14 November 2016

14 November 2016

Well first I think that it is appropriate that we take some time to look back to what was going on 2 years ago on this very day. I was on my way to Ghana! Who would have ever thought that I would be sent here. But over these past two years I have come to know that I have been sent here for a reason by a prophet who receives true revelation from God. So this is where I am supposed to be at this time.  

Heres a few things about my week:

-We met a lady a few weeks ago on the street and just greeted her then and tried to set up an appointment with her. Because she was in a hurry, we weren't able to do so. We didn't get her name, where she lived, her number, or anything. The only thing that we knew about her was she lived in the area. We went back to the area a few days ago and I just couldn't stop thinking about this lady. I knew that we had to find her. So we prayed and started to hunt her down. We knocked on one door and no one answered. Then, we went to another apartment house. I knocked on the door and someone came out. Immediately the words "Is Esther here?" came out of my mouth. She said yeah and pointed to her door. Her name is Esther! How in the world did we find this lady??! We taught her. She may or may not be serious but what a tender mercy it is that we found her!

-I went on an exchange with Elder Ngoy two days in a row. One thing that I learned from him is how important it is to focus on the restoration and helping people gain a testimony about that and the Book of Mormon. Because that is not what he was doing! He just was teaching about the organization of Jesus Christs church by telling each person Christ called apostles and 70 others. And then he'd say, "If you find a church like this will you Join?" Every lesson we had in his area was like that. I feel like you should go a different way about teaching than he did. 

-The week was Jam packed full of lessons. Too many to even say because other missionaries will just get jealous.

-We worshiped in the new chapel this week. I didnt bear my testimony because there were too many people trying to get up to the pulpit. Everyone was so happy and it was awesome. The only problem with the chapel is that the investigators class is closest to the loud church thats right next to the chapel. All I could here was about 5 people in the church screaming "Holy Ghost Fire! Holy Ghost Fire!" over and over again. Its all good though. We were still able to learn. 

-And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men.

Thanks for everything. I love you guys. I love this work. The church is true. 

Elder Green 

8 August 2016

Hiiiiiii

I be a very busy missionary now! Lots of far places to ride the bike, many people to see, tons of distractions, limited energy. 

This week was another exciting week for me and Elder Babira. We had tons planned for this week. But unfortunately we werent able to accomplish everything because of what happened on wednesday. Our land lord decided to do lots of work inside our house on wednesday. We tried to fight back with him and insisted that we couldnt have them work today but he won. We couldnt proselyte the whole day because the workers were inside the house working the whole day. So i just studied and slept and called investigators and cleaned. 

Thursday the mission sent some workers to fix the toilet. The plumber was sooo late getting to our house. So half the day on thursday was wasted inside the house. 

Despite all the setbacks, we were able to have some success. We had a great lesson with a lady and her son named Dora and Juju. They came to church for the second week in a row and they came like 30 mins early! Most of my investigators arrive at church 40 mins late. So its a good sign. 

I went on splits with Theophilus all day on saturday. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy being with him. Hes always willing to proselyte whenever we need help. 

Peter is doing well. Its just hard to visit him as often as we need to with his work schedule. 

The new area is pretty cool. Theres some cool people we just need to extend a ton of baptism dates. By the end of this week we should have at least 15 people with a baptism date. 

The other day I read a conference talk "\which way do you face"

Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39).

• First, Mormon: “Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority fromGod; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear” (Moroni 8:16; emphasis added).
• Nephi: “Wherefore, the things which are pleasing unto the world I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto thoe who are not of the world” (1 Nephi 6:5).
• Captain Moroni: “Behold, I am Moroni, your chief captain. I seek not for power, but to pull it down. I seek not for honor of the world, but fr the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country” (Alma 60:36).

1 August 2016

I know most of you are curious about transfers so Ill tell you all whats going on with that. Right now living in the apartment and serving in the mamponse ward are: Elder Nilsson and me and Elder Perry and Elder Babira. Nilsson and Perry are getting transferred. Babira and I will become companions and no one new is coming. So they are combining the two areas and making the apartment a 2 man apartment. That means my teaching pool just doubled and we got tons of work to do! Im super excited and also a little stressed because ive never stayed in a 2 man apartment before and also now my area is huge and its going to take very careful planning to get things going. The ward is great though so they will be able to help us a lot.

