So I guess to ask if we have moved to our new apartment yet I'll answer that question. The answer is no and I'll say why.
Why are we staying in the cockroach dungeon?: Well we were
supposed to move to our new apartment today but there are some crazy things that
happened. First is that Ebola (remember that super deadly disease) reached
Sierra Leone last month and has now reached Kenema. So now Kenema is closed so
they are doing some emergency transfers. And because of this we have postponed
the moving into the new apartment. I don't know when we will move but it's not
bad. I mean I've been in this apartment for 5 months so what's another few weeks
to me. But you don't really have to worry about the ebola too much. We have
taken some very high precautions and we are safe as long as we are
obedient.
Investigators: Well sadly we have found out that Rev.
Moses was really only into the church to try and get money. And now that
he has had his surgery and knows that the church won't pay him if he joins he
doesn't really want anything to do with the church now. It's really sad but it's
his choice. As for the good news. We talked to Bro. J's wife and for now
she really just wants time but she seems pretty interested and there is hope
for their marriage to be saved. It will just take time. Also one of our investigators (our rasta
man) came to church early and is really trying to prepare to be baptized. He
said he has left the jamba (marijuana) but we are still making sure that he has
completely left it. We have also found about 4 new families to teach. We only
had 2 investigators attend church but we had 10 recent converts so that's really
good.
Donald: Sweet sweet news. So he said that his wife in
Maryland has gotten in contact with the missionaries so that is a great
potential Eternal family :) That makes me sooo happy.
Also there is a change in the requirements for baptism. Now
investigators need to be taught lesson 5 before baptism and it's not to be done
by the missionaries. In other words if the branch missionaries don't do their
job our investigators will not be baptized. So we are working on teaching
branch missionaries how to teach lesson 5. (In the next week's email Elder Lehr mentions that they were misinformed regarding who would be teaching lesson 5. The full-time missionaries are still teaching it but prior to baptism instead of after.) Also mission president has set a
standard of excellence of 25 lessons each week. Which is realistic and helps
make us stretch. Especially as we are trying to teach families.
Interesting thoughts: Basically just some small statistics
here in Kissy 1 branch. There are about 500 members. About 100 are active and we
have about 20 investigators (as a branch) come to church every week. So it's
really interesting to think about why they are less active. And to me it all
basically went down to the basic 3 things in PMG that it says. A lot of them
never had a friend who supported them. A lot of them never were prepared to
receive a calling. And a lot of them were baptized with only a desire but
without a testimony. So basically here I have realized that if I really wanted
to I could baptize over 100 people here. But maybe 10 would remain active. Or I
could really focus my efforts on those who have been prepared to receive the
gospel. Those who really would magnify a calling. Those who have a strong
testimony and would stay even when the missionaries go. Those who are willing
to be a friend to others. These are the people that I am trying to focus on.
It's not easy but it's the Lord's way.
I love you all so much
Love Elder Christian Lehr
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