The Trapani's in Liberia

Today we were invited to speak at the Bushrod Stake Conference. This picture is 15 minutes before the conference started. People get here early. The talks, the choir and the format of the meeting is just like in America. The only thing different is that all the people in the audience are very very poor. Probably a third of them cannot read. Nobody's very old because medical care here is very modest. Everyone is dressed respectfully but in second hand clothing. These people seem a lot more cheerful than Americans.  The conference was great. Inspiring talks. Their was a great spirit in the meeting, we were glad we were there. Many of the wards in the stake will rent a bus to take members to the conference. They are  humble busses and never have air conditioning. There were several busses parked down the side street also.  This is the stake center parking lot. Other than our truck and the mission president's car there was only one car here for the entire stake. To get to the...

  We visited our project at Tubmanburg Government Hospital. It's about two and a half hours away from here. The picture is some of the equipment that we supplied. Lots of beds and cribs and lots of basic medical care equipment such as incubators and ultrasound machines. We also put a new roof on part of the building and new doors and new windows for most of the rooms. We replaced all of the broken tiling throughout the building.  This is almost a perfect project. The contractor performed well. The things the hospital needed should make a significant improvement in their ability to help the community. The building improvements and equipment additions should last for a long time. We were asked to speak at "The Gathering" graduation ceremony. The gathering is a job training program where the church supplies instruction and supplies free of charge to teach young single adults employable skills. For Liberia those skills would mean soap making, pastry making, beauticians, compu...

  This is the temperature outside of church today at 11 a m. Because of the high humidity it had a "feels like" temperature of 108 degrees. The church has no electricity and only a modest amount of windows. It was hotter inside than outside.  I've had lots of good experiences here in Africa. Comfort in Church is not one of them. During the second hour of church Cheryl has been meeting with the primary. It's out on the patio so it is a little cooler if there is a breeze. With her cell phone she plays the music for the primary over a small speaker that we bring. We had a picture painted for us. It's the African version of the Book of Mormon story of the Tree of Life. It was painted by an award winning and pretty renowned artist in the country. Unfortunately for him there is not much of a market for good artwork when everyone's just trying to feed themselves. He cannot support himself on his artwork alone and so he also is a farmer. We are having a challenge with...

Today was general conference. Because no one has Internet or even a smart phone everyone comes to the church to watch conference. Even with the fans it was so hot. When the speakers finish the congregation all joined in with a loud amen. When the Tabernacle choir sings a song that the congregation knows they all join in.  For the closing song the choir sang "We Thank thee O God for a Prophet". It was touching to hear the congregation sing along with them. There was a nice spirit in the meeting.  The Dolo's Town Branch joins with the Harbel Branch for the meeting. Afterwards they take a traditional picture. Cheryl is in the back on the left hand side. I took the picture.  This was a pretty good turnout when you consider that everyone had to walk, it was really hot and at best they can only understand about one half of what the speakers say because they're not used to American English We had a turnover ceremony where we officially completed our project with the city of ...