Merry Christmas!!

Hello and Merry Christmas to everyone!

On Sunday we had to travel to Ho for a missionary Christmas Conference which was being held on Monday. We ended up spending two nights in Ho and our cafe time was pushed back until today.

So we have been looking for apartments in Juapong and we found one that we think will work our great and within a few weeks I think we'll have it. Now the even more exciting news is that our First Councilor, Prosper Ahiabor was able to come to an agreement to lease the building we had picked out for our chapel! The building is right in the center of town and will be very easy to find. All this means that hopefully by the end of January we'll be able to organize a group. We have about 14 members living in the Juapong area.

It will be very different than anything else that I've done and I hope that we'll be able to help to strengthen the small group of members that are there.

Anyways on to a few other things that we saw/happened to us.

On tuesday I lost our phone (left on the seat of a trotro--will never see it again, and still we don't have a phone)

On Wednesday we had some guys come to our apartment to do some work and halfway through we had the power go out and all the workmen ended up sleeping in our apartment for  a few hours in hopes the power would come back--it never did and on Thursday we had to go to Accra for a doctors appointment and on the way the road was crowded with Baboons. It was the funniest thing to see. Anyways it was my first time seeing one.

Well I hope everyone has a great Christmas and I'll talk to you all next week.

Elder Green

Change is inevitable!

So this week has brought a lot of very interesting and surprising changes.
First of all Elder Sadare and i are getting transferred. Again! We were only together for 4 weeks.
The Branch in Juapong looks like it'll be starting maybe sometime early next year...still tentative as of when we'll be able to get it going. Hopefully we can open it very soon. The members and the people there need the Church dearly. I fear that the fire in some of their hearts is starting to wane. But! We will continue to work hard and try to keep everything going.
So Elder Sadare is getting transferred to Kpong, which is just the next city over from where we are, so we are still going to be close to each other and my new companion is an Elder Obiarinze, also from Nigeria. I'll be picking him up Tuesday.
So this Saturday we are building a house! One of the members in our Branch had 5 homes collapse due to severe rains and has since been sleeping outside with his family and 3 children. So with the combined efforts of the Kpong and Ho Districts we'll be able to help out these wonderful members.
I again apologize for no pictures this week (sorry Chloe)..network is too slow to send them.
I was able to have such a wonderful experience in Juapong on Saturday. We were visiting with one of the members there, Diana Affianu-she can't come to church because the travel fare is too high-and she wanted to sing a hymn. She ran inside, grabbed her hymn book, and we all sat around singing hymns together. We were there for maybe 45 minutes and the Spirit that was felt was so sweet and peaceful. We were all strengthened by that experience and I know that music has such a powerful effect on our minds and our spirit.


I love you all wish a Merry Christmas.
Elder Green

The Church is growing

So this week has been somehow hectic! We had a zone conference meeting that lasted almost 10 hours! (the whole day was over after that) and this past weekend we had our District Conference. They were absolutely wonderful and we were blessed to hear talks from Elder Gaye (Former Mission President in the Ghana Accra Mission), Elder Bednar as well as Pres. Uchtdorf that were broadcast to all of West Africa.
Their talks were powerful and direct. They were directed to counsel the Members of the Church to avoid following traditions that are not in harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Overall it was a very powerful and effective District conference.
We are looking at opening Juapong as Branch!! Hopefully before the next year-still a lot of work to do (Confirm if the building we have selected can be 'ours', and renovation work and training) I will keep you all posted on that one as I get more information. Super Stoked :)
I know that as soon as the Church is established there many people will come and find out the truth. We are very hopeful for several people who live in Juapong who have investigated the Church.
I love you all and hope that you have the best of weeks! To those of you back at home I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy that Turkey!!


Love, Elder Green

Life is looking up

Hello Hello! This week has been pretty great! Elder Sadare (said Shad-AIR-e) and I get along great. He's from Nigeria, Ogun State, born January 1 1987 and he and his family joined the Church when he was eleven years old.

He and I have had a really great time together. We've been able to enjoy a good amount of success in our area despite not having a phone to use and riding our bicycles an hour and a half to Juapong haha.

We've made huge changes in our apartment and now I feel much more organized and ready to work. I am refocusing myself on my study and I am trying much harder to utilize all the time that I have.

Currently the assistant to the Mission President, Pres. Tyson, has visited Juapong-taken a report of the members who live there-and taken that report to our Mission President. Hopefully, very soon we will be able to open a branch there.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.


-Elder Green

Change is in the air....

Hey Hey everybody,
SO big news for this upcoming week. Transfers are here any my companion and I are being split up! We've only been together for one transfer! Are you kidding me? C'mon! Well we'll still be together, my area is being split and we are receiving two additional missionaries in our Branch, making 6 in total (compared to 2 months ago when it was only 2). We are very excited for that. The work will really move along much more quickly with the additional help. What's more is that I will be opening up Juapong as a proselyting area. Due to the discovery of more members living there two weeks ago our mission President is working hard to try and open a branch there. So in a way I now have a share in responsibility in establishing the Church in this part of the world.
On Sunday we were blessed to have another investigator from Juapong visit us at the Church. His name is Godwin and his wife visited us a few weeks ago. What's more is that he rode his bicycle to the Chapel. That involves riding a distance of several miles from Juapong to the Ferry Site, where he can pay to cross and then to ride about another mile and a half to the chapel. He is in his mid to late 40's and holds a position is his current church. We were so blessed that he was willing to sacrifice so much to investigate the Church.
This week has however, been very trying on myself and my companion. Firstly, we do not want to be split up. We've synced really well with each other and we don't want to lose either part of our area. Secondly, I can testify that I have seen the Lord bearing me up and strengthening me-not by easing my load, but by putting me in situations where I have to make decisions. Where I can no longer sit on the figurative fence and watch the world go by. Where I have to choose to act or react. Choose to show Christ like love to those I come in contact with or be as the natural man. I have never felt so conflicted. But I know that as I have chosen the better portion I can bear my challenges, which will continue to come in greater magnitude, with happiness and sure knowledge that as long as I do all that I can and council with the Lord that He will never abandon me and will bear me up when I am weak.
I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Elder Green

He is doing what the Lord would have him do!

