October 25, 2010 with pictures!

These are some pictures Griffin sent us. They came on a CD, so I'm not 100% sure who/what they are all of :) Enjoy-


We are pretty sure this is Elder Brown's zone:

Griffin wrote about the baptism in the ocean, here is a picture from it:







We are assuming this is him helping at the new chapel in Moree:

Memo wo akye! That's so tight the Rangers won, I was so excited to get the email to find that out! Of course it doesn't happen until after I leave, but oh well. Hopefully they stick it to the Giants. Are you going to go to one of the games? You definitely should. You have to in fact, I am making it a requirement. If you don't I won't send you an email next week :) Random question, is Max Hall starting for the Cardinals? I heard he was...I also heard Michael Vick is tearing it up. Truth?

So anyway I got your package with the jump rope and CD player this week. Everything is good, you sent me the same exact CD player Elder Adams has, really ironic haha. That Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD you sent me is so hilarious! It just makes me think of Sunday back home, hearing Bruce R. McConkie's voice and everything, so weird. But very cool :) The Oreos were flipping amazing, those are my favorite kind of Oreos, so you've done well. They were gone in about 20 minutes haha. The stickers and Pez dispensers are always awesome as well!

The week was pretty good, seemed like we weren't busy at all just because we were so busy last week with the big baptism. We've still got some sweet investigators right now, like Jacob who will be baptized this weekend, but we just need to find some more to have a full teaching pool. We'll have to teach a lot of recent converts too over the next few weeks, so we'll at least stay busy with that. Andrew blessed the Sacrament in Church on Sunday, it was so sweet! He's just an all-around stud. Isac passed the Sacrament too.

The ward is taking a temple trip in a few weeks, so we will be preparing a lot of our recent converts for that. Andrew is especially is excited, we have already filled out some basic pedigree stuff with him, up to his grandparents. With our new mission goal, we need to help one of our recent prepare names for the temple, and I'm sure we'll be able to accomplish that with Andrew soon. Isaac was a referral from Stephen, a recent convert himself, so we completed that half of the goal already.

Well I can't really think of anything else from the week. Thanks for the Fante trip, I literally called the Saunders the morning before I got that package asking if we could order Fante triples, but I got one in my package that very day! We went farming this week at a less active lady's farm. We weeded and chopped stuff with cutlasses for a few hours, I got about 7 blisters on my hand...not fun haha. But my hands will toughen up. We met with the bishopric yesterday at church to teach them about what's expected of them with missionary work in the ward. We're trying to set it up where we have home teachers for investigators before they are baptized, so hopefully that works out. We got Preach My Gospel books for the whole ward council. The chapel is going well, there are problems just like with any chapel, but its going well. Most of the people working on the chapel are members, so that's sweet. Its right at the front of town; it'll be the first thing anyone see when they come into town. Sacrament meeting attendance will probably double once it is finished. The missionaries in Moree will have a field day once it is finished. Who knows, it could even be me! That'd mean I'd be in my first area for a year. It happens here, one guy stayed in his first area for 14 months, left for 3 months, and then went back to his old area, and he is going home next week. Pretty crazy.

Anyway thanks for everything. I love you and miss you a ton, but I don't think I could be anywhere else in the world right now!

I love you guys!

-Elder Brown

Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 18, 2010

Yo yo wazzup. I say yo all the time here, it's actually a Fante word that means "ok" but I just use it for everything haha. Anyway I was really glad to hear the Rangers won, right when I leave they play for a pennant! Geez. Oh well, I'll be hoping for the Rangers-San Fran world series. BYU (football)...glad I'm in Africa :)

So anyway the week was sweet here, really hectic, but that's how its supposed to be! The highlight was on Saturday with the baptisms, I'll get to that later. We had a fun FHE at a Yamoransa member's house last Monday. The funniest thing was he had his little 5 year old son conduct the music and it was sooooooooooooooooo flippin cute. The kid was directing perfectly! It was a pretty normal FHE, and they gave us these plantain cakes. They were really spicy...They said it was their specialty. They are a really sweet family, so it was fun. Especially the kid conducting.

