After a crazy week last week, things have really calmed down this week. Thank goodness! This was a week of lots of spiritual and physical food.
I looked forward to General Conference all week! I was super excited to hear from the apostles and the prophet. That's something that has really changed out here; back at home, I didn't really have any interest in General Conference, but in Africa, it was that little touch of home that I really needed. Although it was nothing like watching Conference at home - there was no big screen TV, no popcorn, and no Oreos - the message was the same, and the Spirit is always the same: never changing and everlasting. But, like I said earlier, I fed myself spiritually.
Mango season is in full swing here in Ghana, and the market is full of mangoes - I mean buckets and buckets of ripe mangoes. I wasn't able to grab a photo of all the mangoes, but there were thousands of them. I prefer not to buy them from the market; what I like to do is to get them right off the tree - that is when they are the best. Some of these mango trees are super tall and riddled with lots of mangoes. The most effective way to get the mangoes down is to just chuck rocks at the tree in hopes that you break one loose. Occasionally, you will have one fall to the ground. The mangoes here are much different from the ones at home - they are super stringy. So, you just bite the top off and try to squeeze all of the mango out of it. They are super nice, and they are even better when you have been walking for a long time. You find a nice mango tree, grab a mango, take a nice break, and eat it.
We had quite a few free meals this week, too, so I got to experience some new foods. I got to try groundnut soup and rice balls - one of my new favorites from Ghana. It's basically just peanut butter soup. We showed up to the family house and sat down to eat, and they told us there was cow in it! Oh boy, I was so excited to be having some beef! But, to my surprise, it wasn't the beef I was thinking. It was cow stomach and intestines. But, surprisingly, it was super good. I may have gagged a time or two, but once I got over the thought of it, it was super nice. And bless their heart for feeding the missionaries.
This week's photos include groundnut soup and rice balls, me and Elder Bloomfield eating mangoes with Derrick (he is one of the youth we taught and baptized a few weeks ago; he wants to be a missionary but is too young to go on a mission, so he comes out with us a few times a week), pictures of my General Conference view, and me carrying more water. This time it was the big bucket of water, and man, it is way heavy. I'm thankful for my cousin Parker Gilbert, who taught me how to properly squat, because being a 6'3" American in a place where all of the doors are short, I have to squat with a full bucket of water on my head fairly often. But this time, I had to pour it from my head, and I spilled everywhere. I felt so bad, but it's OK.
I hope y'all have a fantastic week, and I'll speak to you next time.