Dreaming of a Black Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I'm really missing the snow right now. but Christmas is the best when you get to give the best gift ever to everyone. it is so great to be a missionary during Christmas time. this last week we had our Christmas conference. we got to go to the temple site and eat a ton of delicious food, and president hill gave us some gifts, and we got to do a session at the temple. it was such a great thing to go through the temple. i have missed it. i felt so much peace.

President hill gave us these cool wood carvings of a sankofa bird. Sankofa in twi means to go back for something good. San means good, ko means go, and fa means back. they are really cool.

Our week proselyting was great! we worked really hard this week. i don't know, we have had such great lessons with such great people, but no one is progressing... it is kind of frustrating. it can be difficult to tell who is serious and who isn't. people are just so polite and they wont tell you that they aren't interested. the last couple Sundays we only had one investigator to church. but she is a referral, so she could be really promising. we haven't taught her yet, but we will see this week.

But all is well in Kasoa! hahaha i don't know why, but water has been a struggle this last couple of weeks. we have had water for i think three days in that period of time, and our apartment is getting so nasty... we cant mop, or do dishes, and i have been fertilizing the field next to our apartment really well, but i am getting good at pure water showers! lol

One day we finished a lesson and decided that we would contact, and the first person we saw was a lady a little ways off of the path sitting on her porch. we started talking to her and asked her if we could help her with what she was doing. she replied, "only Jehovah can solve my problems!" i looked at my companion with the look that means lets just keep going, but he started to walk toward her. we told her who we were, and then explained that we would like to start with prayer. she said, "no just tell me what you came to tell me and leave." hahah at this point i looked at my companion again with the look of please can we just leave! haha (she was obviously a Jehovah's Witness) after that she and my companion bible bashed for about 30 minutes trying to prove to each other who Jehovah was... it was a disaster. she was screaming at us and i was laughing, and then she told us to leave. we got her name, but i don't think we will be going back there again..

Well it sounds like you have had a great week! thank you for all of the pictures! i couldn't see the video tho, the filter on the mylds wont allow it. so that was a bummer. i hope that all works out with the skype this week! if not i will just have to call on the phone. so we will see. there is a possibility that the light will go off. so if it does i will just have to call. but i hope to see your faces!! i miss you all and talk to you soon!! Merry Christmas!!

Love Elder Eldredge

P.S. when did the guy fly to Ghana with my package? was it on Friday? also how much money did you put into my account? just curious. oh ya today i went to the guy who makes the really nice suits, because elder Broadhead went to start his. i kind of want to start making mine in the next few months. he can take a while making the suits, and there are a ton of people coming home around the same time as me. but the suits are 280 Ghana Cedis which is about 70 dollars.

P.P.S. can you make sure that Lisel is at the house when i call? hahah that would be great :)

P.P.P.S. the office elders and aps and president went to Winneba on Saturday. it is going to be a new zone for our mission. we are taking it from the cape coast mission this transfer. so there is a possibility that i could go there. it is a bush tho.. they said that they have to bring a translator with them for every lesson. so that will be interesting. also the Sierra Leone mission opened again, and they are taking some of the missionaries from our mission. so we will see when they will take them, and who will go. it will be interesting.

a member who owns a chop bar gave us lunch the other day: rice with cassava leaves, and cow skin... surprisingly it wasnt too bad. it was super spicy tho!! she like pepe too much haha

i bought a jalavia this last monday along with a muslim mat haha the robe is so comfy!! you get a nice breeze ;)

here is the mat

here is the sankofa bird that president hill gave us. i named him samuel. samuel the sankofa bird :)

Saturday Saints

hello family! 

sorry this is coming so late. we have been at the cafe for like three hours waiting because the internet was down. and it was full of people so there were no open computers. this week was so great! like i said last week, i got a new companion, Elder Kabwika. he is such a cool guy! he is super nice, and a very hard worker. he has been on mission for almost ten months, so he is still pretty young, but we are working together well. 

here is a pic of me and my new companion from church yesterday. 

the tie i am wearing is our mission tie. it is made out of kente.

