Mission President getting ready to go home

10 months! WOW HOW TIME FLIES!

But soon i will be back in the field and regular with my comings and goings on pdays once again. so no need to stress.

We are teaching a guy's wife and kids at the moment, ne joined the church in italy where he is working. and he came home to take his family to church so they are all be baptized and eventually sealed together!  It's funny cause he has to come home to his african country of ghana to go to the temple!!

SEE not everything is better in europe!

It was your friend carol that sent me the stamps and also my uncle in provo sent a couple first class ones and she sent me the 98 ones.   which are better cause i have to use 3 first class ones or just one 98 one, so that is good!

As for us the missionary work is still progressing!!   Our investigators are doing well, still having issues coming to church, but for that one i don't know that is can be resolved right now, we have to teach them, express our love and sincerity in care and help them understant the importance of coming to church and partaking of the sacrament!  Teach for understanding, these people are all individuals with different levels of education and understanding, each is very very different.  Nearly all have a religous background, there are alot of areas with very high concentrations of Muslims, it is not always east but the Lords has promised us blessings when we serve him Faithfully.

I have learnt so much from President Smith, and it is very sad to see him leaving.  They send all their things home tomorrow in a shipping container, just leaving behind the bare essentials, nearly everything stays in the mission home for the next president.  I am excited to See president Judd come, and so see the changes he will make, the things that he will keep the same and as we continue to grow and learn from him, what type of mission presient he will be.  Change is scary but exciting at the same time.

There is a white coulple in our branch called Elder and Sister Brown from Utah who are serving a Welfare Mission (they go home the 2nd week of July). Well they feed the missionaries on the 2nd sunday of every month!! So sunday was a good day! we went and sister brown prepared us pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravey and mixed vegies. chocolate cake and milk and jelly!!! it was strange.. but tasted sooo good! It was nice to have a meal from back home again.

But i still like ghana food, which i know i will miss when i come home. But don't worry i am going to prepare fufu and light soup with goat (not really with chicken) when i come home so you can all try some! It will be great! and everyone will probably get runny tummy! and then REALLY know how i felt!!!! lol

Elder Anderson!

Ghana has very cheep? (cheap) ties

Hey, so we just got back from FHE with some ward members, im not sure if i told you this, but remember that ensign that Wayne showed me of ghana that he found just before i left?  well she is in my ward!! and we go to her house every monday night for FHE and a FM (free meal)  which are really good!!!!

pretty crazy actually.

cause that same Ensign (well liahona here but the same covers) was in my new apartment and i was like hey wayne my blah blah showed me this blah blah and they were like well your gonna meet her tonight!!!! i was like NOOOO WAY!!!!

so that was cool!! and crazy that he showed me it right before i left and i met her and ate at her house!!!!

and i just got my hair cut again! and i actually like it.

it has some shape... (as i went to th barber and didnt di it myself)

I am a pretty amazing uke player!

i have a pretty shiny red one. and it is very nice! :D

i have enveloped addressed and stamps on them i just need to fill them with letters and send them!!! the time!!! is just not there!

rainy season is eye... (or air-yeah) meaning fine... or okay.  it still hasnt really gotten into it too much.

today being P.Day we went to the market and got some ties...

you can get some really nice ties (called jatala) for 2.50 very cheep!!! and you can wash them and iron them and every thing!!! they are sweet!! We had to get some for sister smith as she gives one to each missionary on their birthdays! so we went to picked out some nice ones for her! it was pretty fun. we spend some time looking at the wood carvings and paintings and beads!! im going to spend tooooo much money!!! not good at all!!!! but there is really some cool stuff here!

The christmas presents might actually come on time this year!!

Lots of Love

Elder Anderson!!!!!!!!!

May 25 2011 Rainy Season

well just a short one today...as time is precious

but know that i love you, and the work is sweet and i have a cold, again from sleeping in the a/c and it is great!!!!

but the rainy season has started here so it is getting small cooler and killing our numbers.

like investigators that come to church because they walk and it rains so much!!!!

so were in for an interersting couple of weeks!

and a new mission president so even more interesting!!!!!!!

wow!

May 19 - Blessed to be free of Maleria, Cholera, Typhoid....

so im still in the office. just some small longer. but that means i get to stay in Jamestown which is great as it is a cool branch!  my new companion is Elder Speirs. from Idaho.  he is cool.  he was trained by my former companion elder chimuka and was the one who replaced me in Effiduase!  that that is kind of cool!!!

we know all the same people pretty much!

that place is cool! and now we drive we can go visit sometimes!  it is great aswell cause he can drive too!! so its not all on me!!  great right!  alot less stress and i get to rest aswell!

