December 3, 2006

Dear Family,

It has been a very uplifting and inspiring Sabbath here in Nigeria. I wish I could bottle it and send it to you so that you could drink of it and be spiritually filled and refreshed as I have been. I do not think that I have the ability to express myself so that you could understand what it has been like, suffice it to say that the Holy Ghost has been my companion today and my feelings are tender.

We attended 2 fast and testimony meetings today. It is the last testimony meeting before the end of the year and many try to express their gratitude at being preserved from January 1 until this the first week of the last month of the year. They do not take staying alive from one day to the next lightly. There is sincere gratitude for such a gift. Living is not easy. We would call it eking out a living and few of us would voluntarily live such a life. Yet the members are so grateful for what they have and bear testimony that they know it comes from a loving God. Let me tell you about the testimony that was born by Sister Ebaka. First she listed the many things she is grateful for. One of those things was her callings in the Church where she can serve the Lord through serving others. She acknowledged the many people she loves including the primary children she is president over, the branch president, the prophet whom she has never seen even on TV, her husband and her daughter. She told how when her first husband died, she told her children not to weep because Heavenly Father had called him to come back. It would be alright and it was. She has since remarried and is happy. In fact, she said that she was so happy that she didn’t think there was a happier woman on the earth. I ask myself if I can ever be like that. Compared to our standard of living, she lives in dire poverty. It isn’t possessions that make her happy. She isn’t beautiful so that others would praise her for it and bring her happiness that way. She has little education so it isn’t being smart that makes her happy. She has little opportunity to improve her standard of living so it can’t be hope in it that makes her happy. She is living, breathing proof that what brings happiness is being grateful for what you do have, loving and serving others, and faith in God that everything will be alright and it is. Ah, that is happiness worth striving for and the formula is so simple.

I told you last week that the conference issue of the Ensign had arrived, welcomed like a visit from a dear friend. I had just finished rereading the Book of Mormon which I am sad to see finished…like reading any good book, you hate to have it end. The void was filled when the Ensign arrived. The last few days I have feasted upon the words of the Prophets, Apostles and other leaders found in the magazine. After we finished our missionary duties and returned home in late afternoon today, we broke our fast then Dad took a nap and I read from the Ensign. It is as good as a nap to me. Open the magazine and the Holy Ghost covers me like a warm blanket and envelopes me to testify that the teachings and counsel in its pages are true. I can hardly read it without constantly thinking I need to improve on obeying this commandment or I have to remember that gospel teaching. How simple and beautiful are the true teachings of the Church. I quote from one of the talks to set my point home. “I bear witness that the only safety and security that I have ever found has come through trying to keep the commandments of the Lord and upholding and sustaining the authorities of this Church.”(pg 97 Elder Don R. Clarke “Becoming Instruments in the Hands of God”) I wrote above about the simple formula for happiness, well here is an even simpler formula for safety and security: obeying the commandments and following the Church leaders.

Today I looked around at all those faces that I have grown to love and felt sadness that we would only be together for such a short period of time. There is one missionary, Elder Udu, who I am particularly fond of. He is smart, good looking, works hard in his missionary work, has a sound understanding of the gospel, has a good sense of humor and is a great example and leader to the other missionaries. I shook his hand when we were leaving the church today and I did not want to let it go. I know that at anytime he could be transferred and we would not see each other again. I have taught, loved, served, counseled, laughed, cried, rejoiced and mourned with so many wonderful people that I would never have had such an opportunity if we had not accepted the call to serve a mission in Nigeria. This road has not been easy, but I look at how many people have walked this path with me and I feel so much love for them. We can see again the simple beauty in the gospel. Service and love are in separable, it is impossible to have one without the other.

Our bus trip to the Aba Temple is one week closer to reality. Ijebu-Ode has temple fever. What started out as us hoping to fill an 18 passenger bus with temple goers has snowballed into changing to a 30 passenger bus and it still not being able to hold the number wanting to go to partake of the eternal blessings found only in the temple. We would add another bus but the patron housing at the Temple can not accommodate any more people. We have set another temple date in February and the bus is already over half reserved-we may take two. My request to have help from my friends at home has resulted in us being able to ensure that once a quarter for the next year we will be able to subsidize taking a busload of members to the temple. All members will be required to pay a small amount so they participate through sacrificing but it will not be impossible for their dream of sealing their families for eternity to come true thanks to the donations we have received. I am filled with gratitude that our work will not end when we come home but will extend through the eternities of time.

I called the temple yesterday to add 3 more people to our reservations and found out that there was a celebration at the temple. I couldn’t imagine what celebration was being held until someone told me today that they lit the Christmas lights on the Temple grounds yesterday. I can hardly keep from crying as I write this. Towns are so ugly and dirty in Nigeria with no glittering lights of Christmas to be found. The temple is built on a hill and stands like a beacon above the town of Aba. The bus will arrive at the Temple in the early evening. I can just imagine the wondering awe that will fill those members as they come within sight of the Temple. What will appear before their eyes is a sight they will never before have witnessed, the glorious view of the Temple grounds lit up to appear like part of heaven. The temple must truly be one of the most beautiful buildings and grounds in Nigeria. One member told me upon returning from the Temple that it was as peaceful and beautiful as heaven and he didn’t want to leave it. Add to that the lights celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and one can only imagine the emotion that will be felt by those arriving at the Temple. I feel so grateful to be a small part in helping God’s children in this corner of the world partake of eternal ordinances and receive the highest blessings that Heavenly Father bestows upon his righteous children. My vocabulary is too limited to be able to express my joy at the prospect of it all. Heavenly Father is surely smiling on us. May He fill your hearts with just as much joy in your endeavors to serve Him.

Love mom

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?)

June 1, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,
I was looking back to see how long it had been since I wrote-April 6th. I find I have less time to write and few new things to write about. We continue to get assigned more responsibilities so we put in long days to make headway in accomplishing them. About 2 weeks ago, our mission president said he had great news and asked us to meet at the new eye clinic (the one I told you about the open house). A shipment of equipment had arrived donated by the Deseret Foundation. Along with the shipment were "a few’ boxes of books donated by the Kenneth & Gloria Deyhle Foundation they want us to help distribute. A few was an understatement. There were well over 200 boxes. When we finally got all of them catalogued a couple of days ago there were over 11,000 books! We have put into place a plan on how to coalesce the books by school age but haven’t finalized how we will select the over 125 schools and get them distributed. (Coalesce is a big word that my computer thesaurus found. I hope it means what I was trying to say). Doug is right now in the conference room of the clinic with the gardeners who have been assigned to help him move boxes into some semblance of order so we can get the young missionaries to load the boxes for delivery. (I am sitting in the waiting room of the eye clinic where I have been for about 4 hours waiting for the surgery to be done on the eye of a young man from our Sagamu Branch. It is a charity case, so we have to be patient
… which is why I have had time to write a short letter.)
We continue to be plagued by the breaking down of anything mechanical in our apartment and complex. We are accustomed to it and have put into place the necessary counter measures for when it happens. Right now our air conditioner, security lights and water pump are out. The things we can’t prepare for we just endure and leave it to Heavenly Father. We have stored water for just such an occurrence when the pump "gets spoiled". We bath from water in a bucket…after the third day of cold bucket bathes this week, Doug surprised me with heated water yesterday. It was a bit of heaven. When we first arrived, 77degree water seemed warm enough. But we are now acclimatized and 77 degrees is jacket and pajama weather. During one meeting a couple of weeks it started to rain. The combination of the breeze and damp chilled us and we had to turn off the fans and shut the windows to get warm. It was probably mid eighties.
Last time I wrote about the problems with the painting of the District Center. I shouldn’t have shared a disparaging story and I apologize. The paint job was completed and approved by those that had authority to do so. It wouldn’t have passed at home but then it doesn’t have to be so perfect here. It proved to be too "big" for me- something that only I had any problem with-besides I had no authority over it. I couldn’t make the difference by myself. Where we will make a difference will be one small step at a time…the accumulation of which I hope will be great. That is how we now approach all of our assignments. We have a list of the major ones that is longer than one page single spaced. Each week in planning meeting we decide on the next baby step for each assignment. As we work hard each day to achieve 6-7 of the baby-step items on the list we have slowly been able to finish some. Others will never be finished but hopefully we will have helped move them forward.
We continue to see the hand of Heavenly Father in our lives. Our health is remarkable in spite of continued mosquito bites and exposure to other things. Miracles such as placing us in the right place at the right time or keeping us from going somewhere where we found out later it wasn’t safe are commonplace. Driving rules are non-existent. Along the roads are the remains of bad accidents. Yet we have not even had a close call with any accident in over 50,000 Kilometers of travel. Not even a flat tire and we have been through some rough roads where we deserved one. We were in a traffic jam taking a missionary to Lagos to hospital. I prayed that we wouldn’t be stuck there over night as could easily happen. Routes seemed to open up and we squeezed our little car into every cranny it would fit as we inched forward. Places just kept opening up. We made it through in under 5 hours. Others we know got stuck in it for the whole night and into the next day. The next afternoon we were warned not to return that way because traffic was still blocked, we went back by another route. On our way to one branch for Sunday service, we received a call not to come. We turned around and went to another branch. One missionary there came out to greet us and said she had prayed that we would come because of someone we needed to meet. Though we weren’t scheduled there, she knew we would come in answer to her prayer. Another man approached us with a very surprised look. It was his first time in church. The night before he had dreamed he would shake the hand of a white man in church that day. No white man lived in the town that he knew of. In we walked and he shook our hand. We did not know we would be at that branch that Sunday, but God did. While traveling on the expressway we exited on the wrong road. We couldn’t find where we were on the map to get back in the direction we needed to go. As we drove along we asked for divine guidance at each junction or exit, which way we should go. We followed how we felt prompted and eventually we returned to the correct expressway, never having had to backtrack and never knowing where we were. We have never felt unsafe while we have been here. It is the miracle of our mission and a gift from Heavenly Father.
Another gift from God is a better understanding of the purpose of life. Coming from a wealthy country with the accumulation of wealth a prime objective of so many to an impoverished country where earning enough for a meal a day is the prime objective dramatically changes one’s perspective. Occasionally on the news we see a national story about some sport or movie idol and it seems surreal that this would be thought to be important enough to take time to report on. During one such report on Euronews about Tom Cruz, Doug blurted out- "Who cares?" Ten months ago we did! I wonder how long it will take us to get caught up in it again. I hope some of what we have learned sticks with us for the rest of our lives.
It is an hour later, the nurse finally came to get the young man to prep him for the operation. My computer battery is about dead and I have something I have to do before it dies…so Odabo for now.
Love Sister G.

