Week 43: Happy Birthday Elder Campbell

So five seconds ago when I was at the internet cafe last week... did it feel like five seconds to you? Man... it did to me. 

So there is this kid in our ward who thinks I'm some celebrity. Like there is a Ghanaian show apparently and the main character looks like me I guess. So like my first day in Winneba this kid comes running up to me and asks me if I was the guy from the movie. So I weigh my ability to pretend I am and say yeah thats me haha. And the funny thing is that the characters name is Max hahaha. So this kid thinks that I’m a total super hero ha pretty fun little thing.

So we have been teaching D. and his wife M. (again I remind you that everyone here is named after Bible stuff. Yet I have not yet met a Shardrack or a Meshack or Abednigo...). So they are so great. I always feel really happy leaving after teaching them. 

It was Elder Campbell's birthday yesterday so happy birthday to him. We sang happy birthday to him in all of the different languages these missionaries spoke. So English, Pidgeon, French and Portuguese haha, it was fun. 

Went to another beach activity today. So that was fun. I’ll miss the beach if I leave Winneba in the coming weeks. I’ll probably get transferred after this transfer. I hope I go to the bush...I don't want to go to the city.

Um one cool thing that wasn't even us is that Elder Essis in Winneba 1 area six people be baptized on Sunday... he said it was going to be 12 but they just had to move back a few for some small small reasons. So yeah congrats to them! Trying not to feel jealous but I'm rejoicing in the success they are having.

So yeah that was pretty much what happened this week.

Oh yeah one last thing was that this little kid at the old woman's house stepped on this super sharp sea shell and it totally cut his foot up. So he came running over mid lesson with blood gushing from his foot. So I was like, heck, I've watched LOST I saw how Jack used a sea urchin needle to sew up that one guy. I can totally be the island surgeon haha. So I got up and went over and totally treated the wound hahaha. I felt pretty cool, not gonna lie. :)

So yeah man, doing good in the world is fun ha.

Elder Janda

Week 42: Reflecting on the Beginning

So last night I was talking to Elder Stilson on the phone. Elder Stilson was my trainer by the way, if you all can’t remember. And you know, I didn't appreciate him enough when I was with him. You never appreciate your trainer as much as you should haha. He was a great missionary. And a great guy. Looking back, we were good friends at the end of my training and have kept in touch since then. Ha we had a really great conversation last night. Elder Stilson is a great guy and a great missionary. 

So as I am fast approaching one year out here, I've been oft reflecting on the beginning of my mission. Freak I sound like a general authority... man... I've been listening to too any conference talks hahaha 'oft reflecting' what the heck. Anyway, I've come a long way I think. Man, looking back, my training alone felt as long as my entire mission since then hahaha. The past 7 months... so fast. It's interesting. Sometimes it feels like I've been in Ghana for an eternity... and that I have an eternity to go, but other times it feels like I haven't been here that long, and that I don't have that long to go. It’s just interesting.

Yesterday we came home and there were some goats in our compound haha so we shut the gate and chased them around until we caught them. Haha goats are so fun to mess around with cuz when you catch them they freak out and start screaming and they sound like little kids hahaha it's so funny. So after we caught them we tied them together with a jump rope and then let them run around haha it was funny. So yeah, messing with goats. typical.

Man, I found some stuff its called scorpion. It's the french version of Biofreeze man! It’s awesome! Seems to work pretty good! So I've been putting it on my shoulder and stuff. 

Had interviews with president this last week. It’s always a highlight for me when I get to talk to president. He is so wise man. And if you get him talking he will just go haha. We had like and hour long interview (supposed to be 20 mins). He is really great. 

Watched Johnny Lingo last Monday haha, classic.

Love you all and I'm doing cool.

Peace.

Week 41: Spreading the Gospel in Africa

Man, I'm out of intro phrases so...

This week we had a decent week. We found a couple new people to teach.

Ok one really neat experience was on Friday... I think... I don’t know the days are a blur, anyway, it was one of the days last week haha. But we were teaching the guy with the pet monkey, D. And we taught him about sacrament meeting to which he accepted to come ad then we talked about baptism and extended a baptism invitation to him to which he also accepted. I think he is happy and believes that his search for the truth is finally finished. So he accepted and we had a good close to a good simple lesson.

Then we started walking back and it was night and he was our last appointment. So we said goodbye to Gideon and there was this big diesel truck driving down the road we were walking on. So this road was a long road so we just jumped onto the back of the truck and hung on and leeched the ride. Hahaha it was so sweet, like real life Uncharted man haha. So we rode on the back all the way until the end of the road and hopped off ha the driver had no idea the whole time. And walked the rest of the way to our apartment.

M. was confirmed a member of the church so that was exciting! She is now officially a member! I’ll send pics of the baptism haha it went well. Man, she has so much faith. She is great.

So not much from this week. It was a normal week of spreading the gospel in Africa.

I'm sure crazy things happened this week but I cant think of any. Either they didn't happen or I'm just used to it now that the crazy things don't phase me anymore. idk, one of the two.

Love you all.

Week 40: Pregnancy Over

I've officially been out long enough that if someone was pregnant right when I left, the baby would have been born by now... 9 months is a long tI'me.

This week was really good. Haha, we found 8 new people to teach. Haha, we went to town on it man! Finding. Finding. Finding. Man. So we found some pretty great people. I’m actually in awe at it.

First one was this guy J., and his wife O.. Man, they were so nice. We just walked up and contacted them as they were sitting outside their house. We started talking and they let us share our message with them. We sat down on the classic wooden stools and shared the restoration with them. They got all excited and were talking about how it was a fulfillment of scripture and stuff like that. Man, it was really cool. So we are excited to talk to them again.

Next was even more unbelievable. We are walking from an appointment out in the middle of nowhere in our area and we see this monkey tied up to a guys banister in front of his house. And I’m like, “Woah! that’s a monkey!” (We never see stuff like that...just goats and chickens man.) So obviously we go and are taking pics of it and stuff and the owner comes out and starts talking to us. He was a cool guy who looks like a young Apollo Creed. stash and all haha. so I'm like ok, well, might as well talk to this guy. So I start talking about what we do as missionaries and he then starts talking about how he, for the past few years, has been searching endlessly for the truth. He had been going to all the churches and seeing what they teach and comparing it to the Bible and found that many of the churches were just searching for money and didn’t really care so much for doctrine. That they were performing "miracles" but really just scamming the members. He was telling us about it for like 30 mins haha. So we set up an appointment and met him the next day. He is very excited to pray and to read the Book of Mormon. So cool of an experience. I'm still in awe at this. This kind of thing is a complete miracle and he has a monkey, so that’s sweet also.

So we had transfers. Elder Clauson is gone... sad. But the new 2 guys in our apartment are way cool so it’s great and obedient to which I am so grateful. The feeling in the apartment has really changed a ton. It’s really nice. It has been a good change. Elder Manuel, the new District Leader is great. He is from Angola so he speaks Portugese and he also hears Spanish, so I was like sweet! It’s been a while since I've spoken any Spanish, so I go to speak Spanish and only Twi comes to my head. I cant speak any Spanish again man! Twi pe. Haha I go to say como estas and et te sen comes, I go to say  'y' for 'and' and just 'na' comes and then I try to speak French with Elder Essis and I'm all messed up now... plus my English is failing me... I'm going to sound like idiot when I come home... haha so yeah that is funny.

So all in all, my take away from this week is that the Lord is putting his elect in our path. It takes diligence and patience to earn the chance to meet them. (12 weeks of trying to earn it in this area.) So I'm grateful for the success finally. Very grateful.

Week 39: in french:nous mangous, or in twi: yen didi or in enlgish: lets eat!

So today, we were walking to come to the cafe and we were walking to the road side. A taxi flew by noticed that us white men (Obrunis) were walking toward the road so he slammed on the brakes and the car came this screeching halt and then reversed back down the road to us. Haha, we all started laughing haha cuz this taxi guy did not see white people walking to the road… he saw big money signs walking to the road. Haha white man=$$$$ to these people hahaha so funny.

Transfer news: Elder Clauson is leaving... sad. It’ll be sad to not have him around anymore. But it’s been a good 3 months ha so it's ok. Elder Essis has been cooking for me this past week. So nice. Like having a personal chef in the apartment. So nice man. Elder Essis is training also so that'll be interesting to have two trainees in the apartment. Also, Elder Campbell is improving and getting the hang of things a little more I think. So that’s good.

My Twi/Fanti is getting pretty good. I'm able to hold conversations with people and I can say most things now. So now it is just a matter of memorizing vocabulary. I’ve gotten really lazy with it all recently, but I think I'm gonna start up again so I can can be proficient in yelling at Eric and Caden in Twi. Also French. Planning on having like  a 45 min lesson with Elder Essis every night to learn French. So that’ll be cool. Excited for that. I love French. It’s so fun to speak.

Um...

Yeah I think that’s good for this week. Didn’t eat anything crazy... Winneba is not crazy food wise. Oh haha I’ve had more girls throw themselves at me the past two weeks than I have my whole life which is not saying much, but still :-). They are crazy here. One woman told me she wanted to marry me, this other girl was being all flirty to me... and this girl at a restaurant was trying to get me to dance with her. But to all of them I was like, woah girl, what you want? Pretty harsh but when the girl said, "lets dance" and started going crazy towards me I was like, "lets not." Haha made me think of Dumb and Dumber. “Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie. Let’s not.” Hahahaha. So yeah that was really funny. Don’t worry Mom, I’m safe. Even from these crazy women who want white husband. Ha. I'm waiting for my 10 cow woman when I get home. Hahaha.

Ok, that’s enough for this week. Do what you will with this email ha. That’s how it is.