First week in Liberia

dear family and friends,

i've finally made it to liberia! i will be here for the remainder of my mission. i am very excited! its great to finally be out here, working with real people and experiencing the reality of missionary work.

first, i should say that i love the missionary work. i am in an area called point four. it has a lot of potential. haha the branch is fairly weak, so we are working on strengthening the members. For church on sunday, there were about 20 people there by the end of the first hour. i gave a talk on the priesthood. we also taught sunday school as well as elders quorum. it was nice. i totally spaced that it was fathers day, but fear not, I am always praying for you all back home!

i should say that i am adjusting to this new life. lets just say it was a lot more fun to talk about how few comforts i would have than to actually experience it. haha although that isnt really bothering me too much. we dont have running water or electricity in my apartment, but when we turn the generator on in the evening, we can turn fans on and use lights. its not so bad.

the toughest part about the apartment is probably the smell. mostly in the kitchen and bathrooms. it just smells like mold. the bathrooms are pretty gross. its just all old. picture a gas station bathroom. clean, but none the less, thats exactly what its like. the kitchen is just moldy and stinky. im learning to deal.

another tough adjustment is that my companion never eats. as weird as that sounds, its true. we have to buy most of our food for the next day on the streets, but i hope to go to a store and buy some real food soon so i dont have to go day by day for the food.  he is mindful of me when i complain that we havent eaten all day, but its like he doesnt feel hunger. I never imagined that this would be a problem! I think he feels like he is taking care of a puppy. haha im learning how to buy my own food and learning the money system here. its about 75 liberian dollars to 1 us dollar. so im figuring out what foods to buy and from where and whatnot.

 

also, we have a curfew at 7pm. we proselyte from 10am til 7pm without a break. there are so many people to teach!

my companion is a nice man. hes been out for about 8 months. hes nigerian. we are getting along well but the language barrier is tough. i hate having to ask 3 or 4 times to figure out what hes saying. and most times i still have no idea... 

all is well and life is good. i am adjusting and cant wait to share some stories from this coming week! i believe we have 2 baptisms this saturday, and more to come next saturday! life is good! til next week!

-elder fairwell