To Techiman we fly!!!

Hello everyone! I'm emailing a little early today because we are about to go down to Techiman for Zone Conference... We will be spending the night there and returning tomorrow. Since we get an hour and a half to email I'm taking this half hour to write this email and I'll send pictures and individual emails during the hour I have when I get down to Techiman.

This week was pretty good, since many of you are asking I just want to get this out of the way, Ghana is a safe place. My life has not once been in danger in spite of the election and everything going on so no worries. Haha. #resteasymom Plus the election has now passed peacefully so there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

We kinda hit a bump in the road with Steven this week. He's frustrated at the "lack of faith" that he sees in the Saints up here and is convinced that the true church of God should be filled with people that are already holy and sanctified. We are spending a lot of time talking about the principle of agency and the importance of repentance with him to help him understand that if everyone were perfect it would defeat the purpose of the church in the first place. But it turns out, we found out his mental challenges extend further than insomnia so getting through to him is going to be a big challenge. #challengeaccepted

Also I'm singing at zone conference tomorrow! I'll be singing the song "Believe" from the Polar Express I'm sure a video will be in order. #Thatonesforyoumom

In other news, we will be stopping at Kentampa Falls on the way down to Techiman and that opens the door for some pretty sweet pictures at the waterfall, so that is why I'm waiting until I get down there to send any pictures.

Love you all! I'll see you in Techiman!

One of these things is not like the other...

Hello from Tamale, dearest friends and family. This has been a crazy week!

First off... It was election week in Ghana. #yaypatriotism The people here are very passionate about politics. They campaign by riding their motorcycles very fast and burning their engines very loudly down the street as they wear gear for their party and sometimes wear masks and stuff. Pretty interesting and pretty scary sometimes. #gladthatsover We spent pretty much every evening sheltered in our apartment this week because of all the big public demonstrations and violent threats if their candidate didn't win. So basically we didn't do a ton of proselyting this week. I am happy to report however that our shelter in place was purely cautionary and nothing ever got out of hand... at least not in Tamale. And luckily elections are only every four years so I will not be seeing anything like this again for the rest of my mission.

Also, Elder Effiong returned with his new greenie! Elder Woplah, from Liberia. So if you put two and two together... I am now the only white guy in our apartment. #minority

Also, this week we met Pastor Nat. Allow me to enlighten you on the background of Pastor Nat... He was baptized a member of the church in 1997 and has been inactive ever since. Missionaries have been trying to reactivate him for 17 years. The man has since become the Pastor of a local church here in Tamale hence his name, Pastor Nat. Every now and then though he will come to church out of his own free will so that he can meet with the missionaries. He showed up last Sunday and we introduced ourselves and offered to meet with him not knowing that he was a member. But we figured he was serious because he fully participated in church that day and had an extensive knowledge of our doctrines. When we met with him we got this background and he told us he loves the LDS church and the missionaries because of our devotion to our faith, but he just disagrees with a few pieces of doctrine. He then proceeded to start a heated argument on how our church doctrines contradict what is in the Bible. Basically he was trapping us. I wasn't too happy about that. We are however, going to meet with him again to see if we can help him understand that this draw he feels to the missionaries is the spirit testifying the truth of our message. And that the proof of the true doctrines of Jesus Christ is not found in the Bible, but the proof is in fact the Book of Mormon. But with 17 years of missionary experience, I doubt he will be open enough to the spirit to accept that as an answer. It's definitely worth a shot though.

In other news we've got water! Had it all week. The problem was that because we are in the dry season, the city water doesn't have enough pressure to travel up the pipe into our water tank. So my main man Brother Abraham (with the help of Brother Renfroe) brought 4 55 gallon drums full of water and are refilling the tank every few days now, so we should have consistent water for the rest of our time here... hopefully. #knockonwood

That's all for this week! Pictures should be coming in just a few minutes! Love you all! 

Elder Henderson

Surprise!!!

What!? Elder Henderson is emailing on a Saturday!? Bet you didn't see that one coming! You better watch out because I'm sneaky...like a puma...#noonehereissafe #transferweeksoimemailingearly

Before you ask, the answer is YES...we lost water in our apartment again. And not only did we lose water right at the same time we ran out of drinking water...but so did the rest of the missionaries in Tamale. Water went out with a bang this week. #afflictions

As a matter of fact, we barely proselyted on Wednesday because we were with brother Abraham trying to resolve the problem so we wouldn't...ya know...die (Brother Abraham is the groundskeeper for all of the missionary apartments in Tamale. Wednesday was a rough day for him). And no...we still don't have running water. #Maybetomorrow

 Also, I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISMS TODAY!!! It was pretty exciting! Brother Rex and Sister Rose bother were baptized by yours truly as well as one of Elder Christensen and Elder Effiong's investigators. Fun side story: The other Elders' investigator is a lot bigger than I am and when I was pulling him out of the water my foot slipped and we both went tumbling down. #firstbaptism #baptismstillcounted It was a very powerful experience.

