October 19, 2005

Dear Family,

I don’t know if today was a typical day, but I’ll tell what we did. We go up at 6:30 am, shower, shaved and got dressed. We typically individually read scriptures until breakfast at about 8am. At 8:30 this morning we crossed the street to visit the sister missionaries who live across the street from us.

As we have told you we live in a three story apartment. The road in front of our apartment is named Oba Moses Awolest Erinwole II Road. The road is named after an oba. In Nigeria they still have kings and chieftains. An Oba is the Nigerian name for a chief or king. There are different levels of obas. The highest is like a king and presides over a region or area. Then there are lower ranking obas. In Nigeria there is also the government structure with national, state, local and town governments. When the English came they established the typical British style government but didn’t eliminate the native system of government that uses obas. Today the obas still exist and still govern in a tribal way. In this part of Nigeria the dominant tribe is Yoroba. It was explained to me that the obas meet in a council and select the top oba. The top oba then becomes the most revered person in the region. People consult him about things; he often acts as judge and settles disputes between people, kind of like a Godfather in the movie. Anyway, our street is named after a famous oba.

We went over to the sisters to fix their faucet. It was old and leaking so we got a new faucet for their kitchen and replaced it this morning. There are four young missionaries in Sagamu, two elders and two sisters. Sisters Asiamah and Ansah and Elders Wilson and Obasi. When we first came it was impossible to pronoun anyone’s name. They pronounce things differently and put the accent on words differently. Most words have alternating vowels and consonants. When is it true you usually break the word up by vowels and consonants. For example. Asiamah is pronounced – A’-si-a-mah. Obasi is pronounced O-ba’-si. Oba is O’-ba.

After fixing the faucet we showed the sisters their new apartment. Well, at least the outside. They currently live in what is called boy’s quarters behind an apartment complex across the street.

Here when apartments or homes are built, most of the time they build a wall around the building for security. Many times they place glass or wire along the top of the fence to keep out people. At the entrance gate they construct a gate house for the gateman. This is usually a small building (12’ by 12’) and the gate lives there. The gateman’s job is to open and close the gate when people come or leave. When you drive up, you honk you horn, he comes out of his little house and opens the gate. This system provides security to the apartment building. The gateman is there 24/7.

Our gateman is named Lawan. He is a Hansa (muslim) from northern Nigeria. He barely speaks English, can’t read or write English and says he can read a little Ibo (a language from eastern Nigeria). Sister Gilmore has Lawan do small jobs for her, for which she pays him, small-small. Today she had Lawan clean up in front of our apartment complex. In many ways it’s like Mexico here. People throw their trash everywhere. Nobody picks it up, so there is paper, plastic, junk everywhere. So Sister Gilmore thought the road in front of our house should be cleaned up. Lawan cleaned it up Nigerian-style and showed it to Sister Gilmore. Sister Gilmore then showed Lawan how she wanted it. He smiled, didn’t say anything, but you could tell he was thinking “what is this crazy white woman wanting this stuff picked up for. In two days it will full of trash again” So Lawan spent about an hour cleaning up in front of the apartment, hauled away the trash (we don’t know where) and it looks good. For this Sister Gilmore paid him 300 nira (about $2). That doesn’t sound very good, but he was happy. If everyone in the apartment building pays him what he is supposed to get, he earns 12,000 nira/month ($82). Here everyone is supposed to pay the gateman for his services every month, but if you don’t pay him, he has no real recourse. But I think most people do pay him.

I am guessing Lawan (La’-wan) is in his mid-20s. He is a good young man, but when you talk to him he shakes his head up and down and says ya, ya, ya, or ok, ok, ok. You can only guess if he understands you. He talks in one or two word sentences to you. i.e., when he wants to know if Sister Gilmore is coming, he says “mother comes?” First thing in the morning when he asks how Sister Gilmore is, he says “Is mother good?” You get the idea. Here in Nigeria people often refer to an older women and “mother” or “mommie”.

