Teaching Families, working hard, and no electricity at the house

Week of April 27-May 3

Tuesday- We are preparing Enoch and George for baptism on the third. Today we taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end). It was sweet papaa. As I taught the lesson, 

Wednesday- I woke up at 5 and we went to the temple site for a big mission conference thing. Elder Evans came to speak to all of the Ghana Accra mission and Accra West mission combined. Elder Curtis and Elder Vincent were there also. Three general authorities. Evans came to talk to us about following the rules and how the church in Ghana can improve. The mtc is being built right next to the temple so it was kind of noisy but you could feel the spirit so strong. I don't know why but the hymn that makes me feel the spirit the strongest is Called to Serve. When both missions sang it together, it light up everything.  

Before we received instruction from elder Evans, my mission watched a movie called Freetown. It's about missionaries in Liberia during the civil war. I encourage all to watch it. Because it was filmed in Ghana and everything is exactly like my areas. You can see how the houses are, what it's like to travel, how the people dress, and learn more about the culture. The acting isn't that great though. 

Thursday- I woke up and I made me my first japotty. It's a popular Ugandan food. It turned out okay for my first time. When It was time to go out, we went out and first went to Grandma Kristy. This was the second time teaching her. Her concern was about baptism. She was baptized by sprinkling when she was a baby. And she believes it is okay. It was hard to teach her because she told us exactly how Christ was baptized and how that's the right way. But she still felt like her baptism is okay. I showed her a scripture in Ephesians about how there should be one baptism. We'll work on her more during the week. Then we met with Godwin(recent convert). He'll be goin to the temple on the 9th. It's sweet to see him progress and get into the temple. He's solid and is doing great. Has the priesthood and everything. Then we saw Balinda and talked about the Book of Mormon. During the lesson my companion asked me if I had my Book of Mormon with the mustache on it (I stuck a mustache on my personal bom just so you know). I cracked up during the most spiritual part because i just had the thought, "what would it be like if all book of Mormons had mustaches?" Ugh it was bad so I prayed and asked for strength to stop laughing. I then stopped laughing. It ended up being a great lesson and she'll read it. After lunch, we saw Isaac. Baptism will be the 3rd. He is so ready and we just answered his questions. He had a lot about how God blesses us and if he loves everyone. Then a scripture just popped into my mind. It was 3rd nephi chapter 10 I think. About how Christ will gather us like a hen gathers her chicks. Then he told us he was thinking about how hens do that just recently. After Isaac, we say Joyce and kingsford. They have a sweet family. They'll be going to the temple for the second time on the 9th. We also saw Enoch and George. They are so ready for their baptism. We talked about the commandments. Chastity, word of wisdom, tithes and offerings, and sabbath day. I realized that by paying your tithing is the best way to show God that you are thankful and that you appreciate Him. Light off at home again.  

     

Friday- In the morning me and Elder Carson played catch with the baseball. I'm helping him get back in shape for college ball. It was hard for me though. My eyes can barely see the ball. The only time I can see it is right when it leaves his hand. So I just have that to know where to put the glove. When we went out we went to David. He wasn't there again. We haven't seen him in about 2 weeks now. It's really frustrating. But we did see Charles. We read Moroni 6:4-6 with him and told him why we are baptized and go to church. I don't think he will ever come. Then the last part was very frustrating. He just was asking some questions that are unanswerable and didn't like anything we said after that. After I chopped fried rice and chicken for lunch, we went and saw some sweet French speakers. They are from Ivory Coast and Gabon but are here to learn English. They are doing very well! But I love them because they are so nice and they understand me and I know more twi than them. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. They really enjoyed it and now they have a desire to know what church is true. We had our baptism interviews with George and Enoch. The zone leaders came to interview them. George is going to have to wait till next week and so Enoch was so sweet and decided to wait for George to clear some things up so they can be baptized together. They are so prepared and ready for baptism though. Light off again so that means no sleep for the 4th night in a row... 

