Happy Birthday Austin!

Ugh, sorry if this e-mail is a little shorter, but I'm tired today. It's been busy and very hot this week. Our tro-tro (big taxi) got stopped by police today looking for money. The police are super corrupt here. Anyways, thanks for the Birthday wishes and the package! Yes I did get it on time and I loved everything, especially the Scooby Doo towel. I used it to clean our ceiling fan today. Well counting your blessings comes alive once you come here. America is such a better place to live. Sometimes it makes me wish I was home, but the wonderful investigators here always make me stay. Being born into our family is one of the best things to ever happen to me. I miss you guys. We had another baptism this week making it 12! This old man is powerful. He takes notes on everything. For Thanksgiving this week enjoy your Fufu. Remember; don't chew, just swallow. Drink your soup and eat all of the bones... and don't spill anything on your tie. I actually still have all of the spices that Mom sent me with. There's nothing else to use them for apart from stew. Emily actually sent me a package with mapeline. I haven't tried it out yet, but I'll try this week. I'm glad to hear that you're all doing well. I'll send a couple of pictures your way for your enjoyment. Have an awesome week and don't forget to enjoy life! 
-Elder Silva

I hope your cereal stays crunchy.

Well stifling heat describes it pretty well. It's hot. really hot. The funny thing about Obuasi is that it scorches all throughout the day and pours cats and dogs in the evenings. We get stuck in the rain before coming home sometimes. My companion? Well he's pretty chill and I enjoy that. Suits my style of life. Everyone has a different approach to teaching and Okutu's no different. We learn good things from each other. He's Ghanian so he understands Twi, (can speak it small, small) so It's nice to have a translator. He also can point out little culture mannerisms I wasn't aware of beforehand. The branch is doing alright. A new building has been completed for the split in our branch. I'm staying in the old building while others are moving. That means less people at church, but it was getting a bit chaotic. Branches are hard to work with. A lot less organized than a ward back home. Sundays are my most stressful days. We had a miracle this week. I expected 2 investigators at church and we ended up with 14! One lady brought tons of people to church. They don't speak English but I hope something will come out of it. We also ended up with 17 new investigators this week. It was cool, but I'm pretty sure 75% of them were ghosts. I haven't seen or heard from them again. My favorite family is still the Bua family. ma pa and one son are part of the church. the Mom and son are recent converts of mine and they are so so active. Bua comes with us to teach lessons all the time. I received the candy corn and Emily's 1st package. Thank you, Thank you. It's all gone already, but don't worry; I brushed my teeth. lately I've worked on enough cocoa plantations to merit one of my own don't you think? I'm a bit low on pictures right now. Didn't really take any this week, but I'll send what I have. On that note I seriously appreciate the pictures you send me every week. Thank you.The Elders and I  make big stews and lots of rice most nights. I personally cook mine with- onions, green bell pepper, carrot, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, stew packets, hot pepper and sometimes fish. Usually we end up making our stews simpler and bigger. Alright well I think that's about it for this week. I'll try to grab some more pictures to send next time. Until then, I hope you have a great day. I hope that... um... your next bowl of cereal is very good. I hope it stays crunchy. 

-Elder Silva

KING OF THE JUNGLE

I'm sitting down in a chair and I'm tired. We hiked a mountain today. Well alright Mt. Timpinogus and Devil's Staircase is a mountain, but I'm still tired. I'll post some pictures this time from my new camera! P-days don't always go how I intend them to, since on a mission you can't make your own choices. As long as someone else is ready to go to town I'll be there. Me and my companion are getting along pretty well. Another companionship and our's chipped in money to make tons of rice and stew. It's the staple here. They cook it, so my dinners are really easy. Breakfast always consists of French toast and maybe a banana. The last syrup I made wasn't very good so hopefully this next one will turn out like the others I've made. Seriously you guys, those houses back home are so much better than anything people are living in here. We're very blessed. Speaking of homely comforts, I had a big scare this week. The water went out again. noooo!! It's alright though, because it came back a couple of days ago. I was ready to give up and never bath again. To answer your questions...How is a typical week of my life? Well, we walk alot, talk alot, sweat alot... It's not much fun. However, me and my companion always find things to laugh at. I joke around a lot. It's a good way to keep me going through the week. Many of my investigators have become good friends by now and it makes it very easy to visit them. Contacting still hasn't gotten any easier. We've been focusing on referrals this week to lessen the amount of time spent trying to find new people to teach. Sundays are very stressful. Our family is blessed to live in such an awesome ward. Branches are chaotic. False doctrine, unorganized services. It can be a mess. Not to mention the Twi/English barrier can be a big problem for the missionaries. We're not always sure what teachers are actually teaching. I got to watch a bit of general conference finally!..... in Twi. Everyone told me the translation was pretty bad though. Mondays are still busy days. tons of wash and cooking to do. I'm only now starting to relax. I've always been the companion to district leaders, so that means that I have a lot of exchanges and baptism interviews to attend. It's busy. That's pretty much an average week. No two weeks are the same. Just so you know, potatoes, they are super expensive here. So I have to settle for Yam or Casava. Potatoes taste much better though. I hope your implication of me speaking Twi was for the sake of a joke and not an legitimate expectation for new linguistic talents... because I aint learning much. No missionaries know Twi, so it's difficult to really find any motivation to study it. Especially since all of our lessons are in English. That being said, I do pick up words here and there. All in all things are going well here. I'm tired, but the wash was done early today so I can relax a bit before tonight's lessons. Someone from the Mission home is coming to Obuasi tomorrow, so I'll finally have a chance to receive mail. Hopefully your things will be there. Thanks for being such an awesome family. Have a great week! 

-Austin

 New Comp!

 And this is how it works...

 Awesome B-day cake for one of our fellow missionaries 

 Come to the Dark Vader side...

King of the Jungle ;)