November 28, 2011

Ayeekoooooooo. Hope everything is cool in Tejas, it’s all hot here! Haha... I have been sweating like a mad man the last few days.... Crazy.... I weighed myself when I was at the mission home a few weeks ago... I was like 65 kilos or something. So my body hasn't really changed one bit! It doesn't matter how much I eat... at this point I probably lose like 2 kilos in sweat daily. So yeah, it has officially hit the dry season.... no more rainy season for me in Ghana. Just a dead sprint in the dead heat to the finish. But actually it rained this week once... really random. Anyway, the week was definitely a success. Monday night we met with Richard and by the end of the lesson, decided that baptism on Saturday was the right thing. He really really wanted to, so we told him we could meet every day and baptize him on Saturday! So he was the focus of the week. We also baptized two of President Owusu's kids on Saturday. Well they are not really his kids, but he calls them that. Their way they call "brothers", "sisters", "children", "mothers", etc. is much more broad than we do. Basically a cousin for us = a brother or sister for them. Any woman that could be your mother you can call your "maame" - pronounced somehow like "mommy". So if I address every woman I meet as "maame", I apologize... ‘tis a habit now! And any older man you can call "wofa" - basically means uncle. So anyway, the two kids are his nephew and niece. They have been coming to church forever and were begging to get baptized. Oh my goodness.... I just remembered.... So we did their interviews on Friday evening. Before the interview, President Owusu had us eat some fufu. The fufu was very nice... and then he put the meat in. I ate an eyeball. A real, rubbery, had been working that morning in the goat's head, eyeball. It was sweet! Haha... it was a cool experience. Elder Eldredge was with me doing the interviews and he refused to eat the other meat in the soup... the goat's hoof. So, that was probably the funniest part about that baptism! And again, Satan is a plumber. We combined our baptism with the Penkwase guys - Elder Brown and Elder Robert. We filled the font in the morning. And of course, when we got there, it had been leaking and was empty. So... we bucketed in water once again! I had to go get up on top of our reserve tank, lower a bucket down in, and pour it down like 12 feet into buckets for them to take and put in the font. But, we conquered the devil once again and everyone was baptized. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I guess I haven't told you. Our apartment is a lot like Kwamo, we live where we have church. We live in Penkwase where the branch meets there, and then go to Nkwabeng where our branch meets. Our chapel in Nkwabeng is where the Bennet's used to live. So we live in a pretty nice compound thing. Basically a small house with a big fence around it. The church is so young here..... wow. That’s probably my biggest source of stress.... knowing how young the church is here. And even though I have no real authority... I feel like so much rests on me. I feel like I have to do everything perfect… because so much is reliant on the missionaries. And of course as the zone leaders... we have to set the right example. So... it has made me be pretty strict on doing things right.... luckily Elder Speechly is keeping my head level. Anyway, life is cool all around. Last night we had a sweet experience walking back to the chapel to grab our bikes and ride home (we walk more now). It was dark, around 8, and the road we were walking on didn't have many lights. A guy came onto the road from one of the side roads leading off. We greeted him and he was pretty amazed that we were talking to him in Twi. That’s probably the best conversation starter there is, being able to show them we care about them enough to try to learn the language. So anyway, we got talking, he asked if we were students, then we introduced ourselves as missionaries. Told him a little bit about what we were doing, and said something like "we are here to help people who are searching for something more, who have questions about life". He answered "Like me". I kind of didn't know what to say, but then realized that he was one who really was searching for me. It was tight. So we have an appointment with him for Wednesday afternoon. His name was Samuel, he's a teacher. We watched "On The Lord's Errand" - President Monson's bio today for P-Day. It was sweet... makes you want to go out and just do everything right and have awesome experiences like he has. It’s hard to always do the right things.... more than hard I guess... but he is one to have a better hope that it is possible. So that’s about all from the week! I can't think of anything else I need right now... got some packages on Thanksgiving. One from Greg and Mindy - jampacked with mashed potatoes! It was a sweet Thanksgiving treat. As for Thanksgiving here... I had mashed potatoes and sausage. And Elder Speechly had some stuffing sent, so we enjoyed! Alrighty, well, I love you guys, thanks so much, I am vewy vewy thankful for all of you, and I am happy to be here where I am, doing what I am doing. Ennye easy koraaa, but it is sweet!!!! Love Elder Brown

