"Let it begin! LET IT BEGIN!" - BOLT

Elder Peters, Henry and Elder Herrod (We stole this fro Elder Herrod's email)

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was transfers and I will be going to be serving with Elder Miller (of England) in L'aterbiokoshie. (Try to say that one… It’s near Kaneshie. You might need to make a new map because they have re-aligned the stake boundaries. I think that it is actually a new stake. Also Winneba stake has been added to our mission.) and Elder Herrod will be training a new missionary in a new area across the highway from our area in Kasoa. They are merging our area with elder brown's area so last Sunday we went around to say goodbye to everyone and to show elder brown the members and who we were teaching there. It was sad. Tonight we will have one final family night with the Bentum family and Simon will come and play his guitar. I’m excited for it, but also I know it's gonna be hard to leave. Elder Liera called me last night (tomorrow he will fly home) and we had a good discussion about mission. He said something in my training that I remember, "mission is nothing but a bunch of hellos and goodbyes, you start with saying goodbye to your family. Then you are transferred and get new companions, and eventually will have to leave Ghana." it stinks, but rocks because every door that closes seems to open another one. And it never remains completely closed either. 

We think that his new area is where that little red arrow is.

On Wednesday 
we went out to this really far part of our area to meet with a member and teach her niece. It was at about 5 so by the time we were done it was dark. we went to the station to catch a tro tro to Henery's house and it turned out that the road we were going to use was under construction so we went this crazy other way. But the road was really bumpy and had a lot of whoopdy doos (XC term, explain that josh). It was funny because Elder Herrod asked me, have you ever been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. I said ya once. we both realized that it was a lot like that at we bumped along this windy road in the dark, the windshield hitting the leaves of banana trees and you can only see with the one headlight that works and you’re with a bunch of other sweaty people. It was fun.

Another little funny thing that happened is we were crossing this road in the construction site and there was a bunch of dirt that was floating on this puddle of water, so it didn't really look like a puddle. It’s a strange phenomenon, I’m not sure how it happens but I guarantee it looked like solid ground. As we stepped onto it we both got one of our shoes covered in mud each. so we went to this little Muslim girl who was selling yam on the roadside and asked her if we could use some water to clean off our shoes (cuz they usually have big buckets full of water for cleaning dishes) and she grabbed the bucket and started to wash our feet. We insisted that we could do it on our own, but she wouldn't let us do it. We tried to take the bucket and washcloth to wash them on our own, but she wasn't having it. There are some sassy little kids here. But as she washed my shoe off me thought about Jesus Christ washing the apostle’s feet. I’m sure it was really hard for him to convince them to let him do that, but he did it somehow. I am striving to learn more and more about how I can better do physical service for people, it really is key to missionary work.

At one point during this week we were trying to find something to do to fulfill our purpose as missionaries and stopped to buy pure water from this lady's shop that we routinely stop at during the day. She speaks mostly Twi, but a little English and indicated to me that her and her friend that was there (who was partially blind in one eye) wanted to hear something about the gospel. I looked at Elder Herrod and said, let’s give it a shot in Twi. It was the first time I have attempted to teach the entire restoration message in Twi, I was nervous. We started with a prayer. I told them that I would say it. Then I taught. IN TWI! It was crazy. There were times when I couldn't entirely say something in Twi, but the coolest part of the lesson was toward the end where the shop woman indicated to me that she did not understand everything, but that she was feeling something. I said, "me nym se eye homhomkronkron oye kyere wo eye nokware." I know that it is the Holy Ghost. He is teaching you it is true. The spirit was strong in that lesson for sure. Also I learned that a picture book is priceless! It helps a ton. I am always gonna carry the picture book around. 

Right as we finished teaching the ladies Dennis (a former investigator) came up to us and wanted us to come the school where he is teaching. So we went there and contacted all the teachers at the school. As we were talking with them I learned something interesting about Ghanaian culture. They leave some small money with a person when they are buried so they can buy supplies on their journey to heaven. I laughed when I heard it, but I realized how important that is to them and felt bad. I am constantly learning how to adapt and about the history and culture of Ghana. I have a really cool story about a monkey village in the eastern region to tell you sometime but I don't have time in this email. James especially would like it. 

I recognized that I need to be more humble and less-judgmental of people in another BIG instance this past week. Simon Firburg who was a pastor for the global anointing chapel a month ago had all his stuff in boxes in front of his house this past Sunday. As we had been teaching him we were always wondering, going back and forth, is he serious? Is he not? Cuz he wasn't coming to church. His job wouldn't let him. He told us that he had met with his superiors and they fired him but then later when we went by his church some of the congregation was outside and they knew us and said that Simon had been there. He kept the commitments of reading the Book of Mormon, but was never able to come to sacrament meeting so we didn't really know about him. Turns out he really has given up EVERYTHING he has to join the church. He moved to a house in Buhdaburram so we referred him to the elders there (actually Elder Paddon might be one of them) so they can work with him. It was hard to say goodbye to him because I won't really get to see what happens to him, but I just have to have faith that he will find his way.

Being a missionary is the best and I am excited to serve in L'aterbiokoshie with elder miller. 

Love, Elder Peters

Some other tid-bits we got from his letters to individuals today…

I took your advice and bought a Ghana history book at a little book shop next to a school today. I think it will not only help with relating to the people and culture but help me get around mission. It has some good maps.

We didn’t get any photos from him this week: because last week Elder Nillson was uploading photos and a weird virus got onto his SD card and wiped it clean. I just took a bunch of super cool videos today that I can't send home and I don't want them gone. So maybe I will send them home in my next cafe. This one is kinda sketchy.

For P-day today he: got a motorcycle ride through the trees and out past this GIANT pineapple farm. Then we got to this cool little hotel way out in the bush of Bawjiase that had a giant python and two big tortoises. It was super super fun. 

For Easter I went and said goodbye to all the people I met and made friends with in Kasoa. Then Elder Kaelin got some mashed potato mix from his mom in a package so we made that and cut up some hot dogs from the mall and had a glorious feast.