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