Round 3 of the Baptism Bucket Brigade and my first Epi-Pen

Our early Christmas Dinner
at Atlantic :)

Monday was way nice. We played sports at Takoradi again. But this time Elder Bay brought a brand new Ultimate Frisbee disc that he got for Christmas. It was so much fun. :) The disc went where I wanted it to go. Wizardry. :)

After we emailed and then showered at the Takoradi Chapel Hill apartment and then went to the Atlantic hotel to have our Christmas dinner. :) I stuffed myself on super good meat and fruit. :)

Baptism Bucket Brigade

Tuesday we had a lesson with Janet, she's a new investigator. Hopefully we'll be able to help her progress. After teaching her, we rushed back to the church to help the other Elders bail water out of the poly tanks into the font. We found some big mopping buckets (like the one in the picture) which made the work go a lot faster. :) We finished with a little bit of time before it was time to start. Then we changed out of our wet clothes and prepped the room for the baptism. It went really well. :)

All day Wednesday we were getting bounced..... straight up nothing happened. No one gave us time and even finding was rough. Not all days are equal.

My family line :)

Thursday was a lot of fun though. Our zone went to the mission home for the annual Christmas Devotional. President talked about the temple again. Most of the stuff I knew but there were a few new snip-its that stuck out to me that I enjoyed. :) Reenacted the Nativity, had a wonderful lunch, they gave us each a huge whole Tilapia. It tasted so nice, and then we watched a Christmas Carol and then gave us Ice cream and brownies. Delicacies. :) When they finished and the time it took to drive home, it was too late to do anything, so we worked our way home from the chapel.

Mpintsin Zone

We finally got our December Liahonas! I love church magazines. :) We saw Lucy in the morning, and she was the only one. Everyone else was busy, including Charity. She finally came back from Assin Fosu and always gives us time, but she was way too busy today. Jennifer and Ophelia (members) invited us over to their place though for some celebration (I have no idea what for) and they gave us some massive FuFu.... like Quantum massive..... I wanted to die, and then at the end they gave us rice! But thankfully they let us take that home. :) In the evening the ward was having carols night. Lots of different members and youth performed various things, some good and others a little less good. ;) But we still love all of them. :)

Merry Christmas!

Saturday was a repeat of last year. It seems that every year in Ghana just before Christmas I have to have an allergy attack. We were eating at a chop bar that we always eat at, but this time my stomach started hurting after we finished.... So we went to the chapel and I spent some time with the toilet, but nothing came up... Shoot. Went home and my hives started creeping in. Breathing got pretty difficult. I was set on not going to the hospital, forget the hospitals here. So I pulled out my Epi-Pen and experienced it for the first time in my life. It hurt a lot less than I thought it would, but it still freaking hurt. And that did the trick. :)

I want one :)

Merry Christmas! The day was way good. We picked Millicent's laptop and then went to the one hour of church. After church we were able to sit in the high councilors' room with A/C and Skype home. Elder Williams went from 11-1 and I went from 1-3. It worked perfectly well and it was so nice and refreshing to see and hear from my family. :)

Our Christmas Dinner

Jennifer and Ophelia invited us over again and they gave us a generous portion of rice. It tasted great and we enjoyed their company. We went to the Asares and then meandered home. It was a super good day. :)

Pentecostal Wedding :)

Pounding with Janet :)

Monday was pretty simple. We went to Takoradi and played games with about a third of our zone. We played rugby for nearly the whole time, we had 4 polys there.... So that's what we played. :) I love that sport. We ate lunch and then did our emailing and shopping. In the evening we spent time with Bro Kenya and also Bishop and his family.

Tuesday was pretty normal too. District meeting and lunch were good. Afterward we went to a new part of our area where neither of us had gone and did some finding there. We encountered a few people which will hopefully take our message seriously. :) We saw a few members and then Charity and Janet. We went to the chapel in the evening and visited with a few members, but specifically Adjua. She was having a hard day and so we did our best to cheer her up and make her laugh. She was laughing pretty hard by the time we had to go. :)

Nice food from Doris

Wednesday was rough.... we weren't able to see anyone until 4. Eish. Fausty gave us time at 4, but before we could get started, one of her neighbors started insulting her seriously for something she didn't do. (They think us white people can't hear Fante..... psych, we can. :)   ) So she was upset and told us to come back another day..... Satan has too many tactics. :( Charity was home though, and she fed us rice and a super nice light soup. I nearly licked the bowl clean. ;)

Sat down for studies in the morning, and my nose started running off my face! Eish, I couldn't study a thing because I was constantly needing to blow my nose. We gave sister Adreana's boy a blessing before they went to cape to have his surgery (he isn't able to breathe out of his nose, so they are going to fix that. ) We only saw Lucy and Charity.

