Week 27: Lights Out (Majorly)! But Better Late Than Never on an Email! Cat Soup??

Accra Temple at Night

The power was out all day yesterday.  I know this because another missionary from the mission emailed me to tell me that Elder McFarland was fine and that the power had been out.  Shout out to Elder Boston Hunt!  :-)

This morning I received some answers to questions and a few pictures.  This afternoon, I received a little more info.  Here it is!

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Q: Have you heard when you might get a new companion?  Will it be until the next transfer?

        

A; I have a new companion. His name is Elder Wilson. He is the same MTC group as me!

Elder Wilson and I

Q: How has the work been working with the Branch Missionaries? I bet you are only focusing on less actives, right? Is it Branch Mission Leader who works with you or other people? 

-    A:  Pretty much the couple days I was with branch missionaries. I went and had them show me old investigators that they felt could help them progress and less-actives. I worked with the Branch Mission Leader who is preparing to serve a mission.

Cat Soup?? 

Q:  Do you get “picked up” by someone to work for the day or do you get dropped off?

A:  No. We all just waited at the apartment until the branch missionaries came.

Q: This week, the church came out with new standards for sister missionary dress in warm climates (like you and Andy’s missions).  While proselyting, the sisters can now wear slacks or long skirts and they encourage them to wear long sleeves to get as much coverage as possible.  They are concerned about Dengue Fever, Zika, etc.  They will still wear skirts to church as always.  This applies only to proselyting. Also, each of these missions is required to provide you with the bug sprays with the DEET that is recommended.  So it sounds like you will not have to get anymore of the bug stuff nor will we have to send you any because of this change.  Have you heard about these changes?

A: Nope the Ghana Accra West Mission is still in a bubble.

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So this week has been pretty interesting. I would say I wasn't expecting some of the things that have happened. Well, Tuesday afternoon my companion was emergency transferred and I literally didn't have a companion until Friday evening. I was technically in a threesome with the other guys but working in my area alone with branch missionaries. It is definitely something different. But I made it work. I guess technically you can say that I have been with a district leader every transfer of my mission haha. So I have a new companion. His name is Elder Wilson. He is from Washington and he literally came to Ghana on the same plane so that is cool. Honestly, this companionship will be the best for both of us and we will get a lot of work done.

At the Mall with Elders Lambson and Smith

I don’t really have that much to say. So I guess I’ll tell you a little bit about what is going on in my area. Right now we are just trying to get the branch to help us do missionary work. We have been really struggling to do this. We have just been trying to gain the trust of the branch by going to church activities and asking the branch president for specific assignments like Preach My Gospel says. So wish us luck. But we are really trying to push the member missionary work here. President doesn't want us to knock doors anymore. We should get referrals and work with those.

I guess I forgot how hard it is to lead an area. The last time I did it, it was in my training with an area that is a lot easier to memorize than this one. But I guess maybe this is somewhat of a test for me. Who knows? I wasn't expecting this. I guess with Lewis-Reese all I did was follow him around. But I guess now it’s time that I take charge!

I would say that definitely being obedient will make you a happy missionary. I think some people think that disobedience makes missionary work fun or gives it some flavor. But honestly, I would say that it’s just a lot more worth it if, by the end of your mission, you can look back and not regret a single bit of your mission. I think that is my goal and that’s what is always making me always strive to do those good things, to be an example. But obviously I’m not perfect. So that is why we always need to just want to be better.

My Area

So on more of a funny note, something funny happened yesterday. I was just minding my own business in my room studying Revelations and next thing you know a bat, yes a bat, flies into our house and starts causing havoc. Literally I saw this thing and I almost cried. These things scare the crap out of me. I just shut the door to our room so that this thing wouldn’t come near me. I am lucky that I have people in my apartment who aren’t scared of those things or I would be doomed. That’s just something funny that happened this week.

This is how we visit here.

Well, this email was kinda fake and so is the light here in Ghana. I promise I’ll have a better email next week!

We couldn't eat it all so we asked for some help!