From May 23, 2011:
Well on Monday Elder Chambers was informed that he would be leaving Alajo and be sent to Teshie (the area I had previously served in) that day making another emergency transfer. My new companion is Elder Moses. Elder Moses is 27 and from Sierra Lieon (however it's spelled). I came to find that while Elder Moses was in Teshie serving with an Elder Wardle from Wilsonvile, Oregon they had done some things contrary to the mission outline and eventually frustrated the landlord that he called the mission president with his complaints so as a result all of the four missionaries in the apartment were transferred out. Oh and Elder Moses has been on his mission for 18 months.
Elder Moses and I were at our investigators Helena and Stephen on Wednesday when they turned on the TV to watch some religious music videos. I found them very unappealing with their claiming to be religious artists because I was not able to feel uplifted with the heavy rapping and metal rock melodies.
Thursday was a rainy day and as result we walked for half the day and got our bikes later. The rainy season is here so it drives the temperature down making the Ghana sun more bearable. I think the rain will stop in a month or two so it will get hot again.
On Friday Elder Moses claimed it was too hot to go out to teach at 10 and wanted to know if I would want to stay inside for a bit while the sun reduced. We left on time, but | do find it interesting that everyone in Ghana says it's too hot, while the Westerners do go out the Africans tend to not want to go outside.
Our investigator, Helena was in a depressed mood when we came by on Saturday so we spent some time visiting with her and helped cook some rice and stew with her. it was fun cooking and cleaning the dishes. I find washing peoples clothes and dishes much more fun than some other stuff we do here. Helena came to church too on Sunday so that was good. I have come to realize that while my washing for people creates laughs and opens people up to our message if I do it too much the other natives around may judge the people we are providing service for because I am a visitor and according to them manual work isn't good for me to do. While I can understand that I am a visitor in the country, I'm not a fan of people telling me that I can't do manual service like wash, cook, and clean because I am white.
On Sunday I went on a split with the Zone Leader, Elder Thomas to the Newtown area for him to do baptisim interviews so I had fun seeing a different area of Accra.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
From May 16, 2011: Mom is FINALLY Back in the Posting Saddle!!!; Waayke; Eating, Eating, Eating.....; Not So Reverent Sacrament Meeting
From May 16, 2011
Monday was a good day with Elder Chambers, and it has been fun to serve with him. While I was waiting for him to finish emailing I was having a lot of fun watching the person next to me in the cafe. It was this male a bit older than me in some chat room with a woman who had a web camera. The woman was a large build in her mid to late 50s. If that wasn't captivating enough the man was copying and pasting love quotes from another web page to the chat box and the correspondence was basically the ridiculous stereotypical stuff said in chat rooms by people who develop the addiction of chatting to people online. I found it sad that there are people in the world that spend their whole free time online speaking and developing relationships with people they have never met rather than to go interact with people on a healthy social level.
Tuesday is the scheduled transfer notification day and we were informed that Elder Hunsaker will be leaving and replaced with Elder Mutuku from Kenya. Elder Mutuku has been in Ghana for just over 13 months. Elder Mutuku and I were in the same zone when I served in Teshie with Elder Orchard. He is a good guy. For Elder Chambers, he is from Columbus Ohio. He has been in Ghana for a year and a half, graduated from high school in 2008 and attended a year of BYU before he came on his mission.
Elder Mutuku came on Wednesday. Elder Chambers and I also were able to teach a man named Aramah who is dealing with removing alcohol from his life. He said he was able to go to a funeral and not take a drink. He was very excited about his ability to resist and said he was fully committed to being baptized. It was sweet seeing him so excited about his ability to resist drinking and to see the progress he is making.
Saturday Elder Chambers and I went to a woman in the ward for her to teach us how to make waakye. Waakye is basically beans and rice cooked together and then eaten with peppe. I plan to try and make it. I figure it will be another thing I can actually cook at home when people want something African to eat. When we got back to the apartment from cooking it started to rain hindering the ability to see our scheduled appointments. Elder Chambers and I had a lot of fun walking through the rain though. After the rain stopped we went to our investigators named Steven and Helina. When we go and teach them they always feed us rice with some stew. It is very good food, but they always make too much rice. The meal starts with us four eating, but soon the wife becomes full and several minutes later so does the husband. As a result Elder Chambers and I are then forced to eat the remaining portion as we are much too satisfied and are resisting the urge to vomit. It's frustrating to have the couple keep preparing the same quantity of rice when we all know that even though Steven says we can always stop eating, he expects us to finish the food. Oh well, in reality it isn't a bad thing at all except when we are at the point of bursting with rice. Another thing I had thought about was the life style of married people here. The wife will be the sole one washing, cooking, and cleaning while the husband sits in a chair. As a result I like to help whoever is doing chores even though more often than not it requires me being tricky to help. I look forward to the chance of returning home and helping in the house I live in. I like to clean.
