March 21, 2011

(Griffin and his new companion)

Akwaaba! So...I am sure I seemed pretty stressed and not very focused in my last email...the past two weeks have been one big crazy experience that I am still getting used to. Kumasi is a whole different world, really a whole different mission, and it is all just coming at me at once. Plus training AND opening the new area...it's pretty crazy. I am doing my best and it's all going to be sweet I am sure!!!



So first let me tell you more about Kumasi, I don't think I really talked much about it last week. Kumasi is big...and that's about it. Haha, just kidding. It really is a hundred times bigger than Cape Coast though. There is AC here in the internet cafe I am at, but pretty much only internet cafes and banks will have AC. It feels like the Celestial Kingdom in here though. It is more developed than Cape Coast, but not that much. There are more homeless people, more beggars, so it has more of the high and more of the low. Things are a little more expensive here as well, but there are more things to buy. At the store we shop at they have Pringles and Kellogg's corn flakes and stuff like that. You see a lot of nice cars (Mercedes, Beamers, etc) driving around as well. Kumasi spreads wayyyyy far out. Today we spent almost an hour on the trotro going from our apartment to the place where our activity was. We were stuck in traffic a while, but that still is really far. And we only went about half way across Kumasi. UST stands for University of Science and Technology, or Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. It is right next our apartment. Most of the people that live around us either go to school there or work there. But we travel about 20 minutes everyday on the trotro to Kwamo to proselyte there, and we will be moving there soon. There are two zones in Kumasi, about 40-50 missionaries total. The areas and wards are really spread out, and so that is why they are sending missionaries (like me) to new areas with small chapels to make the church more accessible. Kumasi is pretty crazy, the central market is INSANE. Absolutely insane.



As I said earlier, we live out on the east side of Kumasi, heading to Accra. Kwamo is the last area with missionaries on the east side of Kumasi. This week was good, the work is much harder here than it was in Moree, but that is only because we are opening the new area. In Moree, we always had stuff to do all day long, always had people to meet. Here it is just...contacting. And just as in any other mission, contacting is not very fruitful at all. So it's a different kind of missionary work for me, but its sweet. People in Kwamo have never heard about the church at all, so we truly are bringing the message for the first time to these people. It is pretty cool to think about it that way. Most of the people we have contacted so far have not been very serious, we have taught a few people multiple times, but the few we were teaching told us yesterday they don't want to meet again, one even gave us his Book of Mormon back, he didn't even want to keep it. So that has been hard, I haven't experience too much of that, but it has been a great learning experience. We actually have been able to teach a few member referrals who are doing well, five investigators actually came to church on Sunday, all who came with their member friends/family. Emmanual is about 30, he has a brother that is a member. We were able to teach him this week. He has come to church twice now. Brother Joseph is a recent convert, and we met him and invited his wife and son to come to church with him on Sunday and they did! I felt bad though, I promised the son, who is about 10, that I would bring him a biscuit (crackers they sell everywhere) if he came because he said he would be hungry if he came, but I forgot to bring the biscuit! He was not happy with me haha. Then there was also Emmanual, he works near the Alma bakery- I am not sure if I talked about the Alma Bakery last week! There is a member in Kwamo, Sis Emelia, who owns a bakery there, and it is called Alma Bakery! They are the sweetest people ever!!!! She fills her bread delivering van every Sunday to bring tons of people to church. All of the members in Kwamo that come to church come with her in her van. The other investigator is Sandra, a young woman who we have met with a couple times, she came with her friend Juliet to church. So it was nice to have some people at church from Kwamo, even though they have to travel so far!!



The week of proselyting was good, we were able to work hard every day and teach many people, even if most were not very serious. It is hard because we invite people to church, and there is just no way they can come right now, because UST is so far. They all say they will come when the chapel is finished, so hopefully it will be soon. It will probably be done end of April. Tuesday was a great day. Our district leader is Elder Akoki, who used to be assistant to the president. We had a great district meeting, and then a great day of proselyting after aw well. We went to visit the Timothy family at night, and they are such a great family. Their son, Prince, is going to come proselyte with us tomorrow. I started having some chest pains last Monday, was having a hard time walking, but I was able to get some medication that Sis Sabey told me would work, and it made the pain go down pretty well. It seems like quite a few elders have had this weird lung virus, and I got it as well. But I was able to work everyday, not a big problem. I still feel like there is something there, but there is no pain. It hurts when I try to jump rope or something, but that is it. I was fine playing football today. We met a guy on the trotro going home, named Charles, who I will talk about later.



Wednesday was a lot of contacting, and then we met the Aponsah family at night in Okyerekrom (pronounced, Oh-cheer-uh-krom), a small village a little ways from Kwamo that is part of our area. Thursday we met some sweet new people, a contact named Francis who we will meet again tomorrow. He seems interested. The challenge with Kwamo is the same as Moree-people do not speak English well at all...it's difficult. But Francis speaks perfect English, so teaching people like him is the bomb. I said to Elder Timothy after we taught him the first time that he would be the future Elders Quorum president of Kwamo. We shall see :) Friday we worked at the chapel in the morning, and then every other appointment throughout the day failed, so we contacted!!! Saturday we had to run home in the pouring rain! It is the rainy season now, thank goodness!!! It rained almost every night last week. Last night, we went to meet Charles, the man we met on the trotro on Tuesday, and his family. They live in Okyerekrom as well. We weren't sure if we would meet them, bc he didn't speak English all that well, so we weren't sure if he understood us, but we called him and he said to come! We met his whole family-he is married with 3 kids, as well as his three brothers that stay with him. His wife, Mansah, speaks English really well. We taught a good first lesson, they said they all want to be baptized, but then it started to rain. They would not let us leave in the rain though (it was pouring again) so we sat underneath the porch and talked for awhile. They seem really sweet. Charles loves us, he made us eat fufu with him and he said he wants us to come every Sunday night to eat dinner with his family. So hopefully they progress well!!!!!!



So anyway, my time is small, so I will wrap it up. Thanks for everything, keep praying for me and thinking of me, I need all the help I can get right now!!!!! I am praying for you guys everyday as well, I love you so much. No questions or requests I have today, just prayers and love, good emails, and letters. Love you!!!



-Elder Brown

March 14, 2011

Good morning! From Asante land this time instead of Fante. It's been quite an adventure this week...wow. But it's been good.

So, let me get started on the week :) Last Monday I am sure you had fun with the email, with me finding out the transfer news while I was emailing and all that. It was a crazy time haha. After I got the news I felt so weird. Just because I had been so long in Moree, so getting transferred just is pretty crazy to me. Kumasi is sort of the "cool" place to go in the mission. It's the farthest away from the mission home (besides Sunyani but only 10 elders are there) and all that, so everybody wants to go there. Also because it's the biggest city in the mission, so there is more stuff to see, do, and buy. But anyway, more on Kumas in a bit.

My last day in Moree was pretty sad. We went to all of our recent converts, and it was sad having to say goodbye. I decided that the "good-bye" lesson is the sweetest though haha. Every one of the lessons with the recent converts were so spiritual and powerful...it made me want to stay! But I am glad I had that opportunity at least. Elder Nzuki (he is staying in Moree, his companion's name is Elder Mbom) let me do most of the talking, and I felt like I connected so well with each one of those converts. Man it was sweet. We had dinner at the Pratt's to end the night as well, man I miss that family. Sister Suzy's rice and stew was perfect as usual, and then we just sat and chatted for a little while. I am sure we will cross paths again.

