"It's time to begin, isn't it?" - Imagine Dragons

SO if any of you think that "I don't need to write to Elder Peters" read this little note he sent to us in our emails this morning :) "I added another hour (to their cafe time) because Elder Christopherson wanted to go longer. when you are brand new on mission you will have like 40 emails in your inbox. now I just get letters from our family," If that isn't sad...I don't know what is... ha ha

He also sent this to his Dad that we thought was funny: "I was sitting in a tro tro and a country song came on and I totally thought about how much fun you are having with the truck, you can fill it with lumber, put mowers in it. throw your buddies in the back and haul up Farmington canyon, do donuts in the church parking lot. I'm jealous, but you guys aren't in Africa so take that!!!"

He got to run with Elder Perry for a half an hour and it was "Sweet"!

He's saying his prayers in Twi.

SO here is his letter...

Dear Friends & Family,

Tuesday at about 1 in the afternoon Elder Pohlsander and I found ourselves on the same street that our apartment was on. we had been out sweating and working since about 11 that morning trying to find somebody (who is an investigator) to teach. After riding around from members’ house to members’ house asking for opportunities to serve them and ask them who they know that we could serve and gaining no new investigators I remembered a referral that we got from Leslie that lives across the street from our apartment. We rode for about 10 minutes through traffic to get there, to find he had gone to work. It was hot, I could tell my companion was tired, we both looked at our apartment and knew that we had scheduled lunch for 2, which meant we needed to find something to do for the next hour, and longed to just crash on the couch under a fan. I thought to myself, "goll, we have done NOTHING today!!!" then I had the "It's time to begin, isn't it?" line from the imagine dragons song come to my head, and it wouldn't leave. I am convinced that the Holy Spirit works through things that we are familiar with, things that we remember. Sure our ways are clearly inferior to Gods ways, but he knows how to talk to us. That thought and piece of my subconscious memory motivated me to say to my companion, "Yenko! let’s go, there’s somebody waiting for us."

Elder Pohlsander was sick on the 2nd half of Saturday and then I made a mistake and took him to the Wellingtons place (the Wellingtons are some of the oldest members of the church in Ghana, like their family has been members for a long time) and they made some of the most potent pepper filled jolof rice I have ever had. It was super good, but it threw a wrench in my companions stomach again and we biked home super-fast and he bolted strait to the nearest toilet, and cut loose. I thank my lucky stars (ha-ha, ya I know it’s the 4th of July) that I haven't had problems like this on my mission yet. I don't think I have thrown up once on my mission so far. 

Next to a man weaving kente cloth with an old loom.

I have started to think about my mission like you run the mile. The mile is broken up into 4 laps, likewise a mission has 4-6month periods. I’m coming up on the 800 meter and I know that the 3rd lap is always the toughest mentally, it also makes the biggest difference in the outcome of the race. Then the last 6 months are the "bell lap" when it’s time to go all out. So I have been doing some reflections and goal setting for the next "2 laps" of my mission so that I can say that "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" 2 Timothy 4:7. 

After using their cutlass' for weeding, the Edlers entertain themselves with Ninja poses.

This week was fast Sunday and Elder Pohlsander and I decided to fast for somebody who will be a strength to Lartebiokorshie ward who is waiting to receive the gospel. After church I noticed that this family (the Mensah family from my old area) didn't come to church that week. I hadn't seen them for a while and asked a member if we could go with her to see them? She said she had somewhere to be after church and couldn't come with us. So I decided to go on my own. After arriving at the place we found that their door was locked and somebody said that she (sis Mensah) had gone to work. Slightly discouraged and running out of ideas I decided to bike back to the church to find a member that we could help get home. On my bike ride back to the church I ran into Augustine, a young single man from our ward who served his mission in Sierra Leon. As we talked I found out that he was going to visit his aunt, I also found out that she used to play for the female Black Stars team and that she loves the gospel! We followed Augustine to her house, set up an appointment with her when we could return and then teach her. She is a seamstress so she will be around all the time during the week which is awesome! We will be teaching her a lot this week. Pray for her, her name is Becky. 

Need sandals? Wait a minute and someone will come by with a basket of them on their head for sale.

We also are working with Bro. Archibald’s wife's sister. Her name is Rita. She has come to church several times this past month, she just works all the time and her only days off are Mondays, so we will try to teach her today. Also there is an 18 year old girl named Maybelle who Elder Friday taught that we will see on Wednesday and I think that she is prepared to be baptized very soon, but I need to meet with her. I have been trying to meet her all week. Anyway there’s a lot of work to do. 

For the 4th of July we pledged allegiance to Elder Ferin’s flag in his room, and I washed my clothes. I had a slice of bread with some Top Choco (Nutella) on it and drank a soda. The bigger event is that it’s our shop ladies birthday today! So we will try to make her a microwave banana bread. I’m excited for that. 

Lunch with Elder Perry and Elder Babira

This week I went on exchange with elder Babira, that’s Elder Perry’s companion and on exchange with Elder Nilsson. Babira is from Nigeria and is about to finish his training. He is really really cool. He wants to go to BYU-Idaho, and I want to try to be a closer friend to him. Elder Nilsson is a really cool dude, he wants to work hard and it was fun to weed with them. That’s how I have planned the exchanges. We start by doing service in the morning and then we study from like 10 to 12, proselyte for about 2 hours and then split up with members of our ward to hit more appointments. Those two exchange days were definitely our best days. Pohlsander went with Godives, an 18 year old in our ward who is preparing to go on his mission. And I would go with Eder Babira or Nilsson. This week we will take Elder Ngoy and Elder Lasuku. They are in the Dansoman apartment. I’m really liking these exchanges, they are tiring though. We bike all over the zone to pick people up from their areas. I haven't fallen asleep so fast ever, but it feels awesome and I know that the Lord has blessed me because there are times when I have way more energy than I should based on the sleep I have gotten. 

I wish that I never had to sleep, what a waste of time! How many years do we end up sleeping in a lifetime?

I have been trying to practice songs on my guitar to play for the primary with the spare 10 to 15 minutes I get every now and again. I am trying to learn the Army of Helaman song, I Am a Child of God, and Called to Serve. Teaching and singing with those kids every Sunday is so awesome. Those are moments I will never forget. 

I have some funky dreams sometimes. (the malaria medication they have to take can give them strange, and very vivid dreams) Like I had one the other day that I was home and I was running from our mailbox up past Burton Elementary but people were hawking (selling stuff off their heads), everyone was Ghanaian, there were goats running around, everyone was speaking Twi. It was weird. Usually I only have dreams where I am in Ghana, but occasionally some memory from home will show up.  

"Ghana eye pa!" Ghana is good, President Simpson is here, he’s been here for a week. Elder Herrod called me cuz he met him at a zone training last week, but I will meet him tomorrow at MLC. I made a list of all the people that I need to take pictures with cuz as I looked through my photos I found that there are some people that I haven't taken pictures of that I wish I did in Kasoa and Mamponse. Luckily I will probably be able to go and see them sometime before I go home. 

I love you guys a ton! 

Love Elder Peters