November 21, 2011

Yo morning morning morning! I hope life is eyie paa for you guys, it is going on pretty well here. As always, it was a crazy week, but things seem to be settling down and the month should finish out pretty well. Transfer weeks are always a bit crazy, and getting a new companion shakes everything up a bit. Tuesday Elder Mapanje wanted to visit all of the recent converts and members and say goodbye… got some amazing fufu from the Mills family. I am starting to really really love fufu. Anyway... Wednesday morning we woke up early and took Elder Mapanje to the metro mass and sent him down to Kumasi in the bus. I paired with Elder Mathemba the rest of the day because Elder Speechly was coming from Cape Coast and wouldn't make it until Thursday morning. So me and Elder Mathemba had a good day together, watched conference in the evening with the members for their mid-week activity. Pretty good, I think it was the Sunday afternoon session, the one where everybody got sustained. I liked D. Todd Christofferson's talk a lot. Then Thursday morning we went to the bus station again to pick up Elder Speechly and Elder Mathemba's new companion, Elder Izeagbaya. Got back and did our weekly planning, and then Elder Eldredge came to do our baptism interviews. So Friday was the first full day proselyting with Elder Speechly and it was sweet. He's a stud missionary for sure…we got right down and got to work. Had 5 new investigators on Friday. We knew each other pretty well down in Cape - he served in Assin Fosu for 13 months, so we had some P-Day activities together and would meet up at zone conferences. He is a big joker, but knows how to get work done and when to be serious. Just a really lovable guy in general. He has definitely lightened me up quite a bit, and we are going to have a lot of fun over the next few months. Saturday the baptism went off without a hitch. Femi and Kelvin were baptized. There was a lot of support from members. Had a solid day of proselyting after. A cool lesson in the afternoon with some referrals from a recent convert, Joseph. He took us to some of his neighbors - Benedicta and Gifty - and they were really interested. In the evening we attended a baptism for the Penkwase elders - Elder Brown and Elder Robert. Then on Sunday we had part 2 of our baptism for one of our families. I don't think I have talked a ton about them, but they are cool. A while ago a guy introduced himself to Elder Mapanje and Elder Russell as a member, but had not been to church in years because the church was not in Sunyani. He was baptized in Accra in 2000. So we started meeting him and working with him, helping him to get activated a bit . He is a bus driver - shuttles workers to the gold mines on the outskirts of Sunyani - and is really really busy with that. So anyway he had us start teaching his three kids. They started coming to church and eventually wanted to get baptized. It was going to be Saturday, but he told us last week that he would be driving, so we pushed it to Sunday. Sacrament started and he wasn't there yet, as well as Sunday School. But then, one of the greatest moments I will have on my mission occurred! It was so tight, about half way through Sunday School, a huge bus pulls up outside the chapel, and out jumps the father, in a white shirt and tie, ready to witness his kids’ baptisms. It was awesome. The memory I will have of that huge bus pulling up outside the chapel will always be in my mind. Especially because like 3 minutes before it pulled up, I was asking myself if it would be could to baptize the kids without the father there, and I was praying pretty hard that he would show up. When I heard the noise of the brake on the bus, I knew my prayer had been answered! Definitely something I will always remember. After church I finished showing Elder Speechly around Nkwabeng, and taught some good lessons. Had a sweet lesson to finish the week with a guy named Richard. He is about 21, a student at Sunyani Polytechnic. We had been teaching him and not much had been happening, but he came to church yesterday, and then we met him on Sunday he said he wants to be baptized this very Saturday. It might be a little soon, but he really wants to because he will travel to Accra for the Christmas holiday and wants to be baptized before he leaves next week…we’ll see if he’s ready. Well that’s about it for the week. Things are sweet, mission is awesome, and it is very very very very very very very very hot here. Thanks for everything again, say Hi to everybody for me back in Denton! Love you guys, -Elder Brown

