From December 20, 2010: Teaching a Family

From December 20, 2010:  Well we found out that Elder Boyd would be leaving Teshie to become a Zone Leader in Adenta. He left the following day. The missionary who came to replace him is Elder Seroka from South Africa. He is really western compared to the majority of the Africans because he is used to the Western culture more than other Africans here. He said that they have the same fast food places and businesses we have in the states. While Elder Boyd will be missed, Elder Seroka is very easy going and wants to work hard.
 On Tuesday we had the mission Christmas conference. All of the missionaries in Accra (~150) came to together. It was nice to see everyone I know notably Elder Berry and Elder Cosper. Basically the conference consisted of some mission business, eating food, and a talent show. At the end is when Elder Boyd left and Elder Seroka came.
 Wednesday we met with Sammy Adje who works at a paint shop and was scheduled for baptism on Saturday. We were talking to him and he mentiond how his brother didn't want him to be living with him if he will be getting baptized into the church. He said he would talk to his brother about it and that we wanted to resolve the confusion by talking to him too. Later in the week we got a call from him saying that he wouldn't be getting baptized because he doesn't want to anger his brother. While it's not what Elder Orchard and I were expecting, we can't force him so we are hoping one day it will work out.
 On Thursday We met and taught a lady named Grace, her three children, and several other neighbor children. It has been great to meet some families and teach them how the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring them closer and how they can live together forever. Though the mother can read and speak English her children are much better than her so we are using them to help us. They are really smart and it was great to see them come to church on Sunday with everyone. Elder Orchard and I were talking about our goals in life and plans afterthe mission. One of the things we plan to do is go to some undeveloped area (natural forest, park,. . .) and just conect with ourselves. I want to bring some stuff to write on, my scriptures, a water filter, some food, a tent, and sleeping bag and just relax for a few days and then reenter society.
 On Saturday the apartment went to Mama Os and helped her paint her house. It was nice to change up the routine of our day, and she was very happy that we helped her. There was a baby naming party at the house during the time we were there so we got some food and drink as well.
 On Sunday there was a talk given on how we need to achieve financial freedom and how when we have money we become truly happy in life. I can see how the people feel this way, their lives are more challenging than the majority of first world citizens and with money they would be able to buy privilege like a house maid, a bigger house, a couch, carpet, a sound system, or tv. There were a few more educated people at the church that didn't agree because they see more of the bigger picture.  Money does bring an ease of life, but the things bought only create a temporary happiness and when the high fades, the person is left wanting more. The reason the people lack what they desire is that the majority of people are satisfied with any little gain they make. What separates them from the truly successful people here is that they are always striving for more. When the people do make money they tend not to save and instead work for the weekend and funerals. I was talking to someone about this and they agreed that if people would be more conscious about moving forward and striving for greater things aside from their provision store, then the condition of Ghana would be higher. They mentioned that the people in power are more interested in their own  interests than others which keeps the poor poorer and the rich richer.  These themes can be seen in our culture as well.
 After church we visited Grace and her family where they fed us bonku, pepper, and fried fish. We also visited a man who we have been teaching named Samuel Adjete. He has been coming to church and knows people there, so it's a good sign.

From December 13, 2010: Elders Quorum Move Ghana Style

From December 13, 2010:  On Tuesday the Nungua zone met for a meeting. There were 14 of us there. After, we all went to buy some pizza costing us $8GC. It was BOGO so Elder Orchard and I split the cost, (normally it's $16GC for one).
 On Wednesday we met with Prince and he started fielding some anti LDS questions he looked up online. We answered him and we eventually closed the lesson. He met with us the next day as well, doing the same thing so it was really frustrating. He came to church again though, so it's confusing.
 On Thursday the Zone went to help a family move their house. By this I mean we were going to pick up this house and move it several feet because it was on a small hill and the rain water comes up into the house. When we got there, we discovered that we had to dig the supports out from the ground in the mud. Our feet got really muddy with this mud that smelled like poop. Because the wood was rotten, the beams holding up the house kept breaking so we had to place cement blocks to get the house up. We eventually got the job done, but it was a lot harder than we thought it would be.
 On Friday we had Zone training. It was good to see the Zone again and I recevied some packages, one of them being a camelbak. I'm happy to use something of quality because all of my Ghanaian backpacks break after a few weeks.
 Saturday was a day where we had two meals given to us. The first came from a former investigator named Sister Charity. She searved us foufu with willie. Willie is somehow meat from a cow, but in reality it's just a slice of fat. After that we went to visit a member of the bishopric in Elder Boyd and Silika's ward. He searved us kenke which tasts like malt, which tastes like crap. In addition to that mixed with his pictures of the temple and church things we found porn next to his DVD player in which he responded to saying it was just a romance film.
 Sunday was really draining. Thankfully I had some water in my camelbak to drink from. The member Mary who fed us bonku a few weeks ago prepared it again with the money we gave her. She only gave us three small servings from the amout of money we gave her and we realized that she pocketed the money and took the extra food she didn't serve us and saved it. We later got ripped off taking the trotro home because they gave us a higher rate. Was more annoyed with Mary ripping us off though, because I would think that the members would have a little more dignity with us because they know us personally and know why we are here.
 We just were informed that Elder Boyd will be moving apartments and another Elder from South Africa will be taking his place.

