January 30, 2012

Hello!

So my week was good. It feels like it was so fast this week so I almost feel like I don't have much to talk about...but I will try. So last Tuesday some interesting things that happened were that we showed up to see Gladis and she didn't want to learn because she was too tired and she had to get some things from the market, so we asked if she needed help and she just..."Okay, come" and she started walking to the market. We just walked around with her following her around like we were her kids at the grocery store and we carried her bags for her back to her house. It was really funny. Then we went and saw Bertha and her family and we couldn't teach them but they were pounding fufu so we pounded for them. Then on Wednesday went to see Vivian and she was really busy and we ending up helping her get water from the well and then we mopped her floor for her. After that we went to Sister Affiah's because she invited us all over to have fufu. Then I ended up getting my haircut...well just shaved off. haha. I can't wait to just get a normal haircut because I look so weird with my head shaved. We just used a number four and shaved the head. On Thursday president came up and we had a district meeting and interviews. They told us what our mission slogan or motto was too. I think the one before was Remember who you are, but ours now is Forever Strong so it's pretty sweet. Friday was pretty slow so we just walked around contacting people for a while and then we met up with the zone leaders because we went on splits with them from friday night to saturday night. Saturday was a good day though. I went with Elder Brown and he is a great missionary. We taught some pretty good lessons and I learned a lot from him. Then we met back up with everybody at our building because the other Elders in Fiapre were having a baptism. Then Sunday was a good day but very tiring. I of course had to take care of the dang primary again and they made me exhausted. They are so wild all of the time. I never want to be a primary teacher after I get home. We went and saw a few people and then we went over to Sister Affiah's because they have been asking about American food and the topic of pancakes came up so they told us to come and make them some so we did and they loved them. haha. They don't really eat anything sugary so it was a little different for them but they liked it. Then we watched Legacy with them and Sister Affiah loved it. During the whole thing she was just getting all upset when bad things were happening. It was a lot of fun. Then this morning we went and had a football match and it great. I have a headache now though because it was so hot. Oh yeah, Gladis has a baptismal date now, we just need to get her to come to church regularly until then. Hopefully by the end of February or so it will happen. So that was my week. Pretty awesome. Just pushing right along! Well everybody, have a wonderful week and be safe! Love ya'll!

 Love Elder Kitchen

January 23, 2012

Hey!

This has been a pretty good week here.  So on Tuesday I was able to try my cereal that I bought.  I have to use soy milk with it but it honestly isn’t too bad.  We had district meeting and that was sweet
then after that we went and met an investigator that the former missionaries had been teaching.  We didn’t really even know where she lived so we luckily were able to find her.  She was really nice and she gave us a drink and treats when we got there.  After that, we went and saw Gladis and she committed to baptism but she just needs to come to church a few times before we can baptize her.  We saw Bertha and her family after that and helped them get water out of their well again and I played some football with a bunch of kids and it was pretty fun.  Then on Wednesday we bought some Banku from Gladis’ shop for lunch and it was way good.  The liver she gave us was alright but not too bad.  That day we also met a guy from parliament…which was really random.  He is just going around talking to everybody and being nice because it is an election year.  Thursday was pretty quiet.  We had our weekly planning with the zone leaders and then had just a normal day.  A guy yelled at us and called us stupid so I just called him a fool and walked away.  I probably shouldn’t have done that but some people just make me mad sometimes.  Oh well…sorry, that was random.  Haha.   Friday nothing happened, but on Saturday our apartment went and ate pizza for lunch. Then Elder Belnap and I went to see Frank our investigator and watched the Joseph Smith movie with him.  I think he liked it a lot.  Right after that, we went to Gladis’ because she wanted us to and we got there and she fed us! She made us Banku and Tomato and Onion stew.  It was way good and it was cool because she ate with us which doesn’t happen very often.  She also called herself our junior mother so nobody has to worry about me because I’m being taken care of.  Then Sunday was pretty great because a bunch of our investigators showed up at church including Gladis. Then after church Gladis told us to pass by again so we did and she fed us again!  She gave us rice and then told us to start helping her make some light soup.  We did and then she made fufu with fish and beef with it.  It was so good!  She ate with us again too!  She is such a nice lady and she keeps telling us to take her to America so she can teach everybody to eat African food.  Then this morning I had to wash my clothes by hand because the washer is no longer with us….it’s passed on. ;) It wasn’t terrible though.  So that was my week!  I hope everybody is doing great!  I love you guys!

