August 29, 2011

Alright, so on to the week at Kwamo. Week started well last week, district meeting in Asokwa on Tuesday, was in a threesome with Elder McFarland all day Tuesday and Wednesday most of the day. Elder Nathan and Elder McFarland had fun together, an Aussie and a New Zealander have a lot of nice banter when they are together. Had a sweet lesson with Oppong on Tuesday night. Finished out The Restoration lesson, gave him a Book of Mormon, and he is still getting ready for the baptism on 17 September.
Anarfi proselyted with us on Wednesday. It was pretty sweet. He was really able to help us out in teaching. Him and Mensah are sweet, they said last week - "we want to come walk with you so we can get more members" - no problem!!! And of course, Anarfi was looking as fresh as ever. Nice crisp plaid yellow shirt, with slim cut brown trousers and Sperry topsiders - Mensah was wearing a purple shirt with a purple and black sweater and a black bowtie when he was confirmed. How fresh is that? Let me answer.... ummmmm.... so fresh?!!?!?!? We went out to Ejisu in the morning on Wednesday, tried to find some people we hadn't seen in a while out there, because we haven't had time to go there in like 3 weeks. Got some new contacts, met some old people, and played some ping pong at an investigators house. A big thing is that people buy a ping pong table, set it up outside of their house, and make kids pay 10 pesewas to play on it. But he let us play for free... man that guy was so good! His name is Alexander, a cool guy for sure. Anarfi won the Kumasi Stake YSA ping pong tournament, and Alexander still beat him like 21-8.

Wednesday night we went to town to pick up Elder McFarland's new companion. His name is Elder Larsen, from Loa, Utah. It’s like 45 minutes outside Richfield, said he knows Koosharem. He is loving Kwamo! It’s cool having a new guy in the apartment.
The week continued well, we have a lot of people to teach, it’s just that most cannot meet all that often. The day times are usually pretty slow, and then we have a lot of appointments at night. But we are still finding some success. Have a baptism planned 17 September.
Friday was loooooooooooong. I had red-red (beans, gari, and LOTS of palm oil) for lunch and it killed me! The day dragged so much. But luckily we had some good appointments at night that pulled it all through. Taught Blatta, he is really starting to get a testimony.
Mensah and Daniel were confirmed yesterday, now we just have to REALLY focus on making sure these converts stay strong. I love you guys so much and thank you so much for everything you do! Like I said, thank you for every little thing you ever did!!! I am trying to reciprocate it the best I can out here :) My regards to everybody back home. Oh yeah, you said there are 5 missionaries from our ward. I can only think of like 3. Who are the rest? Love you guys!!!

-Elder Brown

August 22, 2011

Griffin with some newly baptized members

Yoo!!! Ette sen! Paakyew eye wo ha na me anigye paa sisia. Kofra se me e-mail dapen akyire twa kakra, nanso nne email beye dadaada paa. Typing Twi is weird.... they don't really ever write it, it’s pretty much only spoken; I have only met one person who doesn't speak English that can read Twi. Anyway, my Twi is coming along kakrakakra. Elder Nathan thinks I am fluent but ennnye nokore koraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. The big news I meant to tell you in the second email last week was pretty sweet. I played golf last Monday!!! That was our p-day activity. It was so legit! The course was amazingly nice. Honestly it was better than something like Lake Park. With the exception of the greens (which were maybe the quality of TWU) it was comparable to Oakmont. Pretty crazy huh?! I didn't think it would be that good, but it really was. My first tee shot in Africa was a beaut too. I was way nervous, I was the first to tee off; no range, haven't swung a club in well, you know how long, and everybody watching. But I striped it right down that Ghanaian fairway and finished up with a solid par on my first hole in Africa. Pretty cool huh?! I played pretty decent, maybe 7 over or so on 9 holes - not too shabby when you haven't played in well, you know how long. Pretty much bogey golf - no birds. I played with Elder Mortensen and Elder Alba. Alba is legit - he birdied the first hole. Mortensen is pretty good, about like me, and Vancherie had never played before. Elder Nathan played in the group behind me with Elder Zoll and some other guys.

So that was the sweetest part about last P-Day. That’s why my email maybe seemed a little all over the place, I was way anxious to go golf!!! So if H sees Coach Adams around he can tell him I played in Africa! I felt so weird playing, esp bc the course was so legit, felt like I wasn't on mission anymore. I had a burning desire to get super good when I go home, maybe to go to like one of those golf academy things in Arizona for a summer. It’d be nice to be able to shoot 75 no problem on a regular basis.

