Hello my family!

So the big news is that I am still in McCarthy Hills zone and in the Odorkor ward. Elder Boyd is my new companion. Man we are getting along great. The Spirit is with him and the members love him. He piddles off some small Ga language and they love him. Between our twi and ga speaking we have been able to get a free meal every night. Free meals are the key to referrals and member presents and a good way to get the membership in your pocket and on your side. It has been incredible.
Elder Boyd says I am too skinny and has put me on a free meal and pushup plan with those perfect pushup things. Man I can do them except the close position ones where I gotta get down on my knees like a girl haha. Hopefully I will fatten up a bit before I go home.
They took Elder Nwachuckwu to Ashaiman to be the DL. He likes Ashaiman so no problem.

Some big news is they also took Elder Berry and Elder Wollenzien out from Odorkor. Now we are the only 2 missionaries in the ward and have inherited their area and people. Our area is now massive! We have been running around like crazy. It has been difficult to manage our time because our people live so spread out now.

This last couple days have really taught me a lot about what Jesus was really meaning about "he (The Holy Ghost) shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance." I wanna focus on the 'bring all things to your remembrance

Anywho we were able to baptize 3 people on Saturday. S., M. and B.
We inherited S. and B. from Elder Wollenzien and Elder Berry. They hadn't baptized anyone in the area yet and right before they did, they got transferred. Haha. Anywho I took some pictures of them and I'll send them to them. I called them and told them that we baptized them so they should be happy.

We went to the chapel early for the baptism and S. was there in her best dress and she was helping sweep the chapel. The Holy Ghost really did touch her and she showed up early and was serving already. She knows it is true and even postponed going to an all day funeral service for an extended relative in her family. She knew that this was very important and did what was best. Man she is awesome. She will be one of my favorite baptisms ever. She truly has manifested by her works that she has received the Holy Ghost.
B., we call him baba b., has been investigating the church since 2009. He was going from Accra to the Northern region because of funerals and helping his family. He attended a ward far away from his house because that is the only one he knew. Eventually they directed him over to Kaneshie where Elder Bills (the other one) taught him and was about to baptize him when their bishop found out that he stays in our area very close to our chapel but he never knew. So we went over to his place and got to know him and just put him in the water really. He is a very awesome guy. He knows the doctrine. He was going from church to church and stopped a different church because he said it was false and then he stopped the JW church because he said it felt wrong. He read the Book of Mormon and knew that it was right. Some of our ward members went over to his house after the baptism to see where he lived so they can be friends.

M., who was also baptised is the relative of Bro Fp. She lives with them now because her parents died, I think... She couldn't read that well until she stayed with the Fps for awhile. They have all these US smart kids and the grandpa taught her so now she is reading up a storm. She was happy at her baptism and confirmation as were the rest of Bro Fps grandkids. She is a good girl. Now I hope we can teach their grandmother.

Well up and coming we are working with some sweet people.

One is HY. She called us over to talk with us. Turns out she was watching the TV and saw their oprah equivalent doing that story about the church. She became interested and had the courage to call us over. She was scared small about it but she accepted the Book of Mormon. She read it and didn't know if it was true. She said she still was unsure, so we committed her to pray. We came back and she didn't pray. We were very sad about it. By the end of the lesson she prayed about it. We left her Moroni 7, the chapter dad sent me in his letter along with Mormon 7 and Mormon 9.
She also had some concerns about 'chanting' and stuff like that. We brought 'the destroyer' sis Mills with us. (We call her The Destroyer because she is able to help destroy all fears and concerns.) Sister HY likes us now a bunch. Sis Mills shared with her how she came to know the church was true. We asked HY if she received an answer yet on if the Book of Mormon was true. We also asked if she believed it was true. She said, "well I guess so because I defended it yesterday." Her friends were spreading rumors about the Book saying it was evil and false and talks about worshiping Mammon etc. She told them that it doesn't and said that it was true and that they know nothing because they have not read it and don't know what it contains. I think she was surprised by what she was saying haha. She accepted to come to church. We were so excited that we forgot to extend a baptismal date to her ( I already had once but she missed it because she didn't come to church, but we should have extended another date to her. We will ASAP)

I am so glad that Moroni's promise is true. If you read it and pray about it, honestly with real intent having faith in Christ, then He will send the Holy Ghost to you to tell you it is true. Man this has happened over and over again. God is a God of miracles. I am thinking about which is greater. A mountain moving or a person changing their views about something and accepting to change their life, their old routines, stand up for what is right and pursue a new course; a course which leads us back to Heavenly Fathers presence. Mountain moving may seem awesome but pointless really. Life changing is really a bigger miracle and has purpose.

My mission has been full of miracles. The list goes on.

Well we had a zone meeting with our district leaders as most of them are new. Man seems like we just got new district leaders and they were trained up and were being great and then they move them up to be a zone leader or transfer them haha. Man anywho that is life eh? So we met with the new district leaders and told them what we expect from them and all that stuff and all the missionary lingo. We are striving to get all of our baptism interviews done early in the week so on Sunday we can actually be at church the whole time since we are the only ones there now. Also this will help us coordinate with president Judd as he will be hanging out with the AP's all day not knowing the area and stuff. We will all need to be proactive on all these problems.

Man it is tricky to be proactive. Gotta solve problems before they happen. Anywho I did the numbers on Sunday and needed a coke! Man I am on day 8 with no coke. Still going strong. All the district leaders and their districts were having problems with their forms. The numbers were all a big jumbled mess and people didn't know how to send audit reports etc. Man what happens with some people is the trainer or senior companion does all the numbers and stuff and the junior companion doesn't learn how to do it. I am so grateful for my trainer Elder Riding. He taught me how to fill out a baptism record by sitting me down with a pile of empty records and had me attempt to fill it, this took like 6 records that I had to crinkle up but finally I got it and did it right. He actually trained me. He is a great man. Anywho the zone will do good. Elder Boyd is a great help to me.

Elder Boyd secretly gets up in the morning and irons my shirts. I told him to knock it off but he doesn't mind me and just does it anyways. He is a great guy. I need to find a way to serve him that isn't gay. Like no notes in the freezer for him. "dear companion, whenever I am cold in my heart you warm up my soul." GAY punch in the face. Maybe I'll shine his shoes or something secretly haha.

Elder Anderson is one of our new district leaders. He is from Australia, however he talks like an American now. His family chewed him out on his mothers day phone call about the way he talks now haha. Anywho he will be a good district leader. I called him and asked him about his people and he knew the details and knew the answers to the questions I was asking. He should be a comfort to the zone and to the mission. He is a good guy. I am glad he is here to be the DL in that fruitful area. Much is expected from the Kasoa District and he will be able to get it done. That was a comfort.

Well glad britt and dave had a good time at sea. Man sorry about Britt's small sea sickness, at least it wasn't as bad as the vertigo the one woman Lucille 2 got on arrested development. I can see them now winning all the karaoke nights and being the only ones sober haha. Sweetness! Free minerals (thats what we call them here)

Man it seems ya'll like that dog a lot.
Mom, stop trying to educate the dog haha.
Man good idea about the fence you made for the doggie, however look on my photo comment about it.

Sorry dad about your wrist, not fun doctor's appointment, and car problem. Man those things seem to happen. Don't let it get you down though. Just endure!

Well anywho dudes I ordered some kente cloth scripture bags and some ties for you guys. I hope they will be cool. Also in a couple of weeks I'll have to get some African Stuff for you guys and some crap to put on the wall. I'm thinking of just some cheapo wood carvings and some cloth or something. I can't do anything too fancy but I'll try the best I can. So should I collect some money out of the account for it?

Cool guys. The church is true. Keep on being an awesome family. Gotta run and head out!
Love you all.

Elder Bills



This is the branch president in Oda where I was the District Leader. We saw him at the temple sight. He just picked up his son from serving in Sierra Leonne. Do you like his Gordon B. Hinckley traditional wear? The Africans love Gordon B. Hinckley, absolutely love him.

Cool elephant table. I want it. Don't get any ideas mom.

This is Jeremiah. He is the son of V. V is the next door neighbor of sis S. He is a stinker.

Little stinker guy.

Elder Nwachukwu and JK. This is in a town called Ablekuman, it is about 1-2 hours from the church and somehow they make it  (depending on the weather, if the road is wet then it'll take a long time!)

Elder Nwachukwu and our relief societies baby.

At our relief society presidents house, sis Abena.

Elder Boyd telling the story on how his girlfriend is getting married next month to another guy haha. Don't worry he is just kidding about crying. Remember the one I wrote the song about her? Yeah.

We had a meeting with all of our district leaders in the zone. They are all good guys.

Being goofy.

We showed up to the baptism early to find Sister S. sweeping the church with the rest of the members. She was early and really happy. She is a great person. One of my favorite baptisms ever.

We got them to smile a bit! Yahoo!

I am doing Britt and Daves face. We are eating salad at the Baddoo's house. Man we will need to do something nice for them. They feed us GOOD food every week. Like it is better than restaurant food. They visited some less actives with us and got them to come to church. They rock!

Little stinker was there disturbing so I distracted him with the camera.

Sister V. She is S's neighbor. She was recently reactivated by Elder Wollenzien and Elder Berry. She now is very active and is a great fellowshipper to S.

Elder Boyd being my shrink after I did the zone numbers on Sunday. We just got new District Leaders and some greenies in our zone so doing numbers was hard and stretched my patience haha.

Elder Tuisavalalo and Elder Boyd walking down a road.

At our bishops house eating the cake we brought them. Sis Dossce is related to the Wellington family. President Wellington is her uncle, the district president in Asamankese.

Bishops kids with cake on their face.

NOW IS YOUR HOUR OF PREGNANCY! Adoption is not really a big thing here. Women feel worthless if they can't give birth so women do everything they can. This church might be banking on that...

Eating at the Darkwahs house. We are teaching a nephew.

Elder Boyd ground the tomatos and peppe himself. It was really good.

Cheesecake mom sent going to good use!

We put the cheesecake in the freezer so it will set up. The humidity kills the pudding here. Thank you sooo much for the cheesecake. We love them. The oreo one you are sending we will make with our relief society president. She will freak out!

Yo my family!

So Britt is going to Alaska? Crazy. She will enjoy the cruise food. She better eat it up for me on the cruise, I hereby authorize Britt to eat enough food for me as if I was present, soon she will dance it off.

Man so today is one of those crazy days where we are trying to find out the transfer news. They will tell us who is going and who is coming etc. Elder Nwachukwu and I are going home on the same day so definitely one of us is being transferred on Wednesday. I think it will be him because they will be transferring everyone all over the place and that'll kinda freak out the ward. It is good to be at a place and then stay there so you can get to know your members and how to help fix problems.

The rumor is that Elder Boyd (my friend from Dansoman) will be coming here with me. However this rumor can highly be false. Sometimes the Ap's and office elders leak false information just to be funny. President changes transfers minuets before sometimes. So we will see what will happen. I want to stay so that'll make me in home sweet home McCarthy Hills Zone when I go.

So anywho this week was pretty okay. No baptisms so technically it was a bad week but we will have one next week. Nobody new came to church this week which was highly disappointing. We had over 16 people commit strongly to come and only 3 came. We even went and helped a woman wash for 2 hours so she would be free on Sunday and she didn't show up. It was sad. We went to go pick up another person for church as he said he would come if we walked with him. He blew us off once but he said this time he would come. So we sent a member, his next door neighbor, to pick him to church but he was running late and our member had to get to a church meeting so we said we would come get him. When we arrived he said he was bathing and about to come, just then our member guy came home and said he wasn't going to the meeting anymore but will stay and walk with him to church. Long story short, he still didn't come. The stories go on and on 12 more times like this.

Some people just will not come because they are used to their routines and don't like change. Some also have peer pressure or fears because of positions in their church etc. However we are losing a lot of investigators due to rumors. I thought only the uneducated would believe that we drink blood or 'chant' or that the Book of Mormon is full of evil spirits that will kill your family or that it is the book of mammon. HOWEVER this is believed by even those who have gone to school and are in universities. People are sometimes blinded by rumors and can't see through some of the lies that are trying to scare people away from what is true. There are many many lies and they all contradict however they don't have to align with each other. It's hard when the rumors and lies stop people from coming.

When a catholic asked me the other day if we 'chant' at church, it took me all my strength not to say, "no we don't chant, but technically you do" as the Catholics do their mass and different chants which derived from Gregorian chant. (Don't worry, I didn't say it.) They don't even know what 'chant' means, but are frightened when they hear this rumor/lie. MAN! I had to do a whole course on Catholic chants at school. Man, William Byrd chants etc. They like to use the Dorian mode, but not the dorian mode we know today because it has been changed. (Ok, I'm a GEEK !) Don't worry, I didn't do it or tell them. I'm just telling you so I won't explode.

We lost a lot of investigators this week because they heard rumors. There are people out there that kinda must follow us and tell people nonsense about the church to them after we leave. However "mine elect will hear my voice." This is very true. We have been counseled to give a baptismal commitment very early, usually the first visit and 2nd visit. This way we can see who is really willing follow if they came to know it was true. We ask for a commitment early and some who are not really willing will accept it and then a couple days later reveal their true colors. It is a way we can quickly separate the 'sheep from the goats.' It brings a lot of disappointment however it really helps us.

Besides having people not keep their commitments this week, we should baptise 3 as a district this Saturday. Elder Berry and Elder Wollenzien are going to baptize 2. They have not baptized anybody for over 3 months but are going to baptize a sweet woman named S. I went on splits with them to teach S. and see how they are doing as missionaries. S. lives with her family around the Odorkor tro tro

The gospel will continue to spread small small no matter what because His elect will continue to hear and recognize the Masters call. There is no stopping it.

Sister N. who was baptised last week got to visit the temple this week to do baptisms. She enjoyed it. She mentioned it was quiet. I told her to look for the little 'tree's of life' on the walls inside. You have to look closely to see them. She said she saw them. We read the tree of life with her in the Book of Mormon and she understands the story very well. I think she knows that what is going on there is very important.

Oh fun story about donuts I never did tell you. So the mampomsem district did very well so I went to Shoprite to get some treats for them. However it takes a long time to do something very simple here, such as shopping or transporting. So first we leave our apartment and there is this major road problem where we are so it is backed up for like 45 min so we just walked across the busy area and get to the main road. We wait and catch a tro tro. Then we head off, then the tire went flat so we all had to get out. They couldn't fix it so we were standing there waiting for a refund and the tro-tro drivers won't give it. Us being missionaries we just stood there patiently while everyone else threatened to stone him etc. Finally the tro tro guy gave them some small money and the angry mob left. He then apologized to us and gave us our money back. More than the others ;) So we had to take another tro-tro back to the original tro-tro station where we just were. Then waited and took another car to shoprite. There I met some Norwegian girls who were volunteering at an orphanage in Suedro. I talked to them, they were freaked out. They kept giggling because I am a 'loud' American and overly friendly and stuff. They liked how I can speak twi to people and accepted a pamphlet. I asked them what language they spoke in Norway and they said, "Norwegian." Man I felt stupid haha. I asked them if they had seen the church there and they said no, so I told them to look out for people like us there and they are always welcome to come to church. Anywho after freaking out the Norwegian people we made the way back. So we managed to get some donuts for the mampomsem district missionaries with real whipped cream and pudding inside them. Then we get to the original tro-tro station to get a car to mampomsem to deliver our treats, however the line was massive! MAN. We had to go proselyting and to the Internet cafe and so we just had to keep the donuts. We could not deliver them. Man it was a 5 hour quest to do something nice and we ended up having to eat the niceness ourselves. Man doing nice things here is sometimes really impossible.

Anywho speaking of nice things I sent Elder Berry and Elder Wollenzien to shoprite today and they bought some stuff, including a cake I requested. It is very cheap. So on Wednesday, whoever is here and doesn't get transferred (either me or Elder Nwachukwu) will make the tro tro trek up the mountain to give the cake to our bishops kid who had his birthday on last Friday. We want the new missionary who comes in to get to know the bishop well. Our bishop is such a great man. I'll tell you more about him later.

Anywho my time is about up.

Nice photos. Nice lifesize puppet twin Britt. Keep it far away from me.
Man I don't know about this tiny dog you have. I'm sure we will make friends though. I'm just afraid I'll do something innocent and accidentally step on it or hurt it.

Anywho. I gotta run guys. I love you all.

SWEET!

I ate your oreo pie and MAN IT ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!
I got one more pie left!

Well love you all.
you guys truly rock!

Dear family!

So I have been trying to upload photos but it ain't working... I just wanted to show you that WE BAPTIZED Sis. N!!!!

Man it was sweet! She was and is happy. For her she didn't really know if it was true when the missionaries first saw her. Her sisters were members however Sis. N. was going to first search it out first. She asked, seek'd, knocked, after she read the Book of Mormon. She finally came to know. There was no miraculous big dream or vision, however she came to gain a testimony as I did. Small by small without any real big change. Just as a living organism grows, so does your testimony (see Cecil L. Samuelson's latest conference talk) and it grew small by small until it grew into a knowledge that 'this must be a good seed.' She came to know that the Book of Mormon is true and all that goes along with it.
She will be one of my most favorite baptisms.
She even was interviewed to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead this Wednesday. We are going over there to teach her more about the temple tonight so she won't be freaked out (also to wash my white shirts in their new washing machine and dryer. I feel spoiled haha).
I am so grateful for the promise God has given us all over the scriptures that if you do ask in faith, then you will know from the Holy Ghost. I think that Sis. N.'s testimony is a strong one, one that came gradually and will have firm roots. If she continues she will not fall away.

I am so happy.

I have noticed that sometimes people join the church just because they like us as missionaries. Everyone around the world notices that we are nice people and they like us. I have really tried to get them to fall in love with the gospel, not just us. They need to have faith in the Book of Mormon really, because we eventually are transferred and will go away.
If they do not have a testimony from the Holy Ghost that this is true, then after the missionaries leave, so will they.

Also we are having a tricky time getting V.S. baptized because she doesn't speak english and can't read at all. So teaching her the doctrine is hard, it is also hard because a lot of everything is based on how things look or how nice people are to her. She and her husband must have had a little tiff and she is refusing to join right now. Hopefully we will figure something out. Reading is really an important part of this message.

Speaking of reading, man we had a buncha people geared up and ready to go to the literacy class. We have a family that came and the woman loved the literacy class so she invited her family and friends. THEN when they got there the teacher didn't show up. MAN! This is probably because it RAINED very hard right before church. Rain really weeds out the sheep from the goats. Those faithful members that come every week were there and those up and coming didn't come.
Yeah the rain is pretty bad and the roads are terrible however one of my favorite members francis showed up to church 100% wet and with muddy trousers and shoes ( as I do most every week when it rains ).
The culture is very poor with time and showing up for things sometimes especially when it rains. You'd think that acid is falling from the sky when it rains because they all run away and sit. So I think this is what happened and why the literacy class was not held. Not WE gotta go and apologize etc. Man it's hard having to rely on others sometimes. Such is life. We are going to see if the bishop can call more literacy class teachers so when one doesn't come due to rain, death, malaria, baby naming, world cup game, someone will be there to teach the class. We can't work hard to get God's children to make the great trek (and it is over an hour long trek, sometimes in the mud ) with babies strapped to their back foregoing their usual routines and busy work and have there be no class. THE SHOW MUST GO ON! (picture a guitar string breaking so you just start singing the guitar part yourself) You figure it out! Anywho I will make sure the show goes on next week and hopefully from then on.

I woulda gone inside to teach the English class however I was interviewing people for the McCarthy Hill ward and didn't know there was no teacher until they had gone.

Anywho besides us having some discouraged women because of the no-show teacher at the literacy class, we had a womans husband come to church for the first time. We reactivated Sis. L. recently and her husband came to see if the church was true. Their compound is full of a bunch of people who were saying nonsense about the church like 'we drink blood' etc. One man came up to me and said "the book of Mormon is not true! There is no need for it" I then asked him if he had read it. He replied "I read some once..." I asked what it talked about. He couldn't remember. I then got his bible and had him read "thou shall not bear false witness" and asked him to explain what this means. Meaning if you do not know about something, don't tell others something that you know nothing about. We then gave him a place to read. He read it. We asked him if he believes it is true and if he prayed and asked about it being genuine and truly from God (because it can't be somehow true, it is not a fence sitting book). He said he is still reading. He has stopped persecuting our member. He is coming to know that it is true. Anywho her husband finally came and had a good experience. Everyone loved him and fellowshipped him like crazy. It was great.

Anywho I have a sad story. Bro Fp's daughter, M. the one investigating the church, just lost her 10 year old boy E. last week on Monday due to typhoid. He was sick and we were visiting him from time to time. I knew him when he was healthy and he was a good little boy. He was around 10 years old. He got sick and they didn't catch the typhoid early. However God is great. The night before he died he and the family were at his house kinda just talking. They said that E. didn't stop talking with them. At 10 pm he kept talking with them, at 12 he kept talking, by 3 am they were still having a good family chat, especially with his mother. He was seeming good and talkative. The next day he passed away quietly. Nobody knew he was going to die, it was unexpected. However God allowed them to have a good family get together before he passed on. He was a good boy and is now in the Spirit World being taught what we were teaching him. He loved what we were teaching him.

The family is doing okay. We will visit the wife this week after all her family leaves. Maybe his passing will someday help to provide a way for his family to accept this gospel.

We are also working with this great investigator. She stays about 2 hours away but makes the trek to church. She stays out by our bishop and 2nd counselor. They really suffer to come to church. Guess what? All of them who live 2 hours away on a dirt road, hilly area with landminesque potholes came in the mud and rain. True saints. Anywho the woman loves the gospel so much she is bringing her husband. Man these people's faith makes mine look like nothing. I have never seen such a faithful people.

I wish I could go on with more stories of joy and how the Holy Ghost is testifying of the truth but I would go on for pages and pages. Moral of the story is that the Holy Ghost will testify of what is true. If you are doubting then just ask Heavenly Father with faith. It will be given to you.

Well glad I Britt will be in a new play. I'll enjoy seeing the show. Glad her and Dave can do a play together. Can't wait to take a bath in the royal bathroom haha ( i showered from a bucket this morning ).

President Judd will be a great President. We will make him not have a hard time. Well at least my zone. We are the only zone last week, besides the north zone, to not have people sneak out of their zone and go have a party at the beach. Anywho President Judd can have faith that the McCarthy Hill zone will be a comfort to him.
When you are first here, you have a culture shock and are kinda weirded out and nobody will be able to understand him, including the white missionaries (I couldn't really understand President Samuelson last conference. TOO FAST ENGLISH). His jaw will probably drop because of the whiteness of the field. EVERYONE believes in God.

Anywho he will be great for the mission. He will love the people and recognize their Spirit instantly. The people are a happy and humble people who are ready to help. They will become his people.

I knew dad had a hurt wrist. He has always had a hard time with his wrist. He was always complaining about it, especially when he rotated it. That and his right elbow. Figures he broke his wrist. Hope it isn't too bad. You might need to get the cone of shame for dad and put it around his wrist. SHAME! Make sure he doesn't play with his wrist. His hands are his job.

Man with the Mali guy, he might win the presidency. That'll make the church explode here. It already has exploded but it'll be an eruption. Crazy!
Maybe someday I will have a boy who will go to Mali on a mission haha. I'd make him watch the clip from fiddler on the roof, the "tradition" scene and explain it to him. "let me tell you why we do these things...I don't know. TRADITION!"

Anywho I love you guys. I gotta run and go on splits again. I hope you guys have an awesome week. The church is true.
Oh I heard from Elder Dakouri. He is safe. The country (Ivory Coast) is doing good. Here is his email.

Hey man, i'm so happy to hear of you. In fact, things are very easy over there because of what you know. Actually, we are planning to build many things again in my country. But we are managing. Anyway, i'm doing well and i am in Abidjan. I leave with my relief society family for now. I start some formations in the employment ressource center to improve my skills and look for work. Anyway, i'm looking for work still but i'm not discourage. I pray to have in the next month and restart school the next january.

Concerning for sister N, i'm very excited; How long have i wait for that moment???? My brother, thank you. I feel that truly no effort is wasted. Man? keep the work and let us endure to the end. take care of yourself. Endure my brother. Actually, i don't have any contacte but this night, i'll get one and i'll let you know. Hopefully that we will be in contacte even when you will be at home. I very much and i miss you and i miss the work very much... I have not forget you.

Gnapy J. Dakouri Jnr

Talk to you next week family.
Love Elder Bills

Hello family!

This week something absolutely amazing happened. It makes me know that God talks to His chosen leaders the messages that they need in order to rescue His other children, thus those who were once rescued can now be rescuers.
I have known this before having been served/rescued by many a young men leader, scout leader, bishop, parents, friend, but now as a missionary I understand more fully.

