Cat, Rain, and the World Cup... makes life interesting

Hello everyone!!  Hope that you have had a wonderful week and I hope that the preparations for moving are going well for you back home.  Sounds like everyone is definitely keeping busy back home.  We have been busy here as well, but struggling with having the investigators keep their side of things... we ended up dropping 8 of our 12 investigators this week because people weren't ever able to see us or weren't keeping any commitments anymore...  I have found that we can only help people the most we can but then it comes to the point that people have to act for themselves... we can't make people act... we have been given agency so we can only help others see the good choices that they can make... but we can't make those choices for them.  So we have been trying to work on having this area pick up again.... just as soon as I thought that things were starting to get good again... it took a little dive, but that is life... sometimes it's a roller coast ride :)  But all is well... just going to require a little more work.  And that is going to be a little harder as the World Cup started this last week... people seem to have the attentions otherwise occupied.  and since USA is playing Ghana today... I have been getting people saying that "We are going to score you!" and how USA is going to loose today... I guess time will tell.  Interesting that the first match for either side is USA and Ghana.  It has been raining a ton this week as well... Elder McKeon and I were drenched on Friday.... completely soaked.  And we went Friday after noon to go make fufu for a family in the ward, as we have been trying to work with and serve the members.  That was tons of fun, but while I was there I knocked my scriptures off a ledge into a bucket full of the rainwater.... Opps. Luckily they didn't get too wet as the case Mom sent me protected most of it :)  But yeah... good thing that I was carrying my old scriptures that day that were already falling apart.  But yeah... yesterday was sweet.  Our ward had three baptisms yesterday, one of which was a child of record but we have been working with reactivating the family a lot... they were so happy.  It was really cool to see.  And then we were fed a bit yesterday.... the Relief Society president, Sister Eduful, fed us etil, something like banku.  It was really good but then we went to take a member to go to a lesson with us but he insisted us to eat first.  And he was eating cat!  So we had some nice cat and soup that tasted really nice... cat is probably the nicest meat I had or at least one of the best... it is really similar to chicken.  Then we were given coconuts.  When I first had coconut, which was my first week I hated it.... it was really nice now.  I crave Ghanaian foods now.  It is kind of interesting.

So recently I have been reading the New Testament and as I have been reading things, events about the life of Christ have become clearer and clearer... funny how that happens.  But one thing that I have noticed is how bold Jesus Christ really is.  He boldly states the truth, which many find hard to believe as much of it is new to the people he is preaching to.  He was showing them the way and how he was sent there to be the way.  But he also did it with such humility... he truly is the master teacher.  When we look to him we truly will learn a ton.

Well, I love you all!  I hope that you all keep safe and have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

My Fante name is Kwabena and this can has my name!

Susie

Fufu

Part of an unfinished house collapsed

How they collect water

Elder Walston waiting to eat cat.

 

The Tender Times

Hello all!  Hope that you all had a wonderful week!  It was a pretty good week for us.  It has been rough as most of our investigators haven't been doing anything that we have asked but it still has been good.  Elder McKeon and I are working hard and it is a blessing that we are going to stay together at least another transfer.  I am lucky to be able to stay here... I love Kojokrom and it will be my longest area so far.  But yeah... this week has been full of service.  Which I love to do.... I pounded a ton of fufu this week.  My hands now have a few blisters but it was all worth it... people are always surprised to see white men do work.  The people here have the idea that whites are weak and can do any physical work... always fun to surprise them.  But yeah... we even went to one of our member's and investigator's houses and made fufu for them and their family...that was a very fun and cool experience.  Doing things like that just helps you to know and relate to the people here better.  It was really rather cool.  It started pouring rain in the middle of doing it so it made it a little tricky.  It really is raining a ton here though.  I have seen three houses in the past two days where the rain cause the foundations to give out and the house partly or completely collapsed.  One of the house was one of our members home.... the one side just completely crumbled... sad to see.