Then after P-Day we had a great week. Tuesday we had a combined district meeting with the whole zone because a ton of guys just finished their missions. Pretty insane. Remember Elder Keller? Elder Bahme? Elder Jackson? Elder Wiah? Yep, they are all on their ways home. 19 missionaries going home tomorrow. Pretty crazy. These guys were about 10 months out when I first came. So we had a big zone meeting so we could see everyone one last time. It was nice, all of the departing elders bore their testimonies, always a good experience. I think there are 5 from our zone that left. Then we had a good day of teaching after that. Lots of sweet new people to teach. Like one family, think I talked about them last week - Oppong and Comfort. Oppong is a radio announcer and Comfort is a nurse. We contacted Oppong ourself, but luckily he lives really close to a member family. So we have been taking their 18 year old son, Emmanual to go and help us teach. Oppong committed to be baptized 17 Sept. We had GREAT success with another Comfort this week though. We went throughout the week to visit, since her son Sammy was just confirmed last week and he was preparing to pass the Sacrament for the first time. On Saturday we had a great lesson with Eric and Comfort together, and at the end, we invited Comfort to come to church to see her son pass the Sacrament for the first time. She came! She also made us ampesi - the best Ghanaian dish - twice this week! Anyway back to the first family, last night we taught all of the Restoration lesson, finished by giving him a Book of Mormon. We will be back this week to make sure all is progressing well.

We are teaching this really sweet guy named Blatta. Elder Timothy and I contacted him a long time ago. We were at his house, we started talking to him, and he started asking about the Book of Mormon. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read and booked another appointment, but didn't see him again for a few weeks. We finally pinned him down and taught him after Elder Nathan had gotten here. There is definitely a seed within him or he wouldn't keep inviting us back. AND he came to church yesterday. Sweet story regarding that. Saturday night we had a lesson with him, we sat down planning to start talking about the Plan of Salvation and reading the Book of Mormon with him but we felt we should maybe just watch the First Vision video with him. So we popped it in, and we had a great time watching it. After we just discussed about what he understands about what we have taught him. I think the Spirit really hit him hard at that point as we just stated the truth and testified of it. All we asked him to do was to pray and ask God to know it is true. He admitted to us that he had never prayed to ask God if He really had appeared to Joseph Smith and to know that the Book of Mormon was true, and we told him that there was no way he could ever hope to know our message is true until he asks for himself!!! He realized that was true, and committed to pray that very night. Then, to make it as meaningful as possible, we asked him to commit that when he received his answer from God that what he have taught is true, that he would come to church. And he said "ok, if I receive an answer, I will come tomorrow". We promised him again that he would receive an answer and went on our way to our next appointment. You can imagine how happy I was when I saw him walk through those doors at Kwamo Junction 9 o’clock yesterday!!! So I guess he received an answer ;)

Yesterday at church was awesome. 8:15 yesterday, Degraft rolls up in his fresh white shirt and tie, twenty minutes later Eric is there with Comfort, then Thomas comes in, then Cliff, all in 5 minute intervals. On top of that, Blatta came, and Teddy came as well. So all of the recent converts were there yesterday, plus 9 investigators, plus the two who were baptized. Oh yeah the baptism! Haha almost forgot about how I fulfilled my purpose as a missionary this week. Daniel was baptized - by his friend Alex - as was Emmanual, Anarfi's friend. It went great. Daniel is the guy who heard about the church from his aunt in Ohio. And then of course Mensah!

After the baptism yesterday we had to take Elder Newbold to Bantama chapel to meet up with the assistants who were taking the guys who had finished down to Cape Coast. Crazy seeing all those guys go!!! We got transfer news Saturday night (we usually get it on Mondays) - no changes for me. Me and Elder Nathan still together in Kwamo, Elder McFarland is going to train here in Kwamo. A lot of changes throughout the mish with 19 guys going and 12 coming, but I am happy to stay the same! Elder Adams told me Elder Nzuki is training - still in Moree!! He will be a great trainer.

Hmm... what else. We farmed with a guy named Joe on Friday. We offered to help him out. He liked it a lot, I think it showed him and the people that saw us helping what we are all about. We ran into him Thursday coming back from his farm, and offered our help planting the corn. So we had fun with that, hopefully he gets to eat lots of banku because of it!!! Taught a preacher on Wednesday of The Church of Christ. What’s that one scripture that said the people were astonished because "Jesus taught with authority, not as the scribes"? Well I felt like that teaching this guy. It was a cool experience. He was a little humble by the end and said he would start to read the Book of Mormon and pray, so hopefully (for his sake) he does that. We will go see him tomorrow.

Well, the time is far spent. We had quite a week!!! Love you guys so much, you are the best. Love you all!!!

