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| They cleaned a beach this week. It was covered in every single kind of trash there is and there were loads of dead birds. "Ha, so the moral of the story is: Trash really does kill birds, so be nice to nature." |
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| Elder Johnson also said, "Ha, I love all of you so much and I pray for you every day!!!" |
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| Elder Johnson has been walking a lot in the sand. He had an awesome training meeting and tried to soak it all in. He thinks his Spanish is finally starting to progress. He said the kids there play with "pogs" and cap guns. |
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| This week, he bought and tried a new kind of fruit, but he won't ever buy it again. He also got bitten by a dog for the first time. Luckily it was a tiny dog and the teeth didn't make it through his sock. Sunday, he said, "Some much bigger dogs decided they wanted a taste of the gringo but I called on my inner Earnest T Bass and threw quite a bit of rocks and ran like a schoolgirl down the hill." |
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| He did not explain this photo. |
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| These boys helped us move out of our old house, carrying the couches and everything, but they wouldn't let us pay them. |
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| Our new house with just the right size lawn to mow. |
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| Just a donkey grazing alongside the road with the cool cows that they have here. |
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| "Happy New Year! from Dale and Cindy. "We love and miss you all!" |
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| Matt in his first area. It's winter there and cold. He is lifting weights here on preparation day. |
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| Elder Johnson said its hard that a lot of families can't afford to go to church but he and his companion are working really hard to find a way to help them get there. They have Family Nights with people and have taught them how to play "No Come Pedra". He says" I really love following the spirit and teaching people." but he said that he still confuses people. |
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| The village where Aunt Pirrko and Uncle Daryl lived and did humanitarian projects, including building these cement huts. |
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| They lived in this building and fed students here that came to school. |
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| This is the clinic where Aunt Pirrko treated people from all around. They also helped the LDS church build a well. |
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| Efrem worked with them years ago and remembers them fondly. |
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| "I really do love it here and the people, but the Spanish is hard. I want to teach with power and authority, but a lot of the time, I just confuse people. I have already seen a lot of miracles. Like when I left my wallet in a cab and somehow found the guy and he hadn't taken anything out. Also all our appointments fell through one day, so we prayed to find members and someone to baptize. Then we walked to a new area and found both." |
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| Pres Archibald took them to the ocean where they all burned paper boats like Cortez burned his boats so his men had to stay. |
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| Matt and his companion. |
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| "I have already eaten intestine, heart, and liver but usually I eat rice, soup, chicken, and more rice." |
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| Camels in a caravan, free on the side of the road and hitching a ride in a truck. |
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| We've also seen baboons, monkeys, interesting birds, including a flock of vultures, hyenas, and lots of burros, goats, sheep, horses, and chickens. |
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| We went to Harar, an ancient city that still has walls and 5 gates standing . We were able to learn about some history and walk through the streets, even a narrow one where couples get together after being in such close contact as they passed. We bought delicious fresh fruit and feasted on roasted goat with enjera. Dale also fed some trained hyenas. |
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| The people in Ethiopia are friendly, polite, and very religious. They believe in God and are interested in learning about truth. These are some people as we traveled to different towns and villages. They speak Amharic, Oromo and lots of different languages. Luckily, some of them speak English too. |
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| I got to have my first Gospel Discussion on the plane and give a woman a Book of Mormon to read. |
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| At work in the mission office |
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| Cleaning up a street with Mormon Helping Hands |
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| What is my purpose as a missionary? "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." |
