Changing Hands

Hi Everyone,

We are behind in our posts due to too much school for our student blogger. So, now we have a new plan. The teenager taught the not so teenager how to blog. This may get ugly but it will help everyone caught up. Wish me luck. I am a blogging rookie. I will be catching the blog up all this week so visit daily for updates. Unless you have a life. Then just visit when you are bored.
Love,
Colleen (Elder A. Twede's mom)

Sept. 30, 2013 Almost 20

Everyone,

     It is seriously hard to believe that I have already been on my mission for 4 months now. My birthday is already coming up (two days after this transfer ends), and then the end of next transfer will mark my first 6 months in Ghana. Then I will feel like a new sister missionary with only 1.5 years to go. It is amazing how time flies when you are not worrying about yourself. In the beginning, 2 years looked like a long time especially when I was still in the MTC, but now it hardly looks like any time at all. It just shows that full-time missionaries really have a short time to preach the gospel to all nations and baptize, so we need to treasure what little time we have.

     As you said, I am almost 20 years old now which means that I will no longer be a teenager. I remember when I thought that turning 10 was a big change because I was in double digits, but this is an even bigger change now. In answer to your question, I won't be getting any cake (and I haven't seen any cakes at all here), but I will get a call from the mission president's wife giving me happy birthday wishes. If I were to make a wish, I would wish for health, enthusiasm, and a bigger heart for everyone around me.

     This last week was an interesting one because of the awful weather that we have been experiencing. There were plenty of times where we were about to go outside, but then the clouds would roll in and rain would pour down to the point where everything was flooded. I have already tried to proselyte in the rain twice here, and there is no way that I will do it again, even with an umbrella and rain jacket. It is really just too much, and no one can hear you when you try to teach them while it is raining. It really hinders the work here.

     When the rain was pouring down, I had a lot of time to study the scriptures. I have found that reading them every day and pondering on the words which are written helps to clear my mind and enlighten my understanding of why I am here on this earth. Before I came on this mission, I thought that I knew a lot. Now, I stand humbled because I have realized how little my knowledge really is. All I can do is search the scriptures and ponder them in my heart, and then the Lord will help my mind to grow even more. As of now, D&C 93 fascinates me the most because of the knowledge it gives of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, and the understanding that it gives of truth, knowledge, and light. All of these things are very important to have.

     I wish I had more to say, but due to the fact that we didn't make it out of the apartment as much as usual, these are the few things that have been on my mind. We have a lot of activities to do this week, so the next e-mail should be full of the experiences I have at Zone Conference and other meetings. I wish I could see General Conference on Saturday and Sunday, but the only way we can hear or watch it is by downloading the files from lds.org after everything is done with. Next Sunday will be a regular fast Sunday for me, but I look forward to the time when I will have the opportunity to read and hear everything that is said in this next conference.

     Well, that's all for now. I wish everyone a good week and a happy heart.

Sincerely,

Elder Twede

Sept. 23, 2013 Chops and Cops

Hello Everyone,

     This last week has been a little crazy. We had some run-ins with the immigration office here in M--- again, the other companionship only had one lesson taught for the whole week and were visited personally by the zone leaders, and I had my first experiences in chop bars (local food bars). Today it has been raining like crazy and I barely had the chance to run out of the apartment to make it to the internet cafe, but here I am. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to shop for food as well, but I can't be too sure about it. I might just have to buy food to go in a small stand on the side of the road and then head back to the apartment.

     Last Wednesday we were contacted in the morning by an immigration officer who told us that we should arrive at the immigration office by 9:00 A.M. promptly, or they would send officers to our apartment to arrest us with handcuffs. Obviously, we all got dressed, ate as quickly as possible, and then left for the office. When we arrived, the head officer invited us into his office and just stared at us before he started interrogating us with questions. "Do you know why you are in my office right now? Do you understand that you don't have visas with you and what that means? Do you know what will happen to you if you don't bring the proper papers?" etc etc. We just looked back calmly at him and answered his question, stating simply that we know what he is saying and understand the problem, but that there is nothing we can do about it but call the mission president. The officer called the mission president and chastised him for not sending the proper papers in even though he even requested for them 3 months ago, and then said that he wanted the papers in by Friday, or else we would all be sent to Kumasi to be dealt with there. After hanging up, the officer started to chastise us for not obeying the law of the land and gave us plenty of scriptures to think about. The funniest thing he said though was this: "I will never put you into jail, because I am a God fearing man. I know that if I put you into any sort of jail, the walls will shake and everything will collapse, but you will stay alive. You might even run." He told us that even if he couldn't put us in jail, the best he could do was to just send us away from his area of jurisdiction. After a few more words, he sent us out and let us know that he would expect us at 10:00 AM each morning until Friday until he received the proper papers. Basically, we were put under parole. Thankfully, he received everything on Thursday, and now he wants us to visit his office so that we can teach him about the message which we have. It was interesting how everything worked out.

