Hello my people,
Ulgh this keyboard has a sticky shift key. Ah man! And all the other keys. There ain't nothing like a sticky keyboard. I think it is a new form of slow torture actually. "Are you ready to talk? Don't make me get the sticky keyboard!" They could follow up with a mouse with a ball that is all gone to crap and you can't navigate around the webpage. AH THE PAIN!!!
I just found out that my buddy, Elder Moses got sent home because of a medical condition. Man it really blows. Every transfer someone seems to go home due to a health issue. I'm glad they caught it here though before it turned into a big problem. I'll miss him.
So this week we baptized 2 people, Sis Alice and a 14 year old girl named Gloria. I was going to send you a picture but this computers anti-virus thing keeps going off and I'm afraid that my card will get a virus and I'll loose all the pictures. People who create virus files should be punished; I know probably by the sticky keyboard and crappy mouse torture. Anywho Alice was baptized and she was so happy. She is now helping her family learn about the church. Her husband travels all the time for work and is always asking about all sorts of African traditional churchy stuff. After we answer his questions and help him feel the Spirit we invite him to church but he always gives us a reason why he can't come because he is traveling. Alice is concerned because she wants to get married and sealed in the temple and her husband is kinda hmm dragging behind. She invites her son, who stays in another town, to come to church but he he hasn't come yet. We are still teaching him. I like the guy because for college he is writing a paper on waste management. I never appreciated waste management so much until I came here. Remember all gutters lead to the sea... Alice is very happy right now and has plenty of friends at church. Our ward is pretty correct. They help out well.
Gloria is a 14 year old girl who just had her mother die 1 year ago. She has been living with her auntie lately because she has never known her real father. Her auntie is a member of the church so we taught her plenty. Man there be a lot of scum bag dudes around so we crammed the commandment of chastity into her brain. She even had that little young womens book with that whole color chart values and all that doilie girl stuff in it, so I read through it real fast and made her memorize that the chastity color was gold and explained about the whole gold purifying process and how it is pure and stuff. She understands and will do well.
We have been working hard. Elder Chamberlain is a good by the book type of dude. For instance I would wake up at 6:30 and lay there in the bed until 7 and then take a shower (out of a bucket, our water pump has been busted these past 2 weeks. Ah nothing like a shower out of a bucket. You can't really wash the soap out of your hair too good with the bucket shower so we gave myself the "SIR YES SIR" hair cut. Oh how I loathe it.) So we are supposed to get up and move around at 6:30 and exercise etc. I tried getting up at 6:30 and run around and 'hup to' instantly but I have inherited mom's genes and I instantly puke. So now we are setting my alarm for 6:15 (ulgh) and then I sit there on the bed until 6:30 until I know where I am, then I get up.
We are finding plenty of 'new investigators' and we will hopefully baptize 3 more this transfer. I have been writing down some of Elder Chamberlains South African sayings/pronunciations.
Here are a couple.
pip - pit, like the pit inside a peach or cherry
cold drink - soda pop. "cold drink" don’t mean the temperature.
Sawr - saw
bourght - bought
pull - paul
pull - pool
He is a good dude. He knows the doctrine and cares about the people. We have to make sure that investigators are understanding so I bring my picture book around here plenty. I'm not going to leave home without it. When we teach, I like to also keep them entertained by throwing them a picture or question every min to keep their brain stimulated, also I try to teach very simply. Not too many details for someone who ain't ready, dig? Really all I am teaching is the stuff we sang in the primary songs as a kid; however every once in a while we get the learned dude who needs some more but ya know.
Cool so Elder Prince (Arizona) and Elder Geeplay (Liberia) are also in our apartment. Elder Prince was an office elder and is cool. He has some cool stories from the office. Elder Akomo-mordi (nigeria) and Elder Gale (Salt Lake) are our Zone Leaders. Elder Akomo-mordi was our AP last transfer but is going home soon.
One thing that is frustrating me is that they are speaking a lot of twi during church, which is cool because that is what a lot of people speak, but I don't understand a bit of what is going down in church or investigators class. A lot of people don't speak twi but rather a-way ( I don't know how spell it) so there is that confusion going on. Also they were speaking french during elders quorum along with some other stuff. It was like a curry dish of language, the only problem is that nobody really learned anything. We can't teach people who don't speak english or who can't read so much because the reading is an essential thing to gain a testimony, especially when coming from another church or a long line of false traditions. It is a touchy subject to bring up so I'll just tell someone above me with more missionary authority and let them deal with it. Dig?
So it gets discouraging when there is opposition working hard against us. We were planning on giving this family a baptismal date this week but they called us early in the morning on Sunday saying that they couldn't make it because their 'head pastor' called them and wanted to talk to them about something. We visited them later that day and they said that they received a calling in their church to be prayer leaders or something like that. It is a sunday, tuesday, thurday, saturday committment. MAN! All is not lost though, we are going to visit him and see what his answer was to reading and praying about the book of mormon. If he reads and sincerely prays about what to do then we know he will make the right decision.
Also this other family, a mom and son, just had a problem. The father, divorced due to child abuse, stopped paying support so the private school (private school does a good job at teaching the children how to read and write English) booted the kid from the school. Then they went to talk to him about it and the dad chased them out of the house with a machete. So then they went to give him a letter that summoned him to court where he will probably be arrested etc. We are staying far away from it, don't worry. It is just interesting how all of this stuff happens right as we are trying to baptize these good people.
Also Celeine Dion is playing outside the cafe. Man Satan is working hard.
Oh also I had to boldy declare some stuff to a sister the other day. I hate doing it but she was wasn't progressing because she was refusing to read the book of mormon or pray about it. I guess that a lot of missionaries have visited her before and she isn't moving forward. I told her something along the lines of “I'm sorry if the missionaries have not taught you the importance of this book. I hope that I can explain the importance of it to you because I came 8 thousand miles away from home to come right here to have to read this book. If you don't read this book then I have failed." I then also explained that she could either remain confused about churches and where we go after we die or she could read 10 min from the book of mormon and learn more in that 10 min than a whole lifetime of searching for answers in other places. We then looked her deep in the eyes and committed her to read the book. She accepted. Man we are following up tomorrow to see if she did. If she didn't then I will be freakin' destroyed.
There was this rasta guy that walked up to us while we were contacting. This dude was crazy and was talking about how this church stuff in Africa is different because of the roots. He said something like 'man you gotta know where you come from' and all this whole buncha weirdo rasta weed smoking hippy crap. I then whipped out my family history chart and talked to him about how we definitely know where we come from, I then asked him where he came from and he was just confused. Most people in west Africa can only trace back to their parents and occasionally their grandparents and if they can, they don't know their grandparents names or anything about them. He was kinda interested about the 'roots' etc but then quickly went off on some rasta weed smoking hippy crap again so we snuck outta there. Man drugs just destroy peoples mind. If you want a quick way to become an non comprehending moron who don't respect, just take some weed or some alcohol.
Thanks for the kits mom. I'll find a way to use them. You rock. YOU DA MOM!
Glad to hear Dave went out to lunch with Grandpa!
Hey those byu devotional deelies are cool. Man that Astronaut dude would have been awesome to see. I remember even visiting the nerd devotionals about cosmic foam and space or something with a whole lotta physics and math going down, most of it was over my head but I still learned something.
Hey glad grandma and grandpas anniversary party went well. I woulda liked to be there but I need to be here. I bet they had a good time. I like watching old family movies of everyone. I like to see what similar traits you still have. You can always tell who is who because of the way they act and move etc. I also like to see where all the stuff we do comes from.
Cool we gotta get ready to head out but it was cool talking to you. Can't wait for your letters and other props etc.
Oh hey, Elder Chamberlain is a pretty good guitar player as well!
What's this I heard about you learning to make eggrolls? Man when I come home you will have to teach me how to make some. I will be the 'egg roll king.' WE could learn how to do it while talking like we are on iron chef. Well I gotta roll. Love you all. The church is true. Keep reading! Teach your class about how confused people are throughout the world because they don't know how to read or choose not to read the scriptures. Teach them to read the scriptures every day. It'll help them. Cool.
I love you all and miss you lots. Talk to you next week.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Transferred to Ashaiman (Lebanon), Bitter sweet, Missing all my people of Dansoman
Akwabba obronis!