We were able to get Sister N. interviewed for her baptism this Saturday, she now is ready to be baptized. She has been attending for over 7 months. Her sister is a member and she lives with members as well. She was not fully interested in getting baptized and we didn't know what to do as she seemed to have been taught a lot.

We had a leadership training meeting about 'helping people make and keep commitments' and 'magnifying your calling' and we talked about how to do this. I went on splits around the zone and tried to effectively get everyone to keep track of the commitments they are extending and then following up and making sure that people keep their commitments. I noticed how little we are actually using the Book of Mormon in the zone. In everyone's area books nobody was keeping track of the places their investigators were reading, if they were even reading the Book of Mormon. Well, I took a good look at Sister N.'s stuff she had been reading and we had not followed up with her reading much and were kinda teaching in circles. Finally we decided to just get her to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning as nothing else seemed to be working. She read. The first couple chapters she found normal and not too interesting however around the 3 chapter she started to like it and now she has read a lot. She prayed about it honestly and now she knows it is true. Everything else seemed to fall in place from there.

I know that our leaders were inspired to talk about that for her. Because of them instructing us, we were able to help Sister N. get moving down this pathway towards God.

She should get baptized this Saturday. I wrote Elder Dakouri to tell him. He will be very happy!

I also gave Sister N. some scripture markers to mark her favorite verses in the Book of Mormon and I saw her using them during church (yahoo!). It was very awesome.

We also had some good lessons with Mary Fp. and their family. She is doing great. The little member kids are helping her learn. One of them, Kofi, was teasing her. We were quizzing her on some stuff and Kofi was saying, "think think think think think think" to the tune of Michael Jackson's "black or white." Mary will be baptized on the 25th.

I also learned what it means to become "as a little child." I never really knew what that meant. I knew it meant meek, humble, submissive etc. However I learned from little Gracie A. (you know the little curly fancy haired little girl who likes to climb).
Anywho there was an accident and she cut her hand, only the first layer of skin. She didn't bleed much or anything. It looked like a bad wood floor burn. Anywho she went to her mother, Sis Josephine A.,  and her mother knew exactly what to do to help her not injure herself more and be healed. She went and grabbed some rubbing alcohol and poured it on her hand (with me holding her of course). As I was holding little Gracie she looked sad but knew that whatever her mother was going to do, it was going to help her get better. When the alcohol hit her hand she screamed of course and began to cry but she did not struggle to much and try to run away. She kind of endured the pain, the sting, because she knew that her mother was doing it, she didn't struggle as she knew it was necessary for her to be healed.

Such is being as "a little child." We all injure ourselves, we all make mistakes, we all have accidents. A little child came to her mother (Heavenly Father) and showed her the problem. The mother knew what needed to be done to heal her. Yes, it would hurt for a moment; yes, it was not the most pleasant thing initially; however, if not treated it would turn into a serious wound that would cause many more problems later with much more severe consequences. We should not try to run away but endure the pathway that our Father in Heaven would have us go down so we can be healed.

This last week I noticed something fun. The women here tie the babies to their backs using a cloth wrap. I was sitting outside the relief society room while Elder Wollenzien was doing a baptismal interview and I saw a bunch of women in the relief society room standing up and kinda dancing. I was wondering what was going on. Turns out they were just bouncing the baby and kinda burping him but since the babies are on their backs they just kinda dance instead. It was fun to see. You woulda laughed.

Anywho we should baptize Angela S.'s mom on the 25th. Bro S. will baptize her, his wife. She is happy.

All I have to say about the new bathtub tile area is HOLY COW! What happened? You guys are amazing. The place looks like an Italian restaurant. Man! We are going to have to take some pictures in there and pretend like it is fancy schmancy place.



Well no time again for the donut story. Next week!

Well gotta run and go teach and cook! My companion wants to cook some Nigerian food.

I love you guys so much. Keep up the good work team!

HI BRITT! Don't step on the little dog!

Just got grandma patsy's letter. I'm going to read it very soon. Mission has no time!!! AHHH BUSY!

Love Elder Bills

Watching the Living Scripture Book of Mormon cartoons mom sent us, with a family.