Elder Brandon Peters: "Why don't you find it some place to sleep, WHILE I THINK OF A PLAN!"

"HELLO!" from the coolest district in Ghana!

Dear family & friends,

I have more time this week than I have had over the last few weeks.

On Monday I didn't get to email for a very long time because we got home a lot later than expected because of the traffic. I’m sorry I also haven't got a picture of me fetching water at Hannah and Darlington’s house I will try to get one soon. We are going to help them paint their house.

Elder Peters and Elder Perry with a local member

On Wednesday we had a multi-zone conference at First Light with Tesano and Lartebiokorshie Zones. It was cool to see some friends I haven't seen for a long time again like Elder Fryar, Elder Pohlsander, Elder Ombaka, Elder Herrod, Elder Mantz, and others.

On Thursday we taught Beatrice about the Holy Ghost and we also taught her again on Saturday and we decided to just focus on teaching repentance without using the word “repentance”. We talked about different attributes that Christ had like diligence, humility, charity, hope, etc. and wrote them down on a paper. Then we all silently chose one in our mind that we were going to work on. Before the lesson Beatrice wasn't planning on coming out cuz she had just taken her bath and still had wet hair and was going to give her baby a bath. Elder Tohouri and I were sitting there with Flourence (our recent convert, Beatrice’s sister) and we had a lesson ready for Beatrice, but not for Flourence, so we had to think fast and Elder Tohouri came up with teaching Christlike attributes. It was cool because after Beatrice joined she said, “I wasn't going to come out, but I’m so glad I did because I really needed to hear this to motivate me today”. There is something that has been bothering me and this week I will do better because of this lesson. So that was pretty cool. We also chopped open some coconuts with a machete and enjoyed some coconut water and meat after the lesson.

Elder Peters and Elder Tohouri giving "goat" rides.

On Friday we did our study and then took off to the mission home to take Elder Tohouri's English test. It’s a speaking test that a computer evaluates that will give him a certificate that he is competent enough in English to speak in business settings and stuff like that. He will be able to use it in gaining employment when he returns home in two weeks. I guess he did really good because Sister Munro was so excited that she made us milkshakes and grilled cheese sandwiches. I told her that the last time I had a grilled cheese sandwich was at Elder Perry’s house when his mom would make them for lunch when we were in high school.

Elder Tohouri passed the English test! Way to go ELDER!!!

Celebrating Elder Tohouri's Certification with Milk Shakes! Thanks Sister Munro!!!

On Saturday and Sunday we struggled with a plan. On the way to Hannah and Darlington’s last Monday we left our phone in a taxi and so we haven't had a phone to call our investigators or any one else this whole week. It’s been really really hard. After church Elder Tohouri and I came back to our apartment and had some lunch and then he said, "You think of a plan, I’ll be back in 10 minutes" as he made his way to our toilet. I stared at my planner. No one we taught came to church, so I thought we would start with them. After setting out we found that NONE of them were home so we decided to just bike up to this really far place in our area called Upper Weija that has some cool members living there. On our way up we ran into Francis Apeteng a recent convert who hasn't been to church for a while driving a new Hyundai Sonata and he rolled down the window and said, "Hey are you guys coming to my place?" There is really only one main dirt road that goes up there so we said, "Ya!" we got there and he was talking with some people and told us to “go and then come back” (a thing that happens A LOT) so we went to visit a ward missionary named Nana Esi that Elder Tohouri and I didn't know very well who lives higher up the hill (Upper Weija is a really hilly area)

The Hills of Weija

we found her house and got to know her and her less active brother, we shared something small with them and then went back to Francis. Francis was kind of busy and we talked with him out on the road. Francis is kind of a “jack-of all trades” businessman. The car he was driving up the hill was a car he just picked up from the port and is going to sell. he asked Elder Tohouri about small arms in Ivory Coast (they have had civil wars so small arms are more abundant there than in Ghana) and talked to him about lining up business links with pump action rifles "AK's will get me in trouble with the government" he said. So that was kinda funny. Then we went to Sister Naomi's place and visited with her family, particularly her brother who is the clerk in our ward about his mission in Nigeria and his calling. I have learned that when you can get the members of your ward to talk about the different aspects of their calling in an informal setting, it really helps them gain trust in you as a missionary because the next time you need them in-action (the ward clerk recording baptismal records for example) he is a lot more willing to help you out with it. It’s less of a fight between the missionaries and the members and more of a group effort.

That sums up the week pretty well I think!