Moyamba Week 2

Moyamaba has been an exciting adventure this past week and I thought I'd tell you a little more about it. 

Moyamaba is a city in the terms of Sierra Leone. But to everyone back home it is an African Village. Most of the houses don't have doors and are made of cement with sheets of metal for roofs. Some though are mud walls with leaves as roofs. In terms of work, there are only five things that my companion and I have come up with that people do. They can work at the hospital (which looks like a run down middle school from the 1930s), the police department, the bank, drive transport (motorcycle taxi), or sell stuff on the street (clothes/food/etc.). Other than that there is really nothing to do. There are some small rice farms on the outside of town but not big. There is one paved road that runs down the middle of town and all other roads are dirt with countless potholes. It truly is a beautiful country and Moyamaba is very flat but as we walk or take bikes we can look out into the jungle and mountains, and it really does make me appreciate the wonderful creations that God has given us. As we walk down the roads the kids will either yell our names and wave/run after us to give us high fives or fist bumps, or they have the complete opposite reaction and are scared of white people and scream their guts out, lol. Elder Applegarth likes to mess with those that are scared.

In terms of food we are served mainly four dishes all over rice. Casava Leaf, Potato Leaf, Gravy, or Palm Oil soup. All look the same in the bowl they serve us and the bowl of the toilet. They mix either chicken or fish in it usually, sometimes other things....you'll hear about that later.

My second week in Moyamaba absolutely flew by. Like went so fast, feels like yesterday I emailed home. 

Tuesday: I extended my first Baptismal Invitation, and all three of the sisters said yes! So it means my first baptism will be in a few weeks! We also had a sister that moved from Bo for a few weeks approach us on Sunday saying she had been taught a few lessons but wanted more, so we went to visit her Tuesday night and when we asked what she knew about the church, she rattled off a very long and elaborate testimony of Joseph Smith, how cool is that? It was like the baptism fell into our lap. She is been baptized in two weeks. She lives in the soldier barracks which is about two miles outside of Moyamba so some of the kids there have never seen white people. So I had the cutest 3 year old come up and would not touching my arm and feeling my hair! Cutest thing right, only problem is he was butt naked!!!!!! My companion had the hardest time not laughing as we were in the middle of the lesson. 

Wednesday: Was pretty normal. We don't do a lot of finding or contacting here because if we really wanted to baptize everyone we could because we are white. So when it comes to contacting we have to be picky, but Elder Applegarth made me contact some families and we even got a return appointment, more to come about that appointment.

Thursday: Was a terrible day, I woke up with a pain in my side that stayed all day, and it was very hot. Through prayer and much faith though I was able to make it through that day and the pain went away. We went back to Soldier Barracks and the kids had clothes on this time! Nudity is the least of concerns in the country, so you always have to be careful looking at rivers and if you go to someone's house, because kids will be nude, women won't have shirts, and men will just pee anywhere they want. 

Friday: Wasn't much better in the fact that it was just as hot if not hotter than thursday and five of our seven appointments didn't show up or weren't home, It was eventful in the fact that we learned that the Branch hadn't done anything with tithing since it was created almost a year ago, so my companion was then called as Branch Clerk. We went back to teach the family I contacted and it turned out they couldn't read (happens a lot here) and in the middle the lady pulled her breast out to feed her kid. Elder Applegarth ended the lesson quick and we left. 

Saturday: We had a Mormon Helping Hands Service project in the morning, weeding the hospital. At first Elder Applegarth and I were just sitting there and I asked why we weren't helping, he said watch this, went and grabbed tools for us and we started to work. Not even five minutes in we had countless people telling us we were weeding wrong and to give them our tools. I didn't know you could weed wrong but we were. Then people put us on picture taking duty and getting snacks, I didn't complain. Saturday night we went to the usual family that we go to every night for dinner and we were served Palm oil soup with what looked like beef. I was hungry so went straight for the meat and it was quite good and sweet but didn't taste like beef. Turns out it was not beef but Monkey. Oops, Elder Applegarth started laughing at my reaction when I was told it was monkey. But I have faith the power of God will protect me from Ebola but I learned to ask what the meat is first. But to be honest it was very tasty meat.