Pentecostal Wedding

Friday the sun was way way hot. Hotter than it has been in a long time. We chilled at Lucy's for some time because of the shade. :) Lucy is finally coming to see what this church is really about. With time, she'll join. :) We got bounced everywhere and spent time here and there sitting in the shade to cool off. Eventually we worked our way to Janet's. She was busy but we helped her pound Fufu anyway. :) Doris fed us some super nice food. Rice, stew, and fried potatoes (however I felt so sick afterward, something about fried starches in Ghana just gets me).

Saturday was way strange. We went to the Asares in the morning to wait for Doris, Mami Yaw, and Helina. All of them were going to the wedding too. Last week an investigator invited us to her wedding and so we decided to go. She belongs to Pentecost though and so we got the full experience. Apparently she deemed us as special guests so we sat right on the front row by the speakers.... After all of their singing and dancing and screaming (preaching) and yelling, I was deaf. Linda was way happy that we came and that's what matters. :) The food was way good too. It went from 10-4. So that was essentially our day.

I've been doing a deep study of the armor of God, and the gist of it and practically the gospel is this. It's all or nothing. There is no partial armor, there are no fence sitters. Either you're protected or not, either you're on His side or you're not. We need to put on the WHOLE armor of God. I love this gospel. :) No one was really home. Or they bounced us. So we did more finding in another part of our area where we never go. A gal named Lordina seems promising. :) Millicent fed us Banku and Kontombre stew. She makes so super nice food. :)

Never bolt into the Bathroom. :)

Zone Volleyball :)

Monday was way fun! I woke up earlier to be able to do my workout and then we prepped for the day. Loaded up all the frozen drinks from the freezer (that's the only way to keep stuff cold long enough here in Ghana). Went to the stake center and helped set the volleyball net up. People gradually came and so we played volleyball while we waited for everyone. The Polys in our zone had gotten together and had roasted 2 pigs, so they brought them and we all enjoyed. :)

Mpintzin Zone

Tuesday Elder Williams wasn't 100% yet, but we still managed to head out at 2. Literally no one was in the house, so we spent most of our time walking. We went to Charity and while we were there Doris gave us each a coconut. Usually the milk isn't that nice, but for that one is actually pretty decent. Elder Masendi had 2 baptisms so we went and helped with those.

Our little prisoner.....

Wednesday we didn't go out because it was Election day. President wanted us to all stay inside just to be safe from any forms of conflict. So we spent the day washing, working out, and sleeping. A good day to catch up on stuff. :) While I was resting, though, Elder Williams woke me because the mouse that has been shredding everything in our room was finally in our book shelf. So we built mini baracades with pillows and began pulling things out. That little sucker busted out and hurtled the pillows and bolted into the bathroom. Mistake. Once in there, there is no way out. So we dazed it with the broom and got it pinned. Game over. :) Catching mice is one of the best adrenaline thrills. ;)

Thursday was kind of blah, voting didn't finish Wednesday and so hardly anyone was home, and if they were they just bounced us. We visited several members and saw Fausty. It was nice to be able to finally see her -- it's been awhile. After her we went to the Owu's and they gave us each a huge plate of rice and stew..... I nearly busted.

Photo by Mission President

We shuffled our way to the chapel where we had PEC. After when we were trying to find a car, some random guy gave us a lift nearly all the way to our apartment. He's gone to an LDS church before and so he recognized us and decided to help us out. Some people are so awesome. :)

God answers prayers. He answers my personal study prayers and also our everyday prayers. Each day we ask for a breeze to help keep us from getting too hot, and sure enough we get one every day. :)

Photo by Mission President: Axim

We finally had a lesson with Lucy, and it was way good too. She's super attentive and asks actual thought out questions. We went to Anoe with Edward and as we expected, all those in Anoe that we went to see, who promised us that they wanted to be seen, didn't want to be seen.

Photo by Mission President: Axim

So we started heading back and met a man named Felix and a girl named Rita. Hopefully we'll be able to follow up and begin teaching both. At the close of our day I had a deep deep conversation about gospel things. When we finished their minds were just spinning. They understood, but it was a lot to take in.

Photo by Mission President

Saturday was a little backwards, we went to the chapel at 8 for a 1-week celebration for a member who died. After we just stayed out. Vida's mom shut down Vida's baptism like hard core.... We were surprised and then super sad. She was really promising, but there are some things we can't control. We got bounced all day and then ended up helping Doris and Charity pick oranges. One came out and hit me smack in the nose. If I wasn't awake before I was then. We went home a little early so that we could do the studies that we didn't do in the morning.

Church was normal. Lots of Fante... It started to rain during the second hour though, which cooled everything down and it felt so nice. After church Charity gave us rice and light soup and then Millicent gave us yam and Kontombre stew. Man, both meals were sooo nice. We went to the Wilsons in the evening and visited for a little bit. She just gave birth and so we wanted to check in and see if we could help anywhere. :)

Elder, is this Wine?......

Coconut Milk :)

Monday was a pretty normal Monday. Washing, cleaning, shopping, the works. Sister Adreana had us over, and she gave us a massive bowl of Fufu with a ton of fish... Man I nearly busted it was so much. Thankfully we were able to sit small afterward so that we could begin the digestion process. :)

Tuesday morning I changed up my workout, and it just wrecked me, but it's good. :) Elder Tauveli gave a good instruction on Leadership. He related missionary work to fishing. How when we fish, we need to give the fish what the fish want, not what we want. If we start throwing in steak and ice cream we're not going to catch anything. We need to give them the flies and spinners. Same thing applies to those that we are trying to find. If we want to bring in people that are looking for the true gospel, the gospel that teaches everything Christ did, then we should be as Christ is. Being obedient will bring in those that are looking for that. Being rude and disobedient will bring in those that want that too. I loved the analogy. :)

Wednesday was pretty bombin. I took Elder Bay home Tuesday night to begin our exchange. So all of Wednesday we were together. It was so nice to be able to spend a whole day with someone that you grew up with (on mission). Lucy gave us some awful porage..... but then Millicent gave us some killer stew. It was soooo nice. She also gave us some sobolo which smelled a lot like wine..... and it tasted great! ;) She said that she has never bought wine. ~ She's a member from birth so we trust her. :)

Thursday morning was so nice. I pumped out 245 push ups in just 4 sets!

Not too many people were around, so we took Edward and went to Anoe. I just wish that more of our investigators were serious. That's an ever present goal, find serious people.... And man, that is a quest.

Proselyting with Ema (Ima)

Friday was Farmers day!!!! Which means no one was home..... On a normal day we go out and only find the Adults, but today we were only finding youth, and they aren't usually serious. In the evening we went and helped the Asares prepare cakes and chicken for a funeral. I was on mixing duty..... We started with Margarine and Sugar, and I was supposed to stir until it became nearly white.... HOW ON EARTH IS SOMETHING SO YELLOW SUPPOSED TO BECOME NEARLY WHITE!?!?!?! My wrists and shoulders were destroyed.... but I did it!

Saturday started good, but Elder Williams got super sick during personal study. So we stayed in the whole day. I did my best to stay productive. Elder Bay and Tauveli came for a little bit to do a tiny exchange so that we could get the drinks for the activity on Monday. 13 liters is heavy stuff...... Transfer news came..... and both of us are staying for another one! For some reason I felt like I was going, but I'm so glad that I'm staying for another one. :)

Sunday was much of the same. We went to church for the first 2 hours, but then went home because Elder Williams was just feeling terrible. Organized the house and read my scriptures. A pretty mixed week, but it was good. :)

Beef instead of Turkey :)

At the Atlantic Hotel

Monday morning Sister Adreana called and asked us to come over. We went and her little boy was sick, so we gave him a blessing before she went to the hospital. It's nice to see that the members are willing to use us since most don't have a priesthood holder in the house.

