Yo good morning! Great to hear all the updates again, it’s been a good day so far today in Kumasi. Just the usual p-day activity, football and hanging out at the Bantama chapel for a little bit. Today is transfer news, but I am pretty sure I am staying put. The first transfer day in a long time where I haven't been anxious all day! Last week was pretty sweet, but first, thanks everyone for the birthday stuff! My birthday was great, thanks to all of the input from many :) I had frosted flakes and cocoa krispies in the morning, some teriyaki noodles for lunch, and pudding cake thingys for dessert! The Timothy's made some Banku and okro stew that we ate at their house at night, so I am still saving the fettuccini for another night :) And all the gifts are great! I am wearing the sandals even as we speak. They are much better than the one cedi pieces of plastic I have been wearing for the last 10 months :)
Anyway, getting on to the week, Tuesday was a solid day. We met with Bro. A, read the Book of Mormon with him. Sweet to see what the Book of Mormon can do for someone. I am glad we decided to focus on that with him. He has been a member for about 4 months now. We go over what he has read with him, but he really makes sure to understand it really well. He will take a full page of notes for the chapters that he reads. We are at 1 Nephi ch 11 with him now, he read 1 Nephi 8 (tree of life) last week and liked it a lot - esp. how Lehi went to help his family take the fruit too. We always sit underneath a mango tree to teach him, so it was funny to use the mango tree as a way to teach it better. We taught his wife, Regina, and son, Harrison, later on in the week, and Bro. A helped so well. He even started teaching them himself out of the Restoration pamphlet he has. So it was pretty easy to teach them, since they already know! Regina says she wants to be baptized, as well as Harrison, so we will be helping them be ready for when the chapel opens (hopefully first week of May! we can only pray).
Wednesday we worked at the chapel, always nice working there. We worked with Cosmos there, more on him coming! We taught Bro. K again on Wednesday. He is doing really well to read the Book of Mormon, so there is potential!
Thursday of course was a Happy Birthday to me! I can say I was definitely excited going to bed Wednesday night, and the first thought that popped in my head Thursday morning was "It’s your birthday!” That has happened since I was like 12 haha. And it really was a great birthday. Thanks for all the gifts and snacks and food and decoration. It made it all great, a little like home. I put up my own decorations, ate my frosted flakes and smiled to myself all morning. I don't know why, but in the morning I prayed that some little miracle would happen for my birthday. Not that I don't see miracles everyday, but I just asked for something special, even if it just was the stuff from the family, that'd be fine, but I just asked for something. The day went on fine, taught good people, met new people. But then at night, we had an appointment to teach Cosmos for the second time. I was excited for it all day because we had talked to Cosmos even that morning and he said he was ready, he had kept his promise, and was excited to learn more. We were going to meet at the chapel at 7 to teach him, so we get there at 7, and he is not there. We wait til 7:20 or so, still not there. His phone is switched off too. Usually phone switched off during the time of a teaching appointment means "I know the missionaries are going to call me, so I will just switch of my phone so I don't have to talk to them". I was pretty bummed. We walked down to Alma bakery so Elder Timothy could buy bread, and then headed up to the station to catch a car to go home. I was still praying that some miracle would happen, but I had given up hope in meeting Cosmos. A couple of cars passed that we could have gotten in, but people got in them before us. Finally one stopped right in front of us, and we started to get in. As we were climbing in, the man getting out of the car in front of us was none other than...Cosmos. He was late coming back from school (he goes to night classes in Ejisu bc he works at the chapel during the day). His phone had died and he said he was rushing as fast as he could to meet us there. Pretty sure that was my miracle :) We taught Cosmos, it was great, and taught him again on Saturday night - finished the Restoration lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. And he came to church on Sunday... I can't ask for much more can I? Cosmos is a sweet sweet guy. Bro. Timothy took him under his wing when he came to church on Sunday, so he is going to turn him into quite the leader I am sure. I am way excited for Cosmos. And it was all because of that miracle on my birthday...
Well, a lot else happened this week, but my time is running short. It rained like CRAZY last night, the rainy season is really starting! Thank goodness! My birthday was great, and we are getting more serious people to teach. This week was great…I felt more guided by the Spirit than I ever have on my mission. Things are really coming together for me here. I love you guys a lot :) A LOT! :) AND GUESS WHAT!!! YOU ARE GETTING OLD BECAUSE YOU ONLY HAVE ONE KID THAT IS A TEENAGER :D !! Holy cow! Never thought I would make it here!
Welp, love you guys so much, mission is a wonderful thing!
Love,
Elder Brown
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
April 4, 2011
On to the week! We had interviews with President Sabey today, I didn't even know we were having them until last night. I was glad they were today though! We talked about a lot of good stuff, it was my longest interview yet. No other P-day activities outside of that. You asked last week if I will go to the central market on P-days. The Central market is absolutely INSANE. I will go there because the food is cheapest and there is cool stuff to see, but man oh man it is another world. I can't explain how crazy it is...missionaries have seen crazy things. So basically that is the story of that haha. I will have to be on my guard in there! This week was my best week in Kumasi so far. I really started to love Kumasi this week. I was laying in bed Saturday night, and I just felt great, no real reason, but I just felt really good. I really felt like the next year or whatever will really be awesome. Not that it hasn't been awesome so far, but it was sweet. We had a great lesson on Tuesday with a man named Gabriel. He is a teacher at a school in Kwamo. We contacted him our first day in Kwamo. We finished the Restoration lesson and introduced the Book of Mormon. He had never even heard of The Book of Mormon before, and was excited to read. Every day when we pass his school he always calls to us and waves with a big smile on his face, so it seems like things are going well! His school is right near to Bro Timothy's new house, so we always tell Bro Timothy that we are teaching the future Kwamo Elder's Q President at the school, hopefully it's true :) We spend a lot of time with Bro Timothy, mostly because the unit in Kwamo is going to depend on him. We pretty much see him every day, whether at the chapel sit or at his house or wherever. Wednesday was a long, hard day. We worked seriously. we were able to teach another future leader in the morning, Francis. We introduced the Book of Mormon to him as well. He said he was in a bad mood in the morning, so hopefully reading has been able to pick his spirits up, we shall see!! Prince came with us again all day, he is the best ward missionary ever! We contacted a funny guy during the day as well, his name is Adom. He is a cool guy, probably in his late 50s or so. He is a businessman and he bragged on his kids the whole time we were with him. All of his kids have graduated university, one lives in the US, one is a professor. It was cool to hear someone care about their kids and take pride and joy in them. So we haven't been able to teach he