Happy Independence Day 'merica

Text from Elder Bay this morning -

"Happy Independence day my 'Murican brothers. Bless the red, white, and blue and all the hamburgers and hot dogs that our families will eat without us today."

Ghanaian stove

So, mepakyew enjoy your hamburgers and hot dogs. I am satisfied with my fried rice and chicken ;)

Elders Zohner and Johnson

Anyways, this last week was a pretty good week!!! Elder Simpson and I did our best to get office duties done so we can go out and DO WORK. Sunday night last week we were pumped.  Monday did work, still pumped.  Tuesday was an office day but still got lessons in, and Wednesday went down hill.  Elder Simpson ended up eating some not good food on Tuesday and had some stomach problems on Wednesday.  I knew something was wrong when he did not get out of bed to exercise with me.  So Wednesday we spent some of the day in the apartment.  Once he felt a little better the office Elders came to pick us up to grab lunch.  After we went to the office so Elder Simpson could be close to a bathroom and so we can get something done.  The craziest part about Wednesday is we met 2 member families, one from Utah and another from Georgia. The husband of one of the families is from Ghana so they come back every once and awhile. I talked to him and greeted the others but could only converse with the Ghanaian.  White people freak me out now :)

Missionary Coordination Meeting

Random Photo

Elder Simpson and I are excited because we have a baptism next Saturday! The interview will be done by the zone leaders hopefully the end of this week so we can announce it at church on Sunday. Francis will be the one to be baptized and he really is the golden investigator. We really do not worry about him as much as the others we see. Really no problems and hopefully none will come up. The two brothers we are teaching, Micheal and Derick have not been consistently coming to church. Which is a problem because they accepted a baptism date of July 30. Missionary work is not easy at all but is worth it :)

Elder Simpson was authorized to drive as of last Monday, he is happy to get me out of the drivers seat :P

Have a great week!!!

Elder Johnson

An Opportunity to Work Together and Grow Together

Good ____ everyone!

As usual I am short on time to write my group email because we had to drive my mission President to go and get his car from the shop.  Just a quick note.. it was the scariest 10 minutes driving of my life.

As you may remember from my last week's group e-mail, my former companion, Elder Harward, has now been transferred out and Elder Simpson has been made a supply Elder!

Not much went on between Monday-Wednesday morning other then going to visit members and non members before Elder Harward left the area. It was pretty sad to see how sad Elder Harward and others were that he was being transferred. He has a great love for the people and the area ( maybe me.. ;) ) but I know he is doing great in his new area. While pulling away in the truck with Elder Simpson, I told Elder Harward that we are going to enjoy the AC and having a mission vehicle.. leaving the office will not be so fun because no more vehicle.

On Wednesday we were tasked with transporting suitcases and missionaries from the two stations in Cape Coast. All missionaries coming to Cape Coast from the Western region or going to the Western region come to Pedu station. And all missionaries in Central region or coming to Central region come to Tantri station. The station's are 10 or so minutes apart. We drove back and forth a million times.. pretty stressful. But eating fufu and ice cream with the departing missionaries made it all better.

Thursday turned into an office day because there was a lot that needed to be done for transfers. So we spent the day going to get things and editing different documents. Elder Simpson was thrown into supply duties right away. Friday was also a office day so we continued our duties. Elder Simpson made his first post office stop. He was lucky that a lot of packages did not come in...

Saturday and Sunday were the best days of the week because we actually got to be in the sun and be in our area. We had some great lessons both of those days. One of them was with our soon to be member Francis. Sadly he was expressing his feelings on his marriage, little to say that it is not going well.  What we did at that moment was bear our testimonies on the importance of marriage. Marriage is much more then some think it is. It isn't to run away from when things get bad.  It is an opportunity to grow together and work together and raise the children that have been entrusted to us. Other than our testimonies we could not give advice.. one reason is because we have not been married sooooo ya.

Things are going great. I am alive. I have a headache right now because I have not eaten much today. But still alive.

Have a great week!

Elder Johnson

Great Companionships

Hello!!!

Well another P-day has come. And what a good preparation day it was today. The zone planned a activity a couple weeks ago to come to the mission home and play some games and chop some food. Our day started early because Elder Harward and I were in charge of picking up the sister missionaries in the mission van. Sadly our companionship gets stuck with transportation since I am the only one that can drive manual out of the office elders. So too much driving today.. I would rather stick to walking from now on. We grilled chicken and had some delicious food that the sister missionaries prepared for the zone along with sodas provided by my companion and I.

The sister missionaries prepared some delicious food for a zone activity

This past week was a good week! What placed the cherry on top of the sundae is we got to stay in the big house next to us due to electrical problems. Each night we had to call President Stevenson and ask for permission because everyday we were told things would come and get fixed but they did not until Friday. Monday we started staying at the big house.  We enjoyed hot water and A/C, but we are all happy to be back in our flat and in our regular routines.

