Memo mo akyi, I could go for some snow right now....I had a dream about cold weather the other night...so weird bc I think I did feel cool haha. You gotta love it when they cancel church for snow though! I really really really wish it would be freezing cold just for one day here! But no biggie I guess haha
Today for P-Day we played we played some basketball by the beach. I didn't play too well, my bod just hurts! The cold and the football from last week didn't help me out. But it was still fun. Abura zone came and played with us, and as I was talking with one of their zone leaders, Elder Harrison, we figured out we stayed in the same room at Budge Hall at BYU! He's the guy that was on the BYU soccer team. And he went there just the year before me, so it was like right when he left that room that I came, since I went in the summer. Small world. We also got ripped off when we bought jollof rice for lunch today...lame! but oh well, we got subsistence today, so I feel rich haha.
Well last week was pretty sweet. It was a really busy week, so it was really good. Tuesday was my first district meeting as district leader and I guess I did ok. After that, we had interviews with president in Ola. Those went well, nothing too special. It's always good to talk with president one on one. We played some scripture Jeopardy during the interviews...pretty fun.
The rest of the week, we were just preparing for the baptism really. We met with John and with Kojo every day to make sure they are ready, and they were. Kojo did so well to progress. His older sister is a member so it was nice to seem them happy together at the baptism and at church on Sunday.
John is a really cool guy too. As we were talking after his interview, I asked when he first came to church, just expecting a "6 months ago" or "around this time" sort of answer, but he said "27th December 2009." An exact date! It was a ward party he went to with his friend, Ignicious, that was his first time. So he's been waiting a while, but he's finally a member!
It's still been a little frustrating teaching all Fante speaking investigators, but it's been ok. It's helping me to learn it better already. Last week was one of my better Fante learning weeks on the mission. Being with Elder Nzuki does help a little, bc Africans seem to pick up on the language faster, and because he wants to learn a lot. So hopefully we learn a lot together.
The baptism on Saturday went well, but it was somehow crazy, as always! Transportation was fine, the 2nd counselor in the bishopric worked it out with his taxi and everyone got to Yamoransa fine, but when we got there, the close with the baptismal clothes was locked! So we called their bishop and someone brought the keys, but when we tried to open it, it just wouldn't work! We spent 30 minutes trying to get the door open. Finally, Elder Nzuki got it. It was so frustrating. Delayed the baptism almost an hour. But it was ok. It was a good service.
So nothing else too special. We have a baptism scheduled for the 22nd-everyone else in the district has a baptism scheduled for that day too, so we are thinking about doing a big combined baptism at the beach in Moree. It would be cool! Probably 20+ people baptized, it would be really sweet. (ps-in the Ghana artwork highlight from the Ensign you sent me, there was a painting of "Baptism beach" and I am 90% sure that is the beach we do our baptisms at).
Anyway, it's all going well here. Elder Nzuki is getting his patriarchal blessing on Thursday, so that will be cool. Life is good in the hood. Moree ward is seriously growing. Less-actives are coming back, a family going to the temple in a month to get sealed and people are bringing new people to church every week. Most of all them are Fante speakers, so I gotta get busy learning more!
I love you all vewy vewy much, thanks for everything. Enjoy the snow, have fun watching football tomorrow, and make sure that BYU beats utah 108-43 tomorrow. Love you!!!!!! ME DO MO PA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Elder Kwesi Brown
Tell everybody I love em! And that I'm sorry pouch takes like 2 months to get there!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 3, 2011
Afe nko mmeto yen bio! (response to Afehyia Pa. Afehyia pa means "the year has come to meet us" and the response means "let the year go and come back to us again") Oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. I am so tired and drained right now its ridiculous. This week has been so crazy. Awesome, but crazy. We just got done playing some football. A little too physical than I'd like...got some scratches to prove it. But I guess missionaries have to let it out somehow. We played Abura, we lost. Abura has a guy on the BYU soccer team on their team. Plus they brought some investigators to play with them because they only had 8. I scored though! And it was a serious, legit goal! Elder Katoa gave me a perfect throw in from the sideline, I dribbled baseline (as they would say in basketball) gave a fake pass to Elder Mortensen, then fired it home past one defender and the keeper. I felt pretty good :) I was wearing my #23 Prince Boateng Ghana national jersey, so I think that gave me some magic.
Anyway, so yep, this week was veryyy crazy. Tuesday the transfer happened. I went with Elder Adams to the STC station in Pedu, and we waited there for his STC bus to Kumasi. The APs and zone leaders brought over his new companion, who was serving in Swedru. His name is Elder Smith, from Utah. A few hours later, Elder Nzuki came down on the bus from Kumasi. He's really sweet. He's from Kenya, and has been on the mission for a couple months. He actually served as a local missionary in Kenya before he came, so he's used to it all. He played rugby over there, wants to go back and play on the national team when he's done with mission, but he's not all that big like Elder Katoa. His native language is Swahili. It's the language that they used for the Lion King! Hakuna Matata literally means no worries!!! Haha, and he also speaks like 13 other languages or something...he speaks French really well. So he's a pretty smart dude!
So Wednesday we got out to proselyting. First day without Elder Adams, as senior companion, and with that didn't know the area was tough, but fun. We taught a lot of lessons. Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was the best fasting experience I've ever had. I didn't think I would make it, just with being sick and all (recovering from a cold) but I never felt better fasting than I did on Sunday. It was one of the best days I have had on the mission yet. I was hungry sure, but I had more strength than I had had that whole week for sure. So anyway, it was tough being sick, especially this week, but I think its the way it was supposed to be. I honestly felt so good on Sunday walking around Moree. It had been a tough, rewarding, packed week, but I felt so so good on Sunday. I'm glad it was this week that I got sick, because even though it made everything a little harder, it made it all the more better when we finished another good week. I feel like I am a lot better off having this week to think about now.
So anyway, let me get on to some of our investigators right now. We have so many investigators right now...it's hard to keep track of them all!! 13 investigators came to church on Sunday. Almost all of them only speak Fante, so it's difficult meeting with them and teaching them, but hey, God is no respecter of persons! I just gotta learn Fante! It's so hard....but its coming kakrakakra. One of our sweetest investigators came to church for the first time. His name is Solomon. He works on the chapel. He speaks great English, and is loving the stuff we teach. He lives really far away. But he came and even brought a friend yesterday! It was a great feeling when he walked in.
We are really sad about one of our investigators though, Seth. He is about 30 and had a lot of friends in Moree ward. We contacted him about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and have taught him all the way up to the Commandments (so basically everything). He was committed to baptism for January 15th, and had come to church, so he was already for the date....but he's moved to Takoradi on Saturday!!!!!!!!! He's already contacted the missionaries there though, we made sure all was good getting it worked out for him to meet the missionaries there, so hopefully he went to church with them yesterday! We were so bummed a couple of weeks ago when he told us he was moving. So it's sad that he's not here and that we can't see the baptism, but all that matters is that he becomes a member, and I'm pretty confident that will happen. He is in the Takoradi Zone Leader's area, and they are studs, so I have no worries.
So if you were wondering...I didn't stay up until midnight on Friday (New Year's Eve) Thought about it...but didn't. There was a little parade thing in Yamoransa on Saturday....like 30 people walking down the street banging drums and blowing trumpets and trombones, but that was it. Some random people were shooting guns or setting off firecrackers or something on Friday. That was about it! Very weird it's 2011.