When we went to Takoradi, us, Elders Bay, Tauveli, Jaries, and Masame all went to the Atlantic Hotel to have our Thanksgiving lunch. :) They have a buffet which is way nice. They had wings, beef, and potatoes (those were the only American ish things. They had plenty of Ghanaian dishes as well.) We all ate till we were about to bust. You kind of have to when beef is involved in Ghana. ;)

Meat and potatoes,
always the best :)

Tuesday morning at like 2, a cockroach crawled across my hand but I couldn't see it. So I just assumed that my dream was a little too real and that I made it up. Layed back down and not 2 minutes later the freaking thing scurried across my neck!!! I searched and searched but couldn't find it, until 6:40. :) Then it got a special gooshing from me. I hate those things.

We had MLC report today and it went really well. They discussed about technology and the little that we have and why we don't have more. Simply it comes down to this. How can we expect more, when we mis-use what we already have? After, people fell through, no one was around. :/ In the evening we were in charge of a devotional that went really really well -- we had a bigger turn out than we thought we would have.

The Family for Thanksgiving

Wednesday we went and saw Comfort first thing, the spirit is a real thing. When she saw us she was surprised. She said that she had wanted to call us but her phone had spoiled and so she couldn't. But then we just showed up and so she was thrilled. :) I love her. Doris showed us how to make light soup. We cut some plantain and boiled it to eat with the soup. It was so nice. :)

Thursday, Elder Masendi had to go to Takoradi to get his citizenship card renewed, so Elder Etim was with us for most of the day. We weren't able to see very many people. :/ Elder Masendi said that he would be back by 3, so we waited for him on the bridge from 2:30-5.... It took longer than he thought and so we just waited there forever..... We weren't able to see some of the people we wanted to, because we had PEC in the evening.

Peeling Plantain with Mami Ya

Friday was pretty plain, and kind of a downer. We taught Charity again and as it turns out, her family is very much against her joining the church, and so we won't be able to proceed with the baptism.... Breaks my heart... :( But as we left we encountered a man who used to be a member. Turns out, he sees us walking around pretty often which has caused him to reflect on why he left. He's debating on coming back to church. Sometimes the Holy Ghost speaks to others when they simply look at us.

Saturday was splendid. We weeded for Sister Comfort in the morning and cleared quite a bit. She fed us some lovely rice with a boiled egg and tasty piece of chicken. We invited her to our ward conference happening later in the day. Went home and got cleaned up and prepared. We went to the conference and guess who came?! Comfort did! We thought that she wouldn't come (because everyone here never follows through with their promises!) but she did! :) I was so happy and she said that she loves how our church is focused on teaching and learning. I love her so much and have very high hopes for her. :)

Weeding for Comfort :)

Church was pretty standard. Lots of Fante.... But it's all good. After we went to go see Lucy (she stays in the same compound as Kenneth) and she was preparing Fufu for us! We've only talked with her once and she decided to feed us. It took a little longer than she thought to prepare it, so we sat around for a bit, but the light soup and Fufu was phenomenal. Soooo nice. :) We taught her the Restoration and she too loves our message. :) All of our serious investigators have come from meaningful Gospel conversations. The spirit really does guide us on where we should go and who to talk to. :)

She said Yes!

I found my street!

Monday was my first normal P-day! It felt so nice to be able to get all of my washing and cleaning done and then have nothing to do. :)

We went to Takoradi and did our shopping and looked around for a bit. We emailed and then went back to our area where we ate at our favorite chop bar. :) We went to FHE with Elder Masendi to a member's house named Sarah. After that we went and saw Vida then worked our way home.

Mpintsin Zone

Tuesday was way productive! We went to District meeting and had a good discussion on teaching and then chopped afterward. After we went and saw Charity. She is such a sweet gal and is so sincere. She lives on her own and is way teachable. She responds very well to the message that we share. :)

Then we saw Sophia. We met her through a GC, and then went and taught Vida. In the evening we helped send Elder Kweku off on his mission. He's going to the Calabar Nigeria Mission.

Farming Crew :)

Wednesday we had Zone Conference. President Stevenson spoke about how we can teach repentance. Phenomenal. :) Sister Stevenson gave a good motivational speech about fear and overcoming it. :) It was just a good, uplifting, and inspiring conference.

We were able to see Fausty afterward and have a good discussion with her, even though her English is a little rough. Then the Kojokrom Ward fed us fufu. But my companion was still full from earlier, so I ate it all on my own and felt sicker than 2 dogs..... Man so much food....

