Two Years in Ghana: Letters and Photos from October 10, 2016

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>10/10/16 at 4:35 PM

Hi, all!!

This week has been pretty interesting. Here's what happened.

-I don't think anything exciting happened with food... But I do have a funny picture of the egg crates we've collected. When I arrived here in March, there were two. Now in the seven months I've been here, we have about 35 and each crate has 30 eggs... So in the past 7 months my companions and I have consumed about 1000 eggs... So we've basically been living off of eggs. But we did go to our branch president's home this week and he actually let us help out with something! That never happens, so it was kind of cool. It was just simple; he had us help him harvest some millet, and they use it often in lots of different foods here. The plant grows in stalks, and you know it's ready to harvest if the leaves/chutes turn a maroon. Most of them are dry, but sometimes you get one that's still juicy, haha so we both got some red spots on our white shirts... Oh well, it was nice being able to do a little service.

-We have a ninja mouse in our apartment... It's first appearance was one evening when we were eating dinner. I saw something move across the floor, and I thought it was like a bug, but I looked again and it was a mouse! It ran behind our keyboard that was on the floor, and we lifted the keyboard, and it was gone!! I was scrounging our three-room apartment for like a half hour trying to find that thing and I couldn't. Then like a week later, I was going to put a bag into our empty trash can and it was inside! There were no holes or anything in the can, and we stepped away for about 10 minutes and when we came back IT WAS GONE. I didn't know mice could vanish into thin air. We haven't found it again... So yeah, that's been exciting.

-We had been having logistical issues the past few weeks, but this coming Sunday we should finally be having the baptisms we've been hoping for! I'm so excited for these. We recently baptized a woman named Deborah, and she's so awesome. She's been talking to her sisters about what she has learned, and they've started coming to church and we've been meeting with them and they want to be baptized! They're all set up and ready to be baptized next Sunday. That's the definition of member missionary work. When your family and the people around you see how the gospel blesses you, they want to have what you do, and it's amazing seeing that in action. It's amazing how the gospel blesses us. I can't describe the happiness that you feel when you see someone else doing what will bring them genuine, lasting happiness. It's amazing because I feel it for myself every day and it's the best feeling see someone else reach out to the loving embrace of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love all of you so much!! You're all so great. Thanks for all the encouragement and support. I hope you're all doing amazing and that I hear from you all soon!!

With love,

Elder Buchanan