January 28 2013

 

 

Hey Mom,

 

Haha ya I figured it would take forever for my letter to get there because of Christmas but 6 weeks ~ Wow!

  

Wow I'm jealous of your winter wonderland over there. I could have gone ice skating outside my house!

 

Sorryiooo mom hope you get better soon, Cold's are no fun at alll.

 

Haha it's funny looking at pictures of Marcus, because I haven't seen anyone with long hair besides dreadlocks in the longest time.

 

Ya I saw Nicky in Melanies pictures, that's sweet he's back again. Is he still working? Is he out in his own apartment now or something? Did you guys do the ice skating party this year?

 

Ya. It's true that American's are rich. A lot of people here get paid less than 20 cents an hour. But that's good to hear that he got a job. Don't worry about him though Ghanains are incredible. They can survive off of nothing. If I ever come back to Ghana I'll definitely go that guy.

 

Maybe I can tell you one story.

 

There's one guy I know that supports his whole family with a little money that his dad gets and the 200 Cedis he gets a month for being like a taxi driver. And he supports 8 People. Now think about dad earning 100 dollars a month and supporting a family of 8. It's not possible right? But somehow Ghanains do it.

 

The weeks been good. 4 out of 5 of our recent converts are still being strong and seem to have friends in the church and I feel pretty confident about them. One of them is not doing so well and he's started avoiding us.. So we'll just have to give it time with him. There's a lot of rumors about the church in Ghana and I think that he mostly just hasn't been discussing them with us.

 

I've made it 4 months now waking up at 6:10 and getting my full 30 minutes of excercise :P. Just had to let you celebrate with me. It would be cooler to say 10 months.. but I can't.

 

Umm.. We've decided to start getting in by 8-8:30 at the latest so that we can stay caught up with the area book, cleaning the house, and my journal. I figured since we don't eat dinner until we get home and in the white hand book it says to stay out no later than 9 or 9:30.. then I'd probably better stay out later than 8 or 8:30 since we don't do the dinner in the day.

  It's been helping out and I'm finally all caught up in my journal. I'm usually writing what happened a few days ago, but now I get to write my day fresh.

 

I still need to make my potatoes :P but I'm excited for them.

 

We've met a few new people. And so we're working with them, Hopefully it goes somewhere.

 

We've also been chasing down a referral from a member who apparently was her husband. Only to find out she's not married and she was just talking about her brother who was already a member haha. Oh Ghanain humor.. She had us good though.

 

I got to go on splits with Elder Trevin Adair which was sweet. Everyone was asking if we were brothers. We got some good Fufu. Had a lot of appointments cancel.. So we did a lot of street contacting, Woot.

 

Yup. Love you all

 

Sorry the letter was kind of short

 

Elder Adair

 

 

January 21 2013

Hey Mom,

 

Brrr, ya I'm not jealous of your cold weather at all :P.

 

Ya I made some Ka Krow, but it wasn't quite as amazing as I was hoping. When I get home I'll perfect it with bananas I'm sure.

 

Haha alright I'll try and get some pictures carrying stuff on our heads. Yes the memory cards have finally come, along with the mashed potatoes, stain remover pens, and mnm's. The MnM's disappeared within a few minutes. The mashed potatoes I still need to make. Maybe tomorrow. But thank you guys for the gifts! I've got to try the stain remover on one of my shirts. (I got the shoe polish on it.. so I've kind of lost hope. But maybe maybe.)

 

We haven't played Monopoly Deal at all. But one day one day. The time will come :).

 

Elder Trevin Adair is from Arizona. This morning I was talking to him about how we would have to go to the grand canyon sometimes. Get a group of missionaries together or something.

 

The week's been good.

 

Monday we did a FHE with our recent convert and his family he's been bringing to church. They really love the gospel, and it's cool to see them together. We did the Elephant King of the Jungle game. (Haha I need to think of a new game probably though)

 

Tuesday we were trying to contact with no luck. We ran into an old guy but he just couldn't grasp much of what we were saying. We found out one of our converts had recently gotten a piano and so I played with him small and said we'd come and teach him hymns. (I wonder if it would be possible to teach piano on more than one person?) Then we taught a young boy who's been coming for 6 months to church so we're just going over the lessons with him before he's baptized. Then we ended up being 30 minutes late to our next appointment (Not good at alllll..), but I helped the lady peel her fish and we ended up getting her to like us. We found out she knew quite alot about the Book of Mormon (She started talking about how they were Israelites who sailed across the sea to a different continent and the prophets wrote there.. I was shocked how well she understood), but surprisingly she didn't know much else. She knew about temple marriage and small about baptisms for the dead. After that we ran into one of recent converts who's been disappearing and were able to help him out small.

 

Wednesday We were able to help another of our recent converts and taught him about temple marriage and he felt good about it. We were able to answer some of his concerns about Joseph Smith as well.