In addition to the gate house, they also build boy’s quarters behind the apartment building. Again these are small rooms meant for the servant for each apartment. So if there are 6 apartments, there will be 6 boy’s quarters. I don’t think most people have servants anymore, but they still build the boy’s quarters. Our building has 4 apartments and there are four boy’s quarters behind our building. Four small rooms (10’ x 10’) in a row house. The boy’s quarters for each apartment is included as part of the rent for the apartment. Our boy’s quarters is used by the Branch as the Branch President’s office.

The Sisters across the road currently live in a boy’s quarters. It consists of three small rooms, a bedroom 10’x 8’, a bathroom 5’x5’ and a kitchen 5’x5’. When Sister Gilmore first saw it she couldn’t believe anyone lived in it. It’s pretty bad. So we have been trying to find a new apartment for them.

We have been making it a matter of prayer. The mission president has been negotiating with the landlord of the sister’s building to move them into one of the full apartments. But the guy is a crook and was making life difficult. So we have been praying and searching for another place close to us (the church is downstairs).

Last night the real estate agent who runs our apartment came to visit us about an issue with our power system. (that story will have to wait). Anyway as we were talking to him we mentioned we were looking for an apartment. He said he had two available in the building right next door to where the sisters currently live. So we went over to look at it. It has two bedrooms on the second floor of a two story building. It is very nice and it looks like the sisters will move there. It is a direct answer to our prayers.

So after we fixed the sisters faucet, we took them outside and showed them their potential new apartment. They were very happy.

Later, a new member dropped by. His name is Brother Raymond. He was baptized two weeks ago with his family. He is 45 and is jobless. He came looking for help to get to Lagos. We had told him about the church’s Employment Center in Lagos. He wanted to go down and see them but didn’t have the 300 nira ($2.10) for transport. While he didn’t come out and directly ask us for it, we knew that was what he wanted. As you might guess, we have been instructed not to give anyone money. Because we are white, people think we are rich and will give them money. If you do, the word gets out and suddenly you become very popular. Instead of giving him money, Sister Gilmore suggested we give him two ties. He could sell them and use the money for transport. So we did that and he went away happy.

In the afternoon we drove to Ijebu-Ode (E-ja-bu-o’-day). That is about 50 km (30 miles) to the northeast. In addition to Sagamu, we have responsibilities there too. We went and taught with two missionaries there. We helped teach the 2^nd lesson, the Plan of Salvation with Elders Otikor (O-tee’-cor) and Essien (Es-sea’-en). We taught a 30 year old man. We taught him in his shop, a 20’ x 20’ building where he sells block ice. As we have said before, most Nigerians are very religious. He is an Anglican, attends his church and sings in the choir. We talked to him about the pre-existence, why we are here, and what happens afterwards. He was very receptive. We taught him many of the gospel principles out of the Book of Mormon. In our brief stay we have been surprised how easily people accept what you teach them. Most have the faith like a small child, just as Christ described we should be. You teach them a principle, testify to them and then ask if they will pray about it, and people say yes. It is an amazing difference from my Irish experience. There you would try to teach and testify, but most people rejected you straight-away.

Sister Gilmore and I have taught several lessons now, some with missionaries, and some by us. It is great. We really love it. It is such a great feeling to teach the gospel and testify and you can feel the spirit and you know they can feel the spirit testifying too. It brings back great memories of my first mission and Sister Gilmore is really excited about it too. This is her first opportunity at this and she is really great at it. She has no trepidation about opening her mouth. We strike up conversations where ever we go. We are such an oddity. The only white people for 50 miles around, that almost everyone will stop and talk to us. People have a hard time believing that we would come from all the way from America to talk to them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. But because of it, they will listen to us. Clearly, this is the most fun part of our mission. And we are having fun. We are really enjoying ourselves.

We are also teaching our real estate agent. He and his wife are planning to attend church with us on Sunday.

Until next time. Love, Dad

October 24, 2005

Dear Family,

Another week, another letter. This week I will relate what we did this past week. We just got back from Lagos. We were invited to attend church at the ward on V.I. (Victoria Island). VI is the most southerly part of Lagos. It is where the American oil companies have their offices and where most foreigners live. There are three known Mormon families there. The Summers who lived across the street on Morywood, the Neuders (newdairs) and the Stevens. Both the Neuders and Stevens are from Houston and work for ExxonMobil. We attended the church down there (a two hour drive) then went to dinner at the Neuders. They live in a very posh apartment near the beach, two buildings away from the Summers. All the ExxonMobil employees live there. The mission president and wife and the other senior couples (3 couples besides us) also attended. They were all blown away at how fancy things were there. Just about like home. Of course Sister Gilmore and I had visited the Summers two weeks before, so we knew what to expect. Anyway, it was very nice.

