Photos from March 10, 2014

Before and after photos of our service project close to our apartment. No small thing.

April 21, 2014

Dear Family,

This week has been an eventful one and the last full week my companion will be on mission. So we tried hard to make it a very productive one. 

I got my wish of going with my father one last time out to proselyte on an exchange. Elder Kouao is the best missionary i have ever served with. I will be a sad man when both he and Elder Oni leave tomorrow.

Just like i said we had an eventful week. Thursday after doing some interviews for baptism we visited a member of the branch presidencies house that is about 30 away on motorbike. So we paid the bike man less than 2 U.S. or 120 LD and we went off. Never really thought how big this firestone company is. But it is huge. Maybe the biggest in the world. No small money is made here. 

But anyway we met with the Kone family and had like a family home evening. The greatest part about it is we didn't have to show them how do do anything. They are a legit latter day saint family. We sung hymns and the whole family didn't need a hymn book. It was a sweet experience. Bro. Kone served a mission and came back in the time of war. He said it wasn't easy at all but the kept the faith and says that he didn't go hungry one day during the war. Which is a big miracle cause many people did of hunger and thirst. He was just so happy we came he says it has been 6 years since the missionaries have stepped into his home. Just a sweet family.

The rest of the week was just helping my companion get ready to ship off to Nigeria. I will miss this man like frog. This is the hard thing about mission is building great relationships with people and then having to separate. I dont even want to start to think about leaving Liberia. It will be a sad day for sure. 

I love you all and i am enjoying mission like frog.

Love,
Elder Skouson

Dear President Kirkham,
Not going to lie hearing one of my best friends on mission has gone home is really kind of shocking and sad so we will definitely be praying that he has a speedy recovery and comes back soon.
Speaking of people going home I went on an exchange with my father Elder Kouao. I believe the best missionary in this mission. Though i was "suppose" to be training him, it was the exact opposite. He trained me on how to be bold but loving with people. To be straight and not beat around the bush when discussing someones salvation. We met with one man named Jefferson Wesseh and his wife Naomi. We have been teaching them for some time now and they come to church one one time. He is a important man inside his church and has many responsibilities there. As soon as we sat down i could see the Elder Kouao knew this was a good man but needed some small tough love about the gospel. We began by asking inspired questions for Elder Kouao trying to get to know him. To be honest every time Elder Oni and I have come I always feel like we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg and that the real problem or issue he is hiding. By asking these inspired questions we got him to open up more then i have ever seen him do before. He began to tell us that the people in his church are persecuting him like crazy. Almost threatening him if he leaves his church. We could understand why he asked so many questions about this church being a devil church. He just didn't want to be losing his soul by coming to The Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter Day Saints. Just like we had so many times before we invited him to pray. He has prayed before many times but he said he didn't really want to listen because he has been listening to so many others before. We jumped on this and invited him to pray with his whole heart and wait for the response that heavenly Father wanted so desperately to give to him.
Needlesstosay it was a very good lesson, lasted a little long but it was much needed for the Wesseh family. The best thing about it was President Wesseh our branch President was there to help him understand. Presidnet Wesseh before he was baptized went through a very similar persecution among the church he was attending before. So i was great to have him there to help Bro. Jefferson understand and he did and what Jefferson needs to do.
Another thing that Elder Kouao unofficially trained me on is seeing the potential that my area ,camp two, has. We were walking not far from President Wessehs house  down a street we don't normally take and he helped me see all those who are potential investigators. He came up with a great idea that me and my new companion will do when he comes. We don't really go knocking door to door at all in this mission, but what we are going to do is take one day to teach a whole street of people. Now this might sound crazy or foolish but for this line that we were on it would be great. It will help these people understand the doctrines of the Church not the rumors.
Just wanted to let you know that Elder Kouao has done some great work and it was great for me to go out with him one last time before he leaves.
I am excited for the transfers. Its a much needed thing here in Harbel we are excited to whoever comes just we want ones who are ready to work.
President thank you for your hard work you do for us missionaries and the people of Liberia.
Love,
Elder Skouson

April 14, 2014

Dear Mi Familia,

This is the week it started to rain....

Yup good news folks it is the beginning of Rainy season. I feel when i walked outside my skin could breathe. Hopefully i wont see the Dry Season but who knows. Liberia always looks better when it rains. I guess growing up in a place that never rains means that i have a different perspective of the rain than most people. Anyways i am thank ful that my skin will have time to rest from the sun.

This week has been really great. Started off by having Zone Meeting up in Kakata, and an Exchange with Elder Erickson. Zone Meeting was good and spiritual, always is when you have good positive missionaries. Then the exchange was even better. Kakata is full oh really great people who really just want to become what Heavenly Father wants them to become. This is sweet for us as missionaries, because all our job is to help them to come unto Christ. Its amazing how simple but profound that that phrase is. Come unto Christ. 

