This week has been a most excellent week for Elder Verdoni and I. It has been awfully strange and rather rewarding. This week, Elder Verdoni and I have never been more cold, it feels, in our lives. I had to pull out the sweater, pajama pants, wrap up in a blanket, and turn off our Generator because it was too cold. Even then, we froze to death throughout the night. Rain came pouring in and it was miserably cold. However, the real fear came in when Sister Carlson walked into the office. She was fanning herself because of the heat as I was wearing a sweater because of the cold... The lowest it got here was 71 degrees and I was freezing. I'm afraid to go home...
This week was a rather extraordinary week though when it came to missionary work. On Friday, we had the baptisms for the Doe Community branch. We had 11 converts baptized along with one child of record. We had Jacob, Helena, Susanna, Dorris, Arthur and Josaphine (married couple), Finda (Widow), Grace and Melody (Teenage Sisters), Moses, and Daniel. I had the wonderful privilege of performing the ordinance for all of them and I'm so touched by their willingness and endurance to wait for their baptism. It was great and they were all so excited for it.
When Elder Bednar came to Liberia, he relayed an experience he had in Southern Africa. A Bishop came up to him and said, "Elder Bednar, we are having a problem. We are confirming 20 people or so in Sacrament Meeting that we don't have enough time for the Talks!" Elder Bednar then said, "Brother, The Reason we even have talks is to fill the time BECAUSE we are not confirming 20 people during Sacrament Meeting." What a profound statement and we finally had a Sacrament Meeting like that. The Sacrament meeting yesterday at Doe Community went likewise: Opening Hymn, Opening Prayer, Confirmations, Sacrament, Closing Hymn, Closing Prayer. It was extraordinary and wonderful. And the thing is, Doe Community is not even close to being finished. In the investigator class, we had 23 people there who were not baptized waiting for full time missionaries and the Branch has 42 non baptized children, which means there are at least 30 families somewhere connected to the church. Who ever comes to this branch next week full time will have work (cross your fingers!) Well, I love you all and hope you are doing well. I pray for you each and every day!
Love
Elder Treadway
pic. 1- The Baptism
pic. 2- Daniel, Helena, Verdoni, Susanna, Me
pic. 3- Melody, Me, Grace, Verdoni (Sorry for the Blur... Liberians)
pic. 4- Dorris, Me, Josaphine
pic. 5- The Kollie Family. (The kids were baptized before Ebola. Arthur and Josaphine were just baptized.
pic. 6- The Kollies little girl, Noel.
pic. 7- Emma and Moses Woe
