Where we grocery shop...

Yes, we have an Albertson Supermarket!  The sign says so!  Right now they are remodeling.  And that is our truck parked in front.

We've been in twice but haven't found anything to buy at Albertson's.

A lot of our shopping is done here at Bo Mini Market

and some of our shopping here at Sabbagh's.

Average size of cucumbers.

Bell pepper

Produce is rarely at one of the above stores.  It is sold in the market.  The cucumbers may be small but we really enjoy our yogurt-cucumber-garlic with chicory root for sweetener.  We make yogurt once a week using powdered milk from Holland.  It works great!  I even made some ice-milk (no vanilla or cream for ice cream) and with a little juice or jam it tastes good too!  We are making more of our bread now.  Flat bread is plentiful in Freetown but quite unpredictable in Bo.  It's easier to make it than try to find it!  The loaf bread is small so we are making that also, along with corn, peanut, and oatmeal muffins.

Produce is not very plentiful in Bo, pretty much limited to onions, garlic, potatoes, cucumber, cabbage, peppers.  Tomatoes look very poor and haven't tried them.  There are leaf veggies but except for cabbage we don't eat those either... too questionable on getting them clean.  We have been grateful for the papaya and plantain in our yard but that season seems to be over.  We did harvest 1 small pineapple and a couple of coconuts but there won't be any more for another year.  Mangos are in season now and they are delicious!  We have 1 mango tree in the yard but only a few fruit so far.

We see people planting seeds now.  The farmers pretty much burned the growing areas in April in preparation for planting.  There has been a little rain so we know the rainy season is coming!  It will be interesting to see if the produce availability changes during the rainy season.

Our first trip to Liberia 23 Feb 2012

On 23 February 2012 we made our first drive to Liberia.  We understood that it is a 5-6 hr each way trip so we were to leave at 6:30am and be home by 6:30 pm... best of all be home by dark!  Markus was leading the way with one elder who had completed his mission and was going home to Liberia.  We had 3 sisters transferring to Liberia, and the back of the truck loaded with luggage, mail, and unit supplies for 2 branches.

Well, things didn't go quite as planned!  We didn't get away from Bo until 7:30am.  Markus needed diesel so we went into Kenema to fuel up.  We looked for fuel for 1 hour before finding some at this hand operated pump.

Markus on the right.

Diesel hand-pumped from left gallon glass to right, then into the hose stuck into the tank.

We are now 2 hours behind schedule.  We know we'll be driving back in the dark some but figure that 1 hour of that will be on the good road from Kenema to Bo... not too bad, but we'll hurry!

As we travel the road we realize the truck is not performing as it should.  Markus is okay but ours has no acceleration... we can't keep up with him even on the "good" stretches.  At about 2100 rpm regardless of gear it starts to hesitate.  The road is rough and the light is flat which makes seeing the potholes difficult.  It's the dry season so there is dust...

On the way back we crossed this bridge in the dark.  Before we started out we saw a large semi on the other side... we each blinked our lights at each other.  He turned his out so we assumed that meant we could go first, which we did.

Traffic jam on the road to Liberia.

The pothole diameter is the width of the road. Can you see it?

Markus waving us into the lead 'cause we can't keep up with him!

Big dips + short wheel base + speed = hmmm, yep, rough ride!

Town of Zimi.

         The town of Zimi is 27 miles from the Liberian border.  It takes about 2 hours to go those 27 miles.

This is the main road to Liberia so there are big trucks.

And taxis... with "stuff" on top, including people and goats.

Melima, Sierra Leone, border town.

We made it... Bo Waterside, Liberia.

4 missionary trucks to make the exchange. 2 from SL, 2 from Monrovia.

Elder Tims transferring to Kenema (then home on the next transfer in April).

Eagerly going thru the mail sack!

Elder and Sister Kikham, Elder Krumm in back, all in Monrovia.

Everyone transferred and ready to go!

We took about 30 minutes to quickly talk, transfer everyone and information, load up and head back.  We were 2 hours late at the border which meant the Monrovia couples had waited there 2 hours for us.  They were worried maybe we were motion sick with the road... not so.  The road is no worse than many backroads in southern Utah.  However, the speed is greater!

Elder Schlehuber drove all the way to Liberia.  Sister Schlehuber drove all the way back.  She drove as fast as she could to get as far as possible in the light.  But... we had issues at the border which delayed us some more.  The truck could hardly make it up some of the hills, although it seemed after hitting one particular bump that it did perform a little better!  We tried to get a run on the hills but that is difficult when the road is rough.  Marcus had us go in the lead since we were having vehicle problems.  Even so, it was like a horse heading home to the barn, and the closer we got to Kenema the faster we went.  Maybe that was an illusion since we were in the dark about 4 hours prior to reaching Kenema.  One advantage of the road in the dark is that the holes and gouges are visible because of the shadows.  The flat light in the day camouflaged the holes.