So basically the whole week we were busy preparing for the baptism. We have got some sweet investigators that are doing really well, one is John. We met him randomly, he walked into a members house while we were teaching their daughter getting her ready for baptism. He read the Restoration pamphlet and the Joseph Smith pamphlet in a week, and is already telling us how excited he is to learn more. He has come to church the last two weeks too. He is already talking about going on a mission (he's 22) and he is just so excited about the church. it's sweet to see guys like that. Another guy is Jacob, his girlfriend is a member, so of course he's doing well...haha. He'll be baptized in the next couple weeks, he has been coming to church for awhlie. He is a barber so he cuts our hair for free. I get sweet African haircuts every week! He never cut an oboruni's hair before me and Elder Adams haha.

The baptism was on Saturday. This was definitely my favorite baptism so far, it was my first baptism where I have been involved in the finding and teaching process with each investigator from the beginning. We've been blessed to have a lot of success lately, we had this baptism and will have another sweet one soon, and it's just because we've been working hard and doing what we're supposed to. We proselyte the full nine hours everyday, and it's really paying off.

Well it's sweet to hear from you guys every week. We played some frisbee on the beach today, and we'll probably have a burrito night withe Elder Pinnel and Elder Bunker (my MTC mate) tonight. We can make some legit tortillas and then put rice, tomato stew, beans and canned tuna on it. Mos def not Chipotle, but what can ya do? :) I was craving a chipotle chicken sandwich on asiago focaccia the other day :) Eat a couple for me this week.

I love you guys, you guys are freakin awesome! Thanks for everything and keep loving life in Tejas (and California, and Utah, and Oregon, and anywhere else all my peeps might be!)

Love from CC Ghana,
Elder Brown

P.S.- Elder Brown says sorry to everyone this week about not having enough time to write everyone!

October 11, 2010

There was no email from Griffin last week because the power went out as they were checking email! Here is his letter from last week:

Wow it has been quite the adventure finally getting to email again. The power went out while we were emailing last week, so I got to read most of the emails, but didn't send any. Then today we went to a cafe, and while I was reading the emails, the network went out. So we went to another cafe where it was working, and it honestly took 30 minutes for the computer to load and everything to actually get to the inbox. Geez louise. Anyway so let's just hope the power stays on for a little bit. Everything is going well here.

So anyway on to the important stuff! I can't remember all that happened two weeks ago, but I'll go through the biggies real quick. First thing is that I got sick for the first time. Threw up on the job in Moree, luckily it was on the outside of town so nobody really saw it. It was my own fault though, earlier in the day we passed a family who had a giant pile of fish they were cleaning. We stopped to talk and help and we saw that they had some sweet sea creatures in there! Barracudas, sting rays, baby sharks, all that sweet stuff. So....I picked a few up and started playing with them and taking pictures with them haha. And then I ate some bowlfruit right after...bad idea! But oh well, I got sick and had the oll "runny tummy" but it only took me out of commission for one day. Other than that I can't remember anything sweet that happened. We had interviews with President and those went really well.

We had a special "temple training" meeting on Friday, it was super sweet. It really stinks we won't be able to go to the temple for 2 years....especially because our temple training got me all excited! Plus we got the new Liahona that is the temple issue, and it made want to go even worse!!!!!!! But oh well, President just talked a lot about the significance of the temple, and a lot more about marriage. Basically it was a marriage training, not a temple training haha. But I guess the two go hand in hand. We also learned a little bit about how to do family history, since that is part of our new goal. I also got three packages on Friday, 2 from you guys and one from Grandma H. Super sweet, thanks a bunch!

Today we played football against Abura zone (the other zone in Cape Coast, the western part of Cape Coast). One of their zone leaders played on the soccer team at BYU. We won 2-1 or something, the field was soaked through because it poured last night, so it wasn't even that fun. The funniest was just that President Sabey came and reffed, so that was fun. He has yellow and red cards he used and everything, pretty sweet haha.

We didn't have a baptism on Saturday, it's this coming Saturday. Andrew is going to be baptized is well as: Isaac- the best friend of Stephen, a recent convert; Isaac-also the best friend of a recent convert, Enoch; Dennis- a really tight fisherman thats about 18, actually speaks English a little; and four kids, Faustina, Esther, Comfort and Albert. It'll be a really sweet baptism. Other than that, there is nothing big planned for the week, we'll just be busyyyyy getting ready for the baptism. Oh yeah, we had 19 investigators at church yesterday, it was so tight! A lot of them were fisherman who had traveled or will be traveling soon, but it was still so sweet! We got a picture with all the guys that came, because every single one of them came in a white shirt! It was so sweet.

The work is still sweet in GCCM, things are really moving along in Moree. The chapel is going great and the members are giving us lots of referrals, so there is nothing to complain about! I even started throwing down some Fante with the people and they understand me! Now I've just got to be able to understand them...haha

Thanks for everything, I love you guys! The pictures you sent are sweet, just keep sending more and more!

Love,
Elder Brown

September 27, 2010

Memo wo akye! Sounds like you and H are having fun on your own back in Tejas. Hopefully the house doesn't fall apart later today. I'm not sure if I'll have time to write Mom too, so at least forward this to her as well. Thanks for all the updates. Sounds like it's definitely a rebuilding year for BYU. Elder Adams is from Reno so he's pretty happy UNR won. It sounds like UNR is pretty legit though, wins versus BYU and CAL on the road is pretty good, Kaepernick is probably getting a hard look for the Heisman I would guess. Hopefully BYU can just get out of the year with 8 wins or something.

Anyway, this week was another sweet week in Africa! It rained a ton this week, pretty much every day. I had Toto stuck in my head all day. I only know one line to the song so it kind of got old, "I miss the rains down in Africa...doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo." I'll have to learn the whole song when I get home ;) But I love the rain here, it keeps it from being a gazillion degrees all day. Plus I get to rock my bright yellow rain jacket :) That thing is so fresh! Tuesday we had a combine district meeting in the Cape Coast Chapel since it was the last week of the transfer. There were four guys that left, so it was good to see them before they left. The other elders who left were Elder Marmimira (from Zimbabwe, transferred to Sunyani), Elder Hodson (from Orem, transferred to Swedru), and of course, my boy Elder Keller (went to Kumasi). Elder Bahme and Elder Pinnel came down and chilled with us in Yamoransa on Wednesday for a little while before he went to the mission to get the low down on Sunyani. It was fun, Elder Pinnel's new companion is my MT, Elder Bunker. It was sad seeing Elder Keller and Elder Bahme go, probably won't see them for a while since they're in the northern part of the mission. Elder Wiah's new companion is Elder Mortensen, from Centerville, Utah. He's really cool, he was training my MT, Elder Rosquist, in Swedru.

Thursday we taught Andrew again. He came to church again on Sunday, and will be baptized October 9th, the first day he can! Investigators have to come to church four times before they can be baptized. He'll probably end up being in the Elder's Q presidency or something before I even leave.

Saturday was sweet, Augustina was baptized. It was a really cool baptism because it was really small, only her family came, but was sweet because her baptism completes the family. Next stop, the temple! All of the people we baptized last Sunday were confirmed this Sunday, except for David, who came late for some reason...He'll be confirmed next week. A few recent converts were interviewed to receive the Priesthood yesterday, too, so it will be sweet to see them ordained on Sunday.

So it was another sweet week in Ghana! We won't get to see conference this week, probably not for a month or so. Thanks for all the love and support and everything! It's awesome to hear from you guys every week!!!! Love you guys, stay fresh in Texas.

-Elder Brown

September 20, 2010

Good morning Brown ebusua! How is it back in Texas? The e-mail is a little later today, we've kind of been all over the place today. We went to Takoradi as a zone to play them in football in the morning. Takoradi is like an hour away so we left really early at like 7. We played there for a while and then headed back. A companionship- Elder Valentine and Elder Haderlie- had found this pizza place in Cape and they wanted us all to go, so we went there at like 1:30 when we got back. While we were eating , everybody was anxious for transfer news, and we got it while we were there. Everybody was excited because they are opening a new area way up north in a place called Sunyani and everybody wanted to go there. Me and Elder Adams are staying together in Moree. I'm glad for that because we've got some sweet investigators right now.