So I got transferred. It is kinda bitter sweet, but more bitter. They do this thing in the West Africa Missions where they tell you if/where you are being transferred the night before you go. So they told me Tuesday night that I was leaving Wednesday morning to another place. It is hard because all the people you know in your area don't have a chance to say goodbye. I'm not much of a 'goodbye' person, but I know that a lot of my investigators and my Ghanaian mothers (the ones that feed me and make sure i'm healthy) will be sad because they don't get to say goodbye or nothing. I would call them and let them know I'm okay and stuff but we can't call outside our zone. Oh well, I guess we are only sent here really to baptize and make sure people get both of their feet on that straight/strait & narrow path then move on to help more people. We will meet again someday (probably after we are all dead, pronounced DEED! (monty python) but i'll see them again) No worries.
So my people I'm am now in this place called Lebanon in the Ashaiman area kinda closer to Tema. The little unofficial name of the place we stay is called "official town." It is a lot poorer of a place than Mataheko. Man we were getting harassed like crazy for existing. Like there are these normal looking ladies who come up and yell "ching chong" in my face and all this other stuff that 2 year olds do. At first I felt like breaking some skulls with some face pounding insults that nobody would even comprehend but me, but Elder Chamberlain (my new companion) is pretty ethereal and is a really good person. Somebody could insult his mother and he is like "oh you don't mean that; but speaking of families, I have this message about Jesus Christ that will bless you and your family." So right now I'm just being an actor and playing the part putting on a smile when people act dumb. I think with time, I won't have to act anymore but hopefully change into someone better. Pray for me.
Ashaiman is a less educated area. Kinda looks like a shanty town mixed with some houses here or there. Most of the people we contact can't read. This is pretty tricky you see because most of the commitments we give have to do with reading. For instance if we teach them about the Holy Ghost and praying about the message, they will need to read some sort of book we leave with them (Book of Mormon or a pamphlet etc) to understand what to pray about. You can't really pray about the Book of Mormon if you haven't read it. A lot of people are very stuck in the whole traditional type of church thing having a pastor on stage who does miracles followed by a gift of tongues thing (for an example, see the below paragraph). They can’t understand the gospel or move away from this stuff because they can't receive their gospel from the actual source which is the scriptures. The place where they are receiving their water is downstream after the cows have trotted through it so to speak.
Hmm…the only way I know how to explain the 'gift of tongues' thing they do here is by having you do it aloud. So gather round and everyone take a part. I'll entitle this gift of tongues as
'The sounds of Malaria'. (Okay do all these parts at the same time.)
part 1. Go "bzzzzz" so it makes an ambient hum type of thing.
part 2. Go "itchy itchy itchy" over and over kinda in high voice.
part 3. Go "wada wada wada wada" like you are saying "water" like we do in Africa.
part 4. Go "Whoogggllh" like a throwing up sound. This is the part that happens less than the others but is more vigorous and loud than the rest.
Okay. It should sound like free jazz and chaos. You should feel pretty disgusting. You feel that icky feeling just now that happened after you did that? Or that kinda you are goofing off playing feeling? That is the feeling that is at the churches. People confuse that feeling with the Holy Ghost confirming truth. Most can't understand what the Holy Ghost really feels like because they can't read about it in the scriptures for themselves. When we share our message with people and explain that the palpable good comforting feeling they are feeling inside their hearts and in their mind is the Holy Ghost, they don't believe so because they believe that the Holy Ghost sends those other icky feelings instead. The traditions are deep and are hard to penetrate. We somehow manage to do it though.
When we are out proselyting or in the apartment we can constantly hear this going on. To me it is kinda like a call for help saying, "help me! I'm confused. Elder Bills come help me!"
I have been seeing the children play "church" outside instead of house where the kids do this 'gift of tongues' or one will yell and then all the rest of the kids fall over and shake on the ground. There are people that are confused because they 'know not where to find' the truth. It is probably better they are playing 'church' rather than 'house' because that would involve beating the small 1-year-old with their hand or with a thin stick. Man this place really needs the gospel. I have been praying a lot more earnestly since I have been here.
Also a lot of people don't speak the English which of course causes problems. The problem we have been facing is that a lot of the people who fit under the category of "can read and speak english" are underage kids which we can't of course baptize without their parents unless they come to church for 6 months and it is a case by case thing.
We hopefully will baptize this smart kid here with his mom. The boys name is Samuel and his mom's name is Victoria (good name eh? haha). The mom doesn't speak english but the boy is there and is helping her understand the doctrine. We are going to go see if they prayed about Joseph Smith yet. I'm trying this new thing where if they haven't kept their commitment then we will fulfill it right then and there eg. If they haven't prayed about Joseph Smith yet then I'll drop to my knees right there and then ask them to say a prayer right then. If they haven't read then I'll read with them right there. They then will fulfill their commitment and then realize that this is a covenant keeping church with responsibility etc... hopefully haha.
We are going to baptize this sweet lady named Alice. She is watching her orphan niece who I will baptize hopefully soon. After teaching Alice I am always comforted. She brings me hope.
Our ward is sweet. Our Bishop ran up to me and gave me a great big hug and then asked me my name. He is excellent. I wish one day I will be able to genuinely care a great deal for everyone I meet. After sharing my testimony and introducing myself to the ward he chased me down at the pulpit and gave me a big hug again.
Elder Chamberlain is a great dude. He is from South Africa. He looks like the dude that Rocky fights in Rocky IV. He is big like that guy too haha. He is our district leader. He is white and also speaks Afrikaans or something kinda like dutch meets trashcan. I wrote down some of the stuff he says like "idear" instead of idea. I left my planner at home so next week i'll give you a list of stuff he says that entertains me.
Well dudes sorry this email is a downer. I'm actually really happy because I know I will be able to help out a lot here. No worries (said like elder Chamberlain).
Hey thanks for the pictures and letters and stuff. I like the pictures of dad with the set-bulding tools attached to him at the hip it seems. Glad your play is going well Britt butt (does snoopy dance). Hey mom i'm so proud of you and your sound wire adapter mess. I musta learned it from you. HEY! You have a secret stash of 1/4 inch adapters!!! MAN!
Hey antons home? Tell him WHAT UP! Cool. Talk to yall soon. I'm still completely lost in this area, I don't know which way is what but i'll figure it out. I'll send you some more stories about the people we are teaching and stuff once I meet them all.
Oh, Peter and Amma, Neizer and Mark got baptized on Saturday by Elder Holt and his new companion. He called my zone leaders and told me. SWEETNESS!!!
Well family I gotta go and help these people. I'll talk to you soon. I love you all.
p.s. it rained like a mother the other day and our apartment flooded a little. None of my stuff got damaged so don't worry. I went and dug a big ol' trench in front of our house and surrounded it with a brick lining thing. I'm already mormonin' up the place.
Love you. Talk to you soon.
So I got transferred. It is kinda bitter sweet, but more bitter. They do this thing in the West Africa Missions where they tell you if/where you are being transferred the night before you go. So they told me Tuesday night that I was leaving Wednesday morning to another place. It is hard because all the people you know in your area don't have a chance to say goodbye. I'm not much of a 'goodbye' person, but I know that a lot of my investigators and my Ghanaian mothers (the ones that feed me and make sure i'm healthy) will be sad because they don't get to say goodbye or nothing. I would call them and let them know I'm okay and stuff but we can't call outside our zone. Oh well, I guess we are only sent here really to baptize and make sure people get both of their feet on that straight/strait & narrow path then move on to help more people. We will meet again someday (probably after we are all dead, pronounced DEED! (monty python) but i'll see them again) No worries.
So my people I'm am now in this place called Lebanon in the Ashaiman area kinda closer to Tema. The little unofficial name of the place we stay is called "official town." It is a lot poorer of a place than Mataheko. Man we were getting harassed like crazy for existing. Like there are these normal looking ladies who come up and yell "ching chong" in my face and all this other stuff that 2 year olds do. At first I felt like breaking some skulls with some face pounding insults that nobody would even comprehend but me, but Elder Chamberlain (my new companion) is pretty ethereal and is a really good person. Somebody could insult his mother and he is like "oh you don't mean that; but speaking of families, I have this message about Jesus Christ that will bless you and your family." So right now I'm just being an actor and playing the part putting on a smile when people act dumb. I think with time, I won't have to act anymore but hopefully change into someone better. Pray for me.
Ashaiman is a less educated area. Kinda looks like a shanty town mixed with some houses here or there. Most of the people we contact can't read. This is pretty tricky you see because most of the commitments we give have to do with reading. For instance if we teach them about the Holy Ghost and praying about the message, they will need to read some sort of book we leave with them (Book of Mormon or a pamphlet etc) to understand what to pray about. You can't really pray about the Book of Mormon if you haven't read it. A lot of people are very stuck in the whole traditional type of church thing having a pastor on stage who does miracles followed by a gift of tongues thing (for an example, see the below paragraph). They can’t understand the gospel or move away from this stuff because they can't receive their gospel from the actual source which is the scriptures. The place where they are receiving their water is downstream after the cows have trotted through it so to speak.
Hmm…the only way I know how to explain the 'gift of tongues' thing they do here is by having you do it aloud. So gather round and everyone take a part. I'll entitle this gift of tongues as
'The sounds of Malaria'. (Okay do all these parts at the same time.)
part 1. Go "bzzzzz" so it makes an ambient hum type of thing.
part 2. Go "itchy itchy itchy" over and over kinda in high voice.
part 3. Go "wada wada wada wada" like you are saying "water" like we do in Africa.
part 4. Go "Whoogggllh" like a throwing up sound. This is the part that happens less than the others but is more vigorous and loud than the rest.
Okay. It should sound like free jazz and chaos. You should feel pretty disgusting. You feel that icky feeling just now that happened after you did that? Or that kinda you are goofing off playing feeling? That is the feeling that is at the churches. People confuse that feeling with the Holy Ghost confirming truth. Most can't understand what the Holy Ghost really feels like because they can't read about it in the scriptures for themselves. When we share our message with people and explain that the palpable good comforting feeling they are feeling inside their hearts and in their mind is the Holy Ghost, they don't believe so because they believe that the Holy Ghost sends those other icky feelings instead. The traditions are deep and are hard to penetrate. We somehow manage to do it though.
When we are out proselyting or in the apartment we can constantly hear this going on. To me it is kinda like a call for help saying, "help me! I'm confused. Elder Bills come help me!"
I have been seeing the children play "church" outside instead of house where the kids do this 'gift of tongues' or one will yell and then all the rest of the kids fall over and shake on the ground. There are people that are confused because they 'know not where to find' the truth. It is probably better they are playing 'church' rather than 'house' because that would involve beating the small 1-year-old with their hand or with a thin stick. Man this place really needs the gospel. I have been praying a lot more earnestly since I have been here.
Also a lot of people don't speak the English which of course causes problems. The problem we have been facing is that a lot of the people who fit under the category of "can read and speak english" are underage kids which we can't of course baptize without their parents unless they come to church for 6 months and it is a case by case thing.
We hopefully will baptize this smart kid here with his mom. The boys name is Samuel and his mom's name is Victoria (good name eh? haha). The mom doesn't speak english but the boy is there and is helping her understand the doctrine. We are going to go see if they prayed about Joseph Smith yet. I'm trying this new thing where if they haven't kept their commitment then we will fulfill it right then and there eg. If they haven't prayed about Joseph Smith yet then I'll drop to my knees right there and then ask them to say a prayer right then. If they haven't read then I'll read with them right there. They then will fulfill their commitment and then realize that this is a covenant keeping church with responsibility etc... hopefully haha.
We are going to baptize this sweet lady named Alice. She is watching her orphan niece who I will baptize hopefully soon. After teaching Alice I am always comforted. She brings me hope.
Our ward is sweet. Our Bishop ran up to me and gave me a great big hug and then asked me my name. He is excellent. I wish one day I will be able to genuinely care a great deal for everyone I meet. After sharing my testimony and introducing myself to the ward he chased me down at the pulpit and gave me a big hug again.
Elder Chamberlain is a great dude. He is from South Africa. He looks like the dude that Rocky fights in Rocky IV. He is big like that guy too haha. He is our district leader. He is white and also speaks Afrikaans or something kinda like dutch meets trashcan. I wrote down some of the stuff he says like "idear" instead of idea. I left my planner at home so next week i'll give you a list of stuff he says that entertains me.
Well dudes sorry this email is a downer. I'm actually really happy because I know I will be able to help out a lot here. No worries (said like elder Chamberlain).
Hey thanks for the pictures and letters and stuff. I like the pictures of dad with the set-bulding tools attached to him at the hip it seems. Glad your play is going well Britt butt (does snoopy dance). Hey mom i'm so proud of you and your sound wire adapter mess. I musta learned it from you. HEY! You have a secret stash of 1/4 inch adapters!!! MAN!
Hey antons home? Tell him WHAT UP! Cool. Talk to yall soon. I'm still completely lost in this area, I don't know which way is what but i'll figure it out. I'll send you some more stories about the people we are teaching and stuff once I meet them all.
Oh, Peter and Amma, Neizer and Mark got baptized on Saturday by Elder Holt and his new companion. He called my zone leaders and told me. SWEETNESS!!!
Well family I gotta go and help these people. I'll talk to you soon. I love you all.
p.s. it rained like a mother the other day and our apartment flooded a little. None of my stuff got damaged so don't worry. I went and dug a big ol' trench in front of our house and surrounded it with a brick lining thing. I'm already mormonin' up the place.
Love you. Talk to you soon.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Hah!
Man I laughed out loud with my companions here at the internet cafe when we saw grandpa dad looking like a traditional Ghanian old man. He's even got the stern frowny face and all. The staff fits grandpa too. Little rabbits at the bottom, music notes on the top. Thanks tons, it made my day. I might print it out and hang it up on the wall.
Speaking of walls, Elder Holt and I scrubbed our apartments walls. They must-a ust-a store the bikes inside and they skidded up all the walls with those black marks. Plus the cockroaches used to be plenty so there were loads of shoe prints on the walls. I was wondering why there would be so many shoe prints on the walls, and pretty high up too. I came to 2 conclusions.
1. The apartment used to have tons of cockroaches and a missionary probably snapped and went on a vengeful cockroach wall stomping spree. Whether he was stomping many cockroaches or just one super strength cockroach is still to be determined.
2. Missionaries had nothing much to do on a p-day and decided to do some shoe tossin' against the wall kinda like bart simpson did with cupcakes (britt, find the episode on youtube and show mom what i'm talking about). There isn't a lot to do sometimes on p-days unless you plan stuff well.
Anywho we are going to baptize 3 people this Saturday, possibly 4 (if we can somehow miraculously coordinate his school & work schedule with President Smiths schedule and get him interviewed) We will baptize this family Peter & Amma. Peter saved up for months and paid the bride price and desires to be baptized. They got this little 2 year old boy named Abieku. This kid is a little stinker, he "cries like a banshee" (dave smith reference) every lesson and makes it nearly impossible to teach. It is a miracle they even understand anything we teach them with 'Satans little helper' (just kidding) yelping all lesson, but somehow they passed their interviews and are ready to be baptized. I don't know how it happens but it works. While I'm sitting there teaching, trying to ignore the little Siren, they somehow feel the Holy Ghost and desire to do what is right. There are only so many things we are in control of, after that we just gotta try our best.
President Smith came to our sacrament meeting yesterday. He interviewed some people and then came to our classes with us. Abeiku was running around all over during investigators class and his parents couldn't learn some important stuff, so I grabbed my little picture book dealie and lured him over and sat him down next to me. I opened to a page with a buncha stars and outer space and stuff and grabbed his finger and had him start touching each of the bright stars. He then got the idea and started doing it by himself, then he lost interest so I gave him my pen (after I jammed the lid on tight so he couldn't draw all over the universe, pun intended) then had him point to each star with his pen instead of his finger. Oh man this was way funner than just pointing with your finger! He got so excited that he was laughing and drooling all over and of course sneezed all over my face. So after he lost interest with that I started flipping through the pages and let him do his own thing. He then went on rapid fire and flipped through the pages as fast as possible, of course crinkling them, while speaking baby speak. All in all the parents were able to learn something important, they now know why Adam had to take the apple and stuff (2 Nephi 2:25).
I somehow almost confused everybody during investigators class because they were talking deep about the need for "opposition in all things." Man I don't even teach that stuff because it'll blow everybodys mind and I think they need to learn that stuff AFTER they learn the primary stuff (like God is our Father and what Prophets are etc), so I haven't practiced teaching that whole Adam and Eve thing much. The teacher asked me for an example and I said something about it being like physics and for every action there is a reaction, if not, nothing would happen and everything would cease to be! Nobody understood it and I think I just confused people haha. We ain't perfect. Oh well life goes on.
We will baptize Neizer (dude playing draft, the checkers game that takes away your agency). He has been reading and showing that he is ready. He has a big family that he stays with, hopefully we will get to teach them soon. Teaching the other members of the family is somehow tricky here. The women have a certain role that you can't change. They
1. Go to the market
2. They cook for A LONG TIME and forget about teaching them while they are cooking or helping them cook. Men don't cook or help with the cooking and I can't change that (boo!)
3. Don't approach them while they are eating (in the Steve Erwin Crock Hunter voice) or else the consequences could be drastic. Crikey!
4. When they ain't cooking, or at the market, they are getting doll'd up to go to a funeral, wedding, church, birthday, baby naming etc. getting their hair extensions put on, getting the nails done etc.
It is tricky to try and teach a mother who is traditional and is doing all that stuff. Somehow we will sneak our way into their hearts but it is hard. Also another reason it is hard to get the women to church is because a lot of the times the women is working and the man is not. The men wont bring their wives to church because the women is somehow hmm the head of the house and the man is scared to do it. Man they gotta be side by side vs. 1 in front of the other. So at church they have been focusing a lot on teaching the men to go to work, even if the women is making way more money than the man, the man still needs to go out and get to work doing something. No staying at home all day for the man, Kapeesh? They need to help their wives recognize the gospel is true and share it with them and persuade them to come to church. We have been having a hard time trying to bring the part member family spouses into the church because of this. They all need to go read "the proclamation to the world on the family." The trick is that the people who understand what it is saying are usually the ones already working hard. I pray that the Lord will help.
Hey Elder McGrath, my first AP is going home tomorrow. He now is my Zone Leader and he is a good guy. He speaks a lot of twi and is a good friend and example. He is the dude. We went to a free meal yesterday and we talked a bit. He was the one who picked us up from the MTC and drove us to the mission home. I made fun of an Obama billboard because I thought it was weird that Obama was depicted with a bright aura around him on the billboard. He then told us in the instruction that "I don't know who said that but you can't make fun of Obama here. No matter how you feel about his policies just pretend like he is cool and then stay far away from it." Man I have been doing good on that stuff. He is going to go to BYU in the summer and stuff. I might see him when I get back. He gave us some great instruction last Zone Conference. He is the dude. COOL.
Well dudes, the work is continuing. Keep praying for this ward. They need help that only the Lord can provide.
Oh something really stinkin' cool. Most of Brother Jonnie's family (Jonnie, his wife Evelynn and his daughter Jemima) went to the temple and did some baptisms for the dead. They dug it and bishop talked about how it was good to see his members there. Also bro Jonnie gave a talk on faith and fasting. He did a good job. His wife and family were very proud. He used both the Book of Mormon and the Bible in his talk. Also during Priesthood prospective elders class they asked for someone to exercise their priesthood and be the baptist for our candidates on Saturday. Jonnie bravely raised his hand. So my recent convert family is doing great and is making me proud, especially brother Jonnie. He is a great man who provides for his family, both physically and spiritually. He is a good dad.
Transfers are Wednesday. My district leader Elder Yao knows where we are all going/staying and stuff but he isn't telling us because it is the Zone Leaders authority. Boo! haha its cool. They should call us tomorrow.
Hey last story, I used a guitar to get some new investigators. We went over to our ward missionaries house (some big apartment complex thingies like 3 or 4 stories tall. It is weird to see it here in Ghana). She was hesitant at showing us some houses so we just talked her into introducing us to her neighbor. The woman let us sit down and stuff then I spotted a guitar in the corner and asked her about it. She has a son that likes to play, 19 years old, and stuff. I picked it up and asked her if I could play her a hymn they sing in church. I played a short version of come thou fount. She really liked it so to close, Elder Holt and I sang some song about Joseph Smith or prophets or something. I can't really remember what but she told her neighbors about it and is planning to come to church this Sunday. We are going over there right now to have a family home evening with them. More info soon to come.
Thanks family. I love you all, thanks for your letters and for being yourself.
Tell uncle Davey, Pasodoble!
Thanks again for the picture.
Gotta run, my time is almost up!
Talk to yall next week!
Elder Bills
We took this picture of Grandpa on his birthday as the honorary chief to send to Brady. Brady had emailed earlier that if he were here on Grandpa's birthday he would dress him up in Kente cloth so he would look important on his birthday, so we did it.
Man I laughed out loud with my companions here at the internet cafe when we saw grandpa dad looking like a traditional Ghanian old man. He's even got the stern frowny face and all. The staff fits grandpa too. Little rabbits at the bottom, music notes on the top. Thanks tons, it made my day. I might print it out and hang it up on the wall.
Speaking of walls, Elder Holt and I scrubbed our apartments walls. They must-a ust-a store the bikes inside and they skidded up all the walls with those black marks. Plus the cockroaches used to be plenty so there were loads of shoe prints on the walls. I was wondering why there would be so many shoe prints on the walls, and pretty high up too. I came to 2 conclusions.
1. The apartment used to have tons of cockroaches and a missionary probably snapped and went on a vengeful cockroach wall stomping spree. Whether he was stomping many cockroaches or just one super strength cockroach is still to be determined.
2. Missionaries had nothing much to do on a p-day and decided to do some shoe tossin' against the wall kinda like bart simpson did with cupcakes (britt, find the episode on youtube and show mom what i'm talking about). There isn't a lot to do sometimes on p-days unless you plan stuff well.
Anywho we are going to baptize 3 people this Saturday, possibly 4 (if we can somehow miraculously coordinate his school & work schedule with President Smiths schedule and get him interviewed) We will baptize this family Peter & Amma. Peter saved up for months and paid the bride price and desires to be baptized. They got this little 2 year old boy named Abieku. This kid is a little stinker, he "cries like a banshee" (dave smith reference) every lesson and makes it nearly impossible to teach. It is a miracle they even understand anything we teach them with 'Satans little helper' (just kidding) yelping all lesson, but somehow they passed their interviews and are ready to be baptized. I don't know how it happens but it works. While I'm sitting there teaching, trying to ignore the little Siren, they somehow feel the Holy Ghost and desire to do what is right. There are only so many things we are in control of, after that we just gotta try our best.
President Smith came to our sacrament meeting yesterday. He interviewed some people and then came to our classes with us. Abeiku was running around all over during investigators class and his parents couldn't learn some important stuff, so I grabbed my little picture book dealie and lured him over and sat him down next to me. I opened to a page with a buncha stars and outer space and stuff and grabbed his finger and had him start touching each of the bright stars. He then got the idea and started doing it by himself, then he lost interest so I gave him my pen (after I jammed the lid on tight so he couldn't draw all over the universe, pun intended) then had him point to each star with his pen instead of his finger. Oh man this was way funner than just pointing with your finger! He got so excited that he was laughing and drooling all over and of course sneezed all over my face. So after he lost interest with that I started flipping through the pages and let him do his own thing. He then went on rapid fire and flipped through the pages as fast as possible, of course crinkling them, while speaking baby speak. All in all the parents were able to learn something important, they now know why Adam had to take the apple and stuff (2 Nephi 2:25).
I somehow almost confused everybody during investigators class because they were talking deep about the need for "opposition in all things." Man I don't even teach that stuff because it'll blow everybodys mind and I think they need to learn that stuff AFTER they learn the primary stuff (like God is our Father and what Prophets are etc), so I haven't practiced teaching that whole Adam and Eve thing much. The teacher asked me for an example and I said something about it being like physics and for every action there is a reaction, if not, nothing would happen and everything would cease to be! Nobody understood it and I think I just confused people haha. We ain't perfect. Oh well life goes on.
We will baptize Neizer (dude playing draft, the checkers game that takes away your agency). He has been reading and showing that he is ready. He has a big family that he stays with, hopefully we will get to teach them soon. Teaching the other members of the family is somehow tricky here. The women have a certain role that you can't change. They
1. Go to the market
2. They cook for A LONG TIME and forget about teaching them while they are cooking or helping them cook. Men don't cook or help with the cooking and I can't change that (boo!)
3. Don't approach them while they are eating (in the Steve Erwin Crock Hunter voice) or else the consequences could be drastic. Crikey!