This week has been filled with failed appointments, but we have been doing a lot of contacting. luckily when we have a failed appointment it is somehow easy to find someone to teach. if you tell them the you teach the word of God, they will always let you sit down and talk haha it is great. especially if you speak in twi, they instantly love you. it has been a fun week with a lot of changes. 

We met this really nice lady who we asked if she knew which church we were from, and she said,"yes of course! you are from the Saturday saints church." hahahahahahahahaha i laughed so hard, and it was kind of right in her face.... but she also thought it was funny to see obrunie laughing hysterically. so it was good. 

This week the water has been off for most of the time, but it was okay. i am getting good at showering with pure water now ;) it was also funny because i had to teach Elder Kabwika how to shower with pure water. i don't know how he has spent 10 months in Ghana without having a pure water shower. he is a funny guy. 

On Saturday i baptized two of our investigators! W----- and A----- were both baptized, and are confirmed a member of the church. it was so good. they are L----'s younger sisters. it was funny, we were teaching the word of wisdom to them, and they are twelve so i was expecting that there wouldn't be a problem besides maybe tea, but A----- came right out and said that she like alcohol... hahah i don't know who gave her some, but she said she would never touch it again hahahah. i was shocked. 

on thursday, we went to a recent convert to visit and to help her with her my family book, and when we got there she was cooking outside, and her three year old son was running around being crazy and singing and stuff. as we were talking, the small boy came up and bit me straight in the leg! hahahah it hurt so bad, but then he gave me a mango so i forgave him. it was cute. 

Dang, sounds like your guys' week was good. sorry you were sick dad. that sounds pretty miserable. that's so cool that the red sox got David Price!!! that makes me excited.

Our investigators are doing well! we have some great new investigators that we are teaching! i just pray that they continue to have the desire to learn, and to progress. there is a bright future if we keep working hard.

It is totally true, the hard parts make you grow fast. if you don't chose to grow and learn from the trials, you will die. your mission will suck. and you wont be able to fulfill your purpose as a missionary. i have found that it is so important to have trials. i was reading in the book of either chapter 12 this last week, and it talk a TON about faith. i love that it expresses that success or miracles wont come until AFTER the trial of your faith. it is important that we are thankful for our trials. sometimes you feel like you're killing yourself when you thank Heavenly Father for our trials, but if we pass the trial with faith we will enter into the realm where miracles happen. (thank you Parker for that quote, i love it) 

i haven't had any crazy food lately. i think it was Tuesday night, we went to L----- house to teach W----- and A----, and their mom fed us appeley. i had never had it before, but it was nice. it is kind of like banku but not as sour. i thought it was good. and it is a Congolese food, so Elder Kabwika was loving it.

My laundry situation is okay. we have a lady that we give our clothes to and she washes them, but i was my garments and sometimes my shirts by hand. i hate washing by hand hahaha when i have kids i will use that as punishment lol.

Twi is coming cacra cacra lol that means small small. i can greet people and have very very very small conversations, and i can also pray a short prayer. but i hope to go to the bush for a long time so that i can learn more twi.

You are sending me another package??? THANK YOU!!!!!! I'm so excited! that will be the best! what is in it?? how long ago did you send it?

haha sorry mom, but no new boob story this week. just the usual breast feeding at least once a day lol 

also Elder Yao is in Tesano now. he is with Elder Nxele. he was called as a district leader, so that is good for him.

i hope you all have a great week and stay safe! love you all! 

