July 25, 2011

(Griffin and his new companion Elder Nathan)

Congrats to the H-Man! Another Eagle in the nest from the Brown family :) Haha.... A big MO! (congratulations in Twi, way lame, I know) to (wow I almost typed Elder Brian.... I am way too into missionary mode) to Brian on getting into the Master's program!
So this week was pretty legit. Last Monday was a nightmare trying to get out of town after emailing. We literally waited for 2 hours for a trotro. It was ridonkulous. We will try a new route today. But we got home and had a sweet FHE with the Timothys.

The first full week with Elder Nathan was a roaring success. I was apprehensive about having an oboruni companion again, just not really sure what people think when they see two tall white guys walking around their town everyday. Me and him are mos def two of the top 10 tallest guys in Kwamo, and Elder McFarland haha. But any concerns that might come with that are completely demolished when we teach the way we have been teaching. Man this guy can teach better than just about any missionary I have seen. We have got a lot of potential in teaching if we work hard and find people to teach. We had some awesome lessons this week. Last night we taught Josephine again, we brought the Zolls along and it was perfect. Sister Zoll just gave the perfect teaching and testimony to Josephine, and she absolutely loved it. She said she is about this close (fingers very close together) to being ready to be baptized. We will be happy for that one!

Um... what else.... oh yeah we got a couple of new sweet investigators this week. One is named Sebastian. He is a university student. We contacted him on Elder Nathan's first day here, but couldn't meet him again. We stopped by his house Friday night and we were able to catch him at a good time. We started the lesson and just asked if he had ever had questions about God or about life that he couldn't find answers for. He said that right before we came, he was lying on his bed watching television. He said that right when he was lying there, he kept asking himself "Why I am here?? Where am I even going if I were to die right now??" That is the missionary jackpot!!!!!!!!!! So we had a sweet lesson, gave him a Book of Mormon, and met him again Sunday night. Serious potential there. Another is named Alfred. Alfred is cool because he doesn't speak English. Or Twi. Or Fante. He is a teacher from Cote d'Ivoire living here to learn English, so he only speaks French. He teaches French at Cliff's school, so he is really close to him. One day he passed us on the road, and in his very limited English said he wanted to learn more. One of our zone leaders, Elder Kouakou, is an Ivorian, so we called him to see if he could come and help. He came and me and him taught Alfred on Sunday. It was sweet, I got to parle le francais petit :) Haha very very small, but Alfred thought it was cool. Just a little "Je sais que le prophete Joseph Smith vu le pere celeste et Jesus Christe" Haha. So that was cool. He said that he had a dream like two months ago that I met him and gave him a pamphlet in French that had a specific date written on the back for a time when we would meet again. At the end of the lesson, I gave him a French Restoration pamphlet with the time for our next meeting - 10:00, Samedi :) - written on the back. He just looked at it and looked at me with an amazed look on his face. Pretty cool!
We split our proselyting area into two so we don't have to cross paths all day. We are taking half of Kwamo, divided at the Kwamo market, all the way out to Ejisu - the eastern half of our area. The other guys are taking Fumesua and Aperade along with the other half of Kwamo. Elder McFarland is excited for Fumesua he said - I haven't proselyted there very much. The division will work really well I think. We will be way more productive in going out to the farther areas like Ejisu, Aperade, those kinds of places. I am way excited for Ejisu. It’s actually a lot bigger than Kwamo, a pretty busy place. So Elder Nathan and I will get to take the gospel there for the first time! Should be fun.

Amanda asked if it is weird having an oboruni companion again. And YES it is! I have been with an African for like... 8 months almost? And now I don't even have one in the apartment. It is weird. The days are just a lot different. I miss having an African companion, you learn new things every hour of the day with them, but having an oboruni is awesome as well. It’s different to train an oboruni too, because you have to teach them how to live here in Africa, which is fun. Like eating fufu haha. Elder Nathan is adjusting really well though. He is such a sweet dude. Honestly... he teaches soooooooooooooo well. There’s no way people can deny what we teach! Every lesson has been so spiritual... it’s been awesome.

Welp. Life is going on well in Kwamo for sure. Can't complain, we have sweet investigators, a baptism planned for 7 August, and Kwamo is shaping into a quality branch - maybe even ward! Who knows, if we work hard it could be soon. An Elder's Q president was called yesterday, as well as RS pres, Primary pres, YM and YW pres, clerk, and a few counselors. I am somehow the acting first counselor to Elder Timothy haha. Not sure if group leaders have counselors, but he said that’s what I am haha. So that’s pretty nice to be able to give my input as Kwamo gets established.

Keep living good lives, I love you guys, you are the best, and I promise I am trying my best out here! Love you guys, and a big ayeeko to the Denton 2nd ward from Elder Brown!

Love you guys!

-Elder Brown