Thursday went well. We saw Comfort for the first time. She responded quite nicely to our message and wants us to continue to come. :) We also managed to catch Elizabeth and Helina in the house, so Doris helped us and we had a good lesson with them. :) Georgina and Vida also gave us time. :)

Africa West Area
Multi-Stake Conference broadcast
from Church headquarters
in Salt Lake City.
[Photo from Mission President]

We went to PEC which was somehow productive.... Some ears are willing to listen, while others tend to be stubborn and don't care what you have to say.... Which can be frustrating. But the work still progresses and so we don't mind them. :)

Friday was pretty standard. Good studies and the such. People began falling through, so we decided to go and eat at our best chopbar. It's always nice to get out of the sun for a bit and fill your stomach with good food. :)

We went and saw Charity and used Mami Ya to help teach her. We extended an invitation for baptism and she accepted! She is super excited and so are we! When she said yes I nearly exploded from my chair due to excitement. :)

Saturday felt like 2 different days. In the morning we went and helped Sister Comfort weed a good section of her plot. She fed us Banku and stew. Soooo nice. :) She's such a sweet lady.

We went home, showered and did our preparations for the day. Then went out for the day in the afternoon -- which felt like another day entirely. David came with us to help translate for Sister Fausty which was a huge help. After we tried to see some others but none were home, so we walked home slowly talking with everyone. :)

Peppe (we don't say "r" here)
being dried on the side of the highway.
[Photo from Mission President]

Sunday there was a broadcast sent to all of the stakes in the Africa West Area. A few of the general authorities addressed some of the local issues such as bride price (where the groom pays a massive sum to the bride's parents. Sometimes so massive that he won't be able to ever pay it..... Keeping them from getting married...) encouraging members to do away with that tradition of their fathers. After we cruised around members' homes, seeing if they need help and sharing messages with them. Charity was our only lesson, but it was a super good lesson. :) It started raining on us though, so we had to move inside. When it stopped it was time to head home, so we meandered our way home.

Hauling Water

The Football crew :)

Monday was way fun. We had a Zone activity at the Takoradi Stake Center. We played games and sports and had some good food. It was so much fun to be able to play with a lot of the Elders that I have come to know and love. :) It was super hot and I got a little sunburned, but it turned straight to tan. I look as dark as I was before I was put under house arrest.

Hauling Water

We emailed and shopped. Got to the house and took a speedy shower, then went to Sister Andreanas for FHE. She gave us Fufu..... man it was so much... It came to the point of nearly gagging with each bite because of how much was already in the stomach...

Fetching the Water

Tuesday was definitely different. I gave the instruction at District Meeting which went well. But after we all went to eat after we discovered a water problem at the chapel. So the only solution was to haul water from the storage poly tanks by bucket into the baptismal font.... 2-6. It took us 4 hours and it still wasn't to the preferred water level. The baptism went well though and that's what matters. After the baptism we went home because we were soaked and tired. :)

The average Millipede

Wednesday was pretty normal. We had a super powerful lesson with a man named Kenneth. If he keeps giving us time then he should progress very quickly. :) After him though no one was around and no one would answer their phones... So we did our best by talking to people on the streets. Not much success but at least people are seeing us.

Fetching Water for Sister Fausty
(she was super sick)

Thursday was dedicated to finding people. We talked with tons of people and found 3 great people, which will hopefully continue to give us time. The Lord guided us to some of them and so I have high hopes for them. :) Didn't teach anyone though, lessons seem rather difficult to get. PEC was good and after we went to see Brother Kenyas daughter, Ula, who was in the hospital. We gave her a blessing and wished her well.

A glimpse of our area. :)

Friday was way slow. Nothing happened.... The days go by so much faster when people give you time. But when no one is interested, it's hard to fill the time. We stopped by Fausty and found that she was way sick, so we grabbed some of her buckets and fetched some water for her. Edward was with us for the day which was kind of a waste since no one was around. Sometimes life is hard and we just have to roll with it!

Saturday was a lot better. We had 2 lessons right off the bat. One with Kenneth and another with a man that lives next to him. Kenneth is so nice to teach. He gave us tons of praise after the lesson because of how we teach. He loves how in our church we focus on prayer, letting him know for himself, and how we are not like the Jehovah Witnesses who are very argumentative and try to force it down your throat. We focus on his questions and help him learn. He loves it and we love him. :) The day was pretty normal after that. Ever looking for people to teach.

