Una Kushe

Don't get me wrong, Elder Flake and I are working hard, but this had to be one of the most uneventful weeks. So sorry in advance for this email. 

Like missionary work isn't the most glamorous, like maybe a little more in Africa but still not a lot happened. 

Most of the week was spent teaching different lessons to a lot of great people that are progressing, as well as trying to maybe make some people that aren't serious at all understand why they should be serious about the gospel. Wednesday during our institute class I didn't have to teach so I just plugged in the keyboard and turned the volume down and while my companion was teaching I practiced the piano for like an hour. I think if my mom could see how much I practice now compared to when she was paying for lessons she would be shocked...haha oops. 

On the bright side, we did find another place that sells food so we have had a little variety in our lunches. I think my Mom will be shocked once more when she finds out that I eat couscous likes its candy now. Its really good and the way they prepare it here is really good. They mix couscous with spaghetti noodles and then add fried plantains, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots. Top it off with a bunch of ketchup mayonnaise and pepe. And throw a chicken leg on top. It's nice!

Friday Saidu, the Branch Clerk, invited us to his city league championship soccer game. We went and I ended up being the honorary starter of the game and kicked the ball off to start the game. So that was cool, too bad we forgot our cameras when we went. There were probably 300 people there.  They lost but he didn't seem to mad, because a new season starts like every 2 weeks. 

I continue to grow and learn more and more about the gospel everyday day. I am enjoying the time I have to serve God and am grateful The Church of Jesus Christ was restored upon the earth! I know this Church is true and love the opportunity I have to tell others about the joy it brings to my family and I's lives.

Elder Hendricks 

Elder Flake and I, this morning ahah otherwise we didn't have anything to send, you can see my lappa scripture case

(I would just like to remind you as you look at this picture that Will is about 5'10. He's not short. His companion is very tall).

i still de na ya, i no de go no say

Or in translation: I am still here, I'm not going anywhere.

Yes this will be my 5th, count 'em 1,2,3,4, 5 Transfers in Moyamba. Either I haven't found someone I am supposed to or I haven't learned the lesson I am supposed to.

Elder Flake and I are still companions, which is awesome, but Elder Barker got transferred to Bo. He was only here for 2 transfers and I remember the day that he got here, yet he also left before me. Kinda weird but "me na senior man" inside Moyamba now. Elder Vele came to replace Elder Barker, he's a real big Samoan with only 3 months left. Real cool guy though. 

This was an interesting week, I'm not going to lie I thought that I was going to be transferred so I was treating it as my last week, but turned out not to be. We taught some really good lessons and officially as of yesterday all of our investigators and recent converts and back from the Christmas break. 

Friday we had a branch movie night. We thought it would be fun if us missionaries brought a bunch of popcorn and showed a film. Because most people don't have light here, watching a film is a really fun thing for them to do. So Friday night we turned the generator on at the church and started showing Ephraim's Rescue". Great film, it one of like 5 on our approved movie drive so we have seen it a billion times. Lots of people didn't understand the plot because they showed up an hour late but that's their own fault. Funny when you say the film starts at 5 with the intent to start it at 5:30 and you have 1 person there when it starts. Most people rolled in around 6:15 or 6:30. But we ended up having a good turn out of around 35. 

Saturday Elder Flake and I had our Baptism for Anmarie. 16 cousins of the Branch Clerk. It was super cool and though she is really spacey sometimes she really had a desire to be baptized so it was cool to watch that. 

The picked up Elder Barker Saturday morning and Elder Vele was able to see the baptism. 

Elder Hendricks 

1. Elder Flake, Anmarie, and I

2. Our lappa jackets

3. Everyone at the baptism

Worms :(

As some of you might remember last week our generator broke which meant we had to pump water by hand from our well! So Tuesday morning we started pumping water only to find Worms!

We called our mission specialist and he said that they would be sending but for now we have to pump all our water through our little tiny filter...it stinks, To get enough water to take a bucket shower you have to pump for like 15 minutes....why I didn't take a shower on Wednesday or Friday...oops. But hey if I don't shower I can't get worms!

Other than that this week was great, they fixed our generator on Tuesday and people are starting to come back for the start of school. On Wednesday Elder Barker and I went on exchange which was a little weird because we were companions just one transfer ago but it was super fun to get back together and go teach people. We were also able to learn a lot from each other and help each other grow.

