Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo

Hello, everyone! 

This week was great. this is by far the greatest mission on Earth. i am so happy to be here and to serve these amazing people.

Achimota is doing great. i am having a lot of fun with the mixture of people that are here. there is one area which has a lot of weed smokers and people are really funny when you try to teach them the Restored gospel. But for the most part, people are so welcoming and willing to listen to what you have to say. i am glad i am somewhere where people are always willing to listen to you. i think if i got doors slammed in my face all day i would get pretty annoyed. blessings.

This Sunday morning it was raining, so none of our investigators were able to come to church.. but they are still doing really well! we are still trying to figure out how we can help them with some of their personal problems that are keeping them from being baptized, but once we fix those problems they will be such strong members in the church.

I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Smith. He is so funny and reminds me a ton of Devin! we had a lot of fun, and i learned a lot from him. he is such a good teacher and cares for his investigators so much. i will definitely remember that day. 

Today, we went to the zoo!! it was so fun. there weren't a ton of animals, but it was still way cool. we had to ride our bikes deep into the forest to get there. they had a lot of monkeys, birds, a camel, some bores, and some snakes, and antelopes. it was awesome. we were just standing there looking at some of the monkeys, and a monkey reached through the cage and grabbed my arm!! haha i screamed so loud! Also the camel licked my shoulder when i tried to take a selfie with it.. that was scary. i guess he didn't want to take a selfie with me.. 

I love being a missionary so much! The Lord has blessed me so much and i have seen true miracle. this gospel is true and i love it with all my heart. here is some twi.. good luck :)

menim sє asєmpa yi a yєde nam yi yє nokware. Joseph Smith huu Agya NyankopOn ne ne ba Yesu Kristo. Na Mormon Nwoma no nso yє apam foforO ma agyenkwa no ampa, na wOasan de onyankopOn asOfodi tumi no asi asase so bio.

Menim sє eyi ne nokware soma wOayi mpaninfoO sє wOnhwє so wO asase yi so.

Me OdO me abusua

Me OdO me nnamfonom

Have a great week!! I love you all!

Elder Ben

Drunk man, Drunk Raven, Everybody is Getting Drunk up in Here!

Happy Monday, everyone!

I didn't think it was possible, but this week went by even faster than last! Time flies when you are having fun!

This week, i was able to go on two exchanges with two of my best friends in the mission. It was a great time. The first exchange, wasn't really an exchange. Elder Vandehei just came to proselyte with me and my companion for the day. It was a lot of fun to talk with him and proselyte together. Unfortunately, he had to leave us a bit early to do some AP stuff at the office. But it was fun while it lasted.

The second exchange was with an elder in my district, named elder Lambson. He is a really fun guy and we laughed most of the day. We had an encounter with a very very drunk man hahahaha we were just walking down the street and as we walked passed the man, he stopped us and asked us to help him. He was listening to music on his phone and he accidentally hit the pause button, and was too drunk to remember how to press play again hahahahah so he gave me his phone and i pressed play for him. Immediately he started to dance and sing hahaha then he took his head phones off and put them on Elder Lambson and told him to dance, and then did the same thing to me! Then i pressed pause again to see what would happen. He got really sad and looked like he was going to cry and so i pushed play again. He went back to dancing and singing hahaha then when we wanted to go, he gave us the biggest group hug haha wow, i was laughing so hard! i dont think anyone else saw what was happening tho, because they just acting like we weren't even there. it was hilarious. 

Later, we were leaving the apartment from lunch, and there was this raven just staring right at us and walking toward us. So instinctively, Elder Lambson found something to throw at it... lol he missed and started to run at it. The raven tried to fly away, but flew straight into the wall.. He walked over to it and it didn't try to fly away, and he just stood there puzzled. Then he tried to pick it up and it flew right into the land lord's car! The alarm was going off and we were chasing down this raven. finally Elder Lambson caught the bird and i snapped a few pics and we put it outside the compound. Crazy bird hahaha 

This week was a lot of fun! Plus our investigators are all doing really well! G---- came to church yesterday almost 30 minutes early! She said that she doesn't even have a desire to go to any other church again. She is just waiting to give birth in a few months and she will be ready for her baptism. She might be the most prepared investigator i have ever had. Her friend O----- is also doing great! She wants to get baptized, but she needs to find another place to live apart from her boyfriend. But her testimony is getting stronger and stronger each day.

This work is great. I am so blessed to see with my own eyes the changes being made in other people's lives. I know that the Lord does amazing things through small and simple means. No effort is wasted and everyone means something great to someone. You never know who you might influence, but you should know that you influence more people than you know. 

Thank you all for the amazing influence that you have in my life. i am so grateful for each and every one of you.

the gospel is true

Love,

ELDER BEN

4th of July Hike

These people had a lot of trash to burn

City Lights

4th of July Hike

Elder Lambson and the Raven

No Need to be Afraid

hello America,

this week was great! i don't know how it is possible, but the weeks just seem to go by faster and faster.