So Wednesday was the transfer day! We headed to the STC station about 11, met up with some other missionaries (Elder Rosquist was transferred to Kumasi as well. Also to train) and waited there for the greenies to show up and for the STC bus to get there. President showed up with the new guys, and I met my "son" as they call the elder you train on the mission. His name is Elder Timothy, and he is from Nigeria. He was going to go to Cote d'Ivoire, but got reassigned in the MTC. His name tag is in French and everything. We went up on the STC bus together, about a 4 hour bus ride. They showed WWE wrestling on the tele on the ride up..so ridiculous haha (not that I watched it, promise :) I was pretty scared the whole way up. Training, opening a new area, in a city I have never been to, the city has over a million people...oh man. We got to Kumasi, and what a place it is! It is sooooo big. People everywhere, so many cars, stuff everywhere. It is literally 100 times the size of Cape Coast. Elder Odobo and Elder Kwapong, the guys we live with right now, were there to pick us up and take us back to the apartment. Right now we stay at a place called UST until the apartment is finished in Kwamo. The apartment is actually part of the small chapel they are building in Kwamo. It will be finished in about 3 weeks (hopefully sooner!). But right now we live at UST, and take a 15 minute tro tro ride to Kwamo everyday.

Elder Odobo (my MTC Companion) and Elder Kwapong took us around Kwamo on Thursday. Kwamo is out on the outskirts of Kumasi, and it is pretty much a village. Not much English is spoken...there are other towns in our area that are more modern. My area is HUGE. It is the size of both Cape Coast and Abura zones put together, even bigger than that really. It's insane. We will have a lot of walking to do to see the whole place. There are exactly 3 families that live in Kwam that are members of the church. So about 15-20 members or so. So, we visited all of them, asked for referrals, and than got to work the old fashioned way-contacting. Oh boy I have never done so much contacting in my life. A lot of walking and a lot of "My name is Elder Brown, my companion's name is Elder Timothy, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ...". Elder Timothy doesn't talk very much right now, so it's pretty much me all day. It's fun, we found some cool people, but it is just hard to find serious people contacting. Referrals are always a hundred times more serious. 90% of my baptisms have been member referrals. So pretty much the week was spent contacting. The days seem longer, but I know it will com small small as we continue to work hard. The members that do live in Kwamo are AWESOME. Brother Timothy, who will be our future "group leader" (it won't even be a branch when it opens) is the most stud guy ever. He is currently in the bishopric of the university ward, the ward we go to right now. He will help us so much.

Kumasi is crazy...so big. I haven't seen much yet, but it's going to be fun here, even if Kwamo is quite a ways out from the big city.

Well that's pretty much it, it seems like my time has gone by way faster today. I actually got less time on the computer than I did in Cape Coast I think. I love you guys. I have some serious work to do ahead in Kwamo, so keep praying that everything goes well for me!!! I know it will if I am just obedient and do my best to be a good teacher and example for Elder Timothy.

Love you,

Elder Brown

March 7, 2011

Wassup?!?!? Another beautifully hot day in Ghana. January-March is this hottest time I have heard, so it has been quite toasty. I am pretty used to it now though.

Anyway, the week was sweet, as usual (have I ever said it wasn't? haha). We played some bball today, against a member's youth team. We handled them pretty easily. The court is so ghetto, but it was fun. Today is transfer news day. Haven't heard anything yet, but maybe we will hear something before I leave here. There are 10 new elders coming, so it could be a rather large transfer. Only 1 is leaving though. One of the elders coming is named Elder Brown! He is from Accra.

So last week Monday we got three new elders in the Yammy district. Elder Adams, from Accra, replaced Elder Alba in Mankessim. He had been serving in Cote d'Ivoire for only a few weeks, and then they had to pull everybody out. Then there is also Elder Stats (Centerville, UT) and Elder Togaga'e (Samoa) who were added to Mankessim. It was sweet to meet them all at district meeting on Tuesday. Elder Stats is sweet, he trained my MT, Elder Hatch. And Elder Togaga'e is great too, its funny having the two polynesians in the mission here together, him and Elder Katoa. And Elder Stats and Elder Mortensen went to the same high school in Centerville, so we just have all the connections! Haha Tuesday was proselyting was very normal, just preparing for the baptism and what not.

