It's Ghana Be a Great Two Years!: Patience

Hello Everyone!!!

Thank you all for your loving emails and insights! They helped me so much!

This week was super crazy, stressful, and amazing!

At the first of the week we went to help with the eye clinic thing in Accra which was good service. Me and my district leader Elder Obiarinze just sat at the front gate and told people to go home if they didn't have the right form for two hours. But it was pretty fun! I love doing service no matter what it is! I can't believe it is already November! What the wacca? I hear it is getting cold there? Well here it is getting into the warmer season! I keep thinking about Christmas and how it is going to be so different compared to my past ones! I thought of Heat Miser on "A Year Without a Santa Clause" saying "I'm mister green Christmas, I'm mister Sun." and so that's what I’m going to get! You think of the most random things when you are on your mission.

Anyways on Wednesday we were surprised to find out that we could go see a devotional by Elder Bednar in Accra! It was such a great experience! He is such an hilarious apostle and it was sweet to see him walk around the podium and stuff! We even got to bring 2 recent converts with us which was great! That night was already great, but what made it better was that I got to see Elder Bennett Roberts!!! (picture attached) I was so lucky that we found each other and got to snap a picture and talk for a couple minutes! I felt like I was in shock! It was like a piece of home just came out of nowhere and I didn't know what to do! His skin changed, his hair changed, and even his voice changed! But it was so good to see him and to know that lots of my friends are doing what I am doing right now :D It doesn't get better than seeing an apostle and one of your good friends in the same night!

Anyways, this week was also really stressful, a lot of our appointments fell through, and because of going to Accra so much we didn't have as much time as we usually do to proselyte. So I was feeling lots of stress, and felt like I wasn't working as hard as I could. Not a single one of our investigators came to church either. I also just felt stressed about my future! People were talking about What they are going to become when they get home and other things! But as I studied my scriptures I came across a verse that changed my whole view on things. Words of Mormon 1:7 "...And now I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore he worketh in me to do according to his will." This scripture helped me a lot to know that God knows what will happen. It also taught me that all I need to do is do my part and try to accomplish his will. I now know that as long as I try my best and work as hard as I can that God will be glad. I know that if we trust in God that we will be directed! Something else I noticed that you have to learn on your mission or in life is patience. If you can be patient with everyone and everything that happens than everything will work out so much better for you, you will have no stress. But being patient doesn't mean to ignore everything around you. I was a pro at ignoring at home when I was annoyed by someone. Let’s say for example, Teagan and Brig were fighting over who would be able to help Mom wash dishes. (This is just an example) I was good at just waiting for it to stop and let Mom deal with it. But If I was patient, then I would have done something about It but I would still be willing to let them learn and grow. I'm sure since I’ve been gone they have been getting along very well :D

But I also know that being patient is so vital for us to not be stressed or mad at someone. If we are patient we can't hold a grudge, or really get angry! I invite everyone to try being a little more patient. If you wait a little bit, everything will work out! When we die we don't go straight to heaven! We have to wait In the spirit world where we prepare and learn more! It applies to everything we do, and I can promise that If we do that, we will be more happy and less stressed!

It was weird on Saturday to see that it was Halloween! I was like "It's way too hot to be Halloween!" We had a Fufu party with the other Elders who were Americans so I got to tell them "happy Halloween" I dressed up as a zone leader which was fun! I even got some caramels to be festive! (Picture attached) Well done on your pumpkins Shand and Redge! Good heck they're sweet! Same with everyone's costumes!

Culture Corner:

When you are waiting for a tro tro there is a guy who is hanging out the window shouting where it is going to. They even have different hand signals for different places so if you don't hear them you can still see their hand and know where to go! So a recent convert taught me the signals so that'll be fun :)

I love you family and friends! Thanks for everything! I can't believe next week I’ll be four months! :O I hope you all have a great week!