Monday, May 25, 2009

An average day and homemade pizza!!

Picture: Elder Lamb and Elder Stice - they were in the MTC together. Elder Stice is now serving in Liberia
Hey everyone,
Well the work is going well this week. First things first - transfer news. I am staying and so is my companion Eder Albright. Elder Agamah is going to Freetown and Elder Onuoha is coming to us to be the district leader. Well it looks like the Lord needs me to break in another one as my companion said. Ha-ha! Well I think things will go well and Elder Rogers is coming out to sweet Bo town. It should be a lot of fun and I get to make him trunky. Ha-ha but he already is so I can only make it worse. (Elder Rogers comes home in August!!)
Well today was amazing. Me and my companion made pizza. Yup in the bush of Bo. We bought some bread dough and pineapple, cheese, bacon, sauce, and onions. We cooked it in our little shack oven and ate it. We made one for our neighbors the turays. They all loved it and wanted us to make more. But it is a little expensive. But well worth it. We are working on scones or breadsticks next. Ha-ha! Well that is the highlight of the week.
Actually I was very excited that the Belia family was baptized on Saturday and I am having another on sat. It should be very nice and I am excited for Fatmata Sheriff. She is doing very well and is dedicated very well. I love my branch and I am excited for this time here. Things could really turn around with our new branch presidency. They actually get things done!!! Who would of thought?
We had a service project on Thursday. I set it up with the chief governor of southern Sierra Leone, the head of Bo town. We even contacted him but he didn’t come to church. Oh well, we cleaned up the compound of the building and made things look pretty. It was funny.
Ok the other morning at 2 am, there was a group of people who just got up and started wailing and banging drums. The whole neighborhood was pissed and a fight broke out small. It was funny and we didn’t get much sleep. Oh well what can you do?
Oh on a sad note 2 more elders are home unexpectedly. There is gossip why, but I don’t really know. The work must go on though.
Ok so the average day of elder lamb apparently is interesting to you so here it is.
6:30 wake up
Until 7 I usually study and work out a little. Then I shower and eat corned beef and rice.
At 8 is personal study until 9
9 is companion study.
10 we head out and see usually 4 or 5 people that we teach until we return to the apartment at around 8. I don’t feel good after dark so we get in around 8.
Then we cook or study until 10:30 and go to bed. Not really to exciting but there you go. Ha-ha!!
Well thanks for the support and letters should be here on Wednesday so we will see who really loves me.
Love
Elder Lamb

Monday, May 18, 2009

“sure its not candy and lollypops over here but I am doing my best and working hard”

Hey everyone,
Well things are going good this week and I am doing very well. The work is nice and I am starting too really like it here. Maybe that means something maybe not ha-ha. Well I had a nice interview with President on Thursday and we talked about a lot of nice things. It was good just to sit and talk with him and work some things out.
Our district has been getting better I think. We talked things out the other day and just pretty much told Elder Agamah that he is not a king and that our voice counts. My new strategy is to kill him with kindness. So far so good I guess.
My previous area had a large baptism on Saturday. A whole family named the Momohs and Sister Koroma - who is married to a member. They are all doing well and it was nice to see them enter the water. They are all doing great and the Belia family should be having theirs on Saturday. Our area is having one on the 30th so there are many people joining the church now. The fruit is coming in I guess haha.
This week I found a man (from Nigeria) who can cut white man hair. I wont lie he could put up a good fight with my Aunt Becca cause it looks amazing and it cost me $1.66. It looks good and I have a new good friend. Not much else going on this week. Just another missionary’s hard week of working hard and getting really tired after working all week. Haha well I had a nice p day and actually am working on getting my shirts white. All thanks to a washboard. It is nice and saves my hands from being destroyed.
Well things are going pretty good I guess. Not much to talk about really but I am working hard and I guess transfer news is on Saturday so we will see if my world changes again.
Love
Elder Lamb

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Red Beast LIVES on!!!

It lives on!!
We "Africanized" the trailer like a redneck!!

A blast from the past!!

Okay - so these aren't pictures of Elder Lamb -
but could I seriously pass up putting pictures of Brenton
and his "hot" baby blue suit on the blog??
These won't be here long - so look while you can!!
Brenton and Amy Lyn WOW!! Takes your breath away huh??
Is that Uncle Rico throwing the football??
Uncle Rico: Back in '82, I used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile.
Kip: Are you serious?
Uncle Rico: I'm dead serious.
What a stud!! And guess where he got the suit?? That is the suit that his dad wore in high school!! SERIOUS!! Thank you Grandma Lamb!! There was a dance Saturday night and the theme was the 80's - I kept telling Brenton that that was EARLY 80's, since his dad is so old and all. But after he took a poll of the neighborhood, he decided it was the perfect outfit. Brenton LOVES this suit! He proudly wore it to the dance and then to Church the next day!!
Amy, Brenton (aka Uncle Rico) and Casey
Now we will just have to have Casey wear it in a couple of years
and he will be his dad's twin - mustache and all :)

Here comes the rain.....

This is an awesome picture of Elder Lamb in a rainstorm.
But this is what he wrote to tell me about the picture:
This is the rain storm that killed one of my new barracks members that was my friend.
He was struck by lightening.

Mother's Day phone call!!!!