The Nkanfoa area is doing really good. We have a baptism coming up the second Saturday of July and then 2 more hopefully at the end of July or beginning of August. Francis, the older shoemaker, is progressing very well at this point. He is very kind with his time and is awesome to teach because he asks questions and give contributions to the lesson. A lady we started teaching recently is Mary, whom is 17 years old. She was a contact on the street. Somehow a referral from a member.  She has come to church for the past month now. We are also teaching her friend Regina but Regina has not come to church yet. 

Saturday was my favorite day out of the week. We had office work to do and also needed to finish our weekly planning that we started on Thursday.  For lunch the 4 of us office Elders and the 3 Assistants went to a late lunch and chopped some good fufu. The assistants gave us our transfer news while eating. Elder Harward is getting transferred :/  I love him and we have done good work together. He was a sweet companion to have. Very easy to get a long with and worked hard.   My new companion is Elder Simpson.  I know him already and know this will be another great companionship. Especially because he likes to run and workout :)

Elders Johnson & Harward

Peace until next week!

Elder Johnson

Birthday & Car Accident

Aygoo!!!

Good morning, afternoon, or evening everyone!!

Elder Johnson for the win!!

Really not much to report on from this past week because it mostly consisted of office work which is not much to talk about.  Just people calling and complaining about different things. We did get some more shelves installed in the supply room.. really nice haha. 

Birthday Soak 

There have been crazy rainstorms this past week. Crazy winds.  This is Thursday night when we were all sprinting back to the truck when it down poured on us

Elder Harward and I are very happy with the progress we have seen in the area the past few days. Yesterday we had 7 investigators that came to church! It was normal in my last area but since I have been here we would have 2 or so that come to church. There are 3 new people whom we have taught a couple times last week named Mary, Regina, and Mercy. Mary and Regina are 17 or so and Mercy is more like 30. Mary has come to church for a couple weeks with one of the members. Mary was a contact on the street.  Usually those do not go anywhere but Mary is making progression which makes me very happy. 

A security guard went to Accra and we asked him to pick us up some pizza from the Pizza Hut that just opened. But he had to go to Frankies.. good enough!!!

I got in my first car accident EVER on Friday. We got rear ended. Was not my fault, not much damage but I am proud of my first car accident :)

Our apartment is the smaller building. The castle belongs to the senior couples that will be coming

View from top of the compound

A scripture that I would like to share this week comes from Alma 39:18

" Is it not necessary that the plan of redemption should be made known unto this people as well as well as unto their children?"

When I read that scripture I stopped to think about the question that Alma asked Corianton. My thought was "YES IT TOTALLY IS."  I do not know how my life would be without the knowledge of the true restored gospel.  Share the message with your friends.  They do not know fully what Heavenly Father wants all of us to know. Its not all the full time missionaries job :)

Love you all,

Elder Johnson

Commitments

Hello!!

First, thank you to all that wished me a happy birthday and even to those that had the desire to wish me a happy birthday but didn't :P

It was a pretty decent week. On Tuesday we had our annual district meeting which was also my birthday.  Elder Jager was nice enough to cook me breakfast for my birthday in the morning so it started out really good. After our district meeting all the district members decided to soak me with a whole bunch of water! It's a mission/ culture thing.  Missionaries even did that to President Stevenson on his birthday last year. Thankfully since it was an office day, I just rolled the windows down while driving to get dried off.

The work in our assigned area is improving every single week!  It would improve more if we were not in the office two days a week and get random phone calls to come to the mission office while out teaching. We met with President Stevenson on Friday to speak with him about a couple things. One of them was if we could change our time to go out and teach. Usually on Tuesday and Friday we are in the office then go out to the area from 6-8, but no wants to meet us so late at night :) So we have permission to go out from 3-5 to teach and then stay until 8 or so at the office .

Francis is progressing towards baptism really well at this point. He is continuing to come to church and keep his commitments. This past week we extended a commitment to him to hold family home evening with his family on Mondays. For him it is really hard because he works as a shoemaker during the day then goes to his security job at night. But we asked him to sacrifice one hour of his shoe making job and promised him if he made the sacrifice to go home and have some time with his family that our Heavenly father and Jesus Christ will help him. All I envision right now is a temple sealing to his family! :)

We also had one of our less actives come to church after meeting with him a couple times. His name is John Aggrey, he is 17, and was baptized 2 years ago by my first district leader Elder 'Atu' Ake. When we met with him we reminded him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Enduring to the End) and the next time we spoke about his baptismal covenants. We are very happy he attended church again yesterday. As for the other less active, Helina, she did not come. I can not wait to hear the excuse this time.  People will lie here just because they do not want to disappoint us, but she did feed us earlier this week :P

All is well with me! I hope everything for each of you is going well :)


Elder Johnson


“We do not strive for conversion to the Church but to Christ and His gospel.” —Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Missionary Work is Really Hard, but I Love It

This is honestly going to be a very short email #Officeprobs

Last week was pretty good.  Nothing terrible happened, which is always pretty good :)  Tuesday was our office day so that means check the supply email, get the orders down on our document,  go to Cape Coast, use a lot of money to buy the supplies, go to the post office and see the incoming Dear John letters to missionaries and the oversized packages that mom's send :)  Mom, I love them!  When we get a package to pay the customs duty on, we call the missionary and let them know.  One missionary got 2 from his mom this past week.  I know this missionary very well and I told him, "Elder ____ you got a 2 packages today from your mom." His reply was, "Again?"  I could not help but laugh at the tone of voice he used.