Wednesday was good, we walked SO much. To start the day we walked at to Abakamonuto to meet Kofi, but Kofi had gone to his mother's house in Moree (Abakamanu is about a 15 minute walk or so from Moree). Then we went to his mother's house, he was there, but we had no translator, so we told him to stay and we would find one. We found one, came back, and he had gone to Abakamonu. We walked all the way...wasn't there. We walked back into Moree, the other parts of the day. Having bikes will be nice one day! We taught a sweet new investigator on Wednesday, named Oben. He is from Sunyani, and moved down here a little while ago with his brother, and so he could go to college down here. I contacted him on Sunday while on splits with a ward missionary, and made the appointment for Wednesday. Most contacts don't come to their next appointment, but luckily, he was there! And on top of that, had kept his promise to read half of the Restoration pamphlet and answer the questions in it perfectly! It was sweet. We taught all of the Restoration, and it went really well. He accepted to be baptized 1 April. He had even talked to a friend at his school that he knew was a Latter-day Saint after he met us Sunday, and had had a good discussion with him. So it looks like he is really prepared.

Thursday we had the interviews for Kofi, Ransford, and Solomon. They all went well! We taught a guy named Sammy too. We had met him at a member's house last week, and we started talking small. We passed him again a few days later, and made an appointment for Thursday. We met, and after we taught Doctrine of Christ, he accepted to be baptized, but said that he was in the Navy and would be going to Sekondi to go to sea for the next 3 months. We were disappointed, but both me and Elder Nzuki (as we found out talking after the lesson) got the impression to just teach about the Book of Mormon, give him a copy, and leave it at that for the next three months while he is at sea. It was a really good lesson, we read small from the Book of Mormon, talked about why it is so important, and then just asked him to take it on the boat with him so he could read it every day. He said he would do it, hopefully he does! Sounds like a Liahona (sorry, Ensign?) article in the making if you ask me. Haha

Friday I went on splits to Abakrampa to do baptism interview for them there.It was a good split, I wasn't looking forward to it, but it ended up really good. We went on a KILLER bike ride out to a small village. TWICE! It was the hardest bike ride I have ever experienced, some serious serious hills. It was bad. I was sweating so hard haha. When I was conducting the interview for the guy there-Ransford, he walks 45 minutes to church every Sunday- I was breathing so hard and was just drenched in sweat. He was even laughing at me at the beginning I was struggling for breath so hard. Abakrampa is a funny, awesome, place. It is a really small village, no English at all really. Elder Smith is a Ghanaian though, so he is able to speak the language with them.

Saturday was the baptism! And of course a little drama as usual. We went up to fill the font Saturday morning, and the water wasn't working. That happens sometimes, but usually we just flip the switch to turn the pump on, and it fills that way. But the electricity was malfunctioning-only at the Yamoransa chapel, nowhere else in Yamoransa or Cape Coast-so the pump wasn't working. We finally found one random spigot on the chapel grounds that was working, so we found a super long hose, hooked it to the spigot, weaved it through the chapel, and into the baptismal font, with about a foot and a half to spare. It filled the font soooo slow though. It took all the way until right when the baptism was starting. But it eventually got filled. We went to Moree to wait at the chapel for the candidates, members, and investigators to show up. They were supposed to be there at 2. At 2:15 there was one member there, our recent convert Kojo, and that was all. By 2:30 a few members were there, but still no candidates. The Saunders were there with the mission van to take people, and so were getting pretty anxious. Finally at like 2:45, Solomon and Ransford rolled up, but no Kofi. We sent everybody that was there with the Saunders, and then stayed at the Moree chapel to wait for Kofi. By 3 he still wasn't there. At about 3:10 we started heading to the station to go to Yamoransa, just having to leave Kofi behind, and literally as we were walking away from the chapel...Kofi and his friends showed up...thank goodness! But all was well, we got to Yamoransa in plenty of time, and the baptism went great. The baptism water was even somewhat clear! It was green, but you could at least see the bottom!

(Elder Mortensen just got a call from President Sabey, he is the new Yamoransa district leader, that means I am going somewhere!!!!! Holy crap this is crazy....I am so nervous now about where I could be going...I have been in Moree for nine months, and now I am fairly certain I am leaving...man this is crazy. Hopefully I find out before I leave the cafe.)