The only wild animals we saw were bats and very large insects jumping in front of the headlights.  But there are plenty of goats and dogs around the villages.  We even saw 2 cats cross the road in our headlights.

The next day we had the fuel pump replaced on the truck and it runs like a charm now!  Ha, ha, we also discovered that we have no tools in the truck, not even to change a tire.  But Markus was there and he always carries tools!  (We will get tools, don't worry!)

The next transfer is 10 April... another trip to Liberia???

P- day

Some recent P-day activities... Elders Bennion and Stott trying on hats with Elder Schlehuber, having a mock fight, and then going off to play football (soccer, I think).  This day Elder Bennion reported that he scored... the first time on his mission (23 months)!  After that they went to the Internet Cafe, and then went to work proselyting.  It was a good day!

Another p-day activity.

This is the fuse that is on the electric water pump circuit.  Notice the burned, melted plastic from overheated wires, but the fuse never blew!

Elder Holland visit 17-19 February 2012

Elder and Sister Holland, Elder and Sister Snow, Elder and Sister Dickson, Elder and Sister Curtis, and Elder Mensah visited the mission in Freetown 17-19 February.  Leadership and auxiliary training was held along with a conference on Sunday.  The conference was held at the largest conference center in town but it was overflowing!  The training was wonderful!  The missionary meeting was wonderful!  The entire few days were busy but full of wonderful instruction and conversation!

Elders Ellsworth and Stott on the way to Freetown for Elder Holland's visit.

                  And Elders Ellsworth and Stott on the way home from the 3 day Freetown event.

Dust and gas lines in Bo

One day in mid-February when the dust from the Sahara was blowing we needed to get diesel for the generator.  The truck uses diesel also.  Since about mid-February diesel has been scarce in Bo.  Some days there is no diesel anywhere in town.  Petrol (gasoline) seems to be in a little better supply, but the lines in the pictures below this day were for petrol.  We were able to get diesel this day.

Dust from the Sahara.

And more dust... fine red dust.

Gas lines at Shellmingo Junction.

Motorbikes (bike taxis) waiting for gas.

Some local food

Pink and yellow grapefruit.

Lots of seeds but REALLY good!

Fu-Fu with fish.

Pounded casava with chicken.

And Elder Stott (l) and Elder Ellsworth (r) show how to eat it!

Peanut Butter cookies

10 February 2012

I finally tried using the oven.  There's no oven thermometer so temperature is a best guess.  We found pre-heating works pretty well... just wait about 5 minutes, then stick your hand in and you can generally tell if it's about 350 or 400.  Actually doesn't seem to make much difference!  Jessica's Peanut Butter Cookies turned out great!

Mobile, all purpose oven light

No spatula but a potato masher works just as well!

Some notes

We have put up lots of apartment pictures on the Our Apartment in Bo link above.  And we've posted the last 3 weeks worth of pictures on this page below this post.

Some quick notes -

When we went to Njaie Town branch Sunday, I opened the truck door to get out but before even one leg had hit the ground my glasses had completely fogged up... same thing happened to Elder Schlehuber.  And this is the dry season!

One disadvantage of not having hot water is that you either have to be stronger or more creative to get some bottles open.  A belt wrapped around the lid and 4 hands works pretty well.

I always keep with me, even in the house, my phone, keys, small knife, and flashlight.  I attach the phone to me so I'll have it, so I won't lose it, so it won't be stolen when I'm out.

Huge groups of school children, all ages, walk along the road between Bo and Kenema.  They all wear uniforms and more than half carry machetes.  We think it is like a school lunch program.  They use them to open coconuts.

We did some training with the full-time missionaries.  Every meeting starts and ends with a hymn and a prayer.  However, there is no music, no recordings, no keyboards, so the tradition is that the conductor sings the first line or so, then he/she says something like "On the count of 2 go..., 1, 2..." then everyone sings.  We had thought we were instructing but not running the meeting.  However, it turned out differently.  I chose the hymns on the spot, conducted, and yes, I even sang the first line of each hymn!  I am going to fix that!  I'm taking my mp3 player and speakers.  Then I can play the hymns and conduct only... it will set the tone so much better if I'm not singing a solo!  But the missionaries were very nice about it all, and the elders sing loudly, enthusiastically, and well.  The windows for every meeting are always open... I think the singing must carry a long ways!

Delivering a new generator (and elders) to Kenema

We needed to take a new replacement generator to the elders in Kenema (45 minutes away).  However, the elders were in Bo for interviews, so we piled 4 of the 6 into the back seat of the Ford Ranger.  They still thought it was better than a taxi ride with 9 or so people in crowded into a small small taxi.  ("small small" is Krio...see, we're learning the language!)

.4 in the back!

Elder Jenkins (Star Valley), Elder Tawiah (Qatar), Elder Purcell (Samoa), Elder Coffie (Nigeria).

Elder Purcell and Elder Coffie and Elder Schlehuber driving.

Kenema.

Bo to Kenema country side.

Hut by side of road Bo to Kenema (taken at 110 kph).