For Sunday we had investigators at church which was nice. There was a baby running around during sacrament meeting and eventually made his way to the sacrament table, pulling off the cover and causing the trays to fall on the ground during a talk which wasn't nice.
Monday was a good day with Elder Chambers, and it has been fun to serve with him. While I was waiting for him to finish emailing I was having a lot of fun watching the person next to me in the cafe. It was this male a bit older than me in some chat room with a woman who had a web camera. The woman was a large build in her mid to late 50s. If that wasn't captivating enough the man was copying and pasting love quotes from another web page to the chat box and the correspondence was basically the ridiculous stereotypical stuff said in chat rooms by people who develop the addiction of chatting to people online. I found it sad that there are people in the world that spend their whole free time online speaking and developing relationships with people they have never met rather than to go interact with people on a healthy social level.
Tuesday is the scheduled transfer notification day and we were informed that Elder Hunsaker will be leaving and replaced with Elder Mutuku from Kenya. Elder Mutuku has been in Ghana for just over 13 months. Elder Mutuku and I were in the same zone when I served in Teshie with Elder Orchard. He is a good guy. For Elder Chambers, he is from Columbus Ohio. He has been in Ghana for a year and a half, graduated from high school in 2008 and attended a year of BYU before he came on his mission.
Elder Mutuku came on Wednesday. Elder Chambers and I also were able to teach a man named Aramah who is dealing with removing alcohol from his life. He said he was able to go to a funeral and not take a drink. He was very excited about his ability to resist and said he was fully committed to being baptized. It was sweet seeing him so excited about his ability to resist drinking and to see the progress he is making.
Saturday Elder Chambers and I went to a woman in the ward for her to teach us how to make waakye. Waakye is basically beans and rice cooked together and then eaten with peppe. I plan to try and make it. I figure it will be another thing I can actually cook at home when people want something African to eat. When we got back to the apartment from cooking it started to rain hindering the ability to see our scheduled appointments. Elder Chambers and I had a lot of fun walking through the rain though. After the rain stopped we went to our investigators named Steven and Helina. When we go and teach them they always feed us rice with some stew. It is very good food, but they always make too much rice. The meal starts with us four eating, but soon the wife becomes full and several minutes later so does the husband. As a result Elder Chambers and I are then forced to eat the remaining portion as we are much too satisfied and are resisting the urge to vomit. It's frustrating to have the couple keep preparing the same quantity of rice when we all know that even though Steven says we can always stop eating, he expects us to finish the food. Oh well, in reality it isn't a bad thing at all except when we are at the point of bursting with rice. Another thing I had thought about was the life style of married people here. The wife will be the sole one washing, cooking, and cleaning while the husband sits in a chair. As a result I like to help whoever is doing chores even though more often than not it requires me being tricky to help. I look forward to the chance of returning home and helping in the house I live in. I like to clean.
For Sunday we had investigators at church which was nice. There was a baby running around during sacrament meeting and eventually made his way to the sacrament table, pulling off the cover and causing the trays to fall on the ground during a talk which wasn't nice.
Monday, July 18, 2011
From May 9, 2011: News Bin Laden; Praise for Old Spice; Mother's Day Call; Transfer to Alajo
From May 9, 2011: Monday we were at the cafe and found out that Bin Laden was killed so that was very interesting news to receive. I saw some pictures of people celebrating the death. It was a much needed boost of the United States. One thing I realized is that we delighted in the shedding of blood - a bad sign that is highlighted in the scriptures. Regardless of that I was quite excited after hearing the news. Before the cafe the apartment went into Accra. Elder Nielsen will be going home this Wednesday so he was taking this Monday to buy stuff. It was fun to be in the culture of Ghana.
Tuesday Elder Nielsen came with me on a split to interview four people that were baptized on Saturday. On the split we stopped at a place that makes soft serve ice cream which was quite refreshing and topped off the pizza we had earlier that day. The Western food is hard to find and very expensive, but it was a nice treat. When Elder Nielsen was interviewing our investigators for baptism I sold pure water on my head making some money for the shop woman. The people always notice a white person selling things so it's a fun situation.
On Wednesday we were given our phone card to all home. Last call we were given 6GHC, but were given 5 GHC this time and because I had made up my mind to only use the given amount like we are supposed to. I was a bit bitter for the reduced time, but oh well. The call was a bit of a hassle at first, but we only call home twice a year so a call is a call. -I wanted to take this time to give credit to the Oldspice deodorant I have been using I had previously been using speed stick and it just wasn't cutting it because half way through the day the effectiveness would fade and be replaced with the stench of Africa. The Oldspice is great because the smell of greatness lasts all day repelling the smell of Africa all day.
Thursday Elder Gagnon and I went to the Anno's house to visit with the grandfather and work in the Gospel in the visit. We found out that he has never read the Book Of Mormon so we committed him to do so. Elder Bills also came over for a split sending Elder Nielsen to Odorkor for the day. He mentioned that I have lost weight from the time I went on a split in his area last transfer so I was happy about that. I found some resistance bands yesterday so I used them today. I figure the little exercise I can do here will eventually add up to something.
I was informed on Friday by our mission president that he needs me to switch areas with another Elder that day, four days before the scheduled transfer day. I am now in an area called Alajo closer to central Accra. My new companion's name is Elder Elder Bradford Chambers. He is from Columbus Ohio and is the eldest of eight children. In the apartment there is another companionship. Their names are Elder Hunsaker from Utah and Elder Titus from Nigeria. Elder Chambers is my fourth companion and my fourth American.
Saturday was my first full day in Alajo. most of the roads are paved and the cars are more aware of us on bikes. I feel that the area will be good. The transition will take a few days, but so far it's very good.
Sunday was fast and testimony Sunday as well as Mother's day so as mentioned before we missionaries called home so that was nice.
Tuesday Elder Nielsen came with me on a split to interview four people that were baptized on Saturday. On the split we stopped at a place that makes soft serve ice cream which was quite refreshing and topped off the pizza we had earlier that day. The Western food is hard to find and very expensive, but it was a nice treat. When Elder Nielsen was interviewing our investigators for baptism I sold pure water on my head making some money for the shop woman. The people always notice a white person selling things so it's a fun situation.
On Wednesday we were given our phone card to all home. Last call we were given 6GHC, but were given 5 GHC this time and because I had made up my mind to only use the given amount like we are supposed to. I was a bit bitter for the reduced time, but oh well. The call was a bit of a hassle at first, but we only call home twice a year so a call is a call. -I wanted to take this time to give credit to the Oldspice deodorant I have been using I had previously been using speed stick and it just wasn't cutting it because half way through the day the effectiveness would fade and be replaced with the stench of Africa. The Oldspice is great because the smell of greatness lasts all day repelling the smell of Africa all day.
Thursday Elder Gagnon and I went to the Anno's house to visit with the grandfather and work in the Gospel in the visit. We found out that he has never read the Book Of Mormon so we committed him to do so. Elder Bills also came over for a split sending Elder Nielsen to Odorkor for the day. He mentioned that I have lost weight from the time I went on a split in his area last transfer so I was happy about that. I found some resistance bands yesterday so I used them today. I figure the little exercise I can do here will eventually add up to something.
I was informed on Friday by our mission president that he needs me to switch areas with another Elder that day, four days before the scheduled transfer day. I am now in an area called Alajo closer to central Accra. My new companion's name is Elder Elder Bradford Chambers. He is from Columbus Ohio and is the eldest of eight children. In the apartment there is another companionship. Their names are Elder Hunsaker from Utah and Elder Titus from Nigeria. Elder Chambers is my fourth companion and my fourth American.
Saturday was my first full day in Alajo. most of the roads are paved and the cars are more aware of us on bikes. I feel that the area will be good. The transition will take a few days, but so far it's very good.
Sunday was fast and testimony Sunday as well as Mother's day so as mentioned before we missionaries called home so that was nice.