Well I can't really concentrate at all right now. I am so anxious to find out where I am going. I'll try to write a few more things, but it will probably be pretty scattered! So the baptism went great, 11 total people for our district were baptized. Abakrampa baptized 4, and Mankessim 4. Sunday was weird. It was Ghana's Independence Day, and our ward decided to call church after Sacrament meeting finished...they said the Stake President said to do it...but...all the other missionaries said that their wards had all 3 hours of church...so I don't know. So we proselyted for a long time on Sunday! Or it seemed like at least because we didn't have all of church (Man I am so nervous /anxious to find out were I am going!!!!!) Kofi bore his testimony at church, so sweet! I could tell it was a really good testimony, from the small parts I could understand. He thanked me and Elder Nzuki, it made me feel pretty good haha.

I love you guys so much so much. Most likely I will be somewhere else next week. Man Moree has been quite an adventure for me. I have loved it so much, so much. But I think i am ready for a change. Don't know where I might be going, what I might be doing. But I am excited.

I'M GOING TO KUMASI!!!!!!! And I am training a new missionary and opening a new area, called Kwamo. Holyyyyyyyyyy molyyyyyyyyyyy. This is crazy, bye bye Moree :( but hello KUMASI! :)

Love you guys soo so much. Talk to you from Kumasi next week!

-Elder Brown :)

February 28, 2011

Wapume! Hope all is great in Texas. I'm sure it is! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! Hope you're enjoying, I am sure you will go chop some delicious food tonight somewhere (save some for me!) It's been a good day so far here. We went and played some football at the Yamoransa pitch. We combined with Abura zone and played against Swedru zone, who came in on a trotro. It was fun, it is always nice to play at the Yamoransa pitch. It's really secluded so we don't have to worry about any visitors with sticky hands, and of course, its in Yamoransa! We just get to walk there in our moftee! Very sweet. We won I think, I scored one goal. I didn't play too well today. It was fun though. I got some packages too! Thanks for everything in last weeks-everything was awesome! One note about what gets here well and what doesn't. M&M's=very good. The single serving wrapped oreos, chips ahoy, and nutter butters-not so much. If you send them in one of the big packages, they are fine, but not in the ones that have like 4 cookies. They were pretty much powder when they got here. Beef jerky is always good, as are the pasta sauces. Drink packets are the bomb, and of course, EASY CHEESE! Haha it is sooooooo good. So anyway thanks a ton for those. And the packages today are great too. Pictures are always the best, and I am excited to eat the sour punch straws! Stop sending so much candy tough, too much sugar! Haha. My favorites are mashed potatoes, gravy, and pasta sauces- tons and tons of those would be awesome. And the bacon of course! Elder Nzuki also got his package from you guys today too. He really loved it.

Welp, it was another week in Moree. We had district meeting Tuesday like normal, Elder Smith (Accra, Ghana), the father of our district (oldest one on mission) instructed for us. After we went to a nice ghetto chop bar in Yamoransa and chopped some fufu together. It was good as always! Tuesday was a good day for proselyting, taught a lot of people, helping several people get ready for baptism. I feel like we are just teaching the same people over and over though. So we are working to find more investigators and diversify our teaching pool. It's been fun to do that. The three guys we are preparing to be baptized this coming Saturday are doing well. Kofi, a fisherman, doesn't speak a word of English. Then there is Ransford, he is in his early 20s. His friend Isaac, a member, referred him to us a little while ago. He is doing well, we always have to teach him with a translator though. And then there is another we are excited about, Solomon. We contacted Solomon a few weeks ago while we were looking for Ransford to teach him, in fact he was just sleeping on a bench and we woke up, h0ping he could help us. He did, he actually turned out to be one of Ransford's best friends, and then also agreed to meet with us the next day. Solomon speaks really good English, and as we started to teach him, it started slow, but after a few lessons, he started progressing so fast. After about a week and half of teaching, he was ready for baptism. We had just had to make sure he would come to church, and he has! Three weeks in a row! So we are excited for his baptism on Saturday, as well as for Ransford and Kofi.