Then on Thursday night our Zone Leaders came. Elder Motauog from South Africa and Elder Palacay from the Philippines. They stayed all the way till Saturday morning and Elder Flake and I proselyted with Elder Palacay all day on Friday, and it turned out to be one of the best days of the whole transfer. We worked a lot with recent converts and members but it was super nice to feel boku spirit. 

Two hour church is real nice, especially when you spend the entire second hour with the branch clerk teaching him how to enter tithing....for the 15th time. But hey it's a learning process and I don't mind helping if it means I don't have to teach 14 and 15 years olds that don't listen! 

Today we played basketball and did some small shopping for food. Our tailor has been making a bunch of new clothes for us and they are really cool. Pants shorts shirts and sweatshirts!

As I continue to serve the people of Sierra Leone I continue to feel Christ's love for them. It brings me great joy to be able to share the message of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Gospel and share that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the earth today. I know this church is true and I love my mission.

Elder Hendricks

1. Kids here still don't get the concept of smiling for pictures

2. The Basketball court 

3. Even though Isaac can't see, he knows how to smile

4. Dennis wondering why I'm taking a picture with him when I am not fresh enough

New Years

Hello friends and family.

I am sorry to inform you that this week was probably the most boring week I have had on my mission so I don't have a lot to email about.

For New Years we did do much, just stayed up long enough to watch the clock turn 12:00 and then fell asleep.

The remainder of the week was spent walking around and trying to find people to teach. It involved seeing a lot of the same people over and over again and contacting a lot of not serious people. Haha. Oh yeah and almost walking out to a village while contacting. Not a lot you can do when you have two hours till your next appointment and you and your companion can see roofs out in the bushes. Turned out everyone out there was Muslim and didn't care much for our message.

The 2-hour church change was wonderful and I got the opportunity of teaching Primary singing time. It was miserable and pretty just me singing to the kids so you can imagine how well that was.

Our tailor has been bored as well over the holiday which is good for us because it means we have a lot of new Africana ties and shirts. And I even bought a new pair of shoes this week :) I'm pretty proud of myself because it's been over a year since I last bought a pair so I decided to splurge today.

Other than that the only "exciting" thing that has happened has happened is that our Generator broke... now we really don't have power. So we grabbed our fuel and went to the church to email today. Our Zone Leaders come for exchange later this week so maybe I'll have more to talk about next week.

Before I end I want to talk small about the new Come Follow Me books, they are awesome! We got our own and we started studying from them and we have started helping members understand how to use them. It just adds to my own testimony that this is the only true church and that we continue to grow as we follow President Nelson and the Apostles guidance!

Elder Hendricks

sorry I can't send pics today, the church doesn't have 3g

The Week After Christmas

This past week has been an interesting week!

Everyone is still gone and even more people have left for New Years so we kinda just walk around talking to people to find out that they are visiting and leaving town 3 days later. So maybe we are just planting a bunch of seeds for other missionaries to sow. But whatever the case may be, we try to have fun while we do it!

In terms of highlights this week we climbed a mango tree ate fufu and watched our branch clerk's soccer game (they lost) 

Also this week we had a member our or branch pass away, a less active member that was 27. She died in Freetown and I had never actually met her but we still planned on having the service in our chapel. The service was to be Saturday and on Friday President Bannister called me and assigned me to make the Service Program. In church we don't have a weekly program so no one knows how to make them. I obliged and quickly made the program on Microsoft Word. It was hilarious to have the family of the sister watch me make the program and I could hear them whispering about how I was so skilled with computers and awesome I was to have this knowledge. All I could think of was how I learned how to do that is 2nd grade. Crazy how education is different in America than it is here. 

The Service went off without a problem and I even played the organ, with both hands!!! The first time since learning again how to play the piano at the start of mission. I can see myself improving and I even started teaching piano lessons today to a brother in the branch. 

After the service just like in America there is a procession, but in Salone (Sierra Leone) nobody has cars so we all just walked behind the police truck carry the body all the way to the cemetery. It was interesting to see because most of the people at this service were not members of The Church. There was lots of wailing and crying and it pained me to see that, while we talked about the plan of salvation they don't understand the joy that it brings. This isn't the end for Fatu Nylender and they will see there lost friend again. I guess it just creates a great teaching opportunity for us! 

Yesterday in church I gave a talk about Elder Jefferey R Holland's article in the most recent Liahona titled Personal Growth, it was the second week in a row so I hope the members didn't get tired of me! I also played the piano and for the intermediate him we sang How Firm of Foundation and I pulled one of the most Gary Hendricks moves I have ever pulled and made us sing verses 1,2,3, and 7. The members were a little confused but caught on fast. 

