Hello everyone! It's been another week, and I hope everyone is doing great. This week has been one of change for me as I've moved from my old area to Tamale. It's pronounced like "Tom-a-lay", not like the Mexican food. Although there has been plenty of change taking place, I'm continuing to enjoy it, and honestly, I'm so happy that I can go and experience something new.
Tamale is in the northern part of Ghana, and I'm about a 9-hour bus ride from Kumasi. So I'm far away from the rest of the mission. In my former area, they mostly spoke Twi, but here they speak Dagbani. So all the Twi I learned became completely useless to me. On the plus side, 90% of people here speak English. Unlike my former area, where 90% of people spoke Twi, so, for the most part, I can communicate. Another noticeable difference about Tamale is that it's much hotter than my other area. I thought my former area was hot, but oh, I was wrong. Another difference is that it's completely flat with no hills, no mountains, and absolutely nothing. It's as flat as it could be. No one drives cars here. It's all "motos," which are motorbikes, and "yellow-yellows," which are the three-wheeler transportation things in Kumasi that are called "prageya." Another difference is that almost everyone here is Muslim. This is the Utah of Ghana, except for Muslims. Have you ever driven through Utah and looked out over the houses and seen the steeples of all the LDS churches? That's how Tamale is with Mosques. There are two or three of them on every block. Muslims pray five times a day, so every couple of hours, I get to hear ALLLLAHHHHHH AKKBARRRR blaring from the loudspeakers on top of every Mosque. Although it's annoying, I gotta give it to them for being loyal to their religion and for actually praying five times a day. Sometimes I struggle to say five prayers a day. All in all, my new area is awesome, and I'm super happy to be here. I have a lot to get used to, but now I actually feel like I'm in Africa. I'm in the place with mud huts. It's super hot, dusty, flat, and looks like the Africa you see on the Discovery Channel.
The main city of Tamale is actually really big. There are so many people here that it makes my former area look like a little ghost town. I have a small video of me walking through a part of the city that I will put down below. But once you get on the outskirts, it gets much calmer.
I got a new companion, Elder Mukanya. He's from the DRC Congo, and he's a super cool guy. He speaks very little English as he's a French speaker. So communicating is a little bit difficult at the moment, but I will soon figure it out. We spend about an hour every morning and night studying English together, and we are learning little by little. His testimony of the gospel is one of the best I have ever heard, and he has a heart of gold. I'm very grateful to have him as my companion.
I have a new companion named Elder Mukanya from the DRC Congo. He is a super cool guy who speaks very little English but is fluent in French. So, communicating with him can be a bit challenging, but we spend about an hour every morning and night studying English together. We are learning slowly but surely. His testimony of the gospel is one of the best I have ever heard, and he has a heart of gold. I am very grateful to have him as my companion.
This week, I was finally able to study in Come Follow Me, which was cool. I have never tried to study Isaiah because it always goes over my head, but I put my nose to the grindstone and tried my best, and wow! It's actually really good. The reason I decided to study Isaiah is because, in my personal study, I was reading in 3 Nephi 23:1-4, which commands us to search diligently the words of Isaiah as they are great. If Jesus Christ himself was talking about how great the words of Isaiah are, I could probably take some time to study them. It was pretty cool when I read these things; I made the choice to try and study Isaiah. It was exactly what Come Follow Me was highlighting this week. The hand of the Lord is everywhere! I would invite you all to try and study the words of Isaiah; there is much in there that we need to know.
I hope everyone had a great week, and I hope everyone's upcoming week is great and spirit-filled. I love and miss you all. I'll catch you next week! -Elder Gilbert
For this week's photos:
-A kid in my former area wanted to take a picture with me.
-On my last night in Nkawkaw, we bought a bottle of communion wine and drank it. Don't worry, it was 0% alcohol. I thought it was hilarious, though.
-A picture of me and my new companion.
-Elder Mukanya fell asleep during a lesson, so I had to pick on him a little bit.
-A picture of a Tamale sunset.
-A picture of palm nut soup.
-A video of me walking through part of town with the sound of the Mosques in the background. I will get a better video sometime.