From May 2, 2011: The Worst Smell of my Entire Life; Naked vs Partially Naked; Fathers; Ghana's Government; Conference
From May 2, 2011: Wednesday started off great! Elder Gagnon and I started our day by going out to our investigator, Michael Sarpong and on the way to pick a tro tro we passed a sewer waste collection truck. It was working on extracting rotting feces from a place we pass everyday accompanied with it's usual foul smell. On this occasion the removal of such things created the worst smell I have ever come in contact with in my entire life. I resorted to only breathing though my mouth, but was still able to smell it. We went to the main road, looking for a car, we passed a fully naked man sitting on the side of the road making the number of fully naked adults 2. (There are too many partially naked people here to count.) Shortly after we saw a man wearing a BYU shirt and a tro tro that had a decal "Bobastic" on the windshield making it a great morning.
Thursday we visited The Aboagye family. Brother Aboagye ended up talking to us for an hour on how the eldest son doesn't want to listen to the advice the father gives him because he wants to make money in life and father is very poor. It was an interesting conversation and I likened it to my family. My father has always gave us financial and personal advice, but because of our pride with judging how is life is currently we shun his attempts to connect with us and develop a better bond. Looking back I have a lot of empathy towards my father who is single, and trying to make his way in life, but like Jonathan Aboagye my siblings and I don't acknowledge his hand reaching out to us. We all have challenges in life so we can never compare another life to ours. When I go home I hope that I will be able to rebuild my relationship with my father. Looking back all of my knowledge of him is a little before my parents were married, during the time when they were and some portions here and there after they divorced. I figure the best way for that to happen is to start to learn more about each other and develop true friend relationship.
Saturday Elder Gagnon and I went to visit this wealthy family in our ward named the Annors. The compound is owned by the grandparents. The grandfather, who is one of the few members of the family who is not a member, used to be an assistant Governor in some place in Ghana and worked for the Bank Of England and the Bank Of Ghana. The compound itself was made up of three large houses with around five cars. They also had a lawn mower. The grandchildren who live in the place are quite unaware how great they have it in Ghana. There are a few people in the country that are this wealthy, but for the majority of people here there living situation here can't compare to people back in the states. They are a great family and it was a great opportunity to visit with them. Before we left they served us warm banana bread so that was great. When we left the house we went down to a woman we have been teaching that sells coal where she served us beans and plantain making it a tasty meal and bringing us back into real Ghana. Later that night we were collecting Abigail Yenfo's information for baptism when we were trying to spell her name. She proceeds to get three Official documents of Ghana where the spelling was different for each one. I felt like the experience summed up the functionality of Ghana's government. It takes forever to get something done in the public sector and when there is something planned the government official in sectors such as the post office, the electric, water and other various offices request a bribe before the item is processed.
Sunday was a good day as well. The ward had their recorded viewing of General Conference so we traveled to another larger church building to bring the wards in one place. it was a pleasant surprise to have seven investigators at church because of the extended travel time and cost to get to the other building. The conference here is watched as a recording and the presiding athority determines what blocks of conference to watch. As result we watched the Saturday afternoon two hour block and the Sunday morning block back to back making church four hours. For the Saturday block we watch the BYU-Idaho choir sing getting me excited to return and go back to school. I think I saw a guy I worked with in the choir as well. There were other missionaries there from the surrounding areas as well so I was able to meet up with my trainer, Elder Orchard. It was fun to talk to him about life and such.
Thursday we visited The Aboagye family. Brother Aboagye ended up talking to us for an hour on how the eldest son doesn't want to listen to the advice the father gives him because he wants to make money in life and father is very poor. It was an interesting conversation and I likened it to my family. My father has always gave us financial and personal advice, but because of our pride with judging how is life is currently we shun his attempts to connect with us and develop a better bond. Looking back I have a lot of empathy towards my father who is single, and trying to make his way in life, but like Jonathan Aboagye my siblings and I don't acknowledge his hand reaching out to us. We all have challenges in life so we can never compare another life to ours. When I go home I hope that I will be able to rebuild my relationship with my father. Looking back all of my knowledge of him is a little before my parents were married, during the time when they were and some portions here and there after they divorced. I figure the best way for that to happen is to start to learn more about each other and develop true friend relationship.
