Monday, April 28, 2014

Hello!

Hello! This week was pretty good!  We had a ton of help from the members and that was an absolute blessing!  It makes things so much easier when we have the help of the members... we actually had one of them call us Friday morning and tell us that she was free and ready to go out proselyting with us... such a blessing.  Especially for our investigators that do not speak any English.  This work becomes so much harder without the members and virtually impossible.  Been a blessing this week.  We had one lesson this week where the Father decided to join and he was completely drunk... he tried to take over the lesson and say everything... lets just say it was frustrating... but a tender mercy of the Lord after a few minutes of that is that his grandchild pooped his pants so he went off dealing with that for the rest of the lesson.  The Lord works in many different ways and he blessed us by a little boy pooping his pants... who would have thought?
It has been raining quite a bit these last few weeks... it makes it rather hard to go around and things... at least it makes the bottom of my pants really muddy along with my shoes... but I have yet to slip and fall in the mud!  The rain is really nice because it cools everything down but the following days are always no fun since it makes it very hot and humid... but things are definitely cooling down since rainy season has started to come.  
So this week is transfers and for the first time everything is staying the same!  I am very grateful for that and I hope that I get to stay in Kojokrom for quite awhile... I love the people here.  I feel that as long as you work your hardest... the longer you stay in an area the more you learn to love them and don't want to leave.  I hope that I get to stay here at least a few more months.  I am tired of moving from place to place... but the Lord has a plan for me and everything will work out!
Well... I love you all!  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston
 
It rained...a lot...
 

A classic child being scared by the big abrunnee.
Sunset
The monkey actually belongs to a less active member!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Time keeps on tickin'

Hello everyone!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to enjoy the celebration of the Savior's resurrection.  This week was kind of slow for me... I was still pretty sick most of the week and we didn't get to go out until Friday.  But I am feeling up to par now.... much better.  The whole entire time that I was sick I was craving some kenke.... I have absolutely no idea why but I was... so we ended up getting some on Saturday.  Funny because that was the food I hated the most when I came to Ghana.  But things end up changing opinions.... right?
But yeah.... yesterday was Easter and we had a really hard time teaching anyone since everyone was doing their Easter things.  But life is good.
Just as yesterday was Easter, want to make sure that everyone realizes the importance.... that Christ, he lives!  He died for us but he lives and he is here for us to help us and lift us up.  
I love you all... sorry for the short email... Have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Monday, April 14, 2014

A Baptism!!!

Hello all!  I hope everything is good back home!  This week has been pretty good.  It has rained quite a bit and I think that rainy season is starting to hit.  It actually rained hard enough that a section of the wall around the church fell because the rain caused the soil to come loose underneath it. But this week has been good... we were able to teach a lot and Julie was able to be baptized yesterday.  That was sweet!  It was hard to get the baptismal font filled... we tried to start filling it on Saturday morning but the water was not flowing through the pipes... luckily it started flowing by the end of the night... blessings of the Lord.  Ghana seems to like to not have running water or electricity... but the Lord's work will still go forward.
One cool thing that Elder McKeon did this week is that last Monday night he stayed up a little because he had to prepare an instruction for District Meeting on Tuesday.  But after I went to bed he but sticky notes all over my desk of things about me.. pretty cool.  He is a sweet guy and I enjoy being companions with him.
This week has been fun, the only downside is that I have been sick since Saturday... completely out of energy, but the Lord is blessing me.  Giving me the strength I need to do the things to do his work here.  I am just glad that I have been able to do everything that I needed to do.  I was worried that I would not be able to make to Julie's baptism but I was good enough that I was able to go to church and the baptism that followed.  
So I have recently started reading the Doctrine and Covenants...  it talks a lot about missionary work and how there is so much of it that we can do around us.  I believe in four or five of the first 15 chapters it talks about how there is a marvelous work before us and that if we thrust in our sickle that great things will come.  We must all do our best, try our hardest and do all that we can to help this work go forward.  Share this gospel with all those around us.  I have learned that the scriptures are a great source of knowledge... we must study from them and then apply them to our lives... this is how we will grow and learn!
I love you all!  Sorry that this email was short but hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Elder McKeon knows that Elder Trevor Walston loves his sister! :)
 

Driving the Banku.
Elder Walston's nice little sandal tan lines.
The church wall kind of fell...
Elder McKeon, Julie, & Elder Walston
Elder Walston cooking food.
 

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Just another week...

This week was pretty good... just another solid week with our investigators... we were trying to help people the most we could.  We have been preparing Julie this last week as she is going to be baptized on Sunday.  She is powerful and most of the time we go to meet with her, she will teach us.  But yeah... this last week we had a bit of kenke, which I thought was the worst food in the world when I got here... but I am actually liking it pretty well right now.  Elder McKeon and I made a sweet Ghanaian stew... they make really good stews here that you eat with either rice, yam, cassava, plantain, kenke, or banku.  But yeah... just normal life.  This week we decided to try this little treat that we saw being sold on the side of the road... it tasted like this little peanut butter ball but then I got a kick that made it taste nasty... turned out that they put hot peppers in it.... Ghanaians really like hot peppers here for some reason...
But yeah... not too much has happened this week.  We played some footbal with some kids this week while we waited for an investigator and that was way fun... But I can definitely tell that I am out of shape....  I have lost all of my endurance... But we played a little bit of rugby today for fun as a Zone Activity.  Pretty Fun.
So a little spiritual though today.  A scripture that I really like is D&C 121:7-9.  We all will have adversity and afflictions but we must endure them well.  It is only a small moment of time that we will have to endure these things... and we have people on our side.  The Lord is on our side... we must all try our best to push through what we have in front of us. 
Love you all!  Have a wonderful week!
Elder Walston