The News at 9 O'clock PM

Hello all,



Couldn't think up a title and Shelby said "the News at 9 oclock" so there it be.



We are all doing very well and getting settled into our new schedules and new home. We shuffled some of our study and service days due to the location of our new home and locations of service meetings throughout the week. Each day is a different location.



Dennis has been busy cleaning the roof at Bethel, he went up for a quick inspection and when coming down noticed all his big footprints in the dust that had caked on for a long time, baking in the hot sun. So now he and another brother are cleaning the roof and gutters, fine fine one, in krio.



Today Dennis and I and Shelby and Lorelle went to town for the day. We went deep into the markets to find clothing. It was lots of fun. It is like a giant flea market. One street/alley after another all windy, they are covered with different colored overlapping tarps because we are in rainy season. It also helps keep off the hot sun.



Dennis gave the Sunday talk in a neighboring congregation, we enjoyed visiting. One of Dennis' studies met us at the Kingdom Hall, he wanted to hear Dennis' talk. Afterwards we went to one of the missionary homes and had Lasagna and Garlic Bread and Cinamon Rolls. They knew we didn't have an oven and would love baked food! There are 4 couples in the home, but currently only one couple there now as the others are all traveling either on vacation or visiting relatives in poor health. Only 9 of the 30 assigned missionaries are in Sierra Leone at the time. So the branch and others here are very very busy. It is a good busy.



One of the brothers we met on Sunday related that he is now a regular auxillary pioneer. He signed up for one month 2 mos. ago and that month started 16 bible studies, so he just had to change his work schedule and continue in order to keep up with all the studies. He is so overjoyed and happy with his new schedule. One of his studies has requested to study three times a week, he says he has missed out on so much in regard to serving God, that he wants to make up for loss time.



Another study was using the brochure, the brother noticed how intent he was on studying and showed him how to prepare by underlining the answers ahead of time, the next week the man had prepared the whole brochure. They just started the Bible Teach book and the first week the man prepared over three lessons ahead.

We are all doing well health wise and my burn has healed incredibly well. I had some really good burn cream and wrappings for it. Many people get burnt here because of the coal pots and frying so I got lots of advice for caring for the burn.

Temperature here has been in the mid to upper 90's. The vehichle registered 100 on the thermometer at 3:00 in town today. We get rain stroms nearly every night with strong wind, so the nights are cool and great for sleeping. The hill side we live on now is one of the coldest neighborhoods. The kids even wear sweatshirts in the mornings. DJ wore windpants all day today. The breeze is very refreshing and often feels like Air Conditioning. We have not used a fan once since moving. In our last place we had 5 fans and would still be swelting hot.

Even though the days are hot, when the rain comes it can be quite chilly, the breeze is usually heavy so you get damp and then wind chilled. We have learned to keep umbrellas with us at all times as the rains can come quickly.

Wednesday, Dennis, Hunter and I walked about 35 minutes to an outside food market. We were after dried fish, spices and oils for making an african dish. Hunter still enjoys food shoping as much as ever. He is even learning the spices and names of the different fishes.

We send our love and greetings to all,

Dennis, Lorie and Kids

On the Move

Yes that's right, we have moved again!

We are still in the same congregation and territory, just a new neighborhood and house.

Our new place is extremely quiet, and no animals, except our kitten Mayson.

Our new landlord lives upstairs and is only here one to two months a year. There is a small house with caretaker and gardener, on the back of the property so we are not alone in the compound.

Hunter has no more rashes or boils since we moved, the animals at the other compound were too many for his allergies. Lorelle is also breathing much better.

We feel like we are in air conditioning here at night, Shelby says she is cold! , we are high up on the hillside, with lots of cool ocean breezes and mountain air from Regent Village that comes through the valley. There are nearly no mosquitos with the cooler air and breeze.

It is still very warm even though it is supposed to be rainy season, the car registered 100 degrees last week. It is typically in the high 80's now, evenings get cooler with the rains.