These last few months we have been working with a less active family and things have started to go a lot better for them.  They have really wanted their 8 year old daughter to be baptized and we have helped the family become active again so that can be accomplished.  It is really cool to see people change.  The hardest thing to do here is reactivation I feel.  There are so many less actives and that can be due to the carelessness of the missionaries and the members and it can put the people's salvation at jeopardy... we just have to do our best to make sure that we remain strong and help all those around us.

Well... I love you all!  I hope that you have a wonderful week!  Take care!

Elder Walston

 

Pay close attention to the girls shirt...

Excited to be eating Pizza!

Excited to be eating fufu!

"The toilet I got to use :)"

"My last time seeing Elder Molefe.... he goes home today."

 

"Julie & I"

 

June Already?

Hey everyone!  I hope that the week has been very good for all of you.  This week has been pretty sweet.  Thanks to Mom and Dad my companion and I had the stuff to make pizza and enjoyed some yesterday.  It was really nice. :)  Haven't tasted much American food in quite a while... still tastes rather nice.  We were really full leaving the apartment after eating and we went to our recent convert's house to see if she could help us with some lessons, but when we get there she said that she had fufu waiting for us... I was so fulll after that but very grateful of the generosity... the people here in Ghana are so caring ... but on to this week.  It rained a lot this week... all the Ghanaians are starting to say... oh, the rainy season is here.  The rain makes it a lot harder to go proselyting because all the lessons that we teach are outside and the Ghanaians sleep or other stuff when it rains... but it was all fun.  On Tuesday we had a member of our ward ask for a blessing of comfort from us, as she is taking her exams in the last year of her high school, and she had a friend, who is not a member come to get one as well.  It was a really cool experience to be able to give these blessings and I was really able to feel guided in what to say.  I have had a lot of opportunities to give blessings since I have been here in Ghana and it is a very cool experience.  Yesterday I was also able to take place in a confirmation.  These are all very cool experiences where I have been able to have been guided by the hand of the Lord.  Blessings of doing the Lord's work.  This week we had a hard time with some of our investigators... one of them, was looking really promising and all of a sudden told us to stay away from her for the next month.  No reason. She won't explain, she just wants us to stay away for a month... then we had another one who has just started lying to us... especially about the Word of Wisdom... it is hard to help people when they deny themselves the help and won't face the truth.  Sometimes the truth is hard, but when we face it, it will be the best for us in the long run.  So we ended up dropping those two, at least for now.  Until they will listen to that which we have taught them.  But this week we starting teaching a Naval Officer in the Ghana Navy.... big man and a sweet man.  We taught him inside his home... a really nice home and I think this was only the second time where I have taught a lesson while sitting on a couch...  I have hope for this man a he was a referral from one of the members in our ward. 

Well I love you all!!  Hope you have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Miracles truly do happen

Hello all!!  Hope that your week has been wonderful because ours has.  We have been blessed this week as all the work we have been putting in is starting to pay off... we are starting to get more investigators and a few more serious people to teach.  We have been pretty busy this week.  We had interviews with President Shulz on Wednesday and that was neat... our last time that we will have interviews with him before he leaves to go home. :(  The Shulz have been awesome for the mission.  President Stephenson will arrive on the 28th of June... exactly one year after I came out... kind of interesting.  But we had some really good instruction from the assistants about how we need to have a deeply rooted and genuine love for the Savior and that will lead to everything else... it will allow us act for the people here and develop a love for the Ghanaian people.  It will drive us to act... they compared it to the difference between Nephi and Laman.  Nephi was deeply rooted while Laman was not so when they faced 'drought' or hard times it caused Laman to 'perish' while Nephi was able to survive.  It was cool, but too short.  Especially the interview as President was rushed since we were combined with Sekondi.  But yeah... it was sweet.  Then this weekend our ward's ward conference.  They make a much bigger deal about it here than they do back home... it is bigger for them than General Conference is for them.  But it went rather well... our chapel was so crowded though... not everyone could even fit inside the chapel.  The stake leaders had some good things to teach the members. 