Afterwards we drove back to Lagos and spent the night at the home of the Hardys. They are the Humanitarian missionaries here. They spend their time focusing on three main projects, drilling boreholes, supplying wheelchairs, and neonatal resuscitation training. Boreholes are wells that supply drinking water to areas without a safe water supply. The church drilled about 25 in the west of Nigeria last year. Sister Gilmore and I are going to help find 2 or 3 sites for wells in Sagamu for next year.

The neonatal resuscitation is bringing American doctors to teach doctors how to provide resuscitation to newborns when they have breathing problems. Apparently it is a serious problem and many babies here in Africa die because of it. The US doctors train the doctors and then those doctors train other local doctors. The US doctors are planning to come to Nigeria for a week in February 2006.

We wrote and told our neighbors, Wyc and Anna Cheatums about it and wondered if they were interested, but we haven’t heard anything back from them. Ian and Melissa, please go next door and see if they received our letter and if they have any interest. Thanks.

There is a teaching hospital here in Sagamu, so some of the doctors from here will go to Lagos for the training. Sister Gilmore and I are going to work with the local doctors to get things ready for February.

When we returned from Lagos we ran into a go-slow. That is Nigerian for traffic jam. We were north-bound on a divided highway (two lanes in each direction) when we ran into the slow down. We have been in one before, and like the last time, the traffic suddenly became four or 5 lanes wide. We were on the right hand side when a breakthrough occurred. The traffic ahead left the highway, entered a dirt road and drove parallel to the jammed highway. So we thought, when in Rome, so we followed the breakaway. We drove on a dirt road (that is a generous description) a mile or so, then the traffic rejoined the highway. In order to get back on the highway we had to drive thru a huge mud puddle. I was a little worried it would be too deep for our little car, but we finally made it thru and got back on the highway. Of course during this whole time, it was like a free-for-all game of chicken/destruction derby. Cars, trucks, buses (vw buses) honking, swerving, etc. To get back onto the asphalt you had to play chicken with a big truck to cut in front of it. Of course, the driver wasn’t happy and let you know it. When we did get back on the highway we drove along the shoulder until we passed the problem. A truck had jack-knifed and was blocking all the northbound lanes. Only one lane, the right-hand shoulder (where we were) was getting thru. The really amazing thing is that the two left lanes, rather than squeezing around the truck like we had done, had crossed thru a hole in the center median and were trying to drive north on the south-bound lanes. Of course this caused an even worse traffic jam on the south bound lanes. The vehicles were just sitting there facing each other and couldn’t move forward or back because the cars and trucks behind them just kept piling up. As we drove north about ½ mile we started running into traffic that was coming southbound in our northbound lanes. Because traffic southbound had become stalled, they had decided to cross the median and head south on the northbound lanes. Luckily we were on the right lane and passed them before this area became jammed. All told we only spent 30-45 minutes in the go-slow. We have been told that sometimes these jams last hours. The worst we have heard about was 12 hours long. Most of the other couples have told of 3-4 hour jams. After our experience you can see why. With both sides of the road with cars facing each other there is no way to move forward, sideways or back.

