Letter and Photos from February 28, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>  Feb 28 at 6:27 AM

Hi, all!

This week has been interesting, as always.

-I have to start off with food, of course... There were two elders in the district who proselyted on the University of Ghana, and on the campus is a place called the Campus Hub. It was an Italian man who came here and opened up a restaurant and that place was beautiful. They had a ton of delicious options, but I went with a calzone with pepperoni and bacon with a side of fries. I'll attach a picture for your viewing pleasure, haha!

-We had transfers this past week which went pretty well. I've picked up a good number of souvenirs thus far, so I had to buy a new packback to fit everything in, but it all worked out great and I got to my new apartment with everything (almost, haha)! This new apartment really is tiny, but it's actually kind of nice. There's AC in the bedroom which is glorious, there's a water heater which is cool, but I don't use it because I don't need any more heat here in Ghana, haha, and there's one bedroom with two bunk beds and I get the top bunk. Whoever was there before me was pretty smart and rigged a fan so the one on the top bunk still gets a nice breeze in the night, haha. I'll send a brief video tour, don't worry :D

-The new ward seems pretty awesome! I got there on Sunday and they didn't know that I played piano, so I didn't play for sacrament meeting, but eventually they found out so I played in third hour and for the ward choir afterwards! It's actually a full-sized keyboard, and it's way legit :D But the only problem is is that randomly it'll stop registering anything. Like, it doesn't turn off, but it just goes silent and I have to restart. So during choir they asked me to play a hymn through so everyone could hear and be familiar with it, and I get one line done and the piano just cuts out, yet I'm still playing, and the director turns and asks, "Can you play the entire song through for us?" And I just said, "I'm trying to!" as I restart the keyboard, haha. But it's definitely a nice place and I'm excited to be here.

-Apparently this is one of the smallest areas in the mission. So I'm in Tema, and Tema is divided into communities. There are 22 communities in Tema, and my companion and I are over Communities 4 and 7. My new companion is Elder Murige, and he's one awesome guy. He's from Zimbabwe and we're getting along really well. He has about three months until he goes home.

-I recently started reading the Book of Mormon again, and I'm in 1 Nephi 21. There's one short part of verse 23 that really stands out to me. "...and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." I love that so much because it reminds us the value of following Him. Sometimes we're ridiculed for our faith. Sometimes people disagree and look down on us for our beliefs. But the Lord reminds us that in the end, things will be alright because we faithfully followed Him until the end. I believe that with all of my heart. I know I'm not perfect at all and I have my flaws, but I know that as we do our best to become more like Jesus Christ every day, in the end, everything will be just perfect because of Him.

I love all of you so much! I appreciate all the love and support you give me. I hope to hear from you all again soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

Here's a picture of my last visit with the Aboagyes, the bishop's family in Agbogba. 

Of course, I have to include the picture of the delicious calzone. 

Letter and Photos from February 20, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>  Feb 20 at 9:22 AM

Hi everyone!

This week was pretty exciting!

-So we got transfer news this week (I'll give more details later, don't worry). The day I got news, I had to go to Haatso to do a baptismal interview. One of the Haatso elders is leaving, and when the investigator found out that he was going, she and her sister (a recent convert) all practically wanted to attack me because I was the one delivering the message, but they all were a little distraught. The recent convert sister started joking singing I Need Thee Every Hour directed at the elder leaving, but then she got out her hymnbook and we all started singing. Then she picked each of the four elders and told us to pick our favorite hymn and we all sat there singing hymns for a solid 30 minutes. It was actually really cool experience, the spirit was present, and it was a cool bonding moment for all of us. And, just so you know, the sister I went to interview was baptized yesterday, and she's doing really well.

-Last week I got to baptize Priscilla which was really cool, and then yesterday I got to confirm her, which was also, not surprisingly, a great experience. Since yesterday was my last Sunday in the Agbogba ward, they also had me share my testimony with them. I remember being younger, I always hated standing up in front of people, even in church, but now, I can't see why. I love standing up to declare my belief in the Savior, Jesus Christ. I love Him and I'll continue proclaiming to the world that I believe in Him and will follow Him.

-Alright, here's what's going down. I can't decided whether or not I'm excited about it or not, but here's the transfer news. There were six elders in the apartment, so three companionships. They're temporarily closing one proselyting area, so the elders from that area are replacing the two of us leaving. I'm leaving my trainee, Elder Xaba, and one of the elders here is replacing me and finishing his trainee. I'm being transferred to Tema to be a zone leader. Apparently the apartment there is ridiculously tiny. Like, smaller than the Asutsuare apartment. Also, in Asutsuare there were just two of us, but in this new Tema apartment, there are four of us... so yeah. BUT, the upside is that there's apparently AC and water heaters there, AND the zone leaders there get to drive a car... and there's a KFC right by our apartment... so definitely some decent ups and downs! Haha there are 24 missionaries in the zone, so that'll be interesting experience being their zone leader, but I'll definitely keep you all updated on how that goes! One thing I always try to remind myself of is that the Lord is continually leading us. Even when we don't understand why something is happening or why we experience some kind of trial or hardship, He is there. One of my favorite scriptures from the Bible is John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I love that so much because the Savior is reminding us that He can give us a true sense of peace. Sometimes we can find peace from things in the world. Like maybe a sunset on the beach or a nice walk through the trees, or something of that sort. But that peace is only temporary. Christ gives us a greater sense of peace. He reminds us not to be troubled or afraid. He is the Savior of the World. He knows exactly how we feel, and because of that, He knows exactly how to help and to guide us. He knows where to lead us, and I have learned by experience again and again that if we follow, we truly will have lasting peace and joy in our lives. I've been preaching this since I've got here and I'll continue to preach it because I know it's true. I've seen it time and time again, and I can promise that it is the same for all of us. That as we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and if we follow Him, all things will work together for our good.

