The Trapani's in Liberia

These are rubber trees on the Firestone rubber plantation.  All of the members of a branch we visited today live on the plantation in company housing. They have no inside plumbing. These are some of the few good jobs in the country and the workers seemed grateful to have them. These are some of the primary Children of the Harbell branch. This is right after sacrament meeting. All of the chairs were full during the meeting. Notice the fans on the ceiling and the walls. No Air conditioner. It was a little toasty inside. The worship service was wonderful. I could understand about 50% of what they said, which was enough to piece together the meanings. Cheryl and I were asked to come up and give our testimonies. The two meeting speakers spoke on the second coming of the Savior and the millennium. They were doctorally sound. They also confirmed two new members. The two missionaries here teach a lot and baptize a lot. We went for a Saturday run. Part of the run was on the beach. These men...

 20 hours of flying time with layovers in Chicago, Brussels and Freeport Sierra Leone. We took off on Monday at 1 p.m. and arrived on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. I never want to fly again. I think I may walk home when I'm done here. We Traveled with another couple to Liberia. They are going to be stationed in one of the rural towns and be there to help two of the branches. This was when we were getting our driver's license. Elder McGlochlin and I were taking the eye test.   This is our truck. It is a four-wheel drive Toyota pickup. It is almost new.  We will need it. Most of the roads here are dirt. During the rainy season the amount of mud is impressive. Most of the church cars in the country have "missionary" across the hood. It gets you stopped less at police checkpoints. We went to church today at one of the local branches. They meet in the Monrovia stake center. Remarkable reverence. When we arrived all of the children and most of the adults were setting reading either...

This week was humanitarian training. We had four days of speakers from various humanitarian departments. Most of these are our fellow humanitarian missionaries the remainder are some of the instructors and supervisors. From left to right these couples will be serving in Salt Lake City, Kenya, Liberia (us), Salt Lake City, Mexico city, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City couples are the supervisors. Four of the seven going into the field are on their second or more mission. We took our first malaria pills today. We had to start two days before we got to the field. We will have to take one every day. So far after 12 hours no side effects. Lots of nice sculptures throughout the mission training center. This one is of the Apostles who were sent out to be Fishers of Men. We just finished our last dinner at the mission training center. Overall the food was okay. There were a lot of desserts. In the six-story building where the missionaries get their ...

Here's where we're going, Liberia Africa. We leave from Salt Lake City on Monday January 16th and go on a 20 hour plane ride with 7 hours of layovers. The mission Training Center cafeteria. The food isn't too bad. There's always a lot of energy in the room. This is the big meeting room where they have all of the devotionals in. It fits all the missionaries at once. Every Thursday we have a devotional with a general authority. This week was the new Relief Society General president, Camille Johnson. It is cold here. It snows sometimes. The nights are in the high 20s and the days in the mid 30s. We're inside so it's not bad but it does keep you from walking around outside in your free time. There are 180 senior missionaries here at this moment. They arrive and leave every week. We are here for 2 weeks. For this first week our training is in the preach my gospel manual. It is what the church has designed to help missionaries share the gospel and to help missionaries...