March 26, 2013

Hey everybody!

I'm just completely spacing everything right now...I can't even remember what happened this week.  I swear I have short-term memory loss whenever I walk into the internet cafe to write you guys.  Okay...I think I remember now. So I was sick at the beginning of the week with a pretty bad cold.  It got to the point where I almost lost my voice.  The problem with that is that people barely understand me as it is and then with my voice almost gone...they couldn't understand a word that I was saying.  Luckily I started to improve and now I'm better.  We are planning on having a baptism of three people this coming Saturday out in Nuamakrom.  We have a couple of investigators in our branch in Praso that are progressing well too.  We just gave a baptismal date to one who has been coming to church for a really long time.  She's 17 years old and very shy but she is so committed to the church...even more than a lot of the members.  Right now we are just right in the middle of the transfer and so things seem to be dragging a little bit. It's been a long time since I have experienced a change of any kind. Hopefully soon there will be something because when there are no changes...then things just drag a little bit.  Yesterday for our p-day activity we played soccer at the school that's owned by Elder Gaye (a seventy) in one of the areas in our zone.  They have a really nice sport court and we played on that.  I scored two goals so I'm sure I was the MVP of the match. ;)  haha  It was a lot of fun though.  Well, that's about everything this week. There was no crazy bike rides in the African bush but that's okay. To have those stories, I must first experience them and that isn't as fun as it sounds...it usually ends with me being really tired. Well, have a great week everybody! Thanks for the emails, it's always great to hear from you all!  

Love Elder Kitchen

March 19, 2013

Hello everybody!

I've had a great week as I always do. ;)  We had a baptism this last Saturday out in our village, Nuamakrom. The women's name is Martha and her husband and family are all members so it was fun to be able to complete a family. :)  Over the weekend I started to have a cold and then it didn't make it any better when we went out to Kenkuase on Sunday.  We rented bikes in Nuamakrom to take out to Kenkuase for four cedis.  The problem is that the bikes are absolutely terrible. They are old 'Doc Brown' bikes with a basket in the front and they feel like they will fall apart when you are going over any bump.  The bad part about that is the road there is a dirt road with lots of hills. Then to make it worse, my bike got a flat tire on the way there so I was struggling to say the least.  We finally got there and found out that they have one new investigator coming to church.  It's farming season so it's hard to get new people out there at this time.  We left early and finished church in Nuamakrom.  Monday I was still having a cold and a sore throat and then I decided to make a very sugary shake (a very bad idea).  I was so excited as I was putting ice cream, sweetened-condensed milk, and oreo type cookies into the blender.  It turns out that my body doesn't like sugary things like it used to.  I felt so sick the rest of the night. I woke up feeling a little better but I still have a cold.  We went to Foso as well this last week and we found out that they will be putting missionaries in Nuamakrom either in mid-April or late-May.  It will cut my area down but it will be really good for Nuamakrom and Kenkuase.  As for right now, I'm tired because we've been running around doing stuff for the sisters after district meeting and now I have a long and uncomfortable tro ride back to Praso...gotta love missionary work! :D  Thanks for the emails everybody! I love hearing from you! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Kitchen

March 11, 2013

Hey everybody! 

This week has gone well as usual.  We had our stake conference this week and so we went to Assin Foso to the stake center.  The meeting was presided by Elder Dickson of the seventy.  I've talked a lot about him because he is the area president here and so I've had the opportunity to hear him talk a lot.  He is such an amazing man.  He said in his talk that he would be speaking in the coming General Conference so make sure you listen for him because he is by far my favorite Seventy.  He told us about how it has been fifty years this month since he had his arm amputated from having bone cancer and at the time, the doctors told him that he would have almost a zero percent chance of living.  He ended up serving a mission just 8 months later and he was having to learn to do everything with just his left arm.  He was talking to the missionary age people and he was telling them that they need to go and serve missions.  One of our newer investigators even came to the stake conference with us.  She's progressing really well and her aunt that she is living with is the relief society president.  So some of you were saying that you were expecting me to get transferred...haha don't be expecting that until possibly the end of May.  I might be calling home in the same area as I did at Christmas.  I'm pretty sure that I only have one more area to go to before I finish.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens though.  Life is still going well, Ghana's still hot but I love it! haha.  (I'm sweating profusely as I am writing this...)  Thanks for all you guys do for me. I love all of you so much! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Kitchen

March 5, 2013

Hey everybody!

We had a great week this last week!  I'll just start with the transfer news because I told you that this week would be transfers.  So we got the call and found out that my companion and I are both staying in Praso together!  My companion was surprised because he thought he would be getting released as a zone leader this time because he has been a zone leader for a very long time.  We are both happy that we will be staying though.  It probably means that I'm going to be here as least until the Mother's Day call home...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  We went on splits twice this week and both times I stayed in my area.  On Friday we went to do a baptism interview for one of our investigators out in Nuamakrom but she was feeling very sick and so we felt like it would be best if we pushed her baptism back until she was feeling better. She also was happy with that because she didn't want to be sick when she was baptized.  The baptism can't be this coming Saturday either because we'll be having Stake conference and the area presidency will be presiding there. When I was on splits one of the days, we passed by the Relief Society President in our branch and she wasn't home but her niece was there and so we talked to her for a minute and then invited her to come to church and on Sunday she came!  She is going to a nursing training college and that's why she is living with her Aunt.  So now we have a new investigator in our Praso branch which is struggling a little bit because it's so new and small but hopefully we'll be able to help it out.  The power has been going out a lot lately.  I guess they have been having electricity shortages and so they have to share the electricity throughout the country. So when we have power it means another part of Ghana doesn't have it.  It's certainly not something that would happen back home in America.  It makes me grateful for what I have back home though.  We've had a couple of big rainstorms as well.  The rain comes down so hard and it's not even in drops.  It's like there is just a waterfall coming our of the sky!  Depending on the way the wind is blowing it either comes through the window onto my bed or my companions. Luckily last night it wasn't getting on my bed. ;)  Well, I'm 19 months today.  That's pretty crazy.  Time just keeps going by faster and faster.  Well, thanks for the emails this week everybody!  Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Kitchen