Hey it's been awhile, sorry for the long week of silence. Honestly I just wasn't in the mood to write last week. I'll make up for it though.
This week we had something very exciting take place:
On Tuesday (one of the days we normally go to Juapong) our District Council Meeting went longer than it typically does. That being said Elder Bautner and I decided to take an early lunch in Kpong-that way we can use as much time as possible in Juapong. As we were on our way to our first appointment we could tell that there was something 'different in the air.' As we drew closer to the Volta Star Textile Factory the sky was filled with the smoke of burning tires. The work force was protesting against the management for lack of pay. As we stood there watching the scene unravel I sensed the presence of a young man right next me. He was speaking in Ewe and I wasn't paying him any attention because I wanted to see what was happening at the Factory. Again, he persisted to gain my attention, this time however I felt a strong impression to listen to him.
He was speaking French, and he mentioned 'Church'. I turned to him and asked him in French if he knew the Book of Mormon. He confirmed by responding that he also knew le Doctrine et Alliances (D&C). To confirm if I heard him right I asked if he also knew le Perle de Gran Prix (PofGP). At this he became very excited and myself and my companion couldn't believe what we were actually hearing. "Did a member of the Church just find us?", "Are any members of his family a part of our Church as well" we wondered to ourselves as he led us through some narrow bush paths to his home.
Once we arrived he ran inside his home and brought out stacks of Church material-all in French. We had hardly began to look at the books when two women came walking along the path. At first glance the thought came to my mind that these two women are members-obviously related to this young man whom we just met. They walked straight to us and almost laughing they asked us "Since when did you come here?" There big, warm smiles assured us that they were also members of the Church. They sat down with us and I felt so overwhelmed with joy that all I could do was place my hand over my mouth, smile, laugh, and thank God for allowing us to meet. They rehearsed how they joined the Church in 2012 in Osu and Aladjo and had both recently moved to Juapong. They both felt very discouraged because they looked and looked but couldn't find the Church anywhere. They only prayed that the Church would find them.
Now, this young man who we met joined the Church this past June, along with his whole family in Lome, Togo. He was leaving the very next day to Ho for school. The two women who were passing on the path had never scene the boy until that day. These two Sisters, their Mother and two of their Children are also members of the Church. On Friday we took one of the Members from Juapong to meet them-on Sunday one of the Sisters was able to come to Church.
Our entire morning was disturbed. We were not on time, we did things in a different order, almost everything about our morning was different from our normal routine. I know that God was leading us and placed these different obstacles in our way so that we would meet these 'lost sheep'. Currently the young man is no longer in Juapong and his family has gone back to Togo (I'll have to double check, but i believe they said they would leave in a weeks time)
This week has been very good. We are also seeing a lot of progress in a few individuals that we are teaching near the Chapel. A man named Matthew who was formerly a heavy drunk is making leaps and bounds of progress. As he says he is 'Forcing himself to stop'. The biggest difference I've seen in him is that 'Light' has returned to his eyes. He looks and acts happier.
I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and I pray that we will all listen to the 'Still Small Voice" that guides us and protects us. Let us be worthy to receive these promptings from the Spirit. I love you all and wish you a wonderful week.


Elder Green

 Picture from Atimpoku, overlooking the Volta River

At the docks on our way to Akwamufie (The Royal City of the Akwamu Kingdom)

First arrival at Akwamufie

Kings Palace in Akwamufie. We had the chance to tour but my camera ran out of memory and I couldn't take any pics :(

Myself and Gattion Attah. This is the boy who approached me at the factory protest and let us to meet the other members of the Church

Woman preparing Grass Cutter at our favorite chop bar in Jupong. Grass Cutter is a delicacy among the Ghanian Diet

Half way mark

HUMP DAY!!!! Check it out! Well I'm half way down and half way more to go. Couldn't be any more stoked to get out and work.
So this week in Sacrament we were able to have two investigators from Juapong come and visit it us at the Church again. Bear in mind that Juapong is really far and the cost of transport is 5 cedis in and out (Which for most people is a fair amount of money to spend on travel costs). Their names are Sister Rose and Peace. They are two lovely women, Rose being the very first person we contacted in Juapong and Peace being a referral from Rose.
Sister Rose and and Sister Peace are both very excited about the Book of Mormon and we have already begun to see differences in both of them since we began visiting them. When they came to Church they were warmly welcomed and they also knew one of the members who lives in Juapong. They both seemed to enjoy Church very much and we are planning for their baptisms on the 16th of next month. Hopefully things will go the way our Father in Heaven wants them to.
I am very happy to be here serving the Lord in the wonderful country of Ghana and I pray that I'll be able to do all that the Lord would have me do. I love you all very much and wish you the best week possible.
Love, Elder Green

The work continues to go forward!

