March 28, 2011

What's up everybody?? I had a ton of emails today, thanks everybody for writing. And congrats mom!!! That is awesome you won! Sounds like the tournament has been pretty entertaining. Butler and VCU, that's pretty crazy. I'll be rooting for Butler I think, they should have won last year. So anyway, life is good here in Kumasi. We just played a football match at a really nice pitch, always fun. No scoring for ol' Brown today, but I did ok. I played keeper for one half and didn't let any goals in! It sounds like life is good back in Texas. Hayden is all over the place it seems like. I got some packages last week-two from G&G Brown, one from Grandma H. Awesome stuff as usual! Grandma H sent some salami and pepperoni. Wowzers I forgot how good that stuff was. And G&G Brown sent robin eggs!!!!! Holy moly those are THE BEST!!!! :) Haha So, another week in Kwamo! It has been crazy. Just a crazy crazy last few weeks. Kumasi is so much different in so many ways. I have said that over and over but it's true! The people are different, language, culture, everything. But it's awesome! Everybody talks about Kumasi, and it is always everybody's favorite place. I think I will be a firm Cape Coast man my whole mission, but we shall see! As for the work in Kwamo, it is going good. Like I said it is a little different though. In Moree, we could pretty much meet with our progressing investigators 3-4 times a week. Here, bc a lot of people are busier with work/school, we can only meet maybe once or twice a week. So that means more contacting and more "down" time for us. But we are doing well, days have been going really fast. This week started pretty crazy but it settled down pretty well as the week progressed. Last Monday night we went to FHE with the young single adults in our ward. You asked last week if our ward is big. Yeah it's pretty big; it is right next to the university, so about half of the ward is young single adults and the rest are famliies. It is a very organized, well run ward. Church is in Twi here, still no English. English is funny here in Ghana, obviously it is good, it will help them become a part of the developing world, but it is never used unless it is absolutely necessary. It is always Twi-Twi and Fante are very similar, so it is not too hard making the switch (not that I am that good anyway...) but Twi is actually easier to learn than Fante- it is not as deep of a language. But to show the difference and how it is related, you can see how they say "How are you." For Fante it was "otse den", but for Twi is is "ette sen". So not too much different, but there are definite differences. I am glad to be learning Twi though- it is easier, and there are more books about it. In fact, the book I was studying in Moree was Twi, not Fante. So anyway, the language is still hard, I get discouraged everyday. But then I get excited to learn it everyday as well. Haha. Tuesday I instructed at district meeting. Random, the guy next to me is looking at urbanoutfitters.com! Haha, I miss clothes!!! Getting to Kwamo is a beast everyday. We live right near the university, and we have to walk about 20 minutes to the station to catch a car. Then, at the station, the last three days we have waited for about 45 minutes to get into a tro-tro going to Kwamo, and then the ride to Kwamo is about 10. So by the time we get there I am ready for a break! Haha. I like travelling though. I am going to miss tro-tros in America. Tro-tros are so awesome, if you ever come to Ghana, we will only take tro-tros!!!!!!!!!! Haha. So I can't wait til the apartment/chapel in Kwamo is finally finished! I talked to the guy in charge of building it, Prosper, and he said it will be done by next transfer-the 24 April. So I will be praying! I also aksed him if they could build a basketball court outside the apartment..he said yes!!!!!!!!! Haha I am so pumped for that. Lots of youth activities to go to with that ;) Friday night is SERIOUSLY rained. Elder Akoki and I got drenched!!! It was crazy, I was literally cold. Mos def the first time in 9 months I could say I was cold. It took forever to get a car, but finally we did. We were coming back from a small village called Aprada where we taught one of the most serious investigators, Emmanual. His family are members, and he has come to church twice. On Saturday, we taught another pretty serious guy, Degraft. He stays close to members, and has been progressing pretty well; he has come to church as well. He is a humble guy, we have been really trying to help him to understand prayer as well so he can have good experiences with that. He called me last night to tell me he was about to pray before he went to bed! Haha, so I guess he understands :) The sweetest part of the week was that we got an awesome ward missionary to come with us a few days. His name is Prince, and he stays with Brother Timothy sometimes. He is about 18 years old, and has been a member for about 2 years. He plays on a football club, they train in the mornings, and then he comes to proselyte with us. He is a very good translator, but more important than that, he has a very strong testimony and understands the gospel very well. Prince calls us to find out when he can come. He is awesome! If he comes with us 3 times a week or so, we will be able to do serious work in Kwamo. Other than that, all that matters is that I love you all. So so much. Think about everything that goes on in the world, seeing everything that goes on here, knowing what people go through in life, know what I go through in life, I don't know what I would do without you guys and everybody else back there .So sometimes that just keeps me going. I can't believe March is almost over. Days seem so long, but weeks and months seem so short. So anyway, I hope all is great for you guys, tell everyone in D-town that I love them, tell all the family that I love them. I hope you have a super awesome week! Yabehyia dapen ba! Love, Elder Brown