Tuesday, Oct 25

Today went to the campus of a technical school called Grace Poly. It is a private, two year school that has a scholarship agreement with the church here in Nigeria. The church has provided them with computers, etc. and they have agreed to give ¾ scholarships to members of the church. Outside of Ijebu-Ode, in the small village of Omu they have a campus of about 300-400 students. There are 65 members there on scholarship. As part of their scholarship they agree to live the gospel, attend church and institute classes. The problem is that the nearest branch is about 15 miles away and its cost 200 nira ($1.50) round trip to get to church. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but to put it into perspective, their portion of the schooling (1/4 of tuition) is 15,000 nira per year ($105). They have institute classes taught at a primary school nearby, but not many make it to church on Sundays because of the cost. Sister Gilmore and I and the District president drove out there today to visit the students at their institute class and see what it was like. We approached the Mission President about establishing a student branch out there so more could go to church. So he said we should pursue it, so we are. We went to see if the room in the primary school which the CES (church education system) rents in the evenings for institute would be ok to hold church in. We visited with the CES man in Lagos on Monday. He described the primary school as a really nice one. When we drove up to it, Sister Gilmore and I thought we must have made a mistake. It looks just like the kind you see in pictures of Africa with the dirt floors, small wooden desks, etc. You know what I mean. Well this was like that except it had a new roof, and it had concrete floors. I will try to send a picture of it for you. Well, we met with the institute class. There were about forty crammed into a room 20’ x 30’ with 20 small, wooden benches. But they seemed ok with it. We will report to the President and see what happens. Hopefully, we can establish a temporary student branch out there. The students range from 18-25 years old, many are returned missionaries.

Until next time. Love, Dad

October 21, 2005

Dear Friends and Family

E Ka son. (Good afternoon) We are just about to finish our 7^th week on our mission. I don’t know if it is going fast for you but it is speeding by for us. We are very busy though I don’t think that I could tell you at what specific thing we are so busy. Here are some of the things we are involved in. We travel a lot going from our city to other cities for worship, open houses, missionary meetings and training and to give leadership training. We proselyte all over the district with the missionaries when asked which has ended up being our favorite activity. We visit with the local seminary class. I’m preparing to teach reading and piano to the local branch members. We contact and teach new converts. Today we visited the local teaching hospital to help facilitate the welfare/humanitarian missionaries set up neo-natal resuscitation training. We have been asked to locate some potential sites for the Church to dig wells for the local people who are without adequate clean water in our city. Shopping at the market takes morning or traveling to a grocery store in Lagos takes a day.

We have helped the mission president locate and move missionaries to new apartments. Doug and I have just started a program of missionary apartment inspections so that the apartments never get into the condition that we found them when we got here. (I can just hear my kids say…yup that’s mom for you.) One apartment of 4 missionaries had not had any lights or water for 4 months through their own fault. Another group of 4 missionaries was being evicted by a machete threatening landlord, through no fault of their own, with 1 year left on their pre-paid lease. Another missionary apartment went without lights or water whenever the landlord didn’t pay his utility bills. We had no control over it so we moved them elsewhere. A pair of sisters have to walk through “gray water” in order to get to their apartment…by miraculous means we found them a new apartment yesterday! When I walked through the apartment for a preliminary inspection I asked when I could move in-it was so nice with bright light and inlayed marble floors. The mission president wants all the missionaries to have good living conditions and has made an all-out effort to make it happen. In Nigeria, apartments are leased for 2 years payable up front. There is no recourse if a landlord won’t maintain the building or do what he promised in the lease. 2 of the apartments we have vacated still have 1 year lease left but it has become impossible to keep the missionaries in them. Most of these missionaries have never had such good living conditions their whole loves and don’t have the skills to know how to maintain them. We hope to help train the missionaries to take care of their apartments. Every other month each apartment will get inspected and graded. The missionaries in the best kept apartment will earn a prize. I told them it would be a vase of flowers to beautify itJ I think they think I’m joking about the flowers!