Hello everybody!
So time is getting all jumbled together and I am having a hard time figuring out what I actually did this past week (and not like three weeks ago)
1. On Wednesday we (Elder Bautner and I) cooked up some super delicious marinated pork chops with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. We're broadening our diet horizons :)
2. We were actually able to have some good one on one lessons with some of our investigators in Juapong (most of our lessons have been group lessons of 4-7 people) Time to find those elect individuals!
3.Spent two days in the apartment straight. (Elder Bautner was sick)
4. We had a baptism on Sunday!! Woot Woot! Also, we had two investigators from Juapong visit us at Church on Sunday(we're stoked about this!)
Throughout the week we were able to have some cocoa pods dashed(given to for free) to us. Super delicious as always, but you can't eat too much because they are quite acidic, and we are now drying the seeds out to hopefully make coco powder! We'll see how it goes. Sorry I don't have any pictures to send this week. The cafe I'm in doesn't allow me to do that anymore :/
Anyways, apart from all these fun little things that have happened this week I am very grateful for my Savior. In one of our lessons that we had early in the week. As we were talking we explained that we were here to find the 'elect of God'. A man named Confidence then asked us if God has 'his' people predetermined and that there was nothing for us to do except to hope that God has chosen us. We then discussed with the group how God has given us our agency (free will) and that it is up to us to choose to follow him. We then used an example of school children and how even the brightest most intelligent student in the class could fail, if he doesn't work for his grades.
The Spirit was strongly felt in this lesson and I have found myself reflecting often on this experience. I've learned again that the Lord has blessed us with our own ability to make choices. We are accountable to the decisions that we make, whether they be for better or for worse.We choose our happiness, likewise we also choose our misery and heartache. True, hardships and trials which are out of our control come into our lives. However, we choose how we react and handle the situation. Just like the athlete breaks down his body and stresses his muscles until they beg for relief; for the purpose of improving his game or to build strength and endurance. The Lord allows the adversary to 'stress' us, for the purpose of strengthening ourselves and learning to rely upon the Lord. I know God lives, and I know that he is here to guide all of us-if we only allow him to do so. I love you all and wish a good week.
Love Elder Green

PICTURES!!!

1. Elder Bautner and I caught out in the rain one of our first days together

2-5. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3735554/ Movie set, director and actors of the upcoming movie titled 'Freetown' a group of native Liberian missionaries make a desperate cross-country trip through their war torn country to save one of their own.

6 . The Tinkorang family. They live in Elko, NV. George finally got his visa and he went home to the States. Will miss that family very much.

7. my first attempt of making cornbread on the stovetop. HUGE SUCCESS!

8. myself and Shadrack Jacob, a recent convert to the Church. He was proselyting with us a few days ago.

So Much Work!

Hello everybody! So this week has gone by so quickly! However, I had a small cold which brought me in the house for about a whole day-no worries I'm strong and healthy today :)
So Juapong is a very interesting area. We've likened the place to the Hydra. We cut of one head (meet with one person) and five more grow back (five more people sit down and are interested to hear what we have to say and want us to come back). Like it's super cool and I Don't feel worthy of receiving all these blessings. Unfortunately, we've only been allowed 2 days a week to go there so there is just too many people that we've met it's become very difficult to have follow up lessons with these people.
One really cool story that was shared with us took place in Juapong-on our first day there.
A man who we met, Eric, was in front of a chop bar(Ghana's equivalent of a 'fast food' restaurant. all local food.) that we had been directed to go for some lunch. He approached us, we explained to him that we were going to eat, but afterwards we'd meet with him. He agreed, and told us he'd wait for us to finish. After we had finished, we went back to meet him. However, he was nowhere to be found.
3 weeks later from the time we first met him, we saw him again. We sat down with him and his friend who we had given a Book of Mormon to earlier. As we were talking he told us that he and his friend shared the Book of Mormon and had both read the section that we marked. Naturally we were both very impressed. Eric, then, began to share with us that he hadn't been going to Church for a long time and that he knew he needed to change his ways and start going to church again. He explained to us that he had been fasting for many days-seeking guidance from our Father in Heaven as to where he should go and what he should do to change his life. He then explained to us that the day he closed his fast was the day that he met us(our very first day in Juapong). The Spirit was strong in this lesson and it was a powerful testimony to myself and my companion that we were led by the Spirit to speak to the people we spoke to that first day and that God has a plan designed for all of us. A plan of Happiness. We just need exercise our Faith in Him and then we'll see his plans laid out before us. I know God lives and I know that he loves us all very much.
Love, Elder Green

Missionary work is fun!

Alright friends and family I am at the close of one week, but where one door closes another opens!
Elder Bautner and I have been having huge amounts of success! It honestly has been unreal. Also, every day we find out more and more things that we have in common--the other elders in our apartment now refer to us as twins since we don everything the same.
Something that we have been doing that has really changed our lessons together and has been very beneficial in helping to invite the Spirit into our lessons is singing a closing hymn. It was Elder Bautner's idea to start doing it and I have noticed a huge difference in the behavior of our investigators after we sing a nice, soft, reverent hymn.
We are looking forward to our proselyting efforts in Juapong, we've been able to contact a few of our less active members who live there and after meeting with them they've been very excited about missionary work. One man, named Richard Awonu, told us that he felt like he has been sleeping and he, now, had been woken up. We are very excited for him and pray that he will be able to sacrifice the now tripled cost of fare from his home to the Church on Sundays (it takes about 45 minutes travel time, since the Atimpoku bridge closed down a few months ago and the only mode of travel across the Volta River is to take the overpriced and over crowded ferry).
I love you all and hope that you have a great week!
Elder Green

Missionary work is Blessed

Hello all!
So this week has been crazy.
Monday: Wash Clothes, travel to Akosombo to hit up the internet cafe and then we had to run to Odumase Krobo (like 45 minute trotro ride) to talk to some dude who was supposed to make us some bags from 6 weeks ago. We get there, he's not there, it begins to rain. He shows up, hasn't made anything for us (even though he assured us on the phone that he had it all finished and made) ruined our materials by leaving them out in the rain. Took us almost an hour standing out in the dark and the rain trying to get a car home. Terrible disappointing day.
Tuesday: Get a phone call early in the morning that we need to be in Accra to renew our government non citizen cards. I am clear out in the Bush and it takes like 3-4 hours to travel to Accra. The whole day got spent travelling.
Wednesday: We started off the day with hours of fruitless finding and then had to travel to Kpong to conduct a few baptismal interviews. Whilst in Kpong it started to rain. And rain. And rain. Pretty soon we were wading through knee deep water out in the bush trying to make out way back to the main road. The sun was setting fast and we finally stumbled across the road at 7p.m. and sat soaking wet in a trotro until we came home. At home the electricity was off.
Thursday: We received yet again another phone call early in the morning informing us that there had been an emergency transfer and we would be receiving two more missionaries in our Branch, and we had finally been given permission to proselyte in Juapong (it is on the opposite side of the Volta River-missionaries have never been there before). They we coming from Ho (clear up in the Volta Region) and due to a huge rain storm that was moving towards us they were stranded. We spent the majority of the day stuck in the apartment, preparing to recieve two more and the rain kept us inside. Finally at 7pm they arrived. Yet again, there was no light in the apartment.
Friday: Elder Bautner and I go to Juapong. We walked about twenty feet after exiting the taxi and contacted one person, and after that one person we were led from referral to referral to referral. We were almost speechless. We literally had throngs of people gather around us as we shared with people about The Church that Christ established whilst on the Earth. While there one of Elder Bautner's former investigators from Ho saw us walking by, we met with her and she came to Church on Sunday and accepted a baptismal date! Both of us have agreed that we were led by the Spirit throughout the day. It was one of the most inspiring and curious days of my mission.
Alright so that basically sums up my week. Elder Bautner and I came to Ghana the same time and he is from Murray, UT. Really sweet guy and we both have a ton in common--really ridiculous actually. We've been super blessed the short time that we've been here and we are enjoying our proselyting area so much.
I love you all and I know the Church is True.
Elder Green

