Okay sorry for the no email last week. Its always hard to get them
sent to you guys but last time it just wouldnt work.
I have been transferred to Akim Oda. Its a city in the bush.
My new companion is Elder Dini from Zimbabwe. Im finishing his
training and we are getting along very well.
We had a baptism last saturday. Baptized two kids to complete the
family. They are such a sweet family.
It has been a great week. This week I have learned how to really rely
on the spirit. Because im in a new area and my companion is fresh to
mission and to me, ive had to make sure that im completely in tune
with the spirit. Ive been able to help people progress towards baptism
and its so crazy how the spirit works. If you guys want the spirit in
your lives, then Pray, Read Scriptures, Serve, and Seek for it!
Im doing good and am sorry about not much detail this time!
Have a nice week all my friends, family, girlfriends, acquaintances,
enemies, and other random people.
Love you all,
Elder Green
Monday, September 21, 2015
Transferred to Akim Oda
September 6 2015
Week of August 31-September 6
What is better, Zombie fish or crab. (both have to be eaten with all the guts and skin and scales and shell)
Tuesday- The highlight of the day was teaching Dyna. I can totally see and feel that she is prepared and so ready to accept this gospel. She would be baptized this week but she is traveling so right when she gets home, we are dippin her in the water. She is a sweet humble lady that knows the truth now.
Bishops wife fed us dinner. Fried rice and some smoothie drink.
We contacted this guy from Lebanon and he seemed pretty interested. We will try to follow up on him.
Wednesday- Zone Training was today. The whole zone met together and we talked about how we can improve our missionary work. I learned lots of stuff and it was cool.
We took a newly ordained priest to come out with us all day. I loved it because he was so excited to proselyte with us. We taught this guy who's name is smiling. I can't tell if he is crazy or what but something seems a little different about him. But we gave him a chance to receive this gospel anyway. We talked about the Book of Mormon and then gave him one to read because he said he likes to read.
Then we taught maryiam and Ishmael. They are two of the older children in this sweet family. We are learning about plan of salvation with them. The get everything and I think they really like this message. We will try to involve the whole family.
We taught Dyna again because she called us and told us she wants to learn more. We made her cry because she felt the spirit. It was powerful.
Choir practice was fun. The bass section is the best.
Thursday- Two main people we saw today were Peggy and Samuel. They are progressing at the same speed. They know these things are good but they won't pray to know for some reason. I know if they pray with real intent, they'll know. It's simple!!!
We took Dyna to midweek. Someone from the Philippines cam to speak about financial things for marriage. I was bored because I can't get married for 14 more months. It was good for everyone else though.
This man from Liberia met us a couple days ago and he told us we should meet him today. So we met him at the hotel that he is staying at. He is very educated. I thought it would just be a big argument. But we just answered his questions and he told us his view and stuff. I can't tell if he's a pastor or what but I know he didn't call us to change his ways.
We are trying to find out Magdalenes thought about baptism. After seeing her today, we decided it is best to back off for a while and let her make that decision on her own. We have taught her about everything.
We met Ishmael and maryiam again. They are doi good and are still solid.
We taught Joe about the law of chastity. We committed him to obey this commandment. He's getting baptized on the 10th. After that lesson, we had FHE with the whole family and played don't eat pete.
Saturday- We were so motivated today that we decided to sing a hymn before we went out today. We went out and contacted new people and had great success. We taught five people that we contacted today a lesson. So five lessons that we didn't plan for plus all the other lessons we did plan for. It was so great!
I made Elder Paddon have to sing by himself at church tomorrow for choir.
Sunday- We had church and we met with families after church and we strengthened them and are building the kingdom of God. A lot of our apointments failed and i was bummed out about that but then we went to this family that is kind of struggling because the mother doesnt have a lot of support from her husband and her mom died a couple months ago. We made some banana bread and gave it to her. She really appreciated it and we answered some of her questions about different things. I felt like the appointments were meant to fail because she needed us most. Then she gave us a referral and that person is really seeking the truth. I know we were there for a reason.
Tuesday- The highlight of the day was teaching Dyna. I can totally see and feel that she is prepared and so ready to accept this gospel. She would be baptized this week but she is traveling so right when she gets home, we are dippin her in the water. She is a sweet humble lady that knows the truth now.
Bishops wife fed us dinner. Fried rice and some smoothie drink.
We contacted this guy from Lebanon and he seemed pretty interested. We will try to follow up on him.
Wednesday- Zone Training was today. The whole zone met together and we talked about how we can improve our missionary work. I learned lots of stuff and it was cool.
We took a newly ordained priest to come out with us all day. I loved it because he was so excited to proselyte with us. We taught this guy who's name is smiling. I can't tell if he is crazy or what but something seems a little different about him. But we gave him a chance to receive this gospel anyway. We talked about the Book of Mormon and then gave him one to read because he said he likes to read.
Then we taught maryiam and Ishmael. They are two of the older children in this sweet family. We are learning about plan of salvation with them. The get everything and I think they really like this message. We will try to involve the whole family.
We taught Dyna again because she called us and told us she wants to learn more. We made her cry because she felt the spirit. It was powerful.
Choir practice was fun. The bass section is the best.
Thursday- Two main people we saw today were Peggy and Samuel. They are progressing at the same speed. They know these things are good but they won't pray to know for some reason. I know if they pray with real intent, they'll know. It's simple!!!
We took Dyna to midweek. Someone from the Philippines cam to speak about financial things for marriage. I was bored because I can't get married for 14 more months. It was good for everyone else though.
This man from Liberia met us a couple days ago and he told us we should meet him today. So we met him at the hotel that he is staying at. He is very educated. I thought it would just be a big argument. But we just answered his questions and he told us his view and stuff. I can't tell if he's a pastor or what but I know he didn't call us to change his ways.
We are trying to find out Magdalenes thought about baptism. After seeing her today, we decided it is best to back off for a while and let her make that decision on her own. We have taught her about everything.
We met Ishmael and maryiam again. They are doi good and are still solid.
We taught Joe about the law of chastity. We committed him to obey this commandment. He's getting baptized on the 10th. After that lesson, we had FHE with the whole family and played don't eat pete.
Saturday- We were so motivated today that we decided to sing a hymn before we went out today. We went out and contacted new people and had great success. We taught five people that we contacted today a lesson. So five lessons that we didn't plan for plus all the other lessons we did plan for. It was so great!
I made Elder Paddon have to sing by himself at church tomorrow for choir.
Sunday- We had church and we met with families after church and we strengthened them and are building the kingdom of God. A lot of our apointments failed and i was bummed out about that but then we went to this family that is kind of struggling because the mother doesnt have a lot of support from her husband and her mom died a couple months ago. We made some banana bread and gave it to her. She really appreciated it and we answered some of her questions about different things. I felt like the appointments were meant to fail because she needed us most. Then she gave us a referral and that person is really seeking the truth. I know we were there for a reason.
Joe is all good to go for his baptism on the 10th. We ate fufu at his house. I probably ate 99% of the fufu while my companion helped me eat the other 1%. Luckily i love fufu :) and its good because now we are consistantly eating fufu every sunday.
I LOVE ALL OF YOU. Be good and
Would you rather eat snail or cow skin?
Would you rather eat snail or cow skin?
Monday-
We had a nice family home evening at night. We talked about service and why we should serve and tied it into sharing the gospel with friends. I felt the spirit. Then we played Don't Eat Pete. It was hilarious! No one here knows what it is so I had to introduce it to them and carry on the family tradition :) Next time ill try to get a video.
Tuesday-
I was in a trio today with Elder Paddon and Elder Desta. It was sweet! We went out into my area and had some great lessons. I like going out with other missionaries because I can learn new ideas and new things from them. One thing I learned from Elde Desta is that I need to talk with everyone. I've been teaching this guy named Collins about 3 times. But he has travelled and hasn't returned. His brother always tells us he isn't home so we just say okay and leave. But Desta talked to his brother and asked if we could sit down with him. He said yeah and we taught him. He is sweet just like his brother. I wish I had talked to him before. Everyone deserves to hear about the restored gospel!!!
We extended a baptismal date to Dina. Everything was perfect and she accepted. The only problem is she just informed us right after, that she doesn't actually live here. She lives in another region and will go back in 10 days. Bummer.. She is so ready for this gospel! I am not sure if the church is in that region yet.
I told Elder Paddon that if he contacted this person and got her to let us sit down with her, I'd give him a fanice. He did it. So now I owe him a fanice.
As a district, we make dinner together one day a week. Last week it was pancakes. (I finally used the pancakes you packed for me mom). This week it was taco soup. It tasted AMAZING except the chips were kind of stale. It was just like chili.
Wednesday-
We set up an activity for the young men. This morning we played ultimate frisbee and football with them for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun. These guys are crazy good. But no one knows how to throw a frisbee. I was the goalie for a bit but they kicked me out because I let the other team score three times. And then I never touched the ball again ;(
We had district council meeting after that. We as a mission are focusing on preach my gospel chapter 10 for this month. So in companionship study we will be focusing our studies on that.
We went out to see a man named nii borty first thing. He has a huge house and didn't trust us because he thought we were just acting like we share the word of god but actually wanted to steal something. But then we gained his trust and he allowed us to come back another time :) After that we visited Delaly (our rice girl). She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We gave her some passages to read from and next time we will see if that helped her. Next we met a lady named Bridget. She is the person who saw me crash last week. We went back to her and taught her. She was so happy to get to know us and our message.
We had choir practice. I struggle at playing the piano for them. My eyes can't focus long enough to play as fast as I want. Frustrating. But we are singing well. The stake president told us our ward has the best choir in the stake.
Thursday- Some big black bird was digging through the rubbish this morning. Knocked over the can and just made the whole back area of the outside of our house dirty.
The other missionaries had a baptism today so we invited Dina to see the baptism. She loved it so much and told us that the next baptism will be hers! And then joe also came and he told me he will be ready to be baptized before Sunday. It is funny how last week I thought we wouldn't get any baptisms this transfer but now we have two baptisms for sure in 2 weeks. The work is sooo sweet.
At midweek we learned about the men's Devine roles and responsibilities. Preside, provide, protect, procreate, love. God made man first so the man can take care of the woman.
Friday- The APs called me in the morning and told me that they were coming to go on an exchange with me and Elder Paddon. They came a couple hours later and I went with Elder Santo from South Africa. It was a great day for us. He really helped me a lot with the people we are teaching. I now have a better idea about how to handle people and when to drop less actives. We found a nice family that has the smartest little girls ever! We asked them what they did today (they're on vacation) and they said they went to the library! I love it when small children speak good English and only English :)
Saturday- Ephraim (a member) came out to proselyte with us. It helped sooo much. He showed us where a couple of his friends stay am we met them. It was such a blessing to receive referrals today and find people that are prepared to receive the gospel.
The struggle with my mission is I have to constantly deal with these stupid bikes! It seems like I'm spending at least one half day at the repair shop a week! My tire blew up while I was ridding it today.
Choir was fun. We are still learning I am a child of god in twi. I'm trying to memorize it. Obroni can speak twi!
Sunday- Church was very nice today. Because it was the 5th Sunday of the month, for 3rd hour we were all together. We all worked on... Family history! It was a great experience for everyone. Everyone was doing it and filling out their pedigree charts. I was in charge of taking all of the pictures. So if you happen to see any that the church puts out, make sure you know I was the photographer. Now we are going to follow up on those people and make sure they take the names to the temple. It's a sweet work.
My Sunday proselyting went well. After church we met with a lot of families. Those families all have someone who isn't a member. So we strengthened the families and taught the investigators. We had a fhe with the ward mission leader. We were fed rice balls and groundnut soup. Then I gave a small lesson about following the example of the trees in the sacred grove. After that we played a funny game. We all pick one animal to be and we have to come up with a sound and a sign for that animal. I chose a humpback whale.
Joe is still doing well. We taught him about faith and repentance. He will be baptized on the 10th for sure and he says that day is too far away. He's a great guy and friend.
Oh and we had to walk everywhere today because my tire blew up again... In the house! Bicycles make me the most angry!
Monday-
We had a nice family home evening at night. We talked about service and why we should serve and tied it into sharing the gospel with friends. I felt the spirit. Then we played Don't Eat Pete. It was hilarious! No one here knows what it is so I had to introduce it to them and carry on the family tradition :) Next time ill try to get a video.
Tuesday-
I was in a trio today with Elder Paddon and Elder Desta. It was sweet! We went out into my area and had some great lessons. I like going out with other missionaries because I can learn new ideas and new things from them. One thing I learned from Elde Desta is that I need to talk with everyone. I've been teaching this guy named Collins about 3 times. But he has travelled and hasn't returned. His brother always tells us he isn't home so we just say okay and leave. But Desta talked to his brother and asked if we could sit down with him. He said yeah and we taught him. He is sweet just like his brother. I wish I had talked to him before. Everyone deserves to hear about the restored gospel!!!
We extended a baptismal date to Dina. Everything was perfect and she accepted. The only problem is she just informed us right after, that she doesn't actually live here. She lives in another region and will go back in 10 days. Bummer.. She is so ready for this gospel! I am not sure if the church is in that region yet.
I told Elder Paddon that if he contacted this person and got her to let us sit down with her, I'd give him a fanice. He did it. So now I owe him a fanice.
As a district, we make dinner together one day a week. Last week it was pancakes. (I finally used the pancakes you packed for me mom). This week it was taco soup. It tasted AMAZING except the chips were kind of stale. It was just like chili.
Wednesday-
We set up an activity for the young men. This morning we played ultimate frisbee and football with them for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun. These guys are crazy good. But no one knows how to throw a frisbee. I was the goalie for a bit but they kicked me out because I let the other team score three times. And then I never touched the ball again ;(
We had district council meeting after that. We as a mission are focusing on preach my gospel chapter 10 for this month. So in companionship study we will be focusing our studies on that.
We went out to see a man named nii borty first thing. He has a huge house and didn't trust us because he thought we were just acting like we share the word of god but actually wanted to steal something. But then we gained his trust and he allowed us to come back another time :) After that we visited Delaly (our rice girl). She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We gave her some passages to read from and next time we will see if that helped her. Next we met a lady named Bridget. She is the person who saw me crash last week. We went back to her and taught her. She was so happy to get to know us and our message.
We had choir practice. I struggle at playing the piano for them. My eyes can't focus long enough to play as fast as I want. Frustrating. But we are singing well. The stake president told us our ward has the best choir in the stake.
Thursday- Some big black bird was digging through the rubbish this morning. Knocked over the can and just made the whole back area of the outside of our house dirty.
The other missionaries had a baptism today so we invited Dina to see the baptism. She loved it so much and told us that the next baptism will be hers! And then joe also came and he told me he will be ready to be baptized before Sunday. It is funny how last week I thought we wouldn't get any baptisms this transfer but now we have two baptisms for sure in 2 weeks. The work is sooo sweet.
At midweek we learned about the men's Devine roles and responsibilities. Preside, provide, protect, procreate, love. God made man first so the man can take care of the woman.
Friday- The APs called me in the morning and told me that they were coming to go on an exchange with me and Elder Paddon. They came a couple hours later and I went with Elder Santo from South Africa. It was a great day for us. He really helped me a lot with the people we are teaching. I now have a better idea about how to handle people and when to drop less actives. We found a nice family that has the smartest little girls ever! We asked them what they did today (they're on vacation) and they said they went to the library! I love it when small children speak good English and only English :)
Saturday- Ephraim (a member) came out to proselyte with us. It helped sooo much. He showed us where a couple of his friends stay am we met them. It was such a blessing to receive referrals today and find people that are prepared to receive the gospel.
The struggle with my mission is I have to constantly deal with these stupid bikes! It seems like I'm spending at least one half day at the repair shop a week! My tire blew up while I was ridding it today.
Choir was fun. We are still learning I am a child of god in twi. I'm trying to memorize it. Obroni can speak twi!
Sunday- Church was very nice today. Because it was the 5th Sunday of the month, for 3rd hour we were all together. We all worked on... Family history! It was a great experience for everyone. Everyone was doing it and filling out their pedigree charts. I was in charge of taking all of the pictures. So if you happen to see any that the church puts out, make sure you know I was the photographer. Now we are going to follow up on those people and make sure they take the names to the temple. It's a sweet work.
My Sunday proselyting went well. After church we met with a lot of families. Those families all have someone who isn't a member. So we strengthened the families and taught the investigators. We had a fhe with the ward mission leader. We were fed rice balls and groundnut soup. Then I gave a small lesson about following the example of the trees in the sacred grove. After that we played a funny game. We all pick one animal to be and we have to come up with a sound and a sign for that animal. I chose a humpback whale.
Joe is still doing well. We taught him about faith and repentance. He will be baptized on the 10th for sure and he says that day is too far away. He's a great guy and friend.
Oh and we had to walk everywhere today because my tire blew up again... In the house! Bicycles make me the most angry!
I love you all family and friends! Make sure you all dont forget me when you eat your oreos, dorritos, snickers, cake, donuts, steak, and mccdonalds. Thanks.
Elder Green
August 24 2015
When was the first McDonald's built?
Tuesday- We decided to contact and go to a new part of our area that we haven't really gone to much. Now that we have bikes we can go farther and be more effective. We met this man named Steven. He let us talk to him and present our message. He said we could come back and that he'd read the pamphlet. Then we contacted more people but didn't have any more lessons in the morning.
Wednesday-I had an accident on my bike today. It was frustrating because I was planning on wearing the same shirt and pants all week long. Now I can't because they are all brown! Instead of going home to clean myself up, we rode to sister mensah and visited her family. She was very concerned about what happened to me so she cleaned my cuts up and gave me washing powder to wash my pants. The next person we saw was a less active. She also was concerned so she gave me a wet cloth to clean my pants. I love the reactions the people here give for the smallest things :) everyone's heart is so big here.
We also met with joe. He is doing very well and it's so awesome to see him change and accept this message. We first played a game with his family and then we taught him the plan of salvation. Perfect lesson :)
Thursday- We decided to say a prayer before every lesson today. As we were doing that right before we entered the gate to our first investigators house, a woman stopped us and just wanted us to follow her to her house. So we did and she told us she wants to join us. So we taught her and hopefully she will come on Sunday.
The Steven guy I was talking about on Tuesday let us teach him again today. Waste of our time. At the end of the lesson he said "let me tell you my true identity. I'm an apostle for a church." And then he was telling us we were wrong. So we finished him small about how he doesn't have the authority and we just left. Bummer.
Delaly is doing well. She is still praying and reading the Book of Mormon. And we shared something in the liahona to magdalene. It was about prayer. How god answers 4 year olds and all ages and no matter how simple the prayer is, they are all answered.
Friday- Godwin finally returned from traveling so we saw him and shared about the Book of Mormon. The we me an old lady named Stella. We told her to share with us her favorite scripture. It fit in perfectly to what we had to share :) the spirit is awesome! Harriet is doing well and we are trying to involve her whole family. It is just her that wants to be baptized. I feel she is too young to baptize by herself.
Saturday- I cleaned a lot and studied a lot.
Sunday- Four investigators came to church. We were almost late for sacrament meeting because we had to pick up Dina. She came for the first time and i think she really enjoyed it. The classes were absolutely perfect for her. After church we had a nice FHE and ate fufu. I ate most of it and All of the cow skin. I love fufu now.This was my week. It was a nice week and we got a lot of stuff done. I am doing well and i hope all of you are too.Love,Elder Green
August 16 2015
My week of August 10-16
Monday- The outside of our apartment hasn't been cleaned in a while so we all just weeded, swept, and made everything look nice. It took a looong time. Probably about three hours. But now everything looks nice and the landlord is happy now. Thanks mom and dad for teaching me how to do yard work :)
Then all of our FHE appointments failed that night so we had nothing to do.
Tuesday- we had a great day planned but not everything went the way we planned as usual! The people we thought were going to be serious just ended up arguing about the most random pointless things. But we met some new people. We met and talked to this old old lady named grace. She lives just behind our apartment. She was alone all day which was not good for her. I was glad that we met her because she just uplifted my spirits and made me happy.
Elder Paddon and I have been taking turns contacting and finding people. It's been working out pretty good. We try to talk with everyone so we don't walk passed someone who is ready for the gospel.
Then we had coordination and got some advice from our ward mission leader. It was a good day
Wednesday- Today I went on an exchange with one of my zone leaders Elder Jessee. We exchanged because he was going to help an investigator with her questions and concerns that she's had for a long time. But she was not there so our plan failed.
I learned a lot today. New ways to explain things and new scriptures. It was a nice experience.
There's this less active that has a concern about baptism for the dead and I realized that I don't have to argue about that topic to help him. He just needs to understand the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph smith is a true prophet. Then everything should clear up.
Thursday- This was a crazy day! The youth in this part of Ghana had a big efy thing going on. It was at one of the colleges close by my area. Today the youth focused on missionary work. So the whole day Elder Paddon and I lead a big group and we learned how to share the gospel with friends, family members, and strangers. It was a great experience for me. One thing we did was led that group to a busy place close by. And we had an open venue with them. So it was the youth stopping people and sharing the gospel.
I was following a couple youth around for a while just to observe. One was very very small and young. He was with another guy who was probably at least 16. The small boy would stop a stranger and start a conversation. He'd stumble a bit, but keep trying. Then the older boy would get the conversation going again so the younger boy could teach. The small boy was so powerful but simple. And that's all the gospel is. All you have to have is a testimony! So don't be scared to share with friends :)
Friday- I led the Book of Mormon devotional. It was helaman 1-4. About standing firm in righteousness and not letting contention into our lives.
This was supposed to be a great busy day full of lessons. My companion and I were excited for this day. But it turned out to be frustrating and slow! The people we wanted to meet with weren't home. Then we took our bikes to the shop to get them fixed but that took too long and right when we left the shop, they broke! We need our bikes to work so bad so we can teach more lessons.
Saturday- Right when we left the apartment, elder paddons bike broke. So we had to walk it down to the bike shop. Again! That messed up our perfectly planned morning. But it's normal because our plan doesn't usually go the way we think its gonna go. But we were able to see Sarah and make sure she will come to church. And we saw prince who is less active. He gave us chicken and Elder Paddon shared an inspired scripture about agency. Hopefully he comes to church and uses his agency correctly! Choir practice was sweet and pec was good.
Sunday- We had magdalene at church which was good. We are still trying to help her with her concern about baptism. I feel like we are so close with her! We also had a very good lesson with Joe. He accepted to be baptized. Well actually he told us to baptize him. So it was great! The sunday was good. we taught some other great people and church was good too.
Monday- The outside of our apartment hasn't been cleaned in a while so we all just weeded, swept, and made everything look nice. It took a looong time. Probably about three hours. But now everything looks nice and the landlord is happy now. Thanks mom and dad for teaching me how to do yard work :)
Then all of our FHE appointments failed that night so we had nothing to do.
Tuesday- we had a great day planned but not everything went the way we planned as usual! The people we thought were going to be serious just ended up arguing about the most random pointless things. But we met some new people. We met and talked to this old old lady named grace. She lives just behind our apartment. She was alone all day which was not good for her. I was glad that we met her because she just uplifted my spirits and made me happy.
Elder Paddon and I have been taking turns contacting and finding people. It's been working out pretty good. We try to talk with everyone so we don't walk passed someone who is ready for the gospel.
Then we had coordination and got some advice from our ward mission leader. It was a good day
Wednesday- Today I went on an exchange with one of my zone leaders Elder Jessee. We exchanged because he was going to help an investigator with her questions and concerns that she's had for a long time. But she was not there so our plan failed.
I learned a lot today. New ways to explain things and new scriptures. It was a nice experience.
There's this less active that has a concern about baptism for the dead and I realized that I don't have to argue about that topic to help him. He just needs to understand the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph smith is a true prophet. Then everything should clear up.
Thursday- This was a crazy day! The youth in this part of Ghana had a big efy thing going on. It was at one of the colleges close by my area. Today the youth focused on missionary work. So the whole day Elder Paddon and I lead a big group and we learned how to share the gospel with friends, family members, and strangers. It was a great experience for me. One thing we did was led that group to a busy place close by. And we had an open venue with them. So it was the youth stopping people and sharing the gospel.
I was following a couple youth around for a while just to observe. One was very very small and young. He was with another guy who was probably at least 16. The small boy would stop a stranger and start a conversation. He'd stumble a bit, but keep trying. Then the older boy would get the conversation going again so the younger boy could teach. The small boy was so powerful but simple. And that's all the gospel is. All you have to have is a testimony! So don't be scared to share with friends :)
Friday- I led the Book of Mormon devotional. It was helaman 1-4. About standing firm in righteousness and not letting contention into our lives.
