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

Danso's Baptism

Dear America,

This week one of our investigators was baptized! He's the first one in a long time that this branch has had. His name is Danso and he lives in the same house as one of the really strong families in the branch. The missionaries found him quite a while ago, but he kind of resisted efforts to teach him. So we left him alone for a while and eventually he started coming to church with the family because he didn't like being the only one left in the house on Sunday mornings. This is an example of positive peer pressure. He loves church, participates well, gives good contributions, and already has a lot of friends in the church. So we started sneakily teaching him the missionary lessons whenever he came to church and now he's baptized.

Our zone covers a lot of area, so we do a lot of traveling back and forth to take care of business. At first I liked it, but it's getting kind of old. The cars are always sketchy and the drivers are even sketchier. But the funny thing is that whenever I drive in a nice, smooth, air conditioned car (like President Cosgrave's) I get carsick. I'm so used to a bouncy, windy, stinky, packed tro that I feel nauseous in a real car. So life is going to be rough when I get home.

Speaking of spending a lot of time on the road, I'll have almost no time to proselyte this week because I'll be running back and forth from meetings in Kumasi and Nkawkaw. I'm not looking forward to it too much.

Love,

Elder Nelson

The pictures are before the baptism and of a pineapple farm. I'd never seen a pineapple farm before.

Finding Akpalu

Dear America,

One of our less-active branch members moved this week without telling anyone where he was moving to. We've been teaching his daughter and preparing her for baptism, so we planned to find his house and visit. We called the night before to arrange for him to show us the place, but when we called the day of we were surprised when a woman answered the phone and said that it had been lost. So we couldn't contact him and we also had only a general idea of where he was living. With nothing else to do, we started contacting the houses on that side of the street. We recruited the help of a member, and a little while later we stumbled into a small compound where he was sitting with his family. There was much rejoicing. We invited them to come to church the next day and they all showed up. It seemed pretty impossible to find his house and the odds were against us, but you'd be surprised how many things just work out when you're a missionary.

Last week one of the highlights that brightened my day was when we were walking down the street and passed a taxi parked on the side of the road when we caught sight of the Book of Mormon. The driver was getting ready to start work and was praying with the Book of Mormon in his hands so that he would be blessed and protected. It was touching. He didn't really know what the book was, but he did know that it was the word of God and had enough faith to pray over it. It was also exciting because it shows some success in our goal to flood Nkawkaw with the Book of Mormon. Elder Nuamah and I want to get to the point where missionaries don't have to hand out any more copies because everyone they meet with already has one. It's coming a little bit at a time. Whenever we stop a somebody on the road and they tell us that they already have the Book of Mormon, we smile at each other.

My companion made this insightful observation this week about faith and hope: Faith is like the wheels on a car. The action of the wheels move you. Hope is like the steering wheel; it directs the goal of the faith.

Questions from Dad:

1. What are some of the things that help you teach most effectively? Do personal experiences translate? Similes? Yes, personal experiences occasionally translate if you leave out a lot of details. They don't understand our culture or things like that, so you have to make it very vague. A lot of times we'll give kind of parables using the common things here. Helping them ask their own questions really helps them to learn. The school system here is so ineffective because it's based on memorizing and filling in the blank, so when you try to change their mentality to asking and answering their own questions it's REALLY HARD but eventually a lot better.
2. What role do you play on Sundays as a missionary? Do you ever speak / teach / play / sing? How often? I play the keyboard every week, usually speak about once a month, and teach every one or two weeks. This branch is really solid so I don't have to do much.
3. In what ways do you serve as a support to your branch / ward? How often? Missionaries are the home and visiting teaching system here. We're trying to change that. We reactivate and retain. We have been commanded by higher authorities to participate in every branch council meeting and PEC in our branches. Missionaries carry a lot of sway with the church leaders. We're like substitute general authorities.
4. What are the key things you’ve seen the most effective missionaries / member missionaries do to effectively share the gospel? Live the gospel. If you really enjoy living the gospel, people will notice. And you'll be a really effective Church member.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Slow and Steady Investigators

Dear America,

This week went by quickly. We had a combined zone conference in Kumasi, exchanges with the Assistants, and interviews with President Cosgrave.

