"Are you gonna have to wear cut-offs? can you wear those with a tie?" - Grandma Satchwell

Elder Ofusu Hene, Elder Beal and Elder Peters.  Elder Peters says that his toe is healing well, that his Twi is coming along nicely and that he LOVES being a missionary. (He's not sure what he's going to do when he comes home in July...) 

Dear Family & Friends,

This morning for P-day we washed our clothes, cleaned our apartment and went to a swampy forest area to catch crabs for this one member family. it was pretty fun, you find a hole and just shove your arm down there and feel around for the crab and then grab it and yank it and all the mud and dirt around it out, and pray it doesn't pinch you. I ripped my pants along the knee doing it and so I had to cut them off into shorts so I wouldn't be walking around with one pant leg torn wide open at the knee while the other one was fine. It reminded me of Grandma Satchwell and upon learning that I was going to Africa on a mission she asked me all sorts of funny questions like mentioned in the title.

Conference sure was awesome! We got to watch two sessions. The Asamankese Chapel broadcasted the Saturday Afternoon Session and the Priesthood Session on Sunday morning for the members in the District to see. I guess I will just have to wait to get the Liahona to read the rest of General Conference but I really loved David Bednar's talk in Priesthood Meeting about Preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and preparing to go to the temple and the difference between being assigned to and area and being called to serve. I also loved the story in Gary Sabin's talk about the Boy Scout who wouldn't unroll his sleeping bag to save 5 min of work, but caused him hours of suffering. I also loved when he mentioned "Star Wars" and a "disturbance in the force" and thought of James, I knew he was enjoying that talk.

Elders Ofusu Hene and Peters teaching some lessons.  Not sure why Elder Peters is only wearing socks in this photo...but he looks pretty serious.

On the way home from Asamankese (which is about an hour drive to Kade) we climbed in the back of our Branch President's truck and he decided that we would all get coconuts from a vendor on the side of the road about 30 minutes into our drive. The drive from Asamankese to Kade is just walls of jungle along the road for miles, separated by only small towns that you can drive through in a max of 2 or 3 minutes. So we stopped in the middle of the bush and just enjoyed some coconuts on the side of the road and it was awesome. I looked around at all the trees and just took a moment to slow down and enjoy. Then the Branch Presidents car wouldn't start so after some monkeying around with the connectors on the battery we decided to push it, maybe it was a different problem. Eventually the engine roared to life and we hopped back in the cab and took off again. It was a cool lesson for me in that sometimes life is cushy and nice, other times it throws us some problems and we have to work through them, but eventually it will all work out. Conference and drinking coconut water in a sweet environment were nice; the truck not working was a curve-ball. Sometimes our spiritual lives are the same. Sometimes our testimonies are challenged, other times they are appreciated, but we should always be grateful for them.

We have a few investigators that are taking steps toward baptism. Daniel is a young man who has a cousin serving a mission in Nigeria and has come to church with him before, but all the sudden had a renewed interest and brought himself to church and discovered one of his friends is a new member of our branch.

Kojo has been doing some intense farming work and it has been difficult to find him, but he is finished with that job now and is available all the time so we will be able to teach him other than on Sundays. He is a valiant young man.

Out teaching in one of the small villages

I finished reading the book of Acts this past week and it is really awesome! If you want to read stories about shipwrecks and maritime adventures those last few chapters in Acts are all about Paul and the miracles and teachings he did while traveling from Jerusalem to Rome for his trial with Caesar. I'm about 350 pages into Jesus the Christ, section 20is in the Doctrine and Covenants. I have been trying to switch up my study a bit lately because I have read the Book of Mormon 2x on my mission and preach my gospel A TON, and I’m finding it really difficult to not focus on those two books, they are so full of awesome information and stories that motivate that I’m missing using them as the focus of my study, but I know that I need to learn these other books too, that their teachings are just as important.

I love you guys!

Love, Elder Peters