From December 6, 2010: Cultural Differences, Bonku on Farmers Day

From December 6, 2010:  Well on Monday my apartment and the other missionaries in our zone (Elder Edgington, Larson, Maughn, and Farnes) came over to play American football. It was fun, but it was really draining on us. We were sore for the next few days. Our investigator Na is really solid and it's fun to talk to her. Elder Orchard and I have been working hard, but because we are keeping busy we are staying energized.
 On Thursday Elder Orchard and I were ordering food and we realized there was this boy who was deaf waiting for a line of 20+ people to leave so he could order. We were able to get him to the front of the line where he was able to order his food. It was humbling to see him because unlike the states where there are people to help people who are handicapped, here they are left to fend for themselves. That morning I woke up around three to people sweeping the compound and our neighbor scrubbing the gutter behind our room. I was talking to Elder Boyd about it and he said that the families in the compound have house servants (one of them was the girl scrubbing the gutter). He said that they are taken from the villages and the families look at it as a service to them because they bring them into the city to live in exchange for serving the family. After hearing this my respect for Ghana dropped a bit. Though people here in general have a harder life than me they spend their days sleeping and give up on projects when it becomes too hard for their lifestyle while they have servants to do their work for them. It seems like the culture is really the thing that is holding Ghana back.
 It was Farmers Day on Friday (kind of like Thanksgiving). We had a meal prepared by a family too. It was Bonku, pepper and fried egg with tomatoes and onion. it's my favorite meal here.
 On Saturday the two church wards (different meeting times) got together to compete for a Soccer game. Elder Orchard and I brought two investigators Nash and Prince who play football for some club teams. We (Teshie 2) ended up winning 5-2 thanks to our investigators. It was a lot of fun to watch the game and seeing the reactions from the crowd. While that was fun, there was a special needs girl who was there as well. Africans view them as people who did something to deserve their condition so they were bullying her and hitting her. The Americans were really upset so we took her to sit next to us.
 In addition to the game Elder Boyd hit his year mark in Ghana. We burned some old clothes of his and lit some fireworks too.

