Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing? It feels weird to think that the holidays are here. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I want you all to know that I am thankful for all of you guys and hope the best for you all. :)

This week we had a Zone Activity at the Zone Leader's chapel and we roasted a pig! Elder Kaivelta and Elder Kano took care of the cooking while the rest of us talked and played games at the chapel. We played dodge ball as districts and had a tournament, but unfortunately our district got out pretty fast ha-ha but it  was still fun! After wards we had some of the pig and some yams and it was delicious.

Roasting a pig in Cape Coast (from an earlier event)

 This week we also visited Elizabeth who lives right by the chapel. I don't believe I have mentioned her before. But we had a gospel conversation over there a little while ago and today was our first lesson with her. She seemed really excited and had very good questions, and said she would come to church on Sunday. After that lesson we saw Bianca and she actually lives by one of our members (Sister Vivian) and has a little shop and we went over lesson 1 with her,  but the kids got out of school so we didn't finish all of it, and so next time she asked us if we could come earlier and we said yes.

Some of our investigators in Swedru

 On Wednesday Elder Montgomery and I had kind of a slow day. We were heading to our first appointment when Bishop Wallace (Bishop of 3rd Ward) called and said we had to go back to our apartment and put out an empty gas tank for a driver to pick up and deliver to some of the Sister Missionaries in Winneba. So we traveled back to the apartment and put the gas tank out, and luckily we were in time because the driver came and picked it up 5 minutes after we arrived. Finally Elder Montgomery and I head back out and we shared a first lesson with a potential investigator named Isaac Benson and we addressed his concerns regarding Purgatory, Heaven and Hell and we gave him a Lesson 2 pamphlet. We were going through it small, but we didn't get very far; however, he seems excited to learn and grow. After that we Saw Mercy and she lives in a compound with some of our investigators (Specifically Comfort and Teresa) and we went over lesson 1 and she seemed to really enjoy it, but said she wouldn't be at church which is okay because we will be back to see her soon.

Some of the roads we travel

This week we also met with Bright who likes to ask questions A LOT and he kind of goes all over the place, so it's hard to have a set lesson with him because of his questions. But Elder Montgomery and I did our best to answer his questions and it looks like he really is interested in the Law of Chasity and the Word of Wisdom and we told him we would go over both of them on Sunday. We had to give him the low down about meeting him, because he lives outside of our Center of Strength (30 minutes of walking Distance any direction from the Chapel) and he isn't a referral from a member and hasn't been coming to church, so we  can't teach him out in Happy Home until he comes to church from now on. He said he would.

A crossroad we frequently pass to get to certain parts of the city

 We also followed up with Fredrick and the Restoration DVD we left him, and he said everything is true! Awesome right!? However he doesn't connect that we are THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH and doesn't understand  why baptism is necessary,  but somehow he committed to December 5th for Baptism and for coming to church on Sunday (which he REALLY needs to do).

Toward the end of the week we traveled to Cape Coast to have the doctors look at my toe, Yay! However we had to wait for the tro to fill for an hour,  but during that time we meet some people from Germany and Switzerland who were Oboruni and they were very nice. They are here for 3 months or less and it's for nursing and they asked about us and they asked how long we are staying here. We said 2 years they said, "Wow that's  too long" ha-ha.

Our address

Our street with a water tank

Our apartment

The doctor said that he wanted to do a small surgery on my toe and get the toe nail fixed but the doctor who could preform the operation wouldn't be in until the next morning, so Elder Montgomery and I got to stay in Cape Coast with the Assistants and that was very nice. They did the toe surgery to get my ingrown toe nail, and of course, Elder Montgomery  was making fun of me for the dress that I had to put on but he actually got to see the surgery. He told me that the ingrown nail was small but the root was big,  but now everything is good with my toe. :)

Now the numbness in my toe is wearing off so I can start to feel the pain now but we were able to go back to work and finish off the week. We visited with Daniel and His Family, teaching them lesson 2 and committing them to be baptized on January 9th (It definitely is a little far a way but we want to make sure that Abigail and her kids attend church enough times and to be fully prepared to make that covenant). After that we saw Stella! We  reviewed Lesson 1 with her and committed her to be baptized on December 5th! That is very close so we are going to do our best to help her be ready for that date.

On Sunday Elder Montgomery and I  tried to pick up some investigators for church but Elizabeth said she wouldn't be able to come until 2 and we tried to pick up Daniel and his Family, but Abigail was going somewhere and the kids had a birthday party, so they weren't able to come. However we did have 3 investigators come to church: Stella, Matilda, and Abina so that was nice.

Unfortunately neither Bright nor Fredrick came to church. We may have to resort to the D.O.D (Do or Die) Lesson with them. Which is sad but hopefully with time, these people will be ready for the gospel and I hope the best for them. Sunday is still a work day for us. So after Church Elder Montgomery and I were able to see Matilida and we went over Lesson 2 with her and we committed her to be baptized on December 5th!

Elder Montgomery and I are going to work hard this next week to make sure Stella and Matilda will be ready and hopefully things will work out. (We just need to get her mother's permission and then we will be good to go). As far as Stella goes, we went over the Book of Mormon Prayer with the Holy Ghost small and then went over Lesson 2. Everything is going well so far so hopefully things will work out for her and her baptism.

So that's all from this week. I hope you have recovered from eating all those potatoes and rolls. I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward