Week 8: Mad Men (again), Changes, Fit 5 Kids in My Lap and MORE!

Week 5 in Akim Oda! 

So this week was pretty chill, but by chill I mean really hot! Last Monday, after I was done emailing, the AP's (Assistants to the Mission President) called about our 21 referrals contacted.  They talked to Elder Bloomfield and then wanted to talk to me. They said I was the perfect example of a junior companion. I have no clue what that means.  Is it good or bad? Haha .  (I told him that he was supportive and hard-working and that it WAS good)

Me and Elder Hunt went on an exchange together this week.  That was pretty fun.  It's good to figure out how other people teach. A wise 14 year old told me this week:  "I will beat you, you never forget."  I fit 5 kids in my lap this week which just shows you how tiny the kids are here in Ghana.  (He tried to send a picture.  It wouldn't resize to fit---maybe next week)

President Snow (his interim mission president until July) has already made some changes to the mission:

1. If you don't send him a weekly letter you don't get subsistence 

2. All the missionaries don't meet up at transfers anymore. You just go right to your new area. 

3. Book of Mormon devotionals (not sure what these are yet) are within companionships now which is odd. 

Thursday was the first time I put on sunscreen this week.  I'm still not getting sunburned. I gave a blessing this week but it was awkward because we can't give one until they directly ask us for one.  All they said was please pray for me. 

Me and my companion decided that they need to make a white handbook just for African missionaries because the mission president has like a bunch of things that he needs to alter. We read in the white handbook that we aren't allowed to proselyte near church buildings. Akim Oda is like a Utah of other churches so I guess we cant proselyte haha jk. 

I have noticed this week that i definitey have the power to calm small kids down that are upset and maybe crying, All I have to do is walk up to them and say 'tobo' and they stop instantly. I found a place where I can buy Redbull here in Oda so on Mondays I treat myself to one haha.

Monday

Normal p-day--The wash lady came to wash our clothes. There is a kid who is about to go on a mission and he is trying to get as much money as possible. So we gave him some work. He cleaned our house for us! So glad I figured out how to send pictures home (me too!) but it's a long process. I have to go and edit each one individually and resize the ones i want to send. It takes forever. We played games with the other missionaries. Our choices were Monopoly and Risk and I wasn't trying to play a game all night. So we went with Risk and I beat everyone. So I was pretty happy.

Tuesday

Me and Elder Hunt went on exchanges today. The work didn't really pick up until after lunch. We just did a bunch of contacting because some appointments fell through. We did find a less active who hasn't been to church in 4 years because the past branch president forced them to speak English. You will find that a lot here. People will not come to church because they didn't speak Twi in the past branch they were in. I am surprised about how well I know my huge area after only being here for 5 weeks. Today was interesting we watched a young boy cut the head off of a chicken and of course Elder Hunt had to record it.... I literally couldn't watch because that stuff makes me sick! We told the people that we went to go see  today that Elder Bloomfield got hit by a Trotro so we got a couple of laughs out of day. So a big thing here is people who really respect you will give you malt to drink, so Elder Hunt and I went to go see an investigator who gave us malt and crackers but she handed us the malt first. Elder Hunt doesn't really like it. so when the investigator went into the other room I chugged my malt and gave it to him really quickly started to drink his too. When the investigator came back with the crackers Elder Hunt held up my malt bottle and said hmmmm this was very good. I literally just gave him the evil eye because my stomach was feeling bad from chugging it. But it's all good because he ate the crackers for me so guess you could say we are a good team hahaha. The Lathams brought me more sunscreen and aloe vera so that was pretty chill.

Wednesday

The day felt like it went by so slow. We went to go talk to more less actives and try to re activate them. There is one in particular that has a problem with drinking so we are trying all we can to help him. He said he hasn't touched the bottle in a couple of weeks so that is a start. We found a place that sells french fries so you know me and Bloomfield were all over that! We rescheduled coordination because we had a really important lesson with some referrals that ended up falling through. Anyways we were mad haha. We ended the day kinda early at 8:30.

Thursday

Fun fact: So I woke up at like 1 in the morning with stomach problems and kinda threw up, I'm pretty sure it was those french fries I ate the night before. This was weird to me because I don't really throw up so my body must not like how crappy french fries are for you! This week we like to call affliction week. It's the last week before we get more subsistence and everyone is so broke. I felt like I lost more this week than I have in the 2 months being on a mission. The day was really cloudy and windy, We were really hoping for rain but it never came and we were sad. Elder Hunt is having some cold symptoms so we are all praying for him. We finally got our door fixed and our exploded light fixed but our toilet still leaks everywhere.

Friday

Nothing really happened today in particular

Kitchen Selfie

Saturday

Today we tried the best we could to make every appointment. We had them scheduled for every 30 minutes. We were very busy. We went to Zongo and Islamic today. We have an investigator out there we are still trying to figure out if he is serious or not. Me and Elder Bloomfield ran out of money after lunch so we were wondering what we were going to do. In the evening time an appointment fell through so we went to visit a member of the branch presidency who just returned home from schooling. His name is President Asante who has to be like 25 at the oldest. We were just seeing how he was and stuff and out of nowhere his wife brings us this huge plate of rice and stew and fish. Literally this made our night because it was an answer to our prayers (and his mom's too)! and when we were on our way home after that a member called us over and invited us over for dinner on Sunday evening they wanted to prepare Banku and brown nut soup for us which was a blessing.

Pounding Fufu

Sunday

Next week will officially mark my 2 month mark on my mission. I can't believe how fast time has gone honestly. I'm excited because after today we won't be broke anymore and I can eat like a normal human being. I had a strange amount of energy waking up this morning, We were supposed to go pickup a less active for church so I guess I was blessed with more energy. We left the house at about 7 so I had to get ready fast. I'm so used to taking my time. All the missionaries had to participate in Sacrament because there was no youth there whatsoever. Only like 40 people showed up to church. The struggle is real fam. At church I was quoted in Sacrament Meeting by the kid who was leaving on a mission. His talk was on finding the bright side in everything you do. I guess people really do watch the things you do. We had a fun encounter with a mad man on the way home from church who apparently doesn't like white people. We walked by him and greeted him (not knowing he was mad) and he started following us. So we ran. I was scared. Honestly it was creepy.

Today (Monday)

We aren't broke anymore!

Encounter with the same mad man in market

Going to make banana bread and fried cassava tonight

I am so grateful for the support family and friends have been giving me. I'm glad I made the decision to serve and I know that this is the right place to be. Ghana  is definitely going to change me for the better. I have already seen the difference it has made in my life. I have already met such great people here in Ghana and am excited for the days to come.

Great email this week!  Grateful for wonderful people who take care of my missionary when he's hungry!  Keep the emails coming!  He appreciates them.