Letter from October 26, 2015

Hey everyone!!

Missionary life is so much work. If you've seen The Avengers, remember when Capt. America says, "Banner, now might be a great time for you to get angry." and he says, "That's my secret. I'm always angry." That's so me. "That's my secret. I'm always tired." Haha, but things are going so incredibly well! I've gotten more used to living in Africa and I'm getting more attached to it. I've stopped focusing on myself and I've started focusing more on the people around me and serving them. We've actually extended five baptismal dates in the two weeks I've been in my first area! It's so great. Apparently I'm not very good at contacting, though. I saw one guy sitting there with his head down, and I felt like we should contact him and Elder Saunders just said, "Go!" I'm like, I have no idea what to do! So I finally get up the courage and just go up, "Good evening." "Good evening." ........ "How are you doing?" "I'm fine." .......... "What's your name?" "Collins."......... "Well, I'm Elder Buchanan from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what we do is..." (and so on). This guy just hardly says anything while I'm trying to talk to him. Thankfully after letting me flounder for a bit, Elder Saunders jumps in and helps me. After we rode away, Elder Saunders just started laughing at how awkward it was apparently. Haha but later he said "I think the guy was either depressed, high, or just angry," hahaha, so contacting is something we're going to work on this week. One time we were biking home in the dark and it had rained that day. Most of the roads here are dirt roads, so there was lots of puddles all over the place. There was one I didn't see, and I was standing on my bike at the time, and when I got home, my companion said it looked like I had an accident, haha. I'm starting to do better at communicating with the people. I wouldn't say I have an African accent yet, but I've got to the point where I can switch fairly well between regular American speech and African speech, so I'm pretty proud of myself for that. I've also definitely become more attached to the people here. But also, ONE OF THE MEMBERS HERE GAVE ME PIZZA. Oh my goodness, haha Elder Saunders just laughed because of how happy I was. The are so incredibly generous, though. I feel bad about it sometimes, because we'll visit with some people, and they'll only have a little bit to feed their families, and they'll give me and Elder Saunders half of all of their food for the whole day! It's so amazing to see. These people are so humble. They have so little, yet they so readily give what they have to others.

I hope you all know that I love the Lord so much. He really does look after each and every one of us. I wouldn't have been able to make it this far if it weren't for Him. He really does have a hand in our lives, whether we realize it or not.

I look forward to hearing from all of you so much! You all are the best, and I miss you!

With love,

Elder Daniel Buchanan

Selfie at the internet cafe

Ghananian Pizza!!

First Week in Michel Camp, 19 October 2015

Hello all!!

It's crazy to think I've already been gone for almost three weeks now! I miss you all so much, and I love so much hearing from you.

This week has been intense! It's been great, but I'm also exhausted, haha. My area is called Michel Camp. During a lesson outside, we had some crazy dark clouds roll in and it started to rain. But apparently the rain wasn't bad for "African Rain".

The bishop's family had us over for dinner last night... and they served us banku. Ugh. I had it once earlier in the week, and I almost wanted to cry, hahaha. It's like this ball of.... play-do almost, and you eat it with your hands and dip it in some stew (in this case, it was fish stew, and I don't like fish,) and then when you try to swallow it, it's SO sticky, it gets stuck in your soft palate and makes you want to gag. Honestly, it started to make my eyes water it was so painful. Haha, but I was still grateful they had us over to feed us. Luckily they gave us sprite afterwards. They actually use a different kind of sugar for their soda, and it's really good! :)

It's a super laid-back culture, so that can be good and bad. People will randomly get up during lessons, take phone calls, listen to music, etc. But that also means people are more outspoken. If people are angry, they'll let you know. If people are happy, they'll let you know. It's kind of cool. I hope if I say anything about the culture, you'll hear it with an attitude of excitement for a different place and a different people, not negativity, even if some of the things sound bad, haha. It's not super common, but it's also not unusual to see people not wearing clothes...

I'm having a hard time connecting with the people. Elder Saunders has been doing most of the talking, and I'd jump in whenever I could. I felt good about that, but then one night during planning, he told me that the people act—most of them have no idea what I'm saying, and that made me really sad. I was kind of proud of what I had been saying to people. I hadn't been stumbling over my words like I normally do, but then to hear that... :( It's alright. I know the Lord has been blessing us with success, though. He said in just the few days we were able to work so far, we had better numbers than he did in like the previous three weeks. I'm having a hard time, but I'm also exercising faith in the Lord, because I know He can and will work miracles.

