March 26, 2012

Hey everybody!

Just another week up here in Sunyani. It's true, I've been here for a long time now. I love it here but because we are only a unit and the church is so small here, it is kind of difficult. I love it here though. It's funny because everytime I am walking down a street or anything, I always here my name being yelled by somebody. It seems like every single little kid in Fiapre knows my name...but the only problem is that they don't always say "Kitchen." This is random but here is a list of names that I have been called here. Elder Kitchen, Pastor Kitchen, Father Kitchen, Mr. Kitchen, and then onto the funny ones, Elder Chicken, Pastor Chicken, Father Chicken, and Mr. Chicken. I think that is all of them. It's pretty funny. I always laugh when a group of random kids all run up and say Mr Chicken! Haha.

So this Tuesday was good but sad. Two missionaries that have been here for a while left. Elder Mathemba from Zimbabwe and Elder Brown from Ghana. They both went down south to the Cape Coast area. Elder Mathemba has been in my zone since I got here. Now I've been in Sunyani the longest. Then later that day we didn't have water coming from the city line so we had to get water from our big tank of water outside that is called a polytank. We had to sit on the top of it and fetch the water out like a well. Then on Wednesday we went and saw Gladis and she gave us some Banku. She also gave us some of her favorite meat which is intestines! I'll be completely honest, they aren't really my favorite. It tasted a lot like that thick cow skin but it had little tubes coming out of it and it looked like a heart or something. Then we went to Bertha's and watched the short restoration film with her and that went good. Then at night the power went out so we had no water and no power and it was extremely hot. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was drenched in sweat. Luckily it came back though. Then Thursday, the city of Fiapre still had no water. Sister Affiah and her family didn't have water so we had to go to a well that was far away and help them carry it back to their house. It was very heavy. Then they gave us some food and it was good. Elder Belnap and I didn't feel too good a little later but then Sister Affiah ended up calling us and told us that she had made fufu for us so we went and ate it. Then on Saturday we woke up and the water was flowing so our tank was completely full. The pressure is still bad so we still have to shower with buckets. Then on Sunday we had church and again, none of our investigators came to church but I guess that is just Fiapre. Luckily there is always another week. Then after church we went and saw Bertha and her family and then went to Sister Affiahs to make them pancakes because they loved them the last time we made them. When we were on our way there, we got stuck in a huge rainstorm. We got to their house and we were soaked! It was fun though and we made pancakes and they really liked them. Then this morning we played rugby for our activity. It was a lot of fun. So my week was alright! I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen

Elder Kitchen and Elder Brown

Elder Mathemba and Elder Kitchen

Mission Tour Sunyani

March 19, 2012

Hey!

I hope that all is going well! It feels like I was just here emailing you. I guess that's probably because I emailed on Tuesday last week. So with my week I guess I will start on Wednesday then. So we saw Kingsley in the morning and he still says that he wants to be baptized but he just needs to come to church. He wasn't able to come this last sunday because he was at a funeral kind of far away so he will hopefully come this coming week. Then Thursday was kind of sad because we were finally able to go and see Nancy and she had just gotten back from visiting her hometown up in Wa and she told us that she talked to her parents about being baptized and they weren't too happy about it so she said she is just going to wait a little while because she doesn't want to cause a problem with her family.  I understand why she doesn't want to push it right now though. We will just have to hope that something happens soon. Then that night we had our mid-week and lots of people came so it was pretty fun. Then on Friday we saw Gladis and talked to her about selling her Banku on Sundays again. She says that she knows that she needs to but she is having a hard time stopping. She ended up selling on Sunday so she couldn't come to church. We'll just have to keep praying for her. Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and all I did was wear a green tie. We saw Frank and the lesson went good. He is just having a difficult time leaving his church. He said that he believes everything we taught him is true but he is just hesitant for now so we will just have to keep helping him. Then Bertha fed us some stuff called Ice Kenkey...it was kind of weird and Elder Belnap but we were able to eat it all. Then we went to a baptism at Nkwabeng and that is where we got transfer news and I found out that I will be staying in Sunyani for at least another 6 weeks! I could use a change, but it is nice being in a place that I know where everything is and I know a lot of people. On Sunday I taught the combined Relief Society and Priesthood class and it went good. Then we went to see Bertha and they surprised us again with more food. It was fufu with light soup and chicken. It was delicious but it was so much food! I almost died eating it all! Then we went to Sister Affiah's house and watched some of the D&C videos with them and then came back for the night. This morning our pump hasn't been working so we had to just get buckets of water from outside to wash our clothes, the dishes, and also to take our showers. It is not fun living out of buckets of water. So that was my week!  Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Kitchen

District/Zone

March, 14 2012

Hello again!