      The zone leaders came to M--- on Friday in order to proselyte with the other companionship in the apartment because they taught one lesson for the whole last week (now two weeks ago). Everything went well during the day, but at night everyone was hungry. Since it was apostasy week (meaning, the last week before our next subsistence), no one had any money besides myself. I paid for 6 plates of rice, equaling 18 cedi ($9), but that meant that all of my money was now gone. I have survived these past few days off of what little I had left in the cupboard, but it was a definite relief to withdraw money today. When other people don't manage their money well, it becomes difficult for the people who are prepared. I don't have reason to complain though, because I lived through it all and now everything is back to normal. It just felt like a big sacrifice at the time.

     Chop bars here are basically little shacks that the locals eat in, and I had never been in one until last week. The basic foods that any chop bar will have are banku and fufu, and they both look the same. The chop bars will never have utensils for you to eat with, and everything is eaten out of clay bowls that are placed in front of you (don't worry, they aren't communal). There aren't any big chairs to sit on, so you sit down on small stools that don't even reach the knee. I didn't enjoy my first experience in one, but the second place I went to was better. Everything is really different here in Ghana, but I am doing my best to get used to it.

     One thing I love about my mission is that I get to be in an environment that is so new, so different, so challenging, and yet so worthwhile. The challenges I have faced (and am still facing) have really forced me to change, grow, and reach higher. If I could give the people here one spiritual gift, it would be the gift of obedience. If I were to give them one temporal gift, it would be enough money to drive to church on Sundays.

     Thank you for all of the love that is sent my way, and I give my best of wishes to those who are preparing to leave for their mission. It will be a challenging experience, but invaluable all the same. Always have your eyes set on the prize, and then everything else will seem trivial to you, whether they are trials or tribulations that come your way. Have faith in Christ, and have a prayer continually in your heart.

Much love,

Elder Twede

 

Sept. 16, 2013 Men and Mountains

Hello again,

 

     This last week was filled with even more rainstorms, but the apartment did not flood because we lined all of the window sills with cloths, so everything that tried to spill in was soaked up before it hit the floor. My room is the only one with a lip on the bottom of the window sills, so we don't have to worry about the water at all. All we have are small lizards that somehow find their way into the room, but we can deal with those.

     Today, I had the opportunity to go to Kumasi for a zone activity, and we all met together to climb Mt. Kronom. There are many rock quarries located on the mountain, so there were workers drilling away at rock. Climbing up, we had to push through very tall grass, and at one point we had to scale a rock that was really steep. Thankfully, the rock was "sticky," so we had no trouble running straight up the face of it. It only took 30 minutes to arrive at the top of the mountain, but no one made it without suffering from a few scratches due to thorny branches and bladed grass. I took some pretty good pictures at the top, so I will be sending those when I have the time to do so. We could look out on all of Kumasi and could see everything just stretching out to the horizon.  It was nice to hike up and exert myself, but it was also nice coming back because I was feeling pretty hot from the sun. When we got to the bottom and walked along a road for a while, someone stopped us and let us know that the workers in the quarries frequently used dynamite and explosives to lose the rock, so next time we should inform the workers before we try to hike it again. Thankfully, no explosions were going on, so we were safe from harm. Next time (if there is one), we will be more careful.

     As I said, we had many rainstorms last week, but we taught as many lessons as we could. My companion doesn't like the rain and won't proselyte even with a heavy rain jacket on, but I am fine with it because the whole place just floods and all you do is slip and slide in the mud. It is impossible to walk anywhere during a storm, so we just stay inside and study. I thought that the rainy season was already over, but apparently it is starting up again. We will do everything we can to keep the work moving, but rain has really proven to be a setback.

     I pounded Fufu for my first time this week, and my arms are terribly sore from it. I didn't have my camera with me for pictures to be taken, but I figure that there will be many opportunities for it. Preparing food here is just stressful, because most of the foods require pounding to prepare or using a pestle and mortar. It is hard to find overweight people here because of all of the work they do.

     Each week, I feel that I have less and less to talk about since the area is the same and the people we teach are the same. When we search for new investigators, the ones we teach eventually fall through, so we are constantly falling back to our old teaching pools. We are doing our best to work it all out, but things are hard. I hope that this next week will be better, but all I can do is pray and trust in the Lord. 

 

Sincerely,

Elder Twede

 

Sept. 9, 2013 Fighting Back the Storm

Good afternoon!

     This past week has been pretty busy, even though we didn't have many lessons to teach (only 6!). On Wednesday, Elder A-- and I went to the Metro Mass station near Kumasi so that he could leave for O-- and I could receive my new companion. At first I felt a little nervous because I would not be under my trainer's wing anymore, but as soon as I met my new companion I felt better. Elder P--has the same mannerisms and physical build as Austin Twede, (Elder Twede’s cousin) so it wasn't hard to get along with him right from the start and everything is moving forward. Elder R-- also met his new companion, so now there are two new people in M--

     As I said, we only had 6 lessons that we taught last week, but the rest of our time was used in meeting with members and becoming more familiar with them. …Elder P-- is doing everything he can to help the area. As we met with each person and got to know more about their life, I started to appreciate them more and felt the Spirit warm my heart. I know that the members are the most important people involved in missionary work, because without them, we as full-time missionaries will just have a hard time. The members are the ones who will stay in the area and should be fellowshipping the people who the missionaries bring in, because the missionaries can leave at any time. I think that we didn't have any baptisms last month because we didn't work with the members, but we are going to change that around in this transfer. M--- needs help, and I feel that Elder P-- will help to push it forward. He has been on his mission for one year, so he has more experience under his belt. I hope to learn from him so that one day, I can also know exactly how to use members to push the missionary work along.

     Just yesterday, we had a massive rainstorm blow through the apartment. Elder P--and Elder K-- had gone outside 10 minutes earlier to get more familiar with the town, so they got stuck in the rainstorm. They found their way underneath a small overhanging for shelter. Meanwhile, Elder R-- and I were having a battle of our own in the apartment. Our windows are really badly done, so the wind can blow through the whole apartment easily. At one point, I was looking through the windows to see how hard the rain was coming down, but then I saw the men and women in our compound running around naked, so I decided to never look outside again. Anyways, the wind blew so hard yesterday that the rain started to come in through the windows as well. The kitchen was flooded and Elder R--and Elder K--'s room was flooded as well before we noticed the water (we were studying doctrine in my room), so we ran out of the room into the dining room when we noticed the water coming in. We picked up two mops from the veranda outside, and then we started to battle the water. We spent one hour and a half, just mopping up the water and squeezing the excess into buckets, but the rain kept on coming. Finally, the storm died down a little (to the point of where the rain was no longer coming through the windows), so we actually had the chance to dry the floors. It felt like a losing battle when we started, but everything worked out in the end. Elder P-- and Elder K-- came back soaked to the bone, but at least they survived the flood (it truly was flooded outside).

     I do not know what the rest of the transfer has in store for me, but I hope that it will be eventful. Our original golden investigator actually showed up to church on Sunday, so I have hope for him. I called an investigator who is currently in Accra right now, and he said he would be back by the end of this week. He also told me that he desired to be baptized into the church, so we are planning to extend a date to him as well. I am so happy to see the changes that these people are making in their lives, and I know that they will be blessed for the decisions that they are making. I am happy to be a part of this work. I hope that everyone at home is doing what they can to spread the gospel to all people as well. Everyone member is a missionary.

Pictures

Elder Twede and Companion

 

The Baptismal Font

 

View from a Member's Apartment

Licking the Pot

 

Eating Fufu

 

Elder Twede using Mortar and Pestle

 

Transfers

Good Afternoon Everyone!
 

This past week wasn't too eventful due to the fact that we had Zone Meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday was market day (which means that no one is around to contact or teach), and my companion knew that he was going to be transferred to a new area so efforts died down. The last week of each transfer is usually pretty dead, but this was worse than the last one. Elder O--- knew that he would be leaving for home (he finished his mission with 22 baptisms), so it was hard to focus on the work at hand because he was constantly singing songs about going home. This transfer will be different though, as both Elder R--- and I will be receiving new companions, both from Zimbabwe. We will be staying in Mampong (Elder Ag--- is leaving for Obwase), so we will do everything to move ever onward. I think that I need a change in things, so it will be nice to have a new companion.
 

Last Monday, we had a wonderful FHE at a member's home and received a free meal of rice, chicken, and salad. We have been fed in the past by Sister B---, and her food is always much appreciated. She will be leaving in a short while, so we will be having another meal tonight at her house to say our goodbyes. She has always been kind to the missionaries, so it will be sad to see her leave.

On Saturday, we received transfer news and fellow missionaries were calling our phone all day so it was hard to teach lessons. Elder Ag--- is very excited to leave M--- as he has been here for 8 months now, so I will be receiving a new companion by the name of Elder P---. I have high hopes for my new companion, and I feel that we will see more progression in the area because people were getting too comfortable with Elder Ag---. I don't know how long I will be staying here for, but I will do the best that I can wherever I am needed, whenever I am needed.
 

The people we taught last week didn't seem to hold too much of an interest in what we had to teach. Elder Ag--- and I have always felt the Spirit strongly in each lesson and we help the people to know that what they feel is the Lord telling them that our message is true, but many investigators just turn themselves away. I know that as missionaries, if we do all we can do to help others to build their faith in Christ, then we have done our work. People bring what faith they have to us, and we just help them to build upon it. We do not try to break them down, but build them up. Even after all is said and done though, it is the investigators choice to either accept the gospel for themselves, or say that it isn't for them and move on. It definitely pains me to see people turn themselves away or allow themselves to be blinded by deceiving men, but I know that they have their own agency to choose and we aren't here to force them. I pray every day for the investigators that we teach, and I know that we are doing the Lord's work here on Earth. Being on a mission has been such a blessing to me, and I have grown so much from it already. I don't know where I would be right now if I had just stayed at home. Mom, Dad, thank you for pushing me forward to do this work. I am eternally grateful for the example that you have shown for me. I pray that I can become a good dad to my children someday.
 

Sincerely,

Elder Twede