When we work hard, time flies

This week honestly flew by. Time is moving so quickly that I am having a hard time keeping everything straight in my head. Elder Kay and I have been working the best that we can and have been opportune to have many, very, wonderful lessons with many different people.
On Sunday we were able to have two wonderful sisters confirmed members of the Church and they also had the chance to attend the Sisters Conference in Kpong this past Saturday. (It was a big challenge for them due to the distance and cost of travelling) But these two women gave me an assurance after Church on Sunday that whenever there was any kind of Church program or activity they would surely be there. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the faithfulness of these two women, who despite lack of money, persecutions from family, and constantly hearing rumors, have made the faithful choice of seeking guidance from above.
We found out this week that there is a good possibility that we will open up groups in two of our surrounding cities. That is in Akosombo (we are the first missionaries allowed to proselyte here) as well as Juapong (both are within our branch boundaries but the latter is on the opposite side of the River Volta and too far to travel. No missionaries have been there). If this happens, it is likely that Elder Kay and I will both be assigned to one of these cities (I use the term liberally. Their more like towns or villages)--which would be super exciting--but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.
I have to end my letter with how I opened it. Time has been going by so quickly I am still having difficulty wrapping my head around it all. I love you all and wish the best of weeks! Talk to you all in 7 days!
Love, Elder Green

Members are the lifeblood of the mission!

Hello all! So this week went by so fast!
We have been having a bit of difficulty getting to meet people in Akosombo since most of the homes have gates around their compounds and a lot of people are gone at work during the day. Well, we have a recent convert who used to live in Akosombo and wanted to show us some of his friends. We were excited to have him help us--but also a bit nervous since he's kinda crazy and likes to talk a lot. Anyways, within 4 hours he had introduced us to 10 people who were able to sit down with and have short little lessons with and these people have all agreed to let us come back and visit them. It was actually very exciting. Right now our biggest struggle in getting people to come from Akosombo is the fact that trotros don't run Sunday morning and taking a taxi is way too expensive for most people. We're still pressing forward though.
Fortunately, we were able to have two baptisms this past Sunday! We are super excited for these two wonderful women who have joined our ranks. We had to work for a long time for Awusebea Janet to become willing to let us sit down and discuss with her. She'd come to church occasionally--but would never allow us to sit down and talk with her. It wasn't until her sister became interested in the Church that she'd allow us to sit down with her. The two of them were baptized together.
Sorry for the short letter and all but this will have to do for now. I love you all and wish you the best week.
Elder Green

Insomnia won't stop the work!

One day, after much deliberation we (I) decided that we should go out despite my lack of sleep. We were out for like 3 hours and ALL of our appointments fell through. It was like God's way of telling me that I needed to stay inside and rest. I'm glad I did. Then, the next day we had a guy come and do a bunch of apartment repairs--which took up a good portion of our day. Needless to say, our week has been hectic, but we haven't been able to teach as much as we'd like to.
The silver linings to all of this is in a referral we received from one of our members. Her name is Sherry Enyonam and she is 20 years old. Basically what happened was the member met her on the street and just invited her to church-and she came! She, and her family, having been looking for truth in a church in a very long time and she had, as of two weeks ago, made it up in her mind that all these small 'miracle' and 'one man' churches were all pointless and don't help us come closer to God. She has been absolutely amazing! We'd give her a paragraph to read-and she'll read the whole the chapter and then some. She told us that when she came to Church she felt 'different' and that she felt that there was something here that she has been looking for. She also said that she felt really good when she read from the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets. We shared with her Galatians 5:22-23 to help explain how the Spirit testifies to us and how to recognize the Spirit in our lives. We are very excited for her. She has accepted a baptismal date and has been teaching her mother what we've shared with her.
Helaman Chapter 4 (Book of Mormon) has been very touching to me. I encourage everyone to read from it. Pay attention to the length of years and keep in mind how the Lord had blessed the people so greatly in the previous years described in Chapter 3
This week is transfers and we'll likely receive two additional missionaries in our Branch. So more on that next week. Thanks for all your support and I love you all. Have a great week.
Elder Green

How dedicated are you?

Okay. First I would like to say thank you for all the concern that many of you have shown me concerning the Ebola Virus. Ghana has not, to my knowledge, had an outbreak. Besides, who's on the Lord's side who? :)
So to Elder Kay's and mine own disappointment we did not receive any new missionaries this week, even though we were told we would. Still trying to figure that one out haha oh well.
Senchi Branch is doing really well. We were so surprised yesterday at Church. We had 8 investigators at Church! All but one came in late, and I happened to be giving a talk, so I could see them walk in, but I couldn't do anything to help them or show them where to sit and my companion was already busy helping another investigator. It was a bit funny, but everything worked out very well.
The work here is definitely hastening. Senchi has been pegged for a long time as a 'dead' area. I haven't seen that at all.
I would like to share with you all a little bit about a man named Peter. Peter is 22 and joined the Church in Dodowa during the month of April. One day he just showed up to Church and told us he was a member. He told us he stayed in Akosombo (a very nice, big city about a 30min car ride from the chapel) so naturally we were super excited since we have very few members living there since most people say its too far to walk and they don't want to pay for a bus ride. Anyways, we wanted to pay him a visit at his house. We met at the main taxi station in Akosombo(the heart of the town) and expected him to lead us to his house. We walked, and walked, and walked. We left the Akosombo, climbed a mountain, reached a village, passed that village and proceeded to climb the next mountain. It was a good 2 hour walk from the outskirts of Akosombo which is already a very long distance from Akrade (where the Church is). Up until yesterday, we had always assumed that he took a bus to the Church but we were informed not by him, but by another member who works in Akosombo that he walks the distance to and from church every Sunday. He has never complained or made mention of the distance. He must walk about 4 hours each direction. He arrives exactly on time for Church (most people run on 'Africa time' which means they have no regard for keeping time) every Sunday. I almost wept when our Branch President told us he saw him walking home while he was on his way home from work (He works every other Sunday).
I wanted to share that with you all since he has made me question my own dedication to the Gospel. I now often ask myself if I would be that willing to walk that far and sacrifice that much time just for Church. Truly amazing young man.
Well I love you all and hope everyone has a great week. I love my mission and bid thee all farewell! Till next week.
Elder Green

Safe from Ebola! WHEW!!!!

So, Yesterday we had the opportunity to witness one of our dear Sisters enter into the waters of Baptism and make an everlasting covenant with our Father in Heaven. Her name is Paulina and she has had tons of support from the Branch and they have been very willing to help us in translation efforts.
My week was a bit on the slower side of things, we had difficulty finding new people to teach and we did a lot of sorting through our past investigators--trying to see who would be serious about the things that we teach. However, the Branch has been helping us with referrals to teach so we are looking very hopeful towards these new people. 

Lake Volta

My District

Now, I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody's faith or religion so to begin: This is a Christo-Disco Church. When we found this I was at a loss for words. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

 

My companion and I have been working pretty well together, but we are a bit sad at the moment. Our companionship will most likely be broken up within the week. Due to the Ebola Virus 275 missionaries in Sierra Leon and Liberia will be evacuated and we will be reassigned to various missions throughout the world. If the Ghanaian Govt. approves we will receive 12 missionaries as well as 3 senior couples into our mission. Now why am I saying that Elder Kay and I will be broken up? Because our area typically holds 4 missionaries and we have two extra beds in our apartment and the most solid evidence is that our mission president straight out told us we'd be split up. Haha it's all part of the experience though. I am excited, but a bit apprehensive because of my huge area and the portion that I would take over is a place that we have seldom gone to. Oh well. The Lord will help me.

 I am safe and we shouldn't have to worry about the Ebola Virus. How is everything at home? I'm excited that the Ogden Temple will be opening soon. I'm especially excited that Carls gf will be going along with you all to see the open house. I hope that she feels the Spirit there. How is Carl doing? He sounds happy and excited thus far.

This past Saturday we had a zone meeting with our mission President. During this meeting I had the opportunity to bear my testimony relating to how I knew that the Book of Mormon was true. As I had done this I could truly feel the Spirit bear witness that what I had experienced truly was from God, and that I had felt the peace and comfort that comes from our loving Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is True, and I know that any who honestly read it, and ask in prayer to our Heavenly Father if it is true that they will gain a testimony of its Divinity through the Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost. I invite all to follow the Saviors advice to 'come and see (John 1:39)' Everything is going really well for me here. I love missionary work and I know that I have changed a lot since the time that I left home. I mean, I'm still the same me, but I think I have different desires in life and my priorities have changed around a bit.  I love you all dearly and I pray that you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Green

The work is moving forward in Akosombo

So this week has been pretty cool. We were planning on baptizing a woman named Paulina this past Sunday but she doesn't speak any English and teaching her has difficult since we have to get a translator, but she is super serious and she comes to Church just about every week. However, we postponed her baptism to this coming Sunday, so hopefully everything will go well with that. We are really excited for her and she has a Muslim background which makes this all the more a miracle that she is choosing to come to our Church.
So another really cool and unusual thing that happened this week is we (my companion and myself) went from teaching about 3-4 lessons a week with a member present to teaching 20 lessons this week with a member present. It has made the work move so much more quickly and the different members in the Branch that have been helping us are also getting excited about missionary work.
A miracle occurred just this past Sunday: Ms Dina B. Johnson from New Jersey finally came to Church!! She is a less active member (baptized in '96) who lives in the city of Akosombo (one of 3 members in this city). She has been incredibly friendly with us, always dashing food stuffs to us and always running out of her house to greet as we pass by. YET, she would never come to Church. Whilst in Church she was super talkative and made tons of contributions the whole time.
For this upcoming month we are hoping to have up to 4 baptisms, 2 of which are pretty solid. The members here have really been helping us and it seems we find more and more members who didn't know the Church was here (in this region).
Well my comp and I are truckin along having a great time and we love preaching the Gospel. I love you all and will talk to you next week.
Love, Elder Green

I dey in da bush naa!!!