-Elder Brown

August 15, 2011

Me ebusua!!!! Wapum tesen?!?!?! Me pe nyame adom bokooo!!! Life is eye paaa in Ghana siesia. Confirmations yesterday were 4 for 4, everybody showed up ready for it. The week was pretty legit, lots to be done, but it just seems like our investigators are too busy right now. Had a hard time meeting most of them through the week. But met with the ones that were getting baptized/confirmed in the next few weeks. Like I said, the confirmations yesterday were a success, and we are having another baptism on Friday night for three guys. So since most of our other investigators were a little busy, we met a ton of new people through the week. We had 20 new investigators this week! That’s the most I have had since like my first week in Kwamo when it was just straight contacting all day long.

Tuesday we had a little run-in with some people that were not so positive about the church. And there’s one guy in the neighborhood who gives it to me every day because he says that I'm not an Elder because I am not married. He just calls me Mister Brown. He is also not very happy. That day it was raining and an older lady named Akosua invited us into her house to wait out the rain. Her house was just this perfect little Grandma house and we chatted with her a few minutes. She asked why God doesn't answer prayers immediately, and it led to a good discussion. She invited us for fufu this week on Wednesday, so we are excited for that. Oh yeah, I learned how to drive fufu a few weeks back. There are two parts to making fufu, pounding, and driving. Pounding is easy, but driving is more difficult. Driving is the person who turns the fufu over while the other person is pounding. The family was impressed with my skillz!

We had a great experience with a family yesterday. I am not sure if I have told you about a member who got in a terrible accident (so bad he doesn't tell us what happened) and broke his leg. He has been bed ridden for 2 months now. His cast is off now, but yesterday they put some local herbal medicine on the wound to help it heal, but it was paining him seriously. He was just writhing in pain on the bed. We got there and honestly it hurt to see how much pain he was in. He had been given a blessing by the bishop of the UST ward last month sometime, but I knew he needed a blessing right then, more importantly a blessing from his father, who had never given a blessing before in the span of his three years as a member of the church. So we sat down and taught his father what to do to give a blessing. He was nervous, but he did it. I anointed, and then the father came to seal it. I was a little scared about what he might say, but wow.... The Spirit really does work in those situations. He gave the most awesome blessing I have heard on my mission. Just simple, humble, and short, but man was it powerful. He blessed his son to be free from pain, and then blessed him to use the experience to better his life and be a leader in the church. Twas perfecto!!!!

Wednesday going to Saturday were all really long days. A lot of walking, not a lot of teaching because all our peeps were gone, but like said, we found some sweet new investigators. One guy was Oppong, a guy we contacted a few weeks back, but had traveled because he is a radio announcer and was calling Kotoko (the Kumasi football team) games. We went to see him and met his wife in the house, she seems really cool too, and said that he would be back the next day. We back the next day and found him there. He was really excited to see us and we had a great lesson. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. Oppong promised to come to church... and he did! It was sweet, he had a good time. We are teaching him and his wife again tonight.

(There must have been a computer glitch – the email abruptly ended here today.)

August 8, 2011

Sorry my update was short last week. Computers here.... are good :) The first couple days we had to have our investigators come to meet us at the chapel, which went pretty well and we stayed fairly busy. Then Wednesday we went and GPS'd the rest of our area. So we didn't have a normal week of proselyting (aka walking A TON) but it was still very successful. Because yep, the baptism did work out. We had the interviews Wednesday night, then Sunday everybody was on time and ready! And the font was just fine this time!!! We had four baptized on Sunday. Elizabeth - we have been teaching her for a while now, she would come to church every week but worked at central market in Kumasi everyday from sun up to sun down, so we could never meet her during the week. But after 5 solid months of coming to church every week, she was ready for baptism for sure. She was sweet, some missionaries contacted her while she was selling in Central Market, and she decided to visit the church, found out the closest one to her was at UST (at the time) and traveled 45 minutes to an hour every Sunday for church. Makes you think... maybe some of those random people I have contacted decided to go to church at their home town... maybe :) Haha. So she is sweet. Then Eric got to baptize his son, Sammy. Sammy is his last kid that lives with him, and started coming to church after we taught him once with Eric. He has made really good friends with the YM, and is loving the church. He is 14, so now he can't wait to become a missionary. Elder Nyame.... pretty cool :) Haha. We are still working with Eric's wife Comfort. We taught the whole family together last night after the baptism. So we shall continue to work and pray!!! Then Gilbert, Bro. Timothy's brother. He took a lot of effort too because he doesn't speak English or Twi, only Ewe (although he is learning English and Twi pretty fast - his whole interview was in English with no translator). Bro Timothy helped us a lot to teach him, and he was baptized yesterday! Gilbert is so sweet... love dat guy!!!! Lastly, but certainly not least was Brotha Richard. What a stud. This guy is the freshest dressing guy in Kwamo. Seriously. He's got this fresh NY Yankees hat he wears all the time that I want...! We were doing a service project a few months back, and he called out to me, Elder Timothy, and
Cosmos while we were passing by his house on the way back to the chapel. He looked at my tag, said "Yes... Latter-day Saints... I want to learn more about you, I am very serious" and the rest is history! He is 20 years old, and said he wants to go on a mission. He was waiting to apply to go to UST, but he says he is deciding if he wants to go on a mission first or not. He pretty much has to go before or after college, they won't let people defer for a mission. Elder Anarfi... also pretty cool! Two of his best friends Emmanual and Mensah are getting baptized 20 August. Mensah might be the only person in Kwamo that dresses more fresh than Anarfi. So that was all with the baptism on Sunday... probably my smoothest baptism yet.

