Letter from June 19, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Jun 19 at 2:53 PM

Hi, all!

This week was pretty busy and eventful. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the week, but there will be more next week, don't worry!

-Thursday was Mission Leadership Council (MLC) and that went pretty well. I think that was the second to last time I'll see Pres. Heid. I believe the last time will be tomorrow at our combined zone conference. But that was fun. Afterwards I had an interview with him, and it made me miss all the pizza... as I was waiting for the interview I saw a couple elders walking towards the trash can with like 12 boxes of pizza stacked up and I got sad... but the interview was really nice and then my companion was a total bro and saved some for me, so I still got to enjoy some pizza this week... :D

-Friday was a very tiring day. We had baptismal interviews for Tema Newtown. They had four interviews that needed to be done, all different unrelated people in different places. The problem is that travelling around in Ghana isn't as easy as jumping into my car and driving there. We had to take a tro tro, a ridiculously crowded vehicle, and then we had to stop, walk a ways before we could pick up a taxi, and then we had to walk further to finally meet them. To add to that, just as we were getting ready to go the heavens opened up and poured out rain upon us in buckets and so we were soaked by the time we got there. Finally we got there and my companion and I split up and he went with one Newtown elder and I with the other. My companion stayed at the chapel for his two and I trekked around in the mud for a few hours doing the other two. It surprising how tiring it is walking around in the rain and in the mud, haha. But they went really well, and all four candidates passed and they were baptized this past weekend! It was quite wonderful.

-We have one investigator that I had mentioned earlier, and this boy is awesome. He's nine years old and we've been teaching him recently. He's not particularly patient, though, haha. So Monday, a member next door to him called us and asked us to meet up with him and take him to church with us since she wasn't going to be able to take him. So we grab a taxi and get there early with plenty of time to pick him up and get to church on time. We get there only to find that he didn't want to wait and he started walking to church all on his own. We lost a few cedis because of it, but I don't mind at all because that boy is dedicated. I love this little kid. Things are going well here in Tema. I've said it again and again and I'll continue to say how happy I am when I see people eagerly embrace the gospel and when I see how happy people are when they do. Even in young children, they can feel the reality of the gospel and it's significance and impact in their lives. I know that I've felt it again and again and again. I love this gospel. I hope you all know that very clearly. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and that He died to give all of us hope, joy, and peace.

I love all of you so much! I hope you have a fantastic week and I hope to hear from you soon!!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

Letter and Photos from June 12, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Jun 12 at 11:13 AM

Hi, all!!

This week was good, a little sad, too, but overall great!

-This was Elder Murige's last week! He goes home today, which honestly, I'm pretty dang bummed about. He was definitely one of my favorite companions, and it was so much fun and it was so great having him around. He actually started and finished his mission in the same area! So to celebrate finishing his mission, I bought Pizza Hut for us which was great, so we definitely took the selfie opportunity.

-Also, last night, Elder Smith (Elder Murige's companion before me) spent the night at our apartment so they could go to the mission home together today to fly home. So Elders Smith, Murige, Buchanan, and Grant took the photo opportunity to have four consecutive Tema ZLs together in one picture. It was pretty cool. So I've also attached that.

-I mentioned that Evelyn was baptized and confirmed in the past few weeks. Now one of her friends, another young boy, is begging us to baptize him. This kid is like 9 years old, and I love his enthusiasm and his attentiveness, it's awesome! He's actually been coming to church with Evelyn and her family, and it's awesome to see people uplifting and building others like that! Even though he's only 9 and he's really young, it's awesome to look at him and see the light in his eyes and the joy and excitement he feels every time we sit down with him. That's the thing I love most about the gospel—how it can change people. It can even simply bring them happiness and peace of mind in the most bleak of situations. I know how hard life can be, but I also know how real our Savior Jesus Christ is. I love Him and I am eternally grateful for Him and all He has done for me. If it weren't for Him, I wouldn't be who I am today.

I love you all! I hope you're doing great and I hope to hear from you all very soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

  A picture Elder Murige and I took after a baptismal interview for him. I must say I think I was looking pretty sharp... ;) Haha

Pizza Hut selfie

The 4-generation Zone Leaders

Letter and Photos from June 5, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Jun 5 at 1:04 PM

Hi, all!!

This week has been good, as usual. Some cool things went down.

-Since my companion is new to Tema, I took him to Papa's Pizza, the best pizza deal I've seen in Ghana, which is a 16" pizza for roughly $15/GH₵60. So we enjoyed some food there this week.

-Yesterday, church was pretty cool. It was cool, first, because Evelyn, who was baptized last week, was confirmed today! Wonderful experience seeing her eagerly embrace the gospel and to see her so happy because of it. Then close to the end of church, one of the members came up to us with his 10 year-old daughter and said that she hasn't yet been baptized and wants us to teach her so that she can be! I love seeing people help bring others unto Christ, whether it be people bringing their family members, friends, neighbors, or anyone around. It's awesome. I'm always seeing the Lord's hand in His work.

-I've been studying in the Book of Mormon and there's one verse that I always find significant when I read it. It's in Alma 62: 41, which relates the experience of the wars between two groups of people and how it affected different people differently. "But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility."