This was supposed to be a great busy day full of lessons. My companion and I were excited for this day. But it turned out to be frustrating and slow! The people we wanted to meet with weren't home. Then we took our bikes to the shop to get them fixed but that took too long and right when we left the shop, they broke! We need our bikes to work so bad so we can teach more lessons.
Saturday- Right when we left the apartment, elder paddons bike broke. So we had to walk it down to the bike shop. Again! That messed up our perfectly planned morning. But it's normal because our plan doesn't usually go the way we think its gonna go. But we were able to see Sarah and make sure she will come to church. And we saw prince who is less active. He gave us chicken and Elder Paddon shared an inspired scripture about agency. Hopefully he comes to church and uses his agency correctly! Choir practice was sweet and pec was good.
Sunday- We had magdalene at church which was good. We are still trying to help her with her concern about baptism. I feel like we are so close with her! We also had a very good lesson with Joe. He accepted to be baptized. Well actually he told us to baptize him. So it was great! The sunday was good. we taught some other great people and church was good too.
It was a good week for us and we will continue to hasten the work
Elder Green
August 10 2015; week in L'Korshie
This has been a great week! Transfers were on wednesday and I met my new companion Elder Paddon. Man he is sweet! We are getting a long great and are having great success already. He really came to work hard and that is helping us a ton because now we are able to have the spirit with us which is essential.This week i dont have a lot of time so ill just type the highlights of the week.We have met some surprising serious people as we were contacting. Theres this one lady who we found thats sweet. At the beginning of the lesson, we just asked her to share with us her favorite scriptures. She had her bible and all the scriptures she shared were about the apostasy and it led perfectly into the lesson. we actually had a lot of experiences like that. We shared a scripture to a less active and it was the exact same thing that he was thinking about earlier in the day. Things are just going right in place.We had fufu and i ate most of it ;) delicious!I love you guys! sorry for the short email this week!Elder Green
weekweekweekweek
Monday- We had a couple FHEs planned for the night but we were only able to make it to one. It was a good fhe. The member talked about agency. But the cool thing is i found out that it was my friends house from the mtc. So I took some pics with his mom haha.
Tuesday- President called me in the morning and told me that he wants me to train. So in a week, ill get a greenie strait from the mtc. Either an American, South African, or Zimbabwean.
Wednesday- I went to a meeting for the people who are training this next transfer. We were instructed and we had fried rice. It was at the temple site.
Thursday- We saw Godwin and I don't know if he will ever visit the church. If he comes, he'll progress. But if he doesn't, I feel like he won't so we will hope he comes Sunday.
Friday- It was our mission temple trip. Oh I love the temple so much. It truly is for the living. I just love the feeling I have while I'm in there. I wish I could go there more often! But it was an amazing experience. Then we had a mission conference. We were instructed on lots of things and it was great for me. I really needed this day.
Saturday- We had a great lesson with a guy that knows that there is a lot of corruption in most churches. He is one of the few people here who believes that God has a body and that He and Jesus Christ are two separate beings. He stopped us on the street last week and told us he wanted a Book of Mormon. So today we brought him one and explained it. He really has a good understanding on things and I feel like if we teach the apostasy well to him, he will become converted.
Sunday- 2 investigators came i think. I starved because i was fasting but then i remembered i had no food in the apartment. So i had to scrounge around the house to find little snacks haha like a mouse. but i survived.
Tuesday- President called me in the morning and told me that he wants me to train. So in a week, ill get a greenie strait from the mtc. Either an American, South African, or Zimbabwean.
Wednesday- I went to a meeting for the people who are training this next transfer. We were instructed and we had fried rice. It was at the temple site.
Thursday- We saw Godwin and I don't know if he will ever visit the church. If he comes, he'll progress. But if he doesn't, I feel like he won't so we will hope he comes Sunday.
Friday- It was our mission temple trip. Oh I love the temple so much. It truly is for the living. I just love the feeling I have while I'm in there. I wish I could go there more often! But it was an amazing experience. Then we had a mission conference. We were instructed on lots of things and it was great for me. I really needed this day.
Saturday- We had a great lesson with a guy that knows that there is a lot of corruption in most churches. He is one of the few people here who believes that God has a body and that He and Jesus Christ are two separate beings. He stopped us on the street last week and told us he wanted a Book of Mormon. So today we brought him one and explained it. He really has a good understanding on things and I feel like if we teach the apostasy well to him, he will become converted.
Week in West Africa
Tuesday- I went on an exchange with the district leader elder schoessow. Because we needed him to do a baptism interview for a small boy named Gordon. He's nine years old and just hasn't been baptized yet so the missionaries before me already taught him. So I was with him and we had a couple good lessons about the Book of Mormon.
Wednesday- We are teaching joe. We feel like we can give him a baptism date soon. He really likes the teaching and asks great questions. When we answer him, he really understands and accepts it.
Last week someone came to us while walking on the streets and he told us he wanted to learn about the church. So we got his number. Today we finally got a hold of him and we found his house. He is actually going back to Kumasi on Friday so that's a bummer. But his grandpa is less active. So we met him as well and now we have another less active to work with.
Choir practice was today. Elder sharp came late so there was no one to play the piano. So I was able to play small and I taught everyone their parts with the piano.
Thursday- The highlight of the day was the baptism. Elder Okwu and I had Gordon (9 years) baptized and the other set had 2 people baptized. Lots of people came and it was successful. The second best part of the day was when someone we just met told me that I have mastered the Ghanaian English and I sound just like one.
Friday- We were contacting a huge compound that had 3 tall apartment buildings in it. We knocked on every single door. Out of all the people living there, we were able to teach one 22 year old. He was so happy that we were there and he told us that we are welcome any time. It was nice to find him but it took a lot of hard work to get to him.
We taught Godwin all about speaking in tongues. He had a lot of questions on that so we read from 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I feel like he can really progress IF he comes to church.
There is a Muslim man that some missionaries have been teaching but he moved to our area so now we get to teach him. The first words he said to me when I first saw him was "when is my baptism?" He said he was reading the Koran and realized that Jesus Christ is the chosen messiah and he is the way back to God. So his family disowned him and he is now hiding from them because they are looking for him. We have a lot of work to do with him but he has a great desire and great faith.
Saturday- Most of our success for the day was in the morning. Joe is continuing to progress. We will be expecting him at church again. We helped a member prepare banku. I just fanned the fire because I didn't want to mess their food up. We are also expecting a man named Isaac to come to church.
A lady called us in the ward and told us to go to her house so she can drive us over to someone who needed a blessing. I love riding in cars. Then we were late for pec and choir practice but its okay.
Sunday- The investigator that we will extend a baptism date to this week came to church. We feel that he will progress well. After church we went to see a member and he gave us 3 referrals so thats great. We have been working really hard on getting referrals. So our hard work is paying off.Wednesday- We are teaching joe. We feel like we can give him a baptism date soon. He really likes the teaching and asks great questions. When we answer him, he really understands and accepts it.
Last week someone came to us while walking on the streets and he told us he wanted to learn about the church. So we got his number. Today we finally got a hold of him and we found his house. He is actually going back to Kumasi on Friday so that's a bummer. But his grandpa is less active. So we met him as well and now we have another less active to work with.
Choir practice was today. Elder sharp came late so there was no one to play the piano. So I was able to play small and I taught everyone their parts with the piano.
Thursday- The highlight of the day was the baptism. Elder Okwu and I had Gordon (9 years) baptized and the other set had 2 people baptized. Lots of people came and it was successful. The second best part of the day was when someone we just met told me that I have mastered the Ghanaian English and I sound just like one.
Friday- We were contacting a huge compound that had 3 tall apartment buildings in it. We knocked on every single door. Out of all the people living there, we were able to teach one 22 year old. He was so happy that we were there and he told us that we are welcome any time. It was nice to find him but it took a lot of hard work to get to him.
We taught Godwin all about speaking in tongues. He had a lot of questions on that so we read from 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I feel like he can really progress IF he comes to church.