Then we went to the lady who knew alot about the Book of Mormon. We taught her about pre earth life and the fall and she seemed fine with that. She really likes more scripture and doesn't have a problem with it at all.

Then we taught a girl about prophets and how to help determine if it's a true prophet or a false prophet.

Then we had a couple of cancels and met a some boys at an internet cafe who were joking about doing drugs, sleeping with girls, etc. And we were able to get them to be serious and talk about the effects of those things and Elder Shinasi was able to share how he knew people who did those things and now were dead or were homeless, etc.

Then we headed to PEC and then there was a baptism for the other Elders and we just stayed so we could get a signature from the bishop.

 

Thursday We had a couple people cancel so we called up a guy we had met and shared about baptism. He was the most knowledgeable guy in the scriptures I have ever met. But it surprised me that he still didn't distinguish between immersion once and immersion three times. He even quoted Romans 6:3-5, which I thought made it pretty plain. He shared how many people misinterpret the bible because they use reference books instead of just using the Bible plainly. Then we taught a lady  and her friend about baptism. It was kind of a hard lesson because they kept speaking in Fante when I knew they could speak English fine. Then taught another lady about prophets, but her reading wasn't too good and it was hard for her to hear English. A guy that we really wanted to see was busy with some friends.. it's too bad. We had just shared about the Book of Mormon and he was really starting to understand. Then we taught a lady we've been teaching for a while but she's having trouble keeping commitments soo we might have to drop her. We just taught about Judgement and the 3 Kingdoms.

 

Friday our Mission Pres. came and interviewed us. We also got whiteboards to help us with the work (They're actually quite useful). After Lunch we met a guy and talked about Temple Marriage (that one never seems to work because they always say in heaven they aren't given in Marriage.. dang Matthew scripture :P Making it complex to explain) But hopefully we'll teach him again. Then we met with a lady we were referred to and taught about baptism. She wouldn't ask us the questions she had. She said she'd let us come again before she'd ask them. But she's a potential, and understands English well. Then we met with the lady who knew so much about the Book of Mormon. We shared about Christ's Atonement and about the Spirit World and helped to answer her questions on Baptisms for the dead. She was really surprised at the scripture in the Bible.

 

 

Annnd thats about as far as I get.

 

I know that God answers prayers though, There were a few times during the week that we were praying to run into certain people and we were able to see them and help resolve their concerns.

 

Love you guys,

 

Elder Adair

 

January 14 2013

Yup Elder Shinasi and I are still together in the same area in Kweikuma.

Elder Shinasi is from From London, England.

Ya the MTC change is the reason I have 2 weeks for my mission, and for the transfer as well.

Yup when Elder Sitati came to our mission he told us that because of the age change it would more than double the missionaries in the field.

Umm I haven't gotten any packages yet but the reason why is because now it has to go through the post and also the office elders, where before I could just pick it up from the office because I lived right next to it. So packages take probably double the time to get to me.

My sore throat and headache are gone, they just lasted a few days.

Oo I'm jealous of the snow. The sidewalks are 4 to 6 feet high? Wow that sounds higher than I've ever seen it. You guys didn't get snowed inside the house then?

That's going to be strange going back to our old church building while you're at the young single adult building.

                                                  Brady with his first companion in the field Elder ?

This week has been a bit slow for me, but I think we've found a few potential members.

Last night Elder Shinasi woke me up by saying "Hold This, Hey Hey Hey, Hold This" and I asked him "What do you want me to hold" and he said "Uhh I don't know." Then he woke up and said "What what what?" haha apparently he was having a dream about making chicken and he wanted me to hold a pan or something haha.

On Monday we had a little District party at the Sekondi apartment. They made us Chipati with beans (Elder Wamono and Elder Eruba from Uganda made it) And it was really good I'm thinking about making it for lunch for a week. I'm still a terrible cook though. Elder Ayang is in my district (My MTC companion), and so I got to relax with him a bit as well.

Oh and Elder Trevin Adair has become my zone leader again which is sweet. He misses Cape Coast, but he's in a good companionship so I think he'll like it over here soon.

During the evening we ran into one of the members and she told us her son was sick and wanted us to go give him a blessing. So we went and he said he'd been praying for us to come. We were able to give him a blessing and he was feeling well the next day. (he'd been sick for quite a while too)

And Finally we did a baptism interview and everything went well.

Tuesday we had combined District Meeting, and got the report from the ZL's about what we need to do better. I was laughing because everything they said we needed to improve on - From using Black ink on the Baptismal Records to Keeping our Wallets and Credit Cards safe.

The font was actually working for once and the Zone Leaders checked it for us to make sure it filled all the way. That was nice not having to worry about filling up a font for once.

Afterwards we went to visit members but they were all busy. We ran into one member though and helped her prepare some food, but of course she ended up giving some to us. She even told us not to say Medasi (Thank you) because she would be offended. Haha here it's basically like if you say no to food then it's really offensive. And sometimes they'll be sneaky about it and they'll say "I'm making some rice" and if you don't ask for some they'll get mad and say why don't you like me? Sooo Elder Shinasi has given up on saying no. But man people are asking us all the time to give us food now. I don't know why.