From November 29, 2010: Dinner, Baptism and Funeral

From November 29, 2010:  On Tuesday the sister missionaries Siter Udoh from Nigeria and Sister Oduro from Ghana got upset because they were told that they can't continue to teach the people they were seeing because they all lived in the other missionaries area (Missionaries are assigned to a designated area and are responsible for the people inside that area. The maturity from them is very low. Whenever something doesn't go as they would want it they pout for days. On Sunday they got upset because the four male missionaries in the district (a grouping of several areas given to a companionship), the ones I live with didn't sign their journal like everyone else. We didn't have much to write to them so we each wrote a few lines sideways and Elder Silika drew some block letters, and apparently this was a no no. On Wednesday the apartment was told that no one would be transferred to another area and will be here for a bit longer (each transfer lasts six weeks).
 Wednesday I hit my two month mark. The individual days in the week are long but the weeks in the months go by like a blur. In December the Mission is busy with meetings and holiday stuff so this month will go by fast.
 Thursday was Thanksgiving so the apartment made some mashed potatoes from the packaged potatoes Elder Boyd had. In addition we also bought some frozen french fries so we cooked that too. It was really good the first day, but the mashed potatoes the next two days weren't as good. All in all though like any other day here Thanksgiving just came and went.
 I feel that my teaching as developed a lot from when I got here and I'm excited to see how it will be when I'm done in Ghana. I'm excited to see how I have changed compared to who I was before I left the states. Anyway, Elder Orchard and I stopped by a members house looking for a person we have been teaching and she served us some fufuo. After we ate she also brought out an unopened bottle of Gin. Elder Orchard and I were a bit surprised because as members we don't drink. We took a picture of the meal, thanking her and left.
 On Friday Elder Boyd and I when on a split on my area (I went with Elder Boyd and Elder Orchard went with Elder Silika). We walked a lot trying to find our investigators,but it was fun spending the day with him.
 On Saturday Elder Orchard and I baptized Isaac Ofie. When we got to the church the baptisimal clothes were locked in a closet and because no church leadership was there because they traveled four hours to a funeral.  (Funerals, weddings and birthdays are excuses for Ghanaians to stop what they are doing and party. Last week a drunk lady at a funeral humped me as I was passing so that was fun). So we didn't have a key. Elder Orchard and I had to travel thirty minutes to the next ward to pick up other baptism clothes. We had the baptism in the end so it was good. Later that night there was a rain storm. Elder Orchard and I ran out of money so we walked/ran up to our apartment. we rapped our things in our bags in plastic bags so they didn't get wet, but we were soaked when we got to the apartment 40 minuets later. The lightning was really close too so it was interesting to see the night light up.

From November 22, 2010: Juju Men

From November 22, 2010:  The missionary Elder Boyd has recovered from his Malaria and is fine now. I stayed at the house on Tuesday with him so I cleaned, did some washing, read the scriptures and wrote some letters. It was nice to relax for a day, but I'm glad he is better because the time passes too slow in the house.
 From continuing the subject on Miss Ghana from last week Elder Orchard and I saw her on TV being interviewed and later at stake conference on on Sunday. Ya that's all I really have to say about her.
 On Monday The elders from the neighboring town stopped by to say hello. There names are Elder Prince and Elder Freeman. They are both from the US. And though I don't really see them due to them not being in our zone area, it was nice to see other missionaries.
On Wednesday the Elders in the house made this stew and named it B.O.S.H. (Boyd Orchard Silika Haggard). aside from the hamburger I had two weeks ago it was by far the best thing I have had here. There was chicken, onions, hot peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, eggs, garlic, seasonings, and something called ocro (it's a green vegetable). We had it with rice and it was delightful. If people want me to make them something from Africa I would make this because it's a party in ones mouth when eating, and it's the only thing people from home would really want to eat.
 Elder Orchard and I taught some sweet lessons to Sister Na with her brother Joseph listening in. They learned about what happens to us after we die. We also met this woman named Freda. She is by far the smartest person we have taught and the most prepared person for the gospel. Through her own research she agreed that something was missing from the doctrines she had known regarding the priesthood power and how the authority is passed down.
 The last few days were a bit different. Elder Orchard and I taught some homosexuals and an albino. The gays were fun to talk to and we found out that one of them was and investigator. The albino was interesting. We have seen him around Teshie before, but only at a distance. He has the same body type as a Ghanaian with super white skin. Elder Orchard and I talked about how the gays and the albino have it really rough here. Homosexuals are often looked down upon here and the albinos know they stand out from the rest of the people. Elder Orchard heard that there are people who have been known to cut off albino's heads and sell them to the Juju men (witch doctors). The people even with their Christian beliefs and seemingly common sense still convey their faith that black magic is real here, and while the devil does have power on Earth, these witch doctors seem to be outsmarting everyone here (being immune to bullets, sleeping in coffins and all that fun stuff).
  Oh, we also came across a Korean that lives near the Pakistanis, who we saw building another internet cafe. I don't know what really motivates them to come here. I figure that they think they can make it rich here bringing technology to Africa.

From November 15, 2010: Baptism, Burgers, "Shape" Beads, Malaria

From November 15, 2010:  On Tuesday Elder Boyd was sick so I stayed at the apartment with him. It was a very long day full of nothing to do. I washed laundry, dishes, cooked, cleaned my room, and wrote several letters.  On Wednesday Elder Orchard and I stopped at the "African" shop and I bought a few things. The best lessons we taught were with Josephine and Sister Na with her brother Peter. They are smart, excited and serious about our message. On Thursday the Nungua Zone went to the temple in Accra. It was fun to see some more familiar missionaries. After the temple we had interviews with the mission president. While I was there I picked up some letters that had come in too.
A little later Elder Boyd, Elder Silika, Elder Orchard and I went into the touristy part of Accra and stopped to eat at this place called Frankie's. It's an upscale restaurant here serving Western food. The four of us ordered hamburgers for 15GC. The food took away the realization that we are in Ghana. On Saturday we baptized Josephine into the Church and was confirmed the next day. She brought her mother as well and we will be teaching her too. It was great bringing her into the church because she has the ability to help the church really grow here. We also saw a 90% pure naked grandma walking on the road.  The only thing she was wearing was some waist beads that are used to give "shape". We have seen plenty of topless women of all ages and children with no pants either bathing, going to the bathroom outside or just walking around, but this was the first time seeing something like this.  It was quite an experience.
On Sunday the highlight was having the new Miss Ghana, who is a member of our ward, give her testimony on the Young Women values and how they helped her win the pageant. After her, her father got up to praise her and how she is a good example to the rest of Ghana being a member of the church. The apartment is trying to talk to the sister missionaries in our district on how they can't teach people out of their area. It hasn't been going very well because when we try to talk to them they start to pout and walk away from us. It's frustrating because the maturity is much lower here and we can't get the importance of how the church is run using geographic locations for a reason.
The apartment made no-bakes last night, and I have to say they were amazing. I figure that we will have to make some more sometime soon. Now referring back to elder Boyd being sick; we have determined that he has malaria. He started taking the medication yesterday and has two days left. He looks like he is just waiting to die. We were able to buy him some soda and he has been taking that. There has been some news that the mission was sold fake malaria medicine so he is using the new stuff , and hopefully he will recover quickly.

From November 8, 2010: Twi, General Conference and Spider-like Things

From November 8, 2010:  Well for an update on me: things are good here, still hot, but today isn't bad at all. We had a dinner at a member's house. They had a makeshift bench press and weights so I had some fun with that. They also had a gallon of ice cream for the four of us missionaries. For the meal itself we had rice cooked into a stew to give it a red color and a flavor.
I have been learning more Twi (the most used tribal language in Ghana). I have been able to order my meals in Twi and have short conversations with the people. The people where we eat love that we are becoming one with the culture and because I order and use the language, they give me twice the amount of food I order for no cost. My goal is to learn the sentence structure these next few weeks to help with the learning.
The work here is sweet.  It is tiring at night because we have been trying to find more people to teach. Because the investigators keep dropping appointments, we work to find people to teach. One of the spiritual parts of the week was contacting this family and finding out that the husband had a stroke the previous day so we gave the man a blessing and will go to see him tomorrow. While walking we saw a group of police here tearing down some buildings that were placed on government property that will be  used for a community center. There were many people watching. The police are more independent here.  They are rarely seen and they always have automatic rifles with them. We went back to the area the next day to see that the police left the rubble to be cleaned up by the people who owned the buildings. That kind of mentality is often seen here. The people do have harder lives than us, but they have a habit of giving up on what they are working on if it becomes a problem. I figure it's one of the reasons the country is third world.
General conference was shown at church on Sunday. There was about one ward (out of two wards equaling ~450 active members, I figure the wards equal to around 800 people). Many people left halfway through and the kids were just running loose outside. There was one who kept kicking, and biting us missionaries. No one really took it seriously because there were very few people who understood what was going on because of the speakers vocabulary and speed at which they talked. It was by far the most stressful Sunday I have ever had, but oh well.
Yesterday, Elder Jeff Boyd who lives in the same house as us tried to make popcorn with the kind that is used camping. The stove burned through the plastic and fire brokeout with the package. Elders Silika, his companion, helped smolder it. Elder Boyd and I also made some blueberry muffin mix using the stove (we don't have an oven, and the range is fueled with a propane tank. We recorded the event and it was a lot of fun. Elder Orchard (my companion) killed a spider like thing that was about four inches long. I realized that we don't have daylight savings time here so that's interesting.

From October 31, 2010: Carving Watermellons

From October 31, 2010:  The apartment carved watermellons for Halloween, and that was fun.  It got over 100 degrees here last week. The same night that we carved our mellons we slept outside. We were woken up at 12am with a rain storm and were able to bring our mattresses under the covering before it poured.