June 1, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,
I was looking back to see how long it had been since I wrote-April 6th. I find I have less time to write and few new things to write about. We continue to get assigned more responsibilities so we put in long days to make headway in accomplishing them. About 2 weeks ago, our mission president said he had great news and asked us to meet at the new eye clinic (the one I told you about the open house). A shipment of equipment had arrived donated by the Deseret Foundation. Along with the shipment were "a few’ boxes of books donated by the Kenneth & Gloria Deyhle Foundation they want us to help distribute. A few was an understatement. There were well over 200 boxes. When we finally got all of them catalogued a couple of days ago there were over 11,000 books! We have put into place a plan on how to coalesce the books by school age but haven’t finalized how we will select the over 125 schools and get them distributed. (Coalesce is a big word that my computer thesaurus found. I hope it means what I was trying to say). Doug is right now in the conference room of the clinic with the gardeners who have been assigned to help him move boxes into some semblance of order so we can get the young missionaries to load the boxes for delivery. (I am sitting in the waiting room of the eye clinic where I have been for about 4 hours waiting for the surgery to be done on the eye of a young man from our Sagamu Branch. It is a charity case, so we have to be patient
… which is why I have had time to write a short letter.)
We continue to be plagued by the breaking down of anything mechanical in our apartment and complex. We are accustomed to it and have put into place the necessary counter measures for when it happens. Right now our air conditioner, security lights and water pump are out. The things we can’t prepare for we just endure and leave it to Heavenly Father. We have stored water for just such an occurrence when the pump "gets spoiled". We bath from water in a bucket…after the third day of cold bucket bathes this week, Doug surprised me with heated water yesterday. It was a bit of heaven. When we first arrived, 77degree water seemed warm enough. But we are now acclimatized and 77 degrees is jacket and pajama weather. During one meeting a couple of weeks it started to rain. The combination of the breeze and damp chilled us and we had to turn off the fans and shut the windows to get warm. It was probably mid eighties.
Last time I wrote about the problems with the painting of the District Center. I shouldn’t have shared a disparaging story and I apologize. The paint job was completed and approved by those that had authority to do so. It wouldn’t have passed at home but then it doesn’t have to be so perfect here. It proved to be too "big" for me- something that only I had any problem with-besides I had no authority over it. I couldn’t make the difference by myself. Where we will make a difference will be one small step at a time…the accumulation of which I hope will be great. That is how we now approach all of our assignments. We have a list of the major ones that is longer than one page single spaced. Each week in planning meeting we decide on the next baby step for each assignment. As we work hard each day to achieve 6-7 of the baby-step items on the list we have slowly been able to finish some. Others will never be finished but hopefully we will have helped move them forward.
We continue to see the hand of Heavenly Father in our lives. Our health is remarkable in spite of continued mosquito bites and exposure to other things. Miracles such as placing us in the right place at the right time or keeping us from going somewhere where we found out later it wasn’t safe are commonplace. Driving rules are non-existent. Along the roads are the remains of bad accidents. Yet we have not even had a close call with any accident in over 50,000 Kilometers of travel. Not even a flat tire and we have been through some rough roads where we deserved one. We were in a traffic jam taking a missionary to Lagos to hospital. I prayed that we wouldn’t be stuck there over night as could easily happen. Routes seemed to open up and we squeezed our little car into every cranny it would fit as we inched forward. Places just kept opening up. We made it through in under 5 hours. Others we know got stuck in it for the whole night and into the next day. The next afternoon we were warned not to return that way because traffic was still blocked, we went back by another route. On our way to one branch for Sunday service, we received a call not to come. We turned around and went to another branch. One missionary there came out to greet us and said she had prayed that we would come because of someone we needed to meet. Though we weren’t scheduled there, she knew we would come in answer to her prayer. Another man approached us with a very surprised look. It was his first time in church. The night before he had dreamed he would shake the hand of a white man in church that day. No white man lived in the town that he knew of. In we walked and he shook our hand. We did not know we would be at that branch that Sunday, but God did. While traveling on the expressway we exited on the wrong road. We couldn’t find where we were on the map to get back in the direction we needed to go. As we drove along we asked for divine guidance at each junction or exit, which way we should go. We followed how we felt prompted and eventually we returned to the correct expressway, never having had to backtrack and never knowing where we were. We have never felt unsafe while we have been here. It is the miracle of our mission and a gift from Heavenly Father.
Another gift from God is a better understanding of the purpose of life. Coming from a wealthy country with the accumulation of wealth a prime objective of so many to an impoverished country where earning enough for a meal a day is the prime objective dramatically changes one’s perspective. Occasionally on the news we see a national story about some sport or movie idol and it seems surreal that this would be thought to be important enough to take time to report on. During one such report on Euronews about Tom Cruz, Doug blurted out- "Who cares?" Ten months ago we did! I wonder how long it will take us to get caught up in it again. I hope some of what we have learned sticks with us for the rest of our lives.
It is an hour later, the nurse finally came to get the young man to prep him for the operation. My computer battery is about dead and I have something I have to do before it dies…so Odabo for now.
Love Sister G.

