So I have always bragged about how our toilet in the McCarthy Hills apartment is one of the best on mission, best one I have seen; yes even better than the mission home apartment. The only flaws are that for some reason it is mounted on a big cement block thingie, making it a little bit tall so you feel like a little kid in a high chair or dad at a movie theater haha. Even though this porcelain beauty is a little tall, it sings bright and shiny songs to you when you open the lid. Sucka is clean! No lime-b-gone needed or nuthin. So yes I was prideful about our toilet. Notice the 'WAS' in the last sentence.
Well the toilet stopped flushing and stuff so we were using our water storage to flush. So they called the plumber guy and he dismantled the ball deelie thing and now the thing fills up with plenty of water and provides mega flushing power. None will be spared! Coming to a theater near you! Anywho now our super powerful flushing toilet empties a lot of water... a little too much water.
Our toilet is affixed to the wall with a pvc pipe. It just goes from the porcelain exit pipe deal straight into a bigger pvc pipe. Thing is that there is no seal from the porcelain to the pvc. It is just an open big pvc pipe surrounding the exit. So now with the super power flush it leaks all the water onto the floor...and whatever else is in the toilet leaks onto the floor...
Here is a picture of my mopping experience. If you look closely we affixed one of the air freshener trees to the fan. I first soaked up the all the water and stuff, then with the remaining water I couldn't mop up I emptied almost of full bottle of ajax (or the Ghana equivalent) onto the filthy water to soak up the stuff. We let it dry there over night and then I swept up the now caca'd ajax and then mopped the place down again.
The mission is sending over a dude to fix it soon, however remember how Africa has a time problem. 10 am means 12pm, etc. So it is a mystery when it'll actually be fixed. Oh well, we keep flushing with a bucket and empty it slowly as to not overflow and desecrate the floor. There has to be an equal ratio of pouring power to get it all down but not too much power or else it'll overflow.
Oh well we will keep on gettin' r' done. Being here I have stopped caring about all those luxuries in life like air conditioning, electricity, flushing, and all that stuff so much. These things are nice, but whatever.
On the positive and sanitary side, I learned how to cook the chicken they make here so we can 'chop' or eat all bones. Elder Collins calls it the 'vanishing chicken.' First you gotta steam the thing, involves grinding up some ginger and onions and a thing of maggie, this bullion cube thingie, and filling it up slightly with water. Steam with lid on for about 20 min with chicken inside. Then you fill up this thinige full of oil, not enough to submerge the chicken, and don't get it oil spackling hot. But kinda slow fry the steamed chicken. Your chicken should now be about half the original size. It is like a compressed chicken thing haha. Then you can now eat the whole thing. The chicken bones are somehow soft and are freakin' delicious. Yes I eat the bones. I didn't know how unusual this was until Elder Collings came and looked at me like a freak and then I realized. Now Elder Collings is a bone chopping freak as well. It is freaking delicious. You should try it. It is good, trust me ;)
We also went to the McCarteys house again and the father is having eye problems and massive headaches. He went to the hospital and he has to go back tomorrow. He was having a hard time so we told him about a priesthood blessing and how it worked, he said he would like one. I sent the daughter Patience to go get the mother so she could see it so she was there. Right before we were going to do it I remembered that he had a son named Kingsley who we took to go teach a lesson with us the day before. I felt like we should get him to do it. They called him and I asked if he was an Elder and he said yes. He had given a blessing before so we taught him how to do it. I grabbed my little handbook of instructions thingie we carry around in our pocket and was holding it open so he could read it, having one hand on the dads head and one hand holding the book in front of Kinsley. He did a great job and the family was happy. It was yet another one of those sweet Holy Ghost moments where He brings to our remembrance of what should happen. Mission is cool.
Well I went on splits with Elder Collings to his area to teach him some skills and whatev. They were going to visit a referral family and give them a Book of Mormon. Well we went over and it was a sweet lesson. The mom and 25 year old daughter were there, dad lives in Kumasi far away. We got the mom to pray about the Book of Mormon right there and committed them to come to church. The daughter said she would so I called the member right then and organized rides and etc. The mother said she had a primary teacher calling in her church but would find a replacement and come next week. I had them write down their commitments and places to read in the Book of Mormon. Well on Sunday the daughter came and was really happy. She asked us to come over and teach her some hymns. So I went over with Elder Collings and taught the 80 year old Grandma, daughter and another daughter we found there. The daughter didn't read so we chastised her small but then taught them about hymns. We then sang 'don't forget to pray' and the Holy Ghost was there so strong. The 80 woman, who just had a stroke and is not all there, was just smiling as big as big can be and then we told them that the feeling they were feeling was the Holy Ghost. We would have extended a baptismal date to them all but the mother wasn't there and we need to moms permission for the daughters, older woman and stuff. They are going to do it today! Yahoo. The more I think about it I should have just given them a date and then they could give a mom a date today but oh well. We are all learning . It was a sweet lesson though.
Well my companion has been sick for the past 4 days. He has something like our normal cold like symptoms. Sore throat, headache, runny nose, ear ache, mucus, etc. However this American type of sickness destroys the Africans. I have been having having a tough time trying to make sure he drinks water, eats food, and takes his pills, etc. For instance he didn't want to eat because it hurts to swallow. I understand this so we got the members to make some mushed up kankay (similar to oatmeal) with sugar so he could down it and live and then take his pill which requires medicine. Wouldn't do it. Then I made him those mashed potatoes you sent me. Wouldn't do it. He then wanted to sleep before he took his pills and he still wouldn't do it, so then he told me to wake him up in 30 min so I did. Still wouldn't take his pills. Finally, Elder Zadi and I had to force him into the kitchen and waited there with body guard folded arms until he ate his pill with food.
I am definitely learning patience. It is a hard thing but I am learning a lot. I think this is one day preparing me for a stubborn son who I will need to deal with. Hopefully not, hopefully just a poopy drummer or something haha.
Well on the good side Bro Laabe pulled me aside at church and talked to me. He said that he has seen a lot of missionaries over the past years and he always watches them. He takes them into their house and feeds them once just to test them and see how they are. He said that I was like a missionary named Elder Mitton. He said that I know why I am here and didn't come for any other purpose than to spread the gospel to the people here. He thanked me for the hard work and shook my hand and gave me a referral. It was nice. My patriarchal blessing states that my main purpose for going on a mission will be to spread the gospel to my brothers and sisters and that I'll recognize this fully and go about doing much good. Crazy things those blessings are. It was hmm cool. Bro Laabey is a great man. He is the one with a dancing baby washing daughter.
Well my companion is about to die, gotta go so I can get him some rest. Sorry the email is short. Thanks for your emails mom and family. Mail it in a letter so I can read it and laugh some more. Love you all. The church is true!
Miss you Britt butt!
Miss you dad!
Miss, in not the trunky I wanna go home sense, but just need to like head butt britt and drive around on a non necessary home depot run with dad ;)
Love you guys!
Talk to you next week!
