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He had put in his papers to go on a mission over two years ago. When ebola closed the country, and the mission president left Sierra Leone, his papers stayed in the mission home and were never processed. If they had been processed he couldn't have gone because the country was closed.
President and Sister Clawson found the paper work when they reopened the mission home. He has since received his call to go to Nigeria, Lagos mission. The one in the white shirt is Felix Kennah
Felix was born in Liberia. When he was 4 years old his mother and father were killed by rebels when their village was overrun. The lady in blue, behind him was his next door neighbor. When she saw his parents dead, she scooped him up as she ran to escape. He was put on an ambulance and taken to Sierra Leone. Another lady in Sierra Leone raised him. This lady ended up in a refugee camp south of Bo for refugees waiting to be resettled in Europe or the US. They have lived there for over 20 years. Felix credits her with saving his life.
We picked Felix up a week ago, last Sunday morning after church and brought him to Bo. We were taking him to the mission home on Monday so he could fly to the Ghana MTC on Thursday. He asked us if we would take him to this family that saved his life. We were happy to be able to meet them. His "brother" in this picture is making thatch sheets from bamboo leaves that are placed on the roofs like shingles to water proof the house.
We spent about an hour with this good family in the refugee camp
and took pictures so that Felix could have pictures of his "Family" while he was on his mission. We laminated two copies of the pictures and took a copy back to the family after Felix was gone. Two years ago, with the assistance of a missionary couople, he was able to interview her and get information about his parents, names, birth and death dates, that would enable him to do the work for them in the temple and be sealed to them. Felix has since left Freetown and is in his training at the MTC in Accra Ghana. He is taking out his endowments this week in the Ghana Temple.
Here is Felix with our good friend Loel Tibbitts. He and his wife Paula are serving in the MTC in Accra. They are from our ward in Provo.
They are making sure that all the documentation is in order for Felix to be sealed next week to his parents. We were grateful to be able to send Felix to the Tibbitts and know they would take care of him.
On a little more somber note. Sister Sherwood and I went exploring north of Bo this afternoon. We discovered a very large cemetery that has been around over a hundred years. We decided to drive through it when we found a very new section that had a sign indicating "Safe and Respectful Burials". As we looked at all the markers that were in this section there were two versions. One for Christians and one for Muslims. They were all the same except the blanks were filled in. We then noticed that all the dates were 2014 and 2015. It struck us that all of these were deaths due to ebola. There were hundreds and hundreds of them.
Here is one for a Muslim. Notice the age on this one. We saw another one that was 1 month old. And everything in between.
Here is one for a Christian.
Notice how they go on forever. What a burden and trial this county has gone through. They say there is not a single person in Bo who did not lose a family member or friend to this disease. It was devastating.
But what a blessing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is flourishing. Members here are strong in their testimonies of Jesus Christ. The atonement of Jesus Christ is the answer to all of life's pains and sorrows and unfairness. God loves all His children. Because Christ was resurrected, all will be resurrected and have the opportunity to come back to Him. Of this we testify.
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