President Nano Akufu Addo takes the oath of office. The Kente cloth tribal "robes" are heavy and the judges were wearing wigs. It was hot outside!! (Taken from Gone to Ghana - the Pace's blog.)
Baboons on the roadside in Ghana. (Taken from the internet.)
Hello everybody!
I hope you are all doing just swell. It sounds like there has been some serious snow back home! I am pretty jealous, but not too jealous. In Ghana it has looked like it is snowing for the last three weeks! And we don't even have to deal with the cold! Unfortunately that snow is actually dust. Some days you wake up and you can only see about 20 yards in front of you because of the dust. Our floors, tables, chairs, and beds are all coated in dust. At church on Sunday we have to wipe down all of the chairs so they don't turn our white shirts brown. It is the most wonderful time of the year! But this affliction will last but a moment, and then, if I endure it well, mango season will start. :)
This week we had some great lessons. One in particular stands out in my mind. We are teaching a man named Brother Ofori. He is a funny old man who has been a carpenter for most of his life. In a previous lesson we had given him the Book of Mormon and invited him to read the introduction. When we returned for our next appointment and asked him about his reading he perfectly summarized the introduction, the testimonies of the 11 witnesses, the testimony of Joseph Smith, and the first four chapters of 1 Nephi. I was blown away! From there we had a spirit-filled lesson about how he can pray and know for himself if the Book of Mormon is true. I hope that he will do so. I am praying for him!
On Friday night we were invited to the Okrah's home. The Okrah's have been members of the church since the 1980's. They are pioneers of the church in Ghana. They have had two children serve missions and they are some very funny old people. They will talk your ears off. They fed us a HUGE amount of fufu and palmnut soup. And of course Sister Okrah insisted that we finish all. You guys will be seriously impressed with the amount of food I can fit in my stomach when I get home. And the food here is a lot heavier than food in America. Anyways, that night I went to bed feeling like I was 8 months pregnant. The next day as Elder Howard and I were passing by some of our neighbors on our bikes they called out to us. They gave us a seat, put a table in front of us, and fed us... more fufu! This time with goat meat. The amazing part is that I didn't even know who they were. They just decided to feed us. I'm not complaining though.
We had an awesome activity today with two other zones. We played sports and ate fried rice. I played American football for the first time in a while. It was fun. By the way, today I saw a bunch of baboons as we were driving to our activity. There were like 20 of them just chilling on the road side. It was awesome!
The new president of Ghana was inaugurated this week. I saw part of the inauguration on someone's tv. It was cool.
I miss you all like crazy and I greatly look forward to seeing you again, but I am loving every minute here in Ghana. God is good to let me be here having this experience. I have been forever changed.
Well, that about wraps it up for the week. Next week will be transfers. President already told Elder Howard he will be leaving, so I will be getting a new companion. Exciting! I love all of you and I miss you lots. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Radmall
The Harmattan is a dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind which blows from the Sahara Desert over the West African subcontinent into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the middle of March (winter). (Photos taken from the Pace's blog.)
Questions from TeriAnn:
Q. What’s your favorite/biggest bug that you have seen before going to bed inside your bug net before falling asleep?
I mostly just find mosquitoes around my bug net (sometimes even inside my net). But I have seen some really cool giant beetles here.
Q. What was the strangest thing that happened to you this week?
One day while Elder Howard and I were riding down a dirt road when we came around a bend and found a woman squatting on the side of the road urinating. The funniest part was when her little boy started poking her and shouting "brafono", which means white man. We rode by as quickly as we could.
Q. What will be the weirdest thing to re-adjust to when you get home from your mission?
Air conditioning. I will be wearing sweatshirts inside for a little while.
Q. How old is the oldest person in your ward/area?
I am not exactly sure. Some members look like they are at least 112, but I think the Ghana sun adds years to your appearance.
Demonstration of wearing kente cloth. (Taken from the Pace's blog.)
No comments:
Post a Comment