There is a Muslim man that some missionaries have been teaching but he moved to our area so now we get to teach him. The first words he said to me when I first saw him was "when is my baptism?" He said he was reading the Koran and realized that Jesus Christ is the chosen messiah and he is the way back to God. So his family disowned him and he is now hiding from them because they are looking for him. We have a lot of work to do with him but he has a great desire and great faith.
Saturday- Most of our success for the day was in the morning. Joe is continuing to progress. We will be expecting him at church again. We helped a member prepare banku. I just fanned the fire because I didn't want to mess their food up. We are also expecting a man named Isaac to come to church.
A lady called us in the ward and told us to go to her house so she can drive us over to someone who needed a blessing. I love riding in cars. Then we were late for pec and choir practice but its okay.
July 20 2015
Monday- I was recovering from a terrible night of food poisoning. I stayed in bed all day long and just slept. Then the light came back and I showered and went back to sleep.
Tuesday- District council meeting: We discussed small about how to use the Book of Mormon more often and more effectively in our teachings. Sometimes I find it difficult to introduce it right away but I need to remember that the Book of Mormon is our greatest weapon. It is what separates us from all the other churches. I also feel that it brings the spirit more than anything else I can use to teach. So my goal is to use the Book of Mormon as I am contacting and finding people all this week. Because of the Ghanaian English, most people think its the book of mammon. Because mammon here is pronounced the same as Mormon. They are afraid of it so I always have to show them the way they are spelled different.
We met too many drunk people today. We tried to teach a less active family but there was a drunk man there and he was worrying us too much so we had to leave and we will go back another day.
Wednesday- In the morning we taught Godwin. He is a sweet guy that is truly trying to find the truth. He had some pretty good questions for us. One of them was about how someone he knew was saying that there is no Christ and he wanted to know our view about those people. We read the story of korihor to him and it was perfect! He understood and realized that he should never doubt that there is God and Jesus Christ. The rest of the morning we accidentally went to the middle of zongo and got rejected too many times.
After lunch we saw Dina (the less active we saw on Tuesday). This time it was just her so we were able to teach her. I am still trying to find the best way to teach less active members. Any suggestions? She will be traveling at the end of the week so she won't be able to go to church this week :/. We are teaching Harriet which is the 12 year old girl. She stays right next to some members and they bring her to church. We are trying to involve her mom but she is always super busy. We want her parents to come to church with her before we decide what we will do with Harriet. She's a sweet girl.
Then at night we had choir practice. This ward does good at having midweek and other activities. It is fun to sing with them.
Thursday- We saw magdalene and taught her about some commandments. We are pushing her baptism date back because we feel she needs more time and I don't really see a desire from her. She just has her sister and the missionaries pushing her. So we will step back a bit and see what she really wants.
We taught Sarah the less active about the restoration. She said that she really liked the way she felt during the lesson and she wants to keep learning so she can share it with others.
We are also teaching this guy named Joseph. He was being taught by the missionaries about a year or two ago so we are just giving him a second chance. We found him one day and he likes the missionaries. We taught him about the Godhead. I'm not sure what he really thinks about it yet. We will see next visit.
Sarah came to midweek which was great and then she gave us a referral. We have been making it a goal to get more referrals but its very difficult because we can't just go ask someone for one.
Friday- I felt like it was a good day. We taught some good lessons that I felt the spirit a lot. We had a long lesson with esiinam. While teaching her I was so great full that I'm in Ghana. Because I felt like I was teaching someone in the US. They are stubborn papa! Chai. But we just bore testimony to her and used some scriptures and told her to pray. Now it's all up to her to have the desire and pray with a humble heart.
A member called us around 2 and told us to come over. She was preparing banku for us. So we helped her cook it and then we ate it. It was banku and shito with egg and fish. It was nice. When I was finished, I just wanted to go back to the apartment and sleep! Banku makes me sooo tired.
But we stayed out and contacted some people and helped a lady wash her clothes and then we helped another lady prepare kanke.
We had an fhe with a family. It was a SWEET fhe! Because it was an fhe and then in the middle it turned into a member present lesson and then we blessed a child that has malaria and then we had a blast playing the game. It was a nice time and the spirit was definitely there. And then also a lady dashed us coke.
Saturday- another successful day because we were dashed come again. We were just contacting and we went to this house and he told us he is Muslim and then he rejected us but when we were leaving, he said we were doing a good work and just gave us some coke :). Then we were fed banku again. This time it was with okra soup. It was good and then we went with that member to see someone close by and teach for the first time. She really liked us a lot and I think she will progress because she is friends with the member. Then we contacted more people and we also saw Harriet. We met her dad and he was cool with us. But he doesn't want to learn from us.
Later in the evening a member (bro chris) invited us and also the other missionaries over to his house to eat dinner. His wife fed us eba. It's a Nigerian food and is one of my favorites here. The rest of the night I was feeling so sick because I ate so much but luckily the rest of the night was just choir and meetings at the church so I was able to just sit and let the food digest. In the meeting, we were trying to create a third ward out of the two wards we have in the building. I don't know when the split will happen but the wards are growing fast!
Sunday- One investigator came to church. We met him last week at a members house. Then we taught a recent convert and gave a blessing and taught an investigator and then thats it.
Have a great week family and friends! The Church is true, the book is blue, and Moroni is on the ball.
Tuesday- District council meeting: We discussed small about how to use the Book of Mormon more often and more effectively in our teachings. Sometimes I find it difficult to introduce it right away but I need to remember that the Book of Mormon is our greatest weapon. It is what separates us from all the other churches. I also feel that it brings the spirit more than anything else I can use to teach. So my goal is to use the Book of Mormon as I am contacting and finding people all this week. Because of the Ghanaian English, most people think its the book of mammon. Because mammon here is pronounced the same as Mormon. They are afraid of it so I always have to show them the way they are spelled different.
We met too many drunk people today. We tried to teach a less active family but there was a drunk man there and he was worrying us too much so we had to leave and we will go back another day.
Wednesday- In the morning we taught Godwin. He is a sweet guy that is truly trying to find the truth. He had some pretty good questions for us. One of them was about how someone he knew was saying that there is no Christ and he wanted to know our view about those people. We read the story of korihor to him and it was perfect! He understood and realized that he should never doubt that there is God and Jesus Christ. The rest of the morning we accidentally went to the middle of zongo and got rejected too many times.
After lunch we saw Dina (the less active we saw on Tuesday). This time it was just her so we were able to teach her. I am still trying to find the best way to teach less active members. Any suggestions? She will be traveling at the end of the week so she won't be able to go to church this week :/. We are teaching Harriet which is the 12 year old girl. She stays right next to some members and they bring her to church. We are trying to involve her mom but she is always super busy. We want her parents to come to church with her before we decide what we will do with Harriet. She's a sweet girl.
Then at night we had choir practice. This ward does good at having midweek and other activities. It is fun to sing with them.
Thursday- We saw magdalene and taught her about some commandments. We are pushing her baptism date back because we feel she needs more time and I don't really see a desire from her. She just has her sister and the missionaries pushing her. So we will step back a bit and see what she really wants.
We taught Sarah the less active about the restoration. She said that she really liked the way she felt during the lesson and she wants to keep learning so she can share it with others.
We are also teaching this guy named Joseph. He was being taught by the missionaries about a year or two ago so we are just giving him a second chance. We found him one day and he likes the missionaries. We taught him about the Godhead. I'm not sure what he really thinks about it yet. We will see next visit.
Sarah came to midweek which was great and then she gave us a referral. We have been making it a goal to get more referrals but its very difficult because we can't just go ask someone for one.
Friday- I felt like it was a good day. We taught some good lessons that I felt the spirit a lot. We had a long lesson with esiinam. While teaching her I was so great full that I'm in Ghana. Because I felt like I was teaching someone in the US. They are stubborn papa! Chai. But we just bore testimony to her and used some scriptures and told her to pray. Now it's all up to her to have the desire and pray with a humble heart.
A member called us around 2 and told us to come over. She was preparing banku for us. So we helped her cook it and then we ate it. It was banku and shito with egg and fish. It was nice. When I was finished, I just wanted to go back to the apartment and sleep! Banku makes me sooo tired.
But we stayed out and contacted some people and helped a lady wash her clothes and then we helped another lady prepare kanke.