So big news! I got transferred out of Achimota and am now at Senchi Branch. Senchi is near the Akosombo Bridge right on the Border of the Volta Region. After spending 9 months in the choked, overcrowded city of Accra I am so happy to have a change of pace.
That being said I am really sad to leave Achimota ward. That ward had done almost a complete 180 since I had gotten there. Sacrament attendance was really low and the members did not want to work the missionaries at all, but now they loved us there and were always asking us when they could come out and proselyte with us. I am happy to see how far forward that ward has moved--but still a bit sad that I am no longer there.
So let me tell you about Senchi. The church is a rented building that was formerly the home of a chief in this area and our apartment is on the second level. It tickles me everytime I think of how I live in a church now. It is only a two man apartment so it's just me and my companion who rule the whole Senchi (Akosombo) area. The branch members are really great and most seem very active in their callings and are very excited about the Church.
So a little bit about my area. Yes. I'm in the bush. Complete with all the mud huts and grass roofs, the bush meat and since I'm next to the River Volta there is a lot of fishing here. AAAAAAnd I'm up the mountains!! This area is pretty sweet so far. The only downsides are that the villages are so far apart that it gets expensive having to take a tro tro everywhere (you could only be crazy if you wanted to bike it all).
One really cool experience that I had this past week starts almost 7 months ago. In my first area I had the opportunity to teach and baptize a really cool guy named Emmanuel Asare. He was probably one of the most prepared people I've met and he is super smart. Anyways after I left Klagon I lost contact with him. All I knew was that he had moved from that area. Well on my way to Senchi a bunch of the other missionaries kept talking about this recent convert who was crazy smart. I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying until the mentioned his name. Turns out it was him. I met him the second night that I was in Senchi and he and I were able to have a really good talk and we were able to clear up some concerns that he had about the Church. It was the most wonderful surprise to see him again.
Well that's all for today folks, keep to the faith!
Elder Green

Mission Life is always an Adventure

The Newest Members of the Church in Achimota

Hey Mom! I really am so sorry about last weeks letter. We were running really short on time and the cafe that we were at was complete crap. I only get two hours to email when the internet is crap we get screwed sometimes. So last week I had just finished Tate's letter and I was about to write yours when the internet crashed. So I am very sorry that happened.

Anyways. Okay so you heard about the kidnapping? It was crazy. The guys name was Victor Solomon and he showed up to Church like 45 minutes early and said he'd heard about the church and that he had met with missionaries in the past. So we were like 'Sweet'! We had our Ward Mission Leader sit next to him throughout sacrament and when we closed I saw him walking outside. He had dropped a paper and I went out to run after him. I brought him back inside and began to escort him to investigators class when a less active member who I had been working with for a long time came up and spoke to me. I was super happy to see him and by that time I had completely forgotten about Victor.
That evening we received a call from President Judd informing us that there had been a kidnapping and that we needed to return to our apartments. Bishop was outside our apartment waiting for us when he received a phone call from Victor demanding a ransom. It honestly didn't feel like it was real. However, within a few days the man was found at the border of Togo in the Volta Region and the little boy is back home, safe with his family.
So that was the big event that happened last week...It wasn't as exciting as it sounds it would be haha.
So what was something that I learned this week? Well i learned that I don't rely enough on the Savior, and that I don't pray as often, or I should say that I don't pray with real intent as I ought to. This past transfer has been the hardest I've had so far. My comp and I get along fine so that's cool and all, but we've had next to no success as far as finding and teaching goes. I've been trying too much to rely on my own efforts and I haven't been ready to receive the Grace that we need in missionary work. I've also been trying a lot harder on doing things that the natural man doesn't want to do. Like serving, and contacting and going the extra mile. My spirits have been up and I feel that things will get a lot better. I
However, we were very fortunate to receive a referral from some other missionaries. His name is Zyrian Ariba-he's a nigerian who had been to church 7 times and honestly just needed us to go over all the lessons (briefly go over since he knew a lot already) and show him where the Church in Achimota was. I sent you some pics. Sorry their blurry. Some random guy was taking them for me. Zyrian is on the left side of the photo, the tallest of the baptismal candidates. He is super cool.
We got a new mission president on Saturday!! President Judd is gone and we now have President Heid, former PEF missionary in our mission. It'll be really strange to see any changes that are made in the mission.

Carl has changed sooooo much! I was so happy to read his talk and to hear from you, from Dad and from Tate that he really has matured and grown so much. I know that he'll grow a lot more on his mission. It really made me so happy to hear that he is doing well and has found that peace that he needs in his life. It was also really funny to hear from Dad and Tate that you two ran into each other and I'm sorry she got a longer letter. (it wasn't my fault!! :))
Well mom I love you very much and I could go on and on but then I wouldn't be able to email anybody else ;) haha love you mom. I'm safe and I'm healthy and I'm loving mission.


Sincerely, Elder Green

Hey Mom!

So I got to stay here in Achimota but my companion was transferred to Suhum--its in the Eastern Region. My new companion is Elder Woodruff and he is from Alabama. He's a great guy and I'm really excited to be working with him. He's 3 transfers ahead of me, so he is the same MTC as my previous companion as well as my first companion, Elder Moss.

He and I have been having a lot of early success. The past week has been a little rough on teaching the investigators that Elder Abioye and I had (appointments falling through constantly) but we've been blessed to find a lot of new people who look really promising.

Time just flies on by which is so funny to me. Oh! before i forget to say I received the melatonin so thank you so much! I was really happy to get it and I'm sure that it'll help me a lot. I am so happy to hear that Carl is happy. I know that he is preparing himself to embark on the greatest adventure/mission of his life and as long as he can forget about himself and focus on the people in his area he will grow to be the man that the Lord wants him to be.

I can't believe that Bailey can swim. Thats so crazy to me. Is Emma going to be ok going to the Land of Enchantment--with her melon being smashed and all? I hope so.

Yeah, it's hot and humid here and it seems to rain every Monday---exactly after I finish washing my cloths and hanging them up to dry. It's kinda funny since today makes it 4 weeks in a row where I've had run outside and bring in my clothes before the rain makes them dirty again.

Mom you served in the Quito mission am I right? Tate's cousin got called to the Ecuador Quito mission and I thought I'd ask you.

Well I love you all very much Oh! before i forget again. Something that I would love for you to send me (Doesn't have to be right away) is a box of Bounce Dryer Sheets (keeps la cucarachas away and lets my clothes smell nice and fresh) and a small tube and clean and clear advantage acne spot treatment. It should be a small silver tube----I've been meaning to ask for these things for months but I keep forgetting to haha. Thanks so much mom for all that you do and the support you've given me. I love tons and I'll see you soon.

