Jollof Rice And Akɔsie

How's it going, everyone? How are things going in the states? Everything is normal here; just casually doing the work of the Lord. This week was a really good week. I got a lot done. It was just a solid, productive week.

Monday was just a chill P-day. Nothing really happened; we just rested ourselves. We went out proselytizing around 4 and did our new tradition of heading to someone's house. This week it was the Boatengs. They live in Amanfrom (the zone leaders' area). They are a super good family, and it was a joy to spend some time with them. David Boateng is the father, and he was considered an eternal investigator. They had been visiting him for almost 6 months but would not accept baptism. He was reading Alma 34 in the Book of Mormon and decided baptism was right for him. The Book of Mormon is so powerful! The wife and kids will soon follow. The dad is a gospel singer; he showed us his song, and it was actually really good. It's called "Judgment Day No Bribe." We danced the night away and then chopped some Jollof rice.

Tuesday we had District council. There has been a new area open up, so we had two new elders move into the district. It's such a good thing because now we have more people to give insights when before it was only 6 elders, so not much was said. It was a good change.

Wednesday - Saturday were normal proselytizing days, just seeing our investigators and helping people find a love for Jesus Christ and his teachings. Saturday evening was our branch party. It was very unorganized because I kind of forced them to have an activity because they haven't had one in like 8 months. But although it was unorganized, it was a success. It was like a family game night sorta deal with rice and chicken. There were so many people that showed up too! We had many of our investigators come, and they all had so much fun. Elder Adu and I gave instruction on how to have a structured family home evening.

Sunday was a beautiful day as usual. After church, there wasn't too much to do, so we chilled in the apartment. Our landlord/neighbor got a dog a few months back and named it Gilbert, after me. Sooner than later, we discovered Gilbert was a girl! So we changed the name to Gilberta. It's a dang cute dog, but the dogs here in Africa are very neglected. Gilberta had some flies following her around, and we didn't want her to get ganafied, so we gave her a bath. It was so funny, and now she goes down in history as being the only dog washed in Ghana.

Anyways, that's a wrap on this wonderful week! I love and miss you all, and I'll talk to you next week! ~Elder Gilbert

Pictures:

A kid was picking on me, so I picked on him.

Dancing at the Boatengs.

Jollof rice.

A video of the group of kids that usually follow us around. These ones were more middle-aged; usually, they're much younger.

Bathing Gilberta.

Elder Riley found Jif peanut butter and mac and cheese. He knows Jif is my favorite, so he picked me up a jar! He found it on Wednesday, and it's already gone. I'm saving the mac and cheese for a special occasion.

When It Rains It Pours

Hello everyone! It was a good week for me. I hope all was good for you. This week, it rained and poured. It rained almost every day this whole week, and Ghanaians seem to be scared of the rain. So not too many people are outside and feeling friendly when it is raining. It's a bit difficult for work, but when there is a break in the rain, we can hurry and run somewhere.

We received transfer news on Saturday. I will be staying with Elder Adu and in Nkawkaw for another transfer, which is a good thing because I have a lot of work to do here. At home, I always took the organization and maturity of the church for granted. Here, the church is so new and so small that things rarely run smoothly. It makes me aggravated sometimes because the branch president and his counselors have been taught and trained to run the branches. But they do not get run correctly at all; actually, nothing is done correctly. And when you try to teach the correct way or make any suggestions, they don't take you seriously. I love these people, but sometimes they really test my patience. Things are getting better, though, little by little. There is getting to be more organized and smoother running, but still far from perfect.

We created a new tradition two transfers ago where we go to Rock City with our district and get a pizza at the end of the transfer to celebrate a little bit. So that's exactly what we did. We headed and got a pizza. Speaking of pizza, there's an Italian dude that we met who said he would make us some pizza, so I really hope that happens.

I believe that's all for this week. Not too much happened, but of course, the work is still progressing anyway until next week - Elder Gilbert

For this week's photos:

The wonderful rain: Our apartment leaks when the wind is blowing. It pushes rain underneath the door and floods the place, and also water pours in from the windows. You're out of the elements, but at the same time, you're still not. I love it.

Rock City with the district

Eating a fufu of okra stew. It was nice. The okra stew was extra slimy 

A picture with some rare cheese. It's impossible to find those here, and someone found a box, so we split a box between 6 people. They were so good we all took a photo with the box. I used to hate cheese, but my dad got me and the entire bishopric hooked on those things.

Something interesting about Ghana is their funerals are a week long, and the caskets are wild. There is a picture of me standing next to a needle casket (for a nurse) and a cocoa pod casket (for a cocoa farmer). There was also a Bible casket, but someone got mad at me for taking a photo with the first ones, so I wasn't able to get the one of the bible.

Chop Bars

Hello everyone! This week was a great week and I'm excited to tell you all about it!

On Monday, we went to the market and bought all the essential goods I need for the next two weeks. We had a family meal planned with our neighbors, so we got to enjoy some quality time with them. Later that day, we saw some people fetching water in the dark. I had been lazy all day, so I jumped in to help them. I related fetching water to pilot training. After you have so many hours fetching water in the daytime, you can progress to fetching it in the dark. Just as flying is more difficult at night, so is fetching water. Ghana's terrain is not smooth at all, and while carrying the rubber full of water on my head, I was walking, and my toe caught a rock. I accidentally dumped water all over the person I was trying to help. Definitely not ideal, but we had a great time.

We got a new referral this week. His name is Bizmark, and he is a solid guy from Accra who moved to Nkawkaw for a few months. He had been taught by the missionaries in the past, but moved before he could be baptized. He lives far from us, but he is in our area, so we travel out to see him about twice a week. We are teaching him the lessons again to make sure he knows and understands everything. I have never explored the area where Bizmark stays because it is so far from our chapel. Usually, people have a hard time paying for transport to and from church, so we usually don't proselyte in that area. But it was very cool to explore. Elder Adu and I found a "chop bar," which is basically just a restaurant with Ghanaian foods. But you must be careful because the word "chop" means two things in Ghana. It either means eating or it means sex. So when you find a chop bar, it's a 50/50 gamble. You could be walking into a nice restaurant or a brothel. That's Ghana for you. Luckily for us, this was a restaurant. It was right off the big main road that connects Accra to Kumasi, so plenty of truckers were stopping to get something to eat. The food was very fresh, and I was so proud that I had found a popular truck stop in Ghana. The best part is that my meal only cost me about 50 cents.

Something funny that happened this week was when I was trying to sneak up on one of our investigators just to jump scare her. But as I was tiptoeing closer and closer, a group of kids found me and started screaming, "OBRUNI!! OBRUNI!!" which means "white guy" in Twi. Everyone knows that I'm literally the only white guy in this entire area, so our investigator just turned around and greeted me. I can't even try to be sneaky without being seen. It's OK because I scare enough people just walking down the street. Many kids have thought I'm a ghost and just run for dear life, but the only ghost I have is the holy kind.

A spiritual thought I had this week was, "I find it so fascinating to think about worlds without end." We know that there are millions of other worlds out there, each with their own God. However, there was only one Jesus Christ and one atonement. His suffering didn't only allow us to be forgiven of our sins, but also all of the other worlds. All of these gods use the same power, which is the priesthood. The priesthood existed long before our Earth ever existed, and it is without beginning and without end, along with the atonement. Hence, the term "infinite atonement." We are trusted with this priesthood power beginning at the age of 12. Some may think that's young, but in the pre-mortal life, we had to learn everything to prepare us to be put on Earth. Some people take longer to learn than others, so that is why you may be older than someone, but their spirit may be way older than yours. I'm not sure what we learned, but I know that we were given spiritual gifts to use on Earth. Our purpose on this Earth is to use these spiritual gifts to learn, grow, and prepare to meet God. So maybe 12 isn't that young, considering we might be very old in spirit. However, all of this is only a sliver of our eternal existence. I'm not sure about anyone else, but eternity is a difficult thing for me to wrap my head around. It also makes me think about the importance of finding the right person in marriage. Once you are sealed together, it is for all time and eternity. And I would hate to be glued to a Karen for literally the entire existence of my life, which we know never ends! When someone says "all good things must come to an end," that is entirely false. Literally nothing will come to an end! I'm going to stop here because I could ramble on for hours about that. It's just so fascinating to me and continually blows my mind. It's crazy how that's only the beginning. We know what will happen after we die, but God's purpose is to bring about the immortality of all men. So then, what happens after God's purpose is completed? I don't know, and honestly, there are things I believe that we are not supposed to know. Well, now that my brain feels like a pretzel, if any of you have any insights you would like to add, feel free to email me back. I love to learn about the gospel!

As for my photos this week, I have:

Me at the Chop Bar restaurant, enjoying some groundnut soup and rice balls.

A meal that was given to us called "Wache," which is beans and rice with fish, stew, and noodles. It was amazing!

Me on Monday, eating Jollof rice with a very large spoon, and our neighbor, Mommy Elizabeth, thought it was hilarious.

We went to Lake Volta again! Elder Riley and I are the only ones who have been there before, and everyone else wanted to see it. It was a repeat, but there's not much to do here, so I had a blast both times!

We stopped at the waterfall on the way back, so everyone else could see it.

Elder Riley and I enjoying some Wagashi on the boat. It seems to be the only place we can find this amazing treat (it's like a cheese curd). The green stuff is Pepe, and it's hotter than hell.