Welp, I can't think of anything else from the week. We are having a baptism on Saturday for John and Kojo. They're both sweet guys, they are both 19, John is a student (speaks English) and Kojo is a fisherman (no English). They are both referrals from members, Kojo from one of our recent converts, Dennis, who has helped a lot in the teaching. But man...I think I will look back on this week and it will define my mission. I feel like I've changed a lot. Having the pressure on me as we are proselyting that the day is successful, having a lot of Fante speakers to teach so having to find translators all day, and just of course being sick. But we powered through every day. It's a lot different being with Elder Nzuki but the experience is sweet. Every second I'm learning just because our cultures are so radically different. But it's all the same work, for both of us. We might be from a world apart, but it's still the same work and we're going to work as hard as ever. The experience I had on Sunday with fasting and just the day of proselyting was really special for me. I can't even really explain. But I'm so thankful for everything that is happening to me now, even if it's hard, or difficult or whatever. It's going to be awesome, and I'm looking forward to the future.
I love you guys, I can't even begin to explain how thankful! I am for you and for everybody back home. I hope you guys are enjoying the exciting time back there, and keep thinking of your guy in Africa :) Stay fresh as always. Yebehyiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
-Elder Brown
PS-shout outs to Grandma, Hayden, Matt, Syd, and Grant Myres for awesome emails this week! And Amanda :) And mom and dad!
Anyway, so yep, this week was veryyy crazy. Tuesday the transfer happened. I went with Elder Adams to the STC station in Pedu, and we waited there for his STC bus to Kumasi. The APs and zone leaders brought over his new companion, who was serving in Swedru. His name is Elder Smith, from Utah. A few hours later, Elder Nzuki came down on the bus from Kumasi. He's really sweet. He's from Kenya, and has been on the mission for a couple months. He actually served as a local missionary in Kenya before he came, so he's used to it all. He played rugby over there, wants to go back and play on the national team when he's done with mission, but he's not all that big like Elder Katoa. His native language is Swahili. It's the language that they used for the Lion King! Hakuna Matata literally means no worries!!! Haha, and he also speaks like 13 other languages or something...he speaks French really well. So he's a pretty smart dude!
So Wednesday we got out to proselyting. First day without Elder Adams, as senior companion, and with that didn't know the area was tough, but fun. We taught a lot of lessons. Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was the best fasting experience I've ever had. I didn't think I would make it, just with being sick and all (recovering from a cold) but I never felt better fasting than I did on Sunday. It was one of the best days I have had on the mission yet. I was hungry sure, but I had more strength than I had had that whole week for sure. So anyway, it was tough being sick, especially this week, but I think its the way it was supposed to be. I honestly felt so good on Sunday walking around Moree. It had been a tough, rewarding, packed week, but I felt so so good on Sunday. I'm glad it was this week that I got sick, because even though it made everything a little harder, it made it all the more better when we finished another good week. I feel like I am a lot better off having this week to think about now.
So anyway, let me get on to some of our investigators right now. We have so many investigators right now...it's hard to keep track of them all!! 13 investigators came to church on Sunday. Almost all of them only speak Fante, so it's difficult meeting with them and teaching them, but hey, God is no respecter of persons! I just gotta learn Fante! It's so hard....but its coming kakrakakra. One of our sweetest investigators came to church for the first time. His name is Solomon. He works on the chapel. He speaks great English, and is loving the stuff we teach. He lives really far away. But he came and even brought a friend yesterday! It was a great feeling when he walked in.
We are really sad about one of our investigators though, Seth. He is about 30 and had a lot of friends in Moree ward. We contacted him about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and have taught him all the way up to the Commandments (so basically everything). He was committed to baptism for January 15th, and had come to church, so he was already for the date....but he's moved to Takoradi on Saturday!!!!!!!!! He's already contacted the missionaries there though, we made sure all was good getting it worked out for him to meet the missionaries there, so hopefully he went to church with them yesterday! We were so bummed a couple of weeks ago when he told us he was moving. So it's sad that he's not here and that we can't see the baptism, but all that matters is that he becomes a member, and I'm pretty confident that will happen. He is in the Takoradi Zone Leader's area, and they are studs, so I have no worries.
So if you were wondering...I didn't stay up until midnight on Friday (New Year's Eve) Thought about it...but didn't. There was a little parade thing in Yamoransa on Saturday....like 30 people walking down the street banging drums and blowing trumpets and trombones, but that was it. Some random people were shooting guns or setting off firecrackers or something on Friday. That was about it! Very weird it's 2011.
Welp, I can't think of anything else from the week. We are having a baptism on Saturday for John and Kojo. They're both sweet guys, they are both 19, John is a student (speaks English) and Kojo is a fisherman (no English). They are both referrals from members, Kojo from one of our recent converts, Dennis, who has helped a lot in the teaching. But man...I think I will look back on this week and it will define my mission. I feel like I've changed a lot. Having the pressure on me as we are proselyting that the day is successful, having a lot of Fante speakers to teach so having to find translators all day, and just of course being sick. But we powered through every day. It's a lot different being with Elder Nzuki but the experience is sweet. Every second I'm learning just because our cultures are so radically different. But it's all the same work, for both of us. We might be from a world apart, but it's still the same work and we're going to work as hard as ever. The experience I had on Sunday with fasting and just the day of proselyting was really special for me. I can't even really explain. But I'm so thankful for everything that is happening to me now, even if it's hard, or difficult or whatever. It's going to be awesome, and I'm looking forward to the future.
I love you guys, I can't even begin to explain how thankful! I am for you and for everybody back home. I hope you guys are enjoying the exciting time back there, and keep thinking of your guy in Africa :) Stay fresh as always. Yebehyiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
-Elder Brown
PS-shout outs to Grandma, Hayden, Matt, Syd, and Grant Myres for awesome emails this week! And Amanda :) And mom and dad!
Friday, January 14, 2011
12-27-2010
Dang Ghanaian computers. Anyway, it was so awesome to get to talk to you guys on Saturday, just hearing your voices made me feel a little closer to home for Christmas. Hope your guys' Christmas was great. It was great here in Ghana. We had our own little White Christmas here. Even though me and Elder Adams didn't have anyone quite ready to be baptized on Christmas, it was fun to be able to go to Yamaransa's and Mankeissim's. Elder Bunker asked me to give the talk at the service. I used Alma 7:10-15 and it made it a Christmasy baptism talk, so it was fun. We went down to the beach for the baptism, which is always cool. I don't know if I talked much about our Christmas meal that we made, but oh man it was great. I'll talk about it small so you can get the feel. So a few weeks ago President and Sister Sabey told us that we would get 5 extra Ghana cedis in our sub to cook a Christmas meal for a family in need. We decided right when we heard about it to do it for a family in the area. They are recent converts. We decided to make them Red-Red, our favorite Ghanaian dish. It is fried plantain with bean stew (tomato paste, tomatoes, onion, palm oil, pepper, and beans). We had Sister Suzie (Sister Pratt) teach us ho to make it, and we went to the Pratt's in the afternoon to cook it. We cooked it all and brought it over. A friend cooked some sea snails to go with it so that was nice. He also bought alvaro (the most delicious soda ever) and fanta and had it chilled and ready. We had a great time and had a few gifts for the kids. Elder Adams and I headed back to the Pratt's to wash the dishes when we were done eating. It was great, couldn't have asked for a better Christmas meal.
