If I couldn't see my skin color I would just feel like I am black!

Ahoy Sailors and Stow-aways!

It's so sweet to get these sweet pics of friends and family in emails and to be updated on stuff going on at home! Chai... friends are still coming to our house? That is so sweet! Connor Jordan, Jeff, Ashley, Riley! Thanks for stopping by and saying hello! Looks like good old jrex... and Connor your teeth are still so bright! Man, Jeff your hair is getting so long, I think it is time to take the razor blade to it! (That's how they cut hair in Salone - with a razor blade)

 They are saying, "Way to go Cody .... Thumbs up! Keep up the great work!!"

Some of Elder Beckett's friends stopped by this weekend and we emailed him these pictures. Connor Lee, Jordan Rex, Ashley Elliot, Riley Jones

Kushe!  Elder Mitch Adams on getting your call to Chile! Ding Dang, Elder Barton and Elder Whitaker in the big MTC together! Looks like its way cold! 

Elder Barton and Elder Whitaker, close friends of Cody's, now in the MTC together - both going to Argentina!

 Haha... those Elders look like they are having a party in California! 

Elders serving in our stake in CA came over for haircuts from Geralene. This pic for Cody from them.Three of these Elders sang at Cody's mission sacrament meeting and he also became good friends with them before he left. They are now all transferred ... We will miss Elders McGary, Rivera and Risk!!  

Wholly pumpkins! That is so sweet... the only thing that we do with the pumpkins here is eat them, we make a stew out of them!

Halloween pumpkin carving at home 2013 - We missed you Cody!

So I got some sweet letters this week!  I got Aunt Pam's, Sister Ferrell's, Grant, Sam, Kolton's and I  got your letters and the missionary letters! Thanks for all the letters! I will definitely write you back! I love the missionary emails you send through the dearelder.com so much, and so do my district members! The district members love hearing about the places all the missionaries are from! So all that is sweet! I can only write letters to elders in the US, unless the elders outside the US have pouch mail. So if any elders outside the US have pouch mail available, let me know about it!

CONFERENCE finally came to Sierra Leone! (General Conference in our church comes 2 times a year and is the meetings that members of our church look forward to with much anticipation to hear the prophet and apostles speak... you can check that out here . Cody's mission being so far away and not having the proper technology in Salone is just now getting to hear the conference that took place in October). So on Tuesday we found out that we were having conference on Sunday. Elder Manzini and I couldn't wait to see conference, so we went to the branch presidents house and asked him for the dvd's. We got the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session! I watched only the Saturday session before conference on Sunday. I would watch a talk every night on my 6 inch portable DVD player! I don't think I have ever looked forward to a conference so much in my life! A few of the nights that I was watching conference I went outside, still inside the compound. That was so sweet to be under the star filled sky with a small breeze, laying on a mattress with Elder Hoffman(Idahoan) and Elder Ogden(Idahoan) chilling and watching conference! All week we invited people to come and see the prophet of the world speak. We had all of our dedicated strong investigators there! I was afraid that the people here wouldn't be able to understand the thick english of the inspired speakers, but  the people would laugh when things were funny, so I knew they could understand. I know that the spirit was there to help these people understand, because if I were to speak like that here, no one could understand me! I was really worried for the investigators. We had 10 come, even Fatu's (recent convert) small brother came (Cody's Krio ... haha.. saying small rather than little). Man was this so good for our investigators. The Lucinee family loved it the most! The mother in the family is super hyped about the gospel and loved conference! She said that after she heard Elder Holland's talk that she was never leaving this church! So basically, conference was the bomb!! It was so weird to see so many white people in one place. If I couldn't see my skin color I would just feel like I am black and that I am apart of the culture here! I loved the theme of repentance and missionary work with a few sides of eternal marriage thrown in. It's really weird, now that I am out here and really can see how the gospel blesses families and that the gospel has really blessed mine, I have been thinking of my future family and how I will raise my children in righteousness. It's weird to say ..... but it is true! I love how every member should be a missionary, even if it is in small ways, I felt that the speakers really made it easy for the members to do so!  Its so easy to share the gospel, and everyone should, there is no reason to not share, by not sharing you are keeping people from the truth, and they are looking for it, but they know not where to find it! I also loved how they talked about God's love for us, through the atonement. God's love is always there, whether you are well or not. They really made a push for repentance. I love how they made it known that it is not a punishment but a way to salvation! Take the guilt off of you and repent, don't procrastinate it, always be looking to get back on the path (read Alma chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon). Man this General Conference was the best, I wish that I got to see the  other sessions and the priesthood session!

Dad ..you asked about our church buildings here .. so the church building that I go to is the district center for Bo. It is a pretty standard chapel, with some Salone adjustments but all the other churches in Bo are just houses or apartments. We are lucky to have a sweet chapel that has a baptismal font because some areas just baptize in the rivers or lakes.

The chapel Cody attends in Bo

The work is going well! Thank you for all the prayers, I can see them working over here! We have so many sweet families that are progressing. On December 14th we have 2 families that will be baptized! Only two weeks and this transfer is over, what? ... thats crazy! I will most likely get a new companion because 23 more missionaries are coming in and there is a need for trainers.

Today we had a super P-day, we watched "How to Train a Dragon" with the zone, and we compared it to how to train your missionary. Then we played some futbal. I can't wait to come back and play some futbal against my friends who are in Spanish countries. I have to say that I am becoming okay at it! It was a sweet day! We even ate burgers!

Welp I love you, and I'll see you soon!