and his wife together yet, when we went yesterday they were busy doing something, but we are going to go back to teach them this week. I really think the doctrine of the family will be very appealing to them. Thursday was good, we were able to get a lot done. We are working hard to strengthen a recent convert named Bro A. He is a recent convert of a few months, and is doing well. He is about 50 or so. He lives in a village called Okyekrom, about 15 minutes from Kwamo. He is the first and only member there. He is doing well, always at church. We had taught him a few times. He had not started to read the Book of Mormon yet. So we sat down with him and just told him how important the church can be to him, and about how much the Lord needs him as a leader in Kwamo. We talked about a ton of stuff, but eventually got to the temple and about families. We could see his thought process changing as we were teaching him. He was asking what we need to do to teach his wife and his sons, when we could meet, what we could do to help them go to the temple...the wheels are turning. He is preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood at Stake Conference in May, and his service will be direly needed with the Kwamo unit when it opens. He will be one of maybe 4 or 5 Melchizedek Priesthood holders. Friday we did our district service project at the Timothy's like we talked about. Elder Adams is the new AP!!! Pretty crazy! He had just been transferred to be a zone leader only 3 weeks ago, and now is the assistant. The old assistant, Elder Wright, is now serving up here in Kumasi, re-opening an area that needs serious work. Elder Adams is serving with his trainer (my grandfather), Elder MacKay as assistants. There were a ton of changes in Bantama zone (the other Kumasi zone) so it will be fun to see all of the new guys. I heard a guy from my district in Yamoransa. Elder Meinzer is coming up here. He is a stud missionary. No changes to our zone (Dichemso) though. The missionaries coming up are all studs. I got word from Moree that three of my investigators down there were baptized on Saturday; Sister Sama, Emmanuel (a friend of my boy Solomon the recent convert) and Anthony, the freshest dressing guy in Moree. Seriously he should work for GQ. Glad to have some fresh guys in the membership of the church :) I was very happy to hear they were all baptized and confirmed. Our first haptism here in Kwamo might not be for a while, so it was good to hear that. We do have a baptism for Miller and Degraft planned on 1 May, so hopefully that will happen. Oh yeah, President told me today that he is pretty sure our apartment in Kwamo will b the only missionary in the whole world that will have a baptismal font in it! How sweet is that?? Haha, it will make baptisms very easy! There is a font right in the middle of the church, it will be sweet to have. Some random thoughts: 1. Pears are delicious. BUT they are not pears. They are avocados. But they call them pears here and they are everywhere, I eat one everyday. 2. G&G Brown sent some Bear Creek (I think, maybe bear creek valley or something like that) soups. They are the bomb! I made one this week and it lasted me for three full meals! Send me some more of those. They sent Tortilla soup and it was awesome. Look for other ones too! Like cheesy ones :) 3. Lucky Dube is tight; he's dead but he made fresh music. Not that I listen to it...promise! But ya know, when you are in the taxi and it's playing, you can't really shut yours off! And I swear Lucky Dube is playing in every taxi in this country. So go check out Lucky Dube Hayden. 4. There were two oboruni's at church on Sunday. They work at the area office in Accra. Not sure why they were here, but man it is weird seeing white people. I feel so awkward, like I don't know what to say. There are a few that live in Kwamo and we pass a bunch on the streets in Kumasi, and I don't know if I should greet them or just ignore them ore what. Very awkward haha. Think that's all. Hope life is GREAT in Texas!!!!! Go Butler! Congrats again Mom! Hope the Rangers keep up the hot streak, did they make any additions in the off season? Last things from the week, we taught a sweet investigator on Saturday, named Clifford. A few weeks ago we met him at Sis Emelia's house, and I felt like I should just give him a Book of Mormon right there. I did, and we didn't hear from him for awhile. But the other day we passed him on the road and he said he had been reading and wanted to meet with us. We had a sweet first lesson, he said he already feels like The Book of Mormon is true, he asked for one to give to a friend. I am glad I followed that impression a few weeks ago! I have only done that a few times here, giving someone a Book of Mormon just like that. We also met a guy in Kwamo on Sunday named Bro Dwimoh. He is a member who used to live in Asokwa, where they have a church. He was even a ward clerk there. But then a while ago he moved to Ejisu, which is even farther out of town, about 10 minutes from Kwamo (it is part of our proselyting area). It is about 45 minutes from any chapel in Kumasi, so he just couldn't go to church. When he met him and told him the church was coming to Kwamo, he was so stoked. He had no idea, but he said he had been praying for a way to go to church for awhile. Now hopefully he can be a leader somehow in Kwamo! He and Bro Timothy are really good friends he said. We have been praying to find future leaders for Kwamo, and it is crazy to see how our prayers our really being answered, in various ways. Welp, that's all for today I guess. I love you guys, thanks for all the support. I got my B-day package today!! I might sneak some stuff early :) haha jk of course! There still are challenges ahead, but it's all what the Lord wants. So I will just keep doing my best! Thanks again and I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Elder Brown PS-HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I am out of time today!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
April 11, 2011
Yo wazzup! Great to hear from you guys as always. It is a hot day in Kumasi, but there has been some clouds, maybe it will rain tonight (we can only pray!). It has just been a normal P-Day, woke up, washed, went to Bantama chapel to play some football. I was dead tired so pretty much walked around the pitch the whole time haha. Now we are in town emailing and getting ready to buy some food! The place we go to buy food (Opoku Trading) is the closest thing to a grocery store here. It is about the size of a large gas station. It has Pringles (6 cedis) Twix (1.80 for one), and Oreos (1.80 for a pack of six). Never really buy those, just way too expensive! But at least they have them haha.
Welp, it has been quite the week here...the week was good! After interviews last Sunday we were able to have a pretty good P-Day. And then the week started well with a good district meeting as usual. One of the elders in the district decided to throw himself a little birthday party after district meeting.
Wednesday we worked at the chapel. We could tell they really needed our help, and we offered to work more. It’s honestly the most effective use of our time right now. We were able to get a ton of work done cleaning out rooms getting them ready to be tiled. Bro T. always feeds us after work, his daughter always cooks, and man is it delicious! It’s funny though, I couldn't stand this stuff when I first came. But let me describe it for you. They made us banku - banku is basically a really thick dough made of fermented ground up corn. You add water to the corn and just stir and cook it until it’s thick. Then you make some soup. For this one, it was okro stew. Okro = okra. Okra, tomatoes, onions, pepper, all that kind of stuff. Then you just use your fingers to cut a bite sized ball out of the big ball of banku, and then stick it in the soup, then throw it in your mouth! You just swallow it whole, no chewing necessary. It really was so good haha.