November 14, 2011

Maaaaaaaakyi. Ette sen?? Menim se eyie paa owo me fie nne, me do afa no paa!!! Anyway, I hope everything is going along great today. The work is moving along, had another crazy week.
So the week was crazy, but a lot of good things happened. Went down to Kumasi Tuesday morning (rode on the tro tro there by myself, it was scary!! jk of course, I am a big man now...) and met up with the other zone leaders there to ride down to Cape with the Assistants (Elder Adams is still an assistant). It was sweet being able to ride in the nice mission van with all of the guys - Elder Adams, Elder Alba, Elder Kouakou, Elder Briggs, Elder Tadeo, and Elder Clements. We got to Cape in the evening and had dinner there. Oh yeah! We pass by Moree Junction on the way to the mission home, so when we were like 100 yards from it, I mentioned to Elder Adams I hadn't seen the Moree chapel yet, and so he turned down Moree Junction so I could see the chapel! It was SO legit! The chapel is amazing. It is literally the first thing you see when you get to Moree, and the steeple just dominates that entire view... it is awesome, so so awesome. I can't believe that chapel is finished. The first chapel I helped build! It was so cool I got to see it.

So then we had zone leader council in the morning. It was really good. President is truly an inspired man. Over the last few months, the three main things I had personally been thinking I needed to work on to be more effective were (a) using Preach My Gospel a lot more and a lot better (b) how I used p-days, and (c) my appearance. Those three topics were three of the main things discussed, so it seems like that’s what the Lord needs for the mission as a whole.

Didn't get back to Sunyani until like 11 PM... it was terrible. We took an old rickety tro tro - probably meant for like 15 people, had probably 22 or so on it - from Kumasi to Sunyani. And then early the next day had to take care of some issues... being a zone leader is... well... fun. Went on splits to Estates the first day we were back. Elder Mathemba is tight. He is from Zimbabwe, we had a fun day of teaching together. Taught a sweet family. They were baptized a few weeks ago. We taught them about temples and eternal marriage, they had already learned a lot about it, when I asked them if they would prepare themselves to go to the temple to receive their endowments and be sealed as a family, the father said "Elder, you don't understand, it’s not a question of if we want to go, just of when! I am ready to go this very second! And you better believe next October I am going to be there the first day I can!" It was pretty tight. We don't baptize a lot of people we contact here, but this family was an old-fashioned tracting contact, so it’s cool to see the fruits of that work. Elder Mathemba and his trainer, Elder Vancherie, knocked on their door in August.

Found out my new companion on Saturday. My new companion is... Elder Speechly. I have probably mentioned him before, we knew each other pretty well in Cape. He is so tight and so funny, the next few months are going to be a blast. He goes home in February, so I will probably be his last companion. He is from Ogden I think. He is a funny funny guy... hopefully he will keep me lightened up! He has served in Sunyani before, so he is happy to come back I think. Elder Mapanje is going to Obuasi, a new area south of Kumasi. He will be opening up the area with the guy he is training and another companionship. He is excited, but sad to leave Sunyani. Been here 11 months. He gave a talk in Sacrament yesterday, pretty sweet.

As for other transfer news.... Elder Hernandez is going to Bantama to be a zone leader. Sounds like Elder Nzuki is finally leaving Moree, off to Swedru to be a zone leader there. Elder Rosquist is training AGAIN (3 times!!). Not much else really... well I guess there was a TON else - 31 new missionaries are coming on Wednesday - but since I am in Sunyani, no one knows me anymore and I don't know anyone else! So, I just stay here in my little corner of the mission and have the fun I can.

Welp, all is cool here. I got a bunch of mail when we went to Cape. Packages from you guys and G&G Brown, as well as letters from you guys, letters from both Gma H and G&G Brown, and some other peeps. Thanks everybody for sending me stuff, it makes everything cool! Our baptism on Saturday should go on as planned. Most excited for Femi, he is solid! Brought two friends to church on Sunday and gave the opening prayer to Elder's Quorum.

