Transfer!

Elder Radmall at the transfer conference.

Hey Everybody!

I hope you all had another great week. Word has reached me that yet another baby girl has joined our family. Woot! People usually look at me with amazement when I tell them how many nieces and nephews I have. And that number just keeps going up. I will have a lot of new faces to see when I get home. 

This week has been a crazy one for me. To start the week I said my final goodbyes in Kpong and packed my bags. Wednesday we traveled to the mission to spend the night. That meant two things. First, I got to go to the temple. A delight as always. Second, I got to use the washing machine at the mission home. Bonus! Thursday morning we had a big transfer conference for all of the missionaries going on transfer. This transfer was huge. Over 40 of our 180 missionaries were transferred. At the conference we received some great instructions and they even gave us lunch. 

After the conference my new companion and I boarded a taxi and headed for Danfa. My new companion is Elder Beck. This will be his last transfer. He is one of the most powerful and obedient missionaries I have ever met. He is an amazing teacher and a talented leader. I am going to learn a lot in our one transfer together. Danfa is a beautiful area. It is not bush in the way that Kpong was, but it is also outside of the city. The people here are wonderful. I have already been welcomed in to several of the members homes and felt their love and kindness. I am going to enjoy my time here. 

This week I have come to the conclusion that someone is out to get me. As most of you know I was in a taxi rollover two weeks ago. This week the excitement continued. On Friday we were teaching an investigator at her shop. There were three plastic chairs with a television standing above them. We were occupying two of those chairs. As we were teaching there was a loud crash. The TV had fallen, totally crushing the plastic chair beside me. No big deal. Then on Sunday I walked into the bathroom to take care of some business. As I reached for the toilet paper I realized there was something on it. It was a scorpion. Glad I caught that one! That would have been uncomfortable. 

That is all the news for this week. I am excited to get out and continue seeing the people of Danfa. I love my Savior and I know that He lives. He loves us. He watches over us. I am grateful for Him. I love you all and hope you have a blessed week! 

Love,

Elder Radmall

Questions from Mom:

Q. Tell us two things about your new companion.

He loves video games and he is from Lehi. 

Q. How is your new ward?

I am in a branch yet again! That being said, this branch is probably stronger than a lot of the wards here. They are awesome. The saints in Danfa are committed and faithful to the church. I already feel a strong love for them. 

Q. How is your new apartment?

It is huge. We have a big compound all to ourselves. The apartment has overhead fans (a serious blessing in Ghana), 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a giant living room, and nice tile floors. There is even a mango tree right outside our front door! 

Q. How is Elder Winborg?

He is back on his feet. He has returned to Kpong and is feeling much better. 

Q. What is the funniest thing that happened this week?

Last night as we were riding home from having FHE with some members we came to a dirt road with lots of bumps and hills. While riding along one of these hills my bike randomly decided to slip and I awkwardly fell over sideways for no apparent reason. Elder Beck was pretty confused. 

Q. What was your most spiritual moment of the week?

This week was filled with a lot of spiritual moments. One of the most memorable was during our transfer conference on Thursday. President Heid gave the closing prayer and pronounced a mission president's blessing upon all of the missionaries in attendance. The Spirit filled the room and I knew beyond a doubt that President Heid has been called of God to lead this mission. How blessed we are to have leaders whom the Lord calls and inspires.

Questions from Kurt:

Answer me these questions three:

What is your name?

Elder Radmall

What is your quest?

To seek eternal life. 

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
That depends. Is it an African or European swallow?

Divine Protection

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been an unforgettable week.  This week I have seen miracle after miracle and blessing upon blessing.  As you know the week started out with some very unexpected events.  On Monday we boarded a taxi heading to Asutuare to do some fishing for our P-day.  The back tire burst, the driver lost control, and we ended up spinning 180 degrees and rolling once off of the side of the road.  Here are a few of the miracles that took place that day.

1. When the driver first lost control of the car we veered into the left lane where a trotro was quickly approaching us.  Last minute our driver was able to turn and move the taxi back to the other side of the road.

2. The taxi only rolled one time and landed on the wheels.  Had we continued rolling I am certain there would have been more serious injuries. 

3. Despite the fact that almost all of the windows were down and there were no seat belts, all of us (and our limbs) stayed inside of the vehicle. 

4. None of us were seriously hurt.  When you think about everything that could happen to someone in a rollover it is simply amazing that all five of us in the car walked away with nothing but some scrapes and minor injuries. 

5. Our taxi rolled about two minutes away from one of the few hospitals in our area.  Even more amazing was the angel God sent to take us to the hospital.  After we had all exited the car, a man in a pickup truck seemed to appear out of nowhere.  He stopped and quickly loaded us into his truck.  After that he raced us to the hospital and helped us in getting admitted and filling out the necessary paper work.  Then he vanished.  We never even got his name. 