Even with little success, the week flew by. The area is big, the sun is hot, and I'm happy. Life is just dandy. Church was great. We had 5 investigators show up. Our members are doing such a great job in bringing them to church. We had a lesson with Elizabeth during 3rd hour since we had a translator and since she was free. She had some wonderful questions about the priesthood and baptisms for the dead. She said that she'll keep coming to church as long as she keeps feeling the spirit. I guess that means forever then huh? ;)

Bishop's wife had a birthday party at her place and so she invited the whole ward plus the missionaries and fed them all fufu or rice depending on the one they wanted. I ate fufu and then finished Elder Bay and Elder Tauveli's rice since they had already had 2 FMs before it and one more after. So I was nice and full. They gave me an organ with my fufu..... and I can't tell you what it was or from what animal..... welcome to Africa!

First attack being back.....

I love Patience :)

Normally I take photos of my journal so that I can recall what happened during the week, but last night and this morning were way rushed, so I forgot..... Which means that this email won't have many details and I'm sorry.

Where we start our day :)

Monday was still good. We went to an air-conditioned internet cafe that is super fast! So emailing was all joy and no stress.

Takoradi was way new to me, so Elder Williams took me around and showed me a few places that he knows about. Things are a lot more expensive over here in western region. We did our shopping and then went home so we could prepare to go out. We went to see sister Andrea. She's way nice and is a powerful member. She gave us rice ball and inketsiakwyn (peanut soup) but I told her about my allergy so she gave me stew instead. I had no idea she was going to feed us, otherwise I would have told her.

Mameya came with us to Anoe

Tuesday we had district meeting. Elder Bay gave a good instruction and then after we all went to eat at a chopbar. We saw a few people and then came back for a baptism. Turns out water had been an issue so we and Elder Bay quickly began siphoning water from the big water tanks outside. It all went well and things were good. :)

Wednesday was a kicker. I had a snack in between study sessions and had an allergy attack. Nothing huge but still a reaction. It was enough to keep me down for the whole day. My benadryl helped small and then my stomach was paining for nearly the whole day.

Wedding with Bro. Kenya :)

Thursday was better, we went out and did the normal work. Can't remember much but we did have a good PEC meeting in the evening where we were able to make plans for the auxillary presidents to come out with us and show us some less-active members so we can be seeing them throughout the week.

Friday and Saturday were pretty much the same. The sun was super hot and no one gave us time to teach them. We trekked clear out to the Chapel then to Anoe and then back to the Chapel and then to our house..... 30 minutes is the time taken to go from the house to the chapel. 45 from there to Anoe..... Plus lots of walking while at those destinations! Man, my legs were so dead...

Snails lay eggs.....

Sunday was the most rewarding Fast Sunday of my life. I chose a purpose that meant so so much to me, and then paired that with fervent prayer. I didn't feel hunger all day and only felt the thirst in the evening. It's not easy to change, but through His help all can be done. I am so grateful for a God who is willing to help us change into better people. When I got to the house, though, I drank an entire 1.5 liter bottle of water. That was sooo nice. :)

That was my week. Sorry for not as much info, I'll do better next week!

It's nice to be back :)

My Traveling companions

I'm finally back to where I belong! I left Tuesday morning and arrived Wednesday afternoon.

Our New York flight flew out for 2 hours and then flew back because of several problems that occurred. So that added 5 hours onto our time including the additional lay over. But we got to Ghana safely and now all is well. Some Senior couples picked us up and drove us to the mission home where we had dinner and prepared for bed.

Thursday morning we had breakfast with President and then began some training. I was only there for a little bit because President sent me to my area due to the fact that I'm already trained. ;) He interviewed with me though just to check in on how I was doing and gave me my release date. I'm flying home September 27th 2017 now! I'll be home for the deer hunt!

Elder Williams
and a glimpse of our area

My companion is Elder Williams. He's from England and is a super quiet guy. He's tall and skinny and a super sweet guy. Honestly our personalities compliment each other. President told me that he assigned me to him in hopes of increasing his confidence in talking to others. So I will do my best. :)

The area is Nketsiakrom and it's huge!!! Like way too big to be able to know everyone in 3 transfers! So huge! But we have a phenomenal ward and so the work is progressing. Turns out, Elder Masendi is in my apartment! My son is back with me! And he is training too! Which makes me a grandfather! I'm with my son and grandson! Pretty much everything is good.