We are doing great in our area. the people are really responsive and it is great!

our branch mission leader has started being a little more proactive aswell which is great.. really getting into his calling!

They are still struggling to come to church. (inverstigatiors and members alike) but we are working on them! they will have no troubles in no time! just need to build their faith, and teach them about how the lord sees the sacrifices that they are making! (espically when it comes to church atendance and partaking of the sacrament!)

I feel this is very short (and also late) but i know that it lets you know that i am safe, not sick and doing great! (my companion has been in ghana for almost 6 months and he has already typhiod and malaria!!!!) wow i am lucky to only have had a cold and some food poisioning!!!!

and in the big cholora outbreack they just had here in ghana and nothing!!!

not one missionary got cholora!!! the lord truly looks out for us!!!

April 27th From the Office

This week has been pretty cool.

We had our stake conference on sunday, which was great!  Really great messages for the people here, The theme was "Becoming true followers of Jesus Christ".  President Smith spoke and the temple president and the stake president and the stake patricah.  The Stake choir that sang was the best african choir that i have ever heard.  They sang come thou fount of every blessing as prelude and it was so amazing. I wish i had my camera and was allowed to flim inside the chapel. It was so great!!  President Smith has a talk that he kind of gives everywhere.  It goes something like this.

"When i first opened my mission call and saw that i was coming to ghana was i scared.  i didnt know what to expect. I heard so many different experiences about ghana from alot of different people and was unsure what i would get once i arrived.  When we drove through ghana for the first time, i was shocked, I streets are dirty, there is trash everywhere, the people here do not have nice houses or nice cars and there are no supermarkets like we have in the US...  I began to feel very sorry for the people here in ghana!

No 5 years later that has compleltly turned around. I no longer feel sorry for the people of ghana, It is the people of the USA that i feel sorry for.  Here you have a nation that depends on God, you are a God fearing people and because of that he blesses the people here. You are a very humble and loving people.  That is something that the people in the USA are not, slowing they are slipping away from God and from the truth, they are moving more and more towards the worldly things. In the Book of Mormon teaches us that when the greater part of the people turn away from God that his spirit will cease to be with them, sure enough we see that happening in the US.

But not here in ghana.  This country will continue to grow strong as you focus of the Saviour and continue to follow his example."

I played american football yesterday and im so SORE!!!! gosh who would have thunk that playing football for 3 hours after doing 0 physical exercise in 8 months would make you sore!!!  (if you knew this please dont tell me how stupid i am!!)  but is was great fun and Elder Tui is teaching me how to play the Uke so i am becoming quite the PRO!!  i will be able to play with Kody when i get back and get a uke of my own!

(i did get a cheep crappy one here but i will dash it to someone when i leave!)

Driving is still fun. Almost crashed about 100 times into silly taxi drivers who dont look or have any idea who is supposed to have the right of way and want to cut in front of you when there is a 3 inch gap between you and the car in front!!! IT IS MADDNESS!!!!!

I'm getting well acquainted with the hospital staff at the C&J hospital that we take all the missionaries too, had a few to many missionaries in there this last 2 weeks!! mostly malaria and food poisoning! but one is have serious chest pains and they dont know what is wrong so hope he will be okay! he is a cool Ghanaian from Cape Coast Named Elder Cobbinah. he came just before me!

this email is kind of all over the place sorry about that but, just so many great things have happened!  EXCEPT this silly computer is saying that my camera is a unreconizable USB device!!!! SAD HUH!

so im going to find a card reader so i can continue to upload my pictures. and if tha fails i will use the nice printer attached to Sis Barneys computer.

(dont know if i told you about them) Elder and Sister Barney the office couple form Arizona. They are really nice. and like to talk!!!

Saturday night it rained soooo crazy we were in an investigators house and were stuck there for about 2 hours!!!! it was fun but!  then all the roads in our area Jamestown were flooded i almost drove the car into a gutter but a nice man on the road side guided me through it! so lucky!!!  but that ment no one out selling!!!! and no bananas for sunday night banana cake!!!

lucky Elder and Sister Barney dashed us from Pineapples so i made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake and some Anzac biscuits and they were amazing!!!!! i will put up a picture, they both turned out great!! they didnt even last until this morning!!!

Another great week! lots to do and still having a great time in the GAM!!!!!

Ghana Accra Mission!