Thursday night we got to go sleep at the old couple missionaries’ apartment. Man it was like staying in a hotel! The kitchen was like an American kitchen (oven, nice stove, etc.), the living room had AC, there was a water heater, it was the life! Really it was sweet. We still proselyted normally the next day, Elder Butler (Monticello, UT) came on splits with us. He was one of our zone leaders. His companion is Elder Wiah, one of the guys I lived with in Yamoransa. It was sweet being with Elder Butler, he was in the the Army before mission and is a funny funny guy. His prayer in the morning before we left the apartment included the wording "bless us to execute our objectives this day". Pretty awesome. On top of that he really taught me some great things as we were teaching. We also worked at the chapel on Friday. We taught a cool new guy with Elder Butler on Friday, named Bro Kusi. He owns a shop just behind the chapel. We taught him last Wednesday as well, and he promised to read the whole of the Restoration pamphlet. Which he did, answering all of the questions with it. We were able to teach the whole Restoration lesson, and gave him The Book of Mormon to start reading. We were able to see him again later in the week, and it seems he is doing well! He lives in Asukwa, so hopefully he will be able to go to church there soon. We also taught Degraft, he will be one of my favorite investigators for sure. He woke us up with a call at midnight Sunday morning to tell us he was coming to church... funniest guy ever. And he did come to church!
Saturday was solid, we are still trying to find more people to teach... contacting is just difficult. But we did teach a young lady we have been teaching for a little while and had an interesting lesson with her. Her name is Sandra, she has come to church a few times with her friends.
Church on Sunday was really great. It had been a long week and partaking of the Sacrament made me feel so much better. We had four investigators come to church. One of them lives way the heck out in Ejisu, probably 10 minutes past Kwamo, but came to church anyway. That’s a long ways. That is the hardest part right now, the UST chapel is just way too far away for people we invite to church to actually come. So having 4 was really great. Then after church we visited some people, most of the teaching appointments failed, but we were able to have a good lesson to close out the week, with a new investigator named Cosmos (how awesome is that name?) Anyway, we met him in the past week, and went out to his house in Jakye, a village somewhat close to Kwamo. It was a sweet lesson, serious potential with him.
Well, that’s about it really... life is great. Still working hard to start the work in Kwamo, it’s not easy, but that just makes it better! I got a bunch of B-Day packages today, I'm excited for that. I hope all goes well for Brian's graduation, CONGRATS!!!!! Glad to hear the Rangers are tearing it up, and sounds like the Master's was pretty awesome. Missionary work, it’s divine. I am glad to be here. I have serious work to do here, with many different things, and I am glad the Lord has trusted me to do this. I have realized with everything going on here that I have a specific purpose here in Kwamo, in Kumasi, and in Ghana, and that it is going to take everything I have to accomplish it. So just keeping sending all of the love, prayers, and emails (and packages :)) and I will keep doing the best work I can do to make you guys proud! Thanks you so much, I love you guys!!
Love,
Elder Brown
PS - I got packages today. Three from Grandma H, one from you guys. Also a letter from G&G Brown, and a letter from Mom. Thanks everyone :) :)
Welp, it has been quite the week here...the week was good! After interviews last Sunday we were able to have a pretty good P-Day. And then the week started well with a good district meeting as usual. One of the elders in the district decided to throw himself a little birthday party after district meeting.
Wednesday we worked at the chapel. We could tell they really needed our help, and we offered to work more. It’s honestly the most effective use of our time right now. We were able to get a ton of work done cleaning out rooms getting them ready to be tiled. Bro T. always feeds us after work, his daughter always cooks, and man is it delicious! It’s funny though, I couldn't stand this stuff when I first came. But let me describe it for you. They made us banku - banku is basically a really thick dough made of fermented ground up corn. You add water to the corn and just stir and cook it until it’s thick. Then you make some soup. For this one, it was okro stew. Okro = okra. Okra, tomatoes, onions, pepper, all that kind of stuff. Then you just use your fingers to cut a bite sized ball out of the big ball of banku, and then stick it in the soup, then throw it in your mouth! You just swallow it whole, no chewing necessary. It really was so good haha.
Thursday night we got to go sleep at the old couple missionaries’ apartment. Man it was like staying in a hotel! The kitchen was like an American kitchen (oven, nice stove, etc.), the living room had AC, there was a water heater, it was the life! Really it was sweet. We still proselyted normally the next day, Elder Butler (Monticello, UT) came on splits with us. He was one of our zone leaders. His companion is Elder Wiah, one of the guys I lived with in Yamoransa. It was sweet being with Elder Butler, he was in the the Army before mission and is a funny funny guy. His prayer in the morning before we left the apartment included the wording "bless us to execute our objectives this day". Pretty awesome. On top of that he really taught me some great things as we were teaching. We also worked at the chapel on Friday. We taught a cool new guy with Elder Butler on Friday, named Bro Kusi. He owns a shop just behind the chapel. We taught him last Wednesday as well, and he promised to read the whole of the Restoration pamphlet. Which he did, answering all of the questions with it. We were able to teach the whole Restoration lesson, and gave him The Book of Mormon to start reading. We were able to see him again later in the week, and it seems he is doing well! He lives in Asukwa, so hopefully he will be able to go to church there soon. We also taught Degraft, he will be one of my favorite investigators for sure. He woke us up with a call at midnight Sunday morning to tell us he was coming to church... funniest guy ever. And he did come to church!
Saturday was solid, we are still trying to find more people to teach... contacting is just difficult. But we did teach a young lady we have been teaching for a little while and had an interesting lesson with her. Her name is Sandra, she has come to church a few times with her friends.
Church on Sunday was really great. It had been a long week and partaking of the Sacrament made me feel so much better. We had four investigators come to church. One of them lives way the heck out in Ejisu, probably 10 minutes past Kwamo, but came to church anyway. That’s a long ways. That is the hardest part right now, the UST chapel is just way too far away for people we invite to church to actually come. So having 4 was really great. Then after church we visited some people, most of the teaching appointments failed, but we were able to have a good lesson to close out the week, with a new investigator named Cosmos (how awesome is that name?) Anyway, we met him in the past week, and went out to his house in Jakye, a village somewhat close to Kwamo. It was a sweet lesson, serious potential with him.
Well, that’s about it really... life is great. Still working hard to start the work in Kwamo, it’s not easy, but that just makes it better! I got a bunch of B-Day packages today, I'm excited for that. I hope all goes well for Brian's graduation, CONGRATS!!!!! Glad to hear the Rangers are tearing it up, and sounds like the Master's was pretty awesome. Missionary work, it’s divine. I am glad to be here. I have serious work to do here, with many different things, and I am glad the Lord has trusted me to do this. I have realized with everything going on here that I have a specific purpose here in Kwamo, in Kumasi, and in Ghana, and that it is going to take everything I have to accomplish it. So just keeping sending all of the love, prayers, and emails (and packages :)) and I will keep doing the best work I can do to make you guys proud! Thanks you so much, I love you guys!!
