Malaria Men

Hello everyone! I'm so happy to get another email out to you all. My phone is fixed this week, so I will be able to attach photos. There's going to be lots of pictures because I have to catch you all up on what you missed.

First and foremost, I got transfer news on Saturday night, and my time in Tamale has come to an end. I will miss this place a lot! Despite the slow missionary work, extreme heat, and dust, this place is awesome! The culture here is unlike any other. I love the plentiful Muslims, the smocks, the food, and just the whole Tamale vibe. And I will miss some of the church members who showed me so much kindness and made me feel like I am part of their own family. So, all in all, the past six months have gone by way too fast, but it's time to move upward and onward to different things.

On Sunday, we had a baptism for our sister Cecilia! We have been working with Cecilia for a few transfers now, and she finally made the decision to be baptized! It was an honor to baptize her, and I'm very proud of her decision and just so happy that I am blessed to see how the gospel changes people! One thing I have learned while teaching Cecilia is that true conversion is not an easy task, nor should it be. But I have learned that some things take time, whether it be true conversion or adjustment to a new surrounding. So let us all be a little more patient because it will all work out in the end.

So the title of my email has to do with the other pair of elders in our apartment. We have all been feeling under the weather this week. The sickness started with me and moved to my companion. There has been a parasite or something making its way through people. Well, Elder Hala got it the worst and called the mission nurse and got sent to the hospital and got tested for malaria. It was a positive test, and they wanted to keep him throughout the night just in case. While he and his companion were in the hospital, his companion Elder Patterson started to have the same symptoms. The next morning he got tested and was also positive for malaria. So both of those elders are down for the count at this moment, but they are doing much better now. But we have all not had a good week health-wise.

One story I would like to mention is we have a member who is there but isn't. He's a little interesting. His name is Muhama. He used to be a Muslim but just couldn't believe that Jesus Christ isn't the son of God, so he moved to what he believed was correct. Despite being completely disowned and kicked out of the house by all of his family, he opened a small bicycle repair shop to get small money for food. Well, ever since he became a member, he has always carried a Book of Mormon with him. And I mean always. He will carry it with him in his back pocket when out and about, and when he gets to his workshop, he places the book in his toolbox. So I took a video of the Book of Mormon chilling in the toolbox. I just love to see a Book of Mormon that literally has hundreds of miles on it. I do think it is time to get home a new one.

This week in my personal studies, I have been studying in Romans. And I must say, Romans is seriously a scriptural masterpiece. Apostle Paul is powerful. There's too much to talk about, but I will highlight a few things and scriptures that I like. The first is Romans 1:16,

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek

We should never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because unless people hear the Gospel, they cannot have a chance at receiving salvation. 

Another thing I love is that it talks so much about faith in Jesus Christ and how many of us will be justified according to our faith for some of our actions. And how with God, anything is possible. Romans 4:24-25

Anyways, that's all I have for y'all this week. I hope you stick around for the photo dump!

Photos:

Some pics of the other elders and me in Smocks, and lots of them.

A few photos of some families it was extra hard to say goodbye to.

A video of me weaving Kente.

A video of a kid who has saluted me almost every day for the past six months.

Kafra Wai

Hello everyone! I'm happy that I am able to email you all today, but this email won't be that great mainly because there won't be any photos. The phone that they gave us is controlled by an app called Maas360, and once in a blue moon, Maas will freak out and delete everything on your phone. The sucky part is that Maas won't let you sign back into the phone or download apps again. So pretty much, when Maas spasms, the phone is trashed, and that's the point that I am at. But it will all be well. So I would just like to apologize for a not-so-exciting email. That is also what the title of my email is for this week: "Kafra wai," which means sorry!!

The past few weeks have been really good! My companion and I have been putting in the work and have put two investigators on a baptismal date for this transfer!! I am absolutely stoked out of my mind! Baptisms in Muslimville are not easy whatsoever, but we are experiencing many mighty miracles! One of our investigators' names is Cecilia. She's 18. She lived in Accra for many years but just moved to Tamale. We found her through a member, started teaching her, and for a while, she wasn't interested at all. But we introduced the Book of Mormon to her, and she kind of fell off the map. But we went back a few weeks ago, and she had read part of the Book of Mormon and felt the spirit very strongly. We taught a few lessons, and she was asking questions about how to become a full member. I thought it was pretty cool.

I had a thought today as we were in the market shopping, and there was a moto that was honking its horn like crazy, trying to get through a crowd of people. When the moto passed me, I saw it had 3 cow heads stacked on top of each other, strapped to the back of the moto. And they were fresh too. There was still blood draining out of the heads, and he left a thick trail of blood all the way through the market. And the funny thing is, I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I actually realized that was pretty wild. I've noticed, and I think it's crazy, but I feel so comfortable in Ghana. The things I used to think were so weird are now everyday life. It's interesting to see how you can just get used to so much.

We had zone conference this week, and it was really good. We talked a lot about having better prayers or having more effective prayers. Also, this past fast Sunday, the entire mission fasted for whatever is holding the Kumasi temple up so they can start working on it. I bet there will be some new announcements on the temple by the end of this week.

I can't really remember much else that happened, but I have really been enjoying the past few weeks. I'm not sure yet, but I think I will be transferring soon, which is funny because I've been having the most fun right when my time is coming to an end.

Anyway, I love you all, and I hope my phone will get fixed so I can get you guys some pictures next time!