Back to the MTC

This last week I did something pretty interesting. I went back
to the MTC. Yeah it was definitely a trip! Lots of memories came
back as I went to my old room and just basically the whole
compound. It was cool because we got a free ride back to
Ashaiman in a flat bed truck. The guy thought it was funny
three white guys all asked him where he was going in Twi so
he told us to hop in. Tuesday was sweet pa pa! We went to
the temple for our zone interview with our mission president.
I love to see the temple and am definitely going there
someday . . . again. It was very refreshing. Though that
morning we woke up to about 2 inches of water in our room.
Our toliet tank started filling and never stopped and our
room is the lowest part in the apartment.

Elder Riding got a package and it had BIG HUNKS in it and
he hates them. Lucky for me I was able to find it in my heart
to take them off his hands. This week I had my first
converstaion soley in Twi. I greeted someone, asked them
where they were going, where they lived, and if they wanted
us to come back and visit them. After that I make sure
during our contacting I speak English so that we don't go
to the house and find out they speak only Twi. Yeah. This
week we had a lot of people start coming to us with rumours
about the church. Like that we drink blood and use dead
bodies for baptisms ( that one comes from members who
have apostated ). It was pretty funny afterward to go over
the things with my comp.

We met a man named Martin Luther Narh. He invited us to
his house and when we got there he, his wife, his sister, his
brother, his mother, and towards the end of the lesson his
other brother were involved. It was really sweet because as
we told the Joseph Smith story it was sweet to see them actually
taking it in and PONDERING it. It was great as Martin came to
church and afterwards asked for a teachings of Joseph Smith and
said that he was testing the church out and for us to expect the
family next week. I was pretty excited so hopefully they progress.
I have been trying to learn how to make fried rice that is quality.
This week I think is the closest I have gotten to it being
very edible. I am pretty excited to have that much more variety.
It was really funny this week too as we were teaching this guy
who owns a barbershop, and yes he has like 4 or 5 friends who
just hang out there all day. We were using the pamphlets and in
the middle of us alking about Christ and his church he stops us
and tells us the pamphlets were wrong. That we shouldn't have
a picture of anyone besides Christ because that is who it is all
about. Elder Riding started to try and explain about how it isn't
as if we worship the pictures and what not was getting anywhere.
So I just was like Richard (guy we were teaching) it is okay, I'll
write a letter to THE people and have them sort it out. He was
so pacified he just nodded his head and very seriously said
thank you.

I contacted this blonde blue eyed german girl this week. She
is 20 and works for a NGO. First white girl I have seen in about
oh . . . 3 months I think. She was pretty cool, she knows the
church in Germany and was surprise to run into two whites that
are in Ghana. I think it would be sweet to teach and baptize her
so I can say I baptized a white person on my mission, weird oh.
I was contacting in an area known as Zongo Lacka and contacted
a group of about 7 or 8 older men. They were muslism and I
learned a lot of what they believe and some stuff about Islam.
It was pretty interesting. I tried talking about Joseph Smith but
they wouldn't have it so we discussed about how Allah and God
are the same. It was weird because even though there are the
examples of like Aaron in the Book of Mormon I felt a little
unprepared for it. Definitely have some work to do. Saturday
I was soaked. The rain just was a drizzle all day but we ended
up getting lost on a way to one of our appointments in a certain
area that is very far. We rode basically for 60 mins and found
out that is the border of our area and this man's new house isn't
in our area. We rode another 20mins got to his house and taught
him and told him we can't teach him anymore but will be giving
him to other missionaries. I was worried because he didn't
seem too happy about it. We'll see how it plays out.

I was covered in mud and what not from the ride though and
was in a pretty bad attitude after having the appointment go
sour. It was all made better as because of the uh way my bike
is and the water I had a tro-tro stop in front of me and when
I tried to stop it didn't work. My back brakes don't exist and
my front cable came undone and I went into the back of the
tro-tro. All the people laughed at the white kid pressed up
against the glass and the driver just walked around, insulted
me, got back in, and drove away. I felt like a champion . . . or not.
On Sunday we weren't having too many people really interested
in talking to us so we did some service. We went into a
compound and a lady and her sister were pounding fufu so
we did it for them. We basically had to beg for them to let us
help them out. They didn't think we could do it and after they
saw we could called their friends and everyone to watch. It
was cool. My companion was pounding it while I drove.
When you drive you scoop the fufu into a ball that the person
pounding flattens with a big stick to soften it and mix the
ingredients. It ended pretty quickly after my companion and
I got off on our timing and he hit my wrist. We kind of just
gave it back to them. Wow I just looked at how long this email
is and SHEESH it was a busy week. Hope this finds everyone
doing great!