Week 38: Dove for Dinner

Baako pe abeum... Charlie... je suis fatigue... enye shre.

This week was a lot of walking. Friday and Saturday and Sunday especially. I'm exhausted. Plus today we had this crazy beach party thing on the beach and played all this stuff so I'm very tired still... gonna chill plenty tonight.

We have been teaching this girl named G. We were just walking one day and I felt a prompting to go over and talk to these people. We sat down and taught a lesson to her. We have been meeting her a few times last week. She is cool. Really smart and literate so thats always so nice. Sometimes I feel like I'm out there trying to prove it all to people, but really, no matter how hard and how well I do prove it to them doesn't matter cuz they won’t be converted by facts. They just need to feel the spirit answer their prayers. I really focus on that when I teach. You have to pray and get an answer. You have to continually feel the spirit and keep your testimony alive.

If I had a 1 cedi for every time I have to tell people that my comp doesn't speak fanti in fanti I’d be rich. Man. It’s nice to have a comp that can’t speak anything though cuz my skills are improving plenty so thats sweet. So many skills, walking skills, fanti / twi skills, scripture skills. Haha.

Elder Essis (in my apartment and one of my favorite missionaries) is going to be cooking for me this week. Haha. So stoked abut that. Just gonna give him 40 cedis and he will cook me lunch and dinner all week! So stoked man. One morning I wake up and come into the kitchen and there is this dead dove sitting on the counter with a slingshot next to it. Haha. I'm like what the heck... and then Essis walks in and starts laughing in his hilarious laugh. I sent a black and white picture of him last week or so. Haha. He is so funny. He is a french man so just imagining him as a french strong man at the circus. You now like the ones with those curly mustaches is so funny hahaha, with his broken English. Haha. Oh man I love the guy. Anyway, he cooked this dove and oh man, it was so nice. I'm thinking I’ll start a restaurant and hire him to be the chef. Ha, yeah, he is funny. Great guy, I’ll miss him when he leaves.

Gn. is still my best friend that I've had on mission. He is so great. I love the guy so much. We see him almost every day and go out and teach with him a ton too. He is so great. I’ll get a recording with him or something this week. Maybe a small video or something.

So yeah that’s it for today. Peace out from Ghana the land of fufu and crazy tro tro mates.

Love,

Elder Janda

Week 37: Another Week, Another Cedi

Another week, another cedi.

This week was pretty good. We found three new people to teach. Two of them came to church, so that is great. All 3 were referrals. Man, I love referrals.

Our old woman investigator is awesome. We went on Wednesday and her grandchild was really sick. So I told her (through a translator) that we give him a blessing. It was really powerful. We came back on Sunday and saw her again, she said that the little boy we blessed got better and that he is doing well now. I think it was a great faith builder for her. I'm grateful I hold the priesthood.

We had a really rainy day Thursday night and all of Friday. It made it so that we couldn't even go out. Haha... whenever it rains it gets freezing here at night. Holy cow. Like I was in a ball under my sheet. No fan. Shivering. So freaking cold. Haha it is so nice. But man it makes our shower frigid. I didn’t even shower on Friday. I knew it would be too cold. Oh I miss hot showers. 

Elder Clauson and I made scones this week. Ha it was nice. We chopped and enjoyed plenty.  

[DAD] What was the craziest experience you had last week? 

[ELDER JANDA] It rained all day. Haha. haven’t had anything too crazy... 

[DAD] What is your favorite thing about the culture in Ghana? 

[ELDER JANDA] I love that when they shake hands they snap at the end. Like you use each other’s middle fingers to snap off with each other. It’s awesome. Leaves a good satisfied feeling at the end of the shake. I’ll miss that. 

[DAD] What is the strangest thing about the culture in Ghana...compared to USA? 

[ELDER JANDA] They eat with their hands. Everything. And they drink the soup after you finish eating the fufu. Haha. That one... just drinking straight pepe soup haha oh man... 

[DAD] What is a weird thing you miss from home, that you didn't think you would miss? 

[ELDER JANDA] I really miss grass... like they do not have grass here... just weeds everywhere. I really miss grass. 

[DAD] What is something you admire about your companion? 

[ELDER JANDA] My comp is always trying to think of something different we can try or do. Haha. It’s that greenie spirit. So, that’s “good job bro.” 

[DAD] Who do you miss the most? Dad? or Mom? Haha. Jk. 

[ELDER JANDA] I miss you all equally. Haha. But, so much. So much 

Love you all. Bonsoir! 

Elder Janda 

Week 36: Q&A with Mom

Week was rough to be honest. The work is really struggling here in Winneba. Like no matter what we try, finding people to teach doesn’t seem to want to get rolling. Grrrrrrr.... it's discouraging, I’ll be honest.

[MOM] MOST IMP: What has the Lord spoken to your heart lately? Impressions...When have you seen His hand in your day? How has He helped others?

[ELDER JANDA] The First Counselor in the Bishopric had a referrals for us, so we go to meet the First Counselor for him to take us to the guy’s house but we ended up walking into his house at the same time the referral guy did. Haha it was cool. Perfect timing. That was nice.

Met with this less active woman and I really feel like the Spirit takes over in those lessons with her. She is really smart to so its fun to be with her cuz she understands how to think deeply. It’s nice.

[MOM] CHURCH: How was church yesterday?

[ELDER JANDA] Yeah church was fine. None of the people we are teaching came... all busy with various things. Luckily they were speaking English in gospel doctrine class, usually they speak Fanti, which I cant understand very well. But it’s ok.

[MOM] CHURCH: What do you do there normally? Do you have meetings with the bishop/ward council?

[ELDER JANDA] Well since we don't have investigators very much here we just go to church and just like...normal... They always speak Fanti so it's a challenge.

[MOM] CHURCH: Who do you sit with? Do you help with the sacrament or anything else? How many young deacons are there?

I sit with my comp, or the people we are teaching if they come. No they have 3-4 Priests. Deacons there are maybe 6-ish.

[MOM] CHURCH: Do you ever sit and play the piano? Do they even have a piano? Are there any members you have been able to connect with and be strengthened by?

[ELDER JANDA] Ha. They have a Yamaha keyboard. It's really funny actually. The usual guy who can play (the only one who can play) always puts like this starry twinkly effect so all the hymns are awesome. Hahaha. It’s fun and he just sits there and plays with this little smile on his face. Haha. So funny. Sometimes I teach Gideon (my best friend in the ward) the piano at nights. See, I "can" play the piano. But I can’t read music fast enough to play all the parts. Also if you mess up at all, Ghanaians don't like it (especially if you are Obruni). So I don't want to play in Sacrament Meeting. Plus, the only thing I can really play is Love Walks In by Van Halen. Haha. But I can rock out with that one. Hahaha.

[MOM] INVESTIGATORS: How did finding go this week? Were you able to find anyone to teach? Explain who they are and what their circumstances are…

[ELDER JANDA] This place is pretty empty of people. Really feels like a ghost town. But we found 4 new people. One is a Rastafarian dude. Yeah we'll see if he will make some drastic changes in his life. One is a girl who is so solid but here parents won’t let here come to church. Two are some unserious women we contacted who said they would come to church, but didn't. Yeah... not great prospects yet.

[MOM] WOW: What was the most interesting thing that happened this week?

[ELDER JANDA] Woke up in the middle of the night (haven't been sleeping too well the past few weeks... past like 8 weeks). Saw that the moon was like blood read. Haha. It was cool.

[MOM] COMP: How was working with your companion this week? What did you learn about him? What do you love about him?

[ELDER JANDA] Ha. He is a good guy. He is really trying hard. He is trying to learn the scriptures really well. It is funny. I’ll say off hand sometime that a certain chapter is really good or something and then I’ll notice that later, he will be reading it. Haha. It’s cool. He is really trying.

[MOM] HEALTH: How are you feeling? I saw that you have a bottle of TUMS on your desk. How goes the gut health?

[ELDER JANDA] Yeah man, well to be honest I love the taste of Tums. They are like candy. But yeah I’m fine. I haven't had diarrhea in a long time or barfed in a while. So that’s good. Yeah, I feel fine. Just like feel like survival sometimes.

[MOM] COOKING:  What have you learned to cook? Are you still using a camping stove basically?

[ELDER JANDA] Ha. It was raining the other day so we couldn't go out so I went outside and picked a bunch of snails from around our house. Got like 10 of them and made Elder Clauson my helper. I smashed all of them. Pulled out the guts and stuff. Cleaned them up. Boiled them. Made a batter out of lime juice, pepe, and flour. Rubbed the boiled sails in the batter then fried them in oil. Bon appetite. Man alive, they were freaking awesome!!!!!! Took like an hour or so total, but man, it was worth it. Yeah, so call me a freaking boss cook cuz I prepared a legit escargot dish, by myself (with Clauson as my help), first time, nailed it. Oh yeah.

Yeah, so thats it! Peace.

Week 35: No Bleach Can Whiten This Shirt

This week was like the blink of an eye... serious... I think it was one of the fastest on mission.

Training is cool.

It took the whole morning today to wash my clothes... yeah... my shirts are getting more and more “less white.” Ha! No amount of bleach and soap can make them crisp. Hahaha... had been scrubbing for days, my hands are just raw right now.... one day I will cry when I hug my washing machine at home in Abroche (USA)

I’m getting pretty good at cooking. That is something I want to continue when I'm home. It’s fun, just eyeballing things haha haven't had too bad of a fail yet. I made a pasta that was so hot you'd pee your pants. Yeah, put too much pepe in that one.

I'm alive. Healthy as you can be in Ghana. Pretty good.

Ye beshia