Saturday Elder Gagnon and I went to visit this wealthy family in our ward named the Annors. The compound is owned by the grandparents. The grandfather, who is one of the few members of the family who is not a member, used to be an assistant Governor in some place in Ghana and worked for the Bank Of England and the Bank Of Ghana. The compound itself was made up of three large houses with around five cars. They also had a lawn mower. The grandchildren who live in the place are quite unaware how great they have it in Ghana. There are a few people in the country that are this wealthy, but for the majority of people here there living situation here can't compare to people back in the states. They are a great family and it was a great opportunity to visit with them. Before we left they served us warm banana bread so that was great. When we left the house we went down to a woman we have been teaching that sells coal where she served us beans and plantain making it a tasty meal and bringing us back into real Ghana. Later that night we were collecting Abigail Yenfo's information for baptism when we were trying to spell her name. She proceeds to get three Official documents of Ghana where the spelling was different for each one. I felt like the experience summed up the functionality of Ghana's government. It takes forever to get something done in the public sector and when there is something planned the government official in sectors such as the post office, the electric, water and other various offices request a bribe before the item is processed.
Sunday was a good day as well. The ward had their recorded viewing of General Conference so we traveled to another larger church building to bring the wards in one place. it was a pleasant surprise to have seven investigators at church because of the extended travel time and cost to get to the other building. The conference here is watched as a recording and the presiding athority determines what blocks of conference to watch. As result we watched the Saturday afternoon two hour block and the Sunday morning block back to back making church four hours. For the Saturday block we watch the BYU-Idaho choir sing getting me excited to return and go back to school. I think I saw a guy I worked with in the choir as well. There were other missionaries there from the surrounding areas as well so I was able to meet up with my trainer, Elder Orchard. It was fun to talk to him about life and such.
From April 25, 2011: Lots of Investigators; Bonku
From April 25, 2011: On Monday we went to visit a man named Michael Sarpong. He has family in the states and Europe. He is a smart guy and it had been great to meet with him. He may be moving to Dubai for several months long work thing, but if not we will be able to baptize him in a few weeks.
Tuesday was fine, nothing much happened. Richard Quarshie was able to meet with us and we were talking about the church. He said he knows the church is true, but won't visit because he doesn't know how he will leave his old church without the pastor getting upset. Later in the day we were also able to teach a cluster of guys, one happening to be an assistaint pastor. He is in the Apostolic Church and while we didn't know how he would take our message he was interested and was open to us meeting him. We ended up giving him a Book Of Mormon too. I had a lot of respect for him because we were able to have a friendly gospel disscusion where he wasn't trying to be contentous.
Wednesday we were able to meet with our investigator, Nero. Nero was working at his barber shop and he was watching Mama Mia! . He said he had watched it several times before when he was at his shop. In Ghana there are Ghanaian movies which highight tribal Africa and black majic. There are also Nigerian movies which focus on armed robbers, guns and girls. Lastly the people really enjoy American movies. Most of the ones here are focousing on white girls doing what white girls do or action genre movies.
Thursday Elder Gagnon and I ment with a Nigerian, Morris Brown. The Nigerians here are looked down upon by the Ghanians for their stereotypical personality to be internet frauders. The normal Nigerian without and actual job has to struggle to survive because people are not as willing to give them jobs and such. Morris a painter is experiencing this problem. He lives in a one or two room house with six other Nigerians trying to scrape by. I think at the end of the day he may go back to Nigeria. Anyway, on this occasion with Morris he apparently hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours and he asked us for some money. I ended up having to give him 1GHC (a Cedi can last one or two meals here). He also had us pay for his tro tro fare because he didn't have money. Elder Gagnon and I wont be giving him anymore money so we will have to talk about that with him. We are hoping he can get work soon. I have been confused with the whole situation though because he apparently spends all day looking for work, but he hasn't been compelled to sell snacks or water to people on the roads (they are called traders and are basically a walking vendor) which is what many people do here to earn some sort of money.
Well on Friday Elder Gagnon and I ended up getting lost and ended up deep in another missionary companions area. I received an Easter themed package with some Twi books as well so thank you mother for that. The candy and jerkey was great. Don't worry I shared the food with the other missionaries in the apartment.
On Saturday we taught a man who is friends with Rastafarians by a river under some mago trees. It was an interesting experience. Later in the night it started raining, but we were able to get to our investigators Comfort and Emmanuela's not getting too wet. They served us some Bonku with some really oily stew with fish, Willie ( sections of fatty pork skin) and some intestine. At the end of the meal they served us home made icecream. Ice cream is very expensive here so it was quite a suprise.