Oo but she made some Ka Krow, You've got to try this one out

Ka Krow is made of:

A sauce made of Garlic, Onion, Ginger, Spring Onion, Carrot, and Green Chili Pepper

Then since you don't have plantains you could use bananas and mash them. Then put in the sauce.

Then add flour.

and then fry it in oil. Mmmmmm Delicious. I bought the ingredients today and I'm going to make it.

Then we just went contacting searching for new people to teach.

Their was a lady carrying a big sack of oranges on her head so we helped her carry it up the hill. It's smart how they do it on their head. But it starts to kill your neck quickly if you aren't use to it.

Then we ran into another guy that we'd taught before but he hadn't really let us come again. I just shared about how in Solomon's temple their was a big font that rested on the back of twelve oxen, and kind of asked him what he thought that was for. So we shared a bit about what goes on in the temple. But he just wasn't very serious. He just told me only his pastor could say what it was really talking about. (Here they think a temple is just a chapel)

One of our appointments wasn't home again.. She likes to do that.

Finally we saw one of recent converts members brothers. It's sweet he's been bringing his 2 sisters and his brother and then one of his friends. And he's just so powerful we keep running into people and finding out he's shared the gospel with them already haha. And he knows the doctrine's really well because he's studied the bible so much.

 It was funny he was sharing with me how I think it was Peter? or Paul? Was caught up into the third heaven. It just made me laugh because he was teaching us about the Three Kingdoms of Glory.

Wednesday we decided to try one of recent converts referalls he gave us a while back and she actually gave us some time to share the message about baptism. She understood it super well which surprised me because women usually aren't usually as well educated, but she grasped it right off.

January 7 2013

Heyy

 

Thanks for the update on your week. Sounds like things are going well. Sorry Tyson for not getting extra time. Sounds like a cool firework show you guys got to see though that's cool.

 

Hey Les Miserables, I've always wanted to see that musical. I've heard it's good but I've never seen it before. How was it?

  

The 2 weeks thing is for sure. I will be staying in the field two weeks longer than when first called but I'm actually glad about it because at one point in my mission I was sick for 2 weeks. Now I get to make it up a bit :).

Noww.. I was going to tell you about my week, but I don't have my planner for last week since it's a new transfer. soo it's not as easy to remember.. But I'll try for you

 

Oh by the way transfer news came and Elder Shinasi and I will be staying together for 2 more months (this transfer will be 8 weeks instead of 6 because of the 2 week change for the MTC thing)

 

Soo on Monday. I wrote you guys annndd umm. uh. I can't remember. The days are all mixed up in my head.

 

Things I can remember that happened at some point this week -

 

One of our recent converts has been proselyting with us. He's sweet! He knows the bible really well as well soo he's always pulling out scriptures while we're teaching. And for Christmas we bought him a bible and triple combination with the index, topical guide, and bible dictionary. And while we were teaching one guy about alcohol not being good he flipped to the topical guide and found scriptures to back it up as well. Haha I was happy about that. And he's really persistent and wants to go on a mission. I definately think he will. On Sunday he brought 2 of his brothers and his sister as well and then one of his friends. He has a strong testimony and has a lot of friends in the church as well. The friend that he brought to church though we've been teaching this week and he believes that everything we've taught is true. The problem is that his Grandmother won't let him leave his other church.. So we'll work with that. But his friend had friends in the church as well. In fact his best friend comes to our church soo if we can just get his Grandmother to allow him then I'm sure he'll become a strong member. But ya he's been referring us to all of his friends and even random people on the street that he finds to share the gospel.

 

We met with the couple we've been meeting with and they love everything we've taught them. Even the wife still wants to be baptized. But the guy is still struggling with getting an answer. I'm not sure what is holding him back. They promised to come to church as well but didn't show up.. So it's strange. I still feel like one day they will come.

 

One of the guys we were teaching is still concerned about money, but he loves the church at the same time. I think it's mostly because we're two white guys and he wants to go to England though. Which is kind of interesting because from what Elder Shinasi has told me is that they want to go to England so bad, but when they finally get to England all they want to do is go back home. But he didn't end up coming to church. Some of his comments made me a chuckle a little bit.. Like about him being a lion, and if someone has an evil spirit that wants to come and destroy him he would be able to destroy them with his spirit.. Just had to add that. Too funny not to.

 

Umm what else. I was sick with a sore throat which has changed into a runny nose and headache for the past few days. It's hard to proselyte like that. But hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow.

 

A few of those who we taught were able to receive the priestood this Sunday as well which was a special experience. I feel a lot more confident about them in this ward because there are so many members to help lift them as well.

 

But yup that's all the info you get for this week.

 

Hope everything's going well back home. Talk to you next week.

 

Love you

 

Elder Brady Adair