Hello!
It has been a very eventful week! Monday was
our last day in the MTC and it was filled with safety meetings and a last health
check to make sure you have all your shots. Monday night we had a farewell
devotional, where all districts (assigned group of people we would meet with
everyday). Most of the districts just sang a hymn. My district sang
"Battle Hymn of the Republic." It was pretty cool other than the fact
Elder Sithole (Sit ole) was making funny faces so we had to all refrain from
laughing while singing. The Assistants to the president from Cape Coast came
down Monday night because it is a 3.5 hour drive from Tema to Cape Coast. One
of them was Elder Halverson who went home this past Wednesday, then Elder
Larsen from Utah, and Elder Mocke from South Africa. On Tuesday morning we had
breakfast and left for Cape Coast just after 9 am. We arrived at the Mission
home ( Where our mission president and his wife stay) just about 1pm. President
Stevenson gave us an introduction about himself and his wife did the same. The
Mission office Elders (2 missionaries assigned to pay bills basically) gave us
our money for the month and explained our bank cards to us. President Stevenson
interviewed each of us (total of 20) and that took over 3 hours. While we were
waiting they turned on some church movies. When it was about time for us to hit
the hay they split us up between 10 people staying at the mission home - 5 with
the Assistants, then 5 went up the road to the senior couples home. I was one
of the smart people and went to the senior couples house, which was NICE! All
of us met back at the Presidents home to be assigned to our areas and
companions and I'm
in....Sekondi! And my trainer is Elder Hanson from California. He is really into
music and acting and has only been out 4.5 months. Opposite of me, so that's
probably why we get along so nice. The drive from Cape Coast to Sekondi was a
little more than an hour. I road with 4 other Elders to our area in what they
call a tro tro. Its like a Toyota minivan but just a little bigger. It wasn't
very comfortable.
In our apartment
we have 4 Elders total. The other two are Elder Bleh (Blay) from the Ivory Coast
and ANOTHER Elder Johnson. He is from Preston, Idaho.. really funny guy.
 |
| Elder Johnson, Hanson, Bleh and Johnson - Aug 2015 |
The
apartment itself is kinda dirty but it's livable. There is no hot water and only
a limited amount of water so we turn on the water to get ourselves wet, apply
soap and rinse. When the power isn't working the shower doesn't work so we
shower with a bucket. It's kinda like doing the ice bucket challenge everyday.
Also, the toilet won't work either if the electricity is off sooooo ya that's no
fun.
 |
| The apartment |
The areas Elder Hanson and I cover are Essikodo and Sekondi. Our apartment is in Parisqua. To walk to the beginning of our areas takes about 20 minutes. Walking to Essikodo (which is where we are most of the time) is about 3 miles getting there - then you add walking around for 7 hours and the trip home... In total we walk about 9 miles a day. So, if any stateside missionaries complain about having a limited amount of miles a month on their car, have them talk to me. The people are very nice as well. When Elder Hanson and I walk down the street little kids yell "Abrunee, Abrunee chingum pow" which translates to white man, white man has gum on his butt. It is quite entertaining. Sometimes they run up to us and ask us for money because the people here think because we are white, we are rich. I wish I was rich :P
Elder
Hanson and I have a ton of investigators that we teach. Also, we focus on
recent converts to the church to make sure they are doing well. During this week,
Elder Hanson and I gave 2 priesthood blessings. One was to a guy named John. He
is very sick and has a tumor near his heart. Can't really talk, see, or walk. He is
an investigator and wants to get better so he can be baptized and come to
church. The second was yesterday immediately after church. A girl came down
with malaria symptoms while at church. She was shaking really bad. After the
blessing the shaking got better and you could see she was comfortable. OH! Another thing I forgot to mention is this area is REALLY HILLY. To get up and
down to our apartment, it's literally like a hike you do in the mountains, but
only for about a quarter mile. It's been a hard few days here, many hours
walking, and a lot of time studying. But it's all worth seeing the smile on
peoples faces and the joy they have when we teach them!
Until next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment