Dear shorties (pronounced show-t's) and big Dave
So this week was full of ups and downs, as is each week. HEY! Elder Prince just called me and said that he found some mountain dew and he is bringing me some! Man I love that Elder Prince. Only downside is that it is this Nigerian Mt. Dew that doesn't taste as good, it still is good though. It kinda tastes like Mt. Maze, ya know the ripoff cheap brands from Albertsons (does Albertsons even exist anymore? I remember that they were gettin' rid of some just before I left).
So we started off the week hoping to baptize 2 people then baptizing another 2 people the following week. One of the people we baptized was Savior (Dinah). Savior has a small little girl named Angel. Man she is a roudy little girl haha. During Saviors baptism she was rolling all over the floor getting dust on her nice dress and just squiggling all over. I distracted her by grabbing her and plopping her down next to me and I grabbed her finger and started pointing to the words in rhythm when we were singing the hymns but then she lost interest and started being 4 years old again. So I was asked to baptize Savior and when she got in the water, she got scared. A lot of Ghanaians kinda freak out when they get in the water. Savior got to the first step and froze and kinda just stood there. I helped her down and then she kinda went into freak out mode. I practiced with her what was going to happen but she still got stiff and scared. I talked to her small and assured her that all would be alright. Just after the prayer I tried to put her under the water and she kinda yelped and got all stiff legged and wouldn't go down. I said the prayer again and this time I kinda used my right foot to gently (and sneakily) slide her legs out from under her. She kinda flapped around in the water but we managed to get her all the way under so all is well haha. She was so scared about water. Man I told her about how I was scared of how noisy the water was and that my dad baptized me face first because somehow, in my little 8 year old brain, that would be less noisy and scary. She was happy afterwards and was confirmed on Sunday.
Oh and her little girl was all lookin scared after because of how her mommy was all flappin' around in the water haha. The next day during church, Angel (the little girl) was all fine and dandy and happily shoved a nice handful of sacrament bread down her face. All is well. Savior was one of those contacts who came up and asked us about some tracts while we were teaching a lesson. We called her later and had her meet us and show us her house. We then taught her and baptized her. She is only 24 and has a 4 year old daughter (doesn't happen here too much). The dad is not there. She really has a testimony about Jesus Christ and is getting the hang of church. She went to a lot of these traditional clap your hands and stomp churches before but she is learning what is right. She knows that the church is true.
Anywho we were going to baptize this little 11 year old girl Celeste, who stays with her grandparents who were baptized last year. However it turns out that here in Ghana, grandparents means that you are from the same town. Kinda like Tongans are all "cousins" even though they are not closely related at all. So we went and tried to find her parents and ask them to come to church and also for permission to baptize Celeste. The whole family situation is a divorce filled mess. We met the step mom who was like "go for it." We then went to Mr. Biological (whom she hasn't lived with for 4 years) and asked him if we could baptize her. We taught him some stuff but he isn't really interested. He said that Celeste isn't old enough to be baptized because she needs to understand the bible more, learn to pray and go through some classes etc. He gave us permission to baptize her when she is 15, like they do in his church. Man it took all of my will power not to say, "listen pal, this little 11 year old can read 4 times better than you" but of course I didn't say any of this. He didn't even know what grade Celeste was in or how long she had been living at the "granpas" house. Anywho we respected Mr. Biological and will baptize Celeste in 4 years. Ulgh. Celeste is still cool though. She always comes to church and isn't going anywhere. She will be okay. Elder Chamberlain and I both felt terrible after that day. We are all better now. No worries.
Well here are some cool pictures. This is "momma lydia" "mom" or Gladys. She lives in Dansoman, she fed us every fast Sunday. She used to live in England and stuff. Her daughter was baptized in England and went on a mission and learned sign language and now teaches signing at a college. Gladys wasn't baptized until like 15 years after he daughter joined the church. She was actually housing and feeding missionaries for years before she was baptized. She said that they used to come and tease her by taking goofy pictures of her. I was lookin through her photo albums and I saw this little missionary. That’s right. It is brother Jeff Jordan in our ward. The one with the cute little mission kids. He was serving in the mission where she lived. Small world eh. She said that Brother Jordan was a goof haha. You can tag him on facebook or something for me.
We are going to baptize 2 more people this weekend. Victoria and Samuel. Victoria doesn't speak or read but luckily her 15 year old boy Samuel can. Victoria knows the church is true and has a nice fellowshipper that stays across the street. Samuel is doing well. His dad is the one that chased him with a machete. Well anywho Samuel usually sells kerosene for lamps at night. (they carry the stuff on their head. Crazy huh?) He has been working on Sundays. We taught him the Sabbath day and he committed to live by it. In Ghana, a lot of people have a real hard time with that one. I guess it takes a lot of faith not to work on Sundays. They don't understand that they are witholding blessings and breaking a commandment. Thanks for raising me right so keeping the Sabbath day is kinda engrained in me and ain't a big deal.
Well all is well. We gave another family a baptismal date but the mom didn't come because she was at the salon. Man the more I am on a mission the more I realize that people need someone to hold their hand and walk them to church, read the scriptures to them, and teach them to keep their commitments until they can do it themselves. Oh well, somebody has gotta do it.
Hey there is this really great guy named John with a family. He is correct so I'm excited. Finding a family with a mother AND father present is really rare. There are a lot of fatherless kids runnin' around and a lotta moms who don't speak English. When we find a family that has a dad who is a good guy and can read, man we hold onto him. We should baptize John pretty soon. Hopefully we will be able to get his wife and kids to come. He is willing to bring them. NICE!
Elder Chamberlain says "Greetings." Man I like him. I always tease him for the way these South Africans speak haha. Both of our English is like garbage English so it is funny to see the different phrases we use and try to figure out where they came from. Generally his tone is rounder than ours. We are still harsher with our vowels. He is a good hard worker. Easy to get along with.
Hey you are knitting? Man I think if you find a nice wheelchair to sit in, I think it enhances your needle technique and your pinwpm (painstainkly imposslbe needle work per min). I'd frame the sock. Hah I like you mom.
Hey, jest tell Jarrett to "bring the funk!" Glad he did well at his concert. Glad Brandon is dating someone. I like Brandon. Hey you saw all my music buddies. Glad you are still representin' and are still artsy fartsy. I like your artsy fartsy ways. Usually people as artsy as you don't bathe. Thank you for bathing.
Man look at you nerdin' it up with all the baggies and wires and stuff. I want to nerd it up! I think when I get back home, you are going to have to teach me how to do that networkin'. I feel an inner nerd part of me that wants to know how to do that...Darn you Grandpa!
HEY SIS!
Didn't I always tell you that you needed to be an English teacher? You are really good with all that junk. You are naturally talented with it. You can write a paper about something you know absolutely nothing about and then get an A on it because of the way you word things. GO AND SPREAD THIS to your other students. See you gotta have a buncha skills. Larry Green always says you gotta have 2 things aboutcha. I'm proud. You will do good. And 9am school instead of 7am! YEAAAAH!!!
I'm waking up at 6:15 to these darn chickens! Man there are chickens everywhere. One almost crapped on Elder Chamberlain the other day. It was standing on a clothesline while we were contacting and he heard it and stepped back and it poo'd on his shoe.
Well I gotta rock. Tell dad that I love him too.
All is well. Glad you are keepin' yourselves busy.
Talk to you soon!
LOVE YOU - Thanks for your prayers. I pray for you guys every day. I can tell that the Lord is blessin' yall.
Obronis Bye bye! (like the little kids say)
