Christmas in October!!

OK - Now I will move on - Elder Lamb was SOO excited to get a package. President Squires had to attend a meeting in Ghana and so we didn't think he would be getting anything but letters at this zone conference. What a surprise!!!!

And yes - what a dork!!

A lesson in African!

How you comin on? (means “How are you”) now you are speaking good english for the liberians. ha ha it makes no sense at all i know. but that is how things are here. nothing makes sense.
(President and Sister Squires)
the other day me and elder tuvaifale were walking past a big destroyed house. completely normal to see here since a lot of them were destroyed during the war. as we were walking by someone hiding threw a big stone at us. good thing they were a pansy and couldnt throw it far enough. so we laughed and kept walking.
things like this happen everyday. people think that we are cia spies. then we contact them and they never come just like everyone else we talk to. but i am doing my best.

the work is ok. the investigators are going backwards instead of forwards. the people are just lazy and never do anything except run away and make excuses. the pastors have trained them very well here. you can see a church everywhere. there are more different churches than lds buildings in utah. it is insane. people use it as a business here.
i am still staying in the same area for another 6 weeks at least. maybe more. elder linde is coming to the apartment with sadare and lauti is going to congo town. rogers is going to freetown and davilla is going to kayando. elder balulwami is finally going home. he bawled like a baby at zone conference when we had a instuction on finishing. it was hard for him when his mother died and no one supported him. he stayed here and finished though.
i am doing great and i got a package from my mom with all kinds of good things inside. i love the sandals and beef jerky. thank you so much!!!! i got some letters from mom, gma pay, gma lamb, kayla, neldon and others. thank all of you for writing.
one letter asked about red light so ill explain. red light is a junction where there is a 3 way junction. at the junction are all the shops that people sell from. it is like a giant flee market with everyone selling from wheel barrows. there are a ton of thiefs so you have to watch your pockets carefully. but i havent lost much money. ha ha
all is well and thank all of you.
love
elder lamb

Christmas in Africa!!

Attention all of you readers of this blog!!!!

Elder Lamb seems to be doing well, but said that this zone conference President Squires comes from a meeting in Ghana so no packages, just letters, will be coming with him. I think he is starting to think about the Holidays and getting a bit homesick. It is really expensive to mail things and his basic needs are being met. The African Elders don’t have a lot, so compared to them he them he has an abundance. My sister-in-law came up with the idea of sending a package of letters from everyone to our missionary sons – so I will be collecting letters – cards – pictures -or small presents from anyone who wants to and will send them to Elder Lamb to open on Christmas Day (If the slow boat to Africa makes it there before Christmas) My deadline will be Oct 31st. So everyone sit down and write him a note (you can even just email me and I will print it out – how much easier can I make it??) – it will be the best present we can give him!! (he would love the kids to draw him pictures – that is what Amy usually sends him and he puts them up on his wall). He should be transferred this month or next month - so I don't know who his companion at Christmas will be. Generally the African Elders do not get much from home, some don't even get emails :( so if you would like to also send a couple of cards or notes to some of the African Elders - that would just be AWESOME!!!

You can mail your letters to him to:
337 W 100 S.
Spanish Fork, Ut 84660

So go get busy he wants to hear from ALL OF YOU!!!!

Love

~Tracy

What a dork - enough said!!!

BIG white man can play football in Africa...

hey everyone,

the normal cafe is on fire right now and there are no firetrucks here so it will just burn and burn. owell.
i just got back from playing soccer. wow you should see my tan lines. i hope to get some pictures. it is great to get together with all the other elders and see some white people.

today i want to talk on racism. why did god create some people black and others white? here white people are considered rich. to us black people are considered the same. why do we judge on the color of our skin? read 1 samuel 16. you will come to understand that we are all children of our heavenly father and that he loves us all. there are millions of people here in the bush that will never hear the gospel. that doesnt mean that god doesnt love them. he is working on his time. i have come to love the people here and appreciate the opportunity to serve among them. it is hard as a white man. the critisism is high and i have been called every name in the book. everyone wants to pick your pocket and steal from you. but the lord is on my side and i am staying strong. the greatest calling we have is to procliam this gospel. i wouldnt rather be anywhere in the world. sure i miss my mom and the work is hard. but i will continue to stay strong.
one thing i would like to ask for is the church hymns on cd. it would help a lot to teach the people the correct way to sing. so please talk with my mom about that i would appreciate it a lot.
thanks for everything and i love you all
love
elder lamb

White men from America using machettes??

hey everyone,
this week has been good. we have been focusing more on service. so this week we went to sister appleton. she is a widow who always feeds us no matter what. she is so kind and loving. so she needed some grass cut so we asked her if we could come chop it for her. she was shocked and said yes. so we went and took some machettes and starting cutting the grass. the people driving and walking by on the main road were very confused at seeing 3 white men doing very hard physical labor. we had many people ask when we would start building the new church there or how much sister appleton is paying us. they have never seen anyone just give service like that before. so people gave us a hard time. when we went to tell sister appleton goodbye she was crying and the phone was ringing off the hook with all her friends asking her what was happening at her house. it was one of the best moments i have had here. the wires called us and told us that the news was everywhere that the white men from america could cut grass. it was hilarious.
mana is doing good and getting better everytime i see her. i dont know what any of you can send for christmas. the kids already molest me after church and i am a God in gardnersville primary. maybe matchbox cars or something. almost everyone can read english and they dont have toys really. they are all great kids and i love all of them.
the branch is doing well and i am doing great. the work is moving along good and if i dont kill the district leader i will be great. i am grateful for all of you and i love to read letters :)love
elder lamb

The story of Mana Wilson

hey everyone,
i guess the first news everyone wants to know is that i got dear johned. yep for real. owell that is life. i just have to put a smile on and trust God. anyways enough of the unimportant stuff.
this week i want to tell the story of mana wilson. she is 2 years old and the first time i met her she couldnt even stand up. she has malnutruiton and is starving. she was always so sad and her gut was huge while her arms and legs were paper thin. so the first time we shared scriptures with the mother who is skinnier than a twig. the next time we brought some extra rice from the apartment. then mana was gone the next time. she went into intensive care at the hospital. she had to have a blood transfusion. she was there for 2 weeks. we kept checking up on the family who are all members. then mana came home. we sent the relief society to visit. then we went to visit. mana seemed a little better. i had a package of cookies in my bag so i gave them to her. that was the first time i have seen her smile. then they came to church. mana still wasnt looking to good. so we took a bag of rice again to the family. this time mana looked better so i picked her up and held her close. the next time we visited she saw me and just smiled. so i picked he up again and held her during the lesson. she fell asleep in my arms. now mana is my best friend and everytime she sees me all she does is smiles. she can walk and talk and is doing great now. the wilson family has been coming to church again and i will make sure they keep it up.
i hope this story touches you like it did to me. God truly looks after all of his children. i dont know how we decided to give them some rice the first time. but since we did they had enough money to go to the hospital.
i love this work and i love the people here. i hope that i can continue to do great things for the Lord and that i will still be an instrument in his hands.
good luck with all that all of you are doing
love
elder lamb

Pictures from Zone Conference

September Zone Conference

2008

Got to love the candy cane tie!!

This is Elder Lamb and Elder Linde. Elder Linde is from St. George. He met Spencer's friend in the Provo MTC.



I have NO Clue what this is a picture of. There were several pictures of the Elders and they are always looking down at their feet. Spencer said that Sister Wire likes to take lots of "natural' pictures and they never know when she will be taking a picture - thus some of the seemingly random pictures :)