Saturday- I love it when whole families gather around when we come and visit them. I don't really get to teach a whole family very often. Today we saw Marvis and her family again. They were all so nice and listened very well. We taught about the Book of Mormon and now they are willing to read and pray as a family. We then went to see some women named Unis and Angila. Angila went to church a long time ago but she wants to come again we found out. And Unis is her friend. They also have a nice family. Later in the afternoon we saw Isaac. He's so ready for his baptism and so excited. But he was kinda feeling down today. We were able to make him feel better and while doing so, I got really happy. By the end of the lesson, I couldn't stop smiling! Then we went over and saw Esther. She's sweet and is doing good. We didn't teach her. Just said hello and checked up on her. Hopefully she shows up to church. 

Sunday- Bishop invited the missionaries to pec meeting at 7:30. It was good to talk about things to help the ward. 4 investigators showed up to church. Isaac was supposed to be baptized right after church but he didn't show up. :(.  I went to the perspective elders class today and learned how to baptize. I like going in there because all the recent converts who are getting ready to receive the melchezedick priesthood go there. It's fun to help them. Later that night bishop invited us over for dinner. He's so awesome and a really good bishop. He's only been a member for about four years but he's great. We had yam and contombre. My favorite!!! Then we suffered because of light off again... Cameron Green  

Week of April 20-26

Week of April 20-26

Tuesday- I woke up early in the morning and found out that the zone leaders called and they wanted me to go on a 24 hour exchange with one of them. So I packed my bags and got ready for it. I went with Elder Beacom to his area and I stayed the night in his apartment. It was a really cool experience and helped me a lot. It was just nice to get out and do something new for the day. One thing that I learned from him was that speaking twi can help in the lessons. We convinced two girls that he was from Kumasi and that he is black. As we make friends with our investigators, they will begin to trust us and will start to be more open. 

Wednesday- It was a pretty good day. We met a cool lady with a Mohawk so we taught her. She had some good questions that we were able to answer. One of the questions was "what does the word 'saint' mean"? The word saint means Sanctification through Jesus Christ. As we follow Christ, we are cleansed and become saints. Most people here think that saint means that we drink blood or call demons. Later in the day we had a very powerful lesson. We took Isaac (the person who we baptized last Sunday) with us to teach another guy named Isaac (who should've been baptized last week but had to travel so he will be baptized on the 3rd). We found out that Isaac has been drinking and smoking a little bit so we taught him about a lot of good stuff to help him stop but we pretended like we didn't know about his problem because he never told us about it. The Isaac that was baptized helped a lot and it would not have been a successful lesson without him. Teaching with members is necessary and needs to happen more often but sadly, it's pretty hard to get them to come out with us. 

Thursday- We did finding and contacting first thing in the morning. We met a girl named Latishia. She let us sit down and talk with her. She had some cute puppies so I held one while I taught. We talked about why there are so many churches in the world today and what we need to do to find Christ's church- The same church that He established while he was on the earth. She wants us to come back and learn more with her. 

       I have been trying to follow the promptings of the spirit more often. Especially during lessons. When we taught my recent convert Godwin, I was able to do that. We planned to teach one thing but then I ended up only talking about the priesthood and I know that it was what he needed. Later that day we saw another recent convert named Joyce. The whole family is a member and lately we've been teaching about family prayer and then family scripture study. My companion and I were trying to think of something else to teach to strengthen the family. Both of us thought about service. It was perfect. 

Friday- The morning was really rough for me. We were out all morning and all of our people weren't being serious so they told us to come another day -.-   That means a full morning of finding and contacting. In the hot sun. So we found some people that might be serious. We met and sat down with this 19 year old that is learning English. He's teaching himself and is doing very well. Then later in the day we read Enos 1:2-8 with Isaac and it helped him understand forgiveness and repentance and faith. He told us that we can read his mind because that's what he needed help on.  We then went to see my recent convert Jessica. She turned 11 today. Before we got to her house we bought her a big fanta. But then we found out that she travelled and won't be back home until late next week! So we drank half of the fanta. Then we let a little kid have a sip but she slobbered all over that thing so we just gave it to her. Then we taught Enoch and George. They should be baptized on the 3rd. They are sweet and have good questions and really want to know the truth. I explained the bom to them and now they have one. Now they can know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer, Joseph smith is a true prophet of God, and that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the one and only true church on the earth. 

