Reached Sierra Leone

Peter just called to let me know that he has made it safely to Sierra Leone. He said the food in Sierra Leone is much tastier than the food in Ghana, and everything is really nice where he is. He has a room with an amazing ocean view, which made me jealous when he told me. He said he'll post soon with pictures and more information about what he's up to.

Arrived safely... sort of

Peter just called to tell me he made it safely to Ghana. However, if you will recall, Ghana was not supposed to be his end destination--just supposed to be a connection on his way to Sierra Leone. The flight from New York to Accra was delayed 3 times: once, because a passenger had a broken window which they couldn't repair, so they had to wait for a new plane. Then, because as they were waiting on the tarmac to take off a passenger had a fit and they had to go back for security to escort him off the plane. After all that, the pilots and crew were over their "safety limit" for the number of hours they are allowed to work in a row, so they had to wait for a fresh crew.

Of course, after all those delays, he missed his connection to Sierra Leone. They only fly once a day from Accra to Freetown, so he has to stay the night in Accra. Fortunately, his visa from last summer is still good so he didn't have any trouble getting into the country.

Here's hoping everything goes well from here on out!

Sister Sara Black

Do you know my sister Sara? She is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She's in the missionary training center to learn to speak Cantonese and to learn how to teach the gospel, and she'll be headed off to Hong Kong in the middle of July. I am maintaining a mission blog for her while she is gone: http://sarasmission.blogspot.com/

So if you know my sister, or if you don't and you are interested in stories about serving a mission in Hong Kong, you should start following her blog. :-)

Back to Africa

Peter will be going to Sierra Leone for most of the month of May. On the map, Sierra Leone is in yellow, and Ghana, where we were last summer, is in salmon. People in Sierra Leone speak English, as well as other tribal languages. You may be under the impression that Sierra Leone is an unsafe country; however, their civil war ended about 8 years ago and it's considered safe today.

He'll be working on a similar project to the one we did in Ghana last year, but on behalf of a different company. This time, the IRC and MasterCard are asking for the market test. The project is attempting to develop small businesses that can help Sierra Leone's many refugees to get out of poverty. (That's as much as I know, and I think I have all the details right. Peter will correct this later if I'm wrong.)

This will be a great opportunity for Peter, and part of me is happy and excited for him. However, I'm really not excited about the prospect of him leaving for a month. And missing my birthday. Oh well.

Groupon

So, I know I don't post very often, but a company I've been following just launched in Salt Lake City, and I thought I'd let you all know about it. The company, Groupon, offers big discounts at local businesses ranging from food to massages. Today the deal is 60% off Stoneground, a local pizza place (They also offer this service in large cities across the US for those of you that aren't in Utah).

I found this company as part of my work - I've been tracking different revenue models for internet retail businesses and thought this one was a very neat idea. Besides, I'm always on the look out for good deals to local restaurants for date nights with Rachel :) .

Anyways, check it out at http://www.groupon.com/r/uu1328174. In full disclosure, they have a deal where you get $10 in credits for everyone that signs up and buys a coupon that was referred by you.

Accepted

I got my acceptance letter in the mail today! I'm really excited about it. So I will be going back to BYU in the fall, for sure!