One of the things that we emphasized during our Zone meeting is that our message is true yes, but it is also important. This is for investigators who likes us coming to teach them but not really making any efforts to find out for themselves. We let people know that we have a purpose in sharing our message not to just hear about some good truths about Jesus Christ but be able to come unto him by following his way. In the Book of Mormon i have been reading 3 Nephi and its interesting to hear what Jesus Christ says to his children. He always goes back to the basics or the Doctrine, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I just love showing our investigators this path that he has set for us. 

One of our investigators, Kuku Mcgill, finally has a date for her marriage which means she can get baptized soon after.  As we sat with her she talked about the faith that her and her husband to be have had. A marriage certificate is 50 U.S. a birth certificate is 10 U.S. each as well as small additional expenses. Now Kuku and her fiance only had enough for the marriage certificate but they decided to go through the process anyway. 

Miracle after Miracle happened when they did this. At first it was going to be a very small wedding with no food, but by the help of family and friends they are going to have a wonderful wedding. Very humbling to hear about miracles like this. I has been great to see her process of coming unto Christ. It has to be the most rewarding thing ever on mission.

Heavenly Father has blessed us with very great investigators this week. We have been praying hard to see how we could focus more on investigators who are progressing, even to find new investigators who can really help the kingdom of God in Liberia progress. One couple named the Wesseh's,came to church with there whole family and are just fantastic. Things are looking up in Harbel which is good. 

I love you all and thank you for your email that i receive. 

Love,
Elder Skouson

My letter to President Kirkham.

Dear President Kirkham,
This week we started out with a wonderful exchange with Elder Erickson. We focused on the things that we were suppose to like studying from Preach My Gospel about Finding People. We applied the things we learned as well and we got some great new investigators who were ready for our message. We also focused on the fundamental We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up. Elder Erickson and his companion are very good at following up and remembering each commitment that they give out. I even learned some new easy ways that i could keep tract of all the commitments that we extend.
Elder Erickson is a great teacher and a very effective missionary. You can tell that he has studied through out his mission. The way he teaches exemplifies it. I was impressed with the fact that he teaches for commitments as well. Just like you say that we are not just dispensers of Knowledge. That we have a purpose and reason behind every visit or lesson we teach. Elder Erickson is an overall great Preach My Gospel missionary.
To be honest President I have been worried about our own investigator pool. In the past two weeks we have dropped quite a few investigators, though we were looking for Good Shepard's we were having a hard time. At the beginning of this week my companion and I prayed for New good Shepard investigators. When i came back from Kakata we started to search not on our own efforts but looking through spiritual eyes. I always remember what you said about paying close attention to things that stick out to me. This week I feel i had many of those promptings and we acted upon them. As a result we have 5 new good investigators who we are going to be working with.
Elder Oni and I were also questioning some investigators who we were teaching. We prayed to Heavenly Father to know what we should do with them. Some that we prayed about weren't making a lot of progression so this is why we prayed. Our prayers we answered on Sunday Morning as the family we prayed about all came to church for the first time as a family. The Wife had many questions and the branch did a great job of welcoming her in.
In my Book of Mormon reading i am just finishing 3 Nephi and so i am a little behind but that will change as i focus my nights to have effective studies. During the course of my reading i have been trying to see the Character that Christ has and trying to apply it. I have learned that because of his character that is how the atonement was able to be made. He endure all things and had the right character everytime something happened to him. I have been trying to reach past my own needs and think about others all the time. Though i am not prefect or even good at it as i try to think about it i start to progress.
Thank you President for the love you share to us missionaries.
Love,
Elder Skouson.

April 7, 2014

Dear Family,

My mom says I'm finally an auntie I am so happy. I cant wait to see Ainsley Kate. Guess i still have time though. No Problem. 

Another great week here in Harbel and Cotton Tree. We were able to go in town for our mission council meeting with President. They stressed on the fact that we need to be very careful with what we touch and take in. So we are not allowed to shake anyone's hands and we cant eat anything that we don't make ourselves. So no FMs which is really bad cause i am really starting to drop some weight. We are eating a lot of noodles and oatmeal because those are the cheapest things around here. We splashed out and since my companion is Nigerian we had some Ebba and Okra soup which is just really really good. 

Crazy Elder Pentreath has 6 days left on Mission. My companion has 19. Me i have 199. SO no big deal. and no they don't rub it in every chance they can. But really i am doing well. With the no FMs means that we can have a true full fast if we desire. I desired this last Saturday and Sunday. I fasted for the full 24 hours. no small thing but it really gave me a good look at things in our area that we need to improve on and also my personal growth. Fasting is really turning from your physical to something more spiritual. 