Saturday- Another hard day trying to find more serious people. We met this old lady and she let us sit down with her. She is a catholic and has been all her life. We talked about following Christ and then about how the Godhead is three separate beings. She tried to argue and then ended up proving herself wrong. Because of that, she is willing to pray and have us come back again. Then we met a lady named savina. She's really really cool and had her whole family gather around us to listen. I don't get many opportunities to teach whole families so it was way cool. She had a nice house and has been to the US many times. She was receptive and loved what our purpose is. We'll visit her again soon. Then we taught McCarthy. He comes to church a lot but has a lot of issues with things. His best friend is Chris and Chris is a member but he is iffy on coming to church. Us teaching McCarthy is helping Chris come to church more often. For dinner, a member fed us fufu and it was absolutely delicious. We ate it too fast. I'm getting to love fufu. It's not as spicy anymore and I can swallow big huge chunks of it now. 

Sunday- I went to church and four of our investigators showed up. They all are progressing very well. Three of them should be baptized next week and the other one I just met today and found out he just moved here from another ward close by. He's been taught all the lessons and well see If he's ready for baptism or not. We are being blessed right now. New people are finding us and are prepared. It's really cool to see how The Lord works. Right when we think we have no more serious people, someone is placed right in our path. I hope everyone had a nice Sunday and that you learned a lot. I sure did. 

Today- I am at the temple site and it is so beautiful.

 Elder Green

Adjusting to Odorkor (Accra)

Okay hello everyone. i am here in the city now. With over 1 trillion people all packed together. My area is called Odorkor (you dont pronounce the r's) My companion is named Elder Heaton and he is from texas. He is a sweet man and will be going home in June. SO my area is a lot bigger than the last one. We have to ride bikes everywhere we go and i absolutely hate it because we have to ride on the big highway and im still getting used to the bike and there are no driving rules here... now i live in fear everytime i go out.

The people here are sweet tho. We are planning on having four baptisms on the 7th. And six investigators came to church last sunday! we are planning on having a lot of success together.

So my apartment has 8 missionaries in it. We have a lot of fun together. 3 americans, 2 nigerians, ugandan,phillipino, tongan.  I bought (the game) risk because everyone wanted to play it. We just enjoy together. It is a lot better than my last apartment.

So there is this girl that has been investigating the church for two years now and all the missionaries in the past just gave up on her like the second visit. But i am going to be the one to get through to her and baptize her. Her name is Lollia Harry i think.

One day last week i washed all of my investigators clothes during the lesson. Its small and simple things that can really make a difference. Everyone around us were freaking out and stuff because obronis were washing. When i have kids im going to punish them by making them wash their clothes by hand. Mom and dad, you should start using that for kyle and adri. Theyll learn fast to behave.

I just work and work and work and sweat all day long teaching 50 lessons a day.

More pics from Kwabeng

The missionary trail

On the trail between villages

Chapel in the background

Being Transferred to the City, Odorkor

Yo whats up! So nothing special really happened this week. But I do have some transfer news for you. I will be serving in Odorkor(its in Accra). My new companion will be Elder Heaton. I'll leave kwabeng early wednesday morning and go to my new proselyting area. Apparently i am going to enjoy it there. It has a freaking mall in my area. The bush has been really rough on me. But i enjoyed it out here. It will be a completely new experience in the  city where i don't have to speak all funny so people can understand me.

Mom i got one of your packages. Thank you! i loved all of it. You saved me haha. Can you send me some regular US stamps? so i can send letters home. I just need US stamps.

So tuesday was zone training meeting and i love going to those. I always learn a lot and it is so fun to get together as a zone and see all my friends. Before that we played football against a bunch of school teachers. And that was pretty interesting. Mostly whites against all Ghanaians. They take the game so seriously here because it's literally all they have to do for fun.

On wednesday, We taught Evelyn again. I do not want to leave here. She is so fun to teach and is by far the smartest person i have taught so far. we are already on the third lesson and she keeps all her commitments and reads and prays. Another guy that is awesome is Asante. For some reason he loves me. He calls me like five times a day asking where i am and how i am doing. but he was a referral from a member and he wants to change his life and get on the right path. I hope that both of them will be baptized. We were supposed to have midweek but the light turned off and the backup light wasn't charged so we had no midweek.

Thursday we taught 9 lessons. We went to Akrofufu and did some contacting and met new people. Then we taught a sweet family that won't come to church:( 

Busy Times

Hey family. This week was a pretty cool week. We had lots of stuff that went on this week. I had to take the lead in all planning and teaching and everything this week. I thought it would be rough but it actually wasn't bad at all. We had the best numbers than we had all month. I Will find out if i get transferred on saturday or not. I do know that i will get a new companion because thats just how it works in this mission.

Tuesday we taught a 24 year old named millicent. She is a recent convert and lately she has been letting out major gas during the lessons. Its pretty funny haha. But she is doing well and we have been reading the book of mormon with her. We are now on chapter five of first nephi.

I have been jump roping for 20 mins every morning and i haven't been able to walk correctly for the past week because of that. I just don't want banku gut. (Its like a beer belly)  

So we committed this guy named Asante to be baptized in one month. It was the first time we met him too. The spirit is so strong and i know he has a desire to change his life. We also received a member referral and her name is Evelyn. she is 18 and very sweet and smart. We had great lessons with her and taught her three times last week. She came to church and will be working towards baptism for march 8th. We also extended to another girl named Esther. She accepted but we still have to work on getting her to church. Very sweet people and the spirit is so strong with all of them.

I found me a new washing lady. (the old one moved :()  But now my clothes will actually get clean and my knuckles wont get ruined anymore. Ghana lost the final match of the Africa Cup against Ivory Coast. I was hoping they would win so i could buy a jersey with five stars on it instead of four.

I have started the war chapters in alma. Ive never read the BOM all the way through before (on my own). I never thought of how much it can affect my life. I will hopefully finish soon so i can read it again haha.

Samuel yaboah got baptized last sunday. He was so happy that day and it was an amazing experience. My companion baptized him thankfully. I definitely would not be able to do it because he is a big man. He will be solid in the church and do many great things.

it took us about 2 months to get less active names from the branch. But we finally got three! Something cool about that is a couple days before, we contacted this man who is older and we thought he was going to be a normal investigator because our first meeting we had with him seemed like he knew nothing about the church. But then we found out he's on the list! so we saw him again and he told us he used to be in the church. He loves the church but he was kinda forced to leave because of him and his wife divorcing. But he wants to come back and we are going to work with him.

Mom i wish you were in my branch here. The family history consultant is kind of less active so its hard to get recent converts to have a temple experience. You'd help out so much.

Mom i hope that you know that i pray about you and your work every day and night. (I actually fasted for you last week about that...) I know that if you read Alma chapter something verse something, you will be comforted. Sorry i forgot which one it was. I'll send it to you next time.

So i only have time to send one email at the moment. I'm not in kwabeng. Kwabeng has no power at the moment. So hopefully i'll find time soon.

I love you all and i'll talk to you later. Just be happy and trust in The Lord. He will deliver us out of our afflictions. Thats what i have to remember every second while living in Ghana! LOl. 

Doing Well

So this week went by fast and i am having a hard time remembering what happened. Samuel will be baptized this sunday. I am looking forward to that. He will be solid. I got all of my clothes tailored for like one us dollar per item. We had an open venue about family history on tuesday. I contacted like ten people during that hour. Ghana will probably win the Africa cup. If they do, everything will be crazy and tons of parties. I killed a caught a lizard with my bare hands. I taught many lessons. I don't know what else to say...

I am doing good. There are lots of missionaries that are struggling that are the same mtc group as me. They are really homesick and are just having a rough time. But me? not homesick at all. I love my mission. I cant imagine how hard it would be to be homesick. I promise i'm still working hard and happy. I love you all.