Lots of Contrast

I want one. :)

This week was Festival! Which means it was crazy.

Tuesday's district meeting was wonderful as usual. Elder Nwatah does a wonderful job in leading the district and gives amazing instruction. This week we had a discussion on how to follow Christ, which is by developing His Christ like attributes. It was so good and helped me know what to work on.

Or two.... :)

After the meeting our district went to a Chop Bar (a roadside shack that sells food). We all got Banku which is essentially a drier Fufu, but it's still way tasty. When we got back we decided to switch the water filters because our water filter chart said it was time. When we opened it it was black..... they should never get that color... ever. We asked Elder Mapfumo the last time the apartment had changed it and he said they hadn't since he'd been there which means a MINIMUM of 4 months.... It's supposed to be changed every month! My companion has been slightly sick and has had a raging headache and cough, which has made proselyting rough for him... But hopefully he'll get better soon. It's probably from the water.... Our ward mission leader is a return missionary and isn't serious and does absolutely squat... which is slightly frustrating because he's the one that helps us coordinate with the ward.

What repentance can do... :)

Wednesday was slightly more rowdy than the last few. The biggest days of the Festival are Saturday and Sunday, and so they gradually build the energy up to those days. Plus we see more and more strange/riske/drunk people each day. And the drunkards are kind of humorous, since they stagger up to you and say stuff like, "Tell me a scripture and teach me how to praise Jesus, I want to join your church!" All of this while they can hardly stand and have a beer in their hand.... It's great. :)

The ugly chick! (The ugly duckling)

My shirts are a little big on me, and so I went and had 2 of my 12 shirts tailored to fit me. And might I say, they fit wonderfully now. ;) In the pictures you should be able to tell a difference. I'll be taking him the other 10 this upcoming week.  Christian has been helping us teach which is super nice. Being able to have a new strong convert bear testimony to a new investigator does wonders to help build that new investigators testimony.

America represent!

Thursday was my first day wearing my new fitted shirts. They make me look a lot nicer and are quite form fitting. The only down side is that the young ladies we talk to get slightly distracted when we talk to them... ;) But is that really a down side?

Philip and Emannuela, 2 of the 3

With Festival, no one is home to teach so we didn't have much to do. I did get to hold 2 super cute babies though! Man I wanted one so bad. :)

Friday was Orange Friday! Everyone was wearing Orange. But taking pictures didn't really happen due to the fact that if I took the camera out of the house it would probably get stolen.... So I didn't take it out.

Nap time in Church :)

Sister Gloria fed us again. She has gotten on this 'Feed the missionaries' kick, which isn't bad, but man she makes a lot of food.

Once again, the day's productivity was zero. Due to the whole city blasting music, dancing, and cooking in the streets. It's hard to travel with so many bodies.

Samuela, # 3 :)

Saturday was the biggest day of the Festival. People were partying from early early morning clear into early early Sunday morning. The streets were so packed but I still managed to get some pics. American flags were everywhere! Ghana loves the U.S.! All of the people on stilts were in red, white, and blue. We still managed to have a baptism though! There were 5: 1 for the 1st ward, 1 for the other companionship in the 2nd ward, and then we had 3! I was a little worried they wouldn't come due to the Festival but they all came!

Are they trying to
tell us where to sit?

That evening a member bought us some food from a road side grill, which ended up giving me an Allergy attack... Joy. But it was just a mild one so I didn't need my Epi-pen, but the Benedryl that I took totally shut down my evening. I'm not sure if it was peanuts or something else... I hope it was peanuts and not something else because it's harder to look out for something that you don't know exists.

The baptismal font before....

Sunday was fast Sunday! It was pretty long though, due to no dinner the night before, and no breakfast or lunch.... man I was starving! But even if you're really hungry, if you have a purpose, then it becomes a lot easier. It was also the last day of the Festival, but hardly anyone was out during the day because they were all still recovering from the previous night's hangover, so the walk to church was quite peaceful. :) But sure enough, that evening they were out again, going harder than the night before since it's the last night. Man these people are nuts! Eeeesh!

and after!

This week was full of lots of Black and White moments:
1. Me and my companion.
2. The 2 babies. :)
3. An investigator gave us a White and Black chair to sit in to teach....
4. The baptisimal font before and after.
5. The water filter.

This week was full and exciting! It will be nice to go back to calm, normal, productive weeks. :)

~Elder Park