Sister Wood

Hi Karie

I found out about a month ago it was his birthday and I did tell him I would bake a cake to celebrate. He is one of my favourite missionaries .  We discovered it also was the birthday of Sister Nyembe on the same day, and another girl from their branch.  So we are having a combined celebration.  

I have  arrange with Elder Khumalo  to have the celebration in the morning for breakfast so we don't break your family tradition and hopefully he will get a surprise. 

Last week we did inspections of all the apartments in the Techiman, and Sunyani districts. We were incredibly surprise to find the Dwumoh apartment, where Elder Nelson is, was the cleanest by far of the seven apartments.  I did bake a banana cake for them as a prize.

We are loving  our mission.  The people of Ghana are mostly very friendly, devout  and humble.  We both wanted to try and help others, and to serve hands on where we could.  That has certainly been the case for my husband.  We  also go out to teaching appointments with the the young missionaries and we have loved those experiences.  I am teaching two temple preparation classes and also will start helping people with family history. In August a literacy program is being instigated and I am to part of that. 

Ghana is truly a third world.  We have been to China and traveled some distance there, also through Thailand and those places never prepared us for what is here. I I was shocked to see the squalor, poverty, filth, pollution of garbage everywhere, and the extremely hard lives of many people.  I forgot to add the heat and the hideous red dust that coats everything and is everywhere!  We am adjusting to it all. 

I hope you are enjoying being the Primary President. I have been twice in that calling.  Children are the most rewarding to teach.

God bless you and Brother Nelson for raising such an amazing son. He is so very lovely and respectful to the saints here and they love him as we do.   I wish you could see him playing the organ and singing on Sunday's as he plays. He is a delight. He comes every week to our temple prep class and has been blessed with the gift to explain things at the level of the hearer.  He has an amazing spirit and wears the mantle of a missionary one hundred percent. 

Arohanui  

Sister Wood

Birthday #1

Dear America,

It was a sweet week for me. My birthday was on Wednesday. I wasn't expecting too much to happen, but as soon as I got up and stepped out of my room I had several large buckets of water poured on top of me by the other missionaries in the apartment. At 9:00, all of the other missionaries in the zone came over to the Dwumoh chapel for a surprise birthday party. I had water dumped on me again, then we all had cake for breakfast. Sister Wood (the senior couple) made the cake and apparently found out that it's a tradition in my family to eat it for breakfast. A lot of people had birthdays on the same day -- one sister missionary, two members from Dwumoh, and me. There were also two girls with birthdays on Saturday that joined us for the celebration.

In the evening, we picked up the entire Tamale zone at the tro station and made sure that they all got to the apartments that they were supposed to be in. They were staying the night in preparation for the zone conference the next day. It was fun to have them over.

Well, transfer news has arrived. Elder Khumalo is leaving to Kumasi. I'll be staying in Dwumoh and training a new missionary. Dwumoh is a good place. I'm glad that I'll be staying here a while longer. President Cosgrave told me that there are two requirements to be a trainer: exact obedience and unconditional love for the elder I train.

Prince Dankwah was baptized on Saturday. He and his friend have both decided to join the church recently. He was confirmed on Elder Khumalo's last Sunday here. Also, on Sunday Ofosu Gyarko played the keyboard for the first time in Sacrament meeting. I've been teaching him for about eight weeks on and off now. He played "Come, Ye Children of the Lord" from the simplified hymnbook as the opening hymn while I conducted the music. He did a really good job. Then he led the music while I played for the rest of the meeting.

We had two FMs in a row on Sunday, which is the first time that's happened to either of us in Techiman. People know that Elder Khumalo likes food, and they're doing their best to wish him goodbye. He calls himself "Khumalo baku p3", which is pretty much saying "the one and only Khumalo". It's caught on and now everyone calls him that. The branch is going to miss him. He was a large contributor to its development. It'll be hard to replace him.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Apartment Inspections

Dear America,

Well I'll just start right from the beginning of the week. On Monday we had a lot of activities. We went in the morning to play football on a dirt pitch in Krobo. All of the elders in the zone were there and the branches were invited as well, but only a few people showed up so it ended up being mostly missionaries. Later in the afternoon we had a district activity of making and eating fufu with groundnut soup. It turned into a zone activity because everyone was already there anyways. The food was amazing. It was the best cassava/yam fufu that I've ever eaten. And the groundnut soup was perfect. Elder Lesh and I got assigned to gather the hardware to prepare the food. We also gave the lesson for the zone FHE that happened in the evening.