7 May 2006

Friends and Family,

Just a short note about the village of Atoyo I wrote about before. We have received news back that the LDS Charities which does humanitarian work for the Church will fund the projects we requested. If you recall, the village of a few thousand has no safe water supply. They fetch water from a nearby river. The Church will drill them a borehole (well). This project will not get under way until the next humanitarian missionary couple arrives from the US. They are due in June or July. So hopefully, in August or September the borehole will be drilled and equipped.

The Church will also reconstruct the roof of the primary school. We will be responsible for managing this project. The Church will pay for the building materials and the local residents will volunteer their labor to build it. If we can get it done for less than the budget, we are hoping to do some additional work at the school, such as maybe painting the building, buying some desks, and blackboards.

Recently, the LDS District Centre (church meetinghouse) in Ijebu-Ode was repainted and the chalkboards in all the classrooms were replaced with whiteboards. We are going to see if we can get the old chalkboards and donate them to the school.

Last week, Ike Ferguson, the Area humanitarian representative came over from Ghana. He gave us a box of books donated by Deseret Book. It is a collection of about 50 books that they put together to donate to schools in developing countries. We will take them to the primary school for their library. As I mentioned earlier, the school has a room they call the library, but it has no books. With these books, the students can spend a class period in the library reading.

We will keep you posted on the progress of these little projects.

Love

Elder and Sister Gilmore

3 April 2006

Dear friends and family:

On Friday, March 17th we went to a small village about 50 kilometers east of here. We were taken by Dr. Onamusi-Martin, a GP who has a clinic here in Sagamu. The village is named Atoyo (a-to'-yo). It has a population of about 2,000. The reason we went is because Dr. Onamusi knows that the Church thru LDS Charities can drill boreholes (water wells) for communities. He was raised in a town nearby to Atoyo and knows many people in the village and is concerned about them.

When we arrived he drove us to the center of the village where a previous water development project had been started. Several years ago the Nigerian government began construction on a water development project for the village, but never completed it. A small metal water tank was installed, but the borehole was never drilled. Dr. Onamusi wanted to show it to us and see if the Church could complete the project.