We had an fhe with a family. It was a SWEET fhe! Because it was an fhe and then in the middle it turned into a member present lesson and then we blessed a child that has malaria and then we had a blast playing the game. It was a nice time and the spirit was definitely there. And then also a lady dashed us coke.
Saturday- another successful day because we were dashed come again. We were just contacting and we went to this house and he told us he is Muslim and then he rejected us but when we were leaving, he said we were doing a good work and just gave us some coke :). Then we were fed banku again. This time it was with okra soup. It was good and then we went with that member to see someone close by and teach for the first time. She really liked us a lot and I think she will progress because she is friends with the member. Then we contacted more people and we also saw Harriet. We met her dad and he was cool with us. But he doesn't want to learn from us.
Later in the evening a member (bro chris) invited us and also the other missionaries over to his house to eat dinner. His wife fed us eba. It's a Nigerian food and is one of my favorites here. The rest of the night I was feeling so sick because I ate so much but luckily the rest of the night was just choir and meetings at the church so I was able to just sit and let the food digest. In the meeting, we were trying to create a third ward out of the two wards we have in the building. I don't know when the split will happen but the wards are growing fast!
Sunday- One investigator came to church. We met him last week at a members house. Then we taught a recent convert and gave a blessing and taught an investigator and then thats it.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
July 6-12: New Zone
July 6-July 12
Tuesday- We had zone training meeting today. It was my first for this zone. The zone leaders were prepared and had the spirit with them. In these meetings, all the missionaries in a certain area come and we learn from each other. We are all trying to improve so its about how to teach better and how to be most effective in our work. Our mission president is making inspired goals for the mission. Awhile ago he told us we need to work to get 2 baptisms, 2 recent converts to go to temple, and 2 less actives to be reactivated every month. Now he wants to add to it. Now we are also working to receive 5 referrals a week, find where 2 new members stay, and have a FHE each week. Even though we don't work for numbers, it's good to set goals to improve our work.
Wednesday- One of the members came out and proselyted with us all morning. Lydia helped us out papa! We were blessed to have 3 lessons with her. We first taught Rosemary about the Book of Mormon again. We want her to fully understand everything and keep her commitments but right now she's not. Then we taught someone for the second time. She didn't understand why she can't just pick out the good things from every religion and that be okay. So we explained to her how Christ only has one religion and how he only established one church. So we need to follow Jesus Christ. The last person was someone we contacted. He's 19 and seems pretty cool. Hopefully the next visit will be good too. In the afternoon we gave a nine year old a blessing because he has malaria. It was a nice one and he will be okay. We went to choir practice also. Ghanaians LOVE to sing! They can sing all day and all night! It was a lot of fun. I think we will be learning how to sing I am a child of god in twi sometime soon.
Thursday- It was a rough day. No one was serious and no one wanted to sit down with us and learn. So it was a full day of contacting basically. But we were able to find a recent convert we didn't know about and we brought her to midweek. So that was all good.
Friday- Sister Lydia helped us teach Rosemary and Magdalene again. It was good to have her there. I feel like it is more powerful when the member testifies of things than when I do. So it was good. They are progressing verrrrryyyyyy slowwwww. It will help them out so much if they come to church Sunday. We had another lesson with a member. His name is Ephraim. He stays right next to Harriet. She is only 12 but she remembers everything we teach her. It's amazing! She is progressing very fast. We just need to get her parents involved in the lessons and that's the hard part. I also met Solomon today for the first time. The last time he was taught I was with the zone leader. He seems to have a good desire to know the truth.
Saturday- we met with a less active Dina. She hasn't been to church for years. She's 18 and I think she feels out of place because she has a child. So we are just trying to review with her why its important to go and everyone has imperfections. Her sister is also less active but she was working today. We then got to see Godwin. He is so amazing because he read the whole book we gave him! And he had legit concerns and we were able to help him answer his questions. It was sweet-o. We later met with another less active and her daughter who is also less active. The daughter will likely be at church but not the mother.
Sunday- Church was good today. 3 investigators came and a less active. Magdalene came for the first time since I've been here. When people don't come, I feel like all the time I sacrifice for them during the week is wasted. Then after church we ended up giving 8 blessings in a row to these old grandmas. It was so funny to see their great faith and little understanding. It was an experience I'll never forget. In Ghana if you give one blessing you better be ready to give a blessing to everyone!
Tuesday- We had zone training meeting today. It was my first for this zone. The zone leaders were prepared and had the spirit with them. In these meetings, all the missionaries in a certain area come and we learn from each other. We are all trying to improve so its about how to teach better and how to be most effective in our work. Our mission president is making inspired goals for the mission. Awhile ago he told us we need to work to get 2 baptisms, 2 recent converts to go to temple, and 2 less actives to be reactivated every month. Now he wants to add to it. Now we are also working to receive 5 referrals a week, find where 2 new members stay, and have a FHE each week. Even though we don't work for numbers, it's good to set goals to improve our work.
Wednesday- One of the members came out and proselyted with us all morning. Lydia helped us out papa! We were blessed to have 3 lessons with her. We first taught Rosemary about the Book of Mormon again. We want her to fully understand everything and keep her commitments but right now she's not. Then we taught someone for the second time. She didn't understand why she can't just pick out the good things from every religion and that be okay. So we explained to her how Christ only has one religion and how he only established one church. So we need to follow Jesus Christ. The last person was someone we contacted. He's 19 and seems pretty cool. Hopefully the next visit will be good too. In the afternoon we gave a nine year old a blessing because he has malaria. It was a nice one and he will be okay. We went to choir practice also. Ghanaians LOVE to sing! They can sing all day and all night! It was a lot of fun. I think we will be learning how to sing I am a child of god in twi sometime soon.
Thursday- It was a rough day. No one was serious and no one wanted to sit down with us and learn. So it was a full day of contacting basically. But we were able to find a recent convert we didn't know about and we brought her to midweek. So that was all good.
Friday- Sister Lydia helped us teach Rosemary and Magdalene again. It was good to have her there. I feel like it is more powerful when the member testifies of things than when I do. So it was good. They are progressing verrrrryyyyyy slowwwww. It will help them out so much if they come to church Sunday. We had another lesson with a member. His name is Ephraim. He stays right next to Harriet. She is only 12 but she remembers everything we teach her. It's amazing! She is progressing very fast. We just need to get her parents involved in the lessons and that's the hard part. I also met Solomon today for the first time. The last time he was taught I was with the zone leader. He seems to have a good desire to know the truth.
Saturday- we met with a less active Dina. She hasn't been to church for years. She's 18 and I think she feels out of place because she has a child. So we are just trying to review with her why its important to go and everyone has imperfections. Her sister is also less active but she was working today. We then got to see Godwin. He is so amazing because he read the whole book we gave him! And he had legit concerns and we were able to help him answer his questions. It was sweet-o. We later met with another less active and her daughter who is also less active. The daughter will likely be at church but not the mother.
Sunday- Church was good today. 3 investigators came and a less active. Magdalene came for the first time since I've been here. When people don't come, I feel like all the time I sacrifice for them during the week is wasted. Then after church we ended up giving 8 blessings in a row to these old grandmas. It was so funny to see their great faith and little understanding. It was an experience I'll never forget. In Ghana if you give one blessing you better be ready to give a blessing to everyone!
Monday, July 6, 2015
Pics from Lartebiokorshie
New Area
Tuesday- last day in odorkor. it served me well. i said goodbye to a couple of people. i hate goodbyes. i should have said goodbye to more people than i did. i miss all my recent converts and the members in odorkor. luckily i'm only 3 mins away in my new area.