When I say we are busy, it isn’t the kind of busy we lived with at home before our mission. Our life is full of doing good things for others and in turn doing them for our Heavenly Father…it is so far from stress-filled busy-ness that I can’t imagine how we will be able to go back to it. Miracles happen every day…some would call them coincidence but I know that when you are in the service of God, nothing is coincidental. Take the new apartment for the sisters I mentioned. They live across the street from us where we can keep an eye on them for safety reasons. We knew we needed to keep them where we could watch over them. We asked all the missionaries to pray that we would find the sisters a good apartment across the street from us and to ask everybody they came across if they knew of an available place. I have to admit that the “across the street” part was a problem because their current complex was the only apartment we knew that fit that requirement. That landlord was dishonest but the mission president felt he had no choice but to try to negotiate a better apartment in the same complex. Negotiations were going badly. He commented that after several weeks of negotiating he wanted nothing better than to tell the attorney to forget it-and go somewhere else. Our own landlord’s agent has been to see us a couple of times. We have begun a personal relationship with him and his wife. He has become very interested in the church since finding out that all the missionaries including the mission president are volunteers spending their own money and not getting paid to serve. (He asks what kind of church could stimulate such sacrifice from its members!) He came to visit us. In the conversation we mentioned that we were looking for a new apartment close to us. He said…”I’m the agent for the apartment across the street. There are two apartments that are available.” We wondered where? Looking out our window, he pointed out a small 4-plex partially hidden by the larger apartment complex. I had previously noticed it but thought it was a private home. It was very attractive and well kept. He told us the price which was so very reasonable and took us to see the inside. Inside the gate the grounds were landscaped and well-wept. The apartment was a palace compared to what I’ve seen here. We asked him if he believed in miracles…because he was the instrument in God’s hand to answer our prayer. Actually 2 prayers were answered. The mission president did get the pure pleasure of calling the dishonest attorney for the other complex and telling him to forget it!

Everyday I can write down in my journal these types of miracles. They happen when we need to find something. They happen when we need to go somewhere. They happen out of the blue. A miracle happened when we needed to find an apartment for another set of missionaries. Even though they are used to miracles, finding their apartment even stunned them with how specifically their needs, expressed in prayer, were answered. We are looking for a bank to set up accounts for the church branch and the missionaries to have their monthly stipend withdrawn. Getting an account here is like trying to get access to Fort Knox. It has been a problem that has gone unresolved since we got here. Today, 2 representatives from another bank came to our apartment. They had been looking for us…the church has been banking with their bank in another area and they wanted to know if we would be interested in doing the same in Sagamu. Here was a bank that solicited our business…unlike the other bank whose reps acted like they were condescending to allow us to use their bank. Doug had been going to meet with them next week to try and finalize something…it isn’t a coincidence that this other bank found us before any papers were signed.

We really love our mission. 6 weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed it could happen so quickly. The people of Nigeria have worked their way into our hearts. We see their poverty, their meager wages, and their lack of schooling or possessions and wonder how they can be so happy without having all the things we think we need to be happy. Yet they are happy without it. We love serving them. The teaching that you love those you serve is not an abstract idea…it is reality for us. Our friends from South Jordan, Margaret and Craig Summers, live and work in Lagos. We were able to spend 2 nights with them last week. They live in a lovely apartment that looks out over the ocean. We dined on wonderful food. We shopped and found things we couldn’t find in our town. They treated us like royalty…but we were still glad to get back to our humble apartment and return to missionary work.

If you get a chance send us an email. I probably can’t write back but it is always good to get news from home.

Love,

Sister and Elder Gilmore

Guest Speaker

Hello Gilmore children,

I am send you all a report on your parents. They
visited us on Victoria Island for a couple of days
this week. They were able to do some shopping and get
some things that they needed that aren't available in
Sagam. We had a really fun time taking them to the
grocery stores and to the markets.
They were constantly seeing things that they could buy
for the church or for the people they serve.
I wish you could see how happy they are. They spirit
certainly shines in their faces. They talk to
everyone that they meet and everyon is very interested
in them because they are missionaries. I know that
they will be doing a good work here. Their talents
are much needed in this part of the world.
They even found an inactive member in Chocolate Royal,
a cafe where we went to eat. He is a waiter there and
since he is newly arrived on V.I., he didn't know
where to goto church. Because your parents had their
name badges on, he came up to them to tell them he was
a member. We were able to tell him where the church
is located. So even in the city, they are doing good
work.
I hope you are diligent about sending them the good
news about what each of you are doing--especially the
grandchildren. It is an adventure here, a rather
difficult adventure and it always helps to hear how
their family members are doing.
I know our family recieved great blessings when my
parents went on their mission. I wish the same for
you.

