Two Years in Ghana: Letter and Photos from January 23, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net> Jan 23 at 11:37 AM

Hey everyone!

This week was actually really interesting. Here's what happened:

-You know I always have to start with food. This week I was able to get the phone number of a place called Papa's Pizza and here's the exciting part: THEY DELIVER. That's pretty unheard of in Ghana, but they do, and so when all the new elders arrived, we ordered a jumbo meat pizza and we all played some Monopoly and ate some pizza. It's been fun since our apartment has been changed to a four-man apartment. Things are going well here, much better than I anticipated. I'm getting along with everyone and we're all doing great. The Lord does indeed answer prayers.

-On Monday I went to the mission home and spent the night there so I could pick up my new companion Tuesday morning. My new companion is a great guy from South Africa named Elder Xaba. One Ghanaian called South Africa 'the land of the clicking tongue,' which is true, because I can't even pronounce my own companion's name correctly, haha! The 'X' is a click, and since no one here, even the Ghanaians, can't pronounce it, he always tells everyone to just say Elder Zaba, haha. So that's what I've been calling him! He's a really quiet guy, but he's definitely eager and ready to get to work, which is fantastic.

-There was one lesson which was kind of cool. Yesterday after church we went to go visit a member who didn't show up that day, and one of our investigators lives right next door to the member. So we went there, and this investigator is quite friendly, but normally isn't too eager about sitting down to learn. She sat down and was ready to chat, but she said she wasn't particularly eager to have an actual lesson. We chatted for a few minutes when she saw that I had a hymnbook with me. She asked me to sing a hymn, so I picked one out and I sang and she was way excited. Then I turned to my new companion and told him it was his turn. He didn't really want to, but he did, and I joined in with him. Then I found a hymn I knew she would know, and I got all three of us to sing together. She was super excited about it, and now whenever we come by, she wants to sing a hymn together, and to top it off, she was ready for a lesson afterwards! There's a lot of power in music, and it can do awesome things. I know this seems like a small little thing, but I really do love music, and I believe our Heavenly Father loves music as well! He has told us that "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." I'm grateful for music, and I'm grateful that God has blessed me with the ability to create music, especially now that I'm in a position that I can use it to help bring people closer to the Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the gospel and the happiness it brings. I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us and meets all of our needs, and I'm grateful that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, here for us to redeem us and to provide a way for Him to lift us up when we fall.

I love all of you so much. It's great hearing from you. I hope you're doing well and that I hear from you soon!!

With love,

Elder Buchanan