July 23, 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

Weeks are flying by and we keep very busy. The last month or so we have been assigned to help a small church branch to gain strength and understand the order of leadership in our church. The enthusiasm of the members, after gaining a little understanding, in putting what they have learned into practice is marvelous to behold. Yesterday we had an open house in that the little farming village where Imodi Branch worships. There were over 120 people that came; church member, non member, and members who have not been attending came to see what the church is all about. There were displays of our beliefs and doctrines, music, singing, videos all wrapped around love and friendship. We had another miracle as well. This little village does not often get electrical power. We needed power to run all the machines for the open house. After choir practice on Thursday, we all went home to pray for power on Saturday from 3:00Pm – 6:00 Pm. Our prayers were heard and we had power sufficient and consistent during the open house. There is no denying prayers are answered.

Our roofing project at the Atoyo primary school hit a glitch. The school had a contractor write up the supplies needed for the roof. The PTA had it “certified” correct. We wrote up the proposal and submitted it to LDS Charities for funding according to the supply estimate. About 3 days after delivery (I told you the story of getting the wood and supplies) we got a call from the principle they needed so much more of this, and so much more of that. He called us again, they were short on this and needed more of something else. We couldn’t believe that we could be off in our supply purchase and arranged to visit the next day, thinking that maybe some of the supplies had been “taken”. We got there, counted the boards on the roof and still unused on the ground. Everything was still there but even I could see that there wasn’t enough to complete the roof. In fact we had about half of what was needed. We were novices at this and this situation was just awful. Most of the money was gone, but only half of the roof materials had been purchase. We brainstormed with the principal and the village carpenter-since we were roofing 2 classrooms, could we roof only one half? Could we take back the ceiling materials and install only the roof? We were still short 45,000 Naira even doing that. (about $325) They thought maybe the oba (king) from their village might be able to help. We left with everyone feeling down and wondering if we could pull something off. As “luck” would have it we had a meeting the next day and the LDS Charity coordinator for our area was there. We told him our plight and apologized for our inexperience that created the situation. He said no problem it happens all the time…he was just glad it was a miscalculation and not a theft that created it. We applied for more money, received it and Friday got to go spend the day purchasing the second half of the supplies plus 4 doors which had not been requested in the first go-round. We hope to all be completed by the end of the month. The new humanitarian couple has arrived in Lagos so we won’t get to do this sort of thing again.

A couple of days ago our missionary apartment maintenance man came by and said he thought we needed to go look at the apartment of the 2 Elders here in Sagamu where we live. He said there are cracks in the walls that he thought might make the building unsafe and since Doug was an engineer he might know if there was any danger. We visited their third floor apartment and sure enough there were gaping cracks through some of the interior walls and along the corner where the wall meets the floor. Some cracks showed light from the other room. To understand how this could be you need to know how houses and buildings are built. A concrete slab is mixed and poured by hand. Then concrete blocks (cinder blocks) are layed forming both the interior and exterior walls. Corners and columns along the exterior wall line are left open. After the blocks are layed, rebar is tied up through the open columns, which are framed and concrete is mixed and poured over the rebar to fill the columns and corners. Rebar extends above the roof line to be secured into the next level’s floor. A plank floor is framed and concrete is once again mixed and hand carried in a head pan up a ramp to be poured for a floor to the second story. The process starts again for the second, third, fourth, and so on floors. It is a once in a lifetime experience to watch. A 2 story house is being built in our back yard and we have documented every step. Now back to the Elders apartment. Since they were interior walls and there was no sign of movement in the exterior walls, Doug didn’t think there was an immediate problem. However, we asked a friend, Felix, who is a construction supervisor and real estate agent to come see just to get a second opinion. You see the middle of last week a 3 story apartment complex in Lagos collapsed. Many died. (There was no rebar found in the rubble.) We were a little spooked that this could happen to them. Doug took Felix to inspect and they were able to check the shops on the bottom floor and found similar cracking. (The building has 4 vender stalls on the main floor, 2 offices on the second, and 1 apartment, the elders, on the top floor) Felix said to get the missionaries out he didn’t think it was safe. So we have company for the next couple days until the mission president decides what to do. It won’t be easy to get any compensation. Rentals are very different here. Rental contracts are for 2 years paid in advance. What you rent is rooms with bare walls. No light or plumbing fixtures of any kind, no cabinets, closets, no kitchen…just a shell. Everything that is needed the renter provides, builds and installs. Once the contract is signed, everything to maintain the apartment and compound is paid for by the renter. Sounds like a deal for the landlord but after two years it is nearly impossible to evict the tenant if he doesn’t pay for the next year. There is a tenant in our building that hasn’t paid for over a year and Felix is working through the courts to get him out. Just stay tuned for further developments if they are noteworthy.

We have had a changing of the guard. Our new mission president and wife, Chad and Karen Evans, arrived July 1 and about 6 hours later our old mission president left. President Evans has come with his marching orders and it will involve a lot of changes in the mission, though we don’t yet know how it will affect us. I really like him. His style is quiet and thoughtful, but bold and innovative at the same time. He has spent the last 5 years on a mission as the head of the Perpetual Education Fund for the church. He brings a lot of experience in 3^rd world countries which will really help us here. He has some great thoughts… Understand priorities-don’t let the good get in the way of what is best, think and act in terms of what is best in the long term, another term for sin is education. We have a box of supplies that was being shipped with their household shipment. It should have arrived in Lagos before they did because it was packed the middle of May. Well it wasn’t here. They waited and waited and called those who are in the know. Finally they got a call saying their shipment was in and would be delivered…no wait a minute it wasn’t theirs after all but was another newly arrived Nigerian mission president. Having been given the assurance that they would get theirs soon, a search was instigated to find their stuff. Bad news, instead of airfreight, it had been put on a ship and was currently in Iceland. It could take until September for the ship to finally reach Lagos harbor! No one knows how or at least will confess to making the mistake. After several days, arrangements were made to have it unloaded in Antwerp and airfreighted from there. It should arrive anytime from now. (Maybe end of July, maybe first of August) It is a good thing they took all the food we requested out of the box or it would be expired by the time it gets here.

I think I’m out of fun things to talk about. It is by no means because we haven’t had other adventures…we try to make sure we note at least one adventure and one miracle per day. This attitude helps us keep a stiff upper lip as my dad used to say. If any of you happen to see my grandkids, give them a kiss and a hug for me. I miss them sorely.

Love Elda and Seesta Gilmoe

(I’m getting very good at the Nigerian accent. Sometimes I have to stop and think about whether there ever really was another way to pronounce a word…and if there was how did it go?)