Love,
Elder Brown
PS - I got packages today. Three from Grandma H, one from you guys. Also a letter from G&G Brown, and a letter from Mom. Thanks everyone :) :)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
March 28, 2011
What's up everybody?? I had a ton of emails today, thanks everybody for writing. And congrats mom!!! That is awesome you won! Sounds like the tournament has been pretty entertaining. Butler and VCU, that's pretty crazy. I'll be rooting for Butler I think, they should have won last year. So anyway, life is good here in Kumasi. We just played a football match at a really nice pitch, always fun. No scoring for ol' Brown today, but I did ok. I played keeper for one half and didn't let any goals in! It sounds like life is good back in Texas. Hayden is all over the place it seems like. I got some packages last week-two from G&G Brown, one from Grandma H. Awesome stuff as usual! Grandma H sent some salami and pepperoni. Wowzers I forgot how good that stuff was. And G&G Brown sent robin eggs!!!!! Holy moly those are THE BEST!!!! :) Haha So, another week in Kwamo! It has been crazy. Just a crazy crazy last few weeks. Kumasi is so much different in so many ways. I have said that over and over but it's true! The people are different, language, culture, everything. But it's awesome! Everybody talks about Kumasi, and it is always everybody's favorite place. I think I will be a firm Cape Coast man my whole mission, but we shall see! As for the work in Kwamo, it is going good. Like I said it is a little different though. In Moree, we could pretty much meet with our progressing investigators 3-4 times a week. Here, bc a lot of people are busier with work/school, we can only meet maybe once or twice a week. So that means more contacting and more "down" time for us. But we are doing well, days have been going really fast. This week started pretty crazy but it settled down pretty well as the week progressed. Last Monday night we went to FHE with the young single adults in our ward. You asked last week if our ward is big. Yeah it's pretty big; it is right next to the university, so about half of the ward is young single adults and the rest are famliies. It is a very organized, well run ward. Church is in Twi here, still no English. English is funny here in Ghana, obviously it is good, it will help them become a part of the developing world, but it is never used unless it is absolutely necessary. It is always Twi-Twi and Fante are very similar, so it is not too hard making the switch (not that I am that good anyway...) but Twi is actually easier to learn than Fante- it is not as deep of a language. But to show the difference and how it is related, you can see how they say "How are you." For Fante it was "otse den", but for Twi is is "ette sen". So not too much different, but there are definite differences. I am glad to be learning Twi though- it is easier, and there are more books about it. In fact, the book I was studying in Moree was Twi, not Fante. So anyway, the language is still hard, I get discouraged everyday. But then I get excited to learn it everyday as well. Haha. Tuesday I instructed at district meeting. Random, the guy next to me is looking at urbanoutfitters.com! Haha, I miss clothes!!! Getting to Kwamo is a beast everyday. We live right near the university, and we have to walk about 20 minutes to the station to catch a car. Then, at the station, the last three days we have waited for about 45 minutes to get into a tro-tro going to Kwamo, and then the ride to Kwamo is about 10. So by the time we get there I am ready for a break! Haha. I like travelling though. I am going to miss tro-tros in America. Tro-tros are so awesome, if you ever come to Ghana, we will only take tro-tros!!!!!!!!!! Haha. So I can't wait til the apartment/chapel in Kwamo is finally finished! I talked to the guy in charge of building it, Prosper, and he said it will be done by next transfer-the 24 April. So I will be praying! I also aksed him if they could build a basketball court outside the apartment..he said yes!!!!!!!!! Haha I am so pumped for that. Lots of youth activities to go to with that ;) Friday night is SERIOUSLY rained. Elder Akoki and I got drenched!!! It was crazy, I was literally cold. Mos def the first time in 9 months I could say I was cold. It took forever to get a car, but finally we did. We were coming back from a small village called Aprada where we taught one of the most serious investigators, Emmanual. His family are members, and he has come to church twice. On Saturday, we taught another pretty serious guy, Degraft. He stays close to members, and has been progressing pretty well; he has come to church as well. He is a humble guy, we have been really trying to help him to understand prayer as well so he can have good experiences with that. He called me last night to tell me he was about to pray before he went to bed! Haha, so I guess he understands :) The sweetest part of the week was that we got an awesome ward missionary to come with us a few days. His name is Prince, and he stays with Brother Timothy sometimes. He is about 18 years old, and has been a member for about 2 years. He plays on a football club, they train in the mornings, and then he comes to proselyte with us. He is a very good translator, but more important than that, he has a very strong testimony and understands the gospel very well. Prince calls us to find out when he can come. He is awesome! If he comes with us 3 times a week or so, we will be able to do serious work in Kwamo. Other than that, all that matters is that I love you all. So so much. Think about everything that goes on in the world, seeing everything that goes on here, knowing what people go through in life, know what I go through in life, I don't know what I would do without you guys and everybody else back there .So sometimes that just keeps me going. I can't believe March is almost over. Days seem so long, but weeks and months seem so short. So anyway, I hope all is great for you guys, tell everyone in D-town that I love them, tell all the family that I love them. I hope you have a super awesome week! Yabehyia dapen ba! Love, Elder Brown
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
March 21, 2011
(Griffin and his new companion)Akwaaba! So...I am sure I seemed pretty stressed and not very focused in my last email...the past two weeks have been one big crazy experience that I am still getting used to. Kumasi is a whole different world, really a whole different mission, and it is all just coming at me at once. Plus training AND opening the new area...it's pretty crazy. I am doing my best and it's all going to be sweet I am sure!!!
So first let me tell you more about Kumasi, I don't think I really talked much about it last week. Kumasi is big...and that's about it. Haha, just kidding. It really is a hundred times bigger than Cape Coast though. There is AC here in the internet cafe I am at, but pretty much only internet cafes and banks will have AC. It feels like the Celestial Kingdom in here though. It is more developed than Cape Coast, but not that much. There are more homeless people, more beggars, so it has more of the high and more of the low. Things are a little more expensive here as well, but there are more things to buy. At the store we shop at they have Pringles and Kellogg's corn flakes and stuff like that. You see a lot of nice cars (Mercedes, Beamers, etc) driving around as well. Kumasi spreads wayyyyy far out. Today we spent almost an hour on the trotro going from our apartment to the place where our activity was. We were stuck in traffic a while, but that still is really far. And we only went about half way across Kumasi. UST stands for University of Science and Technology, or Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. It is right next our apartment. Most of the people that live around us either go to school there or work there. But we travel about 20 minutes everyday on the trotro to Kwamo to proselyte there, and we will be moving there soon. There are two zones in Kumasi, about 40-50 missionaries total. The areas and wards are really spread out, and so that is why they are sending missionaries (like me) to new areas with small chapels to make the church more accessible. Kumasi is pretty crazy, the central market is INSANE. Absolutely insane.
As I said earlier, we live out on the east side of Kumasi, heading to Accra. Kwamo is the last area with missionaries on the east side of Kumasi. This week was good, the work is much harder here than it was in Moree, but that is only because we are opening the new area. In Moree, we always had stuff to do all day long, always had people to meet. Here it is just...contacting. And just as in any other mission, contacting is not very fruitful at all. So it's a different kind of missionary work for me, but its sweet. People in Kwamo have never heard about the church at all, so we truly are bringing the message for the first time to these people. It is pretty cool to think about it that way. Most of the people we have contacted so far have not been very serious, we have taught a few people multiple times, but the few we were teaching told us yesterday they don't want to meet again, one even gave us his Book of Mormon back, he didn't even want to keep it. So that has been hard, I haven't experience too much of that, but it has been a great learning experience. We actually have been able to teach a few member referrals who are doing well, five investigators actually came to church on Sunday, all who came with their member friends/family. Emmanual is about 30, he has a brother that is a member. We were able to teach him this week. He has come to church twice now. Brother Joseph is a recent convert, and we met him and invited his wife and son to come to church with him on Sunday and they did! I felt bad though, I promised the son, who is about 10, that I would bring him a biscuit (crackers they sell everywhere) if he came because he said he would be hungry if he came, but I forgot to bring the biscuit! He was not happy with me haha. Then there was also Emmanual, he works near the Alma bakery- I am not sure if I talked about the Alma Bakery last week! There is a member in Kwamo, Sis Emelia, who owns a bakery there, and it is called Alma Bakery! They are the sweetest people ever!!!! She fills her bread delivering van every Sunday to bring tons of people to church. All of the members in Kwamo that come to church come with her in her van. The other investigator is Sandra, a young woman who we have met with a couple times, she came with her friend Juliet to church. So it was nice to have some people at church from Kwamo, even though they have to travel so far!!
The week of proselyting was good, we were able to work hard every day and teach many people, even if most were not very serious. It is hard because we invite people to church, and there is just no way they can come right now, because UST is so far. They all say they will come when the chapel is finished, so hopefully it will be soon. It will probably be done end of April. Tuesday was a great day. Our district leader is Elder Akoki, who used to be assistant to the president. We had a great district meeting, and then a great day of proselyting after aw well. We went to visit the Timothy family at night, and they are such a great family. Their son, Prince, is going to come proselyte with us tomorrow. I started having some chest pains last Monday, was having a hard time walking, but I was able to get some medication that Sis Sabey told me would work, and it made the pain go down pretty well. It seems like quite a few elders have had this weird lung virus, and I got it as well. But I was able to work everyday, not a big problem. I still feel like there is something there, but there is no pain. It hurts when I try to jump rope or something, but that is it. I was fine playing football today. We met a guy on the trotro going home, named Charles, who I will talk about later.
Wednesday was a lot of contacting, and then we met the Aponsah family at night in Okyerekrom (pronounced, Oh-cheer-uh-krom), a small village a little ways from Kwamo that is part of our area. Thursday we met some sweet new people, a contact named Francis who we will meet again tomorrow. He seems interested. The challenge with Kwamo is the same as Moree-people do not speak English well at all...it's difficult. But Francis speaks perfect English, so teaching people like him is the bomb. I said to Elder Timothy after we taught him the first time that he would be the future Elders Quorum president of Kwamo. We shall see :) Friday we worked at the chapel in the morning, and then every other appointment throughout the day failed, so we contacted!!! Saturday we had to run home in the pouring rain! It is the rainy season now, thank goodness!!! It rained almost every night last week. Last night, we went to meet Charles, the man we met on the trotro on Tuesday, and his family. They live in Okyerekrom as well. We weren't sure if we would meet them, bc he didn't speak English all that well, so we weren't sure if he understood us, but we called him and he said to come! We met his whole family-he is married with 3 kids, as well as his three brothers that stay with him. His wife, Mansah, speaks English really well. We taught a good first lesson, they said they all want to be baptized, but then it started to rain. They would not let us leave in the rain though (it was pouring again) so we sat underneath the porch and talked for awhile. They seem really sweet. Charles loves us, he made us eat fufu with him and he said he wants us to come every Sunday night to eat dinner with his family. So hopefully they progress well!!!!!!
So anyway, my time is small, so I will wrap it up. Thanks for everything, keep praying for me and thinking of me, I need all the help I can get right now!!!!! I am praying for you guys everyday as well, I love you so much. No questions or requests I have today, just prayers and love, good emails, and letters. Love you!!!
-Elder Brown
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 14, 2011
Good morning! From Asante land this time instead of Fante. It's been quite an adventure this week...wow. But it's been good.
So, let me get started on the week :) Last Monday I am sure you had fun with the email, with me finding out the transfer news while I was emailing and all that. It was a crazy time haha. After I got the news I felt so weird. Just because I had been so long in Moree, so getting transferred just is pretty crazy to me. Kumasi is sort of the "cool" place to go in the mission. It's the farthest away from the mission home (besides Sunyani but only 10 elders are there) and all that, so everybody wants to go there. Also because it's the biggest city in the mission, so there is more stuff to see, do, and buy. But anyway, more on Kumas in a bit.
My last day in Moree was pretty sad. We went to all of our recent converts, and it was sad having to say goodbye. I decided that the "good-bye" lesson is the sweetest though haha. Every one of the lessons with the recent converts were so spiritual and powerful...it made me want to stay! But I am glad I had that opportunity at least. Elder Nzuki (he is staying in Moree, his companion's name is Elder Mbom) let me do most of the talking, and I felt like I connected so well with each one of those converts. Man it was sweet. We had dinner at the Pratt's to end the night as well, man I miss that family. Sister Suzy's rice and stew was perfect as usual, and then we just sat and chatted for a little while. I am sure we will cross paths again.