When I think about that, I ask myself who I am. Am I someone who becomes hardened and turns against God because of challenges and difficulties, or am I someone who rather turns towards Him to seek His help and strength during hard times? Am I someone who falls away or someone who becomes more faithful during trials? I have seen time and time again how eager our Heavenly Father is to help us in our daily lives if we humble ourselves and seek Him out and trust in Him. I know that as we humble ourselves and ask Him, He will always be there eager to assist and to help and to comfort us.

I love all of you! Thanks so much for all the love and support. I hope you're doing well and I hope to hear from all of you soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

An electrical adapter that had too many things plugged into it for too long... kind of sketchy, but we fixed the problem.

A selfie of me at the cafe today.

Letter and Photos from May 29, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>May 29 at 10:02 AM

Hi, All!!

This was a busy week, but it was good!

-Transfers were this past week and I got my new companion! Elder Grant is pretty cool, we get along well. I'll be sure to attach a picture of us meeting at the mission home. The two Texan Zone Leaders, ha :D On the way back from the mission home, the taxi driver got lost and drove us way past where we were supposed to go, haha, but we eventually found our way back and got home safely.

-The members here are so cool. One day we were going around and I was introducing my new companion to the area and some of the members. We were visiting one member, an older woman, and heavy rain clouds started rolling in, and she let us hide out in her shop until the rain passed. While we were there she fed us cookies and soda and was awesome.

-One day this week there were elders in our zone who were in need of a new phone because their's was broken, so we had to meet them at the Tema Roundabout. We had to bike all the way down there which was exciting, haha. We took a selfie opportunity there. Frytol is the popular vegetable oil brand around here, and there are a few massive statues of Frytol bottles around Ghana, and the Tema Roundabout is one of those places, so we took a picture with a massive bottle of vegetable oil, haha!

-This week we also did a lot of baptismal interviews which was wonderful! Definitely made it a busy week, though. We went and did one for Batsona, my companion and I did two for the Tema 1 sisters, and Elder Murige also came to do one for my area, which means we had a baptism on Sunday! That was so incredibly exciting. This girl, Evelyn, had been taking lessons from the missionaries for seven months because she had such a hard time learning and remembering things. But recently, her ability to learn and remember has miraculously improved. That has definitely been a manifestation to me that God truly does hear and answer prayers. I know I definitely had been praying for this girl, and I can see clearly the hand of God in her life. So we were super excited for her baptism. She chose me to be the baptist, so this makes the second person that I've actually physically baptized here which is awesome. I'll attach a picture. I must say I do think I look pretty nice in white... :D haha but seriously, as I've said before, I can't explain how happy it makes me to see people eagerly embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and then to see the joy on their faces when they see how it changes them. I can't explain it enough to all of you how amazing the gospel is! Words literally cannot adequately express how incredible it is; only experience can truly help one understand what it's like.

I love all of you so much! I hope you're doing well. Thanks for all the love and support. I hope to hear from you soon!

With love,

Elder Buchanan

Evelyn's baptism :)

Big frytol bottle selfie

Two Texan ZLs!

Letter, Photos, and Videos from May 22, 2017

Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>Today at 11:23 AM

Hey everyone!

This week we had some pretty cool things happen.

-This week are transfers! So I'm going to be getting Elder Grant as my companion. Jokes have been going around that everything's going to get bigger in Tema since we're now going to have two Texans as the ZLs, haha! But Elder Murige, my current companion is becoming my district leader, so he's not even leaving the apartment, he's just switching companionships, haha.

-This last Tuesday we had a cool service opportunity. The missionaries in ward 2 had to go to Accra to go to the mission home. While they were on their way there, they got a call from a member in their ward asking for help because their house had flooded. So the elders called us and asked us to go in their place. I was super pumped. Haha, not because their house was flooded, but because genuine service opportunities here are rare, and I was way excited to help out. It turns out that one of the water taps was left open, so it flooded the downstairs. We got there and we helped to move the furniture out, we mopped the place and cleaned up all the water, laid some extra carpet/floor padding down and then moved the furniture back in and it was just really fun being able to help out. Back home I didn't value service opportunities nearly as much as I should have, but I definitely appreciate them now. I enjoy doing what I can to make someone else's life better.

-Thursday morning we also had the opportunity to go to the temple. It was a beautiful experience, as always. I've mentioned this before, but I always hate leaving the temple, because I feel, quite literally, like I'm leaving the presence of God. I love the spirit and the atmosphere present in the temple.

-We should be having one baptism this coming weekend! We wanted to have two of our investigators baptized together, but we've been having trouble meeting with one of them recently, so we'll have one baptism this weekend, and I'm way excited for that. The best part of missionary work is seeing people embrace the gospel and see it change their lives. I never knew how happy it would make me when I look at someone else and see them so happy because of the gospel. It's incredible the change that the Savior can make in our lives when we follow Him.

I love all of you so much! I hope to hear from you all again soon and that you're all doing well.

With love,

Elder Buchanan

A selfie with Elder Gillam since he's going

Since transfers are happening this week, we were sure to take some pictures. We got a pic with all the missionaries that worship in our building