Hello again! It's your favorite African man. This week seemed to stretch on forever, but we had a lot going on, so I have plenty to tell you.
One of my favorite things about Africa is the transport. When you are heading somewhere that is more than a 15-minute drive, you have to pick a taxi from the junction. The junction is a place where lots of taxis are parked with their drivers trying to get the attention of literally anyone. Ironically, all the drivers who are heading to the area you request are usually yelling at each other in a circle. You get their attention by either whistling or doing some hissing thing with your teeth. Now, once you have their attention, this is where the fun begins. The circle of drivers now has their attention on you. You point the direction you are wanting to go, and the drivers who are heading that way run to you and try to pull you into their taxi. Now that would be great if it were only one driver, but that is a rare occasion. Usually, there are 5-6 drivers all headed to the same place who want your business. They are not afraid to literally fight over you. It's a pretty wild experience, honestly. You are being pulled around by 6 different drivers while some are fighting and exchanging words in Twi. Now I'm not much of a gambler, but it sure seems like gambling whenever you select a driver. You just hope and pray the driver you selected has a nice taxi or tro. Usually, I get pretty lucky, but on occasion, I get a ratchet one. Along with ghetto taxis, when the number of seats in a tro is 12, that actually means 28. It's almost like a game to see how many people you can possibly shove in one vehicle. By far, one of my favorite games.
I had zone conference on Wednesday, so I was traveling 2.5 hrs to Kumasi, and we had stake conference on Sunday, so I was traveling to Konongo, which is about 2 hrs away, so I have had plenty of travel this week.
Now in the middle of all this was my birthday! I have never had a birthday away from home, so it was an interesting first. Although I was far away from home, I had so many messages wishing me a happy birthday, so I thank all of you for wishing me a happy birthday. I was lucky my companion and the other elders in my apartment made it special for me. And also, I was able to open a present! My amazing aunt Sara and uncle Derk packed it with me before I left with strict instructions not to open until my birthday!
If I'm being honest, I didn't even think I was going to make it to 19 years old. Even looking at the number 19 makes me feel old, but I guess no one asks to get older; it just happens. I found out that it is tradition on your birthday that you get soaked. People dump buckets of water on you when you are not expecting it, and that's the truth. I indeed got soaked, but all in all, besides having to accept my age, it was a great birthday.
I talked about our investigator, Solomon, in the last email, but I would like to expound slightly. He is a Facebook referral, which almost seems like cheating, but he might just be the most solid investigator Elder Bloomfield and I have ever seen! I mean, this guy kicks butt. We went to teach him once and we taught him the restoration of the gospel. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to "Read, Ponder, Pray." The next time we went back, this guy taught us the restoration and also taught us the Word of Wisdom! This guy is impressive. We haven't even made mention of the other things he was talking to us about. The Lord most definitely prepared him for us. He is keeping all commitments and has already told us that he wants to be baptized ASAP. We told him that before we can do that, there are many more things we must teach him. As a response, he says, "Make it quick! The end is near, and I want to be saved!"
I have many photos this week. I ate something very interesting - pig skin and fat in Pepe soup. The fat off animals is much cheaper than actual meat, so no one really eats meat besides chicken and fish because they are the cheapest. It was pretty good once I got over the fact that it was just fat. I found a cool Nkawkaw sign, me getting soaked with like 7 buckets of soapy water, dinner with Mommy Phylis on my birthday, a picture of the tro-tro with our branch all headed to Konongo, a picture of me passed out asleep on a tro-tro (we had to leave at 5:00 am to get to ZC on time, so I was tired), a birthday pancake, and Steven with a knife!
All in all, a great week. I hope you all enjoy the photos, and I hope all is going well at home! Sincerely, Elder Gilbert.