I love all of you so much! You're the best. I appreciate all you do for me. I hope you're doing well and that I hear from each of you soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

 This and the next photo are with some awesome families in the ward. We would see both of them often, and they're so wonderful. I'm definitely going to miss them. 

Me standing in front of the chapel my last time there. I'm going to miss the Agbogba Ward so much.

Letter and Photos from February 13, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>  Feb 13 at 12:35 PM

Hi, all!!

This week has been pretty fantastic. Here's a few of the things that went on.

-This week Elder Tolzmann and I went all out and made Cafe Rio. It was a little pricey, but it was absolutely worth it. Before going out one day, I made some rice, and he makes some killer beans, so he made those. He ground up some hamburger patties and added taco seasoning, and I fried some potatoes, and then we added some lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, peri peri sauce, and topped it off with some honey BBQ sauce. We got some big tortillas/pita bread and made an explosion of deliciousness. I was just pretty excited. You know I thought to take a picture to include. :D

-Yesterday was a pretty cool day for a couple of reasons! The ward decided to do a Missionary Sacrament Meeting. The full-time missionaries, ward missionaries, returned missionaries, etc. all were to lead everything. So the ward mission leader called me and asked me to give a talk for about 10 minutes. It was actually kind of cool. Back home, normally I'd be asked to give a talk for about 5 minutes. I would prepare for like hours and I would practice what I had and it'd be like only 3 minutes... but I can tell I've become much better at teaching and speaking because I came up with just an outline with a few scriptures and I spoke for like 12 minutes, haha. Nothing too exciting, I was just kind of proud of myself. I spoke about how members can be missionaries by being an "example of the believers."

-Then after church was pretty fantastic, too, because we had another baptism!! It was a girl named Pricilla. She lives with a family in the ward. Both parents are returned missionaries, and they're all fantastic. This was actually the very first time since I've been here that I've physically done the baptism myself. She's a small girl, so it was no problem, haha, but it as still a wonderful experience. As always, it's wonderful to see people have the desire to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ and to see the gospel change their lives. I hope you all know that I love my Savior, and I can promise you that by following Him we truly will find lasting peace and happiness.

I love you all. I appreciate all your love and support. I hope you're doing well and that I hear from you again soon!!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

 Delicious Cafe Rio!

Baptismal service for Pricilla.  Life is good here in Ghana. :D

Letter and Photos from February 6, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>  Feb 6 at 12:58 PM

Hi, all!!

This week has actually been kind of a blur, so I'm having a hard time remembering anything significant that went on this week. But here's a little bit of what I can remember.

-This last week Elder Whiting went home. It was kind of hard seeing because he was doing everything he could to make sure he stays because he loves being a missionary, but I am glad he's going to be able to get proper medical attention. I'll attach a picture. The fresh suit he's wearing comes from the same place I got mine in my area and I hooked him up. I had forgotten that most elders around the world wear suits...

-So Elder Whiting went home and we picked up another elder to replace him. We brought him back the apartment which has a gate around the compound, and in the evenings, the landlords let one of the dogs out of the cage. This new elder didn't know about the dog, and he was waiting for a few of us to run across the road, so he left the gate open. We got back and saw the gate was left open, and we realized the dog got out. The two of us ran around chasing this dog trying to get it to go back into the compound, but it could pretty easily avoid the two of us, so I called the other elders to come down and help us, and so there were like four random white dudes chasing around a dog, which I'm sure was a really humorous sight for the people here, but eventually we succeeded in corralling the dog back into the gate.

-Today we had a fun combined zone activity! We went to Labadi Beach and I got a nice sunburn. Missionaries aren't really supposed to swim, unfortunately, but it was still way fun. We waded in the shallow water and at one point two of the elders in my apartment ran up from behind and picked me up and threw me in, so that was exciting. They had pool on the beach and we had food and it was fun! I'll include a picture of that, too.

-I once again finished The Book of Mormon. This makes three times since starting my mission. Every single time has been incredible. I love The Book of Mormon so much. I can't believe how much knowledge and wisdom in contained therein. One thing I always tell people is how the book makes me feel. It's easy to forget something you see or hear. Like, I could clearly see and notice, yet still forget the color of my mom's dress one day (and of course she won't be happy), but it's really hard to forget how something makes you feel. Feelings are powerful. It's hard to forget how you feel when listening to your favorite song or the song you listen to when you're depressed. It's hard to forget how you feel when participating in your favorite hobby. It's hard to forget how you feel when someone tells you bad news. And for me, above all, it's really hard to forget how I feel when I read The Book of Mormon. I can't believe the peace that permeates my entire being when I actually sit down and focus on the book. I can't believe how much my love for my Savior grows as I study His life and teachings within. I can't believe how much it has blessed my life. I've seen it bless my life, I've seen it bless my family members' lives, I've seen it bless my friends' lives, and I've seen it bless the lives of the people I share it with here. I can promise every one of you that if you pick up The Book of Mormon and begin reading with an open heart and mind, you will feel something powerful within. Even if you don't remember or understand everything you read, you'll remember how you feel, and it's an amazing feeling.

I love all of you so much! It's great hearing from you, and I hope to hear from you all again soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

P-day at the beach

Elder Whiting going home

Horse riding at the beach

Pool at the beach