Sunday was Easter and we had 8 investigators at church with three others coming for the first time.
For Easter in Ghana there is an influx of "all night worship services" lasting for as the title says all night. For the ward there wasn't a single talk or lesson I heard about Easter itself. The opening talk was a girl reading word for word the Law Of Chastity forn in the Gospel Principle Book. The best talk was from the high counselor about the traditions of Ghana that shouldn't be practiced, namely Bride Price (think of Johnny Lingo)
Tuesday was fine, nothing much happened. Richard Quarshie was able to meet with us and we were talking about the church. He said he knows the church is true, but won't visit because he doesn't know how he will leave his old church without the pastor getting upset. Later in the day we were also able to teach a cluster of guys, one happening to be an assistaint pastor. He is in the Apostolic Church and while we didn't know how he would take our message he was interested and was open to us meeting him. We ended up giving him a Book Of Mormon too. I had a lot of respect for him because we were able to have a friendly gospel disscusion where he wasn't trying to be contentous.
Wednesday we were able to meet with our investigator, Nero. Nero was working at his barber shop and he was watching Mama Mia! . He said he had watched it several times before when he was at his shop. In Ghana there are Ghanaian movies which highight tribal Africa and black majic. There are also Nigerian movies which focus on armed robbers, guns and girls. Lastly the people really enjoy American movies. Most of the ones here are focousing on white girls doing what white girls do or action genre movies.
Thursday Elder Gagnon and I ment with a Nigerian, Morris Brown. The Nigerians here are looked down upon by the Ghanians for their stereotypical personality to be internet frauders. The normal Nigerian without and actual job has to struggle to survive because people are not as willing to give them jobs and such. Morris a painter is experiencing this problem. He lives in a one or two room house with six other Nigerians trying to scrape by. I think at the end of the day he may go back to Nigeria. Anyway, on this occasion with Morris he apparently hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours and he asked us for some money. I ended up having to give him 1GHC (a Cedi can last one or two meals here). He also had us pay for his tro tro fare because he didn't have money. Elder Gagnon and I wont be giving him anymore money so we will have to talk about that with him. We are hoping he can get work soon. I have been confused with the whole situation though because he apparently spends all day looking for work, but he hasn't been compelled to sell snacks or water to people on the roads (they are called traders and are basically a walking vendor) which is what many people do here to earn some sort of money.
Well on Friday Elder Gagnon and I ended up getting lost and ended up deep in another missionary companions area. I received an Easter themed package with some Twi books as well so thank you mother for that. The candy and jerkey was great. Don't worry I shared the food with the other missionaries in the apartment.
On Saturday we taught a man who is friends with Rastafarians by a river under some mago trees. It was an interesting experience. Later in the night it started raining, but we were able to get to our investigators Comfort and Emmanuela's not getting too wet. They served us some Bonku with some really oily stew with fish, Willie ( sections of fatty pork skin) and some intestine. At the end of the meal they served us home made icecream. Ice cream is very expensive here so it was quite a suprise.
Sunday was Easter and we had 8 investigators at church with three others coming for the first time.
For Easter in Ghana there is an influx of "all night worship services" lasting for as the title says all night. For the ward there wasn't a single talk or lesson I heard about Easter itself. The opening talk was a girl reading word for word the Law Of Chastity forn in the Gospel Principle Book. The best talk was from the high counselor about the traditions of Ghana that shouldn't be practiced, namely Bride Price (think of Johnny Lingo)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
From April 18, 2011: Missionaries released from prison!; Power outages; Michael seeks out the church
From April 18, 2011: On Monday the apartment went to the Art Market. The market consists of what a person thinks of when they think Africa culture. I bought some bamboo bracelets and necklaces as well as a mask and a panting. The shop keepers drive up the prices. Thankfully we have been living in the African environment so we know what the prices should actually be and then negotiate down. There were some other white people there from Holland and some students and professors from Utah State and I'm sure they got ripped off. In the mind of a person still used to the cost of living in a first world country the prices at the market still sound like an okay deal, but because the standard of living is much lower here so are the cost of things so when we come across an item sold in the states with the inflated "American Quality" price, it gets expensive (25GHC for a bottle of face wash).
On Tuesday the McCarthy Zone (A Zone is comprised of a number of districts which is comprised of several areas each worked b attended the Temple so that was a refreshing experience. As a mission we used to go every three months, but now it has been changed to every six which is too bad.
On Wednesday Elder Gagnon and I visited some members, the Mensahs. They are an educated family with a son on a mission. I enjoy socializing with the members because we get more of the culture and it earns their trust which we need as missionaries.
Thursday we were notified that Elder Keeng and Elder Omale were released from prison after the judge of the retrial acknowledged that the original judge was biased and bribed to rule in favor of the prosecution.
Friday Elder Gagnon and I were visiting our investigator, Mercy. Mercy told us a dream she wanted us to interpret: she was in a field containing onions as far as she could see-- that's it. Elder Gagnon and I were expecting a bit more ourselves and were suprised that it was the end of the dream. In Ghana there is a lot of emphasis on dreams and what they mean.
On Saturday we met a man named Michael that called us wanting to meet with us. We found his house and he told us that he had met with missionaries from the church over a year ago and had some of the books we give out. He had been reading them frequently and decided it was time to get in contact again. It was a highlight to the week because it had gone downhill after the temple. From the experience I learned that while we won't baptize many of the people we teach here, there will be many people in their own time like Michael that will be more ready after they have let the message sit and develop over the course of their life. We extended a date to Michael and he came to church the next day where he said he felt at home.
On Sunday the power was still out from the previous night making the night hot and uncomfortable. It was a bit discouraging for us because we had rain last week and power outage this. The reason for this is when there is rain the people don't go out and if there is no light and something like church the attendance is lower because they are unable to iron their clothes and don't like to go to church with wrinkles. However the light was only out in our area so our investigators still came to church. After church we visited our investigators, Comfort and Emmanuela who were watching The Legend Of The Seeker. For some reason the people here really love the show, all of the movies here are pirated from China with 16 different movies on a single disk. Comfort and Emmaluela fed us before a short lesson. When we returned home the light came on, but went out again because of a big rain storm that brought a nice cool front in. The light came back on before we went to bed which was nice.
On Tuesday the McCarthy Zone (A Zone is comprised of a number of districts which is comprised of several areas each worked b attended the Temple so that was a refreshing experience. As a mission we used to go every three months, but now it has been changed to every six which is too bad.
On Wednesday Elder Gagnon and I visited some members, the Mensahs. They are an educated family with a son on a mission. I enjoy socializing with the members because we get more of the culture and it earns their trust which we need as missionaries.
Thursday we were notified that Elder Keeng and Elder Omale were released from prison after the judge of the retrial acknowledged that the original judge was biased and bribed to rule in favor of the prosecution.
Friday Elder Gagnon and I were visiting our investigator, Mercy. Mercy told us a dream she wanted us to interpret: she was in a field containing onions as far as she could see-- that's it. Elder Gagnon and I were expecting a bit more ourselves and were suprised that it was the end of the dream. In Ghana there is a lot of emphasis on dreams and what they mean.
On Saturday we met a man named Michael that called us wanting to meet with us. We found his house and he told us that he had met with missionaries from the church over a year ago and had some of the books we give out. He had been reading them frequently and decided it was time to get in contact again. It was a highlight to the week because it had gone downhill after the temple. From the experience I learned that while we won't baptize many of the people we teach here, there will be many people in their own time like Michael that will be more ready after they have let the message sit and develop over the course of their life. We extended a date to Michael and he came to church the next day where he said he felt at home.
On Sunday the power was still out from the previous night making the night hot and uncomfortable. It was a bit discouraging for us because we had rain last week and power outage this. The reason for this is when there is rain the people don't go out and if there is no light and something like church the attendance is lower because they are unable to iron their clothes and don't like to go to church with wrinkles. However the light was only out in our area so our investigators still came to church. After church we visited our investigators, Comfort and Emmanuela who were watching The Legend Of The Seeker. For some reason the people here really love the show, all of the movies here are pirated from China with 16 different movies on a single disk. Comfort and Emmaluela fed us before a short lesson. When we returned home the light came on, but went out again because of a big rain storm that brought a nice cool front in. The light came back on before we went to bed which was nice.
From April 11, 2011: Getting hotter; cooking skills
From April 11, 2011: Well on Monday I checked my emails at night due to several power outages. Elder Gagnon and I spent time talking to the owner of the cafe, George. George is a fat middle 20s Ghanaian who has lived in several places in the states for periods of time. George gave us some snacks and we had fun talking to each other because he has a Western personality. On another note I got some exercise equipment from another missionary so it has motivated me to work out again. My goal is to be able to identify that I have lost some weight by the end of the month. I figure it will take a lot of effort and time, but I do have a year and a half left.
On Tuesday we met with the member, Isaac Ahenie and his muslim wife trying to convert to the church, Furella. Because of the Muslim culture to stay in the religion or face reproductions from the family such a separation, physical abuse, severance of body parts, or death we don't teach a Muslim unless there won't be problems. For the three months I have known Isaac I thought his Christian faith was known to his wife's parents. However he told us on Tuesday that when his wife's parents come to visit he goes to the Mosque pretending to be Muslim to keep his Christianity as a secret. It was eye opening to see Isaac go great lengths to protect his secret.
Wednesday was when I made a stew of some sort to eat with my Indomie (top ramen). The first apartment I was in didn't cook so I was use to eating out more. While I have been in the McCarthy Hills area I am working on developing more cooking skills. I figure it will pay off.
On Thursday it was really hot. It has been getting progressively hotter which hasn't been much fun. I felt the sun developed an agitated state that day so I wrote down in the journal how the locals treat us. The majority of people are friendly to us asking us various "white man questions" and speak Twi to us for them to get a response from us. There are some instances though where we are served last in a line or charged more for what is sold in a shop because we are white. It is an interesting form of racism I guess.
On Friday, like Thursday it was really hot. The only notable thing I wrote down is that Elder Gagnon and I passed a woman peeing in the road.
Saturday was Elder Gagnon's year mark in Ghana. We had a baptism for Samuel Aboagye (14) who is a member of the Aboagye family baptized earlier. After the baptism we went to Shoprite to buy some food to celebrate his year mark.
Sunday it rained before church so none of our investigators came to church. The Ghanaian people don't go outside when it rains so there was a significant lower number of people at the church. The bishop gave some inspiring remarks at the send of the service about how he compared the foundation of a bridge being build nearby to the church being build upon the apostles and revelation from Jesus Christ. He also talked about how the roof of the church protected us from the rain just like the priciples of the Gospel, but only if we use them.
On Tuesday we met with the member, Isaac Ahenie and his muslim wife trying to convert to the church, Furella. Because of the Muslim culture to stay in the religion or face reproductions from the family such a separation, physical abuse, severance of body parts, or death we don't teach a Muslim unless there won't be problems. For the three months I have known Isaac I thought his Christian faith was known to his wife's parents. However he told us on Tuesday that when his wife's parents come to visit he goes to the Mosque pretending to be Muslim to keep his Christianity as a secret. It was eye opening to see Isaac go great lengths to protect his secret.
Wednesday was when I made a stew of some sort to eat with my Indomie (top ramen). The first apartment I was in didn't cook so I was use to eating out more. While I have been in the McCarthy Hills area I am working on developing more cooking skills. I figure it will pay off.
On Thursday it was really hot. It has been getting progressively hotter which hasn't been much fun. I felt the sun developed an agitated state that day so I wrote down in the journal how the locals treat us. The majority of people are friendly to us asking us various "white man questions" and speak Twi to us for them to get a response from us. There are some instances though where we are served last in a line or charged more for what is sold in a shop because we are white. It is an interesting form of racism I guess.
On Friday, like Thursday it was really hot. The only notable thing I wrote down is that Elder Gagnon and I passed a woman peeing in the road.
Saturday was Elder Gagnon's year mark in Ghana. We had a baptism for Samuel Aboagye (14) who is a member of the Aboagye family baptized earlier. After the baptism we went to Shoprite to buy some food to celebrate his year mark.
Sunday it rained before church so none of our investigators came to church. The Ghanaian people don't go outside when it rains so there was a significant lower number of people at the church. The bishop gave some inspiring remarks at the send of the service about how he compared the foundation of a bridge being build nearby to the church being build upon the apostles and revelation from Jesus Christ. He also talked about how the roof of the church protected us from the rain just like the priciples of the Gospel, but only if we use them.
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