Some highlights:

Tuesday- We found out that this member stayed very close to where we live so we decided to give her a call to see if we could visit her. She was at home. Right when we got there, she gave us a list of ingredients she needed and she gave us some money. She told us to go to the market and buy her all of those things. So we went back to the house, got a ride from our LA land lord in his 2017 Toyota Siena. Mom you gotta upgrade your mini van to the one i rode in. Then we picked up the stuff (a whole chicken, onions, spices, pigs feet, etc.) When we got back she taught us how to make nice groundnut soup for fufu. Then we ate it and it was so delicious! We spent 6 hours with that member and we werent sure if we were using our time correctly but then right after we left, we met her neighbor right next door. She seems so prepared and we had a great lesson with her. She came to church yesterday and was testifying of how true Joseph Smith is in gospel principles class. I am so happy that we decided to help the member cook so we were able to find this new serious investigator.

Every day at 12 pm Elder Nilsson and I has had a companionship prayer to find new investigators. I have seen the many blessings of prayer and going to our Heavenly Father when in need. He hears our prayers and He is always helping us as we seek for guidance. Each day we have done this, we have found a new person to teach! What a blessing!
Doctrine and Covenants 33:7-13
 7 Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength.
 8 Open your mouths and they shall be filled, and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness.
 9 Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.
 10 Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;
 11 Yea, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.
 12 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved;
 13 And upon this rock I will build my church; yea, upon this rock ye are built, and if ye continue, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
I promise that as we open our mouths to the people around us and do as the Lord expects us to do (which is to share the gospel), Your testimony will be strengthened and you will have the spirit with you always. 

Peter is still doing well. We werent able to meet with him at all for like a week straight because of his work schedule. But we had a very great lesson with him to prepare for his baptism. He trusts us so much and we were able to help him with a couple things and the spirit was so strong.

This is all that my fingers will allow me to type for today. I hope you enjoy your last weeks of summer. I hope that you remember to watch the Olympics. Are they on yet? I also hope that you all will remember to Pray and to remember and watch for the many blessings in your eeveryday lives. I promise you that they are there.

With much love,

Elder Green

77 degrees is cold: 25 July 2016

Chai I hope all of you guys are enjoying your summer. I am here dying in the freezing 77 degree weather that we have had the past couple nights. Everyone here have huge winter coats on and its so funny to see that this is freezing for them. 

The highlight of the week was when Margaret and Praise were baptized yesterday. It was super stressful. Margaret was supposed to be baptized on saturday and then praise was supposed to be baptized this coming saturday. But when we showed up to the church on saturday, we found out that the font was empty. Why? Because we had no power for a day and a half and no power=no water flowing. So we then biked as fast as our little legs could pedal over to Margaret and her family to tell them to not come to the church anymore. The whole family was ready and everything but luckily we caught them at their house. Then later that day we had the baptism interview for Praise and she is doing well. Elder Nilsson and I decided to have them baptized on the same day (they are sister in laws). 

So we had the baptism after church and it was a pretty good service. The only problem was the opening song we sang was a mens choir song and the topic was men receiving the priesthood. But it was good :)

Today we roasted another pig. President and Sister Simpson came. Sister Simpson was born in Fiji i believe. So they enjoyed it. 

Transfers are next week so we shall see what happens. 

I think I am finally starting to understand the purpose of Preach My Gospel. Its all about becoming converted yourself and then helping others toward conversion. We need to understand the gospel, not just on a scholastic level, but with a heart-changing level. A spiritual level. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way. Preach My Gospel is a tool to allow missionaries to become converted to HIM.  Matt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

I love what this Gospel has done for me. I hope I can continue to increase in my knowledge and my faith. I hope I can continue to find others to bring to the Path. I love you all! I seek to do the Lord's work. I am learning so much. Have a great week!

Elder Green

18 July 2016

Hey. Good morning. I hope that all is going well for you people and I send my greetings to everyone.

This is my week:

Benada-

-Bro Parbey really helped us out today. He is so missionary minded all the time and its great! For his job he goes around and sells drugs to drug stores and other shops around the area. Because of this he is always sharing the gospel to all the people he meets. He gave us two referrals and they seem to be pretty solid. We had a great lesson with them I hope. Most of the lesson was just him talking in their language so I had no clue what was being said. But I was there to bear my testimony so it was a successful lesson :)

-We finished up the lessons with margaret. Shes doing great and is ready for her baptism. 

PEC was actually successful today. The missionaries are instructing the members on wednesday about member missionary work. so today we got it all planned out.