4. When they ain't cooking, or at the market, they are getting doll'd up to go to a funeral, wedding, church, birthday, baby naming etc. getting their hair extensions put on, getting the nails done etc.
It is tricky to try and teach a mother who is traditional and is doing all that stuff. Somehow we will sneak our way into their hearts but it is hard. Also another reason it is hard to get the women to church is because a lot of the times the women is working and the man is not. The men wont bring their wives to church because the women is somehow hmm the head of the house and the man is scared to do it. Man they gotta be side by side vs. 1 in front of the other. So at church they have been focusing a lot on teaching the men to go to work, even if the women is making way more money than the man, the man still needs to go out and get to work doing something. No staying at home all day for the man, Kapeesh? They need to help their wives recognize the gospel is true and share it with them and persuade them to come to church. We have been having a hard time trying to bring the part member family spouses into the church because of this. They all need to go read "the proclamation to the world on the family." The trick is that the people who understand what it is saying are usually the ones already working hard. I pray that the Lord will help.
Hey Elder McGrath, my first AP is going home tomorrow. He now is my Zone Leader and he is a good guy. He speaks a lot of twi and is a good friend and example. He is the dude. We went to a free meal yesterday and we talked a bit. He was the one who picked us up from the MTC and drove us to the mission home. I made fun of an Obama billboard because I thought it was weird that Obama was depicted with a bright aura around him on the billboard. He then told us in the instruction that "I don't know who said that but you can't make fun of Obama here. No matter how you feel about his policies just pretend like he is cool and then stay far away from it." Man I have been doing good on that stuff. He is going to go to BYU in the summer and stuff. I might see him when I get back. He gave us some great instruction last Zone Conference. He is the dude. COOL.
Well dudes, the work is continuing. Keep praying for this ward. They need help that only the Lord can provide.
Oh something really stinkin' cool. Most of Brother Jonnie's family (Jonnie, his wife Evelynn and his daughter Jemima) went to the temple and did some baptisms for the dead. They dug it and bishop talked about how it was good to see his members there. Also bro Jonnie gave a talk on faith and fasting. He did a good job. His wife and family were very proud. He used both the Book of Mormon and the Bible in his talk. Also during Priesthood prospective elders class they asked for someone to exercise their priesthood and be the baptist for our candidates on Saturday. Jonnie bravely raised his hand. So my recent convert family is doing great and is making me proud, especially brother Jonnie. He is a great man who provides for his family, both physically and spiritually. He is a good dad.
Transfers are Wednesday. My district leader Elder Yao knows where we are all going/staying and stuff but he isn't telling us because it is the Zone Leaders authority. Boo! haha its cool. They should call us tomorrow.
Hey last story, I used a guitar to get some new investigators. We went over to our ward missionaries house (some big apartment complex thingies like 3 or 4 stories tall. It is weird to see it here in Ghana). She was hesitant at showing us some houses so we just talked her into introducing us to her neighbor. The woman let us sit down and stuff then I spotted a guitar in the corner and asked her about it. She has a son that likes to play, 19 years old, and stuff. I picked it up and asked her if I could play her a hymn they sing in church. I played a short version of come thou fount. She really liked it so to close, Elder Holt and I sang some song about Joseph Smith or prophets or something. I can't really remember what but she told her neighbors about it and is planning to come to church this Sunday. We are going over there right now to have a family home evening with them. More info soon to come.
Thanks family. I love you all, thanks for your letters and for being yourself.
Tell uncle Davey, Pasodoble!
Thanks again for the picture.
Gotta run, my time is almost up!
Talk to yall next week!
Elder Bills
We took this picture of Grandpa on his birthday as the honorary chief to send to Brady. Brady had emailed earlier that if he were here on Grandpa's birthday he would dress him up in Kente cloth so he would look important on his birthday, so we did it.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Hello!
Sorry about not sending the email on Monday. The power went out on Monday and on Tuesday we were running around like crazy trying to figure out all this marriage problem stuff with one of our baptismal candidates. Marriage is tough here, makes me have one of those headaches behind my eyeball. President Smith taught us about Ghana and marriage, I wrote a lot about it later on. So here is my late letter. Sorry we don't got a lot of pictures, we were loading tons but alas the power went off. Instead of sending pictures, I'll give you a cool urinal cake drunkard story. Deal?
So we were in sacrament meeting and there was this drunk member. He was being kinda loud and stuff but we just let him be. When I wake up from closing my eyes from the opening prayer, he was standing right in front of me a couple inches away from my face. He yelled, "Hey the kids were playing with this so I took it from them. Here!" Then he forcefully grabbed my hand and slopped a nice urinal cake (you know those air freshner thingies they put in urinals so they smell good) right into my hand. I just kinda looked at it and let my brain compute. I then calmly walked to the bathroom, threw back the urinal cake into the urinal and washed my hands. I then came back and he was on the stand bearing his testimony while walking up and down the stage. The missionary AP's were at our ward that day so one of them went with me after he was done and we were escorting him out and getting him a cab. He then grabbed our hands in the hallway and began to pray all southern church like with the amens and such. He then walked himself outside and we thought that was the end of yeasty smelling friend. He later came in some other doors and started disturbing so the AP's escorted him out.
"I hope they call me on a mission, where I can hold a urinal cake or two!" It's cool. Alcohol makes great people turn into instant idiots. Down with booze!
We are uploading mounds and mounds of pictures for you. Man I filled up my 4 GB SD card. You sent me with 2 I think but alas I can't find it. I think that a small army of cockroaches teamed up and ran off with it to give it to the queen. (Are there even queen cockroaches? I dunno if they are organized enough to serve a united cause like a queen, they just exist to cause frustration and carry germs. Darn cockroaches!) Could ya'll send me another card and I'll mail this one home inside like a dollar tiki mask or something so someone won't steal it. If you send me one, be sure to send it in a package or something. Don't send it in an envelope. The post office workers kinda feel through the envelopes and stuff and if it feels like something cool then they open it up and run off with it, especially things like SD cards. It has been a problem so send it in a package or something. Cool?
So here are some pictures from last weeks baptism of Dorah, Enock and Paul. Enock and Paul are making like dead zombie faces (a lot of people don't smile in pictures unless we force them to or tell them a joke or something). They don't usually look so hmm undead haha. Here is Dorah and her Grandma. The Grandma doesn't speak English, can't read or write and is a devout whatever reformed religion she goes to (something like crystal fire Methodist life church of Ghana). Her time might be in the spirit world or something but she will remember us and eventually join. President Smith talked about why we can't baptize people here who can't read or don't speak english here. They have to read the gospel from the source and have it testify to them. Salvation is a personal responsibility really, you are in charge of your own salvation. People will help you but you gotta gain your own testimony and do what is right. The only way to gain a testimony is to search, ponder and pray. If they can't read then they can't search. For a complete reading of my unorganized brain ramblings about the gospel and the ability to read, see below.
Here is some of my brain ramblings of what I learned about knowing how to read and how it relates to the gospel.
He had us read D&C 58: 9-11. It says "Yeah, a supper of the house of the Lord, well prepared, unto which all nations shall be invited. First, the rich and the learned, the wise and the noble; And after that cometh the day of my power; then shall the poor, the lame, and the blind, and the deaf, come in unto the marriage of the Lamb, and partake of the supper of the Lord, prepared for the great day to come." I think that Dora's grandma falls into this category of "after that cometh the day of my power" day, at or after the 2nd coming of the Lord. Her time just isn't right now. It'll come. Also that the Lord has prepared people here who can sustain the church here so we won't have to import missionaries to Africa anymore but soon be able to export them to places like China etc.
Oh you'll dig this one, in Moses 6:4-6. "And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them; And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration; And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled."
Okay so since the time of Adam and Eve, people knew how to read. In order to be a responsible father and "rear you children in righteousness" and teach them the gospel, you have to read the scriptures to them and teach them to read the scriptures. Man, you just gotta know how to read! Man I remember that mom taught me how to read by reading with me those little kid books like "if you give a mouse a cookie" or the terrifying "the spooky old tree" books. OH and that ninja turtles game "turtles in time" inspired me to read. I couldn't understand what in the heck the bad guys were saying to me or what I was supposed to do in the game so I learned to read so I could beat and understand the stinkin' game. Anyways end of my ramblings. SCHOOL IS COOL!