Currently, the village gets its water from a nearby river. We walked down the hill from the village on a path about 1/4 of a mile to where the women of the village get their water. There is a pool of water where the women fill their water buckets, place them on their heads and walk back to the village. While we were there several women came to get water. We took some pictures and I have attached pictures of our trip to Atoyo. The first picture is walking down the path to the river. The river is down in the trees. As I said it is about 1/4 mile from where we parked our car and probably about 200-300 feet lower than the village. Because the village is spread out we can't say how big an area it takes up. But I would guess that some of the women must have to walk at least 1 mile round trip to get water.


The second picture is of two women filling their water buckets. They then place them on their heads and walk back to the village.

Dr. Onamusi wants to have a borehole constructed so the people of the village will have a safe source of drinking water. In Africa one of the biggest killers is water-borne diseases. From our one trip it is hard to put an exact cost on what it would cost to rehabilitate the tank, drill and equip a borehole and build water taps. But it would probably be between $3,000-$4,000 US dollars. Because the average daily income here in Nigeria is less than $1, you can see that without outside help, the villagers would never be able to build and equip a well on their own. And the Nigerian government does not appear capable or willing to make these kinds of improvements. It is sad but true.

After looking at the borehole site, we visited the local primary (elementary) school. Dr. Onamusi introduced us to the head master (principal). The head master had been one of Dr. Onamusi teachers in secondary school (high school). Much to our surprise, we recognized the head master. He is a member of the Church. He joined the Church about Christmas time. He attends the Ondo Road Branch in Ijebu-Ode, about 15 kilometers west of Atoyo. We talked to him and found out that he had just been transfered to this school about 3 months ago. Dr. Onamusi also wanted to show us a problem at the school. Two or three years ago a storm blew the roof off one of the three school buildings. And of course it hasnt been fixed. The local government has been unable to fund the repair. As a result the school has combined its classes. The school has 220 students, ages 3-12. Thats right, primary school starts at age 3 here. We have included pictures of the damaged building, a classroom and some of the students.



When we arrived, it created quite a stir. I am sure none of these children has ever seen a white in person before. They look at you like you are from outer space. Of course, they just love you. They all want to touch you. From the picture you can see they are lovely children.

Dr. Onamusi asked if we could do something about the school's roof. The school is a typical Nigerian school, they are like this in big cities like Ijebu-Ode (population about 1 million). The inside of the classrooms look like this also. Windows with wood shutters but no glass; concrete floors, no lights or electricity, no water, and no books. Thats right, no books. In Nigeria only the teacher has a book. The students have only an exercise book. An exercise book is what we call an exam book that we used in college to write essay answers on tests. That is what the kids use here to copy what the teacher writes on the chalkboard.

The head master said the school has a library, but it has no books in it. If it had books, the children could go to it during one of their school periods and look at the books. But here they can not check out books, they must stay in the library. If they checked them out, they would never come back.

Reading materials are in short supply here. The only thing that is readily available to read are the local tabloids. As a result, everyone loves to get a copy of a church magazine. When we drive between Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode four times a week we are stopped at police checkpoints four times each trip. Even the police will take a church magazine.

Back to Atoyo. The head master estimates the cost to repair the roof at about $2,000 US dollars. On the way home we talked to Dr. Onamusi and told him we would make a request for funding for the borehole and school roof. To receive funding from LDS Charities, we have to write a request and submit the request to the area office in Ghana. We should find out within a month if the request can be granted. We will keep you posted.

After spending the morning there, you see how many people have so little. And there are thousands of villages like Atoyo. Even in cities like Sagamu, access to drinking water is a problem. As we have described in the past, many people come to our apartment building to get water from our outside tap because we have a borehole and we have a backup generator that pumps water even when electrical power is off. And as we have decribed before, electrical power is off more than it is on.

I hope you are all thankful for the things which we in America consider the small things like water, power, etc. Because in a place like Nigeria, these things are not small things.

Until next time. Love Elder Gilmore

April 2, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so busy that the days run into each other and I can’t keep track. You are listening to conference right now. This will be the second one that we have missed. However we have the CD of last conference so we are listening to it instead. Since we have been on our mission, we have learned to “listen” to the counsel of the Church leaders so much better. We have learned to listen with the power of the Holy Ghost and it fills our souls with a desire to be more obedient and to serve more diligently. I have become so aware of my weaknesses and pray that with experience they may be made strengths. There is urgency in the work that we do, so much to do and so few months left to do it. We have just received word that a new office couple has been called and have accepted the call…however they won’t come until 4 weeks after the other couple has left. (The couple coming and the couple leaving are sisters!) As we are the only couple left in the mission, by default we will become the office couple until the new couple arrives. That isn’t what I would choose to do but then I wouldn’t have chosen to come to Nigeria, either and look what I would have missed out on- a wonderful experience.

