Ghana Police Dey Chill

Hello everyone, to start off, I'm just going to inform you that I'm not going to be sending an email every week. I gotta slow it down to every other week. My area that I am in is among one of the most boring. When I tell you nothing goes on here in Tamale, I mean it. So with that being said, I'm currently scratching my head trying to scrape together a decent email.

On Monday, it was a regular P-Day, nothing crazy happened.

Tuesday - Saturday was just normal proselyting days. The days are getting longer and hotter, I swear to it. I kinda think of Tamale being a ghetto St. George. When it gets hot, no one really goes outside. So the evenings when it cools off slightly, that's our time to shine. But the difficult part of the matter is our mission schedule says we must be out proselyting by 10:30 am - 8:00 pm, which is just fine. But the problem is, no one is outside from 10:30 am to about 5:00 pm. I mean, it's desolate. So finding people to talk to is pretty difficult. But I'm not going to be disobedient by staying in the apartment. So I choose to endure. By the time 5:00 rolls around and people start coming out, we have been walking in 100° sun for the majority of the day, so we are pretty much out of juice. I'm really hoping my body will adjust to it, so I will find it easier to keep doing that. But as of right now, it's a pretty big challenge.

On the other hand, a cool story from this week is me and my companion were just out walking around. And there was no one outside. The only people who were outside with us were two policemen. So I went over and started talking to them trying to make some friends. After a minute of talking and everyone got comfortable, I started asking them questions about their guns that they were carrying. They were AK-47, of course. It was kinda funny because I knew exactly what gun they had, but the police didn't know much about them. I told them I could disassemble their gun and put it back together, so they gave it to me. I stripped it down and took it about halfway apart, and they were dumbfounded, just in complete shock that I could disassemble the gun. I only went about halfway because if I am being honest, I couldn't remember how to fully disassemble it. I put it back together for them and gave it back. The police were some cool dudes. I tried to get a picture, but they wouldn't let me. Another funny thing is the magazine was completely empty. There were no bullets in the gun. So the gun is just there to intimidate people.

On Sunday, I gave a talk in church about keeping the Sabbath day holy. It went well. Sadly, none of our investigators made it to church this week.

So all in all, a very boring week, but we are going to have some of those every now and then. I hope y'all are enjoying the cold weather, and happy Halloween!!! Halloween isn't a holiday here, so I'm celebrating in my heart. I would really enjoy some Little Caesars pizza and some lil smokies from my Uncle Derk's and Aunt Sara's house right now. But I'll have it soon enough.

Photos this week:

Africa missionaries

Arabic school (I'm happy I don't have to learn that language)

A few of the Tamale missionaries together

And this really cool HUGE tree called a dowadowa tree. It was massive. 

Peace And Hominy

Hello hello! Sorry, I didn't have an email last week. We didn't have power in our apartment, so our phone was dead. But this week has been much better power-wise! So that's a plus. There has been a lot that has gone on in the past two weeks, so let me catch you up.

Last week, sometime, there was a huge Smock festival that my companion and I got the chance to dress up and go to. It was way cool. Smocks are the kente dress-looking things that you will see me wear every now and then. Smocks are dope, and everyone wears them here. The only problem is they are super big, heavy, and hot. But the festival was some traditional ceremony where the chief of Tamale is on horseback, and he moves from the Sagnarigu chief palace to his own palace in Zongo. Everyone follows him and dances and plays drums as he slowly makes his way to his palace. When he gets there, the military shoots a bunch of guns into the air, and it becomes a huge party. I wasn't able to get a picture, but it was cool. The food there was pretty good too; they had a lot of different vendors.

My companion had to go to the hospital to get his COVID-19 booster. It's always very interesting to see how unclean and unorganized hospitals are here. The place where we went to get the shot was a janitorial closet that was turned into a place where they give shots. Kinda interesting.

Many of these hospitals are huge! They have plenty of government funding to build these hospitals, but the majority of the rooms are empty. There's no equipment, no hospital beds, no power, no people. Everyone who is at the hospital is crammed into one common area, and nothing seems to get done. No doctors or nurses can be seen, and no one seems to get help. But the reserved parking spot for the owners and the doctors sure has some nice cars parked in them.

We went and did some service last Friday. We woke up early and went to harvest corn! We had this 2-acre plot of land full of corn and probably 10 or so people. It was pretty cool to harvest it all by hand. We wanted to start early so the sun didn't beat us to death. But it took longer than expected, and so we all got burned to a crisp. It doesn't matter how much sunblock you use. The Ghana sun doesn't care. After we harvested the corn, we got fed! It was beans and hominy with a fish stew. One of the better things I have had. Whenever I hear hominy, it always reminds me of my dad's favorite movie Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The grandma while she is laying in bed says "piece and harmony," but it sounds like she says "hominy." I don't know why that's what my mind thinks of when I hear hominy, but it's funny.