We did find some new investigators this week that seem cool. 4 of them even speak very good English! It's a Moree miracle! The only thing is that they are all between 18-25. Which is cool, but, I would say 90% of the people I have ever taught have been in the age group.

We have been working some serious days lately...the last two weeks we have probably averaged 10 and a half hours of proselyting daily....man oh man its made us seriously tired, but the work has been picking up because of it. More investigators, more less-active coming to church, more opportunities to serve more activities with the ward. It's fun. Thursday I was pretty dead, I didn't know if I would have the energy to leave the apartment, but, somehow I did! And we stayed out in Moree working non-stop until 9 that day. Usually we leave Moree after it gets dark, (7ish), because there are no lights in Moree, but lately we have been just working through the darkness. It has been fun, because it's so much cooler, it makes you feel better. Def have the spirit more.

Well that was it for the week. We will be busy getting ready for the coming baptism on Saturday. Oh yeah, almost forgot, an emergency transfer is happening today. I am going to Wa...! Just kidding, but Elder Alba is leaving our district, he is going up to Sunyani. We are getting a displaced missionary from Cote d'Ivoire named...Elder Adams! Haha how funny is that? He is from Tema, where the MTC is. He had only been in Cote d'Ivoire on mission for one month. But all the non-Ivorians have been taken out of Cote d'Ivoire now, so we have three new missionaries new to Ghana Cape Coast Mission, met them all today at the football pitch. All are African (two Ghanaians, one Nigerian). Elder Adams will be Elder Bunker's companion in Mankessim, and then also Mankessim will be getting an additional two elders- Elder Stats (transferred down from Kumasi, from Utah) and Elder Togag'ae (from Samoa, transferred from Odoben). So our district will be 10 now, should be fun. Other than that...nothing really! Dad, you better start golfing plenty, you gotta do something! I want you breaking 80 when I am home. And upgrade your 1980s clubs, or use mine at least, so you don't look like a weirdo :) I love you guys TOOOOO much! Hope your anniversary is sweet, hope all goes great for Hs Eagle Project, and congrats to Keegan on getting into the Y!!!!!!!! (I was going to ask that today!) Congrats to Tristan Mayfield as well, and it well be nice to have another Hebertson in Africa soon! That's so tight! Is Greg learning Portuguese with all these Portuguese countries he is going to??

I love you! Thanks for everything, the packages, the letters, the pictures, the emails, the updates, the love, the support. I need every bit of it!

Love,
Elder Brown

PS-CRAM PACK the packages when you send the flat-rate envelopes! As full as they can possibly be! You are leaving valuable space free in those things! :)

February 21, 2011

What's up?! Today has been sweet, we found out last week at zone conference that Bishop McMullin of the presiding bishopric and Elder Gonzalez of the presidency of the Seventy would be coming to our mission, and they came to speak to us today. It was a cool little p-day activity of sorts! It was a really great meeting, only an hour long, but it was good. Bishop and Sister McMullin talked for a little-Bishop McMulling has the most awesome General Conference voice ever. He gave a really powerful instructions, just about the power of our callings- "who we really are" I guess you could say. It was cool, he gave some powerful experience he had while a missionary and mission president in Germany (Sister McMullin also served as a missionary in Germany. Elder Gonzalez was awesome...seriously, he was so funny. I don't know if he was trying to be, but he was the man. He is from Uruguay (Maybe Brian met him there?) and so hearing his accent was pretty cool (I have just been used to British/Twi accents here). He talked mainly about the "fundamentals of Preach My Gospel" that missionaries throughout the world have been directed to focus on. It was cool, he did a role play with some missionaries-him acting as the missionary and the missionaries being the investigators-that taught us a lot about the focus of our first meetings with investigators. Like I have talked about before, we invite people to be baptized in the first lesson now, so he showed us how we can most effectively do that. It was sweet, a really cool dude for sure! Elder and Sister Sitati and Elder and Sister Dickson of the area presidency also attended. AND I got three packages and something from Syd and Matt! So it's been a good day, even the emails I got have been top notch! So thanks everybody :)

Welp, another week is in the books. Everything is starting to blend together. I saw Elder Keller and Elder Bahme on Tuesday at zone conference....seems like yesterday they were walking out of the door of Yamoransa apartment to catch thte STC to Kumasi/Sunyani. But it was like we didn't miss a beat. They're both as awesome as ever, enjoying life together as companions. Their area seems sweet-Winneba. It's a little beach town getting towards Accra. There is a university there so everybody speaks English the say. They both just hit 18 months today...crazy. Maybe one day I will be there!