Um this week we worked with this dude named Neizer. He has a bad leg so he couldn't come to church last week so we called our 1st counselor to the elders quorum president to come over while we taught. He came over and then offered to give him a ride to church. Neizer was deeply touched by this gesture and really loves the church. He worked hard on memorizing the 5 principles of the gospel and why we are here on earth (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, endure to the end). He even went through the questions in the pamphlets and answered them the best he could. We will baptize him on the 20th of March. He has a big family that we would like to teach someday. His sisters name is Gettaa (pronounced gee-tah, kinda like a hick saying guitar). It is a sign from above haha. His mom is one of these people who works at the market from 5 AM and doesn't get home until 8:30 or 9 going, so it is hard to meet with her. Don't worry, we will find a way to meet with her ;)
Man I have some cool stories. I have been praying ever since I got the Mataheko ward (6 months ago-ish) for the Lord to help our leadership out. We only had a bishop, relief society pres, elders pres and a ward mission leader. There were only 4 leaders in the ward and they were all stinkin' busy and running around all over. They were trying their best but it still was too thin to nurture a ward of 150+ people with 4 leaders. In the last couple of weeks our ward got kinda merged with the Kaneshi ward. We now obtained some of their ward leaders and now we got a full set of leaders with counselors. Last coordination meeting our elders quorum president had a list of all the recent converts and was asking how to help them etc and tomorrow they are assigning home teachers to them and are going to discuss and give callings to them. YES!!! The Lord does His work in His own due time but He will answer your prayers, we just gotta recognize that our ways ain't His ways or our timing isn't His timing. Just work as hard as you can and do your part and it'll always work out.
This week Annah, Elder Riding and I baptized her, asked us to come and visit her. We came and visited her and talked about whatever and then she said that one of the relief society leaders told her to ask us for a priesthood blessing. Annah has a foot/leg injury that made her leg kinda turn black and swollen. She is getting better, when we first met her she couldn't even walk but since she started accepting the gospel she became a busy bee and turned everything around. She said her leg was acting up and we gave her a blessing. Elder Holt anointed her and I sealed the anointing. The blessing stated that Heavenly Father allowed her to have this trial or this burden to try her faith and to lead her towards the straight and narrow path and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After the blessing, I was thinking about this and I remembered some conference talks from the last conference and some scriptures in Mosiah somewheres. Sometimes a trial is put in your way that seems like nuisance and unbearable burden, however it is a blessing...just in a very good and thick disguise. Our burdens can turn out to be blessings. Kinda like we had to learn how to make a big Christmas party/return to Jerusalem festival with complete menorah, temple altar, and well with water in it, and we can do it in minutes now, but at first try we were like "WHY!!!" But now our family is really good at doing meticulous and time staking work with ease. Dig? The Priesthood is real.
Oh so President Smith is my hero. We had our Zone conference and in my letters we write him I asked about the marriage stuff going on around here, because I come from a land with no traditions except blowin up stuff on the day we broke away from those darn Brit's (shoots pistols in the air), and I don't understand all this 'tradition' stuff. During his instruction he talked about marriage and Ghanian culture, so he addressed the stuff in the letter I wrote him that he hadn't received yet. The man is stinkin' in tune and has super mission president foresight haha. So he said that there are 2 parts to the traditional marriage
2) the bride price. When the man goes to the parents and asks if he can marry the girl. The parents then make a physical list of stuff he has to give the parents. Once he pays them off, he has their blessing (moseltoff!)
The government recognizes the traditional marriage as a legal marriage, even though there is no existing paper work or proof of marriage. This makes it hard for us to know who is really married or not. President Smith told us to ask the wives if they are married or not. He said that the man might lie because he already has what he wants and doesn't want to pay a bunch of stuff to the parents. He said the only way we can know is if we get close enough to the family and then ask the wife. Dig? The reason President Smith is my hero is because of this statement, "The bride price is evil." (yee haw, shoots pistols into ceiling while blaring some Skynyrd) The whole idea just makes me feel like a cat whose been rubbed backwards, against the grain so their hair gets all outa wack and they feel terrible so they instantly gotta fix it and straighten themselves out. He then said that it is pushing people away from marriage and towards adultery. He said it takes great faith to leave behind false traditions and towards the gospel.
Tell Grandpa dad, Happy Birthday! (email him the Beatles happy birthday cover thingie I did for fun, you know the one with the queen-esque Brian May guitar tone.) If he were here we would buy him some kente cloth, sit him down in a fancy chair and take his picture while he is frowning (tradition!). Get him some good carrot cake, sugar free of course ;)
Hey tell Thurl Bailey, "HELLLOOO! (using a big megaphone cone so he can here me all the way up that 7 feet of his)" He is a nice dude. I like him, he cares about people genuinely.
Cool beans about Jarrett Burns and Justin Williams and their cd's. Glad dad adopted Jarrett as his 'temporary new performing son' while I am away. Jarrett is the man, and needs to busta move! You guys can support him towards his move bustin' and get him to brink the funk. (inserts wah pedal wahkachikawachika's)
So I listened to Britt's CD of Jonah and the Whale. She did a great job. Is that black chick singin' with her? I forgot her name but I recognize her voice. I like how Britt does the blonde girl voice while talking about prophets. She does that well. Almost a little too well... I liked Daves scared pirate voice and how he runs away. He kinda makes the Sprockets Mike Myers German guy voice when he runs away. Nice high note britt on I think track 3. Good job!!! I wish I gotta see it. I'm sure there is a video floatin' around right?
Thanks again dad for your letters. They are nice and they help me out on my mission. I'll letcha know where I get transferred to, if I get transferred. Cool?
I love you all. Thanks for being a correct family who loves each other and who watches out for one another. Tell Grandpa dad, bob and Grandma Carol and patsi that I love them. I love you mom, dad, britt, tall dave, uncle dave.
ya-bay-shyah!
Oh do something for me. Go to Britt with the Snoopy pilot hat and scarf on and do the snoopy dance where he looks up the air with his snoopy snout and moves his head from side to side. This of course has to be done with dad wearing some long cargo shorts and a big shirt and have him do the charlie brown dance. You know the one.
Excellent. Love you.
Surprise!!!
March 5, 2010 BYU Daily Universe Photo on page 6 for Synthesis Jazz Band Concert Publicity
(photo must have been taken last year, because Brady is in Ghana this year!)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Surprise! Brady made March 5, 2010 cover of BYU Daily Universe even though he is Ghana!
Surprise!!!
March 5, 2010 BYU Daily Universe Photo on page 6 for Synthesis Jazz Band Concert Publicity
(photo must have been taken last year, because Brady is in Ghana this year!)
March 5, 2010 BYU Daily Universe Photo on page 6 for Synthesis Jazz Band Concert Publicity
(photo must have been taken last year, because Brady is in Ghana this year!)
Monday, March 1, 2010
Akwabba my short white people!
No pictures this week. Sorry-o. I forgot my sd card reader thingie so I will send a mega load of pictures to accompany the stories for next week. Deal?
So this week quite a lot happened. The best part of my week was that we baptized 3 people on Saturday. We baptized Enock, Dorah (the girl who we were helping learn how to read) and Paul (I sent you a picture of him last time laughing with his cousin during church). Ah man it was sweet. Paul wanted one of us to baptize him but didn't care who really, so Elder Holt and I solved this the American way; with a good ol' game of rock paper scissors (best 2 out of 3 of course). I dominate at rock paper scissors, I get inside the opponents mind and destroy! So of course I won and I got to baptize them. We combined the baptismal service with the Kaneshi ward so we could get more people at the baptism to support. There was a good turnout. Since it was combined I ended up baptizing 7 people. It was great.
Funny baptism story. People here really don't have an opportunity to completely submerge themselves in the water. There are no swimming pools, the ocean is full of poo and garbage (ALL waste leads to the gutters. ALL gutters lead to the ocean. I give Ghana 25 years until mother nature takes a giant poo on Ghana. There is a ton of pollution here, cars have no emissions laws. Watch out Ghana, mother nature is coming! Save the whales! anywho sorry, just a little rambling) and you usually have to fetch water for a bucket shower. They are not used to going completely under the water. So when I was baptizing, everyone kinda fights back so I gotta push them under the water haha, then they all come up gasping for air as if they have been under for about 3 min. It is funny. I remember how scared I was about being baptized backwards so I asked the bishop if they could put me under the water face first. I sympathize with them, I really do. It still is funny tee hee.