Welp, we got a fun phone call in Yamoransa this morning. It was from President Sabey....Elder Adams is going on transfers! :( It honestly came out of absolutely no where. We were both pretty surprised the past few transfers when we stayed together, but neither of us were expecting this at all. It is somehow an "emergency" transfer. Not because anyone did anything wrong, it's because they are opening up a new area in Kumasi, but they just didn't have the apartment ready at the last transfer. So they had to do a mid-transfer transfer. Elder Adams is going up there to Kumasi to open it up, and I'm staying in Moree! My new companion is named Elder Nzuki, he is from Kenya and has only been on the mission for a month and a half. One of the guys in our zone (Elder Alba-SLC,UT) is his MT, and he told me he is tight. He was companions with him in the MTC, and he said I would get along with him for sure. He seems pretty cool! It'll be sad to see Elder Adams go, I've been with this guy for over a fourth of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy! It's weird he's actually leaving. I don't think either of us really get it right now haha. But he's leaving tomorrow at noon on the STC bus up to Kumasi, Elder Nzuki will be in Yamoransa tomorrow. I'm gonna miss Elder Adams. He was an awesome trainer, an awesome missionary and a great friend. We got to know each other better than I think we realize. We've spent every blessed day together for the last 6 months! Haha, it's been so fun. Many many memories with him in Moree and Yamoransa. We got to play some basketball today one last time before he leaves. Elder Adams is a baller by the way. We'll go in to Moree tonight so he can say some goodbyes, I'm sure it will be fun, but sad for him. He wanted to stay here for a full year. Moree is all he has known on his mission. I'm sure I'll hear little kids yelling "Elder Adams!!!!!" for the rest of the time I'm in Moree. Alright I gotta stop talking about it, I'm gonna start crying!!!!!! :) It'll be sad tomorrow, but its tie to start a new chapter on the mission! I'm excited to have an Africa companion. Also.....I'm the new district leader....not too excited about that. I haven't even been a senior companion or a trainer or anything yet....so I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing, but I guess I'll just learn as I go. I learned with Elder Adams being district leader, so hopefully I do ok. I'll get to travel to Abakrampa and Mannkeissim a lot at least! Haha
So anyway, that's the big news of the week. Elder Adams is excited to get to see Kumasi and get to learn how to open an area, but I can tell he's sad to leave Moree. This was basically his home in Ghana! It'll be sweet for him up there in Kumasi I'm sure.
The Christmas call was so great, and thanks for all the gifts and notes and singing cards!!!!!!! Thanks everyone for being so awesome, even though I'm far for Christmas. I felt all of my family and friends' love here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I went to bed on Christmas just as excited as I ever was as a small boy. I suppose it really is because it's not about the gifts, or the lights, or the food or anything. It really is about remembering the most important birth that has ever happened. It really is about the Savior, and his Atonement And Love for us. And in turn its about family and friends, and Love! And I felt it here in Cape Coast for sure. It was different, it was far far away on the Guinean plains, and it was hot, but it was great :) Thanks for everything. I love you so much, can't even begin to explain. I'm excited to start a new year and a new chapter of my mission. I'm nervous being the senior companion and all, but I know in Whom I trust, and its all gonna be good. Elder Nzuki is gonna be fresh, I can already tell, and we are going to have tons of fun together in Moree.
Mom said about 2010- "It's been quite a year" I say AMEN to that. Too many things to even start thinking of right now, but 2010 has been quite a year for sure. 2011 is bound to hold some more awesome stuff, no doubt. I love you guys, and everyone else back home! Merry Christmas! And Afehyia Pa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Happy New Year :)
Love,
Elder Brown
PS-thank President Freeze and all the YM for the awesome package and you can tell Jordan that, yes, I have enjoyed the "bountiful harvest" :)
Welp, we got a fun phone call in Yamoransa this morning. It was from President Sabey....Elder Adams is going on transfers! :( It honestly came out of absolutely no where. We were both pretty surprised the past few transfers when we stayed together, but neither of us were expecting this at all. It is somehow an "emergency" transfer. Not because anyone did anything wrong, it's because they are opening up a new area in Kumasi, but they just didn't have the apartment ready at the last transfer. So they had to do a mid-transfer transfer. Elder Adams is going up there to Kumasi to open it up, and I'm staying in Moree! My new companion is named Elder Nzuki, he is from Kenya and has only been on the mission for a month and a half. One of the guys in our zone (Elder Alba-SLC,UT) is his MT, and he told me he is tight. He was companions with him in the MTC, and he said I would get along with him for sure. He seems pretty cool! It'll be sad to see Elder Adams go, I've been with this guy for over a fourth of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy! It's weird he's actually leaving. I don't think either of us really get it right now haha. But he's leaving tomorrow at noon on the STC bus up to Kumasi, Elder Nzuki will be in Yamoransa tomorrow. I'm gonna miss Elder Adams. He was an awesome trainer, an awesome missionary and a great friend. We got to know each other better than I think we realize. We've spent every blessed day together for the last 6 months! Haha, it's been so fun. Many many memories with him in Moree and Yamoransa. We got to play some basketball today one last time before he leaves. Elder Adams is a baller by the way. We'll go in to Moree tonight so he can say some goodbyes, I'm sure it will be fun, but sad for him. He wanted to stay here for a full year. Moree is all he has known on his mission. I'm sure I'll hear little kids yelling "Elder Adams!!!!!" for the rest of the time I'm in Moree. Alright I gotta stop talking about it, I'm gonna start crying!!!!!! :) It'll be sad tomorrow, but its tie to start a new chapter on the mission! I'm excited to have an Africa companion. Also.....I'm the new district leader....not too excited about that. I haven't even been a senior companion or a trainer or anything yet....so I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing, but I guess I'll just learn as I go. I learned with Elder Adams being district leader, so hopefully I do ok. I'll get to travel to Abakrampa and Mannkeissim a lot at least! Haha
So anyway, that's the big news of the week. Elder Adams is excited to get to see Kumasi and get to learn how to open an area, but I can tell he's sad to leave Moree. This was basically his home in Ghana! It'll be sweet for him up there in Kumasi I'm sure.
The Christmas call was so great, and thanks for all the gifts and notes and singing cards!!!!!!! Thanks everyone for being so awesome, even though I'm far for Christmas. I felt all of my family and friends' love here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I went to bed on Christmas just as excited as I ever was as a small boy. I suppose it really is because it's not about the gifts, or the lights, or the food or anything. It really is about remembering the most important birth that has ever happened. It really is about the Savior, and his Atonement And Love for us. And in turn its about family and friends, and Love! And I felt it here in Cape Coast for sure. It was different, it was far far away on the Guinean plains, and it was hot, but it was great :) Thanks for everything. I love you so much, can't even begin to explain. I'm excited to start a new year and a new chapter of my mission. I'm nervous being the senior companion and all, but I know in Whom I trust, and its all gonna be good. Elder Nzuki is gonna be fresh, I can already tell, and we are going to have tons of fun together in Moree.
Mom said about 2010- "It's been quite a year" I say AMEN to that. Too many things to even start thinking of right now, but 2010 has been quite a year for sure. 2011 is bound to hold some more awesome stuff, no doubt. I love you guys, and everyone else back home! Merry Christmas! And Afehyia Pa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Happy New Year :)
Love,
Elder Brown
PS-thank President Freeze and all the YM for the awesome package and you can tell Jordan that, yes, I have enjoyed the "bountiful harvest" :)
Monday, January 3, 2011
December 20, 2010
What's up?! Merry Christmas! In Fante they say Buronya Pa...it means "white man is celebrating", haha. There's really no Christmas celebration here. We just saw a guy in a Santa suit though, so that was pretty cool, but other than that there's not much. A few things here and there but not much. The email will be a little shorter today since we will be talking on Saturday, so I'll just fill you in on the cool stuff from the week :)
I got some more packages today, one from the California Browns, one from David and Valri, two from Grandma and Grandpa brown. And one from you guys that had been mis-sent to Sri Lanka! How tight is that?! You sent it in October and its just now getting here! It has a big stamp on the front that says "sent to Sri Lanka" and then says that it was sent through Dubai too. So that thing has been all over the world! Haha. Thanks everybody for the packages!!!!!! I can already tell they have got sweet stuff in them :)
Sad to hear Guyer lost, it seems like they had it in the bag. Glad that BYU rolled, seems like they've got a solid foundation for the future. Hoffman is only a sophomore right? I played some pick up ball with him every now and then in the RB. Lived in one of the Helaman dorms while I was there.
Still can't believe that Olivia is actually here! The pictures are so cool. It just doesn't feel like it has happened because I'm not there, but obviously it has! So glad that everything is going well with her and that she's in the apartment now. I'm sure Mom is just loving it, but doesn't even know if it's real still! Seems like you and H have had a lot of times by yourself in Denton since I've been gone! Been living it up I'm sure :)
Oh yeah I forgot to tell you! I'm emailing you from......................................Cape Coast:) Me and Elder Adams are staying together in Moree! We will have been together for 7 1/2 months at the end of this transfer! No one ever stays together that long really, so it will be another sweet transfer in Moree. It'll be weird though, for basically the first third of my mission I will have been in one area with one companion. It'll be sweet! Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa are staying together as well, so our apartment is the same. The put elders in Abakrampa, which is about 15 minutes down the road from Yamoransa, so we are in a district with them and Mannkesim now, Elder Adams still the district leader. We got to go to Mannkesim on Saturday for interviews, and it is a sweet place. It's a really really busy town, it has a giant market and a big big tro-tro station. It's about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Cape Coast. One thing I've never really talked about is how small Cape Coast is. You might think of it like a big city, but it is not at all. It's honestly the size of downtown Denton. There are tons of people everywhere, but there are no big buildings, everything is under three stories. To drive from Cape Coast to Yamoransa , is basically like driving from the Square to Forrestridge or something. Really small. But there are tons and tons of people, just because it's so densely populated.
So the week of proselyting was good. We have a lot of Fante speakers to teach again. The sweetest part of the week though was that we taught Seth a couple of times, and he came to church on Sunday! He's another guy like Andrew, so it's been sweet teaching him. We didn't even have to pick him for church either, he came himself! He even said that his brother was trying to get him not to go, but he came anyway. It was sweet. He was scared at first, but he saw when he got there that there was a bunch of people that he knew there, he even knew Andrew! So Andrew was with him throughout church helping him out, which was perfect! Bernard received the Aaronic Priesthood, he is doing really really well. We proselyted with an awesome guy from the ward on Sunday, Elliot. He's so happy, he works at the chapel, he travels to Ola (other side of Cape) to go to mission prep class every week, he comes to our ward missionary meeting every week, and he is just the happiest guy at church. He even dresses fresh! Yesterday he had on a fresh black v-neck sweater (don't know how in this blessed earth he could do that in the heat), nice and slim black trou, and fresh matching topsiders. I asked him if he read GQ! Haha I told him he could move to New York and work for the magazine one day if he wanted to. He really is a stud though, he was so good at translating and he took us to three referrals yesterday! He's doing great.
Welp I'll just leave it there for today. I hope you guys have a great week, a great Christmas Eve, and Merry Christmas! But I'll get to talk to you for that one :) Just don't turn off the phone or anything :) haha. Tell Olivia Merry Christmas for me! And tell everyone in the ward and in Denton!
Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Elder Brown
Oh PS- I didn't do anything too for special for my six months. Me and Elder Bunker (my MT) were going to go for Burgers in Abura, but it's just too much of a hassle to get there. so we just got some killer fried rice in town.
PSS- The Ghanaian name for a girl born on Monday is Adwowa. That's the only one I forgot last week.
Love you guys!!
I got some more packages today, one from the California Browns, one from David and Valri, two from Grandma and Grandpa brown. And one from you guys that had been mis-sent to Sri Lanka! How tight is that?! You sent it in October and its just now getting here! It has a big stamp on the front that says "sent to Sri Lanka" and then says that it was sent through Dubai too. So that thing has been all over the world! Haha. Thanks everybody for the packages!!!!!! I can already tell they have got sweet stuff in them :)
Sad to hear Guyer lost, it seems like they had it in the bag. Glad that BYU rolled, seems like they've got a solid foundation for the future. Hoffman is only a sophomore right? I played some pick up ball with him every now and then in the RB. Lived in one of the Helaman dorms while I was there.
Still can't believe that Olivia is actually here! The pictures are so cool. It just doesn't feel like it has happened because I'm not there, but obviously it has! So glad that everything is going well with her and that she's in the apartment now. I'm sure Mom is just loving it, but doesn't even know if it's real still! Seems like you and H have had a lot of times by yourself in Denton since I've been gone! Been living it up I'm sure :)
Oh yeah I forgot to tell you! I'm emailing you from......................................Cape Coast:) Me and Elder Adams are staying together in Moree! We will have been together for 7 1/2 months at the end of this transfer! No one ever stays together that long really, so it will be another sweet transfer in Moree. It'll be weird though, for basically the first third of my mission I will have been in one area with one companion. It'll be sweet! Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa are staying together as well, so our apartment is the same. The put elders in Abakrampa, which is about 15 minutes down the road from Yamoransa, so we are in a district with them and Mannkesim now, Elder Adams still the district leader. We got to go to Mannkesim on Saturday for interviews, and it is a sweet place. It's a really really busy town, it has a giant market and a big big tro-tro station. It's about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Cape Coast. One thing I've never really talked about is how small Cape Coast is. You might think of it like a big city, but it is not at all. It's honestly the size of downtown Denton. There are tons of people everywhere, but there are no big buildings, everything is under three stories. To drive from Cape Coast to Yamoransa , is basically like driving from the Square to Forrestridge or something. Really small. But there are tons and tons of people, just because it's so densely populated.
So the week of proselyting was good. We have a lot of Fante speakers to teach again. The sweetest part of the week though was that we taught Seth a couple of times, and he came to church on Sunday! He's another guy like Andrew, so it's been sweet teaching him. We didn't even have to pick him for church either, he came himself! He even said that his brother was trying to get him not to go, but he came anyway. It was sweet. He was scared at first, but he saw when he got there that there was a bunch of people that he knew there, he even knew Andrew! So Andrew was with him throughout church helping him out, which was perfect! Bernard received the Aaronic Priesthood, he is doing really really well. We proselyted with an awesome guy from the ward on Sunday, Elliot. He's so happy, he works at the chapel, he travels to Ola (other side of Cape) to go to mission prep class every week, he comes to our ward missionary meeting every week, and he is just the happiest guy at church. He even dresses fresh! Yesterday he had on a fresh black v-neck sweater (don't know how in this blessed earth he could do that in the heat), nice and slim black trou, and fresh matching topsiders. I asked him if he read GQ! Haha I told him he could move to New York and work for the magazine one day if he wanted to. He really is a stud though, he was so good at translating and he took us to three referrals yesterday! He's doing great.
Welp I'll just leave it there for today. I hope you guys have a great week, a great Christmas Eve, and Merry Christmas! But I'll get to talk to you for that one :) Just don't turn off the phone or anything :) haha. Tell Olivia Merry Christmas for me! And tell everyone in the ward and in Denton!
Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Elder Brown
Oh PS- I didn't do anything too for special for my six months. Me and Elder Bunker (my MT) were going to go for Burgers in Abura, but it's just too much of a hassle to get there. so we just got some killer fried rice in town.
PSS- The Ghanaian name for a girl born on Monday is Adwowa. That's the only one I forgot last week.
Love you guys!!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
December 13, 2010
Well good morning! Hope all is well in Texas again and that last week was as sweet as ever. We just got done playing some football (just with our own zone on a short pitch, 7 on 7). I tried my hand at keeper today, it was pretty fun and I did ok, but midfield is where I belong :) Keeper is just too stressful! I didn't give up any goals though, so it was all good. Today is transfer news day, so there might be a change coming. There are three guys from our zone going home this week. Elder Hill (Kaysville, UT) who was the AP< id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Izekor (Benin City, Nigeria). So there will probably be a lot of changes to our zone, we'll see I guess.
So the computer I am on is being crazy, so hopefully I actually get this email sent today, and get to read some of yours! But I guess I just need to count my blessings that I've actually got a computer huh?? Haha. So the week in Moree was sweet again as usual. I don't know if I talked about Elmina Castle in last week's email, but that's what we did last P-Day. Elmina is about 10 minutes west of Cape Coast, and that's where the other castle is. We went there for a zone activity and it was pretty fun. The main reason I wanted to go was to buy some Twi books. That's literally the only place in Cape Coast to buy them! So I bought three books that look like they will be good in helping me to learn it better. In one of out lessons this week I actually noticed myself being able to hear stuff without having to try to listen too hard. It's coming kakrakakra!!!!!!!!! I'll just keep working hard.
Tuesday was good, we had a combined district meeting in Cape Coast so that we could all see the guys going home one more time. It was a good meeting. I was really tight with Elder Hill, so it was weird seeing him for the last time. He was my zone leader for a transfer and then was the AP for three, so I saw a lot of him. After that we had a good day of proselyting. Jacob has started doing some family history stuff, and he's really excited about the temple. He filled out a full 4-generation pedigree chart and a few family group records, pretty serious stuff for Africa. The records are difficult here. Like for his Grandpa, the record was "Kweku, born about 100 years ago". It's good he is working on it! Oh yeah, that reminds me, here's a list of Ghanaian names if you wanted to know:
Day you were born.........Name (Male/Female)
Monday..................(Kojo/can't remember the girls)
Tuesday................(Kobina/Aba) they usually shorten Kobina to Kobe (as in Bryant)
Wednesday.........(Kweku/Ekua)
Thursday......(Yaw/Yaa)
Friday..............(Kofi/Efua)
Saturday.................(Kwamena/Ama) usually shorten Kwamena to Kwame (as in the worst #1 pick ever)
Sunday...........(Kwesi/Esi)
Tuesday night was epic. Elder Saunders told us that when he was on his mission, he would jump rope 1000 times without messing up every night, and when he got home, he could dunk. So Elder Mortensen and I have been jump roping every night to do that, but we've never been able to get to a thousand without messing up. We were starting to think it wasn't possible. But then Elder Mortensen got 1,120! So then I had to beat it, and I got 1,501! It was so sweet, I felt pretty good haha. But then, two nights later, Elder Mortensen broke 2,000! He got 2,166! I went to break it again, got to 2,000 and messed up at 2,024 :( Very sad. So Elder Mortensen is the Yamoransa jump rope king...at least for now. I'm gonna break it tonight!
Wednesday was a solid day again, we had our baptism class at night, not as many people came this time, but it was still a good class. We taught about Faith and Repentance and then we'll teach about Baptism and the Holy Ghost this week. The people that come seem to really like the class, they are always really engaged in the lesson, now we've just go to get 50 people coming a week so we can create a stake in Moree! :) We also taught this guy named Jephther- we had a good lesson- now he's excited about learning. It'll be cool to see where it goes with him. We also taught his mom after, and Jephther told us that he helped her to her reading too. Pretty cool!
Friday was sweet because Andrew went to the temple! We found out Tuesday that the Bakano branch in Cape Coast was going Friday, so we asked Andrew if he wanted to go with them and he said "Heck yeah!" (well not exactly, but basically :) They left early Friday morning and he called us at like 10 saying "guess where I am???" He was so excited. It was awesome to see him getting ready to go. He had the names of all his grandparents to do there, so he was pretty stoked about that. We saw him Sunday and you could just tell had had loved it so much. I let him take my camera and he took some cool pictures. Luckily, my camera didn't get lost in Accra haha. I wish we could have gone with him, that would've been SO tight!!!!!!!
We saw Elder Ahadgi again at the chapel site on Saturday. The chapel is coming along well, they're about to start building the roof. We talked to Elder Ahadgi for awhile, we talked a lot about Sunyani and what he thinks about the work there. He basically said that what is going on in Sunyani right now is going to be the model for the rest of West Africa. I don't know if I explained it very well, but as of two months ago, Sunyani had zero branches and zero members, but it is a city of over 1 million. The mission bought 4 missionary apartments across the city, all with a room big enough to have a small sacrament meeting. The missionaries go and contact and invite people to church at the apartment on Sunday. They are already getting 100 people at Church in Sunyani now. Elder Ahadgi said that at the rate its going there, there should be TWO stakes in Sunyani in 5 years. There's not even a branch right now. It'll be interesting to see.
We went to Yamoransa's baptism Saturday night, it was good. They haven't had a baptism in Yamorans in a while, but Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa have been working really hard and they're about to baptize a lot of people there! We proselyted with Bismark again on Saturday, that guy is such a stud!!! I can't believe he speaks Twi, Fante, English (fluently) and French (fluently) and he's only like 21. He needs to be a missionary now! Church was sweet on Sunday. Dennis, our convert from a couple of months ago, got to bless the Sacrament. We had a lot of investigators at church, including a sweet family, the Ano's. They've got four kids and are just really humble people who want the best for their family! Sunday night we chilled out by playing Settlers of Catan...man that game is ridiculous! Elder Mortensen got it from Elder Valentine (he was trained by him) and we played it for the first time. Too much fun! And way too frustrating! Haha.
Well that was it for the week. Next transfer is going to be sweet for Moree. We've got 11 people with baptismal dates right now.
A few random things I jotted down to mention:
-Justin's chocolate hazelnut spread is the bomb!! Thanks Amanda :)
-I FORGOT TO SAY HOW CRAZY IT IS THAT SHE HAD THE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wowzers....I feel tooooooo old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-How bout you guys Grandma and Grandpa?!?!?!?!?! Geez louise that's insane. The pictures are ridiculously awesome. Say hello to little Olivia for me!!!! Give her a "wapume" from Africa :)
Well, nothing else I can think of. Send my love to Denton 2nd Ward on Christmas Sunday. Love you guys!
Yebehyia wae
-Elder Brown
So the computer I am on is being crazy, so hopefully I actually get this email sent today, and get to read some of yours! But I guess I just need to count my blessings that I've actually got a computer huh?? Haha. So the week in Moree was sweet again as usual. I don't know if I talked about Elmina Castle in last week's email, but that's what we did last P-Day. Elmina is about 10 minutes west of Cape Coast, and that's where the other castle is. We went there for a zone activity and it was pretty fun. The main reason I wanted to go was to buy some Twi books. That's literally the only place in Cape Coast to buy them! So I bought three books that look like they will be good in helping me to learn it better. In one of out lessons this week I actually noticed myself being able to hear stuff without having to try to listen too hard. It's coming kakrakakra!!!!!!!!! I'll just keep working hard.
Tuesday was good, we had a combined district meeting in Cape Coast so that we could all see the guys going home one more time. It was a good meeting. I was really tight with Elder Hill, so it was weird seeing him for the last time. He was my zone leader for a transfer and then was the AP for three, so I saw a lot of him. After that we had a good day of proselyting. Jacob has started doing some family history stuff, and he's really excited about the temple. He filled out a full 4-generation pedigree chart and a few family group records, pretty serious stuff for Africa. The records are difficult here. Like for his Grandpa, the record was "Kweku, born about 100 years ago". It's good he is working on it! Oh yeah, that reminds me, here's a list of Ghanaian names if you wanted to know:
Day you were born.........Name (Male/Female)
Monday..................(Kojo/can't remember the girls)
Tuesday................(Kobina/Aba) they usually shorten Kobina to Kobe (as in Bryant)
Wednesday.........(Kweku/Ekua)
Thursday......(Yaw/Yaa)
Friday..............(Kofi/Efua)
Saturday.................(Kwamena/Ama) usually shorten Kwamena to Kwame (as in the worst #1 pick ever)
Sunday...........(Kwesi/Esi)
Tuesday night was epic. Elder Saunders told us that when he was on his mission, he would jump rope 1000 times without messing up every night, and when he got home, he could dunk. So Elder Mortensen and I have been jump roping every night to do that, but we've never been able to get to a thousand without messing up. We were starting to think it wasn't possible. But then Elder Mortensen got 1,120! So then I had to beat it, and I got 1,501! It was so sweet, I felt pretty good haha. But then, two nights later, Elder Mortensen broke 2,000! He got 2,166! I went to break it again, got to 2,000 and messed up at 2,024 :( Very sad. So Elder Mortensen is the Yamoransa jump rope king...at least for now. I'm gonna break it tonight!
