Missionary Broadcast

Dear America,

On Tuesday we got to watch the special two-hour broadcast for all of the missionaries in the world. I think that it actually happened on January 28, but we had to wait for them to send it to us through the mail. It was really nice. I liked a quote from Elder Oaks that said, "You are not just called to proclaim the gospel, you are called to establish the church." That's especially true in this part of the world. A lot of the work I do is focused on strengthening the members of the church. We were also instructed repeatedly to "teach repentance and baptize converts." So it's been neat to pay attention to that this week and begin to realize how central repentance is to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything we teach invites others to repent. And if we take the hint, we apply it in our own lives, too.

This week I also went on an exchange with Elder Sibiya from South Africa. He's a really fun, friendly guy.

The Young Single Adults joined us on Saturday to go proselyting in the morning. We split up into groups and went to visit investigators and members. One woman we saw was a little surprised to see us, but I could tell that it brightened her day. She was really happy that the YSA would come visit her. It's more meaningful when members come. As nice as visits from the missionaries are, we pretty much have no lives outside of our work. The YSA made all the difference.

In answer to Dad's quesions:

Are you eating well and staying healthy? Yes, I'm eating a lot of fruit and I haven't been sick for a long time now.

 What does your typical day consist of? Missionary work......

 What kinds of things do you do as personal or community service? Clean the chapel, clean burned apartments, help members landscape the dirt plots around their homes. Basically a lot of cleaning up.

How far do you travel each day, and by what means of transportation? We walk. Only walk. Miles and miles. But I don't mind at all. Occasionally we catch a tro to go in to zone councils, district councils, and such, but that's it.

 What does your P-day schedule look like? Wake up, study, eat (unless we had four dinners with members on Sunday, like today), wash, email, teach, eat fruit for dinner, sleep.

Sorry I didn't answer those questions very well....

One thing that I've learned this week: cans of soda pop explode in a fantastic way if you leave them in the freezer.

Love,

Elder Nelson

P.S. I'm getting emails from Elder Neville! Eye paaa. Medasi y. Thanks.

It's really great to hear about him. I agree, sugar cane eye di pa. It's like celery, but sugar. And washing fruits or vegetables is a rare luxury. Don't tell the mission nurse I said that.
It's neat that he's almost been robbed, too. I had an experienced companion who knows what to watch for, but I still came close also. That was my first few weeks here. 

It's so awesome to see his letters.

Funerals

Dear America,

Thanks for all the advice and support from last week. Lynette's mission call (Guatemala) is super neat! Tell her that fufu is better than Mexican food, hands down. Whatever fufu I ate in the US before I came wasn't nearly as good as the stuff here. I'm going to have to make some when I get back and see if I can get it right.

Actually, now that I think about it, Mexican food is the only food that comes close to fufu.

Well to start the week off, I made some hot fudge cake on Monday night. In case you don't know, hot fudge cake is like a mix of brownies and chocolate pudding in one. It's hard to make cake without an oven, so I'm pretty proud of myself. It was good, but I learned that I'm losing my natural American sweet tooth pretty quickly. On Monday, I also got a step-down converter so that my hair clippers would work better. Up until this point, I would use my clippers for a minute or two until they overheated, let it cool down for half an hour, then start again. Which made haircuts take pretty much my entire P day. So I was really happy when the converter was a success.

On Wednesday, as we thought we were about to close a lesson, this little exchange occurred:
"So if God answers your prayers and you come to know that what we've taught you about baptism is true, will you be baptized on the 28th of February?"
"Yes, I will--"
"Great! I know tha--"
"--ask my pastor to baptize me on that day."
This is the first baptismal date I've extended for a different church. Haha smooth.

One investigator was totally convinced that you are paid to be a child growing up in the US. You just get money from the government. She was really surprised to hear that our family grew a garden and that I worked as an electrician. She thought that machines did everything in the US. A lot of people, including members, have funny ideas like that. America is a magical land, that's for sure. But we still have to work and pay for food. I just tell people that I can show them how to get to heaven, not to America. But they tell me that they'd rather go to America. I'm trying to help people think a little more sensibly and feel comfortable being my friend.

We just got back from attending a funeral. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. Funerals are a huge deal here. And there are several repetitions of the same person's funeral. When I die, my funeral won't be huge like this. The one this morning was actually a one-week celebration to announce to everyone when the actual funeral is going to be. Hundreds of people came. They advertise someone's death with big posters, posted all across the city. And then pretty much everyone who ever associated with that person shows up to the funeral(s). Everyone wears black and red clothing, some of which is traditional robes. The clothes are really neat.

Well that's all for this week.

Elder Nelson

Kwasi Gyata

Dear America,

Well, transfer news has arrived. I'll be staying with Elder Antwi in Kronum. Which I'm grateful for because everyone was saying that I would train this transfer. That kind of stuff happens here. President Cosgrave is unpredictable. It's a relief to be able to be a new missionary for a while longer. But my training is over. The Ghana MTC has gone back to a three-week training schedule. When I went, I stayed for less than two weeks. Eleven days, exactly. But I guess that things were only that way for a short time. It's back to three weeks, so our transfers have been weird. Instead of being a uniform six weeks, they've been going 4 weeks-- 8 weeks -- 8 weeks -- 4 weeks. And some new missionaries have arrived in the middle of the transfer. But it's all cool.

The quote of the week this week from Elder Antwi was really powerful: "The gospel is here to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted." I laughed for a long time. I can't say it better. Ponder that little gem of inspiration.

We were in the home of a member when some Reverend Doctor Professor guy came on the television and started talking about Moses' Hebrew mother. He credited her with making good use of the materials she had to save Moses as a child. She got a basket, lined it with some plastic, made the child comfortable, and sent it down the Nile. He kept emphasizing how she really worked with the few resources she had: a basket and some plastic. I'm sure he then continued to spew false doctrine, but frankly, I was kind of overwhelmed by what I had just heard.

If there's something that really gets to me, it's false doctrine. Whenever someone brings up some funny idea about the trinity or the Fall or our spirits, and they want to contend, I get worked up fast. Which is probably the reason why Elder Sutherin has started calling me

Kwasi Gyata (Sunday-born Lion). Looking back, the day I went on exchange with him wasn't my most patient day ever....well......I'm working on it.

It's been another great week in the life of Elder Nelson.

Elder Nelson

PS Aunt Brenda mentioned Elders Lund and Sutherin. Yes, I know both of them. Elder Sutherin is in our district and I went on an exchange with him last week. He's a really nice guy from Shelley. Elder Lund is/was a zone leader for the zone next to us. So yeah, there are a lot of people from our area here.