This picture is Elder Lamb in the bush of Kenema - notice he is proudly wearing his Bronco shirt :)

Some Misc Info From Mother's Day Call:
* There were some loud noises in the background and he said maybe someone was trying to break into their compound. He said no one ever has, and ”don’t worry because I sleep with a machete by my bed and it is like 3 feet long.” Of course being the mom I had to ask him where in the heck did he get something like that. He said he had a guy make it out of barbed wire. We all looked at each other like what the?? He was all bragging about how it could cut off an arm – when finally someone said “WITH barbed wire??” Turns out his English translating skills were a bit off – and it was made out of rebar!!
* Amy asked him what he does with his GARBAGE – his response “I wear them every day and then wash them on Mondays” He thought she said GARMENTS. The garbage they save up and burn once a week. When it is too wet, they wait till it dries out so during the rainy season it really piles up.
* He loves his companion – who has seen Strange Brew (beauty eh?) and knows almost as many Chuck Norris jokes as he does.
*There are 6 branches in Bo and one in Kenema. He said it is densely populated with LDS members. His branch goes to the only Church that is actually owned by the Church and it is a very nice building. (Most of the branches rent out rooms or anything they can find to hold Church)
*They average about 6 appointments a day and there is not a shortage of people to teach.
* They are supplied things for breakfast which consists of rice, corned beef and something else – he did say they buy the 50 pound bag of rice and that it is interesting to carry that on the back of a motorcycle. For lunch they are on their own and that is generally rice with something on it. For dinner lately he and his companion have been having guacamole and Pringles. The fruit is amazing!! He said that people eat snails, maggots, basically anything. Usually it is just thrown into a pot of bowling water. Sometimes he will buy a twix bar. When he left he would NOT eat KFC or roast beef – but now said that either would be heaven!!
* There are all kinds of creatures – but he has not seen a lion or an elephant. Lots and lots of bugs! People have monkeys for pets and once they get fat they eat them.
* He admitted to having malaria once not long ago, but Sister Squires doctored him up and he was fine.
* The rain is late in coming this year – he said that it rained last week (picture alert!!) and it was starting to rain while we talked. At night it cools down to 75 degrees if they are lucky. He said usually it is 95 degrees with total humidity.

Not every day you meet a bus full of white people!!

Hey everyone,
Well it was amazing to talk with my family yesterday!! I gave them a small taste of krio and mende and timney but they had no clue what I was saying. It was rather funny. They told me that my s-10 finally reached its resting place. Into a trailer of course. My dad did a great job on it so it is ok I guess. I will just have to pull it around instead of driving it. Haha.
Well the work is doing well out here. There are many great investigators we are working with and I am excited for them. They are all so smart and working so hard. I am so happy to be blessed with a great area and much work to do here. We just got a new branch president who is willing to listen to me and to take some advice on how to make the branch better so I think some great things are going to be going on here. Transfers are on the 27th and I hope to stay actually. There are many great people who are preparing to be baptized and there is so much great work to be done here that I am excited to stay actually. Well we will see what the lord says in a few weeks.
The kids at the SOS orphanage are doing so great and they love me so much. The other day we just had a big wrestle and the kids had a blast. They all just attacked me so we just wrestled them. They ultimately destroyed one of my old white shirts. I attempted to wash it today but I think I failed. Ha-ha but the kids are doing so great and they all look up to us so much. I love them.
The other day we had a crazy experience, we were walking down the road and there was a van full of white people. We thought it was strange out here in the bush. Then a lady started banging on the glass and screaming. We just kept walking. Then she came out of the bus and yelled elders elders!! We were a little shocked and walked back. She is a member from Canada and is doing a free tour to be a nurse. She was very nice and it was weird to talk in normal English. We snapped a photo and wished each other luck. It was really crazy and I thought it was cool. Not everyday you meet a bus full of white people out here you know.
So I have decided that all of you have to search your own scriptures now so I won’t give you all the good ones I am finding. Good luck with your studies and keep it up.
I love all of you and appreciate the letters and support.
Love
Elder Lamb

Monday, May 4, 2009

Pig Stew, Futball, and Flying Kites

Hey everyone,
Well I am sorry that last week I forgot to give you some scriptures and stuff. Guess what? I forgot my paper again this week. So you get to listen to me ramble on about nothing now. Well ok maybe not nothing.
So let’s start with today. We had our monthly super preparation day. We went to play a long hot sunny game of football (remember it is soccer). I played defense and apparently the African branch missionaries don’t like it when a huge white guy pancakes them. If you don’t know what that means then ask a football player. Ha-ha anyways we had a good time and I was able to see some of the members of my last area. When we had finished we went to our apartment where our mother Sister Turay fixed a pig stew for us. It was funny to watch the pig run around the yard. Then she just tackled it and slit its throat and started butchering it. The people here are pretty crazy. But she made some really nice stew.
Ok let’s go back to Saturday. First thank you mom for sending those kites and things. So we have an orphanage with a bunch of kids there. One of our investigators is a mom there. She has 10 kids in her house. The place is called S.O.S Children’s Village. We have been going out there and the kids just think of us as a hero. I love the place with all of my heart and it is the highlight of my week. I don’t think I would get through if I didn’t go there. So on Saturday we walked out there with 2 kites in my bag. We hooked them up and took all the kids to the football field where we play with them. They all chased the kites around and had a blast. They all thought it was funny to see the kites fly and it was a blast. We played with them for a while.
Monday now. We had a family home evening with a recent convert. It was her daughter’s bday and so I took a ton of candy and my companion gave her a big bag of cookies. When her eyes lit up as we gave it to her it just made my whole week. She was so happy that she received only a sack of candy and cookies. The kids don’t really get presents and things because they are so poor. It is sad but yet that day made me and my companion so happy.
Well that’s about all that happened this week I think. It was a nice week and the time is flying by so fast. I can’t believe that I have been gone over a year. It is still just crazy to me. Owell I am working hard and doing my best as always. I can’t wait to talk with my family on Sunday and to just hear their voices for a little while. They should get a nice krio, mende, timney, hick accent. Ha-ha whatever that sounds like.

Thanks for everything and I love your letters.

Love, Elder Lamb