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Email for week March 2, 2025

Dear Friends and family,

    Once again it is Sunday evening and I am wondering what things I should share with you.  Each week that goes by seems to be a common and normal life, yet Elder Thacker and I always find something new that we marvel over, or grow in our testimony of the Savior.

    I find myself thinking a lot about water.  Here in Sierra Leone, we are now in the dry season.  What this means is there are never any drops of rain and they seem to burn everything from garbage to the dry vegetation.  These are not prescribed burns, just at will they light fires and many times they get out of control.  There are no fire fighters either.  It is very sad when we see someone's age old palm oil orchard, or cashew, or potato leaf gardens burn. It's devastating really.

    With the dry season also comes the lack of water.  Many wells run dry as they are shallow and used excessively. It is common to see children and women carrying empty buckets to the nearest well.  As you drive near the well they are walking to, they are always surrounded by more people and more buckets.  Many will sit for hours waiting for their turn as the water will run low or dry and they wait until more fills.  We pick up many people who have containers that are walking a mile or so to collect the day's amount of water.  I am more aware than I have ever been back home of how much water I use/ or rather wasted.  My thoughts stray to the bible story of Mary at the well when Christ comes and teaches that He is the Living Water.  Water is so essential to our life existence in so many ways, do I recognize that Christ is as important to my spiritual existence?

   We have a dear family that we have bonded with here.  They are the Kebbie family.  He and Fanta his wife, have 6 children.  (Plural marriage is common here so to say he only has one wife is a good thing.)  They have recently joined the church and are strong members.  Well, Elder Thacker was inspired to have our son Colton bring seeds when he came to visit.  We gave Jacob a variety of  seeds, one bag of seeds was some green beans.  Green beans are not common here.  Well, Jacob being a gardener and agriculturist was able to grow his first crop of green beans.  He had to give us some of his first picks. (They were wonderful by the way!)  Jacob let us know that he had a lady come from far to buy his beans early this morning so she could sell them in the market.  He was so delighted to tell us she bought a small bag from him,  but paid plenty for them.  She paid him 85 leone.  This is about $4.00.  This was a lot of money for his family and he was excited to be the first to sell such an item. What a joy to be a part of the Lord's work blessing others as they grow in His gospel and see simple miracles in their lives.

   Church is always a special event here in Sierra Leone.  This week in Sunday school someone asked the question:  what is the difference between a soul, a ghost, or the spirit?  This question led to quite the discussion in Sunday school. Sierra Leons are so smart.  They have a gift of reciting scriptures as well as the chapter and verse.  It is amazing really!  They quickly found scriptures to answer the question.  I just sat marveling at their abilities.  There is so much I can learn from these wonderfully gifted people.

   Thank you for your friendship, love, and support.  We are so grateful for each of you and appreciate your prayers.  We are happy and healthy and we are spoiled, but if we continue to conserve water our personal well should get us through the dry season.

Love, Elder and Sister Thacker

*  Pictures of people waiting for their turn at collecting water.

 *  Silly picture with my eyes closed (who knows why), but this is a purified bag of water.  You bite the corner off and suck the water out.

 *  All these pictures or every day chores hauling water for essential needs.