Also, it's really humid here. I've gotten more used to it, but holy goodness, I don't think I've sweat so much in my entire life! People here tease me about how sweaty and white I am, haha. Actually, I've lost count of how many times I've been called "brunie," or white man in Twi (pronounced chwee). I now share the pain of people who frequently get called "the N-word." Also, I really, really miss having a washer and dryer. I hand-washed my clothes today, and I literally rubbed my fingers, knuckles, and hands raw today, my goodness. Now I'm in excruciating pain whenever I put on hand-sanitizer, haha. Oh well. Haha I realize now that this email probably sounds super negative, but actually, it's been a pretty good week. Elder Saunders has been an amazing companion. He's pretty funny, and we get along and work together well. I've been learning a lot, and we've been able to teach a lot of lessons, get contacts, and we've actually had three kids commit to baptism! I don't know how serious they were, since they're kids, but it was still awesome regardless, and we have another man with a baptismal date for next Sunday! We're working on getting the kids' mother to visit church. Things are going super well. I'm getting used to actually living here, but connecting with the people and missing home are the hardest parts, but I'm doing everything I can to lose myself in the work and to help the people around me.

Your thoughts and words of encouragement have meant so much to me. Please keep them coming, I love hearing from all of you!! Maybe if I can and I have time, I'll send like one-liners to you individually when I can and then send you my weekly updates. :) You don't realize how much I look forward to hearing from you each week. Always keep the Lord in the forefront of your mind. He's always here, and He always will be. We just need to continue to reach out to Him, and He will work wonders in our lives.

With love,

Elder Buchanan

Elders Buchanan and Saunders

Yummy banku!!

Living area with mosquito netting

Daniel also related this story -

"Thursday, I think, we were on our way to Zone Training, and we took the Tro Tro (basically a big van), but it broke down, so we had to walk a ways. We were going down the road when we got to a road under construction with like new tar, and a guy starts yelling at us "Brunies" to get off the road or he would slap us. Then he started speaking in some other language, that luckily Elder Saunders understands enough of, and the worker escalated to he would tie us down and beat us if we didn't leave. Elder Saunders said he wasn't crossing back over, and the guy said if we didn't, he would come over and tie us down and beat us, and then Elder Saunders basically said, "Well then you'd have to cross your own road!" and we left, unharmed, thankfully."

Preparation Day at the MTC

Since Daniel was at the MTC for only eleven days, he had one preparation day there.

He got to play some basketball, and early on, was the high scorer on his team.

As part of his preparation day, he and the other missionaries had the opportunity to attend the temple in Accra.

Letter from October 15, 2015

Hello all!

I don't have much time today, Pres. Heid is just letting me email home real quick to let you know I made it to my first area, but I'll try to include as much as possible. Sending pictures may be a challenge, though, so I'll see what I can figure out and try to send as many as possible.

The last week has been crazy! Just to make Ben happy; while I was at the MTC, we were out playing bball one day, and I was actually scoring the majority of the points for our team! So I was pretty proud of myself. But that was until we had teams of like 7 vs. 8, so I stopped playing, haha.

Also, I just got to my first area, and pretty much everything that can go wrong has!! Our ECG (electricty card) was broken in our apartment, so no power. My mosquito net was broken, so we had to rig it with an old belt. Then in the morning, since the water is connected to the power, I had to take a bucket shower. Those are lame, haha. But then after I got dressed, I was leaving my room and my shirt caught on the door and it ripped in the back, so I've only been gone a week and I'm already down a shirt. Then later that day, some crazy dark clouds rolled in and we had to park our bikes at a member's shop and they gave us a ride. So it's been pretty crazy.

But it's been interesting, too! We met with three people yesterday, and they were all very different. The first lady was on one extreme--she kept looking at her phone and watching TV and everything. The next guy was curious, but he had questions because of things he heard from the Bible, but he agreed to meet with us again. Then the last guy was the definition of a golden investigator. He was so interested and believed the church was true and everything! So that was great. I love my trainer. His name is Elder Saunders, and he's an American!! I was so excited. I know that God does hear and answer our prayers. I had been praying for an American, someone that knew how I felt, and that's what I got! He reminds me of Cameron Royce, haha.

Also, we have chickens around our apartment, and they keep crowing and waking me up at like 5:50, and it reminds me of JT Cluck, haha (Dad will understand).

Michelle, will you send me a workout plan that I can do without machines or weights or anything so I can stay fit? Also, Bro. Malmrose and the area 70 at the MTC said he felt like he was on a cloud when I played my arrangement of Come Thou Fount. I'm glad to be in the field. 

I need to go, I only have like 2 minutes left until my computer shuts me off. I love you all so much, and I'll email again on Monday!! I miss you, and love you.

