Hello Family and Friends!
It is so good to be writing to you all again, and I enjoy hearing from you all every week; thank you so much! Okay so this week was really good! So last Monday after Elder Day and I emailed, we walked to this watch shop to get his watch fixed and across the street these two prechers were going at it trying to Bible bash each other. They both had speakers and microphones and it was really intresting to see haha, although I had no idea what they were saying. On Tuesday all of the Zone met together to talk about MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) Report. I was really glad that I got some lined paper because I took 2 pages of notes. There were a lot of things for me to remember and work on so I was really grateful for that. :) On Thursday Elder Day hit his one year mark and that was really cool to witness that. He is a great guy, and that night we met a young woman named Stella. She is part of the Atta Family who is in our ward and her whole family are members except for her (I'm not sure why) so we are going to start teaching her tonight with her family for family home evening and commit her to be baptized at the end of this transfer (September 12th) so hopefully all will go well with that!

On Thursday night I was with Elder Bennion and I took the lead in our area. Haha I was pretty nervous because I never did that before, but it was really good and we were able to get some good lessons in, as well as Sister Martha's Baptsimal Interview and guess what.... SHE PASSED! We knew she would because she is very smart and has been coming to church for a long time now, but the other elder's just thought she was a member until we got here and she is just amazing. So Saturday rolled around and we had Sister Martha's Baptism! It was really great and a many members came to support her. The spirit was really strong, and I am so happy for her and for the commitment she has made to follow Jesus Christ.

On Sunday Sister Martha was confirmed a member of the church and recieved the holy ghost. Guess who got to confirm her? I did! Haha I was super nervous but my companion said it was good and it went well. I am so happy that It did because she is an awesome young woman, and I truly hope the best for as she continues to endure to the end. After Church on Sunday we went to the Acquah Family's house to visit them (And to see Brother Acquah because he wasn't at church again) but Elder Day and I were thinking, "Man we are hungry, we hope they feeed us" (because we didn't eat a huge breakfast) and they did. We had FuFu and it was good: groundnut and spinach with fish! So funny thing happnend next was that Sister Vivian (A Lady in our ward) was having a birthday party that day so she invited us to come, and she actually called us right before we started eating at the Acquah's. So after we left the Acquah's we went over there. And guess what? She made us FuFu because she asked us what we like and we said FuFu. We were full from the acquah\s house so we just shoved it in. I'm getting better at the whole just swallowing thing, but I'm not to good at just cutting it. Then we had some pancakes (They make panckaes in oil) and got this ginger drink! After Sister Vivan's Birthday Party we headed to the Atta Family's house to meet with Sister Stellas. Once there Sister Atta asked us to come sit down and we said okay, and she then asked us "Do you like soup" and we said of course we do, not thinking we were going to eat again but she comes out with a Bowl of Soup with Fish in it, and me and Elder Day are just SO full, but we somehow manged it. Funny thing afterwards was that she asked us if we wanted Fante Kan Kae and we were like "No, haha we are all good" because we were so full. So in one Day we got 3 FM's (Free Meals) Back to Back. IT was intense, and Elder Day took a picture on his camera with our faces and it's pretty funny.

As for myself, I am doing pretty well. But This week was really hard for me mentally. I had a doubts keep coming up, and it has really been hard for me to shake them. However I have really great companion who really helped me out this week, and gave me some great advice. There are two options in life whether we keep going and press on, or give up. that just really hit me this week, and as for myself I am not going to give up. That's just it. I really just love Preach My Gospel on Christlike attributes on Faith in Jesus Christ. It has just given me some new insight, and it makes me really think of how can we do Heavnely Father's will. The savior did the ultimate sacrfice and he didn't want to but becauuse he loved his HEavenly Father and us SO much he did the will of the father and because of that we have the greatest opportunity to return to our HEavenly Father. For me personally it has been hard this week but as I follow his will and continue serving I will be the man that Heavenly Father wants me to be, because he knows better and as I rely upon him and his will (even if I don't understand why) I will becoming who he wants me to be. Anyway just a thought I was having this week. I love you all, and I hope you are all doing well. Stay strong, and I will talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Harward

Monday August 17th,

Hello Family and Friends!
It's so great to hear from you all, and I am so greatful for your emails and all the detail that you put in them. :) Thank you so much! Alright so the word of the week I decided to change because it's actually the word my Dad sent me and I really thought about it and it seemed really right to use it, so it's "Kaeme" which means Remember Me. That seems so fitting for what happened this week and for what I have been feeling for Heavenly Father's love for all of His children.

Monday was a great day and the best birthday present I had was being out here in Ghana, and it was so great. On Tuesday this week we had our first district meeting as a new district with Elder Larsen, Elder Sithole, and Elder Hekking being the new Elders in our district. It was a great meeting, and I learned a lot; however I was really excited when district meeting was over to find 2 packages for me from Grandma! Thank you grandma. :) It was great! After district meeting we went to a chop bar and I had FuFu which was really good! Okay so the rest of the week we really focused on Brother Alex and helping him, so he would be ready for his interview, and guess what? He passed! It was so great and saturday was a special day. To see him get baptized was so cool, and I was really touched by what he said to me after the baptism. HE said, "So we're friends" and I said, "Of course, Forever." It really touched me to see him come unto this gospel and I hope to stay in contact with him and to really see his progression in the gospel. The spirit was so strong and it was a great night.

After the baptism we played extreme ping pong and it was Father against Son, so Elder day and I faced each other. So the game of ping pong is the same but whoever loses turns around and the other person gets a free shot at the person's back. Haha...I got 4 welts! So yes, I lost but it was fun. After that we stayed around the chapel for 3rd ward Drama Night. I got to praticipate in musical chairs and a dance competition. On Sunday Brother Alex was confirmed a member and received the Aaronic Priesthood. I loved it. I just really have been thinking about how much Heavenly Father loves us all and wants us all to come back. Maybe we can be the instrument to help them come back. "Remember Me....Kaeme." I hope to try and remember all of God's children and really love them. I hope you all have a great week. Sorry this is so short but I love you all. Stay strong! I'll talk to you soon.
Love,
Elder Harward

Monday August 10th

Hello Family and Friends! I hope you are all doing well! So first of all Twi phrase of the week is Kia-Kaha! It means Forever Strong. I found it at the back of our cook book and I asked Elder Day what it meant so I thought it was pretty cool.

This week has been a great week! On Wednesday Elder Day and I met with a 15 year old girl named Martha. We saw her at church a lot and we thought she was a member, but I guess she has been coming to church for 3 years and hasn't been taught by the missionaries. Her brother Kofi and Sister Akoua are members and they usually take her to church. So we went over there and we asked her what she learned from the pamphlet of the restoration, and she taught us everything from the pamphlet. It really blew us away! We extended a baptismal date to her for the 22nd of August, and she accepted! SO awesome! Then we headed to Brother Frank's house and picked him and headed to mutual. It was a lot of fun and we played a couple of small games like Book of Mormon names (Where we have to say a person from the Book of Mormon and can't repeat any names or you're out). Elder Tyson and his companion Elder Hekking, from California joined us. He is a cool guy, who played quarterback at his high school. He actually signed to play football with the University of Utah, so he is kind of a big deal and is a pretty cool guy.

On Thursday our whole apartment left at 5:00AM to go to the Winneba Stake Center to see the group going home. It was great to see the Elders that I knew my first transfer and to wish them luck and to see them off. It definitely brought up some feelings of home, but I thought of how lucky I am to serve and my feelings didn't last too long. After that we did some Weekly Planning and had some lessons and it was great. Friday thru Saturday we saw Brother Alex, Sister Anita, and Sister Martha a couple of times and they are doing really well. Sister Anita goes to Chosen Race for her church and is a teacher there (She is only 15) and is pretty active, so we have been trying small through Mutual and really focusing on The Restoration, and hopefully she will continue to learn and grow. Sunday was a great day, and also very intresting. Elder Day actually got to speak in church, and he did a great job (He only had less than 6 minutes to prepare it) , and it was powerful, and the spirit was really there with him. After church we went to Brother Frank's house and had Jollof and it was delicious! Then we went to Bishop's house and had more Jollof with goat. That was the first time I had goat, and it was good.

After we were at the bishop's house we decided to head home, and it's a good thing we did at the time because there is a Swedru Festival going on for 10 Days and it is crazy! I guess everyone wants to come here for the festival, so it is really packed with people. So as we were walking home we saw people dancing in the streets and people arguing looking like they might fight, so we tried to avoid any conflict at all possible. However I bumped into this guy on accident and he said, "Watch Your Step," and I said, "Oh Madasi" (thank you) but the way he looked at me and said that, I knew he had just threatened me, so I got a little nervous and just kept walking, hoping nothing would happen. Elder Day asked what the guy said and I told him, and he told me he would have beaten the guy up if he did anything, and that was really nice that he had my back. He really never beats me up haha, he just pretends to, and I pretend like I can beat him up.

SO Today is my Birthday! :) So great! The greatest birthday present ever is to be out serving here in Ghana. I love it so much! It's hard but really great! So this morning actually I got "Baptized." Elder Day was joking with me that there was going to be a baptism this week, but I was confused with what he meant. So after our apartment devotional they told me to come out side and to look for my birthday present in the weeds and I was like okay. And as I was looking Elder Day and Elder Tyson come up behind me and just dumped water on me. They said I got baptized for my birthday, and then they soaked me at least 4 more times-haha! It was great! :) Elder Hekking took a video of it and it is pretty funny. So other than my baptism everything is pretty normal around here--just a normal P-day worth of laundry and cleaning. I hope you are all doing well! The gospel is so true. Remember to be resilient, as my mom always explained to me, like a bouncy ball. Sometimes you have those hard times, but's it what you do with those hard times and how get back up that defines you. We just need to keep trying and have that faith. Stay strong! I hope you all have a good week and I will talk to you soon! :)

Love,

Elder Harward

Monday August 3rd

Hello Family and Friends!

So I am officially done with my first transfer, and half way through my training. This past transfer has just flown by and I am so glad that I get to be here on my mission and serve. So Twi word of the week is "Kwame" which means Saturday. A lot of people in Ghana will ask you for your name and one way you say your name is the day you were born. So I was born on Saturday and I would tell them Kwame, and they laugh and smile. It's pretty cool. :)

This week has been great and it went by so fast. Tuesday after district meeting Elder Day and I were finally able to meet with Sister Vida again and we went over Lesson 2 on the Plan of Salvation and it was really good, and she is doing really well. We also meet with Teresa again (The one I gave the pamplet on the way to Paa Joe's a while back) and we went over the restoration. She is doing well, and we are hoping she will come to church soon. That night we met with Anita who is 15 year old girl, (Although she really looks like 20 no joke, and Elder Day and I were suprised when she told us her age), and we set up a time when we can meet with her again and told her about mutual! On Wednesday we had mutual again in our ward and Sister Stella (Young Woman President) asked if we could teach the lesson, so we said yes. I was pretty nervous but the lesson went well and it was on the importance of temple ordinances. I talked about Katie and Eric and their sealing and how it was the crowning Ordinance in the temple and our temple recommend is a symbol of our worthiness; it was great. After Mutual we had PEC (Priesthood Executive Committee) and that was really good because we didn't have one the past few weeks. The one thing that really stood out to me from what we wrote down was that almost all the people need a fellowshipper. Everybody needs a friend, and it's so important that they feel loved and wanted at church, and that's something I wish I was better at when I was home.

Thursday and Friday were kind of slow but we were able to meet with Alex and that was really good. He is doing really well; in fact we saw him on Saturday as well and we have been able to teach him a lot. We are hoping he will make the 15th of August so I will keep you updated on that. :) Also we saw Sister Lawe on Thursday and checked up on her (Her family is a little less active). She actually got malaria so that's not too nice, so we have just been checknig up on her and showing our love for her. Oh on Friday I got a nice suprise when I came home as I received my package from my family and letters from my friends, and that was really nice and I loved both the package and the letters. :) Thank you guys so much! On Saturday Elder Day and I went with the young men and women to go running at 5:00 in the Morning. It was fun to run again, (although I am out of shape) and it was cool because I've never run in Africa before, so that was great! We ran all the way to the chapel and did a small workout and then cleaned the chapel after the workout. It was nice! So they young men and woman are doing that every Saturday so we are going to join them, and hopefully I will get better haha! That night we were able to meet with Alex, and actually meet with a less active young woman named Belinda. We are starting to teach her the lessons again and are encouring her to come to mutual and chruch again, so we are hoping. Saturday was also the Transfer Call Day. Elder Day and I were not worried (because we knew we would stay due to me being in training), but the other set of missionaries, Elder Tyson and Elder Nwatah, were a little nervous because on Tuesday Elder Tyson got the call that he was going to be training and went to the trainer's meeting on Friday. So we all knew that Elder Nwatah was leaving. He is being trasferred to Cape Coast as a District Leader and he will be good! Sunday was so awesome! Elder Day and I weren't able to meet with Brother Paa Joe this past weeek and when we tried calling him his phone was off, so we didn't expect him to come to church (we usually remind him the night before) but he showed up all by himself and remembered. It was SO powerful! It really touched me that he really wants to draw closer until this gospel and is really trying. He even took notes during priesthood on how to confirm somebody after baptism, haha he is such a cool guy!

Yesterday for P-Day we had a district activity and that took up a lot of time so I wasn't able to email until today. We made our own FuFu with Palm Nut (AbenKwine) soup, and we watched the Saratov Approach. It was great, and the Fufu was nice. Some of the elders after the movie were joking with me because I'm new and they told me not to get kidnapped haha. I told them that I wasn't too worried because Elder Day is tough and could probably take them (remember the bruises?) But Ghana is a really safe place, so I'm not too worried and we just continue to rely on the Lord and we will be okay. :) That night we went to Brother Fred's house and had more FuFu. I was still full after our district meeting, so it was a little tough but I tried my best haha. As for this week I have just really been reflecting on the Savior's Atonement and how grateful I am for it. He went through so much pain and anguish that He bled from every pore. Sometimes I think what I am going through is hard but then I think of Him and His love and devotion. I am paying such a small price, and the heartache or the pain is temporary and He understands it all, and it really just amazes me at how when I rely upon Him, I am happier and how grateful I am for his love. Last night I just looked at how beautiful Ghana is and I really had forgotten what a great place this is and how wonderful I get to be here and serve, and I felt my Savior's love and knew that He cares for me and loves me. It's something that I am really working on, and I feel happy when I continue to serve and really lose myself, and look towards the Savior and it is such a blessing to be here. I hope that you all have a great rest of the week and continue to be strong, and I'll talk to you on my birthday. Isn't that cool? :) Alright until, then stay strong!
Love,
Harward