Yesterday as we came home from church to break our fast then go back out to proselyte. Fasting i think really helps us see past our own needs and turn towards others. Me and my Companion went to our area with spiritual juice in us and we had some really great lessons. In each one of our lessons we taught something different then we had first planned for. We taught this single mother who is our recent convert about how she can teach her children through Kindness and Love. What wonderful lesson for her. We taught her that beating or flogging isn't always the best form of discipline. We even did practices with her about situation that could come up in the week and how she could deal with them. In the beginning the only way to help them learn was saying "I would beat them if they did that" To coming up with other solutions to teaching her children. I was a great lesson for her. 

We also had a great service project helping this women paint her house green and bright orange. Not the colors i would choose for my house but it looked good after we got done with it. She was very thankful and wanted to give us food but we couldn't eat it. It is really hard to decline food here. I don't know if you have seen the Indiana Jones movie when the small tribe offers Harrison Ford the bugs squashed up in a bowl and gave it to them. Although we don't bugs very often the concept is the same. People just know what we do even if they are not of our faith and just praise us for it.

Sorry its not too plenty. Just know i am loving the work and the Lord. I love you all as well.

Love,
Elder Skouson

March 31, 2014

Just the usual Spiritual Boost kind of week!

Hey family,

This week has just been a jack-a-la week. We are working very hard to sprint to Elder Oni's finish of his mission. Cant believe that Sister Benfield is already coming home. 

We had a great teaching week as well. We were teaching one man named Jefferson Wesseh. I think i have talked about him before but our focus of the lesson was to help him and his wife to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We started with the lesson by answering some questions and helping him to understand what the Book of Mormon is all about. His wife is very smart and wants to go back to school to be a lawyer. She also had quite a few questions. This was while i was on exchange with Elder Finau who is now an assistant to the president. Elder Finau and i still had the companionship unity that we always had so it was just sweet. 

I started to bear my testimony after we had committed them to pray about the book of mormon together. When i said that i Know the Book of Mormon is true. Thats when i hit me. I had so much love for this couple and i just wanted them to know so bad. The spirit hit me as well and i had to hold back the tears in my eyes. Elder Finau knew what was happening and jumped right in so i didn't get too carried away. This was the extra spiritual boost that i have needed. Mission is really no small thing. And sometimes its just great to feel the reassuring burning feeling inside your chest. Heavenly father really does watch out for us missionaries. 

We have some new investigators who have a lot of potential. We had a lesson yesterday with two men both named arthur. Its kind of funny cause i had never met someone else in liberia named arthur and yesterday met two. Anyways they are both doing so great and they are really seeing why the church is different then all others. We had been very bold in our teaching with them and we are really seeing them progress because of it.  They had both committed for a baptismal date and to invite there families to join in our lessons. Things are looking up for these guys.

Not a whole lot else went on this week. Until i was asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. I was asked to speak about Work. Now this is something i know so i felt like i truly had some input on this. Heavenly Father really guided me on what to say to this Harbel Branch. Work is something that isn't new to Africans especially Liberians but something that is new is working in callings and teaching and other things that the church requires of us. So my talk was based about in the Church or Serving in the church. I related much of my talk to Missionary Work because, its what i do, haha. But Heavenly Father really helped me to speak clearly and i knew people could understand me by the reactions so it was a good talk because they really understood the message Heavenly Father wanted me to give to them.

I know Heavenly Father truly loves us. That is something that has stood out to me in this past week so much. I have been trying to love him as well. I have taken an evaluation of my prayers and there are things i need to do to improve on. But i know that Heavenly Father sees the big picture and all he wants to do is help us stay on the right path. We sometimes need to do things that aren't too comfortable for us in order to see the path. But he is there ready to greet us when we return back to him. 

Missionary work is the best work we can be doing. I am thankful for each minute and its kind of scary to think that there is life after this mission. 

I love you all and hope you all are doing very well.

Love,
Elder Skouson

March 24, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was kind of one of those work your guts out kind of weeks. 

Elder Oni my companion has about 1 month still in the mission field we both want to has his last transfer be the most memorable.( im still trying to convince him of that though). 

We did work really hard though. Things are starting to pay off because of our hard work. Saturday we had a baptism for a woman named Christiana Gwesiah. She is our Branch President's wifes best friend. Christiana is 21 years old and has really changed throughout the last month or two since we have started to teach her. Funny how we got in contact with her. She actually was running away from the PPD or police/security system that is here in Harbel because she got into a fight with a guy. Its a long story but the hole thing was figured out and we started to teach her. 

Now since that time she left her rotten boyfriend and really has repented and wanted to follow Jesus Christ. 