Wednesday was a solid day again, we had our baptism class at night, not as many people came this time, but it was still a good class. We taught about Faith and Repentance and then we'll teach about Baptism and the Holy Ghost this week. The people that come seem to really like the class, they are always really engaged in the lesson, now we've just go to get 50 people coming a week so we can create a stake in Moree! :) We also taught this guy named Jephther- we had a good lesson- now he's excited about learning. It'll be cool to see where it goes with him. We also taught his mom after, and Jephther told us that he helped her to her reading too. Pretty cool!
Friday was sweet because Andrew went to the temple! We found out Tuesday that the Bakano branch in Cape Coast was going Friday, so we asked Andrew if he wanted to go with them and he said "Heck yeah!" (well not exactly, but basically :) They left early Friday morning and he called us at like 10 saying "guess where I am???" He was so excited. It was awesome to see him getting ready to go. He had the names of all his grandparents to do there, so he was pretty stoked about that. We saw him Sunday and you could just tell had had loved it so much. I let him take my camera and he took some cool pictures. Luckily, my camera didn't get lost in Accra haha. I wish we could have gone with him, that would've been SO tight!!!!!!!
We saw Elder Ahadgi again at the chapel site on Saturday. The chapel is coming along well, they're about to start building the roof. We talked to Elder Ahadgi for awhile, we talked a lot about Sunyani and what he thinks about the work there. He basically said that what is going on in Sunyani right now is going to be the model for the rest of West Africa. I don't know if I explained it very well, but as of two months ago, Sunyani had zero branches and zero members, but it is a city of over 1 million. The mission bought 4 missionary apartments across the city, all with a room big enough to have a small sacrament meeting. The missionaries go and contact and invite people to church at the apartment on Sunday. They are already getting 100 people at Church in Sunyani now. Elder Ahadgi said that at the rate its going there, there should be TWO stakes in Sunyani in 5 years. There's not even a branch right now. It'll be interesting to see.
We went to Yamoransa's baptism Saturday night, it was good. They haven't had a baptism in Yamorans in a while, but Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa have been working really hard and they're about to baptize a lot of people there! We proselyted with Bismark again on Saturday, that guy is such a stud!!! I can't believe he speaks Twi, Fante, English (fluently) and French (fluently) and he's only like 21. He needs to be a missionary now! Church was sweet on Sunday. Dennis, our convert from a couple of months ago, got to bless the Sacrament. We had a lot of investigators at church, including a sweet family, the Ano's. They've got four kids and are just really humble people who want the best for their family! Sunday night we chilled out by playing Settlers of Catan...man that game is ridiculous! Elder Mortensen got it from Elder Valentine (he was trained by him) and we played it for the first time. Too much fun! And way too frustrating! Haha.
Well that was it for the week. Next transfer is going to be sweet for Moree. We've got 11 people with baptismal dates right now.
A few random things I jotted down to mention:
-Justin's chocolate hazelnut spread is the bomb!! Thanks Amanda :)
-I FORGOT TO SAY HOW CRAZY IT IS THAT SHE HAD THE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wowzers....I feel tooooooo old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-How bout you guys Grandma and Grandpa?!?!?!?!?! Geez louise that's insane. The pictures are ridiculously awesome. Say hello to little Olivia for me!!!! Give her a "wapume" from Africa :)
Well, nothing else I can think of. Send my love to Denton 2nd Ward on Christmas Sunday. Love you guys!
Yebehyia wae
-Elder Brown
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
December 6, 2010
Mema mo akye! I hope the morning is going well so far in Tejas, the day has been good here so far.
This week was sweet! It was probably the fastest week on the mission so far. Our teaching pool is a little smallish right now, but we did a lot of contacting, which I thought would make the week seem longer, but it actually made it go by faster. We met some sweet people that I'll talk about. First off is that I forgot to talk about the Primary program in last week's email! Two Sundays ago we had the Primary program, and it was so tight! All the little kiddos memorized stuff and sang songs and the like, just like in America. It was pretty sweet. One kid was like the MVP, he memorized half the Book of Mormon it seemed like. He had probably four different parts, each were a solid two minutes long, and he didn't mess up once! And it was all in English. Pretty crazy he could do that!
Our FHE went really well at Bro Pratt's Monday night. About 10 recent converts/investigators came, so that made it really good. Bro Pratt taught the lesson (on living the gospel better in our daily lives) and then Elder Adams and I were in charge of the game. We couldn't think of ANY game to do. Elder Adams then had the idea to do a rock, paper, scissors tournament, so that's what we did! It was so fun, we taught it to them, and they loved it. They were getting so in to it. The winner was Vanicia, Belinda's sister. She beat Eric in the finals to take the championship and the coveted reward, an extra delicious FanYogo, which was the snack. It was a great FHE! Plus it made it easy to start teaching Belinda's sister, which we did a few times this week (she committed to baptism the first lesson on Tuesday).
Tuesday we had a good district meeting, and then a good day of proselyting after. We taught Belinda's sister, and then we had our longest time to contact yet. We contacted all evening. We walked down the road from Moree to Moree Junction and contacted along that for a few hours. We passed one of our investigators, Edward, playing football in a grove of coconut trees on the side of the road, so we stopped to play with them for awhile. It was pretty fun. Then we just made our way down the road to Moree Junction. The first people we met were some guys gyming, Seth and Evans. They are pretty cool guys, we have taught them each a few times since Tuesday, and they even brought one of their friends to the second lesson, Christian.
Wednesday we proselyted with a member who had just returned from living two years with his brother in Cote d'Ivoire, Bismark. He's a ward missionary in Moree. He speaks Fante, Twi, English, AND French. We had such a good day because he was with us. We taught tons of lessons, and he showed us a few less-active's to go visit. It was such a solid day. We got a lot of new investigators Wednesday, hopefully some turn out to be serious.
Thursday was pretty solid. The craziest part was that we went to visit a recently returned sister missionary. Sister Eshun, to ask for a referral and talk a little bit. She was telling us about her mission and she started talking about one of her old district leaders, who was named Elder Beeston! She couldn't remember where he was from, but chances are he's related to good ol Elder B somehow. If the former Elder Beeston reads this, let me know if you've got a cousin or something in the Ghana Accra mission! We met with another referral on Thursday, Solomon. He works on the chapel, and wants to learn about the church. The "Doctrine of Christ" teaching curriculum worked again and he committed to baptism as well. He's a really sweet guy, speaks really good English.
Friday was like Christmas for me! I got 7 packages! :D It was so tight! It honestly felt like Christmas morning ripping those things open. Thanks so much to everyone that sent stuff! It sounds like there is more on the way, so I'll be excited for those :) We went on splits with the Zone Leaders on Friday. We went with Elder Jackson (Centerville, UT) to Moree. Elder Jackson is tight, he's super smart, went to BYU. We talked a lot about BYU and stuff (man I miss that place!) and he taught us some cool stuff while we were teaching. We taught Francis again.
The weekend was good. Togbor came proselyting with us on Saturday, helped us to teach a lot of lessons. Frank Jr., the most spiritual guy in all of Moree came with us for a second, and while we were teaching a lesson, he goes and contacts a random guy, sits him down and teaches him. It was so tight haha. He's been off his mission (went to Cote d'Ivoire) for like 5 years, but he's still going strong! He works at the MTC, so he travels to Accra every week, and travels back to fulfill his calling as Stake Sunday School President. Such a stud! At night we met Andrew...his calling changed, he's not going to be the YM prez, instead he's the executive secretary.
Well other than that, nothing else I can think of right now about the week. Everything is normal! I love you guys so much, thanks for everything! I've got Christmas presents under the tree in my room, so life is good :)
Love, Elder Brown
This week was sweet! It was probably the fastest week on the mission so far. Our teaching pool is a little smallish right now, but we did a lot of contacting, which I thought would make the week seem longer, but it actually made it go by faster. We met some sweet people that I'll talk about. First off is that I forgot to talk about the Primary program in last week's email! Two Sundays ago we had the Primary program, and it was so tight! All the little kiddos memorized stuff and sang songs and the like, just like in America. It was pretty sweet. One kid was like the MVP, he memorized half the Book of Mormon it seemed like. He had probably four different parts, each were a solid two minutes long, and he didn't mess up once! And it was all in English. Pretty crazy he could do that!
Our FHE went really well at Bro Pratt's Monday night. About 10 recent converts/investigators came, so that made it really good. Bro Pratt taught the lesson (on living the gospel better in our daily lives) and then Elder Adams and I were in charge of the game. We couldn't think of ANY game to do. Elder Adams then had the idea to do a rock, paper, scissors tournament, so that's what we did! It was so fun, we taught it to them, and they loved it. They were getting so in to it. The winner was Vanicia, Belinda's sister. She beat Eric in the finals to take the championship and the coveted reward, an extra delicious FanYogo, which was the snack. It was a great FHE! Plus it made it easy to start teaching Belinda's sister, which we did a few times this week (she committed to baptism the first lesson on Tuesday).
Tuesday we had a good district meeting, and then a good day of proselyting after. We taught Belinda's sister, and then we had our longest time to contact yet. We contacted all evening. We walked down the road from Moree to Moree Junction and contacted along that for a few hours. We passed one of our investigators, Edward, playing football in a grove of coconut trees on the side of the road, so we stopped to play with them for awhile. It was pretty fun. Then we just made our way down the road to Moree Junction. The first people we met were some guys gyming, Seth and Evans. They are pretty cool guys, we have taught them each a few times since Tuesday, and they even brought one of their friends to the second lesson, Christian.
Wednesday we proselyted with a member who had just returned from living two years with his brother in Cote d'Ivoire, Bismark. He's a ward missionary in Moree. He speaks Fante, Twi, English, AND French. We had such a good day because he was with us. We taught tons of lessons, and he showed us a few less-active's to go visit. It was such a solid day. We got a lot of new investigators Wednesday, hopefully some turn out to be serious.
Thursday was pretty solid. The craziest part was that we went to visit a recently returned sister missionary. Sister Eshun, to ask for a referral and talk a little bit. She was telling us about her mission and she started talking about one of her old district leaders, who was named Elder Beeston! She couldn't remember where he was from, but chances are he's related to good ol Elder B somehow. If the former Elder Beeston reads this, let me know if you've got a cousin or something in the Ghana Accra mission! We met with another referral on Thursday, Solomon. He works on the chapel, and wants to learn about the church. The "Doctrine of Christ" teaching curriculum worked again and he committed to baptism as well. He's a really sweet guy, speaks really good English.
Friday was like Christmas for me! I got 7 packages! :D It was so tight! It honestly felt like Christmas morning ripping those things open. Thanks so much to everyone that sent stuff! It sounds like there is more on the way, so I'll be excited for those :) We went on splits with the Zone Leaders on Friday. We went with Elder Jackson (Centerville, UT) to Moree. Elder Jackson is tight, he's super smart, went to BYU. We talked a lot about BYU and stuff (man I miss that place!) and he taught us some cool stuff while we were teaching. We taught Francis again.
The weekend was good. Togbor came proselyting with us on Saturday, helped us to teach a lot of lessons. Frank Jr., the most spiritual guy in all of Moree came with us for a second, and while we were teaching a lesson, he goes and contacts a random guy, sits him down and teaches him. It was so tight haha. He's been off his mission (went to Cote d'Ivoire) for like 5 years, but he's still going strong! He works at the MTC, so he travels to Accra every week, and travels back to fulfill his calling as Stake Sunday School President. Such a stud! At night we met Andrew...his calling changed, he's not going to be the YM prez, instead he's the executive secretary.
Well other than that, nothing else I can think of right now about the week. Everything is normal! I love you guys so much, thanks for everything! I've got Christmas presents under the tree in my room, so life is good :)
Love, Elder Brown
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
November 29, 2010
Mema wo akye! Hope all is well in Tejas, I haven't read the email to find out the BYU-ewtah game yet, but I'll be hoping for the best!...just read it...oh well, no biggie. It was just the refs, of course :)
I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving last week until your emails! It's just August all year round here! So Happy belated Thanksgiving! We celebrated with a big plate of fried rice and chicken, it was ok. But I've got a lot to be thankful for, so its no biggie yo!
Well I'll get on with the week now. Tuesday we went on splits with the APs, we went with Elder Akoki (Cote d'Ivoire) out to Moree. He is the new AP and I don't know him very well, so it was cool to get to know him. He taught himself how to lay the piano growing up in Cote d'Ivoire, so we talked a little about that, he's a really cool guy. We made our own fufu and groundnut soup for lunch (groundnut soup is basically super spicy tomato soup with peanut butter in it) after district meeting. It was really good, but...it got to me later in the day. I got sick again in Moree! Not fun! But it was ok, I just came back and went to bed. I felt pretty crappy the rest of the week, but I endured, didn't miss any proselyting.
Wednesday we taught out baptismal prep class again. It went really well, had about 5 investigators, 5 recent converts, and a couple of members there. I was kind of out of it because I was still feeling sick, but it was ok. We taught The Restoration lesson with emphasis on the Restoration of baptism. It was good, I think everybody there came to understand better why baptism into the Church is the only true baptism there is. Ephesians 4:5 baby! Use that scripture pretty much everyday haha.
Thursday I just felt really crappy again, can't really remember what happened. Friday I felt weird still, but it was a really good day. We met with all of the baptismal candidates in the morning, Belinda, Bernard and Kobina. Then we got to play some football in the afternoon! It was sweet, Andrew invited us to come play on the 'Teachers' team for his school's Teachers vs. Students game because there were only 7 teachers playing. So Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa came out to Moree and we played the most legit football match I've played yet! It was so tight! They had uniforms for us and everything! We looked legit. And there were probably 200 people watching, so we got some time in the limelight :) It was awesome to play with Andrew, he was really good, and it was just sweet because now it feels like we're just best friends rather than missionary and recent convert. The game ended in a draw, 2-2, although the teachers cheated a little bit haha. There was this one teacher who was honestly a pro. We took some sweet pics and I was gonna send home, but this comp doesn't have a usb plug in. But the football was sweet! Since Andrew is a stud RC and we had two investigators on the students' team, we felt ok playing with em :) Later Friday evening, the Saunders (the senior couple in CC) needed Elder Adams to do a baptism interview for them in Abakrampa since they were joining our baptism on Saturday. Abakrampa is a village about 15 minutes past Yamoransa, it was a really cool place. The little side village we went to, New Ebu, is like a little town in central Utah! It is laid out in perfect blocks just like Utah. Moree is like a massive chaotic village, but New Ebu was just perfectly laid out in blocks. It honestly reminded me of Koosharem. They are putting Elders in Abakrampa this coming transfer, it will definitely be a great place to have elders.
