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!