I've missed this! :)

Friday I had to go to Takoradi to renew my citizenship card since mine expired just after leaving the country. So I went with all the new Elders that didn't have theirs yet either. After we viewed the port and went to a chop bar where they gave us all ten cedi to enjoy! The new Elders were trying not to gag on their fufu. It was pretty great to watch. :)

When I got back to the area we went with our ward mission leader out to Inum, which is clear out in Narnia it feels like. Just way way out there. Taught a girl named Helina and a less-active named Nicholas. The people are great! The only problem is that they are so spread out and there are so many.... We went to the chapel to meet some people and then went back to the house, and the walk from the chapel to the house is further than desired, but all is well. :)

The way to Inum.....

Saturday went by fast. We had a wedding in the morning that lasted nearly all day. I talked with Elder Bay for most of the time along with quite a few of the ward members. We helped clean up the aftermath and then meandered home talking with people on the way. We got a referral named Charity. It will be so nice if she's serious.

Brother Edward,
our ward mission leader

Sunday was splendid. We worship from 10:30-1:30. The ward welcomed me and Elder Masendi's son, Elder Etim. The Bishopric came with us after church to visit some of our investigators and some of the less-active members. This bishopric is not like my past ones. They are involved and dedicated to helping the missionaries and improving the work. I love them so much. A member had a birthday party and invited us to come. They fed us Banku and Okra stew (which I'm suffering for now). We were able to meet with tons of members and lots of friends to the family. We have a Cocoa factory by our house and in the evening they were working so the air just smelled of sweet cocoa. Sooo nice. :) Power went out for the first time. Cold showers are nice again. :) I love being back and I'm so stoked for 11 more months! :)

Spiders and Fire Extinguishers

Our Personal Taxi :)

Monday was standard. I've spent every Monday of my mission in Cape Coast. We did the normal things like pulling sub, shopping, and then emailing. Hospital and cooking later. The day was pretty good.

Tuesday we had to go back to Cape because the darn ATM captured Elder Kiiza's card.... Eish. So we got that squared away and then went to District Meeting. Life is interesting in a district of 7 sisters and 4 Elders. It's a lively bunch. After, though, we went to a chopbar and enjoyed paah! I did some washing and then gymed.

Elder Harward and I hit the hospital early in the morning to free up the day. The weather was on our side. It rained before we left and after we got back. I read the scriptures for a while and then Elder Harward and I played cards and visited. I prepped rice so that the other Elders could eat right when they got home. There was a massive spider which I nuked with the fire extinguisher since we were out of insecticide. But we don't know what happened to the spider, after the puff we didn't see it. No body no nothing.... Kinda sketchy, hopefully it doesn't hold grudges.

Would you trust this driver?

I wish I actually knew who the people were that we plan for. I'm clueless when it comes to that stuff. Elder Kiiza made Japatis and then topped them with eggs and fresh tomatoes. It was really nice. I made curry and then read quite a bit more. I washed and then gymed my triceps super hard. Man, I'm so sore.

The whole day was just dandy. Studies were super great. Revelations is just packed with so many wonderful insights. DIS was a little more busy than normal. So we had 2 quality gospel conversations with old men. :) Elder Harward and I played more cards and then enjoyed some curry. And I got Elder Harward to gym with me. Maybe I'll get him to get some muscle mass... :) He's going to be so sore... Hehe :)

Personal Studies are really my highlight of each day. Elder Kiiza and I went to the hospital in a super sweet three wheeler. Bro. John took us. Man it was so sweet. Open sides, fresh air. The Assistants got me a phone too! So now I can be at the house with a phone. I taught Elder Kiiza how to play scum and we did that for quite some time. Swept the house and gymed. :) And I got a letter from Elder Daniel Clark! So stoked for that!

Elder Kiiza!

Sunday, during the sacrament a thought just kind of settled on me. And it was: "Any trial, or any hardship, can be overcome if we have pure love." Christ demonstrated pure love by performing the Atonement. We will do anything for those we love. And we are willing to do more for those that we love more. So let us all increase our love for everyone. :)

I wrote a few letters and played cards with Elder Harward. I read the Book of Mormon for ages. It's hard to put the book down. It's so wonderful and is just a joy to read. I love it so much. :)