Saturday we had the baptism! It was very cool, we combined with Mannkeisim and Abakrampa for it, and it went really well. Dennis got to baptize his friend Kobina. We had made him practice all week haha. I'm glad it was a good experience for him and Kobina. Dennis doesn't smile much, he's a very serious dude, but he was smiling all Saturday night. Even in the picture he's smiling! It was tight. Bernard was baptized by his best friend, as well, Stephen. The baptism went really well.
Sunday was interesting during church. Coolest thing: Andrew was called as the Young Men's President!!!!! And Belinda, before she was even confirmed, was called as the Relief Society secretary! It's so cool to see these "future leaders" turn into "current leaders" right before our eyes. So so cool. We also got a new ward missionary leader, Joseph, and assistant Timothy. We hadn't had a WML in probably two months, so it's good to have one again. We met with both of them after church, and I think they will both work hard. They're both prospective missionaries, so we'll be helping them prepare as well. Joseph is a funny guy, it'll be fun to see him learn how to be a leader like this. After church we just went to all of our recent converts and investigators to invite them to come to a special FHE with the bishopric tonight, hopefully they all come!
Today we played Abura in a highly anticipated football match. Abura had been talking up their team this transfer because they got a couple of guys who were really good. CC had been undefeated in the last 5 months so we were all excited! But alas, we lost 4-2. I scored a sweet goal though! Me and Elder Mortensen had a sweet drive, he received the cross perfect, let it bounce once, put a perfect header right over the defender, landed right where it needed in front of me, and then I did a little hesitation move and rocketed that soccer ball off the keeper straight through the posts. I felt pretty good, me and Elder Mortensen were pretty proud of ourselves haha.
Well that was the week! I'm sending off the Christmas package today, its nothing special, just a little something. A few random things: whenever dad writes "I worked a lot this week" in his emails, I always think it says "I worked OUT a lot this week" haha. Makes me think Dad's hitting the gym ;) Which he needs to! If he wants to go on the Amazing Race with me.
Also there's kid that lives above us that's 11 that's a stud. His name is Bismarck Brown, he's going to be the future Elder Brown in Africa! I let him wear my name tag while we were waiting for the bus for stake conference last week, he thought it was pretty tight :)
Anyway, I love you guys, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK H! Although I'll email him of course :) I just glanced at the email to make sure there are no urgent questions, and it doesn't look like there is. I'm going to read it tonight on the camera! Much love from Ghana land,
-Elder Brown
I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving last week until your emails! It's just August all year round here! So Happy belated Thanksgiving! We celebrated with a big plate of fried rice and chicken, it was ok. But I've got a lot to be thankful for, so its no biggie yo!
Well I'll get on with the week now. Tuesday we went on splits with the APs, we went with Elder Akoki (Cote d'Ivoire) out to Moree. He is the new AP and I don't know him very well, so it was cool to get to know him. He taught himself how to lay the piano growing up in Cote d'Ivoire, so we talked a little about that, he's a really cool guy. We made our own fufu and groundnut soup for lunch (groundnut soup is basically super spicy tomato soup with peanut butter in it) after district meeting. It was really good, but...it got to me later in the day. I got sick again in Moree! Not fun! But it was ok, I just came back and went to bed. I felt pretty crappy the rest of the week, but I endured, didn't miss any proselyting.
Wednesday we taught out baptismal prep class again. It went really well, had about 5 investigators, 5 recent converts, and a couple of members there. I was kind of out of it because I was still feeling sick, but it was ok. We taught The Restoration lesson with emphasis on the Restoration of baptism. It was good, I think everybody there came to understand better why baptism into the Church is the only true baptism there is. Ephesians 4:5 baby! Use that scripture pretty much everyday haha.
Thursday I just felt really crappy again, can't really remember what happened. Friday I felt weird still, but it was a really good day. We met with all of the baptismal candidates in the morning, Belinda, Bernard and Kobina. Then we got to play some football in the afternoon! It was sweet, Andrew invited us to come play on the 'Teachers' team for his school's Teachers vs. Students game because there were only 7 teachers playing. So Elder Mortensen and Elder Katoa came out to Moree and we played the most legit football match I've played yet! It was so tight! They had uniforms for us and everything! We looked legit. And there were probably 200 people watching, so we got some time in the limelight :) It was awesome to play with Andrew, he was really good, and it was just sweet because now it feels like we're just best friends rather than missionary and recent convert. The game ended in a draw, 2-2, although the teachers cheated a little bit haha. There was this one teacher who was honestly a pro. We took some sweet pics and I was gonna send home, but this comp doesn't have a usb plug in. But the football was sweet! Since Andrew is a stud RC and we had two investigators on the students' team, we felt ok playing with em :) Later Friday evening, the Saunders (the senior couple in CC) needed Elder Adams to do a baptism interview for them in Abakrampa since they were joining our baptism on Saturday. Abakrampa is a village about 15 minutes past Yamoransa, it was a really cool place. The little side village we went to, New Ebu, is like a little town in central Utah! It is laid out in perfect blocks just like Utah. Moree is like a massive chaotic village, but New Ebu was just perfectly laid out in blocks. It honestly reminded me of Koosharem. They are putting Elders in Abakrampa this coming transfer, it will definitely be a great place to have elders.
Saturday we had the baptism! It was very cool, we combined with Mannkeisim and Abakrampa for it, and it went really well. Dennis got to baptize his friend Kobina. We had made him practice all week haha. I'm glad it was a good experience for him and Kobina. Dennis doesn't smile much, he's a very serious dude, but he was smiling all Saturday night. Even in the picture he's smiling! It was tight. Bernard was baptized by his best friend, as well, Stephen. The baptism went really well.
Sunday was interesting during church. Coolest thing: Andrew was called as the Young Men's President!!!!! And Belinda, before she was even confirmed, was called as the Relief Society secretary! It's so cool to see these "future leaders" turn into "current leaders" right before our eyes. So so cool. We also got a new ward missionary leader, Joseph, and assistant Timothy. We hadn't had a WML in probably two months, so it's good to have one again. We met with both of them after church, and I think they will both work hard. They're both prospective missionaries, so we'll be helping them prepare as well. Joseph is a funny guy, it'll be fun to see him learn how to be a leader like this. After church we just went to all of our recent converts and investigators to invite them to come to a special FHE with the bishopric tonight, hopefully they all come!
Today we played Abura in a highly anticipated football match. Abura had been talking up their team this transfer because they got a couple of guys who were really good. CC had been undefeated in the last 5 months so we were all excited! But alas, we lost 4-2. I scored a sweet goal though! Me and Elder Mortensen had a sweet drive, he received the cross perfect, let it bounce once, put a perfect header right over the defender, landed right where it needed in front of me, and then I did a little hesitation move and rocketed that soccer ball off the keeper straight through the posts. I felt pretty good, me and Elder Mortensen were pretty proud of ourselves haha.
Well that was the week! I'm sending off the Christmas package today, its nothing special, just a little something. A few random things: whenever dad writes "I worked a lot this week" in his emails, I always think it says "I worked OUT a lot this week" haha. Makes me think Dad's hitting the gym ;) Which he needs to! If he wants to go on the Amazing Race with me.
Also there's kid that lives above us that's 11 that's a stud. His name is Bismarck Brown, he's going to be the future Elder Brown in Africa! I let him wear my name tag while we were waiting for the bus for stake conference last week, he thought it was pretty tight :)
Anyway, I love you guys, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK H! Although I'll email him of course :) I just glanced at the email to make sure there are no urgent questions, and it doesn't look like there is. I'm going to read it tonight on the camera! Much love from Ghana land,
-Elder Brown
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