Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Apr 10
at 1:19 PM
Hello everyone!
This week was pretty busy, but good!
-Today for P-Day we went to the beach as a district which
was fun. We made some jollof rice and chicken and brought some sodas and had
fun there. Elder Gillam, one of the elders in my apartment, is like a parkour
expert, and so on the nice soft sand he was teaching me to do front flips, so I
felt pretty awesome. We threw around a frisbee and some tennis balls and raced
each other on the beach and it was fun. I got really burned. Unfortunately we
were super lame and didn't take any pictures at the beach.
-Just a random tidbit, I officially learned this week to
solve a Rubik's Cube. Just thought you all would like to know, haha.
-We had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) this week.
Wednesday night we went to the temple, which, as always, was a beautiful
experience, and then we spent the night at the mission home. Much to our
delight, the AC was broken in the room, so I convinced Elder Miller, the AP, to
let me bring a mat in his room, so I slept on the floor of the APs' and office
elders' room with the nice functioning AC. Then in the morning we had MLC which
was quite lengthy, it lasted from 9am-2pm. But it was a good experience. We had
someone from the area office come in just to pick up some papers from Pres.
Heid and then go, but Pres. Heid stopped him and asked him to kind of introduce
himself to us. His name is Elder Webster, he's from New Zealand and he talked
about how he served his mission there as well, and there was a particular tribe
there who like, 100ish years ago practiced cannibalism, and he actually ended
up marrying someone from that tribe, haha, but his wife had only one baptism in
her mission in New Zealand, and she was actually transferred to a different
area before the baptism. So he kind of motivated and encouraged us with that
because sometimes people here feel like the work is slow or there's no one
around because they're only getting one baptism this transfer or whatever it
is, but there are places around the world where people are not receptive to the
gospel at all. So that was cool. At the end of the meeting Pres. Heid announced
new zone leaders and APs before he had even finalized transfers, so everyone
was super surprised. But it was cool. Afterwards there was pizza so that was
definitely a nice plus to the day, ha. Elder Miller and I happened to be
matching, so we took a mini photo-shoot with our matching outfits, so I'll
attach a fun one from that, haha.
-I'm starting to get to know Tema a little better. Every
place looks pretty similar, so it's a little confusing, but I'm figuring it
out. This week I led us around and we did some contacting. I went wherever I
felt to go in our area, and I felt like stopping to talk to a lady in a shop.
She's a seamstress, and we walk up and she just says, "I'm sorry, I'm
busy." And turns around and walks away. She was just sitting there doing
nothing. Most people in Ghana won't respond that way, so I looked for a way to
simply strike up a friendly conversation, so I decided to ask her about her
work so I say, "I have a question." and she just returns, "I
said I'm busy," thinking that we're just forcing our message on her, so I
had to say, "You work here, yes? I have a question," and then she
gets up and says, "Oh, yes?" and I ask if she does any work with
men's clothing, and she says no and then turns around and walks away again.
That's probably the worst rejection I've faced here. Not very bad, haha. I know
there are some places around the world where people will practically abuse
missionaries, but here, the worst it gets is people impatiently usher you away.
Everyone here is accepting of people sharing the gospel, but it makes it harder
to know who is actually serious about listening to and accepting your message.
But the cool thing about this experience is that this lady happened to live
right next to the home of a part-member family! So we stopped there and we were
able to talk to the sister of a member of our ward and we arranged a time to
come back and share more with her. So it was just kind of cool because we had
no confirmed appointments for the day, and I feel like the spirit directed us
to someone who's being prepared to receive the gospel, so that was a neat
experience.
-I just want you all to know how much I love this gospel. I feel
like I keep saying the same thing again and again, but I never tire of
testifying of my Savior. I love Him. I'm so eternally grateful for Him. One
thing I've come to learn here is how much it blesses our lives to follow the
example of Jesus Christ. There are many aspects to this, but it seems pretty
simple. We're promised the gospel will bless our lives. Jesus Christ is our
perfect example, and He perfectly exemplifies the gospel, so as we follow His
example and become more like Him, we'll begin to see those blessings in our own
lives. We'll see that as we follow Him, it will change who we are; it will
change us into better people. That's probably the main reason why I love this
gospel so much. It's designed to build people up. As we do our best to live the
gospel, our loving Heavenly Father helps uplift and build us as well. I've seen
some people who regularly participate in deplorable activities changed into
incredibly wonderful people because of the gospel. I know it has absolutely
built me into who I am today, and I'm eager to see how it will continue to
build me every day I do my best to follow the Savior. That's the promise that's
been given to every person on this earth. No one is exempt from the blessings
of the gospel, but those blessings come because of faithful obedience to it's
principles.
I love you all so much. Thanks for the continued love and
support for me. I hope you all have a fantastic week and that I hear from you
soon!
With love,
Elder Buchanan
 |
| Here's a picture of me and Elder Miller and our matching outfits |
 |
| A picture of my companion and I in our matching suits! He ordered the same one I did, so we had to grab a picture of that as well. Don't focus too much on my double chin, haha. I am starting to lose a little weight. I was super fat in Agbogba, my last area, but I'm getting a little lighter here in Tema, so hopefully that will continue until there's no double chin anymore, haha! |
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