Love,

Elder Daniel Buchanan

Arrival at the Ghana Accra Mission Home
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches awaiting

Daniel's first assignment is in the Michel Camp Ward in Ashiaman

Daniel being called upon to play in the training meeting

Missionary Training Center

Daniel arrived at the Ghana MTC on Friday, October 2, 2015.  He will depart the MTC and report to the Ghana Accra Mission Headquarters on Tuesday, October 13, 2015.  His first companion, at the MTC, is Elder Baylor Bell from Ogden, Utah.

Elders Bell and Buchanan

There were 51 new missionaries from North America, the most ever, that arrived on October 2, 2015. Below, they are being recognized and welcomed.

Hurrah for Israel!

Daniel with members of his MTC district

Engaged in learning and preparing to teach the gospel

While at the MTC the missionaries are taught health related items: the risk of malaria and the importance of taking their doxycycline everyday, thoroughly washing fresh fruits and vegetables, filtering all water to be consumed, etc.

Practicing teaching

Even though the official language in Ghana is English, the people still speak a number of native languages.  Daniel is holding a copy of the Book of Mormon translated into Twi.

Letter from October 7, 2015

Hey all!

This has been a super crazy five days, and probably the slowest five days of my life, haha. It's been pretty tough, honestly. One of the Elders in my room is a punk, I'm already sick with something like strep, it's so dang humid here so I can't sleep, I keep waking up in the night. The food here at the MTC isn't bad, but it's not too great, either.

We were able to go to the temple today, and it was a great experience. When I was going back to the locker room to get changed, there was a worker sitting in my stall studying an ordinance card, so I said, "Hey, can I change?" He just smiled at me and said yes and pointed to the lockers and went back to studying! So that was kind of bizarre. I suppose it's culturally acceptable to do that here? Beats me. But there's this one elder in my district named Elder Cook, I love him so much, haha. He's kind of a dork, but he's so enthusiastic! We relate really well, and he's just fun. So, here in Ghana, people literally walk down the middle of the street on the highway trying to sell you things, so Elder Cook opened the window in the van on the way to the temple and was handing out pass-along cards of a picture of Jesus, and for this one guy, he was about to take it, but the van started pulling away, but the man starting running to grab it, and luckily he did. So that was a lot of fun. We were able to get some Ghanaian currency, and I bought a Book of Mormon written in Twi! It was only 1.30 Cedis, and 50 cedis is the equivalent of $18, so it was hardly anything! We went to the store, too, and I saw they had cheese and ice cream there!! The cheese was crazy expensive, though. I was told we'd get like 100-120 cedis a month, and the most expensive cheese I saw was 30 cedis, so I don't know how much of that I'll be getting. There's a pizza place pretty close to the MTC! Hopefully I'll get the chance to eat there a few times while here. I don't think I have too much more to say for now. It's been pretty tough here, honestly, but I'm looking forward to getting out of the MTC and actually getting to serve and to teach. 

I had an interesting idea come to me that seems so simple, but I hadn't really thought of before. When you hear the word "convert," what do you think of? Some people think, "Oh, they just want me to get baptized, blah blah blah." But the word convert means to change. If people say we want to convert people, they're right. We want to change people. We want to make them better. We want to bless their lives by letting them know that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and loves us more than we can ever understand in this lifetime. I love Him, and that's why I'm here.

I really wish I had more time to email back individually, but I'm so dang busy, but I seriously look forward to hearing from all of you soon! I can't tell you how much I loved reading your messages, please keep them coming! :) 

With love,

Elder Daniel Buchanan

People walking down the road selling stuff!

Some Ghanaian currency (a Cedi)

We thought we would show the Ghana flag.  This photo was actually taken at BYU.

Arrival In Africa

After flying through the night, Daniel arrived in Africa early Friday morning, October 2nd.  The missionaries were met at the airport and transported to the MTC.

Ghana Missionary Training Center

The Ghana MTC has the capacity to house about 100 missionaries.  The Church is currently building a new MTC in Ghana that will have a capacity of 400 missionaries.

Daniel's first meal in Ghana - breakfast Friday morning.

Daniel's Departure

Daniel departed from the San Antonio International Airport Thursday morning, October 1st, 2015.  He happened to be traveling to the Ghana Missionary Training Center with another missionary from San Antonio, Elder Mikael Hall.  They flew directly to JFK International Airport in New York where they met up with 49 other North Americans, all traveling to the Ghana MTC.

Elders Mikael Hall and Daniel Buchanan

A family selfie at the airport

Daniel going through security at the airport

Missionaries at JFK boarding the airplane to Ghana