It's Ghana Be a Great Two Years!: Nothing Good Comes Easy

Hello everyone!!! Effwan? (How are you in Ewe)

Holy Doritos! (Maybe even the cool ranch kind!) Thanks so much for all of your emails! I think today was the record for the most emails I've received! I can't express how much it means to me to get them! My heart is indeed full of gratitude and I thank you! :D Fetch, last week was my 9 month mark... Wha? Man time is flying like a bird being struck by lightning! I am just enjoying life and am feeling God's love for me more and more everyday! There is nothing else like being a full time missionary!

This week was pretty interesting! I can't even remember all of it though. I can't tell if it was long or short so we'll just play it by ear. Mission life kinda blends together like a cup of Mom's famous Orange Julius. (My mouth watered when I typed that...) Anyways we had a productive week! We are still focusing on visiting members who we don't know so that we can serve them and teach them too! Something I love about my companion is that he always serves physically as well. Ghanians don't really like people to help them especially when you are well dressed and white. So when they deny our help we just sit down and do it anyway. People here are so outgoing and hilarious, so when they get in your face you just have to get in their face back. For example. After a lesson we stood up and were going to put up the chairs that we sat on. But the lady was saying "No no let me do it!" but we just kinda ran away with our chairs and put them up. :) So you can see how fun missionary work can be in Ghana! Hopefully we'll have more great teaching opportunities this week and more people to progress to baptism.

Also sorry for not emailing yesterday! We had a zone activity in a far away place called Korforidua. Man it was so beautiful! There are actual trees and mountains there! They call areas like that "The Bush." but I've just been in city so far so we'll see what happens as time goes on. On the way there I saw another sticker on a tro tro. Maybe I'll share one every week since there's so many cars here. Some of them are really funny, one said "Oh Mama!" so I thought of that one time in Florida when we were eating at chick fillet and Tanner had a hot chicken sandwich, so right when he ate it he yelled "Hot Mama!" But the only awkward thing was that there was like a fifty five year old lady walking out the door behind him at the same time of the incident. Man good times. Anyways sorry I'm a little off topic this week.

The sticker said something really profound. It said "Nothing Good Comes Easy." and I just sat and thought about how true that is. Serving a mission isn't easy, having a good marriage isn't easy, accepting a calling isn't easy, obeying the commandments isn't easy, So many things! On the other hand every thing bad IS easy. It's easy to break the word of wisdom, it's easy to get a divorce, it's easy to have an abortion etc. But in the long run, the consequences of doing hard things makes things easier but the consequences of doing easy things makes things harder. Just like building a building is harder than destroying one. So we all go through hard times, but just remember that saying: "Nothing good comes easy." Another thing to know is that when we are going through hard things we are not alone. We have brothers and sisters, parents, teachers, but most importantly we have the Savior and our Father in Heaven. They can help us make things less hard and can help us be better at the same time! So keep doing those basic things: Pray, Study the Scriptures, Have Family Prayer/Evening, and attend Church and the Temple. I know that if we do these things that the Lord will fulfill his promise when he said. "I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." (Mosiah 24:14) I too can add my testimony that The Lord will visit us in our afflictions. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I love you everyone! Thanks so much for all of your wonderful emails! Have a great week!