So overall the week was pretty good. It started off cool on Tuesday obviously with the visit from Elder Sitati. He taught some really cool stuff about the "Questions and Answers of our Stories of Latter-day Saints and as missionaries." Then he talked after lunch about using time wisely. The week went pretty smooth after that, we were just busy preparing for our baptism on Sunday. There were other three children from the ward that we baptized on Sunday. There were three children from the ward that we cool for sure but...it was ridiculous with the waves! It went well, it was just hard haha. I was doing the baptizing and I had to try time it perfectly with the waves. I would have to try to finish the words as fast as I could before a wave came. It was super sweet but... I don't know if I want to do it again haha, it was just too crazy!!!!!!! All in all we baptized four converts and three children from the ward.

I didn't do my piano class this week, we were teaching a lesson really far from the chapel and we wouldn't have gotten there on time anyway. A few people showed up so I felt bad it didn't work out, but the lesson was more important. It was with a guy named Ishmael, he's got a baptismal date for October 9th. The guitar I got is sweet. It's a "Givson" not a Gibson...haha. But it's not bad. it's a classical, nylon string guitar. I haven't used it for performances yet, but maybe at the next baptism or something!

Here's some random thoughts and happenings from the week:
-A lot of people think that the LDS Church=the USA here. We have had two people ask us if the building on the one dollar bill is the Salt Lake Temple.
-Amos, the guy we baptized Sunday, has a Dirk Nowitzki jersey he always wears. Now if I can just baptize someone with a Josh Hamilton and Marion Barber jersey I'll have my Dallas bases covered! It's funny all of the random clothes you see here. They call it "Obruni weiwu" meaning "white man died"

You've got to stuff those flat-rate packages super full!!!!!!!!!!! I got yours with the stuff last week and you could've fit WAYYYYYYYYYY more stuff in there!!!! It's ok though :) Just remember that those are duty free so you can stuff (almost) whatever you want in there.

Thanks for the updates from home. Stink about BYU again (the football team lost), hopefully they turn it around and start clicking. Hopefully Heaps is number 1 now. Sounds like Hayden tore it up again, hope his game goes well this week. I had a dream that the Rangers beat the Yankees in five games in the first round of the playoffs, so hopefully it happens!!!!!!

Anyway, it was another great week in Ghana. It's tough, the days are long, it's hot and it's taught not understanding anyone, but I'm getting there. The guy we are teaching right now, Andrew, is just so great. He came to church yesterday and even came to the baptism after. He is going to be baptized October 25th.

You guys are awesome, I love you and miss you guys so much, but its great being here. I got your pictures and the letter today. I just want lots of pictures of family and friends from back when I was home. I'm not too worried about landscape or anything, just my peeps!

Thanks for everything, I love you guys!

Elder Brown

September 13, 2010

Mema woaha! or I guess it'd be memo wo akye for you guys right now since it's morning there. How is it going back home? It's going great here, it was a really good week. We just got done playing ultimate frisbee on the beach.

The dinosaur bookmark is sweet!!! I use it all the time!!! Just pictures of family and friends really, I need more of those. Everybody asks to see pictures and I don't have many. (Editor's note-Griffin would like pictures!)So this week was pretty sweet! I went on splits with Elder Keller in Yamaronsa on Wednesday, so that was fun. Elder Keller is from Salt Lake and has one year let. Tuesday's district meeting was good.

I was going to teach a piano class at the chapel on Wednesday night, but then we went on splits, so that changed that. Literally like everyone in the ward wants to learn how to play the piano, probably 15 people ask me every Sunday to teach them. So I though that I could just teach a class once a week, and if they want to come, they have to bring a friend to come learn too! Everybody wants to learn so bad that they really will bring someone. So I'll do that this week.

