Two Years in Ghana: Letter and Photos from July 11, 2016

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net> Jul 11 at 1:15 PM

Hi, all!!

This week has been so dang fantastic.

-Last P-Day we just barely got home from proselyting. We had bought some pineapple juice, and we enjoyed that, so we wanted to get more, but they didn't have any, so we got some mango juice to try out. We went to the apartment and I was taking my clothes down from the line and light went out. We both look up at the night sky and Elder Tolzmann just says, "Let's grab some chairs and mango juice." So we bring some chairs and a few glasses out and sit out looking up at the most incredible view of the night sky I had ever seen having a good heart-to-heart and enjoying mango juice. That was quite fun.

-We've reached a new level of stealth when it comes to banku. I felt really bad for this because these people are so generous in feeding us when they already have so little, but these people have been eating banku their whole lives and we've been eating it for a few months... So normally, people will give us food and have us sit down and they'll leave us to ourselves to enjoy our food. This time, we were visiting a kid who will be baptized in a few weeks, and we hadn't even said hi to him when two members were already sitting down eating banku and insisted that we join them. So we sit down and they put two balls of banku in front of us. Now, I've learned to eat banku, but that doesn't mean I've learned to enjoy it yet, haha. So I manage to down my whole ball, and Elder Tolzmann has eaten maybe 1/4 of a ball when one of the women sitting there gets up and tells us she has to go. So now it's just the two of us and one member sitting outside eating banku. Something grabs the woman still sitting down, so she turns her head, so I take the opportunity to cut the ball of banku in half and hide it under the table with one hand while I continue to eat with the other, and my companion gets out his plastic bag to hide it in. We managed to do this like three times until I actually finished eating the rest of his banku, and we managed to do this right in front of her without her even noticing... Again, I feel kind of bad because they're so kind to us, yet simultaneously I'm quite proud of us since we were able to be so stealthy with it, haha!

-The branch president here owns a school called Lohem, and we go there every week to teach a few students and a few teachers that have been coming to church. This past Wednesday was a Muslim holiday, so there was no school. We go there on Wednesdays, so we went, and Pres. Abotsi tells us he's going to prepare BBQ!! He cooks up some pork, spices it, and then makes some kebabs and then BBQs it. He makes some rice and dishes it all out to us on a plate with delicious BBQ'ed pork and rice. It was quite exciting and delicious. Then we were able to teach a teacher there who's been coming to church every week and has his own Book of Mormon that he's been reading and he understands what we teach really well and he's just awesome. He accepted our invitation to be baptized! Hopefully we'll be able to make that happen this month, but since he lives really far out in our area, it's a little difficult to meet with him regularly, but I have high hopes for him!

-Our past few P-Days have been a little bit boring, so we decided to do something fun today. We decide to hike to the top of a mountain. No big deal ;) Haha but it was tons of fun. It was the most breathtaking view I've ever seen. We were able to climb over different ridges and see God's creations for miles. We saw rivers and lakes and trees as far as the eye could see. It was a cloudy, windy day, which was glorious. It was just a fun experience, so I've attached a few pictures.

-We also had my first legit, organized service project since coming to Ghana with the whole Kpong Zone! It was really cool. We all got together and cleaned up the Odumase Library! Upon entering, it looked like it hadn't seen human eyes in about ten years because of the ridiculous amount of dust buildup. It was quite fun, though. That wasn't even the cool experience of the day. We were wearing P-Day clothes, so shorts and a t-shirt and whatever, and we had to take a taxi to Odumase from Asutsuare. So we get a taxi and we arrive and we get out of the taxi, it leaves, and Elder Tolzmann says to me, "Elder, my wallet..." and we realize it wasn't in his pocket anymore. We soon realize that he had dropped the wallet in the taxi. He was pretty upset because it had some important stuff in there, but I had a small ray of hope. I presented my plan to Elder Tolzmann, and he thought it would never happen. I said a prayer in my heart that we would be able to retrieve the wallet, because the Lord can do all things. So, sometimes theft is common in Ghana, but people here also behave like one big family. So I had the number of a different taxi driver that would often take us places. I give him a call like three times and no answer. We go to the service project, and then afterwards I call again and ask him if he knows the other taxi drivers. He says he does. I then ask if he knows the one who took who brofonos (white men) to Odumase this morning in a white-ish/gray taxi. He says he would look. A bit later, he calls back and says he found the man, and he gives the phone to him, and this man tells us that he still has Elder Tolzmann's wallet. He gives us his number and tells us to call him when we're back in Asutsuare. So, miraculously, the Lord answered my prayer in Elder Tolzmann's behalf and we were able to get his wallet back with everything inside. People sometimes underestimate the power of faith. The Lord has promised so many times in the scriptures that if we ask in faith, our righteous desires will be granted us. Trust in the Lord! He will never let us down. We may not always understand His ways, but He's always right there beside us ready to help us if we just reach out to Him. I know this is true because I've seen it so many times in my life and I've seen it so many times since coming here on my mission. The Lord truly is mindful of each of us. He loves us infinitely and He wants us to be happy. Just like a good, earthly father watches after his young children, so does our perfect, Heavenly Father. He's always there watching over us and helping us along the way.

I love you all so much. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your love and support; it means so much to me. I hope you're all doing well, and I hope to hear from you all again soon!!

With love,

Elder Buchanan