January 3, 2011

Afe nko mmeto yen bio! (response to Afehyia Pa. Afehyia pa means "the year has come to meet us" and the response means "let the year go and come back to us again") Oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. I am so tired and drained right now its ridiculous. This week has been so crazy. Awesome, but crazy. We just got done playing some football. A little too physical than I'd like...got some scratches to prove it. But I guess missionaries have to let it out somehow. We played Abura, we lost. Abura has a guy on the BYU soccer team on their team. Plus they brought some investigators to play with them because they only had 8. I scored though! And it was a serious, legit goal! Elder Katoa gave me a perfect throw in from the sideline, I dribbled baseline (as they would say in basketball) gave a fake pass to Elder Mortensen, then fired it home past one defender and the keeper. I felt pretty good :) I was wearing my #23 Prince Boateng Ghana national jersey, so I think that gave me some magic.

Anyway, so yep, this week was veryyy crazy. Tuesday the transfer happened. I went with Elder Adams to the STC station in Pedu, and we waited there for his STC bus to Kumasi. The APs and zone leaders brought over his new companion, who was serving in Swedru. His name is Elder Smith, from Utah. A few hours later, Elder Nzuki came down on the bus from Kumasi. He's really sweet. He's from Kenya, and has been on the mission for a couple months. He actually served as a local missionary in Kenya before he came, so he's used to it all. He played rugby over there, wants to go back and play on the national team when he's done with mission, but he's not all that big like Elder Katoa. His native language is Swahili. It's the language that they used for the Lion King! Hakuna Matata literally means no worries!!! Haha, and he also speaks like 13 other languages or something...he speaks French really well. So he's a pretty smart dude!

So Wednesday we got out to proselyting. First day without Elder Adams, as senior companion, and with that didn't know the area was tough, but fun. We taught a lot of lessons. Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was the best fasting experience I've ever had. I didn't think I would make it, just with being sick and all (recovering from a cold) but I never felt better fasting than I did on Sunday. It was one of the best days I have had on the mission yet. I was hungry sure, but I had more strength than I had had that whole week for sure. So anyway, it was tough being sick, especially this week, but I think its the way it was supposed to be. I honestly felt so good on Sunday walking around Moree. It had been a tough, rewarding, packed week, but I felt so so good on Sunday. I'm glad it was this week that I got sick, because even though it made everything a little harder, it made it all the more better when we finished another good week. I feel like I am a lot better off having this week to think about now.

So anyway, let me get on to some of our investigators right now. We have so many investigators right now...it's hard to keep track of them all!! 13 investigators came to church on Sunday. Almost all of them only speak Fante, so it's difficult meeting with them and teaching them, but hey, God is no respecter of persons! I just gotta learn Fante! It's so hard....but its coming kakrakakra. One of our sweetest investigators came to church for the first time. His name is Solomon. He works on the chapel. He speaks great English, and is loving the stuff we teach. He lives really far away. But he came and even brought a friend yesterday! It was a great feeling when he walked in.

We are really sad about one of our investigators though, Seth. He is about 30 and had a lot of friends in Moree ward. We contacted him about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and have taught him all the way up to the Commandments (so basically everything). He was committed to baptism for January 15th, and had come to church, so he was already for the date....but he's moved to Takoradi on Saturday!!!!!!!!! He's already contacted the missionaries there though, we made sure all was good getting it worked out for him to meet the missionaries there, so hopefully he went to church with them yesterday! We were so bummed a couple of weeks ago when he told us he was moving. So it's sad that he's not here and that we can't see the baptism, but all that matters is that he becomes a member, and I'm pretty confident that will happen. He is in the Takoradi Zone Leader's area, and they are studs, so I have no worries.

So if you were wondering...I didn't stay up until midnight on Friday (New Year's Eve) Thought about it...but didn't. There was a little parade thing in Yamoransa on Saturday....like 30 people walking down the street banging drums and blowing trumpets and trombones, but that was it. Some random people were shooting guns or setting off firecrackers or something on Friday. That was about it! Very weird it's 2011.

Welp, I can't think of anything else from the week. We are having a baptism on Saturday for John and Kojo. They're both sweet guys, they are both 19, John is a student (speaks English) and Kojo is a fisherman (no English). They are both referrals from members, Kojo from one of our recent converts, Dennis, who has helped a lot in the teaching. But man...I think I will look back on this week and it will define my mission. I feel like I've changed a lot. Having the pressure on me as we are proselyting that the day is successful, having a lot of Fante speakers to teach so having to find translators all day, and just of course being sick. But we powered through every day. It's a lot different being with Elder Nzuki but the experience is sweet. Every second I'm learning just because our cultures are so radically different. But it's all the same work, for both of us. We might be from a world apart, but it's still the same work and we're going to work as hard as ever. The experience I had on Sunday with fasting and just the day of proselyting was really special for me. I can't even really explain. But I'm so thankful for everything that is happening to me now, even if it's hard, or difficult or whatever. It's going to be awesome, and I'm looking forward to the future.

I love you guys, I can't even begin to explain how thankful! I am for you and for everybody back home. I hope you guys are enjoying the exciting time back there, and keep thinking of your guy in Africa :) Stay fresh as always. Yebehyiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

-Elder Brown

PS-shout outs to Grandma, Hayden, Matt, Syd, and Grant Myres for awesome emails this week! And Amanda :) And mom and dad!