Bye Bye, Pres. and Sis. Snow

Happy Monday everyone! 

it is super hot in this cafe and i am dying, plus my time is almost gone, so this might be a bit of a short email. 

Well, this week was amazing of course! i have had so much fun serving the Lord everyday! My area is full of Rastafarians and weed smokers, so it is always a blast teaching the word of wisdom haha. Pretty much everywhere you go, you can smell marijuana in the air. it gets pretty annoying, but just a testament that these people need help from their Savior. 

I did an interview for the zone leaders this week and the candidate was so cool. i asked him why he liked the church so much, and he said that he always gets such a wonderful feeling when he goes to church, and that it pushed him to be a better person. he said since he started going to church he stopped hanging out with his bad friends and stopped wearing immodest clothing. it helped me to realize even more how much our Heavenly Father can change us if we let him, and if we seek after him. this gospel is so beautiful.

i have a lot of respect for these people. they are not afraid to share what they believe at all. from the name of their shops like, "God will provide provision shop" to writings on their cars like "Jesus Christ, exalted king of kings," they are always showing those around them what they know to be true. even members teach their friends the gospel and bring them prepared for baptism! no missionaries needed! haha it is amazing what they can do when you invite them to act. even one of our investigators whom we just began teaching this week is teaching his friends! he is a barber and he puts his Book of Mormon on the table because he knows people will ask him about it, and he wants to explain that it isn't a devil book, but that it teaches about Jesus Christ! no wonder the gospel is growing faster here than anywhere else in the world.

i am so beyond blessed to be with such wonderful people. i dread the day i leave. 

yesterday, we had a farewell at the temple site for Elder and Sister Curtis, who served as the president of the Africa West area for the last five years. and also president and sis snow are leaving tomorrow. it was so fun to be there and to listen to them talk about their experience here in Ghana and in the whole Africa West area.

Elder Curtis talked about an experience he had when a group of Liberians came to the Accra, Ghana temple. he asked them about their trip here, and what it was like. they said that they took a tro tro for four days to get there! each night they would park the tro tro on the side of the road and sleep outside on the ground underneath the tro tro! four days there, four days back, plus a couple days in Ghana! he asked them how they could get work off for that long, and asked how they got permission from their bosses to come. one said he had to quit his job so that he could come to them temple, another said, i don't know what my boss will say, because he doesn't know where i am right now! hahah us Utahan's are so ridiculously blessed! go to the temple!

At the end, they invited everyone to come and shake his hand so he could say medaase (thank you) and instead of shaking his hand, i gave him a big ole hug hahah not sure how he felt about it, but a hand shake seemed inadequate. so yep, i hugged a general authority.. 

I love this place. i am so happy to be a missionary and to have such amazing examples around me here and at home. i have the best friends in the world! everyone is serving missions and staying strong. and my family rocks! God truly loves me, and if he loves me, i can just imagine how much he loves all of you!

Have a great week y'all!!

Love, Elder Ben


sorry mom, i was going to reply about pdays last week, but the light went out at the cafe.. haha but usually our pdays are a lot more busy than i want sometimes haha. we always just have a lot to do to prepare for the week like; wash, clean, cafe, go to the market, mail letters. 

washing is a big hastle i hate it haha last week we didnt even get time to wash our clothes, and i have been wearing some pretty dirty shirts this week. luckily i had enough g's to sustain for the week. 

we were planning on hiking to the top of a mountain a couple weeks ago, but the person who was going to show us the way to the top couldn't be there, so hopefully we will go there soon. 

sometimes we play football, which i want to do more. it is so fun! 

but lately we haven't had anytime to do anything but wash, cafe and shop/ cook.. kinda boring. but we always have a good time at night joining a family in our ward to do family home evening.

Good Night, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

what's up y'all?

This week was great! it was a bit crazy with baptismal interviews in Amasaman and then an exchange in Ofankor with the zone leaders, which means our area got a little abandoned for a couple days, but all is well!

Our investigators are still doing well! haha we have one sister who was supposed to be baptized last week, but during her interview she had some questions that we thought we resolved a long time ago, so the zone leaders thought she needed a little more time. then the next day on Sunday she came to church and asked us if it was still possible to be baptized that day... hahah what the.. so hopefully she will be ready for this coming week!

I got to interview someone whose parents are traditionalists haha it was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure they do joojoo at their house, but the investigator was awesome!

