A Sunday Morning Boat Ride.

We have four stakes in Bo and one in Kenema. Outside of these two relatively small cities, scattered among the towns and villages of Sierra Leone, are our mission branches. We organized our 22nd branch this morning. The branch is in Sumbuya (soom-boo-ya). There were eight branches when we started our mission. We will set up the 23rd next week. More branches are in process. Our dear friends, Elder and Sister Arnell join us for each branch opening and help support the new branch leaders.

Elders Kamara and Mower were the first two missionaries in Sumbuya. They started working there one month ago. During their first week, they found 81 people to teach. “Found” is the wrong word. Eight-one people found them. The two missionaries could not keep up with all of the people who approached them on the streets asking about their message. So, we sent a second set of missionaries to Sumbuya 10 days ago.

Our drive to Sumbuya this morning was delightful. We started at 7 am in our motor car. It’s a four-wheel drive Toyota Prado. Children who stand on the side of dirt roads and watch us bounce through their jungle villages call out “motor car!” and point. We waive as if in a parade. They smile and wave back. We don’t have the only motor car here but they are rare in the villages where we travel. Out of the 4,292 members of our 22 mission branches, I can only think of three people who own motor cars.

The drive took us two hours and ended at the Sewa River. We parked our motor car under the shade of tall Bamboos and walked to the river’s edge where women stood in dresses, feet in the water, washing clothes and bathing children. A few were cooking lunch over a fire hoping to sell a plate to travelers. The boat that goes back and forth across the river was waiting. We gave our 3 le each (about 12 cents) and boarded the narrow 25ish-foot wood craft with a small outboard motor and joined a dozen other people for the ride to the opposite shore.

Brother Issac Baion, dressed in a white shirt and tie, met us on the other side. He was waiting with his 125 cc motorcycle. These “bikes” are a luxury here. Sister Wyatt and I hoped on behind him and the three of us rode into town and to the building that will be our branch meeting house. As we entered the building, we both exclaimed, this is nice! Neither of us would have used the word nice 18 months ago. But time and experience and a new perspective changes the definition of words. It is nice. With a little work and a new coat of paint it will be perfect.

Today is the Sunday before Christmas. The temperature: 91 degrees with 51% humidity. It felt good out. Sierra Leonians travel to their ancestral villages to celebrate Christmas with their families. Attendance at church drops precipitously in late December. Nevertheless, we had 30 people, plus missionaries, show up for our first sacrament meeting.

After being sustained, Brother Baion was set apart as the branch president. He has lived in Sumbuya for less than a year. He moved here from Moriba Town for better employment. I asked him to serve as Branch President and invited him to suggest possible counselors. There’s no rush, I told him. We can extend callings in the weeks to come.

Before the meeting started, I asked if he had suggestions for counselors yet. He introduced me to two men he has become well acquainted with in Sumbuya. I visited with them for a few minutes before I realized they were not members of the Church. But they wanted to be. I said we have responsibilities waiting for you as soon as you are baptized. I smiled. They both nodded agreeably. Where is the water, they seemed to ask.

The meeting was simple and sweet. We sang hymns. Four of us gave talks. It lasted just under an hour. Sister Wyatt’s testimony in Kiro was beautiful. The elders blessed and passed the sacrament. Because someone forgot to bring bread, the missionaries broke and blessed biscuits.

I took a snap of those who came to the first meeting for the history books. President Baion is standing front and center. People interested in joining the Church must attend sacrament meeting at least three times before they can be baptized. The first sacrament meeting was today. I assume we will have our first baptisms in two or three weeks.