Buduburam

Sam has left the Ghana MTC and is now in a Liberian Refugee camp called Buduburam, 44 miles west of Accra. These are photos from google. He wants to send photos- but the computers are too slow for him to upload anything right now. His companion right now is Elder Ankomah. Here are some excerpts from a few of his emails:

"Well you want to know about Buduburum do you? That camp is a crazy place! There is always loud music blasting when we go in there, i dont think ill get many pictures of it though cause im a little nervous to take my camra into there, but i will try my best. It is basically a huge shanty town packed in really close, Most people only have 1 or 2 rooms for there family. Im really starting to like it though, there are some really great people there. Our church is old school house not far from the camp, i really want the church to build a real church there, but they wont because they are afraid all the liberians will leave when the war in Liberia is over."

"The hardest thing ive had a problem with so far is the apartment. For some reason i thought i was going into a nice place, but when i got there it was just bascily a hole in the wall with torn up concrete as floor. We only have so much water too. When we go to the bathroom we dont flush the tolite unless we go poo, and when we shower we have to just get wet real quick and put all the soap on, turn the water on for like 20 more seconds to wash everthing off. It was a huge humbling experience, I have never prayed so much my whole life. I finaly figured out that the best way to deal with everything is to just go to work. The harder i work the less i think about about my self and the easier things get. I realized that im gonna be out here for 2 years if i like it or not, i can waste my time or make something of it. I deciced im going to make everthing of it i can."

"Well a little about my week. On thursday i went on splits with the district leader, and i was climbing on my bike after a lesson and my pants ripped really really bad right down the back. It was pretty funny. This happend because well ive lost a "little" weight and my belt didnt fit any more. They were hanging to low and should not have been stretched when they were that low. I really never thought my pants would rip from being to skinny, but it happend. It was really lucky though because we were right in front of a a sowing shop and all the ladys ran out wanting to help. they gave me this dress like thing to wear , sowed my pants up real nice and sent me on my way. I went and had a couple more holes stamped into my belt. So hopefully it wont happen again."

"Ghana is a very prosperous mission. there are so manny people that want to hear the gospel. The hard thing about it is that its a hard life, ive never worked so hard and sometimes its hard to see some things. But when people join the church here it really changes there life for the better. Thats what really keeps me going.

I love you all som much. your the best family in the whole world, i am so lucky to have you!"