I was super blessed to go on exchange with the zone leaders this week. On Thursday night we went to their apartment and slept over there. when i went to go to sleep i laid down in bed and immediately my whole back, arms, legs and neck were on FIRE.. haha i was scratching and scratching and couldn't figure out what was going on. i thought about moving to the ground, but who knows what will come feast on my body if i do that, so i stayed in bed. at around 1 in the morning i finally fell asleep from pure fatigue and just slept through the fire. i woke up with some blood on my back and big swollen parts on my hands and arm. i know now why they always say, don't let the bed bugs bite.. they suck.

But the exchange itself was so good! i learned a lot from Elder Miller. he goes home this transfer and he gave me a lot of advice on how to stay motivated and diligent through the tough times. i was really happy with our day, but i will never sleep on that bed EVER again.

We only had one investigator at church this week. turns out she has been coming to church for the past 8 months, and we had no idea she wasn't baptized, so my companion went to her house on Sunday after church to teach her with a couple of our ward missionaries and at the end of the lesson i looked over at one of them to have him say something and he was out on the couch! hahahaha it was so embarrassing, but luckily the investigator just laughed it off. we all left the house quietly and he woke up and noticed no one was there.... hahahahahaha he ran out and came after us lol it was great.

we had transfer news this weekend, well, some people did. no one in our entire zone is getting transferred.. i think that is the first time in Ghana Accra West history. but i am happy to stay here in Achimota.

President Snow is leaving this week. i feel like he just got here, but so much has changed since he has come. and now things will all change again with president Simpson. i am excited and nervous at the same time. should be a wild ride.

I hope you all have a great week!!!!

Love, 

Elder Ben

No Rain, No Pain

Whats up everybody? 

This week was a great week as usual! we had a lot of fun helping everyone we could in our area in the rain! it has rained everyday for the past like 6 days, and our area suffers from being in a flood zone. so we have been doing a lot of service around the area. it has been fun! 

We have a sister in our ward who is pretty old, and she lives by herself and three of her grandchildren. the rain has really been punishing her this week, so basically whenever it starts to rain we just go as fast as we can to her house and a couple other members houses to help them out. 

we got to the woman's house one day right as it started to rain and she was outside trying to build a wall in front of her house to keep the water from pooling in the dirt in front of her house, so i took the hammer and nails from her and stood outside getting beat by the rain building a wall for her. IT WAS SO FUN! hahah she was saying oh, oh, elder Ben the rain is beating you.. hahaha 

And then the next day it started to rain hard again, so my companion and i went back and got beat by the rain again to move her big oven out of the rain and under the roof. we were soaked haha one woman came up to us and said, "wow, you guys really showed love today, i am going to join your church because of this!" i was pretty shocked, but pray that she actually starts coming to church!

Agnes got baptized yesterday!! she was super scared to get into the water, but everything worked out fine! i am super happy for her. we were also supposed to have another person get baptized yesterday, but she still needs some help with some stuff before we can baptize her. 

Also the family we used to teach that we had to give to the other ward got baptized yesterday as well! i was able to do their interviews on Saturday and it was so fun to see all of them again! 

this week was just busy as usual. we always had something to do and we had a lot of fun! we had zone conference this Friday, and we talked about how we can do better with working with members. we also wont be having district meetings anymore haha kind of weird but i trust that president snow is an inspired man. i am super sad to see him go next week. it should be fun to meet our new president, president Simpson! everything is going to change again! haha 

I love being a missionary, even tho sometimes i just feel overwhelmed and helpless. i have learned so much, and it is just a testimony to me of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. i have loved being a representative of his son Jesus Christ and serving His children. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all so much!

love elder ben

maami xexealolo (try to pronounce that) and her new, half built wall

Steven and his family who were baptized yesterday in kwabenya!

one of the members in our ward. super cool guy

his wife made us yam fufu with ground nut soup and chicken! yummmm

CHA

This week was so sweet! as usually here in Ghana! I have had so much fun this past week and things just seem to get better and better. The Lord has blessed me so much and my companion and my area. we are working hard and continuing to seek revelation for our investigators, members, and our area in general. 

i fell down... there was a ditch hidden by
 some thick bush and my mid section 

That is one thing that i have really had to work on on my mission. i have always been okay with doing things by myself and trying to figure things out my own way. And there are some things that we just cant do alone. it takes a lot of faith to "wait upon the Lord" like it says in 2 Nephi, but as long as we do what we are told, then we can wait with faith knowing that the Lord will take care of what we couldn't. i am so happy to be learning this important principle. Everything always works out better when you trust in the Lord to take care of you. i can promise you that the Savior is always there. He is always ready to help us and do what we cant, but he wants us to reach out to him in faith. If we do that, we can do anything.

I have been loving the opportunity i have to serve my district and get to know each of them. i was able to go on exchanges this week with two of the elders in Chantan, the area just next to mine. it was so fun to be with them and see their area and help them and also learn from them. they are both white, one from Idaho and the other from Montana and i will be honest, it was pretty odd to be around another white person for that long.. hahahaha it was super fun tho. Elder Lambson (one of the elders) and i are super similar and we got along super well. and elder smith, his companion is just like D

evin! haha it was a great couple of days.

We were supposed to have two baptisms last week, but they had to be moved to this week. so i am super excited about that. haha one sister who is getting baptized this week was talking to us, and we told her that we just had to finish the lessons with her before her baptism and she was like, "but i know the church is true, and i told you i want to get baptized already so why do i need to have you guys come and try to convince me more??" hahah i and elder okereke were laughing pretty hard right in front of her. it was great. i am excited for her and also Agnes to be baptized this week.

I also had to say goodbye to all the obrunies this week. They took up half of the sacrament hall so things are going to be pretty empty now i guess. we had a fun dinner with them last night at a members house tho to say goodbye.

Thank you for all the prayers! i love you all so much! have a great week!!! 

Love Elder Ben

Good Times in the River

Happy Monday everyone! 

This week was so fun! i feel like everyday was filled with just unexpected random moments one after the other. it was great!

So to start we suffered small from not having any light for the first half of our week haha. it went out last Saturday night, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong because everyone else in our flat had light, but we didn't. it was frustrating to say the least. so we went to the electricity company on Tuesday morning to try to figure things out. we waited, and waited, and waited. finally after three hours we were helped and they wrote down our address and our phone number and said that they would call us and come fix it. when they finally called they said they couldn't make it that day... so we suffered another night in the heat trying to sleep through our own sweat. 

The next morning we went back to the electricity company, but no one was there because it was a public holiday... ugh so the next day we went back and waited again. there was one crazy old man that was freaking out hahahah it was pretty funny. he was screaming and running around like a mad man telling them how crappy their company was. i was just laughing because that is exactly how i felt, he was just willing to show it haha. 

Finally they took us in their car and came to our apartment and within two seconds the problem was fixed and WE HAD LIGHT. i yelled with excitement :)

just another example of how pain never endures when you do what is right. but if you don't do the right thing, your pain will continue. weird analogy, but true! 

We also had a good time in the river this week! haha because the rain fell so much last week, the water level was so high that it took out the bridge we take to get to the forest. so this week we just had to roll up our pants, take off our shoes and go :) i can't complain :)

Our investigators are all doing really well! we have three baptisms coming up this month! so hopefully they will all continue to keep their commitments and continue to progress to be ready for the biggest day of their lives as of yet. We also have been teaching this guy who is a part member. he is actually the only member of his family that is not a member. not sure why, but we have really had a good week with him! we gave him the book of Mormon, and everything completely changed! he told us how he read and prayed about it and didn't realize what he was missing. and how amazing it was! i was so happy to hear that because he was a bit of a struggle before. now, he will know for himself what he needs to do. i was so happy!

There was one night where we were riding our bikes home from the forest, and it was dark and unfortunately our bike light died.. so we were riding a little blind. one of the roads we went on was being worked on and there were large piles of small rocks and sand on one side of the road. luckily for me i saw it at the last second and was able to avert it, but my companion wasn't so lucky. hahaha he hit it dead on and stopped him in his tracks hahaha he wasn't going very fast so he wasn't hurt, but i think i pulled a muscle from laughing so hard. we continued down the road a ways and i saw another rock pile so i moved over. i thought my companion saw it too, but he didn't.. hahah for the second time is less than five minutes he ran into two rock piles. i was dying.. 

So that basically is my week. pretty exciting right? jk there was so much else that happened i just cant contain it all in this email.

i hope you all have a great week! i love you all so much!

Love,

 ELDER BEN

p.s. haha oh ya, last week you wanted to know about my apartment. i don't know where to start haha it is pretty crappy. if you can imagine what a meth addicts house would be like, you could get a good idea. that is how i feel inside it anyway haha. but its okay, because we don't spend that much time there. and the water is on, so its okay.

new investigators 

the river we crossed just this time we took the long way on our bikes

my magic malt collection begins. stay tuned for next week

ga kenke and shito... i dont know why this stuff even exists haha so bad.