Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net> 18
September 2017 at 1:39 PM
Hi, all!!
Well, I can't believe I'm finally saying this, but this is
my last time emailing home from Ghana. I fly home a week from today and I
arrive the next day. I have one week left in Ghana, and my mixed feelings are
intense, haha. But first, here was the week.:
-Today was a fun P-Day. We had a zone activity with lots of
fun outdoor games and food and goodness. It was cool because most of the time
the activity is just sports like soccer and basketball and everyone gets bored
and tired of the same things all the time. We had musical chairs, wheelbarrow
races, arm-wrestling tournaments, and other fun stuff. We had two polynesian
missionaries buy a live pig and they roasted it and cooked it up for all of us
and it was way fun. I saw lots of people that I may never see again, and that's
a really hard feeling. But it was so much fun and I think everyone enjoyed.
-This past week was pretty busy, too. We had a zone
conference as well as a final MLC and both were very uplifting and
enlightening. I like the new mission president. He loves the missionaries so
much and is so eager to help them and to serve them as well as the Lord. I
admire him so much. I wish I had him as my mission president for more time.
-One last exciting thing: yesterday I had my last baptism!
It was a girl named Gifty. She was referred to us by her father, who is a
member, and he told us she wanted her to be baptized. She is super quiet, but
she is a smart girl. She wasn't coming for a few weeks because her father
wasn't coming, but she started coming with a family friend who would bring her
to church, and it was awesome. Yesterday was my last full Sunday in Ghana, next
week I will have to leave church early to get ready to go home. But it was so
exciting. As I have always said, it brings such incredible joy seeing others
embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. What was even better was seeing the
happiness on her father's face when she was baptized. It was an incredible
experience.
-Well... I don't have words. You know, when I first came to
Ghana, I had such a hard time adjusting. I cried frequently. I felt alone. I
wondered how I would ever be able to learn to love these people; they are so
different, sometimes so difficult, sometimes hard to understand, and it's just
so foreign to everything I had been comfortable with. It took so long for me to
adjust and finally feel comfortable with them. Then, as time went on, I felt
more sadness every time I was transferred from one ward/branch to another
because I had to leave the people I had learned to love there. Every time I was
transferred just got harder and harder to say goodbye because of how much I had
come to love them. I came to realize something: the more I served these people,
the more I came to love them. The more I spent time in their service, the more
I genuinely cared about them and their welfare. I got to where I didn't go out
and teach and serve because I'm supposed to as a missionary, but I got to where
I went out because I loved them and wanted to serve them. Thinking about my own
feelings about this work got me thinking about who I'm representing: Jesus
Christ. There has to be a reason why He loves us so much. Everyone always talks
about how much He loves us and wants to help us and bless us, but why? Well, in
my own short two years here simply sitting down and teaching people the gospel
as well as doing service for them in various ways, I have developed this
incredible love for them, wouldn't it follow that the one who performed the
greatest act of service for us would also have the greatest love for us? There
was so greater act of service and love for us than the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. I can't even put into words the power and influence it has in my own
life, let alone the lives of everyone who has ever lived. He felt all of our
pains, weaknesses, infirmities, iniquities, sorrows, temptations, trials.
Everything. I don't know many people who would be willing to die for a friend
or family member, let alone for the whole world. I can't even comprehend how
much love He would have to die for me and to suffer all of the pain I have thus
far in my 20 years (with more years of pain and hardship to come). How did He
do it? I don't know how. All I know is that He did. I know that He came here
for us because He loves us. He loves us so much, and I love Him. I cannot
adequately express my gratitude for the opportunity I have had to serve Him and
to help people know of the incredibly joy that comes from following Him. Who
doesn't want to help the people they love? I believe the Savior is no
different; He wants to help us, so why
not let Him. That's why I came here. I came here because of Him. I didn't know
where I would be without Him, but now I do. I have seen so many suffer needless
pain because they don't know the truth—they don't truly know Him. I have seen what
a life without Him is like, and now I see what my life is like with Him. I love
Him so much, and I want everyone to know that I declare to all of you today
that He lives and He is real.
I love all of you so much. Thank you so much for all the
love and support you have shown me for the past two years. I hope you all are
doing fantastic.
With love,
Elder Daniel Buchanan
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