In Nigeria things fall apart. I can’t tell you why but nothing seems to last very long. I don’t like it when things don’t work. At home, if something didn’t work it was fixed as fast as I could do it or get it done. It has been a challenge I have to endure here because almost nothing works for very long. Electrical sockets have to be replaced about every 3 months. Electrical plugs used in the socket are spoiled at the same time so they also have to be replaced at the same time. The air conditioners in each room go out regularly-we have 2 needing repair right now…one of those (I had one put in the kitchen as it feels like 200 degrees when cooking meals) will be the 4th time I have called to get it repaired since it was installed about 2 ½ months ago. Things just fall apart. I know what is meant in Malachi 3:11 about the power of the destroyer. The Nigerians live it every day with everything they own. I tried to start listing the things that don’t work for long but it would be easier to list what does work…umm, I can’t think of anything. It truly is a terrible curse on the nation. We have many improvements and the ability to pay for the repairs but for the average Nigerian there is no way to overcome except with faith in the promise made if they pay tithing.

Some of you asked about the stolen electricity line…they did get the lines back up so we resumed getting power for a little while. I’m sure you have heard about the unrest in the oil producing part of Nigeria known as the Delta. We are a long way from there and wouldn’t be affected except major gas and oil lines have been blown up. Those pipe lines feed the power plants so only about 20% of the normal amount of electricity is being produced. This time not just our area but the whole nation has been affected. Again, we can afford to pay the price for keeping our generator repaired and fueled but the average Nigerian can’t afford such luxury. We get about 2-3 hours of power a day…usually in the early evening.

Today was Fast and Testimony meeting. Let me tell you about some of the testimonies born. A 16 year old boy told of the desire to know what church it was that was meeting in the compound next to his home. He came, learned of the true gospel and brought the rest of his family into the church. He told of how his increased knowledge in the scriptures had given him the knowledge to silence the opposition that his non member friends heaped on him. This knowledge had made him bold in preaching and defending the truth. A missionary was seeking to deepen his testimony in the Book of Mormon. Other churches put loud speakers outside the meeting halls so that they can broadcast their service to who ever is in hearing distance. (One of our chapels has their service drowned out by the load speaker broadcast from the church next door.) The missionary was walking past just such a meeting when he heard the pastor say the words, “And when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God”. Knowing the scripture to be from the Book of Mormon, it was a witness to him that this was a true book and that other faiths had recognized it as such. When we arrived at church, I introduced myself to a man, Samuel, that I had not seen before. He came up eagerly to meet me and said he had been to our church before and this was the second time. During testimony meeting he got up to bare his story-testimony. He had become aware of the Book of Mormon at a friend’s house. He asked where he could get one. The friend told him where our church was. He came to church. He made appointments to be visited by the missionaries but because of circumstances they didn’t come. He waited all day and at night as he slept he dreamed that in church he would shake the hand of a white man. This puzzled him because he didn’t know any white man was in Sagamu. The next week something prevented him from coming. He dreamed again about shaking the hand of a white man. Early this morning something happened that would again prevent him from coming to church but he recognized that it was Satan’s work to try to keep him from church. He arrived early and to his surprise, he met Elder Gilmore and shook the hand of a white man just as he had dreamed. I met him a few minutes later, he didn’t say that shaking the hand of a white woman was part of his dream howeverJ We only worship at this branch every 8 weeks so had the man not recognized that Satan was trying to prevent him from coming, he would not have shaken the hand of a white man. The missionaries taught him right after church and he, hopefully, now has the Book of Mormon that he wanted to have. Another young man about 17 bore his testimony as if he were a seasoned missionary. Wow, Heavenly Father built up a firm, lasting testimony in this young man who has no parents to support him and lives with a non-member brother. He has gained his testimony and lives faithfully attending all his meetings all on his own with, in his words, “the help of the companionship of the Holy Ghost”. It puts us in awe of the faith that fills the bosom of these wonderful people of Nigeria who have little more than their faith to exist on. The branch president wasn’t paying his tithes but was told by the mission president that he must in order to receive the blessings he needs to lead the branch. He made a promise to do so. Today he bore his testimony that he didn’t know how God did it but He kept His promise. The pres. started paying a full tithe last January. Most of the time his little income isn’t enough to pay his obligations. He said that since he has paid his tithe on this little income, he hasn’t made any more money but after he has paid all his obligations he has had money left over. He does not know how that can be but by miraculous ways. He promised to pay his tithe faithfully because Heavenly Father keeps His promises if we keep ours. His testimony prompted another young woman, the first convert baptized after we arrived in Nigeria, to take 10% of her monthly pay she received yesterday that she had in her pocket and put it in a tithing envelope. She has so little to live on and is trying to save money to go to college. The Spirit touched her and she obeyed. The Spirit was so strong in the meeting that it could have melted the coldest heart. This work is true. Heavenly Father works His miracles for those who love and have faith in Him and the Nigerian members love Him and have great faith. Our faith has increased exponentially as well. May you all be blessed with similar miracles as you exercise your faith as seen by your works.

