To be Ghana long time: Goat hoof soup.

June 8, 2015

So I promised to talk more about the work so I'll try to begin my e-mails that way. This week we contacted two new areas. That means alot of contacting. We went deep into the far reaches of the area and saw things no ordinary mortal could ever behold. You know they say that when you reach the edge of the map... there be monsters there! Not that I mean to call anyone a monster, I try to love all of the people here. There was one woman named Dorcas who we have started teaching. The rain has been fierce here sometimes and during one storm we took refuge in a random woman's compound. She even fed us. That's one thing that Ghanians do. They cook extra so if people come they will feed them. Anyways we ended up teaching her and she seems pretty promising! I did pour some water she offered us into a cup and saw bugs and other "floaties" in the drink. We poured some into both of our glasses halfway so it looked like we drank some. Talk about quick thinking eh? We had a rather dissapointing Sunday. We have 4 investigators progressing well and none of them came to church, as well as most of our recent converts. ...Just one of those Sundays. Truly sometimes I can testify to Dad's feelings about branches. It seems as if sometimes they're just hanging on the edge of a cliff, but also with all seriousness watching a branch grow is one of the most special experiences I've had on the mission. These people are true pioneers. Alright that covers my week now on to the questions. Yes we actually eat the goat's hoof. As best we can at least. I've also eaten many other strange things I'll tell you about when I get home. Physically I'm well. My legs are slightly sore from a P90X leg workout we did Saturday night. I'm trying to keep up a schedule of doing those workouts weekly. I was teaching the youth this week and pointed out how Satan's plans always are portrayed as the "easy way out". The truth is that easy way outs don't provide any growth. Progression halts and that's a scary thought in both a temporal and eternal perspective. The weather in Ghana has been very rainy as of late. You will see gray clouds on all sides. They will slowly come together and then suddenly..... BAM! The rain comes. I also wish I could tell you I was enjoying some fruit drinks, but juice is very expensive.... although I did finally break down and bought some cranberry juice today, haha. I ate an orange this morning, and cleaned dishes with a little water coming from the tap outside. Also I had a dream I was a pirate captain with cats as my crew mates...... see, the mission life not so boring is it? Well fam, I think that's it for this week. If you ever want to know more I still keep an entry for every day on my mission. Name a date in the next e-mail and I'll tell you all about what happened that day. Should be fun!

As always I love you all so much. Have a great week guys.

-Elder Silva

June 1, 2015

Hey fam! This was the transfer week and my new companion and I are getting along pretty well. He's a good teacher and it's always good for our investigators to get new teachers every now and then. I'm already beginning to see a difference in the receptiveness of some of our investigators. I know I told you I would share more spiritual experiences, so I'll try to talk more about the work. As monotonous as it sometimes gets for me, I'm sure you'd still like to hear about it. One thing that happened was a very spiritual lesson with Sister Abigale. We have been teaching her for a long time with Elder Ejodamen. She has come to church once, but her family's beliefs have been holding her back. She enjoys the lessons and is well educated. She is a good friend of ours. Me and Elder Asada came to visit her and I wasn't all that sure what to teach. As we began to ask questions I felt impressed to ask more specifically about her feelings in regard to the Holy Ghost. She seemed a bit confused and we ended up teaching her all about recognizing promptings and having the courage to act upon them. The whole room was practically flooded with the spirit by the time we left. On another previous occasion with Elder Ejodamen, we had just finished a lesson and Ejodamen was conversing with the rest of the family. I turned to Abigale and asked her a prompted question, "Sister Abby? Do you know that God loves you?" That led to a very good discussion that day. That's all I really have time for today, but it gives you someone to mention in the family prayers. As for me I'm just chugging along. I haven't posted pictures in a long time so there are too many to post. I'll just post the best ones. As for the temporal aspect, I'm really enjoying those lemonade packets you sent. My new companion Asada has some of the P90X workouts on dvd. Super hard to incorporate those on mission, but I've been working on Ab Ripper X (scary name right?) to distance my figure from that of Santa Clause. I heard about Elder Perry from a member. News travels fast. I just realized that another school year has gone by. No way that's so weird. I think the fun part of typing is that you don't get to make fun of my accent (ha.) Or does it show in the text??

Branches are a definite struggle. I can't imagine just going to church and enjoying the classes. I've been teaching the youth since the beginning of my mission and I even helped out with the primary this week. I was rewarded with a cup of juice to dull the headache haha.

One of the hardest things to do on for me is to proselyte on Sunday. I've always done it, but church is very stressful, then you walk home in the sun, get back and eat whatever you have, and if you end up falling asleep, you're too soon woken up to go out and work. Just the end of the week blues, haha. Well I hope you're all enjoying the summer. Have a great week everyone.

Love you.

-Elder Silva