Wukuada-

-One crazy thing happened today. There was a lady who I thought was dying. She just came out of her house and she was shaking and then she started to bleed and foam at the mouth. Then she collapsed on the ground and had a seizure. I didnt know what to do but no one was doing anything to help her. So i rolled her over on her side because she was laying on her back. The people we were teaching at that moment expected us to just carry on with the lesson. But we left and told them to take her to the hospital. Well, The next day we checked for her and they said she was perfectly fine and she was selling on the roadside. WHAT?

Yawada

-So at church two sundays ago, one of my investigators got really offended. She left church early and said that she is never coming to this church again. Today we finally got to meet with her and tried to solve the problem. Ive been thinking alot about how to help her concern and now i realize i shouldnt really try to find out why she is offended but i should help her to understand the Atonement. 

-Also this morning the second councilor in the bishopric called us and said hes coming to proselyte with us all day. So we had him all day. It was sweet papa. 

-I talked to someone who was a member since 1980 and was baptized in Ghana. Hes probably one of five people still living thats been a member for that long. He has some great stories. He was invited to the church by a Muslim.

Kwasiada-

-Great turnout at church. 

-Had a great lesson with Robert about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong.

Elder Green

May 16 2016: One Year Mark (six months late)

I woke up one morning and got a bunch of calls from the people in my MTC wishing me happy 18 months. But they forgot I actually only turned 1 year hahaha. So now the countdown finally begins. Its gonna be a great year and Im so happy I have one more year instead of only six more months left!

I hope everyone had a chill week like me. So to start off I just want to let everyone know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will reach every soul that is here in Mamponse. If you dont want to hear this very special message that I bear witness of, I would suggest that you leave Ghana. because eventually its going to come to your ear if you stay here! I have gained a personal testimony that I need to start to talk with everyone. Everyone that calls me "Obroni", everyone that is in the house of my investigators or members, everyone who looks at me. This Gospel is for everyone. One day, a family stopped me and my companion and asked us if we only preach to the rich. We sat down with them and explained to them that their Heavenly father loves them so much and blessed be the poor. No matter what situation we are in or how we are, This gospel can bless you. 

We are teaching this girl who does not speak any english. She has a sister that translates during the lessons for us. We asked her why she decided to start coming to the church. Her response was that she came to receive forgiveness of her sins. I dont know about you guys, but thats why i go to church too. The church is for the sinners. As we come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we can partake of the sacrament. This is a huge blessing for us to be able to remember our Savior and to renew those special covenants we have made at baptism as well as any other covenant we have made with God in our lives. 

We are starting to see the goodness and blessings of working with members. On sunday we had four of the YSAs come proselyting with us right after church for the whole day. Three of them were all RMs and the other one teaches with us every day so they all know what they are doing. As we were out, we saw some less actives and other members houses. We sat down with them and had a small lesson at each place. I was shocked because most of the houses we visited, i pass right by every single day and I had no idea a member stayed there. Now we have a lot more people to serve and work with. We also took the members to our investigators. We let the YSA lead each lesson and they definitely rocked it and helped our investigators a ton. We were also able to get a few referrals because they are starting to trust me and Elder Nilsson more. Hopefully we will do well with the trust and responsibility the ward is giving us at this time. 

This week I have been studying our purpose in this life. 

 24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

We know that we have a place prepared for us after this life. So we need to prepare because we will be meeting God. That brings me to another sctipture and it teaches us how we can prepare. Revelation 3:21. Just follow Jesus Christ and overcome the sins and temptations. And 1 corinthians 10:13 tells us that there is nothing too hard for us to overcome. So for me, I want to sit next to Heavenly father and Jesus Christ on their thrones. thats a pretty great promise to us if we are faithful. 

I love you all and have a great week!ju

April 23 2016: Back in the mission field

1. The flights were long and tiring. All of the planes were pretty much full so there wasnt any room to be comfortable. The flight to Amsterdam, an old lady fell and started to seize a bit right behind where i was sitting. They had to announce on the plane and ask if there were any doctors on board. Why dont they have doctors working on the fights? it makes me more scared to fly now. The ride to Ghana was interesting. It was my first time to interact with a ghanaian besides linda since i have been home. it was cool and it made me feel better and happy to be going back. 

2. The only time that i have cried was at the memphis airport. And I only cried small because I sat by a member (it was a real tender mercy). I sure did want to cry but he talked to me and calmed me down the whole entire time 

3. My new companion is Elder Nilsson. He is from Utah and is 19 years old. He is about 7 months on mission. Elder Nilsson is another answer to my prayers. He is really helping me adjust to this lifestyle again. We are getting along just fine and are working hard together. 