Sunday: In church I had the opportunity to bless the sacrament, and teach sunday school and young womens because my companion was working on clerk stuff. I taught about the power of the Book of Mormon, and Personal Progress, felt kinda weird teaching about something that I have no idea about but its good to learn. After we went to a members house and had a really late lunch taught lessons and played Ludo. Ludo is their one and only board game. It is like Sorry on steroids, very fun and I actually won twice so.

Monday: Today I woke up cold. It was 78 degrees. We went to the bank and market to get food and then Elder Kasbosha (other elder in our apartment) and I went on a bike ride, it was beautiful but soon got hot.

The work in Moyamaba in physically hard, but so spiritually rewarding, some of the members and even investigators have the strongest testimony and desire to do what is right. Even in just the last two weeks my Krio has gotten pretty good, but I still have a lot to learn. It is so cool to be a servant of the Lord and spread his gospel to these wonderful people!

Elder Hendricks 

Pictured Below:

1.My favorite snacks

2. Smashing peppe (hot peppers)

Moyamba Week 1

Greetings from Salon (Sierra Leone in Krio)

What a week this has been, we left the MTC on Tuesday morning about 9am and headed to the Accra Airport. From there the 18 of us going to SL caught a flight at about 12:15. The flight was nowhere close to being full and was about two hours and some change before we got to SL. The airport in SL is in Lungi, which is in the middle of nowhere. So when we landed we looked out the window and saw nothing but trees. We all thought we would be in the city but we weren't. We were then picked up and taken to the beach where we were told we were going to take a ferry to Freetown. (Attached is a picture of the beach and dock). The ferry was a glorified speed boat. 25' maybe with a hard top. And if you notice from the picture you can not see the other side where we were going. I found myself laughing on this boat ride, thinking "what am I doing". But all is good, we landed in Freetown as it started to rain, finally rain in the rainy season. We met President and Sister Clawson at the dock and we were all shuttled through downtown Freetown to the mission home. That night we had a small orientation and interview with President and then slept. The next morning we had another orientation in anticipation of where we would be called.

Right before President said my location he prefaced it, "we normally don't do this but...Elder Hendricks, you will be serving in Moyamba!" Now he said he normally doesn't do this for many reasons lol. Moyamaba is what they call the bush, also known as the middle of nowhere. And it was opened less than a year ago, meaning the branch is still very young. So I made history in the fact I am in the first elder in the SLFM (sierra leone freetown mission) to be trained in the bush. I soon got in a car and we were off, Down through freetown, waterloo, and then to the middle of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, its beautiful here with the green brush and palm trees but two hours on a paved road and then two and a half on a dirt road means youre in the middle of nowhere. 

My companion is Elder Applegarth from near Manti Utah, he is super cool and the cool thing about us is that I will be his last companion as he goes home right after my training. As soon as I arrived I quickly got into the thick of it and we went to a members house for dinner, they feed us every night and have 8 kids that we like to hang with. (ages 17-2). We then went to the apartment, its a very nice house, and dont worry about safety, its inside a 8 foot high cinderblock wall with barbed wire around it. Moyamaba has no electricity, yes you heard that right, anywhere. SO lots of people have generators, and we run ours during the night. We do have running water from a well so thats nice. NO internet cafe so I am currenlty using a laptop the mission gave us in the house. We do have a shower though, imagine a big sink facuet from the ceiling, and its cold. so if we want warm water we have to heat it up and use a bucket, more work but from experience, more enjoyable. And we pay a kid to do our laundry, so thats nice. Even if I offered my mom money for my laundry she still wouldnt do it. 

The next day we went about and started to meet the people. The people are so kinda and sweet and many remind me of home. Everyone is so welcoming to me and they talk a whole lot of Krio which is good in the long run, but right now I dont understand a whole lot of what they are saying. But it is getting better. For transportation here they have motorbikes. You whistle one down and my companion and I will hope and they take us anywhere in Moyamaba for 2000-3000 leones, or roughly 35-40 cents in american money. 

This country is beautiful and the missionary work is good, it is tough because everyone would get baptized if we asked, just because we're white. so the challenge is finding the ones with true testimonies. We do have a guy we started teaching this week that hits us with anti-mormon propoganda. so thats fun! but elder applergarth is very experienced so he knows how to deflect it and its good learning for me. 

Im excited for the oppertunity that I have and I love the gospel which is get to share. I even got to teach young women's on sunday, so thats a first!

Elder Hendricks

MTC- Final Week

This is my last hello from Ghana!