Elder Adams' birthday was sweet. The Saunders (the couple missionaries) came by in the morning, brought his b-day packages and a cake! So we sort of had a little party in the morning, had cake for breakfast...haha. Then at dinner at the Pratt's we each got a huge plate of jollof rice and chicken, and then on top of that, a huge bowl of fufu with more chicken!! And we all got three Fantas and banana cakes to top it off. It was huge. We watched the last priesthood session of conference on DVD while we were there, played I-Spy during the songs for Elder Brown (Griffin was in the BYU Men's Choir that sang at the Priesthood Session during April Conference) Brother Pratt thought it was pretty sweet he could see me on the TV! Haha! We were so stuffed that night...I fell asleep nice and early.

Well overall it was another great week in Moree! We'll be having a baptism on Sunday, four people- Augustina, David, Ezra and Kwesi. It'll be at the beach so I'm super excited for that! The people we are baptizing are all really sweet people.

It's starting to get really hot here, the rainy season is coming to a close. Saturday it rained for a while, we had to sit in a house for a while to wait for it to pass. There are like a gazillion funerals going on in Moree and Yamaronsa right ow. They have set times throughout the year that you have to have funerals, they can't have them except for the weekends that are every three months or so.

Sorry to hear about BYU, that really stinks. Seems odd they kept Nelson in....hopefully they get it together for Florida State. Glad the Rangers are staying strong, maybe it's their year!!!!

We had "steak and potatoes" for Elder Adams birthday dinner the day after. His mom sent him a ton of beef jerky and powdered mashed potatoes. The powdered mashed potatoes were awwwwwesome. Idahoan loaded baked powdered mashed potatoes** (see bottom)

Thanks for all the love and support! The work is sweet here! Elder Joseph Sitati is coming to tour the mission the next few days, so we get to hear him speak tomorrow, it'll be sweet!

Yebehyia,
Elder Brown

Griffin has mentioned that it is "sweet" to get stuff like powdered drinks, powdered soups and sauces. If you ever want to send anything to Elder Brown, use the address on the blog page and it's best to use the Flat Rate envelope from the US Postal Service...please do not send electronics or CD's...tape the envelope well! :)

September 6, 2010

Rise and Shout! Not gonna lie I was anxious all week to hear the news haha (editor's note- BYU football winning). It's good they won, I would've gotten depressed...haha just kidding. But sounds like it went well, the independence news is really sweet, the ESPN deal is awesome. It'll be sweet to see how it all works out.

Sounds like all is going well back home. The week in Moree was good! We had our baptism on Saturday. Four people were baptized on Saturday from Moree. We did a big combined baptism with Mankessim, Yamoransa, and Abakrampa so there was like 10 people baptized or so.It was a really good baptism. I played the piano and like halfway through the opening President Sabey comes and sits down right in front of me so I was trying not to mess up and stuff haha. Sister Sabey was impressed with piano skillz, she said she was thinking about how her mother told her when she was little that she needed to learn the piano!

The week was sweet. We got a sweet referral from Papa Fynn. He introduced us to his friend Andrew. We've met with him three times already, taught all of the Restoration lesson. He says that he really likes it and that it is "uplifting" him. He has a cousin that's a member, so he came to our lesson on Sunday.

We went on splits with one of the APs on Thursday, Elder Hill (Ogden, UT)...he helped us learn a lot. He plays the guitar and is super musical and stuff so we had a good time talking about music and messing around on the guitar. The other AP is Elder Agyemang, a native Ghanaian from Kumasi. The chapel continues to go forth, they are setting the foundation today.

I'm actually pretty stoked about learning Fante and Twi. I can learn Fante and Twi and then when I get home go study abroad in France or whatever to perfect my French. Plus I think if I stay in the International Relations majors I want to learn a language like Mandarin or Arabic for the major. We'll see though!

Thanks again for everything. I got package last week, all the ties are sweet!!!!! The skinny tie is especially fresh! I love you guys, thanks for everything!!!

-Elder Brown

PS-tell everybody via the blog or whatever I wish I could email everybody every week but I only have small time, so id I don't email you back it's not because I don't love you!!!!! I even have to type like a mad man to email a few people each week.

The picture is from the Cape Coast castle. We went there today with Elders Bahme, Pinnel, Keller and Wiah. Very sobering thinking about what went on in there. I walked through the "Door of No Return" and sat in the dungeons. It was very humbling.