Today we played a full pitch football match, here at Kwamo. It was pretty fun, I played midfield for most of the game and then keeper at the end. I am getting better, I had a few good runs, had a pretty sweet set-up and assist if I may say so myself. I took the ball like half the field, dribbled around two defenders, then passed to my boy Elder Bassey (Akwai-ibom, Nigeria) who poked it in for the goal. My ball handling is the worst facet of my game, but I could see improvements today :) I am still not a very good keeper though haha. I gave up a goal in like the 15 minutes I was keeper.

Hmmm, what else.... I am forgetting stuff. I didn't write down notes this week so my mind isn't as focused haha. Well if there is nothing else I can think of off the top of my head... then I guess that’s about all the cool stuff that happened :) Cosmos is preparing to get his patriarchal blessing, All the recent converts, Eric, Thomas, Cosmos, Cliff, Degraft, now Anarfi and Gilbert, are preparing for the Melchizedek Priesthood with Stake Conference coming up in a few months... Elder Nathan is doing great, life is A-OK! And it wasn't even that hot this week! Pretty cool to be honest, today was perfect while we were playing football. Hope you guys break the 100 degree day record :) Haha. Good luck with Seminary mom, you are gonna do great! There is some sweet stuff in the Old Testament that has helped me a ton on my mission. I will make a list this week and send it to you next week, so whenever you get to that scripture you can say, "oh yeah, this scripture is very important for mission (life) per Elder Brown in Ghana".

Welp other than that, life is going on here! We have FHE at Thomas and Patricia's tonight and then on to a great week ahead. Every week, every blessed week, my testimony gets stronger out here. This is all true! It’s so awesome to see the gospel in action every second of every day. Oh and thanks Mom for teaching me how to sweep, and how to not care about what other people are doing, and how to take out the trash, and every other little thing. And Dad too :) It’s crazy
how every little thing you ever said.... was exactly right :) Elder Nathan tells me I sound like his mum (not mom) most of the time, and that is mos def a good thing :) Love you guys!!!!!!!!! So so
much!!!!!!!1 ME do mo paaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Brown

August 1, 2011

Surprisingly, it’s actually not been too hot out here. Weird huh?! It’s rainy season. Maybe I am just used to it, but it has been pretty mild it seems like. Nights even get pretty cool, I don't sleep with a fan on anymore. So that’s made proselyting a little more refreshing, but... it’s still pretty hot haha.

The week was pretty fresh. Started with and FHE at a family’s house. Me and Elder Nathan taught them how to play pictionary, they loved it! At the end it was tied, so we had a tie breaker that was pretty intense (Elder Nathan drew a kangaroo, I am surprised anyone guessed it!) and when a kid finally yelled it out, everyone went crazy celebrating. They were jumping into each other’s arms, the whole works! Then all of a sudden we heard the 6 year old daughter screaming in pain! We looked down and she had gotten her front tooth knocked out! Talk about extreme pictionary!!!!!!!!! Luckily it was a baby tooth, so no worries haha. She was crying the whole night, but the next day she was showing it off to everyone.

Tuesday was weird. We usually have district meeting on Tuesdays, but we had it on Thursday this week so President could come, and it made the day seem weird, since we didn't have a meeting in the morning. And it was like really cool, probably the coolest I have felt it here, and really breezy. Felt like an early fall day back home. Sweetest part of the day, we met Kwamo King Lamoni!!!! I had been trying to track down the chief for weeks, to no avail. Finally we were just walking by his palace that he is building early one evening and he happened to be outside just sitting by himself. I waved and said good evening, and he stopped us to tell us to come and have a sit. I was pretty nervous, I wanted to have a member there when I met him, but we went up to talk to him. They call him Nana (respectful title here) Kwamohene. "Hene" means king. It was a good conversation. He actually lived in Toronto most of his life, but came to Ghana when he was chosen to be chief. Basically the discussion just went all over. He kept telling us he just wanted to serve the people of Kwamo. We told him we would work with him in any way we could.

Well... I gotta go. A lot happened this week, but I gotta go! So if I can come back tonight, I will finish up. If not, see ya next week! Sorry for the short email!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

-Elder Brown
Welp... super lame but my whole email got deleted. So... sorry that
this week was limited. The week was sweet, the work is going on and I
love you guys like no other.

-Elder Brown