Elder Jimmy Henderson: Apostate Easter... (Yes it's exactly what it sounds like)

Dearest family and others,

I'm emailing from Kumasi this week at Kofi's Cafe because we are sleeping over at the zone leader's apartment tonight for zone conference tomorrow. #sleepover! I'm sorry my email last week was written so hastily but luckily I can put a little more thought into this week's email. #letsgetrealforasecond

First of all let me just say that Easter in Ghana is unlike anything I have ever experienced before... ever... like ever... like it's kinda scary. #scarredforlife So out here Easter is actually a three day holiday starting on Good Friday. The countless apostate churches begin their continuous (and VERY loud) programs on Friday morning and they continue all through the night until about 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning... #satansmethodfordeprivingmissionariesoftheirsleep It wouldn't be so bad if our apartment building wasn't right next door to a Pentecostal church.

Basically I haven't gotten any sleep in like three days. The icing on the cake was last night when an entire congregation was marching down the street in the middle of the night with palm leaves shouting who knows what... #apostacy #theholyghostgoestobedat10:30 Aside from that, though, Easter was powerful! It opened the door to some really powerful lessons and some really strong spirit felt with a lot of our investigators, so that was good! Especially since lots of really weird rumors about the church get spread around Ghana so helping people recognize our devotion to Christ is really a special thing.

Also, I've been getting lots of comments about this so I'll explain... haha. So the reason I've been using the word powerful in place of the word awesome is because awesome sounds really similar to the Twi word aasumo, which means problematic. So everyone here substitutes the word powerful. #ghanaianenglishyo

Well kids, life in Ghana is pretty sweet. I must say that most of all I miss American food, but that's okay because we're in Kumasi so I'm going to KFC today!! #yes! As far as proselyting news goes, progression is kind of at a stand still right now so I've got nothing to report. The biggest problem is that most of our investigators aren't keeping any of their commitments. We have several that are really powerful but to put it simply they haven't experienced a "mighty change in their hearts." (See Alma 5)

Also, during one of my sleepless nights in the past few days I was studying and I came to Moses 6-7, which tells the story of the prophet Enoch from the time of his call to be a prophet, to his ministry, to his translation and his walk with God. Everyone should, but especially if you are serving a mission soon, I'd encourage you to study these chapters. I was an emotional wreck after reading them the first time. #spirit! But they're super powerful and contain a message that is essential for missionaries to know.

Love you all very much! I'm attaching some pictures from my exchange with Elder Christiansen last week and from this last week. Elder Otieno and I attended a graduation rehearsal at the JHS that some of our investigators teach at. So enjoy!