Elder Saylor Taylor

How is every one?  I hope all is going well back home, I’m on the last
week of my transfer and am getting super excited. I highly doubt that
I’ll change Areas but it’s still exciting to find out who is coming
and who is going.
    A lot has happened this week Earlier this week one of the
missionaries in our Apartment got in a fist fight with a rat,  and
well his hand lost,  Turns out if you get bit they don’t always check
you for rabies. Rats have been a big part of the week, remember how I
said we had running water most of the time, well that number has
dramatically changed to none of the time.  And we had to replace all
of our storage water because; well a rat found its way into the tank
and died…  But it’s all good, I’m learning many life lessons, like I
can not just shower out of a bucket of water; I can shower out of half
a bucket of water, and be mostly clean. And I learned not to try and
kill a rat with my bare hands, even if it tries to get you while
you’re asleep. Haha
            Even if I wanted to I could not describe Africa to you
guys, too much happens every day and Africa is too different from
home.  There are a lot of good differences and a lot that humble you,
even though I talk about my new living conditions a lot, I’m really
lucky to be in the house that I’m in,  I live a lot better than almost
every one here, most homes are either made from mud, or woven branches
from trees. There are full families living in Tiny, Tiny homes,  most
of Liberia has no power because of the war, I at least have a
generator at the house we can use. We at least have filters for our
drinking water, something almost none of these people have. You should
see the lines of people at the pumps and the wells, we helped one of
the families we teach fill their water supply a six year old girl and
he little brother lead us to a well clear on the other side of the
island, and it took two Trips with us all carrying water, those kids
usually go to that well 3 times a day.  The oldest is nine.  You walk
down the street and you see small children selling, you see them
washing clothes, cooking, stuff most of us don’t do till we are at
least teens. Children have to grow up fast here. The thing that kills
me the most is there feet, there are garbage piles every ware that you
see the children almost living in, there is no septic system here so
every time it rains it flood most of the homes and all of Congo town
becomes a septic tank of standing dirty, dirty water, I at least get
to wear shoes or boots to walk through the water, those kids, they
have there bear feet. Those parasites and diseases can get to them
through their toe nails, and can make them so sick,  Its not that
there parents are bad, its just they don’t know, I read a number the
other day, in America there are 309 people for every doctor, here the
number is in the tens of thousands for every one doctor.  I feel like
I’m one of those Save Africa programs on T.V. it’s a different world
here, but There is no other place I’d be right now,  Every day I have
the opportunity to feel like I am helping make the world a better
place not matter how small that change is.
              We Started Teaching Sam’s wife! He is the one we just
baptized and it went so well, his testimony is amazing, and he knows
its true,  he talked in Fast and Testimony Meeting and wow… he truly
trusts he has found the right place,  His family has been so
supportive of him the whole time, His wife is actually the one who got
him to start searching,  He said he wasn’t moved in her church and
didn’t feel any thing in any of the churches he went to, But the first
time he met a member he was moved, and he feels the spirit at church,
And now he wants to share it with every one he loves,  his wife, is
having a little bit of a rough time understanding, she is very stuck
on her church,  it’s the same church she has been going to all her
life, but every time we see her she is moved by what we teach.  But
that is where the problem is, she’s moved by what any “man of God”
teaches. So she struggles with the idea of one complete church. But
that’s ok all great things take time, including a strong testimony.

Love, Elder Taylor