Last week my dad encouraged me to write down some of the things that I'll 'never forget' because I'll probably forget them. So I've started trying to write down some basic things that seem insignificant or that I wouldn't usually think to write. Today I'll tell you about the roadside shops. First of all, there are a ton of them. They're all in metal box containers that are about fifteen feet by fifteen feet. Some of the bigger shops have two boxes put together. But if you want to start a business in Ghana, it's an unwritten rule that you have to choose in between hairdressing, being a seamstress, selling cheap rice, or selling small household goods. That's it. There are no other areas of enrepreneurship. About 85% of all shops here do one of those things. In their small metal box.

The senior couple came to do apartment inspections this week. They were super impressed by how clean our apartment was and said that it was the best apartment in all of Sunyani and Techiman by a long ways. They were blown away by how "immaculate" (to quote their frequent use of the word) it was. Which is amazing because they're kind of neat freaks. A lot. So thanks to Elder Prior for being a cleaning machine. I've never been praised for cleanliness, so it was kind of disconcerting for me.

I heard a songbird for the first time this week. I had never realized what I was missing. I thought that the chirp and chatter of the others was a song. But now I know.

Sisters don't get to wear pants here. Too dangerous and nobody will take them seriously.

Elder Nelson

Branch Council

Dear America,

Sorry for the short letters the past few weeks. That means that nothing went terribly wrong that I had to write home about.

On Saturday we had the first branch council of the year. It was powerful. Everyone came in full force. We established some important things like presidency meetings, home and visiting teaching, member-missionary work, and effective teaching. I was really pleased. They planned a branch temple trip and I guess the spirit of temple work was there because I got really excited while they talked about it. They'll stay in Accra at the temple for five consecutive nights while they attend the temple in the day. I miss temple trips! I was jealous. While we were at the council, our branch president told his own story to emphasize on member missionary work. He said that the first time he met the missionaries he invited them in and started to chat with them. He told them what he knew about religion and listened to their message. As the taught, he got angry with what they were saying. He told them to get out of his house. A little while later, one of his friends started to talk about religion with him. He was interested and one day his friend brought the missionaries over to meet with the two of them. They were the very same missionaries. When Tony saw them, he was shocked. But this time he listened a little more. He ended up taking the discussions and being baptized and now he's the branch president. The second counselor gave a contrasting story. When he first saw the missionaries, he was Catholic. He stopped them and asked them what they were doing. He said, "I want to come to your church!" He did. He took the discussions and got baptized. Both of them are so different but they're both really dedicated to the church. Also on Saturday we helped Elder Wood fix up a trycicle for a disabled man.

Every Sunday after church, Hannah Osei--who recently got baptized and called as the second counselor in the Relief Society--stays behind to help us make some stew or something for lunch and eats with us before she goes home. It's one of my favorite parts of Sunday.

Elder Nelson

Intermediate Hymn

Dear America,

It was a great week for me. I was able to do a lot. The missionaries in Techiman organized a member-missionary fireside that ended up running late, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. The branch presidencey forgot to assign talks for sacrament meeting on Sunday, so the sister missionaries and I gave some hastily-prepared but nicely done remarks on the topics of faith, hope, and charity. I'm grateful for intermediate hymns. I played hymn #2 (The Spirit of God), which is always a marathon hymn to get through. But at Afriiiicaaaaan speeeeeeeeeed it took the whole of fifteen minutes to sing just before I gave a talk. Which is good because it meant that I didn't have to speak for thirty minutes.

Speaking of hymns, I've been teaching a young man named Ofosu Gyarko how to play the keyboard in hopes that he'll be able to do it when I'm gone. It's going fantastically so far. He learns really quickly. By the time I leave, he'll be able to play just about anything from the simplified hymnbook, lead the music, sing the hymns, and teach other members -- all at the same time. Haha just kidding, not at the same time. But seriously, he'll be a powerful tool to help the branch. Right now the members only know how to sing a few songs and none can lead or play the keyboard. So he'll be really useful.

I went on an exchange with Elder Dadzie this week. We carried water for Bro and Sister Andoh. Everyone on the street was pointing and laughing at the white man with water on his head. It was great. I also made a garbage bag poncho so we could go out one day. We got soaked. But I found out that if you put your scriptures in a plastic bag inside your scripture case, it does a really good job of keeping them dry.

Today when I did my washing I tried using rubber gloves for the first time. My fingers were bleeding like they usually do, but as soon as I started using the gloves it didn't hurt at all. It was so amazing. I can't believe I didn't try it sooner because I don't think I'll ever wash without them again. P day just got a little bit better for me.

Elder Nelson

Payday!!

Hi Karie

Elder Nelson tells me that you make your own yoghurt.  Would you mind sharing your recipe with me.  I made one lot when we first arrived from some Greek yoghurt I bought in Kumasi.  It was good but the second batch I tried to  make was unsuccessful.  We only get milk powder and long life milk here.  If the ingredients you use would work with what we have I would love to try again.

We called in at the Elders apartment yesterday and there was Elder Nelson sitting on a little wooden seat with a bucket scrubbing his clothes.  He would be one of the cleanest and best presented missionaries in this mission.  You have brought him up well.  He is truly a wonderful missionary and has an excellent understanding of gospel principles and is very kind to everyone. 

Love

Sister Diane Wood

Elder and sister Wood Techiman Ghana- Senior Missionaries from New Zealand

Miracle on Delay

Dear America,

This Thursday, I got the most exciting news of my entire mission so far. Elder Antwi called me in the evening and told me. At least some abbreviated portion of this story should make its way into the ward newsletter if at all possible. I'll take this opportunity for a flashback:

When I was in Kronum with Elder Antwi, we met up with an investigator named Rebecca. She was a fourteen-year-old girl that we contacted on the street near the chapel. We invited her to come to church and she accepted. It was just one of those "you'd better take me seriously" days for Elder Antwi and I, so we made her look us in the eye and promise that she would come to church. She said she would. One day we saw her entering a house just a few doors down from the chapel. Sunday morning at 8:30, we were waiting for her just outside her house. She was so shocked to see us there. We waited for her to start getting ready, at which point we went to the chapel for sacrament meeting. About halfway through the meeting we noticed that she hadn't shown up. So we left the meeting and stood at her door until she got dressed and followed us to church. We made sure that she stayed the entire time. She told us later that that first time she came to church really affected her. She felt the Spirit very strongly and knew that there was something different about our church. We gave her a Lesson 1 pamphlet to read over as she was leaving the chapel.

Our next meeting happened to be while Elder Antwi was gone on exchange. I was with Elder Lawson. At this point, we were still convinced that she wasn't at all serious about learning the gospel. But when we asked her if she had read the pamphlet we gave her, she was able to give as a very detailed point-by-point summary of the Restoration that left us astonished. She had even answered all of the sample questions at the back. It was amazing. Nobody on my mission, before or since, has ever done that. We taught her all five of the missionary lessons within the first two weeks. She progressed incredibly quickly. We had her all prepped for her baptism. She was even interviewed for baptism, but her hopes were dashed as she learned about the Church's policy concerning minors. In order to be baptized at such a young age, an investigator needs to either (1) have a family member in the church, or (2) attend church meetings for at least six months. We tried to teach her family so that we could baptize her more quickly, but her family wasn't at all in a situation to accept the teachings. Her mother was disabled by a stroke some time ago, her father was a taxi driver who drank and smoked, her older sister had moved away and was living the party life, her younger sister was middle-school age with a free spirit, and she was left to try to hold her family together while she was still in JHS. She was devastated when she learned that she would have to wait for six months to be baptized. We did everything we possibly could to strengthen her, but she started dropping rapidly. We visited her constantly for four months, trying everything in our power to keep her firm in the gospel until she could be baptized. But she was weakening. She stopped attending church and was able to meet with us less and less. It hurt us to watch he falling. Only a little while before, she was the perfect investigator. We tried so much to help her, but eventually felt that we needed to drop her from our teaching pool. It was hard. We had put so much effort into her growth. We were able to see her on the day before we left Kronum, and she was asking some disappointing questions about basic things we had been teaching. That saddened us. She had fallen so far. We left with very, very little hope for her ever progressing. She had made her choice and used her agency as we all can. She had just made the wrong decision, unfortunately.

Fast forward. She's being interveiwed for her baptism. Here's what happened: her brother -- WHO WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED -- who has been missing for several years, came back. Surprise. Well apparently in his absence he met the missionaries and accepted the invitation to learn the gospel. He was baptized and made the decision to serve a mission. HE'S A RETURN MISSIONARY. And he's back from the dead. Her desire and the joy of the gospel have been re-ignited within her -- and now that she has a family member in the church, she can be baptized. And even better, he'll be a strength to her for the rest of her life.

Sometimes small miracles happen. And sometimes huge, earthshaking miracles happen. Like your brother coming back from the dead as a return missionary. I'm just so happy that everything is working out for her. And I'm grateful that I could be part of the preparation. No effort is wasted. Elder Antwi and I thought that we had spent four months focusing on a hopeless cause, but we couldn't have been further from the truth. We were paving the way for miracles to happen.

This week was Elder Khumalo's birthday, the biggest branch activity that I've ever seen, and a trip to Kintampo Falls as a zone. We sustained a functional Relief Society presidency on Sunday, which was a big step in the right direction. Life's pretty good.

Love,

Elder Nelson