Then today we had a District activity at the Julanders, the couple missionaries on the Takoradi side of the mission.  That was way fun and sweet.  Sister Julander made us cinnamon rolls!!  Way good... and we watched 17 Miracles.  That movie is very good and very inspiring.  It makes me want to have that kind of determination that the early pioneers had when on the trek... they went through so much compared to what we go through... we need to do our best with everything we do.  The Lord will not place anything too hard in our way even if we think it is.  The Lord knows our limits and he truly pushes those limits to the max but he will be there to lift us up.  Those trials are the things that build us... You can take it that if the Lord allows trials to come your way that is because he knows you are strong and can handle them. 

Oh yeah... I got a package from you Mom and Dad!  Thank you!  It was in a box :)

Well I love you all!  Hope that your week is amazing!!

Elder Walston

Another one for the books...

Hello everyone!  Hope that you have had a wonderful week.  This week was good... we were able to have a baptism this week.  Stephen Mensah Effisah.  He is sweet, has a great personality, will become a great leader in the church... that is my hopes anyway.  It is funny... after his baptism, there was a bird inside the church in one of the classrooms... I saw him walk in and then he came out carrying a bird... something like a Robbin... but just carrying it in his hands. Other than that this week we have been trying to work with the members and trying to find more people to teach, more serious people to teach.  One of the hardest things is finding those people.  But it has been going well... just have to keep on pressing forward.  One interesting thing that I got to do is I got to dedicate a man's home this last week.  A member who we are good friends with, actually from a different ward asked us to come to his house that he just moved into (which is now in our boundaries, but a lot of people don't really listen to the boundaries).  He asked me to dedicate it for him... definitely something that I thought that I would never get to do while I was out here.  I get plenty of opportunities to perform blessings... but I never thought that this would happen.  It was pretty cool to do.

So one interesting thing I have learned from my studies this past week... not really a spiritual thought, but an informative thought... So it took six days to create the world and the seventh he rested... and from the Doctrine and Covenants and the book of Revelation we learn that the earth's span will be seven thousand years long and that Christ will come again at the begginging of the last thousand years... one day in the eye of the Lord is a thousand years here on earth... which means means seven days and the last (the Millennium) will be a day of rest.... just an interesting thought.

But yeah... a cool quote I found this week, which I found in PMG is something like the most important work that we can do is within the walls our our own home...  our families are so important... we need to always strengthen and uplift one another... that is the way we will all be able to succeed... when we strengthen and uplift one another, everything will go better.

 

Sorry, but when I come to email.... I forget the things of the week... but I love ya all!

Elder Walston

And the floods came up...

Sorry.... I don't have any time but I talked to you all yesterday..... Love you! The work is continually trucking along! Have a wonderful week!!
Elder Walston

And the rains came down...

This week was pretty solid.... it was a busy week.  We now have two more missionaries in our apartment so we had to do a little bit with transfers and making the apartment suitable for six missionaries.  But yeah.... this week we have had fun working hard.  This week it has rained a ton... pretty much every day this week... that has made it fun proselyting...makes it a little bit of a mud pit.  But it's all fun and games. :)  Elder McKeon and I were able to teach quite a few people and we have been really trying to find more people to teach... it has been rather hard to find new people to teach because everyone we talk to wants us to talk to them but they are in their ways and aren't willing to keep commitments or they just want to talk to the "obrunees".  We have doing our best at working with the members with referrals, but most of the members don't live in our area. :)  But the work is slowly progressing!

Yesterday we were able to come to Takoradi and gather as a stake to watch two sessions of this last General Conference... we were able to watch Saturday afternoon session and Sunday morning session... there were some very good and inspiring talks.  I very much enjoy listening to all the talks and I am excited to e able to read the rest of them once I get a Liahona on my hands.  Our leaders are very inspired men and women.

Since I have been here I have realized that the Lord blesses us with so many tender mercies.  There are so many things around us each day, as long as we pay attention, that we are truly blessed with from the Lord.  I have been taking some time each day just to think about these tender mercies that the Lord blesses us with... it is rather cool to see and realize everything the Lord does. It is something that each of us can do that will help us be more thankful for what we have been so kindly given.

Well... I love you all!!!  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Llook what I found in Takoradi!!!! Way too much... but it tasted good!