Letter and Photos from April 17, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Apr 17 at 11:27 AM

Hey everyone :D

This week was pretty cool. Nothing super eventful, but it was definitely nice.

-I decided to try a new dish this week: jollof rice. It was my first attempt, so it's going to need a little work, but I'll master it soon. That's pretty much the only thing exciting related to food I can think of for this week...

-We've mostly been working on finding new investigators and building relationships with the members. One thing that's hard about Tema is that the people we contact often don't even live in Tema, they just commute for work and then leave, so that's making things a little more challenging, but things are starting to pick up a little more. I was pretty excited when during the week, a girl, probably around 15ish, just randomly stops us and tells us that she had been learning with missionaries in a different place in Ghana but moved to Tema, and she was supposed to be baptized, but moved before she was able, so we're going to follow up with her. If all goes well there, she will hopefully be able to be baptized soon with another solid investigator we have that is eager to be baptized. We have another girl who's like 12 who lives with a member and she comes to church every single week and really wants to be baptized, but I've never met someone that has so much trouble retaining info as her. She can't remember simple statements like, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God." I love her, though, I can see the desire in her eyes to follow the Savior whenever we see her, so we're working hard to help her out. So we have 2-3 solid progressing investigators that I'm pretty excited about. Missionaries in Tema often complain about how "dry" Tema is in regards to the work and finding new investigators, but they typically will have at least one baptism a month, so I often try to help them understand that that alone means Tema isn't dry. We had someone from the area office last week at MLC talk to us and told us that the Africa West Area is the fastest growing area in the entire world, so I can't grasp why they're saying Tema is dry, haha. The work is moving forward here, and it's wonderful to see.

-Easter this year was much better than last year. Last year there was like no emphasis whatsoever on Easter, and I was kind of bummed about it. This year, our ward choir sang a special musical number. I accompanied and helped to arrange a medley of He Sent His Son/He Died So We Might Live Again, which went really well. We learned a lot about the Atonement and it's power in our lives and the significance of the events surrounding Easter/the Atonement. Then in the evening there was a stake devotional since it was Easter, and it was great. I'm so grateful that the Savior suffered, died, and rose again for us, and I'm even grateful just for that knowledge! I believe most of us have at least heard the popular scripture John 3: 16-17, "16 For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not His Son to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." It is so simple, but if you really think about it, it's so significant. God loves us so much that He was willing to send His only Son to suffer the pains of all of our mistakes, weaknesses, sins, transgressions, whatever they may be; to suffer death by crucifixion for us; and to rise again for us, because He loves us. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can have hope. We can have forgiveness. We can have joy, and and we can have peace. I know I've said it so many times, and forgive me for my repetitiveness, but I will continue to proclaim that I know the Savior lives! I know He came and died for us. I know that it's because of Him that we can receive blessings from our Heavenly Father. It's because of Him we can grow and improve with His help. It's because of Him that death is not permanent and that we can live with Them again and we can live with our families again for all eternity in never-ending joy. I will continue to proclaim that I know these things to be true!

I love you all so much. Thanks for all the love, emails, support, everything. I really appreciate it. I hope to hear from you all soon and I hope you all have an incredible week!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

Here's a picture of about half of our district before transfers (we have the biggest district in the mission with 11 members (one of the sisters in the picture was transferred and the remaining sister is now in a threesome). 

Then there's a fun video Elder Gillam took with my camera. I found a new idea for The Piano Guys. I didn't want to get down from my bunk bed, so I just rigged the keyboard to be accessible from where I was, haha.