So, there is the report from Sunyani! Me and Elder Speechly have our work cut out for us! It’s gonna be fun. I started by saying how crazy the work is - and it is! - but this is the best work there is. It’s not easy koraaaaaaaa, but I love it. The reason is very very simple. Me and Elder Nathan were talking about the reason for a mission once... and I told him I knew exactly what it was. And I think I do. I told him to go look for it, bc it was described perfectly in a scripture. After one lesson where I read the scripture, he found it. And of course you know the scripture! It’s hanging on the wall at the church with my picture next to it! I love you guys, you are the best, and I know why I am doing all of this, thanks for helping me figure it out.

-Elder Brown

November 7, 2011

Life is pretty cool in Sunyani… Elder Hernandez and I are together for the day. Then tomorrow I will head down to Cape Coast with Elder Mapanje for zone leader council. So, should be fun again! This time the assistants are taking us, so it will be a very nice ride without any WWE playing the whole time. As for the week behind us, it was legit as usual. That’s what I have realized out here, that sometimes on Monday you look ahead to the week and wonder how anything productive is going to happen. You have no investigators, you are having different problems to work on but you just do the right things and at least one good thing will happen and the week will be a success. We are teaching this guy named Benjamin. We finished out the Restoration, he is reading the Book of Mormon pretty steadily, and started the Plan of Salvation. His only big concern is about why there is so much suffering in the world. We spent a couple hours over a few days basically talking about that question, and he seems to be getting small small every time we come. The Book of Mormon is so good to use with that (2 Nephi 2), so he is taking it in pretty well. Oh, he even asked us if we have Seventies in the church, so it was pretty cool to explain about how the church is organized. He promised he would come to church... Today we played football with some members. It is a holiday here today (Muslim) so they wanted a rematch versus some team they played a few weeks ago. So we teamed up with the members to play some other people, it was pretty fun. I realized though - bc we weren't just playing with other missionaries - that I am very very very very bad. Wish I was good at football... but oh well! Femi came to the match and was super into it - he is really a part of the branch now. He is committed for baptism the 19 November, so everything should go well with that. Oh, I just met a guy at the bus station who has been to Denton before! How sweet is that! He was a truck driver in the US for 6 years, lived in Tulsa. He even knew Owasso! And of course, he has been to Temple Square, so maybe there is a bit of potential there. His name was Abel, and lives somewhere in Kumasi, so hopefully the missionaries there meet up with him. We had a really good lesson with a family out in Odumase - a pretty busy village on the edge of our area - on Friday night. We hadn't met them in a little over a week, so it took a little while to get the lesson going. We explained about the Book of Mormon, focused on the Restoration, and by the end he was pretty excited to read. They are a sweet family and would be great to have as the church gets started in Odumase. They also promised to come to church.... As for someone who did come to church, a guy named Alfred, he is a sweet sweet guy. He is the friend of Al-Sadat. He came to church, in a suit, on Sunday and even bore his testimony, saying he knew it was the church for him and he just felt like there was so much more to learn here. We haven't gotten to sit down and teach him much - but hopefully this week we can. Al-Sadat said he wants to get baptized ASAP. I went on splits with Elder Obasi on Saturday and it was a really good experience. He is about 6 months out, from Nigeria, a very humble guy that wants to do what is right. We taught some great lessons while we were out there, President Sabey told me that I should pray for miracle when I go on splits with missionaries I am leading, and we definitely had some on Saturday. Had one lesson about the Restoration where the guy, Douglas, mos def felt the spirit super strong, and because I taught it a new way from what he had usually been doing, I could tell Elder Obasi learned a lot about what he could be doing as a missionary. It was sweet, splits are tough and sometimes you are a little unsure about how it might go, but this one was great! Well, time is short today, but everything is going cool! Thanks again for everything, the work is going great, Nkwabeng is progressing nicely and the members are learning well! My regards to everyone back in Denton! Oh one last thing. Got a call last night from Cosmos back in Kwamo. He got the Melchezidek Priesthood yesterday. It is just so fulfilling to hear of things like that happening. To think that 9 months ago I had no idea who Cosmos was, and now to know that he has received the Priesthood and has changed his life completely... it is something. Mission is something... The Gospel is something! And it is true, it for sure is true, and brings the real kind of happiness that everybody wants!!

Love, Elder Brown