Reap What You Sow continued - July 14, 2014

From the SL Freetown Mission Facebook page - We could spot Elder Ray right away....back row, middle, bright orange shirt - We were relieved to see he looked happy and healthy :)

 

Last week as I closed down from the cafe I realized I had titled my email "reap what you sow" but gave no reason behind that. I totally failed to mention how my garden was doing! :) Last week we enjoyed the first fruits or peppers grown in there. This past week though I was fearing the tomatoes were smothering each other so I spaced them out a bit more and they didn't like that at all. A few wilted and leaves turned brown, but are doing better now and the flowers are closing up.
      That was my vineyard, how about the other vineyard I labor in, Congo Cross. It was a full week with a lot of success, meetings and one very sad moment all in one. It was funny because last week I talked about how it doesn't stop raining, well this week it did! After a nonstop shower all Monday night to Tuesday afternoon the skies cleared up and the wonderful African sun came out to scorch us. A small thunderstorm came in Thursday, but nothing else until Sunday, and then the heavens opened once more and drove away investigators from Church! Despite the weather we still had David, our man for the 26th push through and made it.

  Absent from Church was one lady, Sister V. I don't think I have mentioned her before but she was one interesting investigator of ours, who sadly passed away Thursday morning. She was 51 and quite a large lady who loved praise and worship style religion.  She has had a few different missionaries teaching her off and on for some months now. With all respect she was a little crazy and didn't make things easy for us. She would come to testimony meeting and would keep shouting praises and amens...or asked doing the sacrament why they had to make the bread so small. She continued to reject parts of our message but wanted us to come over all the time, because I think we were really some of her closest friends. The last 3 weeks she came every Sunday and would tell me she didn't feel well and I guess it was true. Sad thing with all the Ebola regulations in place by the mission we are not allowed to attend funerals.

  I realized these last week that two of my former mission presidents are home now (Judd and Crawford) and that I have been on mission longer than the other 2 (Hill and Ostler) kind of a funny thing.

   Well we are healthy and doing good in Sierra Leone. I told president if we have to leave Salone because of Ebola (not likely) that he should send me to Switzerland so I can get my 5th mission in, he laughed. More like Accra west I think :) Anyway that’s all this week.

Love,

   Elder Ray