So Wednesday was the transfer day! We headed to the STC station about 11, met up with some other missionaries (Elder Rosquist was transferred to Kumasi as well. Also to train) and waited there for the greenies to show up and for the STC bus to get there. President showed up with the new guys, and I met my "son" as they call the elder you train on the mission. His name is Elder Timothy, and he is from Nigeria. He was going to go to Cote d'Ivoire, but got reassigned in the MTC. His name tag is in French and everything. We went up on the STC bus together, about a 4 hour bus ride. They showed WWE wrestling on the tele on the ride up..so ridiculous haha (not that I watched it, promise :) I was pretty scared the whole way up. Training, opening a new area, in a city I have never been to, the city has over a million people...oh man. We got to Kumasi, and what a place it is! It is sooooo big. People everywhere, so many cars, stuff everywhere. It is literally 100 times the size of Cape Coast. Elder Odobo and Elder Kwapong, the guys we live with right now, were there to pick us up and take us back to the apartment. Right now we stay at a place called UST until the apartment is finished in Kwamo. The apartment is actually part of the small chapel they are building in Kwamo. It will be finished in about 3 weeks (hopefully sooner!). But right now we live at UST, and take a 15 minute tro tro ride to Kwamo everyday.
Elder Odobo (my MTC Companion) and Elder Kwapong took us around Kwamo on Thursday. Kwamo is out on the outskirts of Kumasi, and it is pretty much a village. Not much English is spoken...there are other towns in our area that are more modern. My area is HUGE. It is the size of both Cape Coast and Abura zones put together, even bigger than that really. It's insane. We will have a lot of walking to do to see the whole place. There are exactly 3 families that live in Kwam that are members of the church. So about 15-20 members or so. So, we visited all of them, asked for referrals, and than got to work the old fashioned way-contacting. Oh boy I have never done so much contacting in my life. A lot of walking and a lot of "My name is Elder Brown, my companion's name is Elder Timothy, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ...". Elder Timothy doesn't talk very much right now, so it's pretty much me all day. It's fun, we found some cool people, but it is just hard to find serious people contacting. Referrals are always a hundred times more serious. 90% of my baptisms have been member referrals. So pretty much the week was spent contacting. The days seem longer, but I know it will com small small as we continue to work hard. The members that do live in Kwamo are AWESOME. Brother Timothy, who will be our future "group leader" (it won't even be a branch when it opens) is the most stud guy ever. He is currently in the bishopric of the university ward, the ward we go to right now. He will help us so much.
Kumasi is crazy...so big. I haven't seen much yet, but it's going to be fun here, even if Kwamo is quite a ways out from the big city.
Well that's pretty much it, it seems like my time has gone by way faster today. I actually got less time on the computer than I did in Cape Coast I think. I love you guys. I have some serious work to do ahead in Kwamo, so keep praying that everything goes well for me!!! I know it will if I am just obedient and do my best to be a good teacher and example for Elder Timothy.
Love you,
Elder Brown
So, let me get started on the week :) Last Monday I am sure you had fun with the email, with me finding out the transfer news while I was emailing and all that. It was a crazy time haha. After I got the news I felt so weird. Just because I had been so long in Moree, so getting transferred just is pretty crazy to me. Kumasi is sort of the "cool" place to go in the mission. It's the farthest away from the mission home (besides Sunyani but only 10 elders are there) and all that, so everybody wants to go there. Also because it's the biggest city in the mission, so there is more stuff to see, do, and buy. But anyway, more on Kumas in a bit.
My last day in Moree was pretty sad. We went to all of our recent converts, and it was sad having to say goodbye. I decided that the "good-bye" lesson is the sweetest though haha. Every one of the lessons with the recent converts were so spiritual and powerful...it made me want to stay! But I am glad I had that opportunity at least. Elder Nzuki (he is staying in Moree, his companion's name is Elder Mbom) let me do most of the talking, and I felt like I connected so well with each one of those converts. Man it was sweet. We had dinner at the Pratt's to end the night as well, man I miss that family. Sister Suzy's rice and stew was perfect as usual, and then we just sat and chatted for a little while. I am sure we will cross paths again.
So Wednesday was the transfer day! We headed to the STC station about 11, met up with some other missionaries (Elder Rosquist was transferred to Kumasi as well. Also to train) and waited there for the greenies to show up and for the STC bus to get there. President showed up with the new guys, and I met my "son" as they call the elder you train on the mission. His name is Elder Timothy, and he is from Nigeria. He was going to go to Cote d'Ivoire, but got reassigned in the MTC. His name tag is in French and everything. We went up on the STC bus together, about a 4 hour bus ride. They showed WWE wrestling on the tele on the ride up..so ridiculous haha (not that I watched it, promise :) I was pretty scared the whole way up. Training, opening a new area, in a city I have never been to, the city has over a million people...oh man. We got to Kumasi, and what a place it is! It is sooooo big. People everywhere, so many cars, stuff everywhere. It is literally 100 times the size of Cape Coast. Elder Odobo and Elder Kwapong, the guys we live with right now, were there to pick us up and take us back to the apartment. Right now we stay at a place called UST until the apartment is finished in Kwamo. The apartment is actually part of the small chapel they are building in Kwamo. It will be finished in about 3 weeks (hopefully sooner!). But right now we live at UST, and take a 15 minute tro tro ride to Kwamo everyday.
Elder Odobo (my MTC Companion) and Elder Kwapong took us around Kwamo on Thursday. Kwamo is out on the outskirts of Kumasi, and it is pretty much a village. Not much English is spoken...there are other towns in our area that are more modern. My area is HUGE. It is the size of both Cape Coast and Abura zones put together, even bigger than that really. It's insane. We will have a lot of walking to do to see the whole place. There are exactly 3 families that live in Kwam that are members of the church. So about 15-20 members or so. So, we visited all of them, asked for referrals, and than got to work the old fashioned way-contacting. Oh boy I have never done so much contacting in my life. A lot of walking and a lot of "My name is Elder Brown, my companion's name is Elder Timothy, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ...". Elder Timothy doesn't talk very much right now, so it's pretty much me all day. It's fun, we found some cool people, but it is just hard to find serious people contacting. Referrals are always a hundred times more serious. 90% of my baptisms have been member referrals. So pretty much the week was spent contacting. The days seem longer, but I know it will com small small as we continue to work hard. The members that do live in Kwamo are AWESOME. Brother Timothy, who will be our future "group leader" (it won't even be a branch when it opens) is the most stud guy ever. He is currently in the bishopric of the university ward, the ward we go to right now. He will help us so much.
Kumasi is crazy...so big. I haven't seen much yet, but it's going to be fun here, even if Kwamo is quite a ways out from the big city.
Well that's pretty much it, it seems like my time has gone by way faster today. I actually got less time on the computer than I did in Cape Coast I think. I love you guys. I have some serious work to do ahead in Kwamo, so keep praying that everything goes well for me!!! I know it will if I am just obedient and do my best to be a good teacher and example for Elder Timothy.
Love you,
Elder Brown
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 7, 2011
Wassup?!?!? Another beautifully hot day in Ghana. January-March is this hottest time I have heard, so it has been quite toasty. I am pretty used to it now though.