Service is continuing to go well. Kadi, who works for us and has two year old Jessica, has become an unbaptized publisher, she has already started two studies. Kadi and Jessica are living with us, this new house is huge, we have 6 bedrooms and four bathrooms, a large dining room, huge parlor and big Kitchen. Kadi and Jessica have their own room with it's own outside entrance and full bath. It is bigger than any panbody, tin hut, she has ever had, she has never had running water. We have verandas surrounding two sides of the house, on any given day you can see anywhere from 10 to 50 miles out to the ocean, depending on cloud cover. The kids saw some huge ships pass way out to sea the other day, they used their binoculars to watch.

Last week we had a stomach flu that went through the family, Shelby got it the worse and ended up dehydrated. She was admitted to the hospital for four days of IV drips. She is much better now, and back to her good ole self.

Yesterday Dennis and I were cooking together, the pot handle broke on the pot holding the frying oil, it spilt on my left hand, wrist and up the arm a bit, and burned, it is not as bad as it could have been if the oil had been boiling, or if we weren't so close to water, but sure hurts and will take some time to heal. We were able to easily get burn ointment from the pharmacy down the road.

The Branch overseer and his wife visited the other day, they had never seen the view from so high up, they really enjoyed it. They said that the house is truly a blessing from Jehovah as we can get the rest we need more easily in this quiet community. They also were amazed at how clean the compound is and the wonderful gardens well cared for.

Dennis sold his worktruck in the US last time he visited, a true surprise for us and blessing. As we were now able to purchase a vehicle here, which enables us to get to more outlying territories and to move to this home.

We send our love and greetings to all!
Swifts

Fertile Field

Hello Friends and Family,

We are all doing well, typical small colds, sore throats but nothing serious.

Dennis brought such wonderful blessings from his travel, thankyou so much! It was a special day of gifts and sweets and mail! And Daddy Home!

The field here is continuing to be the highlight of living here. I was finally able to get back in service a little more since my illness, what a blessing and joy. Some of the bible studies that I was not able to do are overjoyed to resume, two even asked to study twice a week!

I went on the most amazing 1st RV I have ever seen. Three weeks ago two sisters in service met a woman who was very receptive, she accepted the What Does God Require brochure with great enthuisiasm, the sister doing the door has many studies and is unable to conduct more, she offered (without asking :) for the missionary sister accompanying her to study with the woman. The missionary sister is also overbooked with studies and is traveling soon, she asked me if I could please go back and call on this woman. I went on Thursday, not knowing how it would go, the lady runs a small open air tin and stick shop selling candy, biscuits, drinks, soap etc.
When Dennis and I arrived I asked for Alicia, there were about 7 men sitting in the shade visiting
there was a young girl behind the shop counter, she said Alicia was here mother and was out at the time. I turned to go when the girl said, "Look she dun come" The woman came and went directly into the shop talking with the girl and arranging the things she had delivered, she was busy, Dennis and I sat with DJ and Jessica (2 year old sister with us in service). After a little time the woman came out with bible and brochure in hand, I hadn't even gotten to talk to her yet, they just knew we were witnesses. The brochure looked old and used, so now I wondered if my memory was correct that she only had had one initial visit in service 3 weeks prior. After social greeting, I asked if she had been studying, she said yes she was on Lesson 3. I was surprised and asked who with, she said "myself". I was able to suggest we start with Lesson 1 together and she was overjoyed, we did the first lesson, she reads very well and looked up all the scriptures. After the first few scriptures she asked to use my bible as she said it was better to understand. She said I can come anytime to study as she is there everyday running the shop.