Best wishes to you all,
Margaret Summers

October 9, 2005

Dear friends and family,

We are adjusting well to our Nigerian surroundings, our accommodations and our assignment. It really has been a wonderful experience so far. The only thing that has disappointed me is no easy access to the internet. It is just a step above camping and we are enjoying the simplicity of life. I was thinking the other day how much like a vacation this is. All the distractions, worries, job stress, care of possessions, over work, over achievement are not happening here. We are totally focused on serving Heavenly Father and immersed in the teachings of the church. Small miracles happen everyday. Our marriage is content as we both work toward the same goal. Sometimes my mind starts to wander to my children and I start to worry, but I force myself back to what I’m doing here. I have total faith in the promise that if I do God’s work here, he will watch over those I love at home. Time flies, a week just gets started and before I know it, we are in Church on Sunday-the week has gone. We mapped out our goals last week. They are lofty indeed, but it keeps us working hard in a forward direction.

We spend our time in helping the missionaries to be better missionaries, the church leaders to be better leaders, and the members to be better members. We are cheer leaders when we need to be and teachers when we need to be. Doug came out of a High Counsel meeting today saying he had to call them to repentance because they were fractured and contentious with each other. One thing that I see here in the church that I haven’t ever witnessed before is leaders loudly and angrily reprimanding another leader or member. Today one branch president went after his clerk and Doug had to intervene. Another branch president went after the Relief Society president when I was sitting in a meeting with her. It was my first experience, after being here only a week, with this type of thing and I really had to contain myself from telling him it was not acceptable behavior and to remove himself from the room until he could come back and speak civilly. I did ask him to go up to the apartment and see Elder Gilmore and tell him what was bothering him. He didn’t go until we all went. Doug did confirm our position was correct, but the man was not happy about being told he was wrong. Doug told me about a district leader who actually punched a branch leader because in the heat of their arguing, one had made a disparaging remark about the others “heritage”, meaning tribe. I have to admit that we actually laugh about it in an awkward sort of way.

Another thing we see is male dominance. Women are still bought and become the husband’s chattel, though not all. There is polygamy. Men want to sit on one side of the chapel and women sit on the other with the children. We encourage families to sit together. Preaching against husbands beating their wives is a common topic. In the first primary class I visited, the teacher became upset with one of the children and sent an older child out to find a switch to beat the misbehaving child with. By the time the child came back with the switch and laid it on the desk, the teacher had forgotten about the incident. I prayed really hard to know what to do because I was not about to let the primary teacher beat the little boy. Not beating your child but treating them with kindness is another topic spoken of in Sunday service.

I don’t know if I told this story or not about the broken TV? Here everyone is looking for someone lower than them to carry their burden. If there is a husband and wife, the wife carries whatever needs carrying. (When a woman church member took us to the market to help us learn to shop, Doug carried the basket containing our purchases. The woman kept trying to take the basket from him but he refused. She finally said that a man doesn’t carry the packages but the woman does. Doug told her where we come from, the man carries the packages, so that is what he would do. She was very uncomfortable with this). If there is a child, the child carries the burden…sometimes it is a younger sibling that is carried by a child way too young to be doing it and it makes me really nervous. More well to do people have “boys” to do their bidding. Anyway, in church a TV was being brought out to view conference. The mission president warned the leaders to carry the TV carefully. Following tradition, the leaders summoned a young boy to carry the heavy TV. He hoisted it up on his shoulder. Normally he would have hefted it to his head but I think it was too heavy for him to lift up that high. It was too heavy, period and he dropped it, breaking it. Of course, it is the boy that gets the punishment from the leaders, but the mission president could have taken a switch to the leaders, he was so angry about them not following his direction.

One of the things that I’m trying to teach the missionaries is the traditions of their fathers are left behind when they join the church. They take up the traditions of Jesus Christ, which is love of all men & women, kindness toward those they teach and lead (especially toward women), and service to others not others serving them. I don’t know if they believe and accept my teaching, but we do like each other very much and so I can’t help but hope that our mutual admiration will influence them to treat others better through Doug’s and my example. Doug treats me so very well and they see that. Every Sunday the missionaries in our small town come to our home to report their weekly work. Doug and I were in the kitchen cooking. We both had apron’s on. When the door bell rang, Doug answered and told the 4 missionaries that “mommy” (that is what they call me) was in the kitchen cooking. When I came out to greet them, one of the sister missionaries said, “you both were cooking, Elder Gilmore, too!” She had observed Doug’s apron and wanted to clarify that Doug was really cooking. I trust that her hopes of finding a native young man that will share in the family cooking aren’t too lofty.

It is one of the miracles of missionary work that ones heart is filled with love for those we serve. I have to say that my heart didn’t take long to love the people of Nigeria, especially the young missionaries. Well they may not be first, the young children tie for that. After the children get over the shock of seeing an oyebo (white master) they want to come close. I’ve taught them to do a “high 5” routine that I’ve made up. It is a great ice breaker, and they can know that I love them without understanding what I say. I hope they know that God and Jesus Christ love them so they can have peace in their lives. There isn’t much peace in their way of life as I have seen it so far.

Well, Doug just came into the office and asked what was taking me so long. It is the witching hour for missionaries and we find that we do better by getting to bed early and rising early. Tomorrow is P day so we clean the apartment, do the laundry, and go to the internet room. Yeh!!!

Love to you all,

Mom and Dad, Doug and Leslie, Sister and Elder Gilmore

October 2, 2005

Dear Family,

Because it is difficult to email everyone, we are sending this to Heather and Kyle and asking them to forward it on to the family. First, Heather, thanks for the letter. We would like to hear from the rest of you even if you dont think you have anything happening in your life.

Things are going well here in Nigeria. Saturday and Sunday was general conference. But we cant get it here. No chapels have dishes so we cant listen or watch it. If we could it would come on a 5PM and 11PM because of the time difference. Your mom and I missed watching it, and I think it would make a difference to the members here if they actually could see and listen to the prophet talk. They have an incredible amount of faith. Because most people dont have TVs they dont really know much about America or American culture. At least not like I thought they would. Most people here are so poor they spend all their time trying to survive. But even the missionaries and members here dont really know much about America, Utah, Salt Lake or things about the church we take for granted.

On Sunday, it was fast day. The branch pres. here in Sagam blessed his first child. The baby was only one week old. He invited his family to attend. They are not members, they are muslims. His parents, sister and other relatives came all decked out in fancy native dress. You may have seen it. The men wear a loose robe type top with what looks like pajama bottoms. They wear a cloth hat. The women wear big flowing dresses with a big headress type hat. Both the men and women wear bright patterned clothes. Driving around town it appears that about 50% wear traditional clothes, 50% western style clothes. Everyone wears sandals. In the church they call wearing a white shirt and tie, white church dress. It is the only time the men dress like that.

Our ward in Murray donated about 400 ties that we brought with us. We have been handing them out at the missionary meetings and yesterday we gave out a bunch after church in Sagam. Everyone loves them, even some of the young women want ties. Im not sure if they plan on wearing them or they want them just because they are free. Anyway they will take all that we give away. Most of the members are from very humble backgrounds. Unemployment is high, underemployment is the norm. Apparently the per capita income is about $1/day. Since ties cost about the equivalent of about $10, buying a tie for church is very expensive.

But again the members and missionaries have an incredible faith in the Lord, the church and the prophet. We have 70 missionaries in our mission. Most are from other parts of Nigeria, but we have probably 20 or so from Ghana. There are two from Tonga, one from Samoa, and one from New Zealand. All them are dark so they dont stand out like we do. The missionaries here are supported thru the church missionary funds since they or there parents are not able to support them. Each branch where they come from is suppose to provide support, but based on the wealth of the people we have seen, I dont suppose most branches can totally support their missionaries. The average missionary receives $9,000N (Nira) per month. That is $63. The church pays for their apartments, but the missionaries must pay for their food, clothes, electric bills, transporation, etc from that amount. Missionaries in remote areas where they have to travel to district and zones meetings get a little more but not much.

Because transportation is primarily on foot, the missionaries are restricted to proselitying (sp) within an "center of strength" which is a 45 minute walking radius from the local church. Since most contacts are gained by street contacting or referrals, the missionaries dont have areas per se, like I had. If 4 missionaries are working in the same branch they have the same center of strength and work and teach in the same area.

Because the Nigerian people are very religous and have a simple faith in God, many are joining the Church. The average in our mission is about 2 baptisms per month per missionary, or 4 per companionship. The challenge isnt finding people to teach, it is getting to find the honest in heart who will pray to know the truth. Sister Gilmore and I have been proselitying also. It is very easy to share the gospel and your testimony here. People are willing to listen and are not cynical like Americans are.