Our little accident was a mighty miracle.  I am humbled and grateful beyond words.  This is an experience I hope never to repeat again, but learned a great deal from it.  The Lord is truly mindful of His servants.  He knows all of His children and He is ever watching over us.  This is not the first time, nor shall it be the last, that the Lord has protected me and provided miracles in my life.  He does so for each of us every day.  He has given me my life.  I now have a greater determination to give Him mine. 

In other news, I have been transferred! I just came to Kpong, and now I am already saying goodbye. I will be going to an area called Danfa. It is about halfway between Kpong and Accra. I will miss this place. I will miss our funny branch and our dear investigators. I will especially miss the wonderful missionaries I have been blessed to serve alongside in our zone. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I love and miss you all. Have a great week and be careful what taxis you board! 

Love,

Elder Radmall

Questions from Mom:

Q.Why did I not see a mosquito net over your bunk bed??

Don't worry. I have one now! 

Q. Can you tell us about the family in the photo where you were pounding palm nuts?

Those are some of our investigators. We just started teaching them recently. It is a three generation family. A grandmother, mother, and son. 

Q. What does Elder Winborg like to cook?

He can make some nice jollof rice. He also make great egg sandwiches. 

Q. What was your best meal this week?

This week while we were at the hospital, Elder and Sister Jones bought my companion and I bacon cheeseburgers!!! I haven't had a cheeseburger since I was in America! SOOOO GOOD!

Q. Seen any giant spiders?

Not for a while, thankfully. 

Q. Did anyone take photos of the car after the wreck??

Yes, but I don't know who. 

Q. How are you feeling – are you still sore?  What about the bruised lung?

Still pretty sore. I still take about five minutes to find a comfortable position when I am going to sleep, but it's getting much better. 

Q. How is Elder Winborg feeling?

He is doing a lot better. He will be coming back to Kpong on Thursday. (He is still recuperating at the mission home.)

Q. What about the other two elders – what are the names and how are they doing?

Elders Buehner and Eduok are doing great. 

Q. Can each of you write your account of the accident and what happened and how you were protected and send it to me???

I have the full account written in my journal. I can try to send it if you would like. 

Questions from TeriAnn:

Q. Maggie says, What is your favorite team, BYU or Utah? :)

Utah of course! Go Utes! 

Q. What did you do for PDay?

Today I got a haircut. That's about it. 

Q. Did people in your area wonder where you were for a few days?

Haha yeah. We kind of just disappeared for a week. They were wondering what happened to us. 

Q. What was going through your head while your car was rolling and after it stopped?

While we were rolling I was thinking "Hello ceiling." After we stopped I was thinking "Why are my tan shorts turning red?"  (Bryan's hands were cut up with broken glass from the car window.)

Q. What was your best moment this week? 
One night while Elder Winborg and I were just chilling in the office at the mission home President Heid walked in with two blue bowls and a bottle of lemon juice. The bowls each had a salmon fillet. That sure made my Alaskan companion happy. 

Miracles and Tender Mercies

5 minutes before the accident - off to go fishing.

After the accident at the mission home.

There is no letter from Bryan this week.  He was in a serious car accident today with 3 other missionaries.  He and his companion were only slightly injured.  God was definitely watching over them.  He was able to email me this afternoon (about 10 PM Ghana time) and here is his report:

I am alive and kicking!! It will take more than a little taxi accident to bring down this missionary. It has been a day of miracles and tender mercies from the Lord. We are at the mission home right now.

We are all doing well. Just a little cut up and sore. I was honestly hoping that they wouldn't even tell you about it. We were in a taxi going to meet up with some other elders to go fishing for p-day. Our back tire blew out and the taxi driver lost control.

We weren't in a trotro. Just a taxi. We swerved a bit, hit the side of the road, and rolled. It was just four missionaries and the driver. My window unfortunately broke, so the glass scraped up my hands a bit, but not too bad. My lungs are a tiny bit bruised, but no broken bones. Score! My companion and I have some whip lash and he thinks he had a small concussion. The other two missionaries are fine as is the driver. It is a miracle! Just goes to show that God is watching over us. We will be taking it easy here at the mission home for the next couple of days. 

They gave us some pain meds at the hospital. That was the other miracle. We crashed about two minutes from a hospital! Yeah, tomorrow I will be quite sore. President Heid has ordered us to sleep in as long as we can tomorrow! I won't say no to that. 

Thanks mom for all of your love, concerns, and prayers. Obviously those prayers are working! Know that I am safe and happy and that I love you to pieces. Have a superb week! 

Kpong zone.

Bryan at a leadership conference in Accra.