Wednesday- i packed my things and got ready to go to transfers. elder carson dashed me some medicine and other stuff. it was nice. i got to transfers and talked to mtc mates. i found my new companio, elder okwu from Nigeria. we got to the apartment. its nice. 2 story house and lots of windows so i get a nice breeze. i have to learn the area and get to know people. i don't like doing that.Monday, June 22, 2015
Transfer notice to Laterbiakoshie (still in greater Accra)
Week of June 15-21Tuesday- For district council meeting we talked small about extending commitments. What we are teaching is no small thing. If the investigators are not keeping the commitments, their salvation is at risk.We followed up with a lady named Victoria. It was a GREAT lesson! She is very humble and listens great. She told us that before we came, she thought Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the same but now she knows that they are different and Jesus Christ is His son.We saw a lot of our recent converts today. They are all doing great. Isaac is so excited to come and help us teach a couple of people. It'll be good to have him share his testimony that he now has. Nothing exciting happened this day. It was just a good day.Wednesday- In the morning we met with akweah. She disappointed me today :(. We have been trying to get her to pray and read and come to church. But it doesn't look like she will do those things. We have been doing our best to show her the importance of all that. We are giving her one more week. Then we had a good lesson with Nana Yaw. He is very smart and we had a very intelligent lesson. It was weird and I'm not used to those things. But we did good and answered all his questions well.There was this small boy that was insulting us so me and my companion started to chase him on our bikes. Right when we almost caught him, he tripped and fell. Sorry kid.Wow I just had a once in a life time experience. Elder Carson and I were at the church for a meeting and then this guy comes in and invites us to talk at their church. They had like a big conference and all these bishops were there from different countries in Africa. The church is called The Brotherhood of the Cross and Star. I don't understand them at all. But we just sat in there and we couldn't wear shoes. And everyone was wearing white robes. They did some cool dancing and singing (my favorite part). Then we introduced ourselves after they introduced themselves. They talked about what they believe and we talked about what we believe. I got kissed on the cheek from five different grown old men. That was pretty cool.Thursday- For the morning I went out with a ward missionary. He has his call to Nigeria so he wanted to come and get some practice before he goes I guess. So I showed him around my area and we first met with Cama. I like going to see her because she is somehow new to Ghana like me. Right now she is having a hard time being in this country. So we can relate. It makes it easier to teach when I know the person well and we have things in common. She and her boyfriend are progressing very well and will hopefully be baptized soon. Then we went to my recent convert Godwin. That guy is the most stubborn person I know haha. He won't come to odorkor ward again because someone asked him to give the tune for one of the hymns in elders quorum and he didn't know it. So he got offended. I tried to talk to him about it but he wouldn't listen to me so i'll let the elders quorum pres know. Then we found a new person to teach. I saw a lot of kitties by this woman and I wanted to go pet them. We sat down and I pet them while I talked to the woman. I know that those kitties were sent from God so I could talk to mommy.After lunch we saw Nicole and Harry. She fed us catfish... With all the guts... And bones... And poop... I ate it... Blechhhh. But Friday she is feeding us hamburgers and French fries. For my birthday. Then we went to Henry and Jessica. They are my recent converts too. Ages: 13 and 11. It was light off so we just told scary stories. And then talked about alma and amulek.Friday- there was this old guy by a gate that we were knocking on and he was rude and told us no one was home. But we just wanted to mess with him so we kept knocking and asking him if they were home. Then someone actually came. HahaSaturday- I love Saturdays because its the day that we get to teach savina and her family. They have a nice house and they feed us banku every time we go over there. I also like them because I get to teach them as a family. I don't really get many chances to do that here. We contacted a lady and she welcomed us into her compound and we had a nice lesson with her. It was funny because she told us all of the things she hated about Ghana. She was definitely born in the wrong place. We'll definitely follow up with her. I think she'll accept everything well.Sunday- my last time to worship in the odorkor ward was today. I bore my testimony and I told them I love them and I'm going to miss them. But the best part of Sunday was when Isaac finally got confirmed. He got baptized about one month ago! But finally things were successful and done right. It was sweet. Right after church, we went to Sam's house. He fed us some amazing fufu and fish head. I ate the brain. Then we had to rush over to the first councilor in the stake presidency. We got fed tons of rice and beans and more fish. I was soooo full! It was so hard to finish. But we finished. One thing that I don't like about eating at people's houses is they always give us the food and then they'll go to another room to eat their food. There has not been one time that I have eaten with a family here.This was a good week. I'm getting transferred to Laterbiakoshie. It's right where kaneshie is. There's an amazing race episode where the people had to sell some things at the market in kaneshie. That's my area I think. I'll be serving with Elder Okwu. He is Nigerian. I don't know who he is so i'll find out on Wednesday :).
Week June 8-June 14
Week of June 8-June 14On Tuesday we had zone training meeting. It was fun to have the whole group of missionaries together. We talked more about how to achieve our mission goal every month. Each month our mission is pushing for 2 baptisms, 2 recent converts going to the temple, and 2 less actives returning to church for each companionship. The baptisms are coming and recent converts have temple experiences but its just challenging to find less actives. There are tons of them but its hard to get a list from bishop and stuff. Last month if my companion and I go one more less active, we would've achieved the goal.Wednesday- We decided to find some more people and tried to sit down and teach them. We found a guy living in the biggest house I've seen here. His name is Elvis but he is not aware of who the king of rock and roll is. But he's a cool guy. He actually has a desire to know the truth so we'll keep working with him. We talked to the bishop and his counselors at pec and now I feel like the ward is progressing and is becoming better. It's sweet.Thursday- Elder Beacom (my zone leader) and I went out in my area. First we went to Aquia. She is doing good but she didn't read and pray about the Book of Mormon. So we read some with her and hopefully she will pray and come to church. Then we helped a lady wash all her clothes. Usually when we ask someone out we can help, they don't allow us to help. But this time this lady got us both a chair and said yes. Haha it was good. We talked to her while doing our service for the day. When we went to Godwins house, I found out why I haven't seen him in three weeks at church. He's been going to another branch! The other one is actually closer to his house but I think he's in my ward boundaries. Haha that guy is a funny man.Friday- Elder Carson was back with me. We accidentally biked out of our area while we were contacting. This was a HOT day and I was wearing my least favorite shirt that was too small so I was uncomfortable the whole day. We were passing by a street and two small kids stopped us and made us follow them. They took us to their mom haha. So we sat down with her and got to know her and she wants us to start teaching her. Later in the afternoon I went on an exchange with Elder Chatterley. He is going home next week. He took me to his area and we introduced the Book of Mormon to a couple of girls. For some reason, every time I talk about the Book of Mormon, I know that it is true and I feel good inside. I love it! Then we met a lady that had a nice house. We got her to let us inside and to our surprise she had AC! That felt sooo amazing! We tried to make the lesson as long as possible. But we only stayed for about 20 mins and then we were back under the big hot sun again. When we got to the apartment, there was another big party outside our house. Idk why but the landlord just likes parties I guess. So we ate some nice grilled chicken and some banku with hot hot hot pepper. I couldn't sleep well because the party just got more and more intense and louder as the night went on.Sunday- Right when we got on our bikes to go to church we noticed that it was starting to sprinkle. As we were riding up the hill we saw the huge black clouds that were coming our way. We peddled as fast as our strong, muscular, hairy legs could go!! But it was not fast enough... The rain beat us so bad! When we got to the church our whole body was just soaked head to toe. But it's okay because I'm used to it. It's just a normal thing now. But I was freezing during church. Despite the rain, we had four investigators come to church. One guy looks just like a member but he told us that he hasn't been baptized and the missionaries taught him everything in his old ward. WHAT?! Okay so now we have a guy to see this week. It was a good church day.Love you all.Elder Green
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Flooding in Accra
Africa is not all desert. Here in West Africa, there is a dry season and a wet season. During the wet season, it rains pretty much every day. All of the gutters are above ground and are not covered. So when it rains, the water will run to the gutters and it empties into a main gutter or the river.Elder Cameron GreenWednesday- It started to rain. I just thought it was going to be a normal rain storm. At the time, we were at the chapel to get out of the rain. Then both me and my companion decided to go home about 2 hours later. It was still pouring down rain at the time. We start to bike up to where the apartment is. We notice that the traffic is the worst we have ever seen it. We got to the top of the hill and there are cars all stopped and lined up for miles. So we start to ride down the hill and then as we are going down, the puddles get deeper and deeper. The big gutter is filled all the way up and it's running into the main highway. There is no place for the water to drain anymore. As we kept going, the water gets as high as our waist. The current is too strong to bike so we got off our bike and tried to walk straight. We knew if we accidentally step into the gutter we are dead. The current is too strong. The cars on the road are flooded and water is getting into all of the cars. We reach the house and drop our stuff off there and then immediately go out to save lives.I've never saved a life before this day. There were hundreds of cars that wouldn't start and they were just floating in the water. Me and my companion pushed cars to a safer zone and cleared out as many cars as possible. Crossing the road was impossible for some people. Old women and children were trying to cross the river in the road. As I saw that, I ran over and helped. I carried the small children on my back and got them across the road safely. Then the women I also carried across. After the people were safe, more cars came into the side that was the most flooded. We then had to push more cars out of the way.That night at least a hundred people died. Everyone's house is now flooded and most of everything is spoiled. If it rains again tonight, we are all screwed.Thursday- all we did was go to every members house to make sure that they were okay. There is a lot of damage. Everyone's homes got flooded and lots of their stuff is ruined. It's a sad sad thing to see. The reason why everything flooded is because everyone throws their trash in the gutter. And because of that, it gets clogged and it can't drain. I'll send pics of everything.Friday- It rained right when we were going to go out. So we got stuck in the apartment for a bit. Then I went out and crashed in a puddle. Then we got locked out of the apartment because we couldn't unlock the lock. So we just broke it with a hammer and bought a new one. We were locked out for like 2 hours.Saturday- we went to a place in our area this morning and it got hit by the flood way worse than I thought it would. Everyone had a big huge pile of clothes and all of their belongings out in front of their house. They can't save any of it. Now a bunch of people are homeless, can't find safe water, don't have any clothes or money. It's just a bad deal. I feel so bad for these people. I think I heard on the radio that the Red Cross is here? But we were able to see mommy aquia. She is doing good. We extended a baptism date to here last time but I don't think she really understands. So we just explained things to her again and I think she understands now. We also saw savina and her family. (The rich family). They fed us AGAIN. I never get tired of their banku and shito. It's amazing. But we had to reteach them the same thing we taught them last week too haha. It seems like i have to reteach most people. But it's okay. We learned about Adam and Eve and pre earth life. They agreed on basically all of it so it was nice. The Isaac we baptized about a month ago is going back to school next week so we just went over there and we just chilled together as bros. it was a good time to talk about his plans in life and we became a lot closer. I'll be transferred before he returns from school so Sunday will be the last time I see him :/.Sunday three of my recent converts received the priesthood. That's the highlight of the week.