Also, #sorrymom but I forgot my camera as I was coming to email today so I don't have pictures. But never fear because we should be back briefly on Monday. So I can upload my pictures then.

So...we got a referral from the branch mission leader in Kanvilli (Branch in Northern district of Tamale. My branch, Education Ridge, is in the South West district). His name is brother Steven. He's very powerful. He's the first new serious investigator we've gotten. He's already told us he wants to be baptized within the month. We had a neat experience with him in our second lesson where he asked us if we have the priesthood why we don't heal the sick. We then kindly explained that we do, but we don't solicit opportunities to do so because whether the healing works is based on the receiver's faith. He then confessed to us that he was na insomniac and that it was affecting his work and preventing him from getting paid. He asked us to bless him. It was a very VERY powerful experience. We haven't seen him since then (Thursday) so I'll be looking forward to following up with him next week.

Also, I FINALLY TRIED FUFU. It is by far my favorite Ghanaian food. Much better than kinke! #bleh I also tried teezet. It was somewhere between kinke and fufu. One thing I've learned is that all the staple dishes here (kinke, fufu, teezet, bonku)are all basically the same thing, some just taste better for some reason. #idk Anyway...I love and miss you all! I'm also looking forward to another 6 weeks spent in Tamale. This is truly an amazing place.

Love you!

The shirt one of our recent converts, John Mark, made me. The material is authentic angelina.

First time trying fufu! #delicious

#Squadgoals #tamalesouthwestdistrict #lastdistrictmeetingtogether

Me, Rex, Rose, and Elder Amakye right before the baptism

Glad Tidings of Great Joy!

I've got great news, everyone! We've had running water and a working pump almost all week! It feels so good to take a real shower again, I can't even tell you.

Also, I've got pictures this week! So that's pretty exciting.

I went on my first exchange this week to the Vitin Branch with my District Leader, Elder Nelson. He's a very powerful missionary. He's also another Idaho boy. As a matter of fact, that night we tried to make Idahoan mashed potatoes for dinner using only Ghanaian resources. I would not recommend attempting that to anyone because it was freaking nasty. #Idahodoesnotbelonginghana

Also, We were able to meet with Brother Rex again this week and we have rescheduled his baptism for this Saturday. He will be baptized with Sister Rose (the wife of one of our recent converts). These will be my first two baptisms on the mission, so that's pretty exciting! In our last discussion with Brother Rex, he seemed kind of closed off and not really wanting to talk. I felt impressed to tell him that the closer he got to his baptism, Satan would try to put stumbling blocks in his way and divert his attention from serving Christ. That the adversary will do everything in his power to keep him from being baptized. I promised him that if he devotes himself to Christ and lives the laws that we had been teaching that the devil would have no such power. He looked at me after that and said, "Wow. Thank you." The spirit was SO STRONG!! #spirit Since that lesson, he has seemed much more comfortable with his decision and much more serious about his baptism. I expect with no doubt he will be baptized this week.
Also, we had District Conference this Sunday and President and Sister Cosgrave were up here. That was pretty cool. We got all but one of our progressing investigators to come! #itsonly3butstill

It was at the Picorna Hotel which is the nicest place I have seen in Ghana so far. There's also a restaurant nearby that's owned by a white European and rumor has it that it sells not just pizza, but CALZONES!!! #calzone #illletyouknowhowitis #itsinmyarea #hallelujah

Oh yeah, and district conference was pretty good, but I had trouble hearing because of the massive fans that they had to keep everyone cool. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Tamale is pretty hot.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love you all so much!

Brother John, a recent convert who received the Priesthood on Sunday

Elder Christensen and me doing laundry

Reunited with the MTC squad at mid-transfer training in Kumasi

My new furry friend I found

Crikey!

Hello Dearest Friends and Family!

You've got a very happy Elder emailing you today! Ghana is really starting to grow on me!

First off:

Kumasi was great! I got to go to KFC while I was there and it was fantastic. Also, mid-transfer training was really good! President and Sister Cosgrave spent a lot of time emphasizing the importance of using the Book of Mormon with our investigators. This was a huge relief to myself and many other Elders in the mission, as that seems to be a hard concept for some of the African Elders to grasp...they LOVE their New Testament. Also, while I was there I got to weigh myself again and I've already lost 10 pounds since I left the MTC! So that was pretty crazy to find out. #dontworrymomimnotstarving #itsallthatbikeriding

Elders Morford and Henderson at mid-transfer training in Kumasi

Also, I'm sure many of you have been wondering what I miss the most since leaving the states (Aside from all you lovely people). And the answers are as follows:
    
     Contact lenses
     American food in general
     Temple attendance 

So there you have it. Those are the things I missed the most this week. Also, for those of you interested in knowing this...we lost water again last Tuesday and we haven't gotten it back since. #dontworrymomimnotdying Our good old handyman Brother Abraham has been supplying us with tanks of water so we've been doing just fine. I'm starting to get really good at taking bucket baths.