Lots of Love

Elder A. Anderson

GREAT NEWS FOR GHANA.... Testimony building experience for many

We have had some great news here!

The court case for the 2 elders in prision (Elder Keeng from botswana and Elder Omale from Nigeria)
finally happened on thursday.  It has been put off and postponed about 6 times as the judge just didnt show up.  Last week was supposed to be the final final appeal date but the judge never came!

But finally this thursday they were their waiting for the judge.  She walked in, said appeal granted, charges dismised, you are free to go and walked out.

President was over the moon...  I think he was staring to worry that it might not be cleared up by the time he leaves in 2 and a half months time.  It was an amazing experience for me.  Today president went to pick them up from the prision and tomorrow they are going home.  One only had 4 weeks left on him mission and has spend nearly a whole year extra in ghana. he will finally be able to go home to his family. the other is going to sierra leone to finish his mission with Apples! he has 10 months remaining.

We had a dinner for them tonight and a testimony meeting.  There was not a dry eye in the room, the spirit was so strong, and even now i have a lump in my throat.  We sang "God be with you till we meet again" as the closing song.  It was such a perfect choice for the occation espically after everything that has happened.  The second verse really choked me, "When life's perils thick confound you; put his arms unfailing round you."  It helped us all realize that although the times tought Heavenly Father was always there keeping them safe with his unfailing arms around them!  Listening to their testimonies was a experience in its self.

Even after all the things that have happened to them, their faith in the Lord is unwavering. Their testimony is stronger than ever, President said that in reminded him of the sons of mosiah in the Book of Mormon, wrongly accused and thrown into prision.  But the Lord did not forget them, he continued to strive with them. and eventually the walls of the prision came down and they walked free.
from the we learn that the lord will not desert those who remain loyal and faithful to him. We always knew that they would come free, it was just a matter of when.  And now that day is here and it was truly a enlighting, testimony building, faith promoting experience. and i think heavenly father put me here in the office so that i might be able to witness it. He knows what we need.

We also had the interviews for all the mission this week.

so every day was pretty hectic had to organise food for all the missionaries! about 40 everyday!

but thursdays interviews were all cancelled because of the trial and part of fridays so they continue again this thurday!!! wheww the work is never over!

President keeps us pretty busy and Elder and Sister Barney (the office couple)

It makes me excited to think that this missin doesnt have to be my last!

well other than that this week should be slightly less hectic and hopefully less busy!

lots of love

Elder Anderson

Office Missionary, Driving in Accra and not winning the spelling bee

unfortuntly my shirts are not getting cleaner, the collars are just too dirty for the washing machine to get clean!!

it is pretty cool that i will be seeing the inner workings of the mission and learing how it all works. sad part is that i don't get to teach as much with all the office and running around work.

My money situation is fine.  We get money from the mission and most of the time is does just fine for me and my companion too.

btw his name is Elder George Macauley from nigeria, Akwa ibom (ar-cry-bull) state, it is next to cross river state which is where elder takon my trainer is from!  Small world!  and he sends his grettings to you all.

Still only attend the temple every 6 months.  no special visits.  all the new missionaries go when they are in the mtc so when we pick them up they are all ready to go into the field and start working!

Having the car is somewhat of a new experience because there are so many opportunities lost now.

and the area we proclyte in the some how far from the mission home and ghana is lacking on 2 things when it come to roads.

1. drivers with common road courtesy and

2. parking places!

it makes it difficult to drive (all the cars parked willie-nillie all over the road) and finding a place we can leave it!  I'm in a place called james town, so you can look it up. They donot however have a chapel and meet at the temple site.  It is just a little branch and we are here to help it grow..

The biggest problem we face is getting our investigators (and members) to come to church, they all complain about the distance and money for transport and many other things!

We had 49 at church on sunday and 4 investigators!  thats a pretty big change from 180 attendence at buduburam and 18 investigators!

Other than that the office is pretty sweet, sister smith made brownines for us today as is was sister Barney's (the office coupe) birthday.

We gave her a hand fan (like the poly ones) that was in my package from liz and blaze which arrived today!

She loved it, she was even talking about how much she was wanting one to take to church (as none of the chapels here have a/c) and how every time she saw one they were in a hurry and couldnt stop, or that she saw them with a street hawker but the traffic was moving and they couldnt stop!!

(people here LOVE to honk their horns! it drives me insane!!!!!!!) they also love to cut in any which way they feel like it! it is terribly annoying!!! 

but i'm still enjoying and still get to teach most afternoons and evenings so that is great!

I love you lots and lots  

Elder Anderson