Fufu in the Bush

Hey Fam!

This week was great. We seem to get busier and busier each week and i love it. We had zone training this last week and it went well. We talked about working with members, and how to have a spiritual baptismal service. I was grateful to give instruction on that because I had to learn a lot about how to have a more spiritual baptismal service. The last one we had was so bad haha.

Nucy (recent convert) and Sarah her sister

We also got to watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was so good. This is such a great time of year. Getting to celebrate the Lord's life while a missionary is special. We went on an exchange with the assistants this week and it went well. I learned a lot from it. It was a lot of fun.

We have been super busy making sure that two of our investigators are going to be ready for their baptisms this coming Sunday, Christmas! Merry Christmas to you, your present is the gateway to heaven! haha i am excited.

Our bishop gave one of our recent converts an assignment to give a talk on Sunday, and it made me so happy to see her give her talk. We are also planning on going to the temple with the ward this week and she should be coming to do baptisms, which will be so awesome.

On Sunday I ate some Indo mi and it kind of messed with my stomach. Then we went to our Branch President's house and ate a ton of fufu, and it didn't end well.. our investigator watched as the fufu she prepared for me ended in the bushes.. All is well now tho.

Today we went to the University in Winneba and had a zone activity. We played football against the Kasoa zone, and we won! haha it was epic. They had a field that actually had grass on it, so everyone had a good time.

Life is sweet here in Ghana. Cant wait for Christmas to see you!

Have a good week! The gospel is true.

Love ELDER BEN

Winneba zone training

goofy hat number one

goofy hat number two

pic from the village

Deep Clean

Pounded some fufu. Wrecked my hands lol

Hello family! 

this week was awesome! Ghana is a party right now. Everyone is celebrating the election of a new president. Lots of fireworks, car horns, and rallies. Last night we couldn't even get to where we were going because the entire town of Swedru was having a rally. I have never seen so many Ghanaians at one time.

 

On Thursday, we deep cleaned our house. I didn't even notice how dirty it was until i put forth an honest effort to clean it. I can say that this sometimes applies to us. How often do we neglect sincere repentance? Our apartment got super dirty because we neglected to clean it fully, regularly. The Spirit lives in clean vessels.

We have had a good week this week sharing the gospel. We are continuing to work hard and the Lord is blessing us so much. We wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if it weren't for Him. 

We have started teaching this one guy just recently named Erik. He stopped us one time while we were walking through the zongo, (i think i told you about him already) and at first he was telling us that he really wants to go slow, and learn for a while before he came to church or anything. We were kind of sad, but hopeful that one day he would get baptized even if it wasn't us. 

Yesterday, we met him after church, and taught him about the Book of Mormon. I testify that there is real power in the Book of Mormon. As we were teaching him, you could see a light switch on in his mind. It was like he was hit by a truck. Then at the end, he just said really quietly, "i think i am going to have to come visit you at church this week." in my mind i was just thinking.. "yeahhhh" hahaha so crazy! The Book of Mormon changes people who are willing to search, ponder, and pray. 

I love this work and i am so happy to be here. I can't believe how fast time is going, and i am going to miss this so much. I love this gospel. I am grateful to have a Savior. 

Have a great week! I love you all.

ELDER BEN ELDREDGE

All the trash that we cleaned out of our apartment. (our apartment is so clean it could be in the parade of homes)

I fell in a well.... lol jk they dropped their bucket, so i offered to go in and get it. 

The school out in a small village in our area.

Elder Mantz in the bush

Just Another Manic Tuesday?

Hello family,

this week i don't even know where to begin. The beginning of the week consisted of going around and sharing the Light the World video to as many members as possible. I think we showed it to every family we know the house of in our ward and branch. It was a good experience sharing it with people. Everyone is working hard to be a light.

We have been working really hard trying to work with members to find and fellowship investigators, and it has been working! It has been awesome to see how much more effective it is to work with members. A lot of the members can teach much better than i can and they have such great testimonies. So this week, even though we didn't have a lot of time because we are always traveling for different reasons around our giant zone in a rickety old tro tro to teach a lot of lessons, our lessons were so powerful because of the Spirit which was there.

We have also been so blessed to be lead to really prepared people. We were walking down the road one day a couple weeks ago, and one guy called for us and said, "I always see you walking down this road, but you never talk to me. Don't you want to share the gospel with me as well?" It made me feel really awful and like a terrible missionary because we had never talked to him before, but he is so prepared! By the questions that he asks, you can see that the Restoration is exactly what he has been looking for. I am so excited to see his progression.

We also found a sweet guy in the zongo who would have thunk.. (zongo is a giant Muslim community) who might be one of the more prepared people i have met. He has basically all the same concerns and questions that Joseph Smith did. We taught him twice and he is doing really well.

We had transfers this weekend, and i am staying put here in Swedru 3rd ward/ 4th branch. I am pretty happy. I love it here.

Sunday we had a baptism, and it was by far the most stressful, crazy baptism I've ever had. Our bishop on Wednesday at our PEC told us that he wanted to have the baptism on Sunday morning before church. So he gave the baptismal clothing to his first counselor and assigned him to wash them and bring them on Sunday. We went to the church on Saturday and filled the font. Sunday morning, we got to the church around 7:30 and both our candidates came just after 8. Still we didn't have any clothing... So i called the first counselor and he said that this morning he remembered that he was supposed to get the clothing washed, so he did it as fast as he could, and was ironing them to try as speed dry them. Bishop came around 8:30 and we still didn't have clothing, and the one who was supposed to do the baptism wasn't there yet. Finally around 9:30 we got one pair of white pants, and one white gown. Then bishop looked at me and asked me to do the baptism because the one who was supposed to do it still hadn't showed up yet. So the rest of the day i was a little damp... but the most important thing was that Elizabeth and Aaron were baptized.

We met with Elizabeth the next day, and she told us about how when she turns 19 she wants to serve a mission. It made me SO happy! She is so strong. She goes to seminary everyday, mutual every week and is already started with her personal progress. This gospel really does change lives. It is like a ripple effect. A countless number of lives can be changed from one impression from the Spirit of the love of God. I am so happy to be here to help my Savior do His work. I am blessed beyond belief. I am so grateful for his example, love, and sacrifice. I am so grateful for all of you and your love and support. I love you so much.

Oh yeah, my father elder Yao went home this week. crazy! i will miss him so much.

Have a great week! love you!

ELDER BEN ELDREDGE