Week of May 18-23
Week of May 18-23
Tuesday- For district council meeting we discussed how receiving revelation is essential for salvation. One of the things that I realized is I need to receive revelation for my investigators so they can be blessed and receive their revelation and salvation. But to receive revelation I need to be worthy and always seeking for it. The thing that will bring me revelation and the spirit the fastest is diligent scripture study. That is why I have 2 hours every morning to study and get the spirit so I can go throughout my day. Read your scriptures every day guys and also share what you learn to your friends and family. It'll strengthen you and them so much.Now about my day: this morning was another day of finding new people to teach. We are doing everything that we can do to find people that are serious. We found someone about 23 years old who wanted to know more about the church. He is wanting to become a pastor so he was just trying to argue with us. But he is a cool person, just doesn't want to believe in some things that I know is true. We had a very powerful lesson with Isaac. He will be baptized this Sunday finally. We have worked so hard with him and have done so much to get him to this point. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him and my companion and i know he is totally ready. It's awesome. The last lesson of the day was with George and Enoch (my recent converts) and we taught Jennifer. I really like Jennifer. I think she is going to progress super fast in the gospel. She has been to church three times in a row now and is feeling comfortable around everyone now. We taught her about how God answers prayers (Galatians 5:22). That was good and we also talked a little about standing up for what we believe.Good day today but we need to be teaching more lessons. The lessons will come eventually I hope.Wednesday- I kicked a teenage goat.Thursday- I ate an ice cream cone.Friday- In the morning we started out with an hour of contacting. It was pretty good. We found six people and taught one lesson in that hour. Then we met with Cama and Christ. They are French speakers and are from Congo. They're really sweet and made us a drink from their country. It's pretty good! We taught them about the plan of salvation but focused it on temples and temple marriage because they want to get married. They liked stake conference and we pray they come to church again. Then we met someone named perpetua. She knows some members and they asked us to visit her. She is cool and wants to make us fufu next week. :) later in the afternoon Isaac had his baptismal interview so he's good to go for his baptism. I'm so happy for him. I love that guy! We then raced down to the German man and his daughter. We had an fhe with them. It was sweet because he invited his friend to come too. We taught them and the woman he invited. It was nice to be with them in a nice home. We learned about Lehis dream and then played a game. The youngest girl beat me.Saturday- Wow Saturday was sweet! We are teaching this family who is filthy rich! Their house is super nice even for a house back home. They always love it when we come to them. They are just a nice Christian family and are being blessed for it. They wanted to feed us this time so we had some nice banku and pepper with tilapia. Then we learned about how to pray and how Christ set the example for us and taught us how. When we got up to leave the mom brought me and elder Carson both a big bag of CHOCOLATE! Wow it was expensive too! They did well :). I feel so happy when I see that people appreciate it when we come to help their family. And then they gave us five gigantic mangos. I was in heaven that day. Later at like 4 it started to pour and it was a huge rain storm. So we got soaked and couldn't really do anything the rest of the day.Sunday- Enoch and George received the gift of the Holy Ghost today. We gave them bibles too. They were happy. Chris didn't come. I was upset about that. He is less active and probably my best bud that's a Ghanaian. So we went to his house after church and he told us he forgot to take his clothes off the line when it rained. So they were all wet. He gave us some fufu that his family prepared. I ate a lot. Then we went to teach a girl who stays at the German mans place. They fed us a bunch of rice!! I ate sooo much and was so stuffed! Then right when we finished the rice and right before we started the lesson I went to the bathroom and threw it all up. Rice and fufu doesn't settle very well I guess. But the lesson went well and all is good. It was a pretty good week.
Elder Cameron Green.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Stake Conference Bus Trip
Tuesday- In the morning we went to an area we haven't really gone to much and we tried to find more people serious people. But I ended up getting a door slammed in my face for the very first time in my whole mission career! And then the next door... Same thing happened!! But we kept our faith strong and found 2 sweet ladies. They are fun to talk to and to teach. We also saw Isaac and he'll be baptized really soon. He has progressed so much and now we feel like he is finally ready. We had a sweet fhe with a lady from the branch down the road small. Chaii she can cook papa! We had yam with spinach stew. (The yams are completely different than the ones back home). This was the last day our district would be together because of transfers. So we had to be together that night and it was good to be at that fhe together.Wednesday- we saw Esther and she accepted a baptismal date and we are trying to meet with her husband too but he always gets home too late. The new missionary that is living with us is from South Africa. Elder thaleli. He's cool. So now it's Idaho, Pittsburg, Arkansas, South Africa. It'll be a fun transfer. I love my ward mission leader. He helps a lot (as much as he can) and does great. We had coordination and got some new plans for us to improve members and help us missionaries be more affective.Thursday- We had zone training meeting. (Where the whole zone meets together and learn how to be more effective and how to improve. It was really cool. I learned that using recent converts is the most effective way to get member present lessons. Because they are the most excited to share the gospel and it will strengthen them and keep them active. As missionaries, we are always striving to use members as often as we can. My district made a goal to help with home teaching this month. Last week we went with the elders quorum pres. and found out where members stay and who they need to teach and everything. So now we can pick people up and drag them to do their home teaching.Friday- We contacted a BUNCH of people in the morning. I don't know how many are serious but now we have people to go back to and visit. I got chased by a dog a little bit but then I just turned around and tried to kick it and it got more scared than me and ran off. We taught a great less active lesson and he wants us to pick him up for church.Sunday- Today was stake conference in Kasoa. We all met at the church at 7 am and then a big bus took the members who were there to the stake center. I was really impressed with how many people showed up from the ward! It was great the whole bus was full and we had to have people standing up. The best thing about it was me and elder Carson had 5 investigators there and a less active. I was so happy!!! They said they loved it and everything. They all woke up super early to make it in time. One of them really liked president and sister hills talks and she wanted me to take a picture of her and them. It was sweet.Everything is going good. Me and my companion are trying new things to see what works best. We are tryin to improve every day and to do what is right. This past week was super difficult because we had light off for four days in a row and we only slept with a fan one time because of no power. Having no sleep and sweating all day and night makes me exhausted but The Lord always makes it possible to do his work.Love you all.Elder Green (like the color)
Monday, May 4, 2015
A few pics from Accra
 |
| Sharing supper with fellow missionaries |
 |
| Cameron and companion with some young adults they are teaching |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)