Love Sister G

pictures from the front

February 6, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,
I don't know how long it has been since I have written. Our days have been filled with routine, none of it boring. It appears that we will have internet access again, at least we have had it for the last couple of days. The owner of the wireless service is a friend of ours. He called us to tell us that it was back up and running. We can even get it in one area of one of the rooms of our apartment on good weather days. We can always drive to his office and safely sit in his parking lot to use it if we have to. We are ever so grateful for it no matter how long it lasts or where we go to get it because it is one of the faster services we can get. Let me be really honest.it is the fastest service, not just one of the faster. We still can't seem to be able to send pictures via internet, however.
I've had to review my journal to see what has happened in the last month. The middle of January a member of the General Board from the Young Women and another from the Primary came to our mission to give a day of leadership training in our area. It has seemed to spark the local leaders in the district and they are eager to learn more about their responsibilities. We have scheduled additional leadership training for the next 6 weekends. I have helped the district leaders prepare an agenda for training sessions for each auxiliary. We are pretty basic, but I think I'm learning more about the administration of the auxiliaries than I ever thought I would have to. It is a miracle that the branches run so well given the leaders weak understanding of what I would say is even the minimum procedures necessary to keep a branch afloat. One branch president spoke to his branch about the leadership training given by the General Board sisters. He said he learned that leaders were supposed to have presidency meetings to plan and organize their auxiliary. He was surprised because he never heard of nor thought of it before. It is a good thing that the first branch that we are training this Saturday is his. My responsibility in the general session of the meeting is-you guessed it---how to have effective presidency meetings!
On the 17th of February, Elder Dallin Oakes is coming to our mission and will spend a day up in our area. He will meet with the missionaries for an hour before he gives a fireside. Doug commented that in his whole life he has never had a member of the quorum of the 12 come to his stake or district. We had to come to Sagamu, Nigeria to have that happen. I'm really looking forward to that event.
Speaking of events, we went to the open house of a new eye care facility last week. A very prominent eye surgeon, Dr. Adekunle Hassan, and his wife Tonde have built a new facility in his home town, Ilese. They are members of the church and very generous. They built a chapel for the branch in this small city which is a couple of blocks from the new eye care center. (He is also building a new home in Ilese which will have a separate building with an apartment for the couple missionary-which would be us if it were finished before we left). He designs the facility to cater to the wealthy and the needy. He invites medical students to come and train under him and work in his free clinic. He has a very good reputation and there is a waiting list to serve and train in one of his two clinics. At no other medical school can they get so much hands on experience performing the simple sight saving procedures. The Deseret Foundation has teamed with the Hassan's on this latest facility, providing the needed equipment. There are several good stories if you will bear with me.
The first is concerning the building of the facility. The compound consists of about 5 buildings. We have been watching and visiting the site off and on since we arrived. 4 days before the open house we were invited to come to the private dedication. There was no way that building and grounds were going to be ready for the open house. Dr. Hassan explained that this was the way of Nigeria. The contractors had delayed finishing until the pressure was on to have it completed. Then they could demand "dash" or bribe money in order to have it finished in time. The Hassan's had budgeted $365,000 for dash funds at the end of the project to get it completed on time.
The second story involves donations by the state government- a promise of two things; a bus to transport patients and a back-up generator. The day before the dedication, the governor had called the Hassan's to tell them the bus was available and to send someone to pick it up at so and so's office. When the bus arrived it was a used, beat-up wreck of a vehicle. Dr. Hassan sent it back with a thanks but no thanks. It wouldn't do for what he needed. It appears that the government had paid so and so to buy a new bus for the eye care clinic, however, that person decided he could pocket most of the money and still present the "donated bus" to the facility. The governor called to apologize, there had been some mistake. Dr. Hassan's driver had picked up the wrong bus, the right one would be made available soon.
When Doug and I arrived at the open house, we noticed a generator in the outbuilding that hadn't been there the day before. It looked like it was used and damaged. Doug said it probably was new but had been damaged when it was installed. When I later found out it was donated by the government, I recalled the bus incident and put two and two together. It probably was supposed to have been new, but someone lined their pockets with the difference between new and used.
