Sketchy Africa!

I don't know if I explained my "Doctor" story very well last week....  After I got home, I couldn't remember if I wrote it out very well because I was talking to someone while writing.  So, if it made zero sense, forgive me. And about the sleeping on the floor all night when I was sick.... it was maybe for 2 hours...  I think around 3am we went into our beds.  The whole night was just a blurr.  We don't even remember walking to our beds.  We know we talked about it, then all of a sudden we woke up lying down in our beds.  That is what lack of sleep does to ya right?  And I am always jealous of the Ice fishing adventures.  I want to do it a lot when I get home.  If I come in February next year, that is one of the things I want to do the week after my homecoming or even after I arrive in the following days.  Lots of things I want to do (;  Its crazy to think in one year I'll be coming home.  I was talking with Elder Smith about what we'll go into when we go to college, and a thought came to me as we were thinking.  I don't have any idea what I want to do....  I procrastinated through high school saying,"I have two years to think about what I want to do."  Now I've procrastinated it to where I have one year left, and I still don't know what I want to go in to.  The construction business is looking  great(;  kidding. But I really don't know what I should study....  I want to do something I enjoy but still make good money. If you have any suggestions, do throw them my way.  

This week was eventful!!  Tuesday was Zone Conference with Elder Curtis who is the Area seventy president of West Africa.  Whenever these guys are in our midst I always wonder what they were like as a teenager.  I mean come on, everyone has at least one skeleton chilling in the closet.  But for real, how did they act.  These guys are spiritual men who have A TON of knowledge about everything.  Zone conference was overall great.  Good food. All the zone leaders had a mission council with him at 8 in the morning.  That was a day full of rushing around.

Then on Wednesday while planning, the phone goes off. Text from the AP's.  I open it and this is what it reads,"Elders, all apartments who receive water through water trucks need to conserve their water.  There is no fuel in the entire Monrovia so water trucks won't be able to get around your apartments for about a week.  Please use it sparingly.  Inform all District Leaders in your zone."  Uhhhh............  okay..?  Interesting right?  The largest city in Liberia has no fuel?! Be thankful for fuel! You really learn to be thankful for A LOT of things when you live in a third world country.  man...  Never thought this would be a problem in my life unless the world was coming to an end.  Interesting right? 

Another event that happened Saturday night to Sunday.....  Someone decided it'd be cool to get on our back deck and take our washing bins and washboards.  We woke up Sunday morning, I went outside and realized something was missing. Then I knew it was the wash tubs.  I looked into the Logan Town apartment, and theirs were gone to.  WE DON'T KNOW HOW!!!  If you saw the back of our apartments your jaw would drop when we told you someone stole from us.  The sketchy part....  Our bedroom window is connected to the deck and our heads are right by the window.  I had an unknown Liberian starring through my window creepin on me.   You better believe last night I slept with my huge light and camera just in case he came around again.  I wanted to video him so I could remember these sketchy moments on mission. :)  All last night I kept waking up and checking the deck to see if anyone was there.  Nights here are sketchy in Africa.  The days are fine, but for some reason when all the lights go out at night, the African setting just makes things a little more on the sketchy side.  What I didn't understand about these thieves....  They left my nice rain boots and our nice drying racks on the deck.  Why wouldn't you just take it all?  They must be those nice thieves who don't want to hurt your wallet too much.  We now have sufficient space to dry our clothes but only one bucket to split between 4 of us....  and no one has clean shirts.  This will be interesting.

We also had our zone service project where we were cleaning the gutters out in New Kru Town/ Point Four.   Let me paint an image for you.  A concrete ditch that is square with a depth of about 2 feet, full of dirt, plastic water satchets, poop bags and bottle caps.  Filled to the top.  Pretty sure these gutters are packing some unwanted diseases.  We shoveled them all out and made them nice and clean.  Think of the worst possible smell you've smelt, and times it by ten.  This place stunk.  All for a community that will just fill it right back up. :)  Our work was not in VAIN though!!  Lots of people were appreciative of it.  So, we'll see if those Elders and Sisters get any contacts from it.  Great week though!!!

Hope you all have a fun time and a fun birthday weekend!! Eat lots of good American food for me!  I love you all!!!

Love Elder Zaugg

The White man who enjoys  CousCous. 

(If you've never made it, I say make it!  This stuff is good!!!)

Parents of a few of the missionaries along with Elder and Sister Berrett before they returned to Liberia.