What is it like being a zone leader?  You handle the money. A lot of money. In this mission, it has a lot to do with the temporal needs of missionaries but I also really enjoy having a closer relationship with President Cosgrave and a lot of missionaries. It gives me a chance to be their friend, which I might not be otherwise. I think I had more opportunity to be a good leader when I was a district leader; it made me feel like I was really helping missionaries. But zone leaders don't play quite such a close role.

Who are the native missionaries that you have met that you know will be a strength to the church when they return home? Honestly, the church isn't very strong here at all so whatever you bring home is good enough. But there are some strong missionaries here. Elder Nuamah (my current companion) will be a committed member when he goes home and I believe he will really help those around him. Elder Kortu (in the same apartment, from Liberia) is a great missionary and he really understands how to live the gospel. Elder Antwi will go home in a few weeks, and he'll be a good leader.

What kind of food could I make that a Ghanian would stomach? Something pretty bland. It's hard to find something that they'll like if they haven't grown up with it. They are the pickiest eaters I've ever met. It's hopeless to try to please them unless you make their favorite food--they resist anything new or unfamiliar. So your best bet is to make banku or rice with stew or maybe fufu if you're pushing it.

Who are you teaching lately? We've been teaching some long time investigators who have been showing more interest lately. They're the kind of people that are slow to progress but not hopelessly slow. They're eventual members. As long as we stay on top of them, they'll get baptized some day. It'll just take a while. 

Who has kept a commitment lately? On Sunday we had one of our more serious investigators come to church. We've been teaching her and the Spirit has been pushing us to push her hard. We spent about an hour getting her to promise that she would come to church and then went to her house to escort her on Sunday so that she didn't find an excuse not to come. She did well at church. Another one is a member's daughter who has never been really interested when we teach her. She's always failed every commitment to read or pray. But lately she surprised us by praying and asking God to help her know what is right. She says that immediately after she prayed she had the desire to read from the Book of Mormon. She's been reading small small.

Thanks for the questions. I've heard the analogy of the piano lessons before and I loved it. Go and look up the devotional or whatever where Brad Wilcox gives the talk. It's really nice. I don't know anyone named "Paul EK Paule". Sorry.

love, Elder Nelson

On the Mountain

Dear America,

This week was quick. We had to go to a meeting in Kumasi for a few days. On our way back, we arrived at the tro station only to find that police officers were restricting tros from loading there. So we had to try to find another station in Kumasi. This was difficult because we were carrying supplies for the whole zone. We had a lot of boxes with us. In the end, we met a stubborn taxi driver who we had to sit with in traffic forever so we started talking with him and gave him a pamphlet. He needed a copy of the Book of Mormon but couldn't read English. So I gave him the one Twi copy that I just happened to have (I don't believe in coincidence). I never carry Twi copies of the Book of Mormon with me. We found another station and waited. Two missionaries waiting on the side of the road (by this time it was dark) like homeless bums. We waited for a few hours and finally caught a tro just after we called the mission home to come and pick us up. We're still alive and safe, though, so I'm happy.

Today we went to the mountain for a combined district activity. It reminded me of backpacking. I haven't been on a mountain in a long time. Another thing I haven't done in a long time is...... throw a disc! One of the Elders in Mpraeso has one, so we played a little bit. I'm a little rusty, but I've still got it;)

I'm still trying to figure our investigators out. The ones that come to church aren't really interested in meeting with us and the ones who meet with us don't come to church. People are weird.

We have to go to a Family Home Evening that is forever away tonight, so we're kind of rushing to get ready. Sorry for the short one.