Sorry this is a day late.  Yesterday we were in Kumasi so we were not able to email because it was just a busy day with travel and the activity.  This last week was alright but some of our people that were going to be baptized this weekend probably won't be because they just won't come to church.  That is always the hardest thing to get people to do is to come to church.  Even if they are telling you that they know it is true and that they want to get baptized.

So last Tuesday was Ghana's Independence Day.  We sang their national anthem and everything at district meeting. It was a lot of fun.  That night we went and saw Bertha and her family.  We were there talking
and they of course surprised us with food.  It was rice and stew.  It was so good, I really loved it.  Bertha keeps saying that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and everything but she just doesn't come to
church when she says she will.  We will just have to keep telling her how important it is I guess and then hope that she comes.  Then on Wednesday we had a good lesson with Charity about the Book of Mormon
and then we also went and saw Joyce.  When we were at Joyce's a huge rainstorm blew in just like last week when we were teaching her. Luckily we were able to finish the lesson.  On Thursday we went to see
Bertha again and she fed us again!  I think she plans on feeding us everytime that we go.  She gave us fufu and it was really good.  We helped them.  Then we had institute at our chapel and it went good. On Friday night we went on splits with the zone leaders.  I went to Nkwabeng for the night and Elder Belnap and stayed in Fiapre for the day with Elder McFarland.  On Friday night there was a way sweet lightning and thunder storm.  I woke up and the thunder was so loud that it shook the whole apartment.  It was awesome.  Then Saturday was good going around Nkwabeng.  We rode bikes and it is extremely hilly so I was way tired at the end of the day.  Sunday was good at church but none of our investigators at church.  Then after church our whole district met at the bus station and we rode down to say in Kumasi for the night so we could go to the combined zone activity.  We got down there and the Fiapre apartment stayed at the Bantama apartment where Elder Hernandez is the zone leader.  It was a lot of fun to hang out there for the night.  Then the next morning all of Kumasi and Sunyani squished into these two tros that should only hold 25 people each and we had about 70 people.  Then we drove about 2 hours to a lake called Lake Bosomtwe.  There was food and games and everything.  It was a lot of fun.  We were there until about 4:00 or so and then went back and Elder Zoll dropped us off at the Metro Mass station so we could get back to Kumasi.  We didn't get back until about 9:00 so we didn't have time to do anything.  We just went to the apartment and got ready for bed.  It was a really long day but way fun.  So there was my week!  I love you guys and will talk to you next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

Elder Willyerd and Elder Kitchen

Lake Bosomtwe

Elder Larsen and Elder Kitchen

March 5, 2012

Hello!

So this week was pretty sweet. I'll start from the beginning. On Tuesday we went and had a lesson with Vivian after district meeting. At the end of the lesson she fed us some coke and biscuits. It was really nice of her. Then we were at a lesson with Joyce teaching her the beginning of the plan of salvation when huge rain clouds blew in and we had to just close the lesson early and run back to the apartment. Luckily the storm blew over pretty fast so we went to Gladis' and had a really great lesson with her about the sabbath day. She is such an amazing person. She works so hard all of the time but she always has a great attitude. I have learned so much just by getting to know her. Then the next day we had a zone conference/mission tour. President Dickson came up to Sunyani. It was really cool seeing him. He is a really nice guy. Then we had a fireside that night with all of the members in Sunyani. On Thursday we had a really good lesson with Nancy. We were able to commit her to a baptismal date for March 17. We are hoping that everything goes as planned because it will really bless her life. On Saturday we went and watched a baptism for a man name Gabrieal. Then we went to Gladis' house and taught her. Right after the lesson she fed us fufu and banku. She just loves to feed us so much! Sunday was a good day at church. The Thaynes came and had church with us. Then after church we went to Bertha's house and they fed us so much Banku! I don't know what it is but everybody has been feeding us lately. They must think that I look too skinny or something. At this rate I will come back very fat! This morning has been very long. We did a service project that took us all day. We went and painted the outside of a members house. We painted the railings, gate, fence, walls,....just everything! It took us a very long time but it was a lot of fun and we were glad to help. It made it so that she didn't have to hire anybody to do it. We had a good week but I am so tired now. Well everybody, thanks for everything! I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen