January 16, 2017

The sad news is I’m being transferred from Kaneshie to Kasoa. This is sad because I love Kaneshie and I’m really starting to get a foothold for this mission thing, but I’m okay. I’m going where I’m called and to learn more, but it’s scary because the way transfers work is I have to go alone, so be praying that I make it.

This week was really great! We worked a lot with members. We have a standard of excellence here for member present lessons and the standard is 14 and this week we were able to have 15! Which is something really amazing because it’s really tough to work with members here. Like the past couple of weeks we’ve only have has 6 on a good week. I know it’s not about numbers but I bring them up to show how awesome this place really is! It all comes down to hard work. Yes we like to have smart work but if you're not working in the first place, even if you’re smart, it’s not effective

I have said my testimony a lot in the past 30 hours since I got the transfer news. We saw the investigators that have a date for baptism and I told them that I know this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Christ on the earth today. It’s a bold thing but I say it confidently because I know it’s true. You all know me. I’m not bold. But this is truth. I’m not here to just be and play in Africa. I’m here to help people come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this church so I share. I love it because it is true.

My SD card is giving me problems, butI should be getting pictures of the baptism today if it decides to work.

We also went to the beach and played football--like American football (the real one)! It was fun. I had a recent convert on my team who is 14 and didn't know how to play but it was still fun and the beach is a really fun place to go on P-day and have a ''zone'' activities.

Baptism for Junior and Sabi. Brother Mensen is Sabi's Grandfather and he performed the ordinance

See mom I told you I did it! Cheese is really expensive here so I had to use the ''cheese'' stick. It was just like I was home---- kinda

In case you forget or don't know-- this was in the mall and I don’t blame them for having it posted. Most people here probably just don't know how because they don't have public restrooms where they live. They have open gutters and that’s what they use.

I thought it was blood moon but it's just the dust from Harmatton

we bought Top Choco which is basically peanut butter but it's chocolate (not nutella-- nutella has nuts and this doesn't) but anyway it was runny so we did what any normal person would do and made chocolate covered bananas.

dad i did wear your jacket in Ghana. just to take a picture but still i wore it!

I'm ready to go to Hogwarts with Harry freaking Potter! I really just like Frisbees. (My Broom is leaning on the wall) it's not as fast as Kyle's zebra stripped one, but it can kill spiders.

love you all

Have a good week ill email you from Kasoa next week!

 

 

 

1/9/2017

Good Morning California! Right now it’s probably 3 in the morning. It’s 11 here. We are emailing early because we were invited to play soccer later today (sad face). It’s okay though because I have a Frisbee!

This week was a really good week. We almost got the standard of excellence and we did help 2 people make the covenant of baptism! Their names are Junior and Sabi. They are 14 and 12 and not related. They are awesome. Sabi is actually a child of record that they baptized a year early because Ghanaians don’t really keep track of age or birthdays. Junior is the one we actually taught lessons to and he is just cool. He loves the church and we’ve been able to help him make some great friends. His mom is a super active member and that’s how we found him.

It’s hard to remember what I do every week. They just all seem to blur together. We do help clean the chapel every Saturday. We start at 8 in the morning and man count your blessings America because giant push brooms would be so nice! We just have like 12 kitchen brooms to sweep like 6 pounds of dirt out of every room! That is an over exaggeration, but still all the dust we sweep every week because of sandstorm season (Harmattan) ends up being 6 pounds for the whole Chapel.

Being a missionary is fun. No matter where you go it really is your choice whether you're on a mission or an adventure. Personally I didn’t want an adventure :).

I don’t know if I wrote it home yet, but there are a bunch of hills here and we ride bikes so... yes I don’t enjoy it and I say it that way because I am a missionary and I should be positive (it sucks). Anyway riding downhill is fun but riding up just isn’t the most fun in the world (it sucks) but, really, in essence it’s like sinning. Yes it might be fun to ride down the hill but to get back where you were before is a hard road to take. It’s always worth it and it’s always possible but it’s much easier to stay at the top and not go down.

Overall I’m having a good time here and I’m learning and growing so much and I am starting to love the people more and more.

No pictures this week the usb thing is messing up but I love you all.

Have a great week!

1/2/2017

This week was really fun! Not too effective by the standards I want to be at but, Ghanaians love to party. We had the Christmas party and a New Year’s party this week. They made me dance (because of the white skin and black tag) it wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, but it was good to build relationships with ward members. Dancing here is pretty bad, but that’s another story lol.

The blessing of the week is that we ate Fufu like 7 times-- like literally 7 times! It wasn’t a blessing that it was given to us, it was a blessing we finished it!. So I’ve gained a bunch of weight this week. My belt went from being loose to being tight so I was pretty sad, but it’s okay. Fufu is just a super heavy food and when you eat it, it expands in your stomach so you feel full longer. We had it 2 times in one day. 2 days this week it was a blessing we finished. I’ll take a picture some time so you can all see what I have to eat and you’ll then understand how blessed I really am. Especially if you knew my eating habits back home.

We have had pretty sad number of lessons the past few weeks but we still are going to have 3 baptisms this week if everything goes as planned. They are all under 16. One is 12 and would have been a child of record but was baptized at 7, so she needs to be re baptized and the other is 9 this week and the last is 14 and the only one we’ve actually taught. So yea, the work is moving forward, They are all awesome and super fun to be around.

Funny story: Yesterday during church we were learning about naming and blessing children and they demonstrated on scriptures so in 8 years there can be a baptism as well.

In the Book of Mormon we read about amazing leaders like Jacob and King Benjamin and as we read it they all realize how important their responsibility as a leader is. This applies to missionary work as well as any other leadership position. See Jacob 1:14and Mosiah 2:27-28. So to be like these great leaders we should realize our responsibilities as well as do all things so 1: their sins won’t be on us and 2: (and probably more important) they won’t have sins in the first place.

LAST THOUGHT: there is only one worldwide truth and it’s the Church wifi password :)

Love
-Elder Ellsworth







we celebrated Elder Beall's birthday with Genevieve and we made apple pie and cake and the apple pie was pretty bad but for a microwave it was okay




She asked for something from America so I gave her my Jacob's ladder, but i got a sick frisbee! (really it's my
companions but were sharing)




our zone went caroling at the mall (this is last week because i couldn't send them last week)






Our Christmas Decorations and Cards





all my gifts.

our christmas "meal" we just like potatoes



the apple pie

its hamaton so pretty much the sky is covered in dust. Its a sandstorm 24/7. It's really hard to keep shirts clean and see the sun lol

 

12/26/2016

Hello peoples. I don’t have much time today. I’m emailing for one hour instead of 2 because people still want to feed us.

This week was fun, but we didn’t get nearly enough missionary work done for many, many reasons and that’s not good. We did work a lot but nothing got done just another week of riding bikes, but it’s okay it gives me time to think.


This week the thing I thought about was testimonies. Really, my testimony of this gospel and even though I’ve been a member all my life, I still had to find out for myself I have an awesome testimony and how I actually know it’s true is this gospel and this church.


I know it’s true through what others might see as blind faith or ''brainwashing'' but just accepting this gospel from a young age is not ''brainwashing''. It’s kind of like teaching 2+2=4. It just makes sense and there are multiple ways to prove it’s true, but sometimes, some people just accept it because it’s true. So for me, that’s really how I know. Through the basics: especially primary songs! I love primary songs!

( no pictures this week the computer is bad)

Have a great week!
Love you all!

-Elder Ellsworth

12/19/2016

The past two weeks what even happened?? well last week we only had 30 minutes to email so i didnt have time for everyone im sorry plus the computer was really slow so that wasnt fun lol.

but guess what! its christmas this week! that doesnt really change anything out here other than all our investigators are out of town :). Weve had a good two weeks of working out. but itas okay i needed the excersise people like to feed us around this time and theri food is heavy heavy heavy.

Ghana is great the language is hard and the streets are crazy sometimes you get a lady who punches you but overall its still a great counry.

i think the best way i can describe ghana is by using star wars. Ghana is Tatooine. There are places in the world like naboo and then there is Tatooine hot and dusty. some places are like endor but where im at its Tatooine theres a big city where everyone goes and then little villages outide but all of them are hot and dusty. Im a nerd but man IM IN TATOOINE! Its fun here a lot of times im just tired but i find joy in little thins as you can see.

last sunday i read an amazing talk titled ''Built upon the Rock by Elder Orson F. Whitney. Please read it its amazing. It says how the only difference really between us and all the other churches is we are led my modern day revelation just hoe they were in the Book of Mormon and the Bible and all other churches are led by things that stop or the traditions of their fathers. all of us worship god (kinda) but we have the living gospel. see its awesome!

this week we have so many parties to go to. tomorrow we have a multi zone thing then Wednesday we have district meeting and Friday is a stake fun-day and Saturday is a multi stake fun day so we really only have Thursday to fully go out :( but we can invite all our investigators to fun activities and Ghanaians love to party so that is good!

They have a Temple lighting every year. Unfortunately we weren’t able to go and I was really sad, but it’s all about patience and we can go on Monday to basketball at the Temple. Plus there’s always next year. This is a full size nativity as you can see. (it is on a table), but still!

Okay, so these are peanut butter edition! They weren't very good but still something you just have to buy. They also had strawberry cheesecake that we bought! Totally worth the 12 cedis (3 dollars) for both.

This is a type of Merry Christmas song in Ghana. We can learn it when I get home.

So this is our dart board. I think it’s allowed and I’m only going to use it on Mondays, but I totally got it in the green!

All the spots on the door are the times we (and the missionaries before) missed
​
-Elder Ellsworth

12/12/2016

I’m doing fine; I think. This week was the elections here. (HEY why is the American Embassy's flag at half mass!?!?! Did something bad happen???) (we will tell him about John Glenn in our next email) We cleaned a bunch on Thursday because we weren’t allowed to go out. I have so little time I might not get a weekly email in today. We taught a lesson, and then the landlord made food for us without us knowing, so it took forever to eat. It was super nice of them but still I’m already late. It’s not ok, but I needed to let you know I am alive.

Anyway I love you and tell me when to call you for Christmas!

Elder Ellsworth

12/5/2016

I had a tough week with homesickness. We've worked pretty hard in the six weeks I've been here. We've taught a total of 128 lessons but I still feel homesick.

This week our bikes broke like 347230497012347 different times! Really it was only 4, but it takes like 3 hours each time to fix it so it's a drag. The bikes broke right next to a video game cafe and it took all the willpower I had to not go and watch people play Mario Kart 64 (the only reason i know it was Mario Kart 64 was because I'm amazing at listening to the sounds of games :))

We have a lot of awesome investigators and the work is moving forward. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I don't think you want me to leave Africa lol.

Some blessings that happened this week.
1. we have 2 new investigators that i think will be baptized soon
2. I haven't had any bad flesh wounds yet or thrown up.
3. We got to do service!
4. (the best one) I held a plank for 3 minutes flat.

This week I finished the book of Mormon. I know it's true. if it wasn't I would leave Africa this second. but it is true. It's so good that I am staying here to share it. When I read Moroni 8 1-3 I cried because I thought that it was the exact thing dad would say to me, but even more that it is what Heavenly Father says to all of us.

now for the fun parts :)

(before that... Why in the world don't we sing hymn 41 more often????????? It's like the best song ever!)

copyrights do not apply in Ghana (poor walmart)

This is what happens when you have leather, $40 emergency cash from your dad, and sweat. :) 

After 6 weeks you can see the difference

This is what we call a chocolate covered strawberry. ( it tastes like I could use my money better, but still fun to take a picture of)

I want to be the very best like no one ever wasssssssssssss

To catch them is my real test to train them is my cause POKEMON!!

I just realized... missionary work isn't much different than Pokemon....

(don't go throwing balls at people expecting them to get baptized... you need to get their HP down a bit first :))

Yes I'm a nerd.

Love you all
-Elder Ellsworth