Freetown Stake Conference 5 May 2017.  The boundries for Freetown stake were changed and Upgun and Lumly branches were put in Freetown Stake.  The top picture I took from the 2nd story where the chapel is.  This is a group of members of Upgun.  I love the clothes they wear, especially on Sunday.  They always look their best. 

 My sisters from Upgun.  Back left is Sister George, she was the District RS president, but now they will get a new one. The sister in front in the blue and white stripped dress is Sister Kamara our branch RS President. I do love these sisters.

 We came about a hour early for conference and the bottom picture you can see the new gray truck we drove.  It is the truck right behind the men talking.  The top picture is taken the other way towards the exit.  There is only one way out of this parking lot.  We had to wait until all the other cars left.  Not many people drove, but the ones that did hung around and visited.  They love to visit and do that alot after the meetings.  They so friendly and loving. 

Our missionaries that were at the Conference.  They are hard working missionaries and as you can see they also have a playful side and are just young men and women.  We love them!

 Mother's Day 2017  Elder Cornista and Elder Wolters came to see us and Elder Cornista gave me 3 yummy cupcakes they had found at a bakery.  Elder Cornista is our Grandson here on our mission.  He was transfered to Bo a last transfer and we miss him.  Elder Wolters is still here in Freetown and we get to see him often. 

8 May Elder Cornista came to see us on his Birthday.  Happy Birthday Grandson!

 Elder Kay came in when he first arrived and drew this snow- boarder.  One of the workers came in and started erasing it and I told them not to.  Elder Kay came back this day and I had him draw what had been erased.  He also added pine trees and signed his name. He is a great artist.   This board is in our office right across from my desk.  It is the closest we will get to winter and snow here in Freetown.

 The new truck for the mission is finally ready for us.  Brent and I went to pick it up at Serra Motor.  Maroon, pictured with Brent, is a co-owner of Serra Motor and he is the nicest guy.  Brent has a really good relationship with him and his cousin who is also an owner. 

 A few weeks ago Brent was telling Jason about the carts they build here to help carry water.  The young boys fill the jugs with water and put them on these carts to haul back home.  Notice the wheels.

 The little ones are so cute and these 3 all swarmed around Brent and hugged him.  I had to get a picture.  Below is another picture of a cart that holds the water jugs. 

 We were driving down Wilkinson and we came upon this wheel chair guy that was holding onto the back of the poda poda and getting a free ride.  By the time I got my camera he had let go.  We see this often.  Wheel chair people hanging onto the back of taxi's or poda poda's and riding down the street. 

 This intersection is coming down from Forbay College.  It is near our apartment.  There are always this many okada's and sometimes even more.  It is where people can catch a ride with an okada. 

 The road right outside our apartment.  It is a very busy road.  This was a good picture of the mountains and you can see the smoke because the people are burning there trash.  That happens everyday in the dry season. 

 I could not resist these two pictures.  We were sitting in church a couple of weeks ago and this bird just flew onto the window.  The windows here are like the windows in our trailer and they have small slats that open outward.  The bird just flew onto one of the pieces of glass and sat there for about 5 minutes and was singing to her hearts content.  Brent and I were about 5 rows back so I took one further away so you could kind of see the window in context.  Also in the picture below if you look close the sister on the right has her hair braided with yarn (they call it wool here)  That is a common practice for the women to have "wool" braided into their hair.  Hers is long but she put it in a bun. 

 They have painted our apartment building outside and inside the past couple of weeks.  I had to take a picture of this ladder.  Notice how the rock is on the bottom.  They didn't even wedge it so if the ladder slipped it wouldn't fall.  They made this ladder because they couldn't find one big enough.  It is amazing someone did not fall off it.  They did a great job of painting and cleaning up after themselves.  We were really impressed. 

This picture is for Mom. It is a blackberry bush that was growing in front of our apartment.  I loved the pink and yellow blossoms.  I think I will make a pink and yellow quilt when I return home.  Anyway when they did some garden work where this was growing, someone just pulled it up one morning.  I was really sad.  It was a beautiful bush and I wanted to taste the blackberries.

 A pretty moth that was on our office door.  We saw one like it last year also.  We only see these once a year and they change colors depending on what they are on. 

 These snails are all over right now.  This is one of the biggest ones I have seen.  That is my bracelet by it so you can get an idea of how big it is. 

            A beautiful sunset coming looking over Freetown, coming down from Forbay college. 

This is what they used to paint the church in our compound.  They built these and used them to stand on to paint the building, then took them apart and built them on the other side.  It was quite a process. 

 Pictures I took on the way home from "The Place".  We often see goats in the road and tied up in yards.  Sometimes we see them tied up along the streets of Freetown. 

 This is how some of the houses are made.  They are actually some of the more sturdy ones.  The rainy season is coming, so the people are getting shelters made. 

                                                 A bunch of sticks for building houses. 

 President Clawson rode his bike to "The Place" and then back to Freetown.  We passed him part way home and I snapped this picture.  We do love our President!

 Going through a little village we saw this "Debul".  I was not going to take a picture because they don't like to have their picture taken.  However some men that were in this group hit our car as we passed and we were going very slowly, so I took a snap. 

                                                     Going through a market. 

 These rocks are everywhere they burn them to get them to split.  When they get to smaller pieces, people sit in the piles and use hammer and pound on them to break them.  They sit there all day and hit them.  Sometimes we see small children doing this also. 

 The Poda, Poda is for Greg.  I am sure he can relate.  These vans are full of people.  They take the regular seats out and make wooden seats and put 4 people across and there are at least 5 wooden seats.  They fill them with people and then put all their things on the top because there is no room inside. 

                                                Another house being made out of the sticks.

Welcome back to Freetown.  This is up near Forbay College and you can see Freetown and the ocean beyond. 

 Saturday 5 May 2017  The fisherman were bringing in their catch right on the Beach we were staying at.  It was fun to watch them.  They didn't catch any big fish this day, but had lots of little ones in the nets.  The birds were trying to get some also 

 The women gathered also with big tubs and gathered the small fish. 

A selfie of the entrance of "The Place" just as we are leaving.  We had a picture here last year and wanted one at the same location. 

 4 May 2017 we had a couples retreat at "The Place"  this is the entrance to where we stayed.  It is on Tokeh Beach.  It is a beautiful, clean beach and we were able to swim in the ocean

 This is a native lady that said I could take a picture with her and she would not charge me.  She wanted a picture with Brent first and had her grandson stand in the picture.  After we took the pictures she asked for money for her grandson.  I didn't have any money with me but went back to our room and got some and then I had to look all over the beach to find her again.  I am not sure the little boy got any food out of her but I still paid her.  We are still learning. 

                                              The sunset on the beach was so beautiful. 

 Brent ordered red snapper for supper and this is what his plate looked like.  The fish still had the heads and tails on them.  He said it was very good, but there wasn't much meat on them. 

 This was taken in the morning of 5 June 2017.  This is a beautiful area.  We didn't have time to swim again, because we had meetings.