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