Its really the best thing about missionary work is just seeing the change people can have. I love the quote from i think President Monson's talk about how leopards cant change there spots, but people change everyday. This is what i have seen time and time again on my mission. This is what brings me the most joy is seeing people truly let Jesus Christ into their lives. Not an apostate "Holy Ghost Fire" but truly letting Jesus Christ be the one you look towards as the one who can heal our grief and give us a peace of conscience.

It was great because her mother came to both her baptism and confirmation which means she came to church. I always love to ask the question about how they felt at church. We get the usual answer of just felt at peace like i could think. Then that's when a member who comes with us to the lesson usually says its a lot better then dancing and sweating and singing our hearts out. 

Her mother name is Gharmen and was very receptive as we sat down and talked about the restoration of the gospel. She also exected a baptismal date of April 26th. Next lesson we will have to find out if she is married to her husband though. So we pray she will be. 

I am doing great out here and trying to work hard so i wont have any regrets when i leave this mission. 

Love,
Elder Skouson

P.s. I made the sweet and sour sauce and nobody really would eat it except for me. Its sad i know. but oh well.

March 17, 2014

Dear Family,

This has been another eventful week. I actually dont think i have ever had a boring week at least here in Harbel.

We started off this week with a very strong Zone Meeting. It kind of weird trying to instruct the best missionaries in the mission and world. We were just leading dicussions to get the missionaries talking. Something Elder Kouao (my Father/trainer) talked about was being bold about this being the only true church on the earth. Sometimes i think we can forget or even trying not offend other people by saying this is the only true church on the earth. I began to understand my purpose a little bit more as he was talking. We aren't hear just to make people feel happy about what we are saying. We are crying repentance to the Liberian Nation. Not just speaking flattering words. He also talked about recent converts and sometimes they don't stay as active as you would like. But he said he makes it his responsibility to make sure his converts know exactly what they are doing by not coming to church. So throughout this week i have tried to be more bold and honest with everyone.
After Zone meeting in Harbel I had the great opportunity to go with Elder Marondera from Zimbabwe back up to Kakata to going on an exchange. He is such a funny man and we had a great lesson with one Recently baptised family. There name is the Tarr Family. The mother or father wasnt home but we asked then when was the last time read the book of mormon. Everyone kind of shifted and laughed small trying to make light of the question. Nobody had read since there baptism. After calling them to repentance and bearing testimony of how this helps us fight off temptation they all excepted the challenge to read every day. We read one chapter together and were very bold and it was exactly what they needed. From me and my companions testimony you could see how important the Book of Mormon was to us and how it has truly shaped our lives. I love bearing the testimony that i have read the Book of Mormon from Cover to Cover (or at least till the index) and I know that it is true not because i have read it but because Heavenly Father has revealed it to me that it is true through the holy Ghost.

After a great exchange with Elder Marondera we said our goodbyes and Elder Oni and I left to go back to Harbel. I had a big backpack with a bunch of sleep over things inside but felt the impression that we should go straight to our area instead of the apartment. So we did. And As we were approaching President Wesseh's house we saw a crowd of downhearted people. At first i thought someone had died but then i saw the smoke from what was left of three houses that were almost burnt to the ground. One of our recent converts told us what had happened and showed us his Book of mormon. He said as he ran inside the burning house to see if anyone was inside he noticed all of his books on his table where already on fire except the Book of mormon which he pulled out immediately. Every since Francis Howard had received that book he reads it every day it was very special to him. It was just amazing and a testimony to him about the book of mormon. 

They started to move some of the debris so no child would accidentally get hurt. My companion started to move there belongings to the house across the street and i began tearing down what was left of the house. Great unplanned service project. Kind of felt like i was on extreme home makeover.

We had a great lesson with one of our recent converts who hadn't been coming to church for about 3 weeks. She was our member present in teaching a girl named Cynthia Cooper. Cynthia is a great women who is about 19 or20. She randomly came to a baptismal service that we had and we have been teaching her ever since. Shema our recent convert and Cynthia have similar problems with the Law of Chastity so we talked to them very openly about and its great because now they are going to help each other and be friends. Its really sad that at any age young girls get caught up in selling there bodies for small money. Actually quite depressing. But its wonderful seeing the change in people as they begin to repent.

The relief society had there big party again for the anniversary or the relief society. Lots of dancing and food... they just invited us so we could eat the food though. Crazy party as the sister love to do.

As we were sitting outside planning for the next day we heard,"Chicken rouge". We looked up and saw a hawk fly down and pick a small chicken and carry it away. Kind of cool but the old ma who had the chicken was pretty vexed about it. 

Well hope everyone had a good week and pray that this one will be even better. We tank God-oh.
Love,

Elder Skouson