This week we have been trying our best to really help our investigators to build their faith in Jesus Christ, through the Book of Mormon. it has been fun to see them read, and feel the Spirit that comes from such a perfect book. There is real power in the truth.

We have some really great investigators that are coming closer and closer to baptism. Five of them came to church this Sunday, and they were all relief society age sisters haha or relief society president is really grateful for us :) 

We were teaching one of the investigators about baptisms for the dead, and he had such a strong interest towards the subject. His dad passed away when he was young, and he loves him a lot. he was so happy to know that it is possible to help him receive the saving ordinance of baptism. He wanted to know how he would be able to do it, and we told him that he would have to get baptized first, and then he would be able to go to the temple to do it. He said that he would need to take some time to think about it, but i just pray that he realizes what he needs to do. 

Getting to work with members has been a big trial lately. it is really hard to see any of the bishopric other than on Sunday, and our ward missionaries all go to school during the day. we are just trying to find a way that works for them to do their missionary work. 

Yesterday, we got to go out with the ward missionaries to proselyte and it was fun. we had four ward missionaries walking around teaching with us like some sort of army of guys wearing white shirts and ties. and at night we visited a recent convert and their family. they fed us kokonte and acpelle with okro soup. it was so good! After that we walked home, and couldn't see anyone on the streets because they were all in the bars watching the France, Portugal game. i am so sad that France lost. i wanted Ronaldo to cry ;) 

We had a really nice lesson yesterday as well with one of our investigators who is living with his girlfriend. we talked about the blessings that come from keeping the commandments. true happiness comes when we do what is right and what our Heavenly Father wants for us. Sometimes it can be hard and scary, but nothing can go wrong when we do what our Heavenly Father tells us to do. We have no need to be afraid, or to hesitate. Everything will always work out in the end.

i love this gospel so much. i am so happy that i came on a mission, and i am so grateful for this amazing experience.

I hope you have a great week. i love you all

ELDER BEN

Adventure in the Bush

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! God bless America. i miss my country so much, but Ghana is still pretty great! 

This week was sweet. they are playing the euro league this week tho, so it is difficult to see anyone in the evening time because everyone is watching football. i love how into football everyone is here. its almost like another religion or something. we still beat them last time we played them tho ;) hehe they always get so frustrated when i remind them of that fact. it hilarious :) U.S.A.!

Everything here in Achimota is going well. Our investigators are all doing great and we have been blessed to have a really concentrated group of investigators. For sure it is because we have gotten some great referrals from our members. 

We had a baptism this week as well! sorry i don't have any pictures... but Sister Lydia Larbi was baptized! she was a miracle. it is funny how sometimes you feel like you don't have to do anything, people have been so prepared all you have to do is fill the baptismal font. haha 

She came to us one day out of no where and said that she had gone to church a ton of times in a different area of Ghana and that the missionaries were teaching her before. i guess the missionaries that were teaching her got taken out at the same time and they white washed the area, because she said she was supposed to get baptized but the missionaries just stopped coming and then she moved. but now she got dunked! haha she is such a sweet woman who will be strong in the church.

we also had some other investigators there to witness the baptism, and after it was over we were talking to them and one of them said that when Lydia got baptized, she felt so good, and she said that the Holy Ghost spoke to her and told her that this was true. WOW! just another reminder that this is the Lord's work, and i am just here to help him as best i can. The only thing that is keeping her from being baptized is that she is living with her boyfriend.. so we have to try and either get them married, or move them apart. keep them in your prayers please :)

We got to meet our new mission president and his wife this Friday. They are way cool! They don't look like what i imagined, but they are so nice and i felt like they truly cared about all of us so much. i had no idea that Sister Simpson was a Samoan. it is crazy that i am on my third mission president.

this morning, we had an adventure in the bush. we had a zone activity in a place called Nsawam. they have a large hill that they call a mountain that we climbed! it was so fun! i have never witnessed such thick bush in my life. the trail that we took (when there was trail) was just big enough to put your shoe on and the rest of it was just think bush and trees. the whole time is was paranoid looking for grass cutter traps, which are just like mini bear traps that people set all over the place. we made it to the top and couldn't see anything because of all the trees, but there were some small areas along the trail where we could get a good view of the Eastern region of Ghana. it was so beautiful, and the weather was perfect! we were walking through a cloud the whole time almost, and on the way down it started to rain really hard! i was so happy :) i conquered Nsawam "mountain"

thank you for all the prayers and support! i love you all so much! have a great week!

Love, Elder Ben

P.S. i got the package!!! thank you so much! i love you :)

Here is my church

i fell down on my bike.. it was bound to happen considering my front brake is the only one that works.. 

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