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. :)