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.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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