Shelby took over one of my studies a couple months ago when I was not able to walk in service, it was with an old gramma and her grandaughter Rachida age 8, after the first couple studies more and more children joined usually between 6 to 9 little girls and 1 or 2 boys. Over time the gramma discontinued studying but the grandaughter and her 9 year old friend continued to take the study seriously. The other girls all range from age 3 to 12. Two weeks ago Shelby was not feeling well and did not go to the study, the gramma sent Rachida and her 9 year old friend Samuela to our house for the study. The next week we had CO visit, we asked the granny if the girls could come on Sunday, she said yes, since then the girls have requested to come to every meeting. Thursday night on the school one of the talks was a householder saying she didn't want to study anymore and the sister convincing her of Gods love and forgiveness to encourage her to continue. When the householder first said she didn't want to study, Rachida grabbed Shelby's arm and with big worried eyes wispered, "Why does she not want to study the bible!?" It was so adorable. Shelby explained it was a play or skit and then Rachida really enjoyed the meeting.
Samuela commented at the first book study she attended, Rachida is a bit more shy, and so cute, last Sunday she was putting Shelby's hand up for her :) Then when we got home after meeting and started to eat some rice, Rachida asked to do the text with us, she had done it with us on Tuesday evening when they came early for meeting and met us eating dinner. She said "can we do that bible book you read everyday?" Both girls are very polite and appreciative, Rachida does a little curtsy whenever she says Thankyou.

Last Friday we took the little ones to a new playground near the ocean, it had mary go round, ball pit, blow up bouncy room and lots of swings and other things. They even had a small aquarium with giant turtle, little turtles and fish. It was a beautiful outing we packed a lunch and enjoyed the off shore breeze. When we first arrived we were a little worried as there were over 100 kids in the park, a school outing. But the kids were all very polite and well behaved, it really was a joy! Dennis and I spent a good half hour helping kids accross the monkey bars, they were too small to reach on there own. The park is set up for kids ages 2 to 9 years, with a small entrance fee. They have a small swimming pool also but it was closed that day for cleaning. After playing at the park, we went across the street to the beach and threw frisbees, chased waves and Daddy took a nap.

Love and Greetings to All,
Lorie

Hello .

Just to let you know that dad is home safe and sound, and we're all doing good.

Thankyou all so much for the letters and gifts. We really apprecaite your concern and love.

Love,

The Swift Family.

Hello From Lorelle

HI.

just an update.

The assembly was good. Peak attendance was 1,716.

We sat in the ASL section, which was really nice. Shelby even interpreted a few of the interviews.

There was a really big thunderstorm at around 4 this morning . It was really scary when it was right above us. Rainy season's gonna be here anyday. I wonder what it'll be like...

Everyones doing good. Mom's been a little tired lately, but she's not really sick or anything.
My cold's been long over, but I did give it to Shelby, who's just coming out of it.

School's been going really well. I've caught up enough now that I only have to do about an hour of school a day, not including text books. I'll be starting a new year in Sept.

Art's been going good. I drew "Abandoned" for the 100 picture challenge yesterday. It took me a little over 2 hours. I can't wait for my computer drawing tablet!

Fact of the week: Food I like: Asian cuisine, Pizza, salads, and for deserts I like cheesecake(especially Lemon), icecream and chocolate.

Say hi to everyone's familys for me.

Oh, Friday Shelby and Mom had their Pioneer meeting. They enjoyed it a lot.

An experience from the convention (it was hillarious) : One brother, originally from England or Canada I believe, gave a really good part on ways to Glorify. During his talk, he mentioned the singing at our meetings as an important part. He said: " And, how should we sing? Should we sing like this? " And then he proceeded to sing "we're..Jehovahs..Witnesses" in a very small, bored voice, right into the Mic.! It was Hillarious! Then he said " Or should we sing like this?!" And sucked in a chestfull of air , getting ready to blast our ears. But then he said " I'll let you do that on your own". lol

So that was my highlight from it. Oh, I forgot to tell you, there were 13 baptised: 6 brothers and 7 sisters.

Bye.

Lorelle

ASL Graduation, Shelby Service Presentation

Four new postings with Pictures

Here they are the studious little ones, Playing Meeting. It was so adorable, they were singing kingdom melodies all mixed up, the best they could. Kadence loves wearing princess dresses.
Summer Fun? Oh thats right it is April. Isreal, DJ, Inny, Kadence and Hunter enjoy badminton very much, here they are taking a rest. Isreal and Inny are brothers who live next door to us, in the same compound. This picture is taken in our side yard where the kids love to play.