April 4, 2011

On to the week! We had interviews with President Sabey today, I didn't even know we were having them until last night. I was glad they were today though! We talked about a lot of good stuff, it was my longest interview yet. No other P-day activities outside of that. You asked last week if I will go to the central market on P-days. The Central market is absolutely INSANE. I will go there because the food is cheapest and there is cool stuff to see, but man oh man it is another world. I can't explain how crazy it is...missionaries have seen crazy things. So basically that is the story of that haha. I will have to be on my guard in there! This week was my best week in Kumasi so far. I really started to love Kumasi this week. I was laying in bed Saturday night, and I just felt great, no real reason, but I just felt really good. I really felt like the next year or whatever will really be awesome. Not that it hasn't been awesome so far, but it was sweet. We had a great lesson on Tuesday with a man named Gabriel. He is a teacher at a school in Kwamo. We contacted him our first day in Kwamo. We finished the Restoration lesson and introduced the Book of Mormon. He had never even heard of The Book of Mormon before, and was excited to read. Every day when we pass his school he always calls to us and waves with a big smile on his face, so it seems like things are going well! His school is right near to Bro Timothy's new house, so we always tell Bro Timothy that we are teaching the future Kwamo Elder's Q President at the school, hopefully it's true :) We spend a lot of time with Bro Timothy, mostly because the unit in Kwamo is going to depend on him. We pretty much see him every day, whether at the chapel sit or at his house or wherever. Wednesday was a long, hard day. We worked seriously. we were able to teach another future leader in the morning, Francis. We introduced the Book of Mormon to him as well. He said he was in a bad mood in the morning, so hopefully reading has been able to pick his spirits up, we shall see!! Prince came with us again all day, he is the best ward missionary ever! We contacted a funny guy during the day as well, his name is Adom. He is a cool guy, probably in his late 50s or so. He is a businessman and he bragged on his kids the whole time we were with him. All of his kids have graduated university, one lives in the US, one is a professor. It was cool to hear someone care about their kids and take pride and joy in them. So we haven't been able to teach he and his wife together yet, when we went yesterday they were busy doing something, but we are going to go back to teach them this week. I really think the doctrine of the family will be very appealing to them. Thursday was good, we were able to get a lot done. We are working hard to strengthen a recent convert named Bro A. He is a recent convert of a few months, and is doing well. He is about 50 or so. He lives in a village called Okyekrom, about 15 minutes from Kwamo. He is the first and only member there. He is doing well, always at church. We had taught him a few times. He had not started to read the Book of Mormon yet. So we sat down with him and just told him how important the church can be to him, and about how much the Lord needs him as a leader in Kwamo. We talked about a ton of stuff, but eventually got to the temple and about families. We could see his thought process changing as we were teaching him. He was asking what we need to do to teach his wife and his sons, when we could meet, what we could do to help them go to the temple...the wheels are turning. He is preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood at Stake Conference in May, and his service will be direly needed with the Kwamo unit when it opens. He will be one of maybe 4 or 5 Melchizedek Priesthood holders. Friday we did our district service project at the Timothy's like we talked about. Elder Adams is the new AP!!! Pretty crazy! He had just been transferred to be a zone leader only 3 weeks ago, and now is the assistant. The old assistant, Elder Wright, is now serving up here in Kumasi, re-opening an area that needs serious work. Elder Adams is serving with his trainer (my grandfather), Elder MacKay as assistants. There were a ton of changes in Bantama zone (the other Kumasi zone) so it will be fun to see all of the new guys. I heard a guy from my district in Yamoransa. Elder Meinzer is coming up here. He is a stud missionary. No changes to our zone (Dichemso) though. The missionaries coming up are all studs. I got word from Moree that three of my investigators down there were baptized on Saturday; Sister Sama, Emmanuel (a friend of my boy Solomon the recent convert) and Anthony, the freshest dressing guy in Moree. Seriously he should work for GQ. Glad to have some fresh guys in the membership of the church :) I was very happy to hear they were all baptized and confirmed. Our first haptism here in Kwamo might not be for a while, so it was good to hear that. We do have a baptism for Miller and Degraft planned on 1 May, so hopefully that will happen. Oh yeah, President told me today that he is pretty sure our apartment in Kwamo will b the only missionary in the whole world that will have a baptismal font in it! How sweet is that?? Haha, it will make baptisms very easy! There is a font right in the middle of the church, it will be sweet to have. Some random thoughts: 1. Pears are delicious. BUT they are not pears. They are avocados. But they call them pears here and they are everywhere, I eat one everyday. 2. G&G Brown sent some Bear Creek (I think, maybe bear creek valley or something like that) soups. They are the bomb! I made one this week and it lasted me for three full meals! Send me some more of those. They sent Tortilla soup and it was awesome. Look for other ones too! Like cheesy ones :) 3. Lucky Dube is tight; he's dead but he made fresh music. Not that I listen to it...promise! But ya know, when you are in the taxi and it's playing, you can't really shut yours off! And I swear Lucky Dube is playing in every taxi in this country. So go check out Lucky Dube Hayden. 4. There were two oboruni's at church on Sunday. They work at the area office in Accra. Not sure why they were here, but man it is weird seeing white people. I feel so awkward, like I don't know what to say. There are a few that live in Kwamo and we pass a bunch on the streets in Kumasi, and I don't know if I should greet them or just ignore them ore what. Very awkward haha. Think that's all. Hope life is GREAT in Texas!!!!! Go Butler! Congrats again Mom! Hope the Rangers keep up the hot streak, did they make any additions in the off season? Last things from the week, we taught a sweet investigator on Saturday, named Clifford. A few weeks ago we met him at Sis Emelia's house, and I felt like I should just give him a Book of Mormon right there. I did, and we didn't hear from him for awhile. But the other day we passed him on the road and he said he had been reading and wanted to meet with us. We had a sweet first lesson, he said he already feels like The Book of Mormon is true, he asked for one to give to a friend. I am glad I followed that impression a few weeks ago! I have only done that a few times here, giving someone a Book of Mormon just like that. We also met a guy in Kwamo on Sunday named Bro Dwimoh. He is a member who used to live in Asokwa, where they have a church. He was even a ward clerk there. But then a while ago he moved to Ejisu, which is even farther out of town, about 10 minutes from Kwamo (it is part of our proselyting area). It is about 45 minutes from any chapel in Kumasi, so he just couldn't go to church. When he met him and told him the church was coming to Kwamo, he was so stoked. He had no idea, but he said he had been praying for a way to go to church for awhile. Now hopefully he can be a leader somehow in Kwamo! He and Bro Timothy are really good friends he said. We have been praying to find future leaders for Kwamo, and it is crazy to see how our prayers our really being answered, in various ways. Welp, that's all for today I guess. I love you guys, thanks for all the support. I got my B-day package today!! I might sneak some stuff early :) haha jk of course! There still are challenges ahead, but it's all what the Lord wants. So I will just keep doing my best! Thanks again and I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Elder Brown PS-HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I am out of time today!!!!!!!!!!!