July 22, 2013

Hey everybody!

It was just a pretty normal week this last week.  We have been working hard to try and get a good number of people to teach and it's been working pretty well.  We were able to give a baptismal date to one girl for the 10th of August and then she also came to church on Sunday. She likes us to go and teach her almost everyday and so she has been able to progress really fast and she is even planning on going to a lot of the young single adult activites with some of the friends that she has made in the ward.  Another guy came to church for the fourth time in a row as well and he will probably get baptized soon but the problem is that we can't meet him very often and his comprehension is kind of slow because he doesn't understand english too well. Whenever we teach him, it is always with one of our members so that they can translate.  He's a really nice guy though and he continues to progress.  Our relationship with the members keeps getting better.  I'm going to be really sad to leave them because they are all becoming such good friends to me.  I've spent such a short time hear but I feel like we have been able to work with the members better than I have in any other area.  So that's what's happening right now with me.  I'm just really trying to keep pushing hard to the end.  Well, I can't think of much more to say and so I guess I'll just talk to you all next week! 

Love Elder Kitchen 

July 15, 2013

How's it going everybody!?

This past week was our transfers and so the two other elders in our apartment left on transfer and the zone leaders moved in. They are Elder Boakye from Ghana and Elder Brown for Australia (Brown was in my apartment in Praso).  All of the transfers were a success, but it really didn't affect us too much.  I had to start back into the district leader stuff by doing an interview on Friday. I actually enjoy doing baptism interviews because I get to meet the people that the missionaries have taught and are wanting to be baptized.  We've been teaching a girl almost everyday for the last week and she came to church which makes it the third time in a row now. She used to be a Muslim, but now she wants to be a Christian.  She is progressing really well and the ward members are fellow shipping her as well.  We ended up having a baptism this week for a guy named Clement.  He's been coming to church for a while now and so it was good for him to finally be able to get baptized.  We had three investigators come to church on Sunday...two of them it was their third time and then the other one it was his first time. The members have been doing well with bringing people to church.  All three of them have come because of members referrals. The best way to do missionary work is certainly with the members.  I think almost all of my success has come through working with the members. I'm happy that I am being able to serve in an area that has a good solid foundation of members that are able to help us.  It makes the work so much more effective.  Now that I'm on my final transfer...the weeks just seem to be going a little bit too fast. I can't believe that it is almost over.  I'm still loving every second of it though.  Today all of the new guys were talking about food from home and it make me a little bit more excited to come home! ;) haha I'm just kidding. I've actually been eating really well lately. Last night, I cut up some potatos into cubes and then boiled chicken and cut it into chunks and then fried them together and ate it with ketchup. It was so good. Even if you add ramen noodles to it, it becomes like a stir fry thing.  I'm just making the most out of what I have. :)  Well, I think that's about it for this week.  I'll talk to you guys later! 

Love Elder Kitchen

July 1, 2013

Hey everybody!

So this week I luckily feel a lot better than I did last week. We played some basketball at the Stake Center but I took ibuprofen halfway through so now I don't have a headache! :)  So this week we had a mission conference on Wednesday and it was a lot of fun. I was able to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a while and for some of them, it will probably be the last time that I see them again which was kind of sad. The meeting went really well though and I got my flight plans!!! haha pretty crazy to see that.  I'm not sure but I think you were also supposed to have it Mom, so hopefully you have it and have forwarded and stuff. If not, I'm flying through London, then Dallas and then I'll be getting to Utah by about 5:05 pm.  Pretty crazy that I have a plane ticket in my name now.  Not that I'm thinking a lot about that or anything... ;)  Don't worry, I'm still working hard.  My companion was still not feeling too great so we had to take it easy for the rest of the week and on Saturday we weren't even able to go out which was no fun.  Sunday we had our Ward Conference and it went really well. We had a new investigator come to church and so hopefully she will start to progress. One of our members invited her. We're still working hard on somebody named Jennifer. She's really smart and wants to come to church but her parents aren't letting her right now so hopefully soon that will change. We're trying to work on that situation.  This week is the last week of this transfer and then next Wednesday I will begin my final transfer. It's so crazy to think about but everything still feels the same.  I still have some time where I can make a difference though so I'll keep pushing hard.  It's like the third period...just a few minutes to go. :)  Well, talk to ya'll next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 24, 2013

Greetings everybody!

I hope you all had a good week!  Mine was pretty normal I guess you could say. My companion wasn't feeling well the end of the week so we just did a lot of sitting around which was pretty boring, but we had to do it so that he could start to feel better.  To be honest...it was kind of one of those weeks that's really hard to come up with what happened.  One funny thing that happened during the week involved a mouse in our apartment.  We've been seeing him every now and again since we got there but we could never catch him.  Then in the morning, Elder Moffitt found it hiding in some extra room that we don't use and so I grabbed the cutlass, trying to be the big tough guy and I said that I would kill him. But of course, when the mouse jumped out of his hiding place and ran straight for my feet, I jumped in the air and screamed like a little girl and then I jumped up onto a chair.  We started chasing the mouse around the apartment but he kept getting away.  The little guy was just too dang fast.  We ended up losing him and so we were pretty ticked.  Luckily the next night, I heard a scuffle in the kitchen and ran into see what was going on. As I arrived at the door, I saw one of the elders standing there and he had his foot on the mouse. It tried to get away again but then he crushed the little annoying guy. So that was the last of little Jerry.  So....that's really all I can think about...Today we came to Takoradi and played soccer and now I have a headache because it's so dang hot here. haha.  Well, life's good and everything is still going well.  I can't believe that next Monday will be in July....time is just flying by. Well, talk to you guys next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

p.s. sorry if this email just has a lot of random stuff that doesn't make sense...my head hurts right now...

June 17, 2013

What's up!?

How's life?  Everything is still pretty cool over here. No complaints I guess. :)  Most of the interesting stuff that happened this last week was at the end of the week.  I went on splits with the district leader so that he could come and do the interview for the baptism that we were having. Her name is Celestina and she has been progressing really well since we got here. The other missionaries were the ones to start teaching her.  We got hit pretty hard by rain that day while we were out so we got pretty soaked. Whenever it rains here it just seems to pour. There doesn't seem to ever be just a slight drizzle.  So the interview and everything went cool and so the baptism was cool for Saturday.  Then Saturday the person who was to fill the font went to do it but after it was about knee-high, the city water stopped flowing and so the water was really low. So when you are in
Ghana you just do it anyways.  Elder Moffitt did the baptism and he did a really good job.  I thought it might take a couple of tries because of the water level but it was just once.  The next day she was confirmed at church and everything was good.  So right now we are just trying to build up our teaching pool and find serious investigators.  The members are still helping us out a lot and so it's making the work a lot easier.  Not too
much else it going on, but I'm still really happy here in my area. Hopefully it continues to go well like this.  Well, I'll talk with you all later!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 10, 2013

Hey everybody!

Had another great week this last week.  Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes.  It was quite the birthday...flooding, seven people stuffing into the bed of a truck with two of them being Tongans...it was awesome! haha.  As for this week though, we have mainly still just been getting used to the area and the members have been helping us out a lot. It has been nice to have a lot less responsibility and just be able to focus on my area.  My companion is adjusting well to everything about as fast as you really can adjust to this place. There are no other missions like these ones here in Ghana....I think I can even guarantee it. We should be having a baptism this coming Saturday.  We came and started teaching somebody that the past missionaries were teaching and she's come to church both Sunday's we have been here and so we thought she was ready and so did she. So we'll be preparing her for this Saturday.  During the week we have been working
with some new people that have been referred to us by the members and so hopefully soon we will be having some strong investigators. It's hard coming into a new area when both you and your companion have never been there, but we are managing.  Today we went with a big group of missionaries and also President and Sister Shulz to a cocoa processing factory. It was pretty fun to see how they process everything and get it ready to export to the world. Ghana is one of the leading producers of cocoa and they supposedly have the most quality cocoa.  So the picture here is of us just outside of the factory. Left to right: Elder Moffitt(my comp.), me, Sister Shulz, and Elder Dikane(from South Africa).  Well, we'll talk more next week! Love you all!

Love Elder Kitchen

June 3, 2013

Hey everybody!

I've had such a great week and also day today!  Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!  I've had a pretty good birthday today.  I'm sitting in a vodafone cafe and so I'm actually pretty freezing because of the a/c, also because we were walking in the rain most of the day so I am pretty soaked.  So last Wednesday I left Praso and went and met the person that I would be training. His name is Elder Moffitt from South Jordan, Utah.  He's a really good kid and we have been getting a long really well. So from there we went to our new area  which is called Sofokrom which is about 15 km outside of Takoradi. It's a small town but it has so many members there.  The church has been there for quite some time.  We don't live in our area and so we have to take a short tro tro ride everyday.  Our welcome into the area was really great. The members have been so nice to us and willing to help because we are both new to the area and so we don't know where to go or anything.  So once we got to the area, we just started getting to know places and everything.  Saturday was a lot of fun because there was chapel cleaning and so we went so that we could meet a lot of the members and then after they set up a volleyball net and we played with them. The only problem is that I tore a huge hole in my shirt! Haha, don't worry though, I was able to fix it with my needle and thread. :)  Church on Sunday was great because there were so many people at church!  I haven't been in a place like it since I was home. I'm really excited to have this as my final area.  Today we all came to Takoradi and played soccer and basketball.  It was fun to see a lot of the missionaries that I hadn't seen in a long time.  We ate some good fried rice for lunch and the other missionaries paid for me because it was my birthday!  So pretty much, I'm really loving everything right now.  I can't believe it's actually June of 2013 already.  I don't know how I'm going to leave this place in August.  haha. Well, thanks again everybody for the birthday wishes!  I'll talk to you all next week!

Love Elder Kitchen