I have been trying to cook dinner and save money. I will have two eggs, onions, peppers, carrots and ramen for dinner for a long time considering there isn't any variety in diet here. Elder Orchard and I bought some stew ingredients so we have made that and it is very good.

The highlight of the week was when we were called by a member to give a blessing at 8am. We walked 20 minutes and she met us and started talking about her water tank. She sells its contents to the neighbors. We realized that she wanted us to bless her water tank with oil to bring people to buy the water. We were able to talk her out of that and only pray with her. Elder Orchard and I then walked back in the 80+ degrees and told the other missionaries what we went over there for.

From October 25, 2010: Proselyting on the Beach

From October 25, 2010: The missionary work is growing fast, though the retention rate isn't that great here.   Because of the poor education, people can have a hard time grasping the doctrine and why things are done in the wards (many of the members attend other wards though there records are in another because of their friends).

I got a letter from a friend from BYU-ID named Davey Runnels who will be serving a mission in Hungary.

The biggest thing that happend last week was Elder Orchard and I went down to the beach.  When I say beach I mean sand piled high with trash and the rivers or open sewers flowing with black water. It was fun though. There were Ghanaians offering to carry us across the river, showing how nice of a people they are. The beach was also full of fishing ships that were carved out of a tree trunk. On the way back we got lost and these boys dragging a dead pig showed us the way.  The next day we went to a different area on the beach only to find where the fishermen live. All of these people were high and looking to rob us of our money. We were lucky to talk them out of anything and give them pamphlets on the church.

I recently have had a few wonderful conversations with boys about if I have any sisters and their ages. It is clear that almost every Ghanaian would do anything to wed a white girl. Saying that, if Grace and her friends aren't having any luck with boys in the states they wouldn't have a problem finding anyone here. Another great thing here is that because everything can be sold on the streets I have been able, with the help of Elder Orchard, to reduce the price of the food we buy. There isn't much to eat here so we bought a jar of Smuckers costing around $12 (converted from their Ghanaian Cedi).

I almost forgot to tell you another story -  we passed a church one night speaking in tounges.  It was a little weird.  I'm glad we are LDS.  You have no idea how lucky we are to be members. Think of it this way, out of everyone that has lived on Earth ever we are one family out of the 15 million members on Earth at the moment and even less of those members are children of record.

More From October 25, 2010: Shower Ghana Style

From October 25, 2010: I forgot to tell you that I took my first shower from the lack of water on Wednesday (10/20) because there was a rain storm outside so we took our shower then.  We had water that night when we got back to the apartment.

From October 18, 2010: First Post From Ghana!; Loving the Country and Feeling Super Spiritual

From October 18, 2010: I'm doing good. I am loving the country. I am feeling super spiritual. My companion is from Utah. As far as Africa goes it's a typical third world country with all of the markets and open sewers. Where we live has running water and the sink is filtered. We ran out of water though today (Monday 10/18) and won't get anymore until Wednesday, that means no showers and the only way we can flush is by dumping water into the bowl. I also live with another companionship. The trainer is from Utah and the other missionary is the one from New Zealand.
I have taken some pictures and I will bring my cord to upload on the computer next week. The letters I send and receive here take longer to get to me because after they arrive at the mission home they take a few weeks to work down the chain of command to me. 
The weather is super hot with high humidity in the town of Teshi (where I live for a few months). I have gotten used to it though so I am getting used to the sweat. I am tired, but I'm having fun. The food is good if you like rice, a strong rotting fish smell, chicken and eggs. There is this thing called Fufu and bonku. It's basically soup with this ball of dough you dip in the soup and eat it with. I am having fun buying what I want at the markets and negotiating the prices (they mark up for white people). There are tons of knockoffs for soccer jerseys and shoes so I will get some before I go. There is a nice man who owns an "African shop" So I will get some of that and try to send some stuff home too.
I have learned some Twi (a native language):
Abonsam Fi ha Co = Get away demon.
Moonsew me unshay = Stop tempting me.

Preparing to leave

I am almost all set to go at this point. I am going to get a suitcase and some socks today, other than that I have everything I need. I think I am going to box more stuff that I wont be taking with me for when I return. I found out that my plane from New York to Ghana will take eleven hours an ten minutes. That doesn't even include the time from getting on the plane from Chicago to New York.