Love Elder Green

And the work continues on...

Hey Mom,

Sounds like life at home is getting pretty busy.
So this week has been really good. We have transfers on Wednesday and we find out tomorrow who is staying and who is going. My companion will most likely be leaving since he has been here for quite a long time (6 months). He's already counting on leaving but I honestly would like for him to stay here-in any case things will go fine I believe.

typical fenced, home compound to knock

This week we have doing a lot of finding. I mean a lot of finding. Always knocking on the houses with the big gates-looking for the elect that the Lord has prepared to recieve the Gospel. So hopefully our efforts will be able to produce good fruit.

In my study time I have studied a lot out of the Old Testament and it is honestl quite interesting. So far I've really enjoyed reading Joshua and Judges. One interesting thing in the book of Judges is that the Government that was formed was the same government that was formed after the reign of King Mosiah after his sons refused to take the Crown--Anyways its just something that I noticed and is just another evidence that God will always work in the same ways-he never changes.
Thank you so much for the love and the support that you have been giving me whilst I've been here. I can't believe that I've been away from home for over 7 months now. The time has literally just flown by.
I know that one of my weaknesses that I've been struggling to overcome is to always think of others first. I tend to become selfish with my own time and I know that I need to focus more on my investigators and my companions. It's difficult to always think outward instead of inward, but it's a Christ like attribute that I am striving to acquire. I love you very much mom, and I hope that all is well at home.

Love your son :)

Baptizing one great member after another!

I sent you two photos of Dorcas Anagre Awinimi's baptism. She was super excited and tomorrow she expects to travel to her hometown in the Upper East, but she is trying to go to a school that is located in Tamale (the Church just arrived there!!) and she has seen the Church there so she will try her best to go there. Very happy for her.
We had conference this past Sunday. It was really good--but I'm afraid most the members were asleep and we didn't have any investigators show up to church which was a huge bummer.
Right now we are on the brink of entering into the Rainy Season. We've already been having torrential downpours the past few weeks but now they say that it will rain almost every day. So I'll be excited to see all of that. I love the rain :)
I'm doing well right now-been suffering from insomnia a little bit--which has been taking a huge toll on my body--but soon I'll return to my full health.

He is so happy!

Elders Abioye, Jorgenson, Wardell and Green

Monkey in the tree

This week has been really good. Our super awesome investigator named Dorcas came back from the Upper East Region!! She travelled over 12 hours in a trotro saturday night and came to church in the morning! Wahoo!! Anyways we are planning on her baptisms on this upcoming Saturday. We are really excited for her.
Elder Abioye and myself get along just fine, the other two elders in my apartment are from Mountain Green and West Bountiful so it's pretty fun. Our apartment is still terrible but atleast we have it clean :)
Saturday night we helped our new neighbor move in and lo and behold she is a less active member of the Church!! She was so happy to see us jump right in and help move furniture and other stuff for her. We'll see what we can do for her :)


Missionary work is sweet! Rainy season is just around the corner and I can't wait for the deluges. Well I love you all and I pray for all of you. Talk to you next week :)

Pictures!!!!!!

Hey Mom! How are you doing? Sounds like everything is going well at home. How is Carl? How are the other Kids? We had a baptism last Saturday! Wahoo! We will be having another one this week as well which I am really excited for! Both of the people who were/will be baptized have incredibly strong testimonies and most of the members of the church have confused them with being already members-which is always kinda exciting haha.
This week has been pretty good, I've been struggling with some health issues but nothing too much that has me concerned. I've talked to the mission doctor and I'm on loads of medication haha.
For whatever reason my email no longer wants to load your pictures. So I'll just have to use my imagination ;) haha I hope that my older sisters and their families are doing well at the moment :)
I guess after a while everything with missionary work seems to just blend together and eveything it just turning into 'normal' so I guess I don't really know what more to say at the moment. We've been very blessed to find some people who have been very prepared by the Lord to recieve the Gospel and I know that when we are obedient to the Lord that he will see fit to prosper us in the Land. I love you very much mom and I hope that you have a nice week ;)
Elder Green

Elder's are crazy

Elder Green with his companion, Elder Abioye

Being a busy missionary makes a Mom happy!

Hey Mom,
How are ya?
I can only imagine how Happy Derek must have been to see his brother :)
One of the missionaries in my apartment is from South Hampton which is in the South London mission I believe so that's exciting to hear that Zack is going there. I honestly would love to go to England sometime.
The past few weeks we've been preparing several people for baptism. We were really excitied for this one girl named Dorcas. She is from Upper East Region wich is predominatly Muslim or Traditional worship. At first she didn't seem serious at all, but then she came to Church and wow. I cannot tell you how much our lessons changed with her and how excited she was about the Gospel. Unfortuantly though she has moved back to her village--where the Church Doesn't exist. :( she is super sad. as well as us but I hope that she can hold on to her testimony and that when the church finally gets to her hometown that she'll be able to get baptized.
Anyways not much has changed here. been having some health difficulties but nothing I can't overcome and Achimota is a nice place. It's a big area and it's in the city and we're surrounded on three sides by the Accra West Mission so it's kinda funny seeing missionaries from another mission on a regular basis. Again, I love you very much mom. Can't wait to see you again :)
Love, Elder Green

Becoming the missionary, he is meant to be

Hey Mom!

I hope everything is going well and I hope that you enjoyed your getaway in Cali! Oh and nice shoes ;) haha I am so excited for Carl!! I sincerely hope that he is excited. I know that this is where the Lord would have him serve and that it is where he will learn to grow the most and learn to become the kind of man that the Lord and his future wife would have him be.