Anyway, the week was sweet, as usual (have I ever said it wasn't? haha). We played some bball today, against a member's youth team. We handled them pretty easily. The court is so ghetto, but it was fun. Today is transfer news day. Haven't heard anything yet, but maybe we will hear something before I leave here. There are 10 new elders coming, so it could be a rather large transfer. Only 1 is leaving though. One of the elders coming is named Elder Brown! He is from Accra.
So last week Monday we got three new elders in the Yammy district. Elder Adams, from Accra, replaced Elder Alba in Mankessim. He had been serving in Cote d'Ivoire for only a few weeks, and then they had to pull everybody out. Then there is also Elder Stats (Centerville, UT) and Elder Togaga'e (Samoa) who were added to Mankessim. It was sweet to meet them all at district meeting on Tuesday. Elder Stats is sweet, he trained my MT, Elder Hatch. And Elder Togaga'e is great too, its funny having the two polynesians in the mission here together, him and Elder Katoa. And Elder Stats and Elder Mortensen went to the same high school in Centerville, so we just have all the connections! Haha Tuesday was proselyting was very normal, just preparing for the baptism and what not.
Wednesday was good, we walked SO much. To start the day we walked at to Abakamonuto to meet Kofi, but Kofi had gone to his mother's house in Moree (Abakamanu is about a 15 minute walk or so from Moree). Then we went to his mother's house, he was there, but we had no translator, so we told him to stay and we would find one. We found one, came back, and he had gone to Abakamonu. We walked all the way...wasn't there. We walked back into Moree, the other parts of the day. Having bikes will be nice one day! We taught a sweet new investigator on Wednesday, named Oben. He is from Sunyani, and moved down here a little while ago with his brother, and so he could go to college down here. I contacted him on Sunday while on splits with a ward missionary, and made the appointment for Wednesday. Most contacts don't come to their next appointment, but luckily, he was there! And on top of that, had kept his promise to read half of the Restoration pamphlet and answer the questions in it perfectly! It was sweet. We taught all of the Restoration, and it went really well. He accepted to be baptized 1 April. He had even talked to a friend at his school that he knew was a Latter-day Saint after he met us Sunday, and had had a good discussion with him. So it looks like he is really prepared.
Thursday we had the interviews for Kofi, Ransford, and Solomon. They all went well! We taught a guy named Sammy too. We had met him at a member's house last week, and we started talking small. We passed him again a few days later, and made an appointment for Thursday. We met, and after we taught Doctrine of Christ, he accepted to be baptized, but said that he was in the Navy and would be going to Sekondi to go to sea for the next 3 months. We were disappointed, but both me and Elder Nzuki (as we found out talking after the lesson) got the impression to just teach about the Book of Mormon, give him a copy, and leave it at that for the next three months while he is at sea. It was a really good lesson, we read small from the Book of Mormon, talked about why it is so important, and then just asked him to take it on the boat with him so he could read it every day. He said he would do it, hopefully he does! Sounds like a Liahona (sorry, Ensign?) article in the making if you ask me. Haha
Friday I went on splits to Abakrampa to do baptism interview for them there.It was a good split, I wasn't looking forward to it, but it ended up really good. We went on a KILLER bike ride out to a small village. TWICE! It was the hardest bike ride I have ever experienced, some serious serious hills. It was bad. I was sweating so hard haha. When I was conducting the interview for the guy there-Ransford, he walks 45 minutes to church every Sunday- I was breathing so hard and was just drenched in sweat. He was even laughing at me at the beginning I was struggling for breath so hard. Abakrampa is a funny, awesome, place. It is a really small village, no English at all really. Elder Smith is a Ghanaian though, so he is able to speak the language with them.
Saturday was the baptism! And of course a little drama as usual. We went up to fill the font Saturday morning, and the water wasn't working. That happens sometimes, but usually we just flip the switch to turn the pump on, and it fills that way. But the electricity was malfunctioning-only at the Yamoransa chapel, nowhere else in Yamoransa or Cape Coast-so the pump wasn't working. We finally found one random spigot on the chapel grounds that was working, so we found a super long hose, hooked it to the spigot, weaved it through the chapel, and into the baptismal font, with about a foot and a half to spare. It filled the font soooo slow though. It took all the way until right when the baptism was starting. But it eventually got filled. We went to Moree to wait at the chapel for the candidates, members, and investigators to show up. They were supposed to be there at 2. At 2:15 there was one member there, our recent convert Kojo, and that was all. By 2:30 a few members were there, but still no candidates. The Saunders were there with the mission van to take people, and so were getting pretty anxious. Finally at like 2:45, Solomon and Ransford rolled up, but no Kofi. We sent everybody that was there with the Saunders, and then stayed at the Moree chapel to wait for Kofi. By 3 he still wasn't there. At about 3:10 we started heading to the station to go to Yamoransa, just having to leave Kofi behind, and literally as we were walking away from the chapel...Kofi and his friends showed up...thank goodness! But all was well, we got to Yamoransa in plenty of time, and the baptism went great. The baptism water was even somewhat clear! It was green, but you could at least see the bottom!
(Elder Mortensen just got a call from President Sabey, he is the new Yamoransa district leader, that means I am going somewhere!!!!! Holy crap this is crazy....I am so nervous now about where I could be going...I have been in Moree for nine months, and now I am fairly certain I am leaving...man this is crazy. Hopefully I find out before I leave the cafe.)
Well I can't really concentrate at all right now. I am so anxious to find out where I am going. I'll try to write a few more things, but it will probably be pretty scattered! So the baptism went great, 11 total people for our district were baptized. Abakrampa baptized 4, and Mankessim 4. Sunday was weird. It was Ghana's Independence Day, and our ward decided to call church after Sacrament meeting finished...they said the Stake President said to do it...but...all the other missionaries said that their wards had all 3 hours of church...so I don't know. So we proselyted for a long time on Sunday! Or it seemed like at least because we didn't have all of church (Man I am so nervous /anxious to find out were I am going!!!!!) Kofi bore his testimony at church, so sweet! I could tell it was a really good testimony, from the small parts I could understand. He thanked me and Elder Nzuki, it made me feel pretty good haha.
I love you guys so much so much. Most likely I will be somewhere else next week. Man Moree has been quite an adventure for me. I have loved it so much, so much. But I think i am ready for a change. Don't know where I might be going, what I might be doing. But I am excited.
I'M GOING TO KUMASI!!!!!!! And I am training a new missionary and opening a new area, called Kwamo. Holyyyyyyyyyy molyyyyyyyyyyy. This is crazy, bye bye Moree :( but hello KUMASI! :)
Love you guys soo so much. Talk to you from Kumasi next week!
