From June 6, 2011:
Well on Monday I got a haircut. The only reason I am mentioning this that it wasn't a normal haircut. Whenever I go and specify what I desire from the barber he always nods his head and it is only after he starts cutting that I realize that he was only pretending to understand the English and what I asked for. This barber was skilled so I will go back to him to take the sides down in two weeks, but anyway, when he finished with the clippers he then took a razor blade and held it up to a comb to even the hair out. It was an interesting experience. Durring the day I received a call from a man that I baptized named Johnathan Addo. He called me to let me know that he received the Melchizedek Priestood and will be going to the temple for the first time. What really stood out to me from the conversation is that Johnathan thanked me for getting him on the path.
On Tuesday we went to a sister missionary having her farewell before she went to her mission in Nigeria. It brought back memories of my own farewell. What I realized was that the sister had shaved her face for the event-Now that I have your attention I'll tell the full story. The Africans seems to have more testosterone in their body because there are many women here with a female version of a beard and some chest hair. This particular sister was particularly hairy and it was noticeable when she shaved. Now the best part about this story is that Elder Titus, a Nigerian told me that before his mission he used to like the hair because he enjoyed stroking it like fur.
Friday our zone had interviews with president Smith. It was probably the last time I will see him before he goes home at the end of the month and the new mission president comes. On the way back to our area we went into an area in the city called circle. While we were looking for a tro tro to take us back we were able to walk around handing out over 100 pamphlets and 20 Book Of Mormons to people we passed. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday the apartment went to eat at an investigators house and Elder Mutuku from Kenya told us about how the country is and how giraffes walk through the roads there and how the people would encounter all of the stereotypical African animals as a normal occurrence. Kenya sounds so cool.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
From May 30, 2011: Eight Months in Ghana
From May 30, 2011:
Well for Monday I came across Football Club Of Barcalona's new season jerseys so I was happy about that. They also beat Manchester United on a post season final making them the best football team in Europe. I figure that this isn't a big deal for anyone in the states, but I enjoy supporting my team. Elder Moses and I were fed by a member later that night and the meal included boiled chicken in the soup. I want to take some time to tell you how I do not enjoy boiled chicken. The skin is rubbery and it doesn't taste as nice as it would be if it was grilled over the coals here.
Tuesday I hit eight months in Ghana. 1/3 of the time has gone by. Elder Moses and I have been able to become closer this week which is good. I have been implementing charity when I can so with making myself feel good we are able to develop a greater friendship. We went to Helena's and Stephens place where they were arguing about how when Helena cut their phone conversation because she had low battery and then didn't prepare dinner for him when he got home. I didn't enjoy being there sitting there listening to them argue in Twi. We eventually left which I realized wasn't a good idea after the fact because Helena said things became more heated. While I helped Helena wash dishes one night she told me that after she graduates from fashion school Stephen is helping to pay for she will leave him. I'm very confused on the relationship the two have. At most they are traditionally married. I forgot to mention this, but in the morning we were at the church and there was a man a little older than us telling us he is from Nigeria and was helped to go to school in Ghana by a Roman Catholic clergy man. Eventually with the help of another clergy man he traveled several hours to Accra looking for work and came to the church asking for a place to stay and employment. We had him talk to a woman at the West Africa Area Office about some training and that is the last we heard of him. It was an interesting situation. I'm confused on why the person came to Ghana with only with a hiking backpack to live from and why the clergy men sent him to various cities for his aid. I'm sure we didn't get the whole story either. As my time here goes on I have spent more of it recently cooking the Ghanaian dishes. In reality these foods are simple to make, but it's fun to do. I enjoy making stew that is put on rice or other foods here and Waache basically a mix of rice and beans cooked together. I have been making some fried dough though that resembles a tortilla to eat the waache and stew in making it more of an experience.
Sunday we went to church and I had fun socializing with the members. We had an investigator named Linda that came 4 hours late with her two young sisters, one being a toddler and the other a few months old. We became confused when all she wanted to do was to see the church and sit outside. Linda's English isn't great so all I could get from her was that there was a problem at the house and she couldn't go back until the next day so she would go to her relative for the night. The experience was a good opportunity to view the difference of communication between Africans and Westerners. The African was asking questions and expecting an immediate response and if no response was given they would continue to ask the same question or say "hu?" every few seconds of silence. For the Western approach we asked a question in a situation where there wasn't any pressure and waited for a response having Linda feel at ease.
Well for Monday I came across Football Club Of Barcalona's new season jerseys so I was happy about that. They also beat Manchester United on a post season final making them the best football team in Europe. I figure that this isn't a big deal for anyone in the states, but I enjoy supporting my team. Elder Moses and I were fed by a member later that night and the meal included boiled chicken in the soup. I want to take some time to tell you how I do not enjoy boiled chicken. The skin is rubbery and it doesn't taste as nice as it would be if it was grilled over the coals here.
Tuesday I hit eight months in Ghana. 1/3 of the time has gone by. Elder Moses and I have been able to become closer this week which is good. I have been implementing charity when I can so with making myself feel good we are able to develop a greater friendship. We went to Helena's and Stephens place where they were arguing about how when Helena cut their phone conversation because she had low battery and then didn't prepare dinner for him when he got home. I didn't enjoy being there sitting there listening to them argue in Twi. We eventually left which I realized wasn't a good idea after the fact because Helena said things became more heated. While I helped Helena wash dishes one night she told me that after she graduates from fashion school Stephen is helping to pay for she will leave him. I'm very confused on the relationship the two have. At most they are traditionally married. I forgot to mention this, but in the morning we were at the church and there was a man a little older than us telling us he is from Nigeria and was helped to go to school in Ghana by a Roman Catholic clergy man. Eventually with the help of another clergy man he traveled several hours to Accra looking for work and came to the church asking for a place to stay and employment. We had him talk to a woman at the West Africa Area Office about some training and that is the last we heard of him. It was an interesting situation. I'm confused on why the person came to Ghana with only with a hiking backpack to live from and why the clergy men sent him to various cities for his aid. I'm sure we didn't get the whole story either. As my time here goes on I have spent more of it recently cooking the Ghanaian dishes. In reality these foods are simple to make, but it's fun to do. I enjoy making stew that is put on rice or other foods here and Waache basically a mix of rice and beans cooked together. I have been making some fried dough though that resembles a tortilla to eat the waache and stew in making it more of an experience.
Sunday we went to church and I had fun socializing with the members. We had an investigator named Linda that came 4 hours late with her two young sisters, one being a toddler and the other a few months old. We became confused when all she wanted to do was to see the church and sit outside. Linda's English isn't great so all I could get from her was that there was a problem at the house and she couldn't go back until the next day so she would go to her relative for the night. The experience was a good opportunity to view the difference of communication between Africans and Westerners. The African was asking questions and expecting an immediate response and if no response was given they would continue to ask the same question or say "hu?" every few seconds of silence. For the Western approach we asked a question in a situation where there wasn't any pressure and waited for a response having Linda feel at ease.
From May 23. 2011: New Companion Elder Moses; Rainy Season; Washing, Cooking, Cleaning
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.
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.
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)
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