4. My new area is Momponse. It is in the Lartebiakorshie stake. Im close to the area i was in before oda. Maybe a 5 minute drive away. It is nice. It is the city but doesnt seem very cityish. Maybe right now I just think every place is the bush hahaha

5. I have seen a few old people but havent seen my best buds yet. It was so nice to talk to them on the phone and they still consider me their MTC mate so its all good. 

6. Okay the heat is absolutely TERRIBLE. The first night i slept in the APs apartment and they have lots of extra supplies for the mission. So I slept with 5 fans blowing right on me and i sweat like a pig in the oven! I didnt sleep at all haha but now i am able to sleep okay. I just sweet so much and i dont think ill ever get used to the heat again. 

7. I was pretty homesick the first two days. It is going to be a bigger adjustment than i was expecting. I think i felt more homesick than the first time coming here. I dont know why. What made me really homesick was when i bought a burger my first night here it tasted nothing like what a burger should taste like. And its so hard to finish my food because It tastes weird again. But small small, I will adjust. Oh and I miss you and my family tons. Just want to tell you guys about everything right when something cool happens. 

8. I got to Ghana at around 8 or 9 at night. Then the APs and President Snow picked me up. I talked to President for about 3 minutes and then went with the APs to their place for the night. Then I proselyted with them in their area for the next morning and then they dropped me off at my new place. 

9. So far i have only met my new mission president for about five minutes and I have not met Sister Snow yet. They seem to be great and I am looking forward to getting to know them more before they go home. 

10. The Keels washed all of my clothes for me and repacked and cleaned all my stuff the day before I got back. It is so nice and i really appreaciate what they did. It would not have been so great if they didnt. They are so amazing. 

11. My feelings about being back: Why am i here? Is it really possible for me to adjust to these conditions again? Its hot! I really feel like this is where I need to be. I have small doubts but I know they will go away as i work and study and am here for a bit more. 

The most interesting thing that has happened so far is probably everything. I feel the spirit so much and it is so great. I am so happy and am excited to see how i can fully serve everyone here. All the missionaries are looking up to me now and watching what i do now that i am back. This is a great opprotunity for me to be a great influence on them and help the mission grow and become stronger. The church is so true and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to receive full blessings and Happiness. I cant wait to share this great message with everyone and to be able to talk and teach by the spirit all day every day. 

On saturday we taught a lesson to some small girls like 14 and 15 years old. They came to church last week but then they said they dont believe it because people said if you go to a certain room in the chapel, you will become rich. I dont understand why people would want to share rumors about the church. That is how satan works though. after they said that, we bore strong testimony of this church and how we know it is true. It kind of shocked me and Elder Nilsson because the spirit was SO strong!!! There was no way that i can deny what my companion said to be true. It was an amazing feeling and the most spiritual experience so far these days here. 

Mission Interuption

Well it is now May and there has been a bit of time pass since the last post. In mid October, the mission president called to tell us that Elder Green was sick and needed to come home to get treatment. So, two days later we picked Elder Green up from the airport. The doctors in Ghana indicated that it was likely a gall bladder issue and would need his gall bladder removed. President Hill did not want that procedure done in Ghana.

Elder Green came home on a Monday and was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday. Nope, not gall bladder. More tests. Well maybe it is gall bladder. Nope, tests still come back negative for gall bladder issues. After a few days in the hospital he was finally diagnosed with Hepatitis A. Yep, he got the immunization (1st dose) so this should not have happened, but he was in the small fraction of those that still get Hep A even with the immunization.

Doctor indicated that he would recover quickly, but doctor from mission department told us to expect a few months. Well, six months later, Elder Green returned to Ghana. He is back and glad to be back. He will serve one more year so he will have been in Ghana for the full two years.

While home, he was able to go out with the local missionaries a lot and teach with them. It was very hard for him to be home when he wanted to be back on his mission in Ghana, but he survived and made it back to the field (that is the shortened version, because it was really hard for him to be at home when he wanted to be in Ghana so bad...I can't share his feelings adequately so I don't even try).

This blog is now back up and live.

Steve Green (Dad)

Transferred to Akim Oda

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

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. 

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!

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. 

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. 

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.

It was a good week and i hope you all had a great week!

Elder Green

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.

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!