Snails Taste Like Dirt

Dear America,

Life is a breeze in Nkawkaw. This week was a week of anticipation, transfer rumors, and flying by the seat of our pants. Elder Nuamah has been expecting to go this transfer, but we got a phone call from President on Tuesday evening telling him to pack his things and be at the mission home the next day. FYI We were planning to go to the leadership counsel anyway. We always travel to Kumasi on Wednesday and stay the night in the mission home before the mission leadership counsel the next day. So we arrived at the mission home with all of his luggage to find that about half of the zone leaders in the mission had been told to do the same. Nobody knew what was going on. That night, speculations were flying. It was crazy. Anyways, President Cosgrave did the big reveal the next day and everyone got sorted out. It was the transfer before transfers.

Long story short, I have a new companion now. His name is Elder Wood from Johannesburg, South Africa. He's a nice guy and willing to work and learn. This week leading up to the transfer has been more stressful than usual for everyone (especially President), and Elder Wood has been good to support me while I'm scrambling.

On our way to the mission home, we stopped at the sisters' apartment to give them some supplies. They fed us banku with okro. There were snails in the okro, so of course I jumped (excitedly) at the opportunity to try it. I would definitely eat it again. It has a nice texture. But in case you've never tasted snail, I'll tell you right now that they taste like dirt. High-quality dirt. Like a well-potted plant or a freshly tilled garden. But it only tastes like dirt on the foot of the snail. The inside part tastes like....... snail. All in all a satisfying experience.

We had district conference in Nkawkaw this week, and the theme was repentance. I love listening to talks about repentance as a daily necessity; I'm still trying to apply those talks. As Easter is coming up, I'm sure you've seen the Church initiative #princeofpeace. If you speak Twi, that's Oheneba asumdwea. As I read Moroni 7:3 this week, I was struck by the part about entering into his rest. It's an immediate thing, not an eventual or delayed promise. And I felt like Moroni was at least in part referring to peace. Rest from care and trouble isn't just something reserved for the end of the Plan of Salvation, it's an instant strength. Jesus Christ offers us peace regardless of outside circumstances. It reminds me of a talk called "Then shall thy confidence wax strong" or something like that. You can look it up. So I looked up "rest" in the Topical Guide and read through the quotations, inserting "peace" instead of "rest" whenever rest is used as a noun in the scriptures. It works. And it makes the promise seem more personal and applicable instead of something that will happen after we are dead and gone.

Have a great Easter!

Elder Nelson