Love, Elder Nelson

More on the mountain. The car we were taking to get to the mountain overheated so we left it and started walking there instead.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Dear America,

Wow, congratulations to Porter! That's a big deal. Also, thanks for the blurb from Elder Renfroe about President and Sister Cosgrave. It's all true.

Ghana's independence day is today. It isn't much of a big deal here yet. Meh. On Monday this week I made chicken noodle soup. It was authentic, except it was missing celery because celery doesn't exist here. Elder Nuamah tried some and became the first Ghanaian I've ever met who liked any American food. But it turns out that he doesn't like the soup, he just likes the noodles. So kind of. Everyone else I gave it to didn't like it. I took some pictures but they don't want to send this week so maybe next time.

Elder Nuamah told the story of Jonah this week in church and made me laugh. He said that God called Jonah to go teach in Nkawkaw, Ghana. But he was enjoying his life in New York. Why would he go to Ghana? He even went to the extent to run away from New York so that the voice of God would stop disturbing him. He took a flight, but the plane crashed over the ocean and Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The way he told it was so passionate. Nobody else laughed, but I enjoyed it.

This week I was on an exchange with another Elder. We were walking along the roadside when a taxi stopped near us and one of my investigators got out. We haven't been able to contact her in a while. She's been avoiding us. So I called out her name and waved. She looked up, saw me, and ran to the other side of the street and out of sight. She didn't look back. Sweet is the work.

We went to a part of our area that everyone calls "Captain Jesus" because of the large, noisy Captain Jesus prayer camp there. We met a lot of our less-active members there. So now we know where to find them. One man was looking at us funny when we walked past the prayer camp, so we stopped and asked him if we could help him. He said he was one of the pastors at the prayer camp and he was baptized forever ago in Cape Coast. But somebody offended him in the Church and he left and now he's an assistant pastor. Ahhhh. Don't ever be stupid and leave the Church over some perceived offense. A lot of people here get offended because the Church doesn't pay for their family's funerals (it's a huge deal to them) and they end up leaving the Church despite every effort to help them be sensible. So now we have a running joke in the apartment that "It's like someone didn't come to your funeral!" meaning that you're offended over nothing.

Life is sweet.

Love, Elder Nelson

All Hail Breaks Loose

Dear America,

That hamster wheel car is so sweet. I can't get over it. If Davis doesn't make it, then I have dibs on making it when one of my children is in Cub Scouts.

This week I saw my first real rain of the wet season (finally, no more dry season!) accompanied by a small amount of hail. Real hail. The one made out of ice. In Ghana. I was surprised, but not nearly as surprised as the Ghanaians around me. We had ducked inside a building to avoid the rain and when it started hailing everyone looked outside in amazement. They proceeded to run out with cloth over their heads and pick up the fallen hail off of the ground. Then they would run back inside, show everyone, marvel at it, hold it to their face to feel how cold it was, and pop it in their mouth after asking me if it was safe to eat. Elder Nuamah asked me how hail is formed and if it is like snow. I told him it wasn't. At all. It was great fun.

We saw some great progress this week. The former investigator that I wrote about last week came to church! By the end of sacrament meeting, he was enthusiastically singing the hymn with some help from the member sitting next to him. I think he had a good experience and felt the Spirit. 

On Thursday we went to Odumasi, a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere. We went at the request of Ma Phyllis, one of the members in the other branch. She lived in Sweden for 23 years, but left her family and friends and moved back to Ghana because she felt the need to do missionary work and build up the church here. She is a temple worker in the Accra temple and lately has been feeling pressure to help the gospel reach Odumasi, especially while she is at the temple. So the four of us missionaries here loaded up with a box and backpack full of pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon. Just about every inhabitant of Odumasi had some literature from us by the time we left. The other elders are going back this week to do a follow-up visit, so we'll see what comes of it all. It was cool to see how thirsty they are for the gospel. People were calling us to come and share up and down the street.

Love, Elder Nelson