Yeah, This is Elder Nelson 15 May 2017

Dear America,

It was great to call home FOR THE LAST TIME and it brought me a lot more anxiety than I thought it would. I was pretty nervous for most of the day leading up to the call. But it was good to talk with everybody for a few minutes.

This week we had zone conference. We went to Kumasi to a meeting with three other zones. Everything went smoothly, which was a big relief. During the conference we talked a lot about Christlike attributes and what we can do to become more Christlike missionaries. President Cosgrave seemed really happy, despite having car problems and having to sleep the night in Techiman and drive to Kumasi early in the morning and arrive late for the zone conference. President and Sister Cosgrave are amazing. If there's anyone that's qualified to teach about acquiring Christlike attributes, it's them.

In the past few weeks we've spent quite a bit of time working with a member to help us translate between Twi and English. The member's name is Brother Boateng. He's an older gentleman (around 70), a recent convert of barely one year, the second counselor in the branch presidencey, and a joy to work with. He doesn't know an incredible amount about the Church, but he has a testimony and he a has a love for the gospel. While we've been working with him, we've found out that he has a lot of friends in this area. He already knows most of the people we're teaching. Those he doesn't know, he quickly becomes friends with. If we ever have an appointment that we need help with, we can call him even if it's a little bit last-minute. We're blessed to have the help of members like Brother Boateng.

On Sunday we had a few unexpected visitors come to church. They are people that we've invited to come but that didn't seem too committed to actually keeping that commitment. One man came in bright red and blue African wear. He looked like he could be an African Spider-man. We were pleasantly surprised. It's great to see people's lives being touched where we don't expect it.

Love, Elder Nelson

The Baptism of Moses 9 May 2017

Dear America,

Congratulations on Porter's mission call!!! I'm so proud.

The internet cafes in our area were having problems yesterday, so we got special permission to email today instead.

This week an investigator named Moses was baptized with his family by the other companionship in our branch. He has a pretty neat conversion story, so I'll share it. Moses works in a bank and his coworker is a member of the Church. They were friendly with each other, and eventually she invited him to a Relief Society activity that the Church was having. Now in the first place, who invites a grown man to a Relief Society activity? But she did and it turned out that they were the first people there. They started cleaning the chapel and arranging the chairs for the activity when he noticed a copy of the Liahona on a table. He had the strongest urge to pick it up and read it (although he had the newspaper with him because he had been planning to sneakily read the newspaper instead of paying attention in the activity). He read a little bit before the activity and was very impressed by the quality and diversity of the articles. He put it down until the activity finished and then resumed his reading while the others were cleaning up. When it was time to go, he wanted to take the magazine home with him. He put it in his bag and was on his way home when he felt guilty for stealing from a church. He returned to the chapel but was overjoyed when the members informed him that he could keep the Liahona. When he finished reading it, he knew that the church that published it must be special in a good way. He contacted his coworker--who had since moved--and got the location of our chapel. He showed up on Sunday morning ready for church.

Of course, the missionaries jumped on him and started teaching. His big problem, however, concerned the topic of baptism. Moses was a deeply rooted Catholic and refused to be baptized again. He believed that his previous baptism was effective. The missionaries tried and tried but could not find a way to resolve his concerns. So they told him to pray about it. A few days later, we met him on the road. He greeted us with his huge, characteristic smile, and asked us if we were ready to here the good news. We asked him what news and he responded that he was going to be baptized. When he had prayed, he had a dream in which he was working on a large plantation. The side of the plantation that he was on was barren and had no work for him to do. The other side was fruitful and needed much labor. To get to the other side, however, he needed to cross through a deep stream that separated the two. Moses told us that he believed that God has a lot of work for him to do, but he evidently needed to get baptized before he could begin. We were so happy. Since that time, he has read a ton of Church materials and really prepared himself to be a member.

Dreams don't always solve problems, but apparently inspired dreams are much more common here than what I'm used to back home. Ghana....

This week we had a sweet zone activity that I was pretty worried about but everything clicked together nicely. I got so sunburned. Collars are killing me right now.

Love, Elder Nelson the elder

How Ye Hear- 1 May 2017

Dear America,

This week went by more quickly. We got to spend more time in our area than usual because we didn't have to run around and solve peoples' problems. It felt really good. At the beginning of the week things were kind of slow, but they sped up a lot at the end. We took members out with us for a few days in a row and ended up having a lot of success. We talked to a man on the street named Alex who told us where his house was and that we should come visit him on Sunday evening. He seemed semi-interested, so we went on Sunday to find that he had been waiting anxiously for us to come. He was very eager to listen to us. Sometimes an investigator like that brightens your whole week.

Are you still allergic to mosquito bites? I'm definitely not as allergic as I was before. My reaction to them is pretty average.

How are your shoes holding up? They'll last until I get home, but not much longer. I'll have to get new clothes when I get home. All of my shirts, pants, and shoes will be destroyed.