So we baptized Enock, a boy about 21 years old that Elder Riding and I were working with. Man I have been teaching him for 5 months and he was ready to be baptized. But then he kept lifting his head up above the water, so we had to try a couple times. It is okay, a little extra time in the water is appropriate for him haha. I am praying that he will be the gateway for many in his ginormous family to come to the church. Family members are very rarely going to the same church. Elder Holland said that only 25% of the members in Ghana have a priesthood holder as the head of the house. Elder Holland met with the bishops and gave them some counsel on how to help this. Our bishop, bishop bwadie (bway-dee), spoke from the pulpit about how it is a responsibility of the priesthood holders to do their home teaching faithfully and to bring their families to church. It was cool.
So Elder Holland (from the 12) came and visited us this week. Holy freaking cow! This guy is the bomb. I have seen him talk a bunch at BYU devotionals and have read a bunch of his talks, but meeting him in person was awesome. I will never ever forget it. I kept copious notes about it that I will treasure forever. We went to the temple site and met together. He came and we got a group picture with him. He then made sure he shook each one of our hands and looked us in the eyes. Our AP Elder Akomo-mordi (from Nigeria) conducted the session and somehow looked shocked when he said "I Elder Akomo-mordi and conducting this meeting, presiding is Jeffery R. Holland (you can see the understanding hit him right now haha) from the quorum of the 12 apostles (holy cow!)."
Elder Golden and Snow (from the 70 and presidency of the 70) spoke to us as well. While they were speaking, Elder Holland was sitting in his chair looking very very jetlagged and tired. However when it was his turn to speak he somehow gained new life and was running all over the place and speaking with authority and a big energy and spirit. He wore a lavaliere microphone and was very entertaining. He likes to tease the missionaries. During his talk he went and smacked some of the missionaries around and beat up on them (the for-fun kind of beating up). 19 year olds need a good smack.
He talked about how no other organization in the world puts the trust of the church in the hands of 19 year olds and also that we are the most prayed for group of people on the entire planet. He then talked about how we are here for 2 reasons. One reason, and a very important reason, is to spread the gospel to our brothers and sisters and baptize. Secondly is that we are here for ourselves. He explained that every opportunity and every good thing in his life somehow squeezed its' way through those 2 year mission doors. If he didn't go on a mission, he wouldn't have married the same person, wouldn't have the same professional job, wouldn't be an apostle etc. He said that the mission is so important that they let the 19 year olds go to temple and load them up with weaponry, he said there is nothing more to give us and that we have it all. One of my favorite things he said was that if any of us wanted to go home then he would grab us, throw us down and then say, "Lets talk about your mission for a second. You are not going anywhere, you are staying right here." The reason is again because he said his whole life came through the 2 year mission doors and that he can't recall a day that he hasn't thought about his mission for help in his life. He wants us to stay so we will have a better life after we go home.
He also talked about how we are apostles (small a) with him. He is an Apostle (big A). The word 'apostle' means 'witness.' We all need to be witnesses of Jesus Christ with him. He said we are the same, the only difference is that he has more keys than us. It was cool.
He then chastised us about the need to study and become converted yourself so you can teach by the Spirit. He said that we need to get up on time, it is a very kindergarten thing to wake up late because you are tired, and we need to make sure we study and plan everyday. He then told us to work as if President Monson was watching everyday and that we would be okay.
Man this dude was cool. He presented the message in a way that the missionaries would understand. He chastised when it was needed and was humorous and I don't know, it was just awesome. He definitely is an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
He then said he wished he went to the Ghana Accra mission. He said he went to England (then he yawned.) He said that nobody that goes to England gets any glory from their mission. He said that the kids were falling asleep during his homecoming talk and the moms had to poke them to stay awake. He said, "oh I got my mission call to England (yawn) or hey guys I'm going to Australia (yawn). But when you say Ghana they will be like 'HOLY COW! GHANA!" Then he made his eyes really wide and used his fingers to make his eyes even bigger. He is cool.
One of the best things he taught me was that here in Africa, I need to teach them how the Spirit feels and help them recognize it.
While he was talking and while he shook our hands and looked into our eyes, I knew that he was special. The Spirit testified of everything he was saying. He said so much more, I got lots of it down in my notes that i'll share with ya'll later. Man it was cool.
Cool. On a totally different note, today we met up with the Elders from Tonga and they bought some pigs and dug a pit and cooked them how they do. We ate some. I got some cool pics I'll send ya. It was a fun p-day activity. Some Elders brought some baseball gloves, oh man that felt good and familiar. I played catch with a Nigerian Elder, Elder Takon. He kept catching with his glove faced upward so we taught him how to play catch. He caught on pretty fast, it was fun.
Hey, when I get back, if you ever need help Brit to lay the smack down on your students, I would be happy to help. We get harassed so much for existing, haggling with taxi drivers and food sellers (haggling with anything that involves money). I think that I have the potential to give it to little high school kids. Speaking of laying the smack down, everyone here watches wwe (formerly wwf) wrestling faithfully. I wont spoil it for them haha by telling the wwe secret about the matches Psssst, they don't know.
Hey we were able to have Enock and Paul ordained to the office of a priest and they were given the Aaronic priesthood. It was sweet. I'll continue to try my best to help the work continue and spread this wonderful gospel. Man it is sweet work. Freakin' tiring but sweet. Speaking of tiring, send more cookies! Also could you send me another towel. Mine is hammered and getting all gross. Could you send me one of those quick drying thin microfiber towel thingies. You can buy them at sports stores etc. We dry stuff on clothes lines here, so you can imagine how a towel gets after being wet after a shower and then hanging to dry in this moist tropical climate. The other missionaries are using the microfiber ones and they are working great. Thanks tons.
Well family I have got to run.
The work is good, the gospel is true, this church has the authority to perform the essential ordinances needed to return to live with God. The power of prayer is true. Thanks for all of your prayers. Continue to do so.
I love you all. Talk to you soon.
oh also I like the peace corps messages about the food, especially the ground nut soup one. Africa loves Celine Dion ballads. They make me want to die, but Africa loves them. They also love the "I will always love you" tune, which I very much like. Man those are always playing around. Ghana = non stop Celine Dion.
Cool mah, I love you. I love you dad and I love you Britt butt. You all rock.
Gotta go.
Love you.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Food quotes from a guy in the Peace Corps living in Ghana
Groundnut Soup: Ah, how delicious you are, GS! Made of groundnuts (that's peanuts to most and monkey nuts to wierdoes) and groundnut oil. Eating this gives you huge pectoral muscles and increases your tolerance for Celine Dion ballads. Easily one the best things in Ghana to eat.
Palmnut Soup: Made with the pulp and oil from the fruit of the oil palm. When cooked right, it's greasy, oily, slick, and viscous- and incredibly delicious. Eating too much gives the average non-Ghanaian a bad case of Kofi's Revenge, so moderation is best.
Light Soup: Made from some a little palm oil, a lot of peppers, water and some canned tomatoes usually. Not the heartiest, but cheap and easy. Sometimes it is so hot and spicy you can hear time and see how you're going to die.
Tuo Zaafi (TZ): TZ, pronounced tee-zed, is almost like banku. Instead, regular old corn meal is boiled into a thick paste. Typically eaten with okro stew. This dish is much more popular in the north of Ghana than in the south.
Okro Stew: The main ingredient is okra (okro in Ghana), which basically turns the entire bowl of stew into a giant pool of mucous. Since it is typically eaten with TZ, which is also a type of slime, it's like the grossest thing you can think of: cat vomit. It's actually quite good, though, and eating it teaches you how to be a forgiving and kind person.
No pictures this week. Sorry-o. I forgot my sd card reader thingie so I will send a mega load of pictures to accompany the stories for next week. Deal?
So this week quite a lot happened. The best part of my week was that we baptized 3 people on Saturday. We baptized Enock, Dorah (the girl who we were helping learn how to read) and Paul (I sent you a picture of him last time laughing with his cousin during church). Ah man it was sweet. Paul wanted one of us to baptize him but didn't care who really, so Elder Holt and I solved this the American way; with a good ol' game of rock paper scissors (best 2 out of 3 of course). I dominate at rock paper scissors, I get inside the opponents mind and destroy! So of course I won and I got to baptize them. We combined the baptismal service with the Kaneshi ward so we could get more people at the baptism to support. There was a good turnout. Since it was combined I ended up baptizing 7 people. It was great.
