Wednesday, August 31, 2016

 Jokella took us downtown Freetown to this fabric store.  This lady gave us a really good price and she had beautiful fabric.  Jokella left on her mission the week after she took us here. This shop owner let me have a picture with her.  She was very nice.  We will go back and see her.

 Jokella and I downtown Freetown with the Cotton Tree behind us.  This is a pretty famous tree in Sierra Leone.  It is where the slaves first came back after being freed.  We walked home from downtown and these are the sights we saw.    A Bridal Store (for Mom) 

 We have driven past this Septic Service truck several times and since we were walking Brent had to have a picture with the truck.  (For Mark)
 Brent, Jokella, Sister Corbaley and Brother Corbaley.  They went with us to the fabric store.  Behind us is the cotton tree in our compound.  We were almost home.  This is a busy corner later in the day because it is a taxi stop.  Later it will be full of taxi's and Okada's (motorcycles) and lots of people.  Our store we buy bread from is off to the right.  Our friend had a baby a few weeks ago and we miss seeing her everyday.  Her sister is taking care of her bread store, which is just some baskets of bread with an umbrella over them. 
 Our internet went out a week or so ago and this is what they found outside.  Brent took a picture to send to the tech people in Accra, but I had to put them here for the boys.  This is the way they do things in Africa. 
 Our line goes across our back and into the wall.  They did fix it, but it took about 3 days. 

 This was a street we walked one afternoon on our walk.  The little ones you see in the middle were so cute.  The little girl is standing on a stool and she is eating.  She was giving the little brother some of her food and I wanted a picture, but missed her feeding him. 
 German Pancakes bake really good here.  We eat them sometimes on Saturday's. 
 The country is so beautiful right now with lots of waterfalls and water running out of the mountains.  When we first arrived there was no water here and now it is running a lot.  Everything is green and beautiful. 
                           We took these on our way home from Kossoh Town last Sunday. 

Sunday, August 21, 2016

 Brent is holding an avocado that he picked off an avocado tree here in our compound.  He had a long pole and kept wacking it until the avocado fell.  The tree is very big and we don't have any ladders here.   We ate it and it was very good.
 This is a bread fruit.  We bought it from a little lady, who is a member, that has a shop just outside the compound.  He boiled half of it like a potato and fried the other half.  It tastes a lot like a potato, but the texture is more pasty.  We put chicken gravy on it and it was good.  The fried bread fruit tasted a lot like french fries. 

 This little girls name is Ester.  She and her mom are always at this spot on our walk.  The first few times Ester saw us and she wouldn't even look at us, but over time as we talked to her and her mom she has warmed up to us.  Now she watches for us and comes running to me and gives me a big hug.  She is so cute and so is her mom.  I am taking a copy of this picture to Ester and her mom tomorrow on our walk. 
 Also along our walk is this little store where they make clothes.  It is really tiny as you can see.  It barely fits 3 sewing machines.  They are all pedaled by foot because there is no electricity. 
 We walk over a big ravine on our walk and walk on a bridge.  These 2 pictures are looking down into it.  The river is running pretty good right now with all the rain.  In a few months it will be empty. 
 This is a street we just started walking on the end of our walk.  It does not have as much traffic as the one we were finishing up on.  These girls were sitting here this day and they all waved and the little ones had to touch us, I asked if I could have a picture with them and they all said yes.  The girl in the back that is standing is braiding another girls hair.  Now when we walk this street they all come running and hug us or wave and say Hi.  They are really friendly people. 

 This is Josephine Ndanemah and she is leaving on her mission 25 August.  We have become good friends.  She is also my keyboard student.  This is outside the Kossoh Town Branch building and the children all wanted their picture with us. 

Sunday, August 7, 2016

This little guy is Raymond.  His parents work for the mission.  The other day he had fallen asleep on the couch in our waiting room and his parents stepped outside.  I was helping a young man with his mission papers and Raymond woke up and started crying.  I picked him up and loved him and he snuggled right into me.  I have worked for over a month just to get him to smile at me, but with his folks outside he let me hold him.  He is the cutest thing.  We really aren't suppose to hold babies, but my Mission president saw me and said, "Being a Grandma I see."  He is such a cute little one. 
These Elders are from Sierra Leone and they left Thursday 4 August 2016 for the MTC in Ghana.  They are L. to R.  Elder Sesay, Elder Ansumana, and Elder Genda.  They are great young men.  Elder Ansumana is the one going to South Africa that we have worked so hard to get his Visa and the area people told me it was good and he can go. YEAH!!!
 This is a spider outside our apartment.  We walk past him everyday on the way to the office.  I put my hand behind his web, not close though, so you could see how big he is.  It has been kind of cool to watch him.  He has been spinning his web out there for over a month.
 You can see the outline of our Gecko that lives in our apartment.  We see him like this from time to time. (Behind the drapes)  We often find his droppings, but he eats bugs and doesn't bother us.  He is very fast. 
On the plate you can see some of the cherry tomatoes we picked from Brent's plant he grew here.  It has been so wet, the plant has mostly gone to vine.  The next picture is Brent with his Red Greek Squash vine.  It is about 3 times that long and has a bloom on the end.  He is hoping to get that one to set fruit and produce.


 Brent has planted a lot of the tops of the pineapple we have eaten.  His pineapple garden is doing well.  It takes about 2 years for them to mature and produce a pineapple.  We may not get to eat one, but the Clawson's may get one. 
 This is the Serenity Garden.  When we first arrived it was all dirt and hot as all get out and mostly sunny.  Now with the rain it is green and it is cooler and we can even sit here for a few minutes and look out over the city.  The next picture is a bush in the Garden like I grow at home in little pots.  It is a pretty bush. 

 These Banana's are growing behind the Mission Office.  Shaka is our little gardener and he said we will probably be able to eat them in a couple of months.  It has been fun to watch them grow. 

 Brent is standing in front of our 2 generators that keep our apartment and office supplied with electricity.  The big yellow one is for the day and the smaller white one is for the night. 
 These are just some pretty bushes out front of our apartment.  It really is a beautiful time of year in Sierra Leone. 

This lizard is for the Grand Kids.  These little guys are all over.  They are about 12 inches long from head to tail and when they stop running they look like they are doing pushups.  They kind of freaked me out at first, but now they are just common place.  We see several every day walking around our compound. 

Monday, August 1, 2016

 We went for a drive on Saturday July 23,2016 for P-day.  We stopped for gas and these bushes were growing in the corner of the gas station.  We are in the rainy season so all the flowers and plants are beautiful.
 This was a road we turned down, but it was pretty rough.  We got to a steep part that had big pot holes so we turned around.  Brent is good at that.  There were some locals helping a huge truck turn around and then they helped us.  They bang on your car when they want you to stop. 
 These two pictures were on the drive.  The hills are so green and you can see it was raining.  This building was just a pretty building.  There aren't to many of them here. 

 The top picture is how we buy most of our cashews  You can see the girl in the yellow dress, she had the cashews.  They just walk along the street and you stop and buy them.  Or in the case of the bottom picture, we are stuck in traffic and the people just come up to your car with the things they are selling and if you want to buy you give them the money. 
 More traffic.  Sometimes it can take us an hour to go a mile if the traffic is bad.  This day we didn't sit to long.  It moved pretty good.