Traveling the Mission

 Pounding palm nuts to make palm nut oil.

Doing some shopping in Koforidua

(Bryan and his companion got permission to go to Koforidua for p-day.  It was his first area and he was there for 9 months.  This was his first time back.  He loves Koforidua!!)

Greetings from Ghana!

It is hard to believe that another week has already passed. Where does the time go? I am already feeling heartbroken at the thought of having to leave Ghana and the humble people here in just a few short months! I am determined to give my all for these final months. 

This week was pretty crazy for us. On Tuesday we traveled deep into the bush to attend a district council with some missionaries in our zone. It is always cool to see different areas within our mission and to watch the work progressing there. 

On Wednesday Elder Winborg and I were invited to the mission home to stay the night. Score! And to make it even better, we got to go to the last session in the temple that night. It was a delight, as always, to learn and seek for ways to improve. This time as I went through the session I tried to focus on the principle of faith. I realized that faith is necessary for every step we take in the the Plan of Salvation. It was with faith that we decided to come to this earth in the preexistence. It is with faith that we accept and live the Gospel while we are here. Faith enables us to take those little steps forward that will allow us to progress and become like our Heavenly Father. I guess I need to try harder to have a little more faith. 

Thursday we woke up and had some meetings in the mission home. After the meetings were over we had PIZZA for lunch!!! I always knew that God loves me. That was my first time having pizza in about six months. They even had some pepperoni pizza for us! I pigged out and ate about seven pieces. 

Sunday was a peaceful day for us. We enjoyed fast and testimony meeting. Some amazing and powerful testimonies were shared. And we had three investigators at church. Dorris, Godwin, and some random guy who just showed up. We will follow up with all of them this week to see how they felt at church. The most exciting thing that happened on Sunday was three white people showing up in our building. It turns out it was the wife of Elder Gay (a member of the seventy with a lot of ties to Ghana) along with her son and granddaughter. There granddaughter was so beautiful! Sadly, 19 months in Ghana has rendered me unable to talk to white people anymore. My companion and I started sweating when she walked by and avoided eye contact with her. She was probably laughing at us. To finish off our Sunday we made tortillas and a chicken stir fry. You better believe it was delicious. 

Well that is about all for my week. I love you all lots and pray for you each and every day. Thanks for all of the good that you do in the world. A special thanks for all of the prayers in my behalf. They are felt and appreciated. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Radmall

 Bike Selfie 

(Elder Winborg, Bryan's companion, holding the camera.)

Sleeping Beauty

Questions from Mom

Q. Do you have a calling in the branch?

Nope.

Q. How often do you speak or teach at church?

Not too often here in Kpong. I haven't had to give a talk yet. Knock on wood. 

Q. If you go fishing with a member, will it be in a canoe on the Volta River?  Is that allowed??

I wish! That would be sweet! But it isn't allowed. 

Q. Who can we pray for this week?

This week you can pray for the Lord to provide a way for Sister Dorris to be baptized. She wants to so badly, but her current situation has delayed her. 

Q. What lesson did you teach this week that touched an investigator?

This week we taught Godwin (the brother of a member in our branch) about prayer. In our last lesson with him he told us that he doesn't know how to pray, so we taught him the basic steps and at the end of the lesson we invited him to pray. He was pretty hesitant at first, but in the end he did it. I didn't understand a word he said. He prayed in Ewe. But I did see the big smile on his face when he finished praying! We have set a date with him to be baptized this month. 

 What a fine looking group!!

Oh, how I miss Koforidua!

Questions from TeriAnn:

Q. How did people celebrate birthdays in Ghana?

Often times they don't. Those who can afford it will sometimes make a cake. Usually they will just have a nice dinner that day. 

Q. Who made you feel the most loved this week?

Sister Jones! Elder and Sister Jones are a senior couple in our mission and they watch after our health. Sister Jones is Scottish and speaks with the coolest accent ever. She is pretty much my grandma on my mission. 

Q. What was the biggest lesson you learned this week?

Always leave early and expect the unexpected. You never know when you will get caught in an hour of traffic. 

Q. How many times this week did you think, "wow, I am an awesome Dude?!"

I usually think more along the lines of "wow, I done messed up."

Questions from Kurt:

Q. What is your favorite tie right now? Are you doing any trading?

My favorite tie right now is a cool pattern with pink, blue, and white. I think someone sent it to me, but I can't quite remember who. I have been doing some trading. I will have ties to remember my companions. 

Q. What has been the most exciting/crazy/interesting talk in church recently?

A couple of weeks ago someone gave a talk on the word of wisdom. It started out pretty good, but he spent the last ten minutes talking about how people should only drink water produced by the company he works for. I guess he is watching out for their health.