Climbing Mountains

 Selfie on P-day hike

 Termite Hill

View from the top of the mountain.

(Note from mom - Bryan's new camera, sent weeks ago in a soft side envelope wrapped in his old ties, finally arrived.  And it works!!  Wahoo!)

Dear Family and Friends,

How are all of you? This week was a pretty awesome one for us. This letter might be a little scattered. Our area is doing great. Things are really getting moving. We have been able to find more people to teach. We have three people (Forgive and her two sisters) on track for their baptismal dates, and we hope to extend some more dates this week. Our branch is wonderful and full of life. Though we are few in numbers, and many people are very new to the church, they love the Gospel and are full of joy. 

On Thursday we had a multi-zone conference in Kpong. It was awesome! President and Sister Heid came and gave us some much needed instruction. The overall theme of the conference was obedience and the spirit showed me some areas I can improve in. Obedience is such an amazing and powerful principle. It is thanks to obedience that we have the example and Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Before the conference we got a call from the AP's. They wanted pillows. Juapong produces a ridiculous number of pillows. So we rode to our zone conference in style. By style I mean a taxi stuffed with about 30 pillows. If we had crashed, I don't think I would have felt anything. 

Our area is also full of motorcycles! They are everywhere. I feel like there are more motorcycles than people. They zoom throughout Juapong weaving around cars and people alike. It is crazy! And yes, people do seriously hurt themselves. We have two members in our branch with badly hurt legs due to motorcycle accidents. Yikes.

Today we had an awesome P-day. We decided to go and climb the mountain behind our apartment. We recruited Brother Linus, one of the recent converts, and told him to sharpen his cutlass. This morning we started out early and worked our way through farms and bush until we reached the mountain. We were only able to climb about halfway up before the trees became too dense to continue, so we sat down on some rocks and enjoyed the view. It was beautiful. 

That is all for this week. I love you all like crazy! Thanks for being your awesome selves and for doing all the good you do. Have a fantastic week. 

Love,

Elder Radmall

 Mountain behind our apartment.

 Elder Palmer ready to hike.

Brother Linus crossing the stream.

Questions from Mom:

Q. What was your strangest experience this week?

Visiting an old woman whose husband was an investigator of the church. Apparently he just died, and they were having his funeral. 

Q. How and when did your companion decide to serve a mission?

I think he fully made up his mind to serve about a year before coming out. He had some crazy long hair back home, and apparently a lot of people didn't think he would serve, but he submitted his papers and cut his flowing locks.

Q. How did angels watch over you this week?

They helped me not to get hit by any motorcycles, though there were some close calls.

Q. How is your health?

Great! I am as healthy as ever.

Q. How are your toes?

They are pretty good. They still look a bit off, but they don't hurt!

Q. What did you do at church this week?

I almost spoke in sacrament meeting, but I was saved by a visitor from the district. Then I taught in Gospel principles and we helped teach primary. 

Q. How do you like being in a branch as opposed to being in a ward?

It is fun. We get to take part a little more in the administration part of things.

Q. Funniest moment of the week?

Being swarmed by children in search of candy. I took my candy corn to share with the primary kids, and apparently they really really liked it. After they had a taste of it they literally had me backed up to a wall trying to get their hands on the candy. The funniest part is that is wasn't just the primary kids. The adults were also fighting for some of the candy! Haha.

Q. What are you most grateful for?

I am grateful for loving parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and everyone who is a part of my awesome family. You guys are all awesome. I am also grateful for fans which allow me to sleep at night. 

 I love the bush!

 The fields.

Juapong

Questions from TeriAnn:

Q. Has the dust made its way to you yet?

A little bit. Harmattan season is starting which means the dust will soon block out the sun. Yuck.

Q. What is the biggest bug you have seen in your new area?

Today we saw some huge ones climbing the mountain. Some were the size of my thumb. 

Q. Are there any cute kids that you have made friends with?

Of course! I am pretty much best friends with everyone in our primary. 

Q. What is the next holiday in Ghana? Christmas? 

There is some random holiday on December 5th, but no one really celebrates it. Christmas is the next big one.