This week has been really good. Achimota is much more developed that my previous two areas and we have a lot of work to do here. The previous Elders in this area were "Not Serious" Missionaries unfortunately. Right now we are looking at having I think 4 or 5 baptisms this next month and we've had a few very well prepared people that have come our way and we are very excited to meet with them. Mom, I rely so heavily on my testimony. When teaching investigators that are stubborn all I ever find myself doing is bearing them my testimony. When the Spirit prompts me to do so there has always been such a strong spirit in our meetings and I have been able to watch peoples lives change as they find their ways into the true fold of Christ. I am sorry that my email is short, the Internet Cafe is running on a generator since it's light out and we need get off for the moment. So I will talk to you next week. Love you very much mom :)

Elder Green

The Lord blesses the faithful

Hey Mom!
Ohhh! As soon as I left the Cafe last week I realized i forgot to wish Katherine and Leanne a happy birthday, so this will have to suffice. If it helps I told an investigator that it was my sisters birthday last night :)
ANYWAYS So I got transferred out of West Adenta. I am actually pretty bummed out about it and Elder Caleb was pretty devastated that I was leaving. He wanted to apologize to all of you for the way that he had treated me and he wanted you to know especially that he was sorry for all that he had said to me. Interesting.
My new Companion is Elder Abioye and he is from Nigeria! Super cool guy and we are serving in a city called Achimota. Achimota is huge and it is a real city! Paved roads, sidewalks in places, a motorway, and they even have supermarkets!! It is crazy here haha. The apartment however is absolutely disgusting.
My old Apartment was sweet! Roomy, super clean, lots of furniture, we had a back yard with plantain, tangerine and lemon trees. It was awesome. This place is the second floor of and apt building and we have just plain concrete floors, the washing lines are all indoor, very little furniture, the window screens are almost black with dirt-no light comes through and the best part of all........COCKROACHES live in every single corner, crack and shadow if this building!! It is freaking disgusting! But Luckily you raised me right and I know how to clean :) So very soon my 'house' will be a very clean house. For the moment my motto is Cleanliness is next to Godliness :)

Anyways I love you very much and I hope you have a wonderful day! :)

The Lord works in mysterious ways

Hey Mama!

Elder Caleb is quite interesting. He is super moody which gets a little frustrating since I feel like I am always walking on glass when we're around each other. Transfers are this Wednesday-it's likely we'll stay together since this will be his last transfer until he goes home. So I've just gotten to the point where I'm just going along with whatever he wants to do since it's easier to keep the peace that way. I honestly have no idea why this guy doesn't like me. He won't say why, all he says is he doesn't trust me and that I'm not the right companion for him and that he's never hated anyone as much as he hates me. Super sad, but I' not too bugged by it because I think that most of it comes from the fact that I am an American, I am new on mission and I'd rather do missionary work than leave our area on a whim to go eat at some American style restaurant.

Everything will be okay though, I've been speaking with Pres. Judd so things will all be ok :)

This week has been pretty slow as far as work goes. I think you might be able to guess why haha.

Well mom I love you very much, as well as the rest of the family.

Well mom thank you very much and I hope all is well back home. I'll be excited to find out where Carl is going! Wow that's exciting. ANYWAYS. Talk to you next week.

Love Elder Green

Little by little

Hey Mom! How are ya?

So everything here is going pretty well, I got the manuals last week! I forgot to say! Thank you so much! And thank you for the dehydrated fruit. Pack as much of that stuff as you can! :) (apples and peaches and berries especially! I cook it all with my oats and it taste like pie.) haha so thank you again. As far as snail mail I got some a while back in January but nothing recently. It is usually about 2 weeks when paid with an 'international forever stamp' so I'll keep my eye out for mail and the P.O. Box is best for letters.

So things are getting a little better over here. It's more of a 'Don't ruffle the feathers' kinda situation. He goes home on April 15th so I don't think he will change any of his habits from now until then. so it's kinda frustrating but it's just a waiting game until then.Sigh. Oh well.

Last Friday however we were able to hold a baptism for two of our investigators and there were two others from the other missionaries. It was really exciting and since i've been here in West Adenta I've been able to have some really spiritual experiences sharing my testimony with people who have had doubts about the Church and also with our ward mission leader. I've really been able to strengthen my resolve to serve and to be faithful till the end.

It's exciting to see Emma! Haha I miss that knucklehead . 

I am so excited to hear about Carl! Wow that makes me so happy to hear about him right now. I don't know if I can explain how excited I am for him. I'll be super excited to hear where he goes.

Well the internet is slow again today..surprise surprise haha so unfortunately This is all for today. Love you very much Mom :)


Elder Green

What more can I do? Pray Elder, pray

Wow! I am super excited for Carl haha that is great!
Well as far as missionary work is going its gettin there. Elder Caleb stopped speaking to me last week for a couple of days until Wednesday when I tried to have some companionship inventory. He basically freaked out and was just yelling and screaming and cussing and confessed that he didnt trust me. He never would say why he didn't trust me. SO I just told him that it was a bad excuse and that I am here to work and not to sit around members houses all day. It didn't end to well. Later that night he ended up apologizing to me at like 2 in the morning which was really cool. So from then up until Sunday night everything was working out really well.....until he started to bring things up again and pretty explicitly said that he still doesn't trust me and doesn't want to be my friend at all. So it's kinda got me feeling a little down. I don't know why he's like this but it really sucks. And it really sucks that he refuses to trust me, but he won't say why. In all honesty I think it's because I am young on mission, and that I am an American (He's super judgmental and rude to complete strangers and thinks the world revolves around him) and from what I know he's always been a hassle on mission and has burned through a lot of companions.
So anyways I'm just trying to ride out the storm. Aside from all of that mess I'm doing pretty well. Honestly I'm trying to prepare for when Elder Caleb leaves so that I can get serious about the area and the work here since in his like 5 months here he's only been to one part of the whole area and doesn't know any other parts or even the names of the different neighborhoods ( for lack of a better name).
I love you all very much and I am doing well, a little downhearted since my companion doesn't want to get to know me or to even be my friend, he made that decision before I got here, but I am looking to the future :) Love you all and tell my older sisters that I am really sorry but I haven't found too much free time lately but I'll try to respond to them :)


Elder Green