May 27, 2013

Hey everybody!

So I have good news! I received the call to be a trainer which means that I will be released as a zone leader and I will be moving to a place called Sofokrom which is near a bigger place called Takoradi on
the coast in the Western Region. I'm excited to go there because I hear that it is a nice ward with lots of members and also it's on the coast so I'll get to see the beach a lot. It's going to be sad to leave this place though. I've been here for over seven months so I've made a lot of friends that I am going to miss. It's certainly time for me to go though. I've been waiting to be released as a zone leader for quite some time now. President called me last Tuesday and gave me the news and so I went down to Cape Coast on Friday for a meeting where all those that are training came. I ate ice cream and awesome brownies that Sister Shulz made. It's been too long since I've had brownies. So I'll be leaving on Wednesday to pick up the person I'm training and then we will head over to the Western Region of Ghana. I'm pretty excited. It's weird to think that I'll be going to my final area to finish. I'm going to make sure to leave a great impression on those in Sofokrom and finish strong. Thanks for all of the support! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen

May 21, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good and also fast.  I can't believe that it is already time to be writing again.  The weeks are going pretty fast. We went on splits in the middle of the week and I stayed in my area. It has been raining almost everyday where I am.  It's nice because it cools the weather down a little but it's bad because everything ends up getting really muddy and then when the rain goes away, the sun comes out and it's super hot and humid.  Splits went well though. I was with a new missionary from Botswana.  It was fun to learn about that country because I've never really heard anything about it.  It seems to be a pretty nice place though.  During the weekend, my companion and I had to go and try to fill up the baptism font but we couldn't because there was no electricity to pump the water out of the bore hole into the church so they zones baptisms had to be pushed back another week.  Sunday was a good day at church. We had one
investigator come. We were hoping for more but it was okay.  Transfer news is this coming Saturday so we will find out what is going to happen and I'll let you know next week.  I'm running short on time so I'll just write more next week!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Kitchen

May 14, 2013

What's up everybody?  

It was fun to be able to talk to some of you.  It was weird to talk because it makes all of you feel like you are so much closer than you really are.  The coolest part is that there is no more next phone call...next time will be face to face!  This week was pretty normal before that though. It still seems like we don't get enough time to be able to actually be in our area as much as I would like to be.  It feels like there are only about 3 days where we are usually able to go around our area and so things seem  to be going a little bit slow at the moment.  We did have a new investigator come to church on Sunday.  He's probably around thirty years old and he came to church with his father who is the 2nd counselor in our branch.  We are hoping to be able to meet with him tomorrow to start to teach him.  One investigator named Peace is hopefully coming back into town this week.  For her, we still just need to get permisson from the father so that she can get baptized which is hard because the father doesn't live in Praso and so we are only able to talk with him on the phone. Hopefully everything will work out.  So nothing else is really happening...transfer news will come at the end of this month on May 25th so everybody cross your fingers so that Elder Kitchen will get what he is hoping for!  :)  Well everybody, have a wonderful week and we'll talk next week!

Love Sam

May 6, 2013

Hey everybody!

So, I just got back from the beach. We played football and Elder Brown and I ate a burger with some french fries....it was a little expensive but very worth it. This week was pretty normal. During the week we went on splits with the elders in an area called Nyenase. It's a little village outstide of Praso. The place is deep into the bush and not very many people speak English. We taught a very old man....he looked like he was at least 100 years old. haha. The place just seems hotter then my area. I was dying when I was there. Coming back that night was awesome because we went to the branch presidents house and his wife had made us a huge bowl of fufu. I ate all of mine and then some of my companions and then there was tons of chicken and also I ate two crabs. They were actually really good. It's weird though cause you just eat the whole thing. The area has been looking a little bit more promising. We've been working with some new investigators and one of them even came to church on Sunday. We were able to watch two sessions of conference on Sunday at church. It was really sweet because it's about the first time I've actually been able to watch it. I'm still enjoying everything and having fun. I'm just trying to make the most out of the time that I have left. I'm excited to call home next week! Hope you guys pick up the phone! ;) Talk to ya soon!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 29, 2013

Hey Everybody!

I'm kind of scatter brained right now with some stuff I've had to deal with today, so let me see if I can try to remember what happened this last week.  So as for our area, it's gotten very small because now we are just in charge of just Branch 2 in Praso.  The area is pretty small and we have a very small membership with quite a few less actives.  We've been trying to work go around and find out where they all live so that we can visit them all.  The problem with finding peoples houses is there are no such things as addresses.  Unless somebody takes you there, you will never find it!  We were able to meet some people that we had never met before and we found a few investigators in the process.  The stressful thing lately is that is seems like I have no time to think about my area.  On Thursday we left in the early afternoon to Assin Foso for a meeting with the stake presidency so we weren't able to proselyte in our area and then on Saturday as well, we had to organized the baptism for some elders in our zone that were having baptisms and so Saturday was also spent doing other things.  The leaders in our branch are great though. They are working hard and making effective plans which is very rare over here. It will just take some time for the branch to stabilize and then grow.  Most likely I'll be leaving in a month though....(I'm just guessing but I think I'll be right. ;) )  Yesterday was a nice day because we were just able to relax and we didn't do too much.  Elder Brown (from Australia) and I bought 2 liters of ice cream each and have been enjoying it. I've been seeing the stuff for the past 20 months but I've just never bought it. It's strawberry and it's so delicious! Today we came down to Abura (Cape Coast) and had our district meeting the the six Sisters in our zone.  They have their own district meetings every week because they are so far from us and so either my companion and I go to it or the assistants go every week.  Now I get to look forward to another 1 hour tro tro ride back to Praso.  Well, I guess I better get going.  Have a great week everybody!  I love you all!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 23, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week has been a little busy but also really great!  Wednesday was transfer so we had to deal with all of the people coming and going from our zone and then I got my new companion, Elder Kariuki from the station.  He's from Kenya and he has been out for about 18 months. He's a quite guy and he's really cool.  The rest of the week I was mainly just showing him around our area.  Now that Elder Oseghe is going to be in Nuamakrom, I won't be going there expect on splits so it is no longer a part of our area.  It took out a big chunk of our area but it will help us to focus on helping the branch to progress.  On Sunday we had a great meeting with the branch leaders.  We all talked about the different things that we need to be doing to bring up the activity in the church.  We're really starting to work more as a team then we were before. I feel like it makes it so much more effective when we work with them because it is their branch and we are pretty much just visitors.  During the weekend, we went to the Relief Society President's house and her daughter was visiting from Kumasi with her kids and I found out that Elder Belnap is serving in her branch and she knows him really well. She even called him to say hello while I was there. It was fun to see how he is doing because ever since the mission split, I don't really know how he is doing.  The lady's name is Sister Leticia.  Last night she invited us over for a little FHE and she made cake and it was so delicious.  Her little kid is not easy to handle though!  During church this week, I was just barely able to escape with a few scratches and only one bite mark! Haha.  I swear, there is always at least one kid who wants to attack me at church in all of my areas.  Sister Leticia felt really bad but I just laughed.  It was pretty funny.  Well, I guess we'll talk next week! Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Kitchen

April 16, 2013

Hey everybody! 

This week has been pretty sweet!  The baptism with the family in Nuamakrom went on so we achieved our family goal with just two weeks to spare! The baptism was actually pretty interesting though. So we got to Nuamakrom and we went to pick up the family in the little village that they live.  When we were about halfway there a huge storm came in and it started to pour!  We ran and took cover under some lean-to shack type thing and then waited until it wasn't raining as hard. Luckily I was wearing my sandals because we had to walk through a lot of water.  We finally got to there house and I was worried that because of the rain they would have thought that the baptism wasn't going to come on.  When we got there, the whole family was inside of their small house ready to go!  I was completely soaked by that time but it was okay.  We waited until the rain stopped and then walked down the very muddy road to the church.  It's the first time since I've come out that I've seen a full family come into the church like this. Then on Sunday they all came to church early to be confirmed. :)  So on Saturday we received transfer news and my companion is training a new missionary for his last two transfers out in Nuamakrom and I will have a new companion named Elder Kariuki from Kenya.  I'm really excited about everything...even though I expect to be leaving in about 6 weeks... ;)  I'll be in Praso for Mother's Day when I call home though.  Yesterday, on P-day, I made a pizza and it was so awesome!  I had to make a make shift oven with two frying pans and a lid.  I bought cheese, which was very expensive but worth it. It actually tasted pretty close to the way they do back home.  So this week should be interesting with transfers and everything.  I'm really excited though. Well, have a great week everybody!  

Love Elder Kitchen