, I was not doing the branch presidents job, I was just helping as he asked. And I'm pretty sure he needs our help because I know about as much, if not more, about this branch as he does. I just hope that the branch will be better off when I leave than it was when I came.
35,000 less actives should fall in the care of the branch. But I can't even get my branch to have PEC so that actually falls on us. And there is no possible way for us to see all of them or even locate all of them. We do have branch missionaries to help, but they are all preparing for serving a mission so they aren't much help. I was reading in the General Conference Ensign Elder Perrys talk on member missionary work. He said some powerful things and it sounded like to me that members will soon be taking a great responsibility in missionary work. He said that Preach my Gospel missionaries are the best teachers this church has ever had . . and we aren't utilizing them because they are spending most of their time finding and not teaching. Great talk, go through it and then do it!!!!( On another note, did you notice the man from Kenya now serving in the seventy!!! He was serving in Nigeria as a mission president [he was pres squires mtc mate]. The first Black african in the seventy. how sweet it is!!!!!)
I eat the same thing in the morning (rice and tomoto stew) Wow, i've been eating that for breakfast for one year now. crazy. I wring my clothes out with my hands, silly. Alright. Have a great week.
Elder Degen
For this week in missionary work it felt like we took a big step back from last week. But I've learned not to get discouraged because that is what Satan would want me to feel. I had a serious talk with the Branch President yesterday about the needs of the branch. That resulted in both of us talking about the callings in the branch that need to be filled and taking the less active leadership out and give the positions to the active. All in all he did a complete revision of the branch callings and is going to take action soon. finally we are taking a step in the right direction. Now don't misunderstand me, I was not doing the branch presidents job, I was just helping as he asked. And I'm pretty sure he needs our help because I know about as much, if not more, about this branch as he does. I just hope that the branch will be better off when I leave than it was when I came.
35,000 less actives should fall in the care of the branch. But I can't even get my branch to have PEC so that actually falls on us. And there is no possible way for us to see all of them or even locate all of them. We do have branch missionaries to help, but they are all preparing for serving a mission so they aren't much help. I was reading in the General Conference Ensign Elder Perrys talk on member missionary work. He said some powerful things and it sounded like to me that members will soon be taking a great responsibility in missionary work. He said that Preach my Gospel missionaries are the best teachers this church has ever had . . and we aren't utilizing them because they are spending most of their time finding and not teaching. Great talk, go through it and then do it!!!!( On another note, did you notice the man from Kenya now serving in the seventy!!! He was serving in Nigeria as a mission president [he was pres squires mtc mate]. The first Black african in the seventy. how sweet it is!!!!!)
I eat the same thing in the morning (rice and tomoto stew) Wow, i've been eating that for breakfast for one year now. crazy. I wring my clothes out with my hands, silly. Alright. Have a great week.
Elder Degen
Friday, June 12, 2009
E-mail dated 6/8/09
Congratulations on Graduating Brittany. (Why do we say that, weren't we expecting that from you the whole time.) And it sounds like both of you enjoyed the all night party. Wow, its already snowbird week again. I can't even remember the last time I went to that place. I think it was 2006 when the Spurs were playing the Cavs in the finals (don't ask me how i remember that). Looks like I won't go back until 2011.
My week was wonderful. We had a pretty sweet Zone Conference on Tuesday. President Squires gave us some great instructions. He told us some very disturbing Statistics about the church in West Africa. From 2003 to 2008 missionaries have baptized 45,000 + people. During that same period of time sacrament meeting attendance only went up 10,000. Yes, that means 35,000 people are now less active in the church. It doesn't seem to make any sense to us. People here in West Africa have a natural faith, but why isn't that natural faith increasing once they are baptized members of the church? There are two possible reasons for this in my opinion. 1) The branches aren't strong enough to accomodate so many new members 2) the missionaries were not teaching them effectively. I believe that the second one is the biggest reason. This mission has changed so much this past year, i can't even begin to describe how different it is (a change for the good of course). Because of these numbers and what we see in our branches we are somewhat hesitant to baptize people. Now we only baptize people who are truly converted, and have a small chance of falling less-active. I've learned from past mistakes and now we are relying completely on Heavenly father to fix this mess.
Missionary work is going great. We have a saying "pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you." I took that saying to the test this week and really improved my prayers, trying to pray as if it all relyed on God. I have always worked hard, but with the second half of the formula we had great results. We went from 4 investigators at Sacrament meeting to 16 in just one week. The lord is blessing us in so many ways. i love this branch that i'm serving in and i'm doing my best to make it better than it was when I came. President Squires said that we are laying the foundation to reverse this trend (meaning all the less-actives that were baptized). It is so true. The missionaries that are just coming now, are going to reap the blessings.
Elder Degen
My week was wonderful. We had a pretty sweet Zone Conference on Tuesday. President Squires gave us some great instructions. He told us some very disturbing Statistics about the church in West Africa. From 2003 to 2008 missionaries have baptized 45,000 + people. During that same period of time sacrament meeting attendance only went up 10,000. Yes, that means 35,000 people are now less active in the church. It doesn't seem to make any sense to us. People here in West Africa have a natural faith, but why isn't that natural faith increasing once they are baptized members of the church? There are two possible reasons for this in my opinion. 1) The branches aren't strong enough to accomodate so many new members 2) the missionaries were not teaching them effectively. I believe that the second one is the biggest reason. This mission has changed so much this past year, i can't even begin to describe how different it is (a change for the good of course). Because of these numbers and what we see in our branches we are somewhat hesitant to baptize people. Now we only baptize people who are truly converted, and have a small chance of falling less-active. I've learned from past mistakes and now we are relying completely on Heavenly father to fix this mess.
Missionary work is going great. We have a saying "pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you." I took that saying to the test this week and really improved my prayers, trying to pray as if it all relyed on God. I have always worked hard, but with the second half of the formula we had great results. We went from 4 investigators at Sacrament meeting to 16 in just one week. The lord is blessing us in so many ways. i love this branch that i'm serving in and i'm doing my best to make it better than it was when I came. President Squires said that we are laying the foundation to reverse this trend (meaning all the less-actives that were baptized). It is so true. The missionaries that are just coming now, are going to reap the blessings.
Elder Degen
Monday, June 1, 2009
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E-mail dated 6/1/09
Well this week is going to be a big milestone for me as I will be turning one year old on mission. Holy Goodness that went by so fast. I still feel like a new missionary and now I've been asked to train. That is crazy. If I look at how much I've learned then it seems like an eternity of differences from the person I was when I left. I feel like the lord is molding me into something. You know, the refiners fire. I just don't know what because this mission is so unique.
My new companions name is Elder Kargbo. He is from Sierra Leone. Funny thing is that he is from the Congo Cross branch, which was the first branch i served in. I didn't know him when I was there because he was very busy with work. But since then he has worked out a couple of things and is now serving with me. He is very humble and we are getting along just fine. Its wierd to teach someone the things that seem so natural to me. It makes me feel like I've come a long way.
Time now is really starting to catch some speed. Ever since I've come to Liberia time has flown by for me. Once again this week has gone by very very fast. We had District Conference yesterday where all the branches in Monrovia District (Paynesville, Gardnersville, Congo Town, and Sikor branches) all met at the Sinkor Chapel. We had about 550 people attend. I think the President of Liberia was supposed to come but because we couldn't allow her time to speak she declined to come. Crazy eh.
The conference was good and the work is going great. I hope you are enjoying the pictures that Sister Wire sent. I gave her my camera last week and she put all of my pictures on her computer. I'm pretty sure that its from the very beginning. Sorry I'm not there to tell you about them. Go Magic. I love you all and have a great week.
Elder Degen
My new companions name is Elder Kargbo. He is from Sierra Leone. Funny thing is that he is from the Congo Cross branch, which was the first branch i served in. I didn't know him when I was there because he was very busy with work. But since then he has worked out a couple of things and is now serving with me. He is very humble and we are getting along just fine. Its wierd to teach someone the things that seem so natural to me. It makes me feel like I've come a long way.
Time now is really starting to catch some speed. Ever since I've come to Liberia time has flown by for me. Once again this week has gone by very very fast. We had District Conference yesterday where all the branches in Monrovia District (Paynesville, Gardnersville, Congo Town, and Sikor branches) all met at the Sinkor Chapel. We had about 550 people attend. I think the President of Liberia was supposed to come but because we couldn't allow her time to speak she declined to come. Crazy eh.
The conference was good and the work is going great. I hope you are enjoying the pictures that Sister Wire sent. I gave her my camera last week and she put all of my pictures on her computer. I'm pretty sure that its from the very beginning. Sorry I'm not there to tell you about them. Go Magic. I love you all and have a great week.
Elder Degen
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