I get on a plane tomorrow headed for the promised land (Sierra Leone) and cant' wait to actually see Africa, and African sunsets. Not a lot different happened this week besides going to class and sitting in devotionals. Rather than explain that I thought I would share my testimony and why I decided to serve a mission.

I know that God is our Eternal Heavenly Father and that he loves us and cares for us with all his heart. He gives us families and all our loved ones to earth with the goal of all of us to return to live with him. I know that to accomplish this he sent his Son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. As we follow his Gospel when can return to live with him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet with all my heart. That he was called of God to restore Christ's church upon the earth today. The same church that was taught by Christ. Through this, I know the Book of Mormon to be the true Word of God, and to be Another Testament of Jesus Christ and his teachings. I love The Book of Mormon and know anyone who reads it and follows the counsel to pray will find out for themselves if it is true. I know the Temples are the House of God and that as we attend we can feel closer to him and help us return to live with Him. I know that Russell M. Nelson is a true prophet of God. I will never forget the immense spirit that overcame me as I stood in my dark dorm room early on a Saturday morning and sustained him as Prophet of the Church. I love this Gospel and its teachings. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and right now it is to teach the Gospel to those waiting in Sierra Leone. I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all and hope that all is well. I pray for everyone back home and on their missions that all might be well. 

Elder Hendricks

Will sent a couple pictures himself, and then forwarded a bunch of photos from his mission President as well!

MTC Week 2

What up dawgs!!!!!

Learned that calling people dawgs is bad in Africa and I need to stop. Oh well. This week we have just kinda been in class all week so I thought this is a good time to tell you a little more about Africa. For being the rainy season here in Ghana, it has rained a grand total of zero seconds since arriving. I have totally adjusted to the humidity and it feels great. The people here a great and are so friendly but Africans and Americans just don't have the same social queues. So that makes it fun. Somehow I lucked out and me and my companion are the only companionship of elders learning English that are both American. So I have it pretty easy but not so much for everyone else in my district. The sports here are terrible I never have any idea what is going and no one is really good. Ping Pong and foosball are fun, but that is all I've done. The Somoans and Togans dominate the volleyball pit, so for the percaution of my life, I stay away.

The food has gotten better and I really enjoy alot of the weird dishes that they serve us. In fact we have even been served french fries twice since the time that I emailed last. Lots of rice and yams (mom, you'd be proud) and vegetables, The drinks that we are served are just straight juiced fruits so some are better than others. Also, I learned in Africa when cooking chicken, fish, or beef, they just cook the whole animal and serve it you. SO it is almost a game to find that meet through the skin, bones, and veins. Kinda gross I know, but wait till you here this. I was served fish and finally found the meat, it was great, I look over and one of the elders from Nigeria had eaten everything but the spine. Then the next meal eating chicken, I learned another elder in my district from Ghana eats the bones of a chicken. Like his plate had nothing on it when he was done. Luckily elder Kamara who is from Sierra Leone say they dont eat bones there. I also tried Fufu this week. Like what???? If you dont know what that is youtube eating it. Basically its a doughy substance you eat soup with, but if you chew it you vomit, so you basically just swallow it whole and it is the weirdest thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4sJqvIEHt4

(Here's a link to a Fufu video. Although they're most definitely chewing it. Don't ask me. -Mary)

As a district leader, I am a leader over 10 elders and 2 sisters. This week was tough for me as I wanted to smack a lot of the missionaries for complaining and murmmering and just been un-Christlike. However, Sunday was all about repentance and we listened to an MTC devotional by Elder Holland and my heart changed. I have a great testimony of Repentance now, as I thought what would Christ do. I pray for patetience everyday and it seems to make a great difference and I love my district even more now.

Yesterday we had a devotional by Elder Nash about obedience. It was great to hear him and he is a great speaker. Pumped me up to be the best missionary I can be!!!! Afterwards, we all lined up to shake him and his wifes hand. I mentioned I'm from Seattle as well, and knew Allen Dance and he said I get a hug for that and that when he comes to Freetown he'll find me, jeez no pressure about being a good missionary!!!!!.

I love my mission as it has already grown me so much closer to my Heavenly Father and Christ. I can believe I already have less than one week in the MTC. In fact, I'll be emailing on Monday next week because we get shipped out Tuesday. I love you all and miss you but I know that this is what Heavenly Father has in store for me. 

Elder Hendricks

sorry not too many picture my camera is having problems.