Elder Eldredge

p.s. also i forgot, but i worked it out with a member. he is going to let me use his computer to Skype on Christmas! i was thinking i could call at 3 o clock Ghana time. which is 8 o clock am mountain time. would that work??

p.p.s  okay! i wanted to tell you about this fabric called kente. it is only found in Ghana, and it is super pretty. it is weaved in a really cool way, and they have some really cool designs. a lot of the missionaries like to use it to make ties, or scripture cases. when you buy it, you buy it in strips. and one strip costs anywhere from 10 cedis to 30 cedis. but with one strip you can make two ties, or one scripture case. and it is super cheap. it only costs like 6 cedis to make a tie. so i was thinking i could make some ties and give some out when i got home. 

p.p.p.s. oh ya, i also forgot to answer your question about the new mission president. President Hill is still the president right now, but in January we get a new temporary president, President Snow. He will be president until July when we will get our new mission president. so i will have three mission presidents while I'm on mission. haha 

another pic from when D------ stole my camera

the harmataan in the morning is so thick. it clears up during the day tho

this is D------ ... he stole my camera while we were teaching his sisters W----- and A-----. i love that kid haha 

A Perfect Plan

Hey everyone! 

you guys are having eventful weeks lately! geeze. haha i am glad everyone is doing well and are safe. that is so crazy that Bronco wont be at BYU anymore. i guess he is the only coach i have known, so it will be weird seeing him at Virginia. mom, that's super exciting that the furniture is finally going in. i know it will look amazing. 

My week was very humbling, and i am so grateful for it. i learned so much this week. last week we were able to teach so many people no problem, but this week we were fighting to get four lessons in a day. i don't know, everyone was just gone. they had a holiday this week, but i didn't think that it would effect us as much as it did. but it was a really big test of keeping a good attitude. i just kept telling myself that i shouldn't get frustrated. just control what you can control. sometimes all you can do is move on and go to the next person. i know that our Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for all of us. Since i have been on a mission i have realized that i could change someones life just by opening my mouth and telling people what i know to be true. i realize that i am not the one who converts anyone, but if i don't say anything then they might not have the chance for the spirit to enter into them and testify. so maybe all the people that we couldn't see didn't need to see us this week, and all of the new people that we met instead needed us more. i don't know, but i have confidence and faith that everything will work out. 

Transfers are tomorrow, and i will be staying in Kasoa, but elder Yao will be leaving to Tesano to be a district leader. my new companion that i will get tomorrow is called elder kabwika. he is from the D.R. Congo, and i hear that he is a really cool guy. but i am a little nervous because he is coming from Asamankase which is kind of the bush, and when people are in the bush they become lazy and apostate because they are so far away from everyone. but i will not let him be lazy or apostate. we are going to do work. 

This week will be a good week! we have two baptisms scheduled for this Saturday, and that will be so nice. i am excited for them to be baptized. 

Funny moment for the week: we were on our way to district council meeting, and i was on my bike. as i was riding i could hear a taxi coming so i got over to the side of the road to let him pass. but there was a small dirt ledge thing that made me loose my balance, and i fell over and hit the taxi so hard with my shoulder! hahahaha it made a loud thump and i somehow stayed on my feet. the taxi didnt stop to even see if i was okay tho haha i haven't laughed so hard in a long time. 

another funny moment: we went to a members house yesterday for dinner and after we finished eating and as we were getting ready to leave we were talking with the members. one of them asked me how old i was. i told her that i was 18, and she continued to talk to her family in twi. she told them that i looked too young to be 18 and that i should go home and suck on my mothers breast.... hahahahaha i would have been offended if i wasn't laughing so hard lol but anyways i love and miss you all so much! thank you for the update and i hope you have a great week.

love Elder Eldredge

P.S. i am going to talk to a member this week to see if he will let me use his lap top to skype on Christmas so i will let you know next week if i will be able to.

I also forgot to talk about the harmataan. it started just this week. it is where all of the sand and dust from the Sahara is blown over Ghana and the whole sky is just brown. you cant even see very far. you can even look straight at the sun and it wont hurt. it is nice tho because it isnt near as hot and it is more dry like home. so the weather is nice. they say that it will last for about a month so that is good.