Hey everyone!!
I landed in Accra, Ghana on Wednesday night July 22. Two other elders and I slept at a members house. We got in late 9:00, so we didn’t get to bed until 11:00pm. Our Mission President Heid wanted to meet with everyone in the morning so we still woke up at 6:30. It was exhausting. Jet lag is real! Anyway we got to meet with him and learned about what we were doing that day. I got paired up with Elder Levi Effiong. He is from Nigeria and is 23 years old. He is really quiet and is big. He has 3 siblings and his dad died in the military. His mom is also in the military as well as his sister. He joined the church 4 years ago. He told me we are serving in the Klagon Area. It was about an hour drive out of Accra but it is considered Accra. That first day we got our green cards so we don’t need our passports on us. We also got a physical by a doctor there. That took most of the day.
I'm in Klagon and the specific area is called Monkey Forest, right next to me is the "water works" and those are the people who live in sheds. Its sad. When we got to the apartment it was a light out and all the power was off. All the power that powers most the countries around Ghana is from Lake Volta and the country doesn't own it. It is owned by an independent company and the power is very inconsistent. It is always going out. It was very hot that night and in the morning I had to take a bucket shower. It was pretty cold but whatever. The area isn’t considered the bush (ghetto) but it sure seems like it. Most of the houses around are smaller then my room at home and people are very poor. Every Missionary apartment has a filter on the water faucet so that’s where we get our drinking water and we have a fridge and freezer. When we are out of the house, people will always offer us plastic bags of water. Somehow they are always cold too! So the water situation is fine. People are very poor though. None of our meetings have been inside a house yet. They are all outside and we sit on stools. We taught a lady named Rose and she was living in an unfinished cement building. She was using a jug of water as her seat and all her clothes were everywhere and she was pregnant out of wedlock. It is really sad and I wish i could help more.
Most everyone speaks Twi here (a tribal language) and then there is also Awey and Ga. People don’t like speaking English, so it is really hard understanding them. I try to change the way I speak so people can understand what I say as well, but its hard. Everyone calls me Abroni, which means white boy. I learned not to take offense because the people don’t mean to be mean thats just the way they are. We have been teaching a bunch of investigators and a couple of new converts. The situations some of these people are in is just crazy.
Our church building is just a big house. It's not a branch, though it's a ward! The main meeting room is pretty small so there are people throughout the house during meetings. I got to bear my testimony but a lot of the members don’t speak English, only Twi and Aywe. I was super tired this Sunday and had a real problem staying awake, so hopefully I can adjust better. The ward has a goal of 200 baptisms in the next year just in Klagon! Crazy! There are only 4 missionaries here so that is a hefty goal. We are planning on 6 baptisms in August and hopefully can get more these next couple of weeks. Later that day we went on splits for home teaching with members. I got to meet with a couple of guys who are 18 and 19 who are planning on serving missions and one of them already has this papers in! It was pretty cool. Today is P-day and to start it off I got to hand wash all my clothes. I basically rubbed my knuckles raw!
Anyway that was basically my week. It's been long but had some good experiences!
Love You all
Elder Smith
I landed in Accra, Ghana on Wednesday night July 22. Two other elders and I slept at a members house. We got in late 9:00, so we didn’t get to bed until 11:00pm. Our Mission President Heid wanted to meet with everyone in the morning so we still woke up at 6:30. It was exhausting. Jet lag is real! Anyway we got to meet with him and learned about what we were doing that day. I got paired up with Elder Levi Effiong. He is from Nigeria and is 23 years old. He is really quiet and is big. He has 3 siblings and his dad died in the military. His mom is also in the military as well as his sister. He joined the church 4 years ago. He told me we are serving in the Klagon Area. It was about an hour drive out of Accra but it is considered Accra. That first day we got our green cards so we don’t need our passports on us. We also got a physical by a doctor there. That took most of the day.
I'm in Klagon and the specific area is called Monkey Forest, right next to me is the "water works" and those are the people who live in sheds. Its sad. When we got to the apartment it was a light out and all the power was off. All the power that powers most the countries around Ghana is from Lake Volta and the country doesn't own it. It is owned by an independent company and the power is very inconsistent. It is always going out. It was very hot that night and in the morning I had to take a bucket shower. It was pretty cold but whatever. The area isn’t considered the bush (ghetto) but it sure seems like it. Most of the houses around are smaller then my room at home and people are very poor. Every Missionary apartment has a filter on the water faucet so that’s where we get our drinking water and we have a fridge and freezer. When we are out of the house, people will always offer us plastic bags of water. Somehow they are always cold too! So the water situation is fine. People are very poor though. None of our meetings have been inside a house yet. They are all outside and we sit on stools. We taught a lady named Rose and she was living in an unfinished cement building. She was using a jug of water as her seat and all her clothes were everywhere and she was pregnant out of wedlock. It is really sad and I wish i could help more.
Most everyone speaks Twi here (a tribal language) and then there is also Awey and Ga. People don’t like speaking English, so it is really hard understanding them. I try to change the way I speak so people can understand what I say as well, but its hard. Everyone calls me Abroni, which means white boy. I learned not to take offense because the people don’t mean to be mean thats just the way they are. We have been teaching a bunch of investigators and a couple of new converts. The situations some of these people are in is just crazy.
Our church building is just a big house. It's not a branch, though it's a ward! The main meeting room is pretty small so there are people throughout the house during meetings. I got to bear my testimony but a lot of the members don’t speak English, only Twi and Aywe. I was super tired this Sunday and had a real problem staying awake, so hopefully I can adjust better. The ward has a goal of 200 baptisms in the next year just in Klagon! Crazy! There are only 4 missionaries here so that is a hefty goal. We are planning on 6 baptisms in August and hopefully can get more these next couple of weeks. Later that day we went on splits for home teaching with members. I got to meet with a couple of guys who are 18 and 19 who are planning on serving missions and one of them already has this papers in! It was pretty cool. Today is P-day and to start it off I got to hand wash all my clothes. I basically rubbed my knuckles raw!
Anyway that was basically my week. It's been long but had some good experiences!
Love You all
Elder Smith