moving, puppies, assembly...

Star Fruit and Cashew Fruit, we eat the fruit and nuts of the cashew.

Rider (brown boy) Razor (black girl)

Assembly May 2009,

New Sussex Congregation, nope it is not Dennis in the back of the group, it is a missionary brother. Dennis was in the US at this time.

Hello Friends and Family,

Yes, we are on the move again.... Sussex here we come. Sussex is a new little congregation here in Sierra Leone. They have 16 publishers and had 229 at memorial. If you scroll down to previous posts you can find pictures of our visits to Sussex and preaching with the friends there.

We will be moving first week of June. But first Dennis, Shelby and Lorie have pioneer school starting tomorrow. Our visitor Dan from NY travels back to NY today. It has been a very eventful and fun three weeks since Dennis arrived with Dan.

Dan got to see lots of Sierra Leone, he went upline, to bush country for a four day trip giving talks in tiny congregations, including my beloved Lunsar village and getting as far as Kabala and Sefadu. Inspecting kingdom halls, or non existent delapidated kingdom halls. The friends are so welcoming and happy to have visitors. So many Kingdom Halls are old and weathered beaten or destroyed from the wars in the past. It is amazing how many groups and congregations meet outside under trees. Rainy season can be difficult but they persevere.

Assembly was wonderful, there was a record attendance of 1,271. The little congregation of Sussex is out where there is no public transport, they rented a poda poda, minivan taxi, mini van seats removed and replaced with narrow metal benches. They packed over 30 inside including many small children who walk to meetings everyweek, some as young as 5 years.

One little girl arrived at a witness families home the night before assembly with her assembly clothes, she is 5 years old, the next morning she rose at 4 am to wake the family so they "wouldn't be late", she attends all meetings on her own. Walking over 40 minutes to and from meetings. Last month at a meeting her little friend came and started crying softly after the meeting. When I asked why she said she didn't have a bag for her bible. She is so cute! Rainy season is coming and having a bag for books is extremely important.

Our new home in Sussex Congregation Territory is actually in the Village of Lakka. It is right on the ocean, 5 minute walk to gorgeous beach and swimming pool. Lakka is about a 30 minute drive from Lumley which is our old territory. The Bethel Branch is about a 40 minute drive so we can still visit and volunteer without difficulty. Lakka is the last stop for Poda Poda transport from Lumley, so if we want we can take public transport. The Sussex territory extends from Lakka to past River No. 2. Some of our visitors may recognize the territory. It is just after Godrich congregation territory, heading out of Lumley. Ok now that we are all lost....

Oh new puppies, yes we have two additions, Rider and Razor. Brother and Sister puppies. They are doing very well. Our new home we are transferring to in June has a large flat yard and lots of garden space, great for kids and the dogs.

Dexter the Monkey, or is it? Dexter You Monkey! is doing great, he really likes his new monkey family member :) picture attached of him grooming his stuffed monkey from America! Thankyou!

Our internet may not work the next couple weeks, but we will try to email or check in from the internet cafe.

Think of you all lots!

Swift Family

no internet

hi friends and family,

our internet is down, so i am at an internet cafe, just quick thoough

we have 6 people visiting/staying with us, this week, District Overseer, Dan from NY, Pioneer from Nigeria and special pioneers from port loko Full house!

we have 2 day assembly this weekend!

Dennis arrived safely and all luggage and visitor in tact :)

thankyou for the gifts, pictures and letters!

will send personal emails when internet is more accessable.

Take care, love to all,
swift family

river number 2, January 2009

pictures from with our visitors visiting River Number 2, January 2009

photos from convention in January 2009

Internet wasn't working for some time, so we are behind with posting pictures. Here are some from Convention back in January.

Return Visit, Bible Study (DJ, Kadence and Hunter's Tutor), Bible Study (Lyams Tutor), Lyam, Bible Study (Driver/Handyman)

Special Pioneer from Port Loko, Dennis' Brother, Kadence

Shelby with three single Missionary Sisters, all three attended Different Classes of Gilead as Single Sisters and were assigned to Sierra Leone at various times.

hmmm who is this? Visitors from America :)

two posts

hi all,

I posted two posts on April 13, there is a large space between them, please scroll down to see the photos of the brush fires and Lunsar/Portloko roads. and more reading......

take care, Lorie

Memorial Sussex

Memorial in Sussex,

Memorial Photo Shelby, Lorelle, Samuela, Rachida, Dalton (DJ), Kadence, Hunter

Samuela and Rachida are bible studies who walk to meetings each week on their own.

Lyam off visiting friends.

Memorial in Sussex, school room starting to fill up, sun still high!

Studying at Sussex Beach, while the little ones play in the water.

Lyam at the beach.

Memorial was amazing!

We had the priveledge of suporting the Sussex Congregation. A new little congregation just 40 minutes from where we live now. The children and I had enjoyed helping them distribute their campaign invitations. Attending the memorial was a great experience. There are only 16 publishers in the congregation, it was 15 publishers a few weeks ago, they are growing. With 16 publishers they had a memorial attendance of 229! They are in a very rural area, many walk on average 30 to 45 minutes to meeting at a local school. Some walk over an hour.

After the memorial we used our vehicle to help transport people to their outlying villages as most do not go out after dark. There is no public transport at night and certainly no street lights.

It was neat seeing families walking together and also some riding motorcyles to the memorial. Motorcycles are the local "taxi" transport in rural areas where the roads are not really good enough for regular vehicles, they don't run after dark though. One of the motorcycles came carrying a family of five. Most cannot affort the 35 cents for a motorcycle ride, therefore they walk.

Heard you got flurries in New Hampshire again this past week! Brrr. Keep warm!

Lorie

Lunsar and Portloko

Fire got very close to this village and road. Even singed some of the thatch.

early morning leaving Port Loko for Lunsar, sun just coming up

rural village

Dexter, is getting more and more social, he reaches for personal contact and has a sound for "yes". It is so nice to see him relaxed and not so scared.

Pioneer Friends from Nigeria and Special Pioneers from Port Loko

careful with this bridge approach, center only!

mud bogging anyone! watch out rainy season....... coming soon

fire storm sky

smoke across the road, was like this in many spots

Hello Friends and Family,

Hope springtime is finding you all well.

We have been very busy with the invitation campaign for the memorial.

Our drive to Lunsar last week was eventful, with brush fires on all sides. They burn the tall elephant grass before rainy season. Fires just burn and burn and burn. People brush around their huts to make fire breaks. The air was thick with smoke, made the air change colors and swirl like tornados. While preaching it was like being in a sauna. During the meeting the air above swirled like an eirie firestorm, ash was in the air. Like tiny flakes of snow.

The children and I were able to place over 1,100 invitations in Lunsar. It was an incredible experience. Regretfully though we have had to make the tough decision to not travel to Lunsar as often as before. It is just too far a comute at this time, we decided as a family not to rent the small rental in Lunsar. Our family will always remember and cherish our experience there and continue to visit and support periodically. There are just so many outlying villages and territories here to preach in. The friends from Port Loko will continue to travel to encourage the two publishers there.

The road from Port Loko to Lunsar is a tough one. The road is dirt and very rutted, the new bridge has not been given the finishing touches. If you don't know the road and try to stay to one side as normal driving, you would have big problems. You have to approach and leave dead center. I certainly wouldn't want to drive it at night. The bridge has been this way for months, it is not on the priority of the road maintenance. We will keep the Special Pioneers in Port Loko in our prayers as they continue to travel to help in the rural areas.

Our family had the wonderful priveledge of visitors from Nigeria. What a wonderful brotherhood! We also learned that the brother who gave Shelby's baptism talk in 2002 at Nattick Ma. has served in Sierra Leone! He was actually in Kissy Congregation when it first formed! The same Kissy Congregation that was the first Kingdom Hall we had the priveledge to help renovate here in Sierra Leone. Talking with the friends from Nigeria we learned that they knew some of the family of the same brother from the US. Small world, Jehovah's large family is wonderful!

Thinking of you all often,

Lorie