Love Elder Kitchen

January 16, 2012

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a good week!  Mine was alright...nothing special though.  I'll just start from the beginning of last week I guess. Tuesday was pretty great because we went to district meeting and then the Zoll's surprised us by coming up at the end and bringing pizza and drink for everybody.  They came up to bring supplies so they wanted to do something nice for us.  It was a great district meeting.  Then we taught seven lessons that day so we were busy but having a great time. On Wednesday we decided to go to a different part of our area called Berlin Top to show Elder Belnap around those parts.  Then we went to see one of our investigators to say hello and they were about to start getting water from their well so we just asked if we could help them.
We ended up pulling up water out of this well for about 45 minutes or something.  My hands were blisters all over them and were just worn raw.  We helped them with their dishes too and then we left.  The rest of the night we were just exhausted from doing it.  The well was so deep so it made us very tired.  Nothing really happened after that until Saturday when President came up.  He just had some meetings but he wanted to see all of the missionaries so he just called us all over to Nkwabeng and just talked for a little while and then he gave us some money so we could get a treat.  He is such an awesome guy.  Then we went to teach Gladis but she told us to wait for a little bit and then she fed us dinner.  She is such a nice lady.  It was rice with a bunch of vegetables and stuff in it.  We just went and witnessed a baptism at Estates after that and then our day was done.  Sunday was kind of a long day.  I conducted this week and gave a talk and then I had to go and take care of the primary for two hours!  I love those kids but they are not too fun to try and teach.  All of our appointments after church failed so it felt like we were just walking around with nothing to do, but it was alright.  This next week might be a busy one so we will see.  We are hopefully going to talk to a few people about baptism so we will see where that takes us.  So that was my week.  I love you guys and hope everything is going great!  Have a wonderful week and be safe!  :)

Love Elder Kitchen

January 9, 2012

Hey Everybody!

It has been a pretty good week here.  Nothing special really happened and I have a feeling that it is going to be like that for a while now with the holidays over.  It’s nice though because everything has kind of calmed back down and I can get back into the rhythm and what not.  We ran out of power in the middle of the week so we had to sleep that night without fans and I’m never a huge fan of that.  So Elder Belnap and I had to go into town and buy some more so we could have electricity.  One really funny thing that happened during the week was when Elder Belnap and I were kind of having an annoying day because it was hot and everybody was failing their appointments.  So we were just walking to go and see somebody else when we were walking by the corner of a house and a big group of goats was running around the corner.  The leader of this pack was a small baby goat which jumped right as it got to the corner.  The problem was, we were walking around the corner right as the baby goat leaped so it jumped right into the side of Elder Belnap and then freaked out and ran away.   We just started to laugh so hard that we couldn’t move.  We had to just sit down for a little while because it was so funny.  Everybody around was probably wondering what in the world these two white guys were doing.  They probably thought that we were crying or something.  It was pretty dang funny.  We had a pretty good lesson with Gladis this week.  She is an older lady who sells Banku at the market.  She told us that she prayed and believes the church is true! The only problem is getting her to actually come to the church.  She always says that she is too poor so she has to work on Sundays.  Hopefully we can get here to come soon.  We got fufu from members twice this week. It was pretty good both times.  I love the members here because they are always so nice.  Sunday was a little rough because I had to give a talk and then Elder Belnap and I had to teach two hours of primary because the primary teacher didn’t show up.  It’s hard enough to teach that for one hour, but for two!  They were not bad or anything but holy smokes it just tires you out!  We learned some songs and played duck duck goose and stuff like that.  So it was tiring but fun.   So I had a pretty decent week here.  Hopefully everything back home is great as well.  I love you guys!  Be safe and have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen 

January 2, 2012

Hello!

 

So my New Year was alright.  It was the first time that I didn't stay up until midnight for I don't even know how long.  So I guess I'll just tell you about my week then.  Last monday night we had a party with all of the members at Nkwabeng and Fiapre.  There was food, christmas music and some fireworks.  It was a lot of fun and it was good to have our Fiapre members there because they were able to meet some more members of the church here in Sunyani.  Then on Tuesday we had fufu at Sister Affiahs house because Elder Eldredge was leaving for Kumasi, so it was his farewell dinner.  So Wednesday was sad because Elder Eldredge left and he has been up here in Fiapre with me since I got here so it was weird to see him go.  Then it was just a normal day of teaching people and all that fun stuff.  On Thursday while we were out proselyting, there was a huge group of little kids that were all yelling and telling us to give them money so I started to chase them just like I always do.  They were laughing and running away but then one kid just fell hard on his face like he was sliding headfirst into homeplate.  I hurried and picked him up from the ground and he was crying and I didn't know what to do because I felt bad so I just grabbed 20 pesewas out of my pocket and put it in his hand.  Right as I did that he stopped crying...I wonder if he tricked me into doing that.  Oh well, I felt bad.  It was really funny and Elder Belnap was just laughing at me.  Then New Years Eve was just normal.  We didn't really do anything different at all.  We went to a baptism at Estates and then just went back to the apartment.  It was so busy because everybody was going to their churches.  Everyone here goes to church and they do like prayer service things all night long.  We could here them pretty much all night because they were loud.  There were a few people doing fireworks and those kinds of things but we just went to bed.  I wanted to stay up but then I just thought what am I going to do.  So I just went to sleep so I wasn't tired the next day.  So I woke up and it was a new year.  Well, it was for me.  It was still 2011 for all of you guys when I woke up so I celebrated with you a little bit when it hit 7:00 AM here.  Sunday was good. We had a decent number of people at church and a lot of kids.  Elder Belnap and I took care of the primary and that is always exhausting.  It went good though.  Then we just went out and taught some lessons.  It was extremely hot yesterday and I was just dying.  It will be a nice feeling to be able to sit in an air conditioned house on a hot day and not feel extrememly uncomfortable.  So my week was pretty normal.  I love you guys and hope everything is going well!  I love all of you and Happy New Year! 

 

Love Elder Kitchen