I'm from the Latter-Day Saints!!

On Monday after we emailed we got a drink of fresh coconut milk, which is a very beautiful thing, and headed back to the apartment for the night. 

Home Sweet Home: we are the bottom apartment

Last Tuesday the apartment ran out of gas in our two propane tanks so we had to not only find a place to fill them, but also find a way to get them there and get them back. This is not a task for the faint of heart because they are man-sized tanks and they are hard to move. We eventually got them to the street and found a taxi that would take us to the gas place. By the time we got them filled and back it was starting to get really late in the day. Right as we were walking out of the apartment we got a phone call from the APs telling us not to go anywhere because they were bringing us a few supplies. They ended up bringing us some rechargable fans so that when there isn't any power at night we can still sleep with the cool air rushing over our bodies. After they left we finally got out to do a little teaching and contacted almost the entire evening. 

Rain!!

Wednesday started out with a lot of rain. We almost canceled District Council Meeting because of how hard it is to do things in Africa when it rains. Eventually it kind of let up and we were able to taxi to the chapel. It's a good thing we went because it ended up being one of the best meetings we have ever had as a district. Everyone wanted to take pictures because transfers are tomorrow and we didn't know who would be leaving. After the meeting we found a fruit stand and ate fresh papaya for lunch and then continued on our way to teach. We did some contacting and then met up with a recent convert named Benjamin. Benjamin accompanied us to teach a lesson to our investigator John. It was an awesome lesson and a great chance to see how African people teach and understand different things. It was an awesome learning opportunity for me that I really hope to now apply to my own teaching. 

District Council Meeting 

On Thursday we had a rough start to the day with two really crappy lessons and rejection when contacting. That doesn't normally happen here in Africa so we were shocked and feeling quite depressed. After lunch we decided to push on and go see the man we just baptized on Saturday, Kofi Asare. He brought a friend of his to the lesson. His friend, Peter, has studied Christianity in Israel for 8 years and is really displeased with the way religion is going today. Kofi was a great help and we had a great lesson. After that we again met up with Benjamin and took him to teach not one, not two, but three more lessons with us for that day! He's totally on fire and teaches so well that during those lessons we didn't even have to do anything. We got home really late but it was worth it. 

On Friday we contacted a place that is definitely more "bush" than most parts of our area. We found a cool old man who is a writer. While we don't know if he is crazy or just weird he was still really fun to teach. As we continued down the road we were stopped by a man who said he was a member. He was baptized by an Elder Judy two years ago and when we went to teach him he pulled out a triple combination and a gospel principles book. He asked us to come back whenever we could to teach him. After seeing him we found a chop bar that sold what was real actual food. After eating it was more contacting and then a lesson with one of our better investigators, John. We taught him and then the sister of one of our recent converts. It then started to rain on us and we had to call it a night. 

Saturday kept us really busy with a lot of teaching and a lot of contacting. One contact and lesson we had was with a less active member that lives right next to the apartment. He just recently moved in so we didn't know he was even there. He joined the church in 1984 and only went less active two years ago. We had a great lesson with him and he is really interested in coming back to the church and in bringing his whole family him this time. When we got back to the apartment to pick up our bikes we found out that our electricity credit had run out and that unless we went to buy some we weren't going to have electricity until Monday. We then spent the entire evening trying to find an Electronic Company of Ghana or ECG store. It took hours but we found one and got more credit. We then returned home to a nice lit house where we could relax in peace. 

View of the city while searching for the ECG

On Sunday, Kofi brought his friend Peter to church and after investigators class he made a comment that was really cool. He asked Elder Bwambale where he is from so Bwambale told him Uganda. When Peter was asked where he is from in return, he said, "I'm from Ghana originally but now I'm from the Latter-Day Saints." That was so awesome to hear him say and he is already talking about being baptized! Every appointment we had for the afternoon fell through so we went to see a recent convert, Josephine. We taught her and her brother and then they invited us to chop (eat) with them. It was banku in light soup (tomato soup) with the best fish I've ever tasted in my life. Banku is extremely heavy and very hard to eat but I choked down an entire ball before I started to feel like I was going to die. That was our last appointment for the day so we just went on home.

Haircuts!

Today was P-Day and we decided it was time for haircuts.  Elder McConkie and I cut each others hair.   We did a pretty great job and to celebrate had a wonderful lunch of fresh fruit, papaya and grapefruit. After that we went home for a wonderful hot shower and now here we are at the internet cafe emailing home. That was my week here in Ghana!