Sunday was the best Sunday I have had here in Tamale. We had our branch conference, and we had two of our investigators come to church! Which doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty impressive for Tamale. The work is much harder and slower here in the north than it was in Kumasi. But we are making it happen.

A scripture I found in my personal studies this week that I really loved is Matthew 11:29. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

I love this scripture mainly because my first Zone Conference in Ghana, President Kunz taught us about a yoke used for farming. With a yoke, you can take two oxen and tie them together so they become one. In the very center of the yoke, there is a piece of metal called the fulcrum, and at the fulcrum is where the load is attached. If you have one ox that is bigger than the other, you can move the fulcrum towards the bigger ox's side so it pulls more of the load and takes some off of the smaller ox. I love how this symbol is used in scripture. Of course, we are the smaller ox compared to Jesus Christ, but what a privilege we have to have the opportunity to be yoked with Jesus Christ.

Another thing I love is that even though we have Jesus working right next to us, it won't be easy. Just as the bigger oxen can take more of the load, it doesn't mean the smaller ox isn't doing anything. He is still working, but he has the bigger ox to help. As we take His yoke upon us and work hard, in the end of the verse, He promised us, "and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Kinda cool!

That's all I got for you this week. I hope you enjoy the cold that's coming! I'm way jealous! Anyways, love and miss you all!

~Elder Gilbert

Photos:

Smock festival

My companion getting a shot in the hospital

Gutter water that is completely black. I don't know why it was black, but I haven't seen it before.

Haircuts

Street meat

Beans and hominy with fish stew

Harvesting corn

There were some little kids chasing what I thought was a snake. I followed them and turned out it was a Komodo dragon, and it was eating their chickens, so we threw rocks at it until someone knocked it out. We brought it back home, took some pics, and they skinned it and ate it!

CHALE, WE DEY FOR GHANA OOO

Hello everyone! It's been another week. I hope you are enjoying the scenery of fall. Sadly, here in Ghana, there aren't any seasons. Technically, there are two - you have the rainy season and dry season. Both are practically the same thing. During the rainy season, you get a rainstorm every now and then to cool things off, so that is way nice. Anyways, I have been missing the change of seasons a little extra lately, just because of hunting season and whatnot. But it's all good. I heard there is a way you can go hunting for bats here, so I'm definitely going to have to try that out.

A little explanation of the title of the email. It's called "pigeon"; it's a language used in Nigeria, and tons of people speak it here. It's basically just very, very broken English. So "chale, we dey for Ghana ooo". "Chale," pronounced like "Charlie," means brother or my guy. "Dey" means I am or we are, and "ooo" is just used as an expression. So all in all, the translation is, "My guy, we are in Ghana!!" The sentence is mostly used when things go wrong. For instance, this week, we didn't have power for three days, so that means no running water. When the power finally came back on, our sink spoiled. So now we have no water at all. So we just step back and say, "CHALE WE DEY FOR GHANA!!"

Monday was a basic P-day. Nothing too eventful happened. Just cleaned the apartment and went to the market. I made a dish called "GA beans and gizzard." It slaps. I can be a chef if I need to.

Tuesday was district council. My district is pretty cool. We talked about true conversion to the gospel. And the rest of the day we went proselyting. We went to a part of our area that we normally don't go to. It's an old airport. There used to be a huge airport/military base in Tamale, but they have closed down and abandoned the airport. So I went and explored. They have built houses on both sides of the runway. But it's kind of cool to just see this long flat strip of ground that used to be a booming airport.

Wednesday was the start of no power. It was raining all day. We bounced around from appointment to appointment, trying to not get wet. A pretty good day.

Thursday was productive. We met a new person named Alma, which is way cool. We asked her if she knew where her name was from, and she said she knows about our book. And that her name is in it. Although her name is not from the Book of Mormon, she was very interested in learning more about the Alma in the Book of Mormon. At the end of the day, while heading back to the apartment, a surprise rainstorm hit us. Usually, we will run for cover, but we were literally in the middle of nowhere. There was nowhere to hide, so we just sucked it up and got soaked. When we got back to the apartment, it was dark, and our power was still out. So no running water. I wanted to shower real bad, so I grabbed my soap and took a shower in the rainstorm. It was freaking awesome.

Friday and Saturday, we explored the area in search of Christians, and thankfully, our power was restored on Saturday morning. Praise the Lord! We met with Joseph, a person we contacted on my first day in Tamale, who was in a car crash two years ago. Initially, he didn't feel any pain, but eight months later, he started experiencing neck pains and numbness in his body. Unfortunately, Joseph's spine is severely damaged and slowly paralyzing him. Although he has tried various remedies like chiropractors, herbalists, and witch doctors, nothing has worked. Joseph is well-versed in the Bible and knows that God can heal, but he was angry with God for allowing this to happen to him. During our meeting, we explained that God can heal spiritually, and we must first be spiritually well for our physical wellness to improve. We encouraged him to trust in God's timing and promised to help him become spiritually healed. Hopefully, one day, he will be physically healed too.

On Sunday, we worshiped at a different chapel as ours was being renovated. We visited the chapel on the other side of town, and it was pretty cool.

That's all I have for you. I hope you enjoyed reading. I appreciate all the feedback you give me every week! It makes me so happy. Keep on keepin' on.

Photos:

Mosque

Exploring abandoned buildings

Books drying after getting soaked in the rain

A photo of the storm rolling over us. The sky was almost entirely black, and the sun was going down, making it look cool.

An oversized water tank on a small pragya

Tezit and ayoyo. Ayoyo is a leaf and Okra soup mixture. It was pretty nice, but I'm not entirely sure what it's made of. Still getting used to tezit. It's like banku, but a lot worse.

Duck Szn

Hello everyone, how is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty well considering this week was the start of duck season. So, low key, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed but it's fine! The Lord will strengthen me! This week was good, we had interviews and an exchange, which was a great distraction from the start of duck season.

On Monday, we went to the market and did some shopping to prepare for the week. Of course, I went to that wonderful ice cream shop. I'm definitely going to take advantage of it while I can. Later that evening, I got to talk to family, which is always the highlight of my week!

On Tuesday, we had district council. Our topic was on the difference between weakness and rebellion. To put it in perspective, are you trying to obey the commandments but just falling short? If so, many think that's rebellion but it's just natural weakness. Sometimes you just don't make it. As long as you are wanting and trying to do better, rebellion is when you blatantly disobey. When you know the rule but do not follow. I loved learning this difference and trying to apply it to myself in life. We also discussed how even the Savior showed physical weakness. In Matthew 26:39, we see that physically, the Savior was struggling to obey the commandments of His Father but He said, "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." The Savior showed this weakness but said, "you know what, not my will be done, but yours." I love His complete submission to the Father. It was a wonderful instruction.

Wednesday and Thursday were normal proselyting days, except on Wednesday night, the Bolga Elders came down for their interviews with the president. I was overjoyed to reunite with Elder Mills again! We had some fun, and he went to his interview, and we met up again at a restaurant called The Wooden. It was absolutely amazing. They have a really big Indian food selection, and there were Indians working everywhere, so I knew it was going to be great! And it was. That night, some of the Bolga Elders stayed at our apartment, and you already know I stayed up way too late chatting with Elder Mills. Thursday was my interview with the president. It's always nice to get to talk to the president one-on-one with no one else listening. He always shares the best insights and instructions.

Friday was my exchange with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Walker. To start the day, we had a companionship study, and we talked about remembering what the Lord has done for us. Just as in 1 Nephi 18, Laman and Lemuel had forgotten what the Lord had done for them as they began to sing and dance. Nephi knew that what they were doing was wrong, so he stood up to them and basically said, "you better stop or the Lord is going to punish you." And we know that they tied Nephi up. But my favorite part of this is when Nephi states in verse 11, "And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness; nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power, unto the fulfilling of his word which he had spoken concerning the wicked." Nevertheless, the Lord did suffer it that he might show forth his power. I love how we can see that Nephi wasn't happy that he got tied up, but he knew that it had to be done for the Lord to show Laman and Lemuel His power. Pretty cool.I have a lot to learn from Nephi. It was a great study. If Laman and Lemuel would have remembered the Lord helping them in the first place, none of that would have happened.

Saturday! General Conference! As a missionary, this is the best time of the year. There were so many things that I loved that I can't just choose one to put in, but for the Saturday session, my heart always skips a beat when airplanes are mentioned. I must admire how he chose the framework of an aircraft.

Sunday was another great experience. I loved everything about it, especially the talk about how to improve and maintain your testimony. Sometimes I feel as if I have hit a plateau, so that was definitely an inspiring talk for me. And I also wonder why the Prophet bid us all farewell?

Anyway, that's all that I have for you this week. I hope y'all had a wonderful week, and I hope that we can carry our spiritual momentum from this week to the next. Love and miss you all. ~Elder Gilbert

Photos

On the way to our branch president's house to watch conference, our yellow car had a flat tire, and we got to change it! The sad part is we missed two talks.

A few photos from my exchange with Elder Walker.

A very overloaded bus that I thought was going to tip over because it was so top-heavy, and there's a guy sitting on top.

Transportation of cattle in Africa.

Sunset.

Elder Mills and I.

And tiger nut milk. Tigernut is a nut here that is not like any other nut. It's very fibrous but has this super sweet milk when you bite into it. Anyways, I found tigernut milk. It is so good.