On Wednesday we had our zone conferences with President Stevenson and the Assistants, one of the reasons I was excited was free food, but the instruction given was very helpful!  President Stevenson talked about weekly planning which helps me a lot because I struggle with it.  What does not help is 3 hours weekly planning + 1 hour personal study+ 1 hour companionship study.  Zone conferences are always good :)

Thursday was our weekly planning day!  I was sitting at my desk from 8 am- 2 pm, but the planning session was a lot more productive and in depth after President helped clear it up a bit.  We had 1 lesson the rest of the day with a man named Francis, whom is a shoemaker in the village.  His wife and younger son, Phillip, are recent converts. We taught him about the Book of Mormon!!!  It was a very good lesson.  I really like teaching him because he actively participates.

Friday, office day again. I still dislike driving on the road with these crazy drivers. There are a lot of one way roads in Cape Coast and most of the time they are driving the opposite direction. Cars are parked in the worst places on the side of the road (very narrow btw).  I WILL SURVIVE :P

Saturday was a very good day because we have 2 new investigators!! Derek and Micheal, one of whom was a referral from a recent convert.  We had a short lesson with them but we will be going back Wednesday to continue the lesson :)  We also met with Francis again and taught him the Plan of Salvation. His friend Kojo was present again at this lesson (had him a couple weeks ago). Hopefully he will come visit this Sunday #fingerscrossed.

Sunday, very nice church meeting again. I slept for an hour then went out for the rest of the day.  We saw less actives mostly, which we have found more!!!  One of them is 17, John Aggrey. He stopped coming to church and we have no idea why.  The father talked to us and he was actually very sad. Although not a member,  he wants him to go to church.

All in all missionary work is really hard, but I love it :)


"Whatever the coast of repentance, it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness" -- D. Todd Christofferson


-- Elder Johnson

Busy & Exhausted

As I am starting to write my e-mail it's a struggle every week to think of how to start the first sentence. I want to write something really awesome so people will read my emails :P  Now is the time that I should regret not really listening in English class so my emails would be a little more interesting.

Elder Harward and I at stake conference yesterday.

Anyway,  the work in the Nkanfoa ward/ Office is moving forward! This was a hard week though. My last area was very productive with so many people that were progressing towards baptism, but members were not being very helpful (most of the ward were converts of not many years so I can understand... kinda...). In Nkanfoa there is no one to teach and really only 1 or 2 people that can help very little. So, things are quite difficult at this moment.  It is like a rerun of the area I was trained in - walking around all day trying so hard to find people.

Our apartment entrance

Elder Harward and I put together a battle plan to help strengthen the ward. 

1) The ward had 200 or so members and 100 of them are less active.  So we have to find those less actives, which is difficult because addresses do not exist here and calling does no good.  During the week we were going on a wild goose chase for less actives we felt to find.  The process went this way - go to a member,  member would say this other member knows where they stay,  member #2 would say I know them but do not know their place, but member #3 will know, go to member #3 and they escort us to the less active.  We were able to find 4 less actives this week!

2) Know all the members and where they live (again no addresses so quite hard).


3) REFERRALS REFERRALS REFERRALS

Tuesday is for office duties. It consists of driving into Cape Coast,  going to the post office to get the missionaries mail and buying supplies.  When we got back to the mission home I told Elder Reyes, Elder Jager, and Elder Griffin how much I do not like driving in Ghana.  It is just a free for all on the road..  Now I know why Elder Harward wants me to drive.  It's nerve wracking.

Our apartment

Wednesday was the first annual less active member goose chase. Quite tiring but well worth it.

Thursday Elder Harward went to Takoradi to get his ID card renewed with others that came in his group.  I spent the day on exchanges in the office.  It was nice because there were plenty of things to do.  Lets just say the supply office side needs a little help with organization and other stuff.  I spent the day checking the orders from the apartment leaders and then packing the stuff they ordered.

Friday in the office.. AGAIN.  It's only supposed to really be on Tuesday and Friday unless something happens.  Elder Harward and I have been thinking of way's to make the supply office more efficient.  One idea that came to pass is an order list for us to go buy things.  This way we will not have too much of anything and it will save money that we are given.

The list that I made (4 pages long of things we supply) (Ps thank you chickfila)

Our kitchen

Saturday we spent at stake conference!  It was a wonderful session because President Stevenson and Sister Stevenson along with Elder Stanfill (a seventy that is now an Africa west area counselor) are awesome speakers.  We spent the evening in our area.


Sunday back to the stake center!  Cape Coast stake was split and now there is a Yamoransa stake.  I spent 1 week in Cape Coast stake and they kick me out... darn.

All in all it was a good week.  The office and the Nkanfoa area keep my companion and I very busy and very exhausted :)  Though we had a total of one whole lesson all week... :/

-- Elder Johnson