The next story has to do with the ceremony itself. Every oba (king) who is any class was invited. The lesser ones arrive first and the greater ones arrive late. The "Father of the Day" king arrives last and latest. (This is a problem that we have to overcome in church. The leader, say the Relief Society president, thinks she is the most important person in Relief Society, so she should make a show of her importance by coming late.) Anyway, it is really show and tell. The greater class the oba, the more ostentation that precludes his arrival. The greater the oba, the deeper the bow from those who greet him, even to prostrating on the black-plastic covered ground. There were obas, and bank presidents and wives that arrived that thought they should sit at the high platform, so chairs were shuffled and rearranged to satisfy everyone. The festivities started about 1 hour late due to the pomp and circumstance. There was still one chair unoccupied.well it ended up being a chair when all the shuffling was done. It had started out as a throne. Each speaker had about 5 minutes to talk. However, before anything can be said, everyone who is anyone has to be recognized first and thanked for the honor of speaking to them. A list of names from the program is read and honor paid in order of importance. Then the 5 minutes of speech, then every one is recognized again and thanked for the listening to their few words. The whole thing takes about 20-30 minutes. Then the next speaker gets up and does the same thing. Then the next. Some speakers pass out the text of their talks so everyone can have one. The only speaker who didn't follow the rules of etiquette was the American rep from the Deseret Foundation. Anyway, about 1 hour into this, the mc starts to tell us where the guest is that is supposed to fill the last seat. It is the Governor of Ogun State. He is in very important meetings and may not come. Next speaker finishes, the governor is still not left his meetings to come. He may call on the vice governor to come. The next speaker, the vice governor has been called away from her important duties elsewhere to come and preside over these proceedings. Finally, she arrives. She apologizes profusely, but she had been going to another ceremony, and had received the urgent call from the governor asking her to u-turn and come back to this ceremony. She sits and her body guard stands at her back. When it is her turn to say a few words, she follows the protocol. Then she talks about the great medical strides in Nigeria. She particularly talks about how modern their teaching hospitals are. Now I've been to one of the "best" teaching hospitals several times. Modern is not a word I would use to describe the facility. She also mentioned that the state had partnered with Dr. Hassan in giving him a new bus and generator. (This was when I put 2 and 2 together-yes the generator was probably second hand) If Dr Hassan would send someone back to Abeokuta with her, she could deliver his new bus. Cheers erupted all around at the generosity of the government and her offer to partner with anyone who wanted to fund an operation such as this new facility. The ceremony concluded with a native dancing troupe. All in all it was very entertaining and my initiation into UK formality mingled with African tradition.
The final story. After all the obas had arrived and been seated, we see this older man coming with his very large umbrella held high above his head by his servant. The umbrella is draped with the words his royal highness, oba so and so, King of Ilese. He is about to enter the tent from behind the high table. Someone on the platform sees him and jumps to the ground to restrain him from entering. There is a scuffle, more join to keep him out. He is finally forcefully escorted out of the compound, his servant trying desperately to keep the umbrella over his head, so as to not let the sun reach him. Later we asked a friend what that was all about. When the ground had been given to Dr. Hassan by the supreme oba of Ijebu-land, the king of Ilese claimed he owned part of the land. In court it was settled and he was paid for his claim by Dr. Hassan. But the king of Ilese kept making trouble during construction. As a result, he was not invited to the ceremony, although he was thanked in the program for selling the land to build the facility. Here's the rest of the story. There is a tradition that the Supreme ruler of Ijebu-land can never see 'eye to eye" with the king of Ilese or the Supreme ruler will be cursed. Etiquette required that the high table look upon the new facility, but this rule had not been followed just in case this very thing might happen. The high table had been constructed with the backs of the honored guests turned toward the facility, so that anyone entering the tent would come in from their backs. It had been anticipated that the king of Ilese would come in last to create an incident, that he would think the honored guests would be facing him at his entrance and the Supreme ruler would have inadvertently looked at him "eye to eye" and thus he would have been cursed. The planners of the event had been very careful to not let this happen, and had ignored one rule of etiquette in order to keep the supreme ruler from being cursed by a jilted second class oba.
Wow. The intrigue and pomp made for a long but very interesting day. It also made for a long letter. I hope you thought it was worth reading. It certainly was worth living through.once.

Love, Sister g