What scriptures have impressed you recently? I've been finishing Jesus the Christ recently and I love it. I'm also reading in Luke. Luke 8 contains one of the nicest parables in scripture, the parable of the sower. I usually like to read it in Matthew, but there are some nice differences in Luke's account. The parable is given, and then the explanation begins in verse 11. When you look at the explanation, you see four different types of hearing. Those who 1) hear and nothing else, 2) hear and receive, 3) hear and go forth in the world, and 4) hear the word and keep it. The parable ends with this caution in verse 18: Take heed therefore how ye hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. This is especially applicable in a place where everybody is willing to listen to the missionaries, but few are willing to keep commitments.

Love, Elder Nelson

Sometimes I'm Grateful for Questions

Dear America,

Sorry about last week's email. I was kind of scattered. This week has been increasingly scattered, but I think I'm getting better at handling it.

What recipes do you use most often? Lately I've loved making no-bake cookies and putting them in the freezer. I also make tortillas with slight differences because it's a common east African food called japati and it goes with anything. Groundnut soup and vegetable stew are regular preparation day foods for me.

Do you have a budget for meals / expenses, or just try to be cheap? I don't even have to try to be cheap, it comes naturally (thanks, parents). I always end the week with a large amount of subsistence left over. So right now I'm looking for ways to burn money productively.

Do you use mom’s cookbook (answer tactfully). Yes.

Do you have any advice about living away from home? About living in an apartment with 3 other guys? Just do more than your fair share to help, like in cleaning. As soon as you use something, wash it and then don't be surprised when you have to wash more because someone didn't. I'm not sure I could really give you good advice for living away from home unless you've done it.

Do all the kids go to school? At what age? Are there any sports leagues for kids? Do people have pets? Most kids go to school at a very young age, maybe two or three. Even younger if the parents are busy. Unless the family is very poor. Most kids play football (soccer) with their friends, and most of the schools have a semi-official team, but organized competition doesn't really exist. You just gather on Saturday or Sunday and play with whoever shows up to the pitch. Some people have dogs or cats, but they feed them whatever the people are eating so I don't know if they count as true pets. And they don't wash the dogs. Or pet them.

What’s something you’ve laughed about recently? Tell us about your companion from South Africa. What do you foresee being a culture shock coming back home? One of the elders from Kenya in our apartment usually makes me chuckle. He's ready to go home and sometimes I need some of his sarcasm/experience. I don't know why, but it relieves my stress occasionally. Elder Wood from South Africa is cool. Most people call him obroni because he's pretty pale for an African. He's a good footballer and thoughtful. Sometimes he doesn't tell me what he's thinking, though, so I have to guess at it. But he's really tolerant and willing to work and grow. I've realized recently that I'm really going to have a hard time with the food when I get back, as much as I might try not to. But also with the culture. And not being special at all. Here it's pretty easy to be friends with people. Life doesn't work that way in the US.

I'm happy to hear that Drew is doing well on scripture study. His talk a few weeks ago was great. As pertaining to birthday presents, just put the money in the account. I'm anticipating a few expenses (like cavities) will be pending when I get back. l don't care about money right now, but I'm sure I'll be forced to when I'm home. It's kind of a depressing answer but I'm happy right now:)

Easter in the Mountains

Dear America,

The past few weeks have been crazy. I've gotten in a habit of sipping sobolo when I'm stressed, so usually I go through a cup or two per day. In the past three days I've gone through six liters. Life is busy.

We had a baptism this week! Her name is Dora Boateng, the grown daughter of our second counselor in the branch. We've been teaching her for a while and she's been coming to church off and on. We had extended a baptismal date to her, but she wasn't showing an overwhelming amount of interest in meeting the date and we've been out of our area a lot lately so we haven't had the time to teach her everything. On Friday we stopped by her house and started talking with her. Pretty soon she got very serious, looked at us in the eye, and said "It's going to come on." We asked what was going to come on. "My baptism," she replied, "tomorrow." We were shocked but tried to maintain a cool manner and ask why she felt ready. She told us that everything we had been teaching was making sense to her and she felt like it was true. She also told us that the biggest change came when we gave her a priesthood blessing with her father last week and went to sleep and an hour later was fine. She knew it must be the true priesthood of God. So we taught about the commandments that day and had her interview that night. It was a whirlwind of preparation, but the baptismal service the next morning went really well.

Easter is crazy in the mountains. It coincides with a huge traditional festival in Mpraeso, the town on top of the mountain. Everywhere here was packed for the whole week. It seemed like all of Ghana was there. There was A LOT of drinking, breaking the law of chastity, and spending money on that which is of no worth. I'm actually emailing from Mpraeso right now because we've had to come and help the missionaries here with some things several times this week. Life here at this time is psychedelic and has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ even though everybody calls it Easter. It's really sad.

I don't have a lot of time to email this week, but thanks for your emails! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Nelson

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.