Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net> Today at 2:37 PM
To
Hi, all!!
This has been a pretty dang awesome week. Lots has happened.
Here's what went down:
-So I got a package from my mom this week, and she included
some spaghetti sauce mix and Parmesan cheese, so yesterday, to celebrate our
time together, I made spaghetti for Elder Kwofie and me and we pigged out, and
it was wonderful :D He's getting transferred to Batsonaa, which is in the Tema
Zone, but it's actually closer to Accra, so he's enjoyed rubbing it in a little
that I get to stay here and he gets to go to Accra and enjoy the Pizza Hut they
recently opened up there without me xD
-So as I've mentioned, I've recently become the new district
leader of the Asutsuare District. As district leader, you conduct baptismal
interviews, where you just kind of interview and talk with someone to see if
they're truly prepared for baptism. I was a little nervous, since it was my
first time, but it actually went really smoothly. It was a little humorous,
though, because the elders I was interviewing her for were filling out the
paperwork and she told them she was 14, but they started getting other info
from her brother and family and it was discovered that this girl was actually
16... so that's something that I've had happen before. But she was absolutely
ready for baptism and definitely had a desire to follow the Savior, Jesus
Christ, so that was quite exciting.
-So we got to take a trip to Accra to go to the temple,
which was a beautiful experience. I'll talk about the experience itself after I
detail the adventures of travel. So on the way there, we were headed to pick up
the other elders in the district so we can travel together. Between my area and
theirs is a bridge made up of metal panels. For a little while, there had been
one panel missing from the middle of the bridge, but cars could still get
across. This time, all three panels spanning the width of the bridge were gone.
So there were a bunch of people crowded around watching people use the railing
to cross. I looked at it and realized it wasn't a treacherous climb at all, so
it wouldn't be dangerous for us to also do so, so I had already decided we
would when some random guy just starts taunting me telling me to go. He just
thought since I'm white I wouldn't be able to or I'd be super scared or
something. Haha I don't know how many of you would get this reference, but I
kind of think of Back to the Future where Biff is always like, "What's the
matter McFly? You chicken?" Haha, so don't worry, I wasn't being reckless
and letting someone taunt me into doing something stupid, but that was just a
fun little extra detail I thought I'd add, haha. We got to Accra successfully
and spent the night in the mission home. Then we went home the next morning. So
imagine, I have a shoulder bag, a backpack since I was spending the night, then
I got a package from my mom. I'm carrying all this with me in a really cramped
van called a tro tro. We take that for a while, then we stop somewhere and get
a taxi. Along the way, this taxi gets a flat tire. We wait for the guy to
repair it and then continue. When we get to that same bridge, it was being
worked on, so it was entirely impassable, so literally the only way to get back
to our area was by taking a motorized canoe. So we get on there, and there was
actually a crack in the bottom and water was seeping in, so there was a guy
with a scooper of some sort constantly scooping out the water that was slowly
seeping in... I took the opportunity to take a selfie, so I've attached that,
haha. So travel those two days was pretty crazy.
-Going to Accra was actually really awesome. It almost felt
like I was back home! I've been getting used to visiting people in mud homes
and everything, and then I'm back in a well-developed city. It was kind of
cool! We spent the night in the mission home. The room we stayed in had four
bunk beds and AC! I somehow managed to get the one bed at which the AC unit was
directly pointed. Let's just say that was the most amazing sleep I've had since
coming here. Ah, it was beautiful. But that day we got to go into the temple,
which was absolutely wonderful. It was a cool experience for several reasons.
One is that here in Ghana I've just become so accustomed to car horns, hip hop
with crazy powerful subwoofers, and all kinds of noise, so I was kind of
surprised how quiet it was in the temple. It was silent. It was really cool.
And, as always, it's just an incredibly spiritually uplifting experience. I was
really enjoying sitting in the temple, and it was really hard for me to get up
and leave because I literally felt like I was leaving the presence of God. But
then I had a kind of cool thought. I thought about how I felt just leaving the
temple, and then I thought if the idea of leaving the temple makes me sad, the
thought of leaving the gospel would be even worse. I had the thought, "I
don't ever want to leave this gospel." It was a wonderful experience. Then
we went back to the mission home, and fried rice and fried chicken was given to
us, then President Heid told us to go back again for the next session! So we
got to go twice in a row!! I got to experience the same beautiful feelings once
more. I love the temple so much. The temple is just the most peaceful place
ever.
I love this gospel so much!! I can't even adequately express
with my own words how much I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's become so
real to me. It's not just little facts you remember, but the reality of the gospel
is really manifesting itself to me. The gospel is beautiful. It truly can bring
us happiness and joy. It's not just something that makes this life a little
easier, but it will bring us happiness for all eternity. It allows us to live
with our families forever, it can bring us hope even in the most hopeless of
situations. I've seen the blessings in my own life. I know the gospel is true
more than I know anything else.
I love you all so much!! I can't tell you how much I
appreciate all your love and support. Thanks for writing me each week. I hope
all is going well for you, and I can't wait to hear from you again next week!!
With love,
Elder Buchanan :D
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| Elder Kwofie and I on the boat! |
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| Me and Elder Kwofie with an investigator who hopefully will be able to be baptized next month! |
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This and the next photo are in the mission home. We found a statue of a sister missionary... Elder Kwofie and I didn't quite know what to make of it, haha. She was ridiculously tall, yet ridiculously skinny. We couldn't pass up the photo opportunity, haha.
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| The Kpong Zone - we went to the temple in Accra together. |
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