So like I said, we had zone conference on Tuesday. Zone conference is always awesome. The big news is that we have a new mission goal. Our current one will come to a close this Sunday. This goal will be President and Sister Sabey's last as they are going home in July-so President made it serious and to the point. He said it's the "impossible" goal. So anyway, it is simple, but it's going to be tough. By June 26th, every missionary will help one family who has not been sealed in the temple to go to the temple and be sealed. On top of that, every missionary will baptize someone who has a family member in the church. It's a pretty serious final goal for the Sabey's; it's going to mean a lot for them and for the mission.

We also got a new daily schedule at zone conference! We get to sleep until 6:30 now! I feel like I'm sleeping in everyday haha. We used to wake up at 6 and go to bed at 10, but now we are back on the schedule given in the white handbook. I like it way better. It's geared to let us proselyte in the evenings for longer, which is a more productive time. The reason it got moved up to 6 was because most missionaries' areas had no lights, but now most do. Moree doesn't really though, but its fun proselyting in the dark haha. My birthday will come before the next zone conference, so I got my birthday present at this one! I got a nice carton of milk- I enjoyed it with a nice box of corn flakes. Mos def the best breakfast I have had on the mission.

I did an exchange with Abakrampa on Wednesday, so on Tuesday we went to ABK (abakrampa) to switch. I took Elder Meinzer (SLC) to Moree with me. It was a sweet day. He has had an interesting time in ABK. It's straight village, not much English koraa, and his companion Elder Smith is a Ghanaian. We had a great time in Moree. We have been teaching a lady named Sister Sama, and we taught her husband for the first time.

Thursday was pretty solid..Also Thursday night I stepped in a gutter. I'll just leave it at that. I almost threw up.

Friday we went on splits with the zone leaders. We went with Elder Jackson (Centerville, UT). He is a funny funny man. I swear he is related to the Jacksons (as in Dad's best friend) in some way. He looks so much like them. But he doesn't know...maybe some remote way though. We worked at the chapel in the morning with them, always fun.

Saturday was Godfred's baptism. It was sweeeeeeet..we hiked down to the beach, and had our own little service there. I presided as the district leader. And then Elder Nzuki baptized him in the ocean. It was the first time Elder Nzuki had been in the ocean! He got swept off his feet hard core as they were coming back to the shore, it was so funny. But we could tell that Godfred loved it. It was sweet. We walked with Godfred back to his house and had a small lesson with him there. The Spirit was strong. And then he was confirmed the next day. He was very very happy. Then I sat next to Godfred at church, and I let him use my little hymnbook to sing while I was playing the piano. I saw him after reading in the inside cover--you guys gave me that hymn book when I was baptized! He thought it was pretty cool.

Welp, time is short today. The computer was being dumb, so sorry if I sounded a little perturbed in the email! Haha. we ate octopus last night at the Pratt's, and then when we got in the taxi to go home, I was humming "Onward, Christian Soldiers". I was sitting next to an old old lady (maybe 3 or 4 teeth) who started humming too. I started singing the words, and so did she! We sang all of the first verse together while riding in an old Opel from the late 80s that was about to fall apart, down the palm tree-lined road to Moree Junction. It was legit and the best ending ever to a week.

I love you guys so much! I finished the Book of Mormon this week, we started on Jan. 1 as a mission. It's mos def true and it's awesome. I love the Book of Moroni- he's the man. But that's about it. I am so super excited to rip into the packages tonight! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Brown