Yesterday, after the church service the missionaries had planned to baptize a family of 3. But the portable baptismal font sprung a leak. We had to drive the family 40 miles to Ijebuode to the church there to baptise them. Afterwards we drove them home.

My time on the computer is just about out so I need to sign off. Until next week. With all our love,

Elder and Sister Gilmore.

Sept 25, 2005

Dear Kids

I was so unhappy when I came home from the internet café without successfully sending you an email, last week. It is truly the first time I have been upset since arriving. We really are doing very well in a country that is so very different from what we are familiar. I made a promise to Heavenly Father that I would have a positive attitude, and he has made it possible for me to keep that promise. When we arrived at the apartment and I walked through it for the first time, I knew that I might have trouble keeping my promise. The breezeway in the middle of the apartment is painted dark brown with black, brown and sienna floor; the couple of lights are up high and low wattage. It was dark, dank, dreary and dirty. It was closed in, musty and smelled terrible. The freezer, frig and dryer are in this room adding to the heat. The dryer even vents into the room. There were dusty cobwebs on the walls and ceilings and the corners of the door frames with ants and other bugs dangling from the web. There are two windows at either end of the breezeway but they can’t be opened because of mosquitoes. Curtains covered the windows which would have brought in more light. However, the windows could never be washed because they were on the third floor and couldn’t be reached. One is on the outside of the building, the other opens into an 8 foot square opening in the center of the building for sunlight to reach the windows of all the apartments. Of course, you can’t get to the opening to clean anything so spider webs cling to everything, and the windows are too dirty to allow in much light. Every room in the apartment comes off this breezeway (no breeze however) and there was no way to avoid going through it. After checking out all the rooms I felt like crying. The rooms were large and bright but it was like entering a cave when I came out of the rooms into that breezeway. I went into what would become Dad’s and my bedroom, knelt down and pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me because I knew that I would be very depressed in such a place without His help. I came out of the bedroom and never again has the condition bothered me. I enter that dark, hot, smelly (but cleaned) breezeway many times a day and have never felt the way I did the first day.

Frank told me that I would have to get used to the dirt. He was right. There is no way to keep anything clean. But again, I can do what I can and the rest hasn’t been a problem. We spent 2 days cleaning our living area. Now it doesn’t smell so bad. We still never go barefoot, even to the bathroom in the night. Our flip-flops are always ready. We have 3 bedrooms and 3 ½ baths. We haven’t cleaned the extra rooms yet, but tomorrow is p-day so we can attach a couple more rooms. We are careful with our food and especially our water. It takes me about an hour every other day to clean and fill our water bottles with filtered water. The church provides every apartment with a 3 filter water system. It purifies drinking water. It is hooked up to our kitchen faucet. When the knob is pulled, it redirects the cold water into the filter and out a small nozzle attached to the faucet. It takes about 3 minutes to get a 1.5 liter bottle filled. I wash, Clorox and rinse the bottles, then fill them. I make about 15 1.5 liter bottles every other day. We boil the water that we rinse our dishes in. Our kitchen is very small and very hot. There is one small window and 3 doors coming off the kitchen. 2 of the doors go to the outside, so we have had to tape them shut to keep out mosquitoes. Everything we use in the kitchen fits in 2 small cabinets and 1 drawer. The stove is both electric and propane. All the food, the frig and a small chest freezer are in the breezeway. I have counter space the size of our camp kitchen and it feels just like camping! It is all part of the adventure. Dad and I feel really blessed to have such a nice place compared to the living conditions we have encountered. This is just a taste of what we have found here. I don’t want to make this too long so I will tell you more another time.

14 Sept 2005

Subject: We are here
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 14:29:30 -0600


I can't tell you much, but we are here. We don't have internet in our home, so we will have to contact you all from a cafe. Your address was the only one that I can remember, so please forward this to everyone. I will try to figure out how to reach you all another time. It is like Mexico, the very poorest we have ever seen.

PS, Heaher, please call Transworld and get your email and name as the contact person. I'm receicving the email from them.

Love you all Mom