Because we were in Kumasi most of the week I don't really have any updates proselyting wise...we were not able to get any new investigators this week. But in the little contacting we did, we did have a Muslim tell us he wants to come to church and ask for our number. He said he wants us to teach him and "maybe we can convince him to be baptized." So we just might be scheduling an interview with him and the Zone Leaders pretty soon. His name is Brother Muhammad. #gofigure

This Sunday we had a special broadcast to the Africa West area where Elder Clayton (Presidency of the Seventy), Elder Dube (Of the Seventy), Sister Stevens (First Counselor Relief Society) and Elder Stevenson all spoke. It was really good! The general theme of the broadcast was that the Doctrine of Christ helps you through hard times. And basically that by adhering to Christ's teachings He will make your burdens light. I can testify that that is true! Oh boy, can I testify that that is true!

Last thing! We had our Zone Activity today! We went up to the Paga Crocodile Pond and took some pretty legit pictures with a crocodile! It was sick! Paga is right on the Northern border of Ghana and it was kinda funny because after we were done our driver started going north and we accidentally left the country for a few minutes...#whoops. There was also a very nice man sitting next to me on the trotro who gave me very detailed instructions on how to get through Mali and Libya into Spain. #themoreyouknow

Example of a trotro (an old van used for public transportation)

 

I love you all!

"Silminga Hello!"

Hello everyone! First off, I'm sorry I don't have pictures this week. I email from an internet cafe and so sometimes the option to upload pictures is not available... luckily I'm going down to Kumasi this week for mid-transfer training and our Mission Home has wifi so I will be able to send my mother my pictures from there.

This week was a roller-coaster!

After a couple days of no water in the apartment and living off only the trashcan full of water that Elder Renfroe brought us, our water has returned and supposedly is here to stay! #yes! We will see, but we haven't had any problems yet, so that's good!

My diet has switched from rice to yams and gari [made from cassava flakes], then we dip those in either cabbage stew or tomato and sardine stew. #lotsofstew I'm starting to get the hang of this whole Ghana thing finally, except for the fact that I'm still not really picking up the language at all. #thisisntreallyanenglishmission And a lot of you have been asking and the answer is no...No one can understand me while I'm teaching. haha! But it's all good. They usually get the idea. #teachingbythespirit.

Also, we did have a few heartbreaks this week. Brother Rex did not show up for his baptismal interview on Saturday and we haven't been able to get a hold of him since then. So that was pretty frustrating. He was supposed to be baptized on Sunday right after church (that's how they do it here), but he has disappeared. Also, we were teaching our Relief Society President's less active daughter, Sister Mercy, and trying to get her to start coming back to church. We came back a few days later to hear that she had converted to Islam. That was really sad. Our poor Relief Society President was heartbroken.

On the upside, I got to teach Primary in our branch this week. I stand by my word that the little kids here are the most adorable things on the planet. We learned about why it is important to be reverent in sacrament meeting. #verypowerfullesson

That's all I've got for you this week! Much love to you all!

Dirt...dirt everywhere!

Hello friends and family! It's so good to email you all again! Here's what I've learned so far:

Tamale is a very difficult area for several reasons...

1. The population is almost entirely Muslim. This is hard because first off, we aren't even allowed to teach Muslims without special permission and that's if they even want to hear your message so that makes it very hard to find people to teach.

2. Bicycles... our area is very far away from our apartment and so we have to bike 3-4 miles just to get to our area. And it always seems our bikes are never functioning correctly. Haha there is always something wrong with them. We waste a lot of time during the week getting them repaired.

3. The heat. It's really really hot here. I think the average temperature ranges right around 40 degrees Celsius, so... yeah riding bikes in the hot sun is pretty hard.

4. The dust. I had a dream a few weeks before I got my call that I was called to St. George. I"m thinking what I actually saw was Tamale. Not only is the dirt everywhere but we have to ride through it in order to get anywhere so that makes it really hard to keep things clean and stuff.

Other than that, Ghana is lit! We got 4 new investigators this last week. Brothers Lucas and David and Sister Esther we found while contacting. They are a very powerful family and have a lot of faith in Christ. They all agreed to baptism in the first lesson so that was pretty cool.

Then Sister Rose is the wife of a recent convert. We also started teaching her this week. It's pretty difficult because she doesn't speak English very well she only speaks dogbanny (the local language in Tamale) so it's very hard for her to understand what I am saying.

The little kids here are adorable! Everywhere I go they just want to say hi! In dogbanny "silminga" means "white man" so everywhere I go I can here them shouting, "Silminga hello!" It's pretty cute.

I can honestly say that I'm only 2 and a half weeks in the field and this is already the hardest thing I've ever done. I know the Lord gives us trials so that we can become stronger and I'm trying to embrace that. I've already been so humbled by everything here. The living conditions, the people, the food. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with you all. I love you all so much and miss you dearly.