9 December 2016 Brent and I at Sea Bird waiting to pick up Elder Stanfill.  He is a counselor in the area Presidency and came for Stake Conference.  The Clawson's were in Bo, so Brent and I were blessed to be his transportation for the weekend.  Brent got a phone call just as I handed a guy my camera and so he took a bunch of shots of us.  I wanted a picture of Brent and I with the Christmas tree.   The ocean is behind Brent and there are stairs leading down to the water.

 This Christmas tree was in a corner of the building the day we arrived in Freetown in April.  Now it has a place of honor in the middle of the building and has decorations on it including balloons.  They have balloons all around the building.  It was very festive.  

 The top picture is Salamatu Kolokoh my dear friend.  She is going on her mission on the 27th of December.  I will really miss her.  I got to know here when we were going to Dwarzak ward.  She is a counselor in the RS presidency in that ward.  She will be a wonderful missionary.  The bottom picture is Salamatu, Me, and Sister Margaret.  Sister Margaret is also in the Dwarzak ward and she has a little shop just outside our compound.  We buy a lot of vegetables from her.  On Friday nights she asks us what we want and she goes to town on Saturday and brings it back to us.  It is fresh things.  We usually but carrots, cucumbers, bananas, squash, gratefruit and a couple times we brought bread fruit from her.  She is such a sweet little lady.  We are glad we can help her and she really helps us. 

 The Sunday before Thanksgiving I made Pumpkin Pie and we invited the missionaries living above the Mission Office for Pie. Usually there are 6 Elders but that night there were 10.  I didn't know there were that many, but we cut the pieces smaller and still had a fun night.  They are cute young men.  Elder Akan in sitting front and on the left standing is Elder Oyebambi.  They are the AP's. 
We found a squash at a market a couple weeks ago and I baked the squash and ran it through the blender and put it in freezer.  That is what I made the pie out of and it turned out really good.  The cream we used is like the dream whip from home, but it is a Domo brand.  I used powdered milk and made cream out of powdered Domo.  It tastes pretty good.

 Thanksgiving dinner 2016.  We actually had it the Sunday after Thanksgiving because they do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Sierra Leone and it was just another work day.  We found a small turkey and cooked it in a crock pot.  Brent cut up the turkey like he always does. 

The dressing turned out really good.  Their bread is a little different, but the dressing was yummy, even without celery in it.  That is one thing we have not seen here is celery.  We had a pretty complete Thanksgiving dinner. 

 This was at the Stake Center at a cultural event.  They asked us to be judges and it was suppose to start at 10:00.  This is about 10:30 and you can see it was mainly missionaries that were there.  We all arrived about 9:45.  Top is Elder Waybright and his companion. 

                                                 Elder Peterson and Elder Curriden.

Elder Marks, Elder Jones Brent and Elder Saunders, waiting for the event to start.  We had to leave at 12:00 and it still had not started.  Elder Jones said it started about 12:45.   Bottom is Brent and I by some curtains they had hung at the back of the Stake Center. 

 Happy Birthday to Brent.  We celebrated his 65th Birthday in Sierra Leone with the Clawson's and some wonderful missionaries.  5 of these Elders are returning home.  L to R: Elder Afful, Elder Seaman, Me Brent, Elder Oyebambie(AP), Elder Bloomfield (behind the white board), Elder Akan (AP) Elder Arthur and Elder Okpara. 

 Sister Clawson gave Brent 6 Water Balloons, one for each of his decades.  He dropped them from their 3rd story window.  I don't know who had the most fun, Brent or the Elders. 

 The morning the Elders left for their homes.  Me, Elder Seaman, Elder, Affull, Elder Arthur, Elder Okpara, Elder Bloomfield and Brent. 

 Dad and Elder Arthur became fast friends.  We will really miss him and his cute personality. 

 This is our new group of missionaries we welcomed on Tuesday 15th November 2016. 

 These three Elders are from Bo in Sierra Leone.  They left on the 17th of November to go to the MTC in Accra.  They loved these beaded ties here and came into my office to show me their ties.  I told them I needed to have a picture and Elder Woyah (on the left) said, "We are the Three Wisemen."

 Sister Gladys George also left with the "Three Wisemen". L to R Brent, Elder Woyah, Elder Bangura, Sister George, and Elder Johnson and me.  They will be great missionaries. 

 This is Prince Siaffax.  He is from Sierra Leone and went to the MTC in Accra on the 27 October 2016.  He gave me the shirt I have on.  He found it n a street market and it had "Miner" on it  It was embroidered.  He said when he saw it he thought of me and wanted to buy it for me because I had been so helpful to him.  He is such a cute young man and I was so touched by his kindness and thoughtfulness.   I wear the shirt with pride and get so many comments about it. 

 This was our flat tire a couple of weeks ago after Church.  The building straight ahead is where we go to church.  It is on the top floor.  Peter Swarray is the brother who came to our aid and brought a young man with him to change the tire.  As it ended up they couldn't put the spare on because we needed another key, so they took the tire to the service station and got it fixed, (Ox in the Mire).  We so appreciate these two brethren. 

 Saturday 5 November 20126, Shaka cut several bunches of bananas from our banana grove.  Ali Kargbo is by Brent.  He helps us in the mission and is also the District President of  Kossoh Town Branch.  The 2 Elders in the front are Elder Jones and Elder Saunders, the Office/Apartment Elders.  On the stairs are Elder Mars and Elder Amoah-Baafi.  They all live upstairs above the mission office, along with the AP's, Elder Akan and Elder Oyebambi. 

So many bananas.  We split them between everyone here and gave more to other Senior Couples and saved some for the Claswon's.  They will be ripe in about a week.  We just leave them on the counter to let them ripen.  Shaka takes care of the grounds here in the compound. 

 Ok, so don't panic, My hands are mostly better, but I wanted to document the way they looked at pretty much the worse point.  I went to a doctor here and he had never seen it before.  Sister Clawson sent these pictures to Dr. Anderson in Accra and he said it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotic he put me on for a sore on my heel.  This was pretty painful, itchey and sore.  I didn't go to the office for 3 days, because of the sores on my palms.  I couldn't touch anything without it feeling like pins pricking me.  Dr. Anderson put me on prednisone and within 3 days my hands were a lot better. 

  A week after my hands cleared up from the sores they started peeling.  They peeled for about 2 weeks and they are still peeling a little today, but they are so much better.  I will never take a sulfa drug again.  I am really grateful to Dr. Anderson and the Power of the Priesthood. 

  

 Last supper for Elder Nyembwe and Elder Ajayi.  L. to R. back row- Elder Amoah-Baafi, Elder Oyebambi,(AP) Elder Samche,(Apartment Elder) Elder Ajayi, Elder Nyembwe, Elder Jones(Apartment Elder) and Brent.  Front row L to R - President Clawson, Elder St. Mars and Elder Akan (AP)

                 Departing missionaries 3 October 2016  Elder Yahibo, Sister Thatcher and Elder Igwe. 

                                           Missionaries we welcomed 4 October 2016.

 Sierra Leone missionaries that went to the Ghana MTC 6 October 2016.  L-R Elder Boima, Sister French, Elder Emmanuel Kallay and Elder Simeon Kallay.  These were such cute missionaries. 

Elder Samche with Brent and I.  He and Elder Jones are the Apartment Elders. He has the cutest personality and keeps us laughing.  This was such a good picture of Brent I couldn't resist putting it in.  What a handsome companion I have. 

 I took these at the Kissy District Conference.  It is an open air building and this is what we saw looking out the door.  The bottom picture is looking toward the podium.  We sat by the door to get whatever breeze came through the door.  They had fans too and it wasn't to bad.  The lights and the fans, and the microphone stayed on the whole meeting.  President Clawson promised the Kissy saints that if they were faithful and continued to grow and be righteous and fast and pray that Kissy would be a stake very soon.  They are wonderful faithful saints. 

We are watching this big buzzard build his nest.  We see him almost every morning outside our window. 

 Some of the bananas from the banana grove behind the mission office are ready to harvest.  Shaka is the gardner and cut them and gave them to Brent.  He shared them around the complex.  It took about a week for them to ripen and they are yummy.  Shaka speaks mostly Krio, but Brent is getting pretty good at understanding him.   

 Two more guards with Brent and Shaka.  The one standing is Mohammed.  He and Brent have become good friends.  The one squatting is named James. 

                       Shaka cut the bananas with his machete.  It was fun to watch him. 

 James, one of our guards, Brent and I.  This is in the church yard at a wedding of George, another guard.  James pictured here is the one that helped Brent the first time clear his garden.  It was our P-day so we weren't dressed up, but we went to take some pictures. 

 Saidu and I.  Saidu helps us in the office as a volunteer.  He is a returned missionary and going to school. 

 Brent and I with Abduli and his wife Moona.  Abduli helps with our IT, and any repairs and upkeep of the mission.  Moona helps with shopping and fixing food when our new missionaries come.  They are expecting their first baby. 

 George and his Bride.  George is also one of our guards, and they are both members of the church.    Their weddings are pretty lavish.  They dress to the hilt and I love their dresses.  This is how they dress on Sunday too.  Aren't they beautiful?

 More sisters at the Wedding.  The sister on the left in the picture below is getting ready to go on a mission.  She just submitted her papers and she is one I helped.  Her name is Salamatu Kalokoh and she is a sweet heart.  We have become good friends.  She is a member of the Dwarzak ward and serves as a counselor in the Relief Society. 

 The next three pictures are a birthday party held a week after the wedding also in the church yard.  This girl was turning 10 and her baby sister was turning 1.  I didn't get a picture of her. 

 This family has a lot of money for here to have a birthday party like this.  I loved the Coke chairs and sun shades.  This cute lady is the Grandma and she was dancing to the music.  They had a DJ and music from loud speakers.  You can see the DJ and speakers in the back left.  They had a good time.