-Elder Brown :)
Anyway, the week was sweet, as usual (have I ever said it wasn't? haha). We played some bball today, against a member's youth team. We handled them pretty easily. The court is so ghetto, but it was fun. Today is transfer news day. Haven't heard anything yet, but maybe we will hear something before I leave here. There are 10 new elders coming, so it could be a rather large transfer. Only 1 is leaving though. One of the elders coming is named Elder Brown! He is from Accra.
So last week Monday we got three new elders in the Yammy district. Elder Adams, from Accra, replaced Elder Alba in Mankessim. He had been serving in Cote d'Ivoire for only a few weeks, and then they had to pull everybody out. Then there is also Elder Stats (Centerville, UT) and Elder Togaga'e (Samoa) who were added to Mankessim. It was sweet to meet them all at district meeting on Tuesday. Elder Stats is sweet, he trained my MT, Elder Hatch. And Elder Togaga'e is great too, its funny having the two polynesians in the mission here together, him and Elder Katoa. And Elder Stats and Elder Mortensen went to the same high school in Centerville, so we just have all the connections! Haha Tuesday was proselyting was very normal, just preparing for the baptism and what not.
Wednesday was good, we walked SO much. To start the day we walked at to Abakamonuto to meet Kofi, but Kofi had gone to his mother's house in Moree (Abakamanu is about a 15 minute walk or so from Moree). Then we went to his mother's house, he was there, but we had no translator, so we told him to stay and we would find one. We found one, came back, and he had gone to Abakamonu. We walked all the way...wasn't there. We walked back into Moree, the other parts of the day. Having bikes will be nice one day! We taught a sweet new investigator on Wednesday, named Oben. He is from Sunyani, and moved down here a little while ago with his brother, and so he could go to college down here. I contacted him on Sunday while on splits with a ward missionary, and made the appointment for Wednesday. Most contacts don't come to their next appointment, but luckily, he was there! And on top of that, had kept his promise to read half of the Restoration pamphlet and answer the questions in it perfectly! It was sweet. We taught all of the Restoration, and it went really well. He accepted to be baptized 1 April. He had even talked to a friend at his school that he knew was a Latter-day Saint after he met us Sunday, and had had a good discussion with him. So it looks like he is really prepared.
Thursday we had the interviews for Kofi, Ransford, and Solomon. They all went well! We taught a guy named Sammy too. We had met him at a member's house last week, and we started talking small. We passed him again a few days later, and made an appointment for Thursday. We met, and after we taught Doctrine of Christ, he accepted to be baptized, but said that he was in the Navy and would be going to Sekondi to go to sea for the next 3 months. We were disappointed, but both me and Elder Nzuki (as we found out talking after the lesson) got the impression to just teach about the Book of Mormon, give him a copy, and leave it at that for the next three months while he is at sea. It was a really good lesson, we read small from the Book of Mormon, talked about why it is so important, and then just asked him to take it on the boat with him so he could read it every day. He said he would do it, hopefully he does! Sounds like a Liahona (sorry, Ensign?) article in the making if you ask me. Haha
Friday I went on splits to Abakrampa to do baptism interview for them there.It was a good split, I wasn't looking forward to it, but it ended up really good. We went on a KILLER bike ride out to a small village. TWICE! It was the hardest bike ride I have ever experienced, some serious serious hills. It was bad. I was sweating so hard haha. When I was conducting the interview for the guy there-Ransford, he walks 45 minutes to church every Sunday- I was breathing so hard and was just drenched in sweat. He was even laughing at me at the beginning I was struggling for breath so hard. Abakrampa is a funny, awesome, place. It is a really small village, no English at all really. Elder Smith is a Ghanaian though, so he is able to speak the language with them.
Saturday was the baptism! And of course a little drama as usual. We went up to fill the font Saturday morning, and the water wasn't working. That happens sometimes, but usually we just flip the switch to turn the pump on, and it fills that way. But the electricity was malfunctioning-only at the Yamoransa chapel, nowhere else in Yamoransa or Cape Coast-so the pump wasn't working. We finally found one random spigot on the chapel grounds that was working, so we found a super long hose, hooked it to the spigot, weaved it through the chapel, and into the baptismal font, with about a foot and a half to spare. It filled the font soooo slow though. It took all the way until right when the baptism was starting. But it eventually got filled. We went to Moree to wait at the chapel for the candidates, members, and investigators to show up. They were supposed to be there at 2. At 2:15 there was one member there, our recent convert Kojo, and that was all. By 2:30 a few members were there, but still no candidates. The Saunders were there with the mission van to take people, and so were getting pretty anxious. Finally at like 2:45, Solomon and Ransford rolled up, but no Kofi. We sent everybody that was there with the Saunders, and then stayed at the Moree chapel to wait for Kofi. By 3 he still wasn't there. At about 3:10 we started heading to the station to go to Yamoransa, just having to leave Kofi behind, and literally as we were walking away from the chapel...Kofi and his friends showed up...thank goodness! But all was well, we got to Yamoransa in plenty of time, and the baptism went great. The baptism water was even somewhat clear! It was green, but you could at least see the bottom!
(Elder Mortensen just got a call from President Sabey, he is the new Yamoransa district leader, that means I am going somewhere!!!!! Holy crap this is crazy....I am so nervous now about where I could be going...I have been in Moree for nine months, and now I am fairly certain I am leaving...man this is crazy. Hopefully I find out before I leave the cafe.)
Well I can't really concentrate at all right now. I am so anxious to find out where I am going. I'll try to write a few more things, but it will probably be pretty scattered! So the baptism went great, 11 total people for our district were baptized. Abakrampa baptized 4, and Mankessim 4. Sunday was weird. It was Ghana's Independence Day, and our ward decided to call church after Sacrament meeting finished...they said the Stake President said to do it...but...all the other missionaries said that their wards had all 3 hours of church...so I don't know. So we proselyted for a long time on Sunday! Or it seemed like at least because we didn't have all of church (Man I am so nervous /anxious to find out were I am going!!!!!) Kofi bore his testimony at church, so sweet! I could tell it was a really good testimony, from the small parts I could understand. He thanked me and Elder Nzuki, it made me feel pretty good haha.
I love you guys so much so much. Most likely I will be somewhere else next week. Man Moree has been quite an adventure for me. I have loved it so much, so much. But I think i am ready for a change. Don't know where I might be going, what I might be doing. But I am excited.
I'M GOING TO KUMASI!!!!!!! And I am training a new missionary and opening a new area, called Kwamo. Holyyyyyyyyyy molyyyyyyyyyyy. This is crazy, bye bye Moree :( but hello KUMASI! :)
Love you guys soo so much. Talk to you from Kumasi next week!
-Elder Brown :)
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