Yeah so, things have been CRAZY in the past week. I feel like I haven't written to anyone in so long because so much has happened. On Tuesday morning I had to wake up nice and early so we could get in the vans and head to the airport. We got there nice and early, got on our planes and headed out. Because there were so many missionaries going to our mission the people going to Liberia flew straight there instead of going to Freetown. So 13 of us got on a plane to Freetown and headed over. The flight was fine. We landed in Freetown and the airport there was absolutely INSANE. People were everywhere. They told us at the MTC to be sure not to let anyone take your luggage, even if they said they were trying to help, stay in a group, and wear our backpacks on the front so people wouldn't try to steal stuff out of them. So naturally when I was fighting in the big crowd around baggage claim this man kept saying he would help me over and over again and I had to tell him no over and over again. It was obnoxious. Then we had to book it out of the sweatfest and met the President and the Assistants outside the airport. We took a quick picture and loaded up in the van.
We took the water taxi across the bay and drove up to the mission home. We had a nice dinner (the last one for the next two years) that Sister Roggia cooked, and then headed to the Assistants apartment to spend the night. Their apartment was so nice. They had running water and washing machines! Man I'm never taking that stuff for granted ever again. They had electricity but it got shut off around 10 because someone forgot to pay their bills. It was great. The next morning we had orientation all day. I have to say though it was very nice when I walked into the mission office and saw letters for me! By the way I never got any letters at the MTC so hopefully they'll forward everything to the mission. The letters I got were from Dear Elder and it looks like they were ones that were sent on the 26th or 27th. So if anyone has sent any after that I haven't gotten them yet. But for those people whose letters I got, keep your eyes out on the mail because I wrote back!
The way the mail works is pretty ridiculous. Basically anything sent to me will go to the mission office. The way I get that stuff is if I go by the mission office (which never happens since I'm not a district or zone leader and we're really far away from it) or if someone is going to our area they will bring it with them. So if I ever go to Liberia I'll never get any mail. Ha. If you send me any packages be sure to put lots of Jesus stickers on it. No joke. Anyway, that same day we had orientations we also met our new companions! My companion is Elder Pabie. He's from Liberia and he's great! He likes to joke around with the people we teach but he also knows when to be serious about things. He has about 4 months left on his mission so he's an old man.
I'm currently in the Kossoh Town Area in the Grafton District. After we spent the day in orientation we drove out to our various apartments with our new companions. The elders here call my apartment "the Grafton Mansion." And rightly so. The place is really big and has a big courtyard area. However that doesn't mean it has electricity or running water. Have you ever taken a bath using solely rain water? Because I have. We get all our water from the rain. We have buckets and big drums outside to catch everything. Anytime you need water for something, like to bathe, you go fill a bucket with rain water and bring it inside. When you bathe you take a cup of water and pour it over your head. It's freezing. Then you put soap and shampoo on and pour another freezing cup of water on your head. A hot shower sounds pretty incredible right about now.
Since there's no street lights here we usually come in around 6:30 or 7. Our area is really far away from the apartment so we have to take motorbikes to it. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty sweet. The roads here are all covered in dirt and there's huge potholes everywhere so the motorbikes are good for weaving around everything. I'll try and sneak a video on the back of one someday. But yeah I'm going to say it, I miss the roads in Louisiana. The country itself is absolutely beautiful. Seriously, part of our area involved walking up this huge mountain and the view was stinking awesome. I of course took pictures. It's sad that the people here are so poor because the countryside is so gorgeous. Right on the coast with huge green mountains. So sweet.
The people here are so nice and friendly but so so poor. I've never seen so much poverty anywhere, even in movies and stuff. This one lady we were teaching lived in a one room house with about 5 kids. It's so crazy. One lady we taught had a room full of sand. I don't really know what that's about. You see kids in the street running around naked. It's pretty sad. The kids all really like me. When I walk by I always hear these little voices going "Oputoh! Ohputoh!" Which means "White man! White man!" I usually wave and smile at them. Some of them run up and feel my skin. They're so stinking cute. Seriously... Krio is like 95% a completely foreign language. I'm getting the hang of it though! I can understand it okay now. The people can't understand like anything I say though. I have to talk super slow. It makes teaching pretty sad. I extended an invitation to be baptized and the lady turned to my companion and said "what did he say?" She eventually said yes but I was like dang it! Haha. It'll be fine though. no worries. Stuff here is pretty cheap. 1,000 leones is roughly 25 cents we got about 8 good sized potatoes for 2000 le.
Anyway I'm running out of time so I need to go. Mom don't worry, I'm eating just fine with my companion cooking for me (I'm learning) and he really does look out for me a lot. Grandma I'm taking my pill every day and sleeping under my mosquito net. So don't worry! I love you all and miss you lots! I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Hunty
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