Elder Verdoni Monrovia Liberia Mission

Sept 28, 2015

I love L-I-B

Well, the subject says it all, I love the LIB, or Liberia (that's what they call it here), it is an amazing place, and I have had quite the week too.

We had a lot of good lessons this week! really working hard on our investigators! One day during the week we had a few members help teach an investigator and two of them happened to be Returned Sister Missionaries, and they hi-jacked the lesson! man, I have never had that happen. I eventually sat back and watched them teach the whole lesson, they were good, really good, so good we didn't even need to add anything but our testimonies. I became the Member in the Member Present Lesson. I left there confused, although satisfied.

I saw the Ebola camp that they had people during the outbreak. Eerie stuff. Barbed wire fences, those big white tents you see in movies, it was cool, but just a little dark I suppose.
Okay, so you know in action movies when the guy is driving and swerves into oncoming traffic flying down the road and the cars are all swerving around him as he drives down? yeah not only did I witness that, I was part of it.. We were going to another town to do some Baptismal interviews, and we went with our Branch Mission Leader. He has a friend who drove us. This friend also happens to be a retired Army Captain who drove in the Late Presidents convoy, so he knew how to drive, and how to drive with authority. It was insane. My companion was freaking out, literally, But I was strangely calm, I thought it was awesome. I guess I've seen too many movies ;) but it was sweet, and so were the interviews.

I fed crocodiles today! My Mission President has two of them in a little pond at his house. yeah, two, REAL (although pigmy) crocodiles. Their names are Ben and Jerry respectively. I fed them snails, it was so cool to be so close (dont worry, theyre surrounded by a brick wall) loved it! Also saw the American Embassy today, really cool stuff.. But yeah that was my week.

I don't know, I have had some really big epiphanies this week, or these past weeks. I wont come home and waste my time. I wont come home and do stupid things. I want to do hard things, I want to do adventurous things, I mean I'm living and loving West Africa, I can do anything! One thing I really wanna do is hike Half Dome in Yosemite, that would be so cool. Also, the National Guard has been on my mind heavily. life rocks.

I hope you are all having as much fun as I am, if not, then get outside and do something fun, it's that easy. Love the Lord, life's easier that way.
Love, Elder Verdoni

Letter to Mom

Yeah, God is amazing, crazy to think he knows all of us by name and knows all our stories, and these are our brothers and sisters, all of them, even the bad ones, the famous ones. how crazy.

I'm glad you watched the women's session of Conference, I'm really excited for this one, 3 new apostles? wow. The Lord really has plans for those men, both the ones going and coming. I like that topic of Divine Nature, keep that up, for it is a Gospel Truth.

But yeah my week was good, bought a lot of goodies today, American food. stuff you all think is normal but to me it's the manna from heaven. love it. The work here is good and I'm happy.

Will you be able to watch conference? and is church in English?
Everything is in English, it's the only language. Colloqua is just super bad English. and I'll watch conference in like 2 months lol if I'm lucky.