Christmas in Ghana

Those Christmas
fireworks though.... :)

We kicked Monday off by having a little zone Christmas party. We visited and played some games. But the main event was the White Elephant gifts. The Africans had never played a game where you can steal gifts before. They really enjoyed it and had a little too much joy in stealing from one another. ;)

We went and prepared Geloff with Sister Gloria and her family. Lights went out so I couldn't finish emailing. Teaching in the evening was rough, both appointments were so unfocused and unwilling to learn.... oh well.

Package from the Neilson Family :)

On Tuesday I was finally able to send my first (and probably only) package home! The post office here is a lot more reliable than you would think. We finished emailing and then managed to get 2 lessons. One with a girl named Adjua and then another with Christian's prospective woman, Agnes. The lessons went really well, our only hope is that our quantity of lessons increases. :)

Zone Conference! It was a wonderful experience. They had it at the Mission home and President Stevenson and his wife did such a good job on making it feel like Christmas. He gave some inspiring instruction regarding obedience and the Temple. I love the temple so much and am so grateful that we have like 13 in Utah. :) They performed the nativity for us and read out of Luke 2. They fed us good food for lunch and then to close we watched a Christmas Carol and ate brownies!

Weddings!

I did however have a little reaction to something in the food..... In short I was rushed to the Hospital that night and they got me squared away. A new experience I had, while laying on the hospital bed I had on the other side of the curtain, a young woman giving birth.... So Heavenly Father was bringing in a new spirit child since I was going to die. Out with the old and in with the new ehh? ;) It's quite an eventful experience when the only thing you get is the audio of a delivery. :)

Spent Christmas Eve morning in the Hospital, WOOHOO!!!!...... I was feeling quite revived so they discharged me and I went home. :) We went to the stake center that evening to participate in the Carols night. Lots of different groups sung different Christmas Hymns. Even us Missionaries did a piece. :) However, there are only so many hymns that you can sing for Christmas, and most of them were sung more than once.... :) I am however coming to learn of the true meaning of Christmas, since I'm not around any of the commercialism or gifts. It's wonderful. :)

Our Christmas lunch :)

Efeshyeh Pah! The day was so wonderful. I began by opening a package I received from a family in Ivory Utah. The Neilson family. :) A cute little family of 5 which put together a cute little package. All of the missionaries in GCCM (Ghana Cape Coast Mission) received a package from a family in Utah. I took a do-it-yourself malaria test because the Africans in the apartment are set on me having malaria. I told them they're crazy and I took the test, and guess what! I'm right! It was negative and I'm healthy. They're all such goobers.

Pizza!!!
And boy was it expensive.....

We went to a wedding and then to a really nice restaurant (as nice as they get in Ghana) and the 4 of us got 2 nice pizzas to share. It was so nice pah pah. Following I got to Skype for 2 1/2 hours! It was so nice to hear and see my family. They are all so wonderful and are doing such wonderful things in their lives. :)

Saturday we taught a good 4 lessons, and hopefully they'll all come to church on Sunday. The zone leaders had a baptism. We attended to show support. It's nice to see that the work is progressing everywhere. :) Aside from that the day was completely normal. We've had no water all week. So we've been living out of half-liter sachets.

The Christmas celebrations are so much bigger the day AFTER Christmas. Man these Ghanaians are crazy. :)

Enjoyment

This was our last Sunday at 9am. Next week we move to 11:30. Not as many investigators came, but a few came. :) I didn't take lunch, I napped instead. We went and saw Christian and Agnes and visited with them for awhile. After which we went to Mami Supa. She fed us Geloff and Chicken with Mineral. She is such a generous woman. We visited with a few members and then meandered back to the house. :)

So that's what the week of Christmas is like in Ghana! An experience worth having for sure. ;)