Funny baptism story. People here really don't have an opportunity to completely submerge themselves in the water. There are no swimming pools, the ocean is full of poo and garbage (ALL waste leads to the gutters. ALL gutters lead to the ocean. I give Ghana 25 years until mother nature takes a giant poo on Ghana. There is a ton of pollution here, cars have no emissions laws. Watch out Ghana, mother nature is coming! Save the whales! anywho sorry, just a little rambling) and you usually have to fetch water for a bucket shower. They are not used to going completely under the water. So when I was baptizing, everyone kinda fights back so I gotta push them under the water haha, then they all come up gasping for air as if they have been under for about 3 min. It is funny. I remember how scared I was about being baptized backwards so I asked the bishop if they could put me under the water face first. I sympathize with them, I really do. It still is funny tee hee.
So we baptized Enock, a boy about 21 years old that Elder Riding and I were working with. Man I have been teaching him for 5 months and he was ready to be baptized. But then he kept lifting his head up above the water, so we had to try a couple times. It is okay, a little extra time in the water is appropriate for him haha. I am praying that he will be the gateway for many in his ginormous family to come to the church. Family members are very rarely going to the same church. Elder Holland said that only 25% of the members in Ghana have a priesthood holder as the head of the house. Elder Holland met with the bishops and gave them some counsel on how to help this. Our bishop, bishop bwadie (bway-dee), spoke from the pulpit about how it is a responsibility of the priesthood holders to do their home teaching faithfully and to bring their families to church. It was cool.
So Elder Holland (from the 12) came and visited us this week. Holy freaking cow! This guy is the bomb. I have seen him talk a bunch at BYU devotionals and have read a bunch of his talks, but meeting him in person was awesome. I will never ever forget it. I kept copious notes about it that I will treasure forever. We went to the temple site and met together. He came and we got a group picture with him. He then made sure he shook each one of our hands and looked us in the eyes. Our AP Elder Akomo-mordi (from Nigeria) conducted the session and somehow looked shocked when he said "I Elder Akomo-mordi and conducting this meeting, presiding is Jeffery R. Holland (you can see the understanding hit him right now haha) from the quorum of the 12 apostles (holy cow!)."
Elder Golden and Snow (from the 70 and presidency of the 70) spoke to us as well. While they were speaking, Elder Holland was sitting in his chair looking very very jetlagged and tired. However when it was his turn to speak he somehow gained new life and was running all over the place and speaking with authority and a big energy and spirit. He wore a lavaliere microphone and was very entertaining. He likes to tease the missionaries. During his talk he went and smacked some of the missionaries around and beat up on them (the for-fun kind of beating up). 19 year olds need a good smack.
He talked about how no other organization in the world puts the trust of the church in the hands of 19 year olds and also that we are the most prayed for group of people on the entire planet. He then talked about how we are here for 2 reasons. One reason, and a very important reason, is to spread the gospel to our brothers and sisters and baptize. Secondly is that we are here for ourselves. He explained that every opportunity and every good thing in his life somehow squeezed its' way through those 2 year mission doors. If he didn't go on a mission, he wouldn't have married the same person, wouldn't have the same professional job, wouldn't be an apostle etc. He said that the mission is so important that they let the 19 year olds go to temple and load them up with weaponry, he said there is nothing more to give us and that we have it all. One of my favorite things he said was that if any of us wanted to go home then he would grab us, throw us down and then say, "Lets talk about your mission for a second. You are not going anywhere, you are staying right here." The reason is again because he said his whole life came through the 2 year mission doors and that he can't recall a day that he hasn't thought about his mission for help in his life. He wants us to stay so we will have a better life after we go home.
He also talked about how we are apostles (small a) with him. He is an Apostle (big A). The word 'apostle' means 'witness.' We all need to be witnesses of Jesus Christ with him. He said we are the same, the only difference is that he has more keys than us. It was cool.
He then chastised us about the need to study and become converted yourself so you can teach by the Spirit. He said that we need to get up on time, it is a very kindergarten thing to wake up late because you are tired, and we need to make sure we study and plan everyday. He then told us to work as if President Monson was watching everyday and that we would be okay.
Man this dude was cool. He presented the message in a way that the missionaries would understand. He chastised when it was needed and was humorous and I don't know, it was just awesome. He definitely is an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
He then said he wished he went to the Ghana Accra mission. He said he went to England (then he yawned.) He said that nobody that goes to England gets any glory from their mission. He said that the kids were falling asleep during his homecoming talk and the moms had to poke them to stay awake. He said, "oh I got my mission call to England (yawn) or hey guys I'm going to Australia (yawn). But when you say Ghana they will be like 'HOLY COW! GHANA!" Then he made his eyes really wide and used his fingers to make his eyes even bigger. He is cool.
One of the best things he taught me was that here in Africa, I need to teach them how the Spirit feels and help them recognize it.
While he was talking and while he shook our hands and looked into our eyes, I knew that he was special. The Spirit testified of everything he was saying. He said so much more, I got lots of it down in my notes that i'll share with ya'll later. Man it was cool.
Cool. On a totally different note, today we met up with the Elders from Tonga and they bought some pigs and dug a pit and cooked them how they do. We ate some. I got some cool pics I'll send ya. It was a fun p-day activity. Some Elders brought some baseball gloves, oh man that felt good and familiar. I played catch with a Nigerian Elder, Elder Takon. He kept catching with his glove faced upward so we taught him how to play catch. He caught on pretty fast, it was fun.
Hey, when I get back, if you ever need help Brit to lay the smack down on your students, I would be happy to help. We get harassed so much for existing, haggling with taxi drivers and food sellers (haggling with anything that involves money). I think that I have the potential to give it to little high school kids. Speaking of laying the smack down, everyone here watches wwe (formerly wwf) wrestling faithfully. I wont spoil it for them haha by telling the wwe secret about the matches Psssst, they don't know.
Hey we were able to have Enock and Paul ordained to the office of a priest and they were given the Aaronic priesthood. It was sweet. I'll continue to try my best to help the work continue and spread this wonderful gospel. Man it is sweet work. Freakin' tiring but sweet. Speaking of tiring, send more cookies! Also could you send me another towel. Mine is hammered and getting all gross. Could you send me one of those quick drying thin microfiber towel thingies. You can buy them at sports stores etc. We dry stuff on clothes lines here, so you can imagine how a towel gets after being wet after a shower and then hanging to dry in this moist tropical climate. The other missionaries are using the microfiber ones and they are working great. Thanks tons.
Well family I have got to run.
The work is good, the gospel is true, this church has the authority to perform the essential ordinances needed to return to live with God. The power of prayer is true. Thanks for all of your prayers. Continue to do so.
I love you all. Talk to you soon.
oh also I like the peace corps messages about the food, especially the ground nut soup one. Africa loves Celine Dion ballads. They make me want to die, but Africa loves them. They also love the "I will always love you" tune, which I very much like. Man those are always playing around. Ghana = non stop Celine Dion.
Cool mah, I love you. I love you dad and I love you Britt butt. You all rock.
Gotta go.
Love you.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Food quotes from a guy in the Peace Corps living in Ghana
Groundnut Soup: Ah, how delicious you are, GS! Made of groundnuts (that's peanuts to most and monkey nuts to wierdoes) and groundnut oil. Eating this gives you huge pectoral muscles and increases your tolerance for Celine Dion ballads. Easily one the best things in Ghana to eat.
Palmnut Soup: Made with the pulp and oil from the fruit of the oil palm. When cooked right, it's greasy, oily, slick, and viscous- and incredibly delicious. Eating too much gives the average non-Ghanaian a bad case of Kofi's Revenge, so moderation is best.
Light Soup: Made from some a little palm oil, a lot of peppers, water and some canned tomatoes usually. Not the heartiest, but cheap and easy. Sometimes it is so hot and spicy you can hear time and see how you're going to die.
Tuo Zaafi (TZ): TZ, pronounced tee-zed, is almost like banku. Instead, regular old corn meal is boiled into a thick paste. Typically eaten with okro stew. This dish is much more popular in the north of Ghana than in the south.
Okro Stew: The main ingredient is okra (okro in Ghana), which basically turns the entire bowl of stew into a giant pool of mucous. Since it is typically eaten with TZ, which is also a type of slime, it's like the grossest thing you can think of: cat vomit. It's actually quite good, though, and eating it teaches you how to be a forgiving and kind person.
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