The work is wonderful and I continue to enjoy life while I serve the Lord and grow my testimony!

Elder Hendricks

1. Climbing mango tree!

2. Eating fufu, its gross so we invited Aruna to help us finish it

3. Elder Flake and I straight pimping in our new clothes

Merry Christmas from Moyamba!

Yesterday our internet decided to not work for me so today it is fixed so I can email. I don't really mind because it just makes Christmas better!

This week was packed full of boku boku things. It all started on Tuesday when we went to help a Sister in our ward pick groundnuts again. This time I brought a camera and got some really cool photos. We then started on our day to find that everyone has traveled.  So Tuesday and Wednesday was a lot of walking around and talking to people that probably aren't serious, but hey who knows unless we try. But Wednesday we were given more free meals than we taught lessons, 4-1, so I guess even when we have a bad day teaching we can still get good cassava leaf.

Funny story though, Wednesday was my old companions, Elder Barker, 1 year mark on his mission. So we planned to have a huge bonfire to celebrate. So we have this long boards that just sit in our backyard so they drug them around to burn. They started jumping on them to break them and the second jump for Elder Barker, he had two nails go straight into his foot. So after countless calls to Sister Clawson and  Sister Moomey and loss of a lot of blood we had it under control and bandaged up...the fire did not happen though.

Good thing is the next day we went to Bo. Sister Moomey was able to look at it and make sure he doesn't have tetanus(he doesn't!) While in Bo we chopped nice. I had the closest thing I can get to an American club sandwich and a chocolate banana milkshake. 

The next day we had our Christmas Conference and while we heard really good messages the most spiritual part for me came while eating lunch. Being from the bush and due to the fact we hadn't seen our mission president since before General Conference he wanted to eat  lunch with us. Once i had finished my lunch I began to feel immense pain in my upper abdomen, like so much it hurt to breath. I thought I just need to kaka so I went to the bathroom but nothing. As I left the bathroom it got worse and so much I just bent over in pain with someone went and grabbed the nurse.

They didn't know what to do but look at my groaning in pain so they had me sit up on this bench and try to get me to breathe easy. That worked for about 30 seconds before I went back to moaning. Finally I just asked for a Priesthood Blessing in between moans. My companion anointed and Elder Moomey sealed the blessing. As Elder Moomey gave the blessing I could feel the pain reducing and as he closed the blessing I could feel the pain go down my leg and my foot fell asleep. But the pain was gone. THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF GOD HAS BEEN RESTORED, 

That night I skyped my family and spent way too much on a cherry coke that didn't have any cherry flavor, but it was ok because I got to skype my family. 

Saturday we came back and Sunday we had our Christmas program in church. It went fine besides the fact that 1 minute before they meeting we were struggling to find out who was presiding. Just then the branch clerk walked in. But yours truly conducted sacrament, played the organ, and was the concluding speaker. I spoke on Peace which I will talk more about later.

Yesterday we played basketball in the morning and went to the bank. It was the last day the bank was open before Christmas so there were boku people. I learned that the guards at the bank aren't to keep people from robbing the bank but to keep people from getting in fights in line as everyone tries to cut ahaha. After we went shopping and I bought myself a sweet Africana shirt from Christmas. 

This morning I woke up and was feeling sad. As well as last night I was thinking about all the family, food, and fun that I am missing. I have read Luke 2 about a thousand times with members this season and versus 14 stood out to me. Where it talks about peace. I had never thought of Christmas as a holiday of peace until now, and now that I do it make so much sense. In the December 2015 Liahona , Elder Christofferson has a great talk on Peace. I recommend you go read it. But because Christ was born 2000 years ago, we have peace. We have the peace that we are never alone, that we have someone with us every step, and that someone is Christ. Because we have hope for better things to come. 

This Christmas has definitely been different. I can't say I'd choose rice as my Christmas dinner but it has been amazing. As I look up at the stars tonight, I think of the New Star that was a sign of his birth and I can't help but smile, knowing today, we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Elder Hendricks 

1.Picking ground at the farm

2. One of our converts son climbing a coconut tree

3.Me drinking the coconut

4. Sister Konnie Conteh and I, she fed us Christmas dinner! (she likes to eat)

A Video from our Christmas chat with Elder Hendricks: