Sunday, December 27, 2015

New Companion-Elder Jones

Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing? :) I hope you are all had a great Christmas and have had fun playing in the snow. I LOVED talking with you and skyping on Christmas Day. 

Last week Elder Jones and I had an okay week. He is a great guy you know? He has a pretty serious girlfriend back home and I kind of make fun of him for it because he tells me he is not getting married till 2020, but I think it will be more like 2018 ha-ha!

So Monday came around and we had a zone activity at the Winneba Chapel. We played some games and ate some fried rice so that was a lot of fun! I am not good at playing football like the Ghanaians,  but it was fun!
On Tuesday Elder Jones and I had a slow day, but we did see Bianaca and met a group of guys and had a nice lesson with them and that was really nice!
Wednesday was another slow day, but Elder Jones and I did see a less active named Delove and pretty cool story actually, is that Delove is Theopolius' younger brother. Crazy right? Well he told us flat out that he knew he was less active due to boarding for S.H.S. but he promised that he would be better especially since he vacated from school and that was pretty nice.
Thursday rolled around and Elder Jones and I saw Martha and she is doing really and is just super sweet.
On Friday I got the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Griffin! So he is Elder Wightman's companion and he came with me to my area and he is just 2 transfers behind me (so in Elder Montgomery's group) and it was a really slow day .Everything fell through, which was tough, but we did our best to talk to everyone we met and actually we saw this kid and he was playing football and we played with him and he was saying" give me money, my mother died,  my father died" and of course we could tell he was lying, but we did get some pictures together and I got to wear his hat for a second ha-ha! Elder Griffin is a cool guy who is 19 years old and he actually is going to SUU to become a doctor/Side career in Acting, so that's cool!



On Saturday our whole zone was in Winneba for Leadership training/ Carols Night... Okay so on  the way there though we took a tro as always  but we got through some bumpy parts because they don't  repave roads often, but we hit this bump and we got airborne for like a second or less and it was fun! Riding in Tros is like riding in Roller Coasters :) You never know what to expect. But eventually we got to the meeting and the Accra west missionaries are there and they make plans with the wards there and President Hill talks to them about their plans and he seems like he is going to do a lot of great things! That night we had Carols Night and the missionaries actually sung and that was fun! I also got some I am proud to be Mormon bracelets and I gave some to our recent converts  (I kept one for myself) but it was a fun night!

On Sunday it was a good day at church.  Paa Joe came to church \which was good! SO we will hope the best for him :) we saw Georgina and Elizabeth and talked about the Book of Mormon and it was really good, and we saw Isaac Ampnosh but he was drunk and we gave him the "We won't be coming back" type of deal but I hope the best for him and that he will follow Jesus Christ. We told him that when he come s to church then we will go and see him again. That night we saw Stella and we went over some commandments and that was really great!


That's all from this week! This week we had zone conference for Christmas (the zone is did a gift exchange in the morning and then we got to call home :))  So this week is going to be a good week, and hopefully I can serve these people and truly remember the Savior always. I hope you all have a happy holiday. 
Love,
Elder Harward

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Matilda's Baptism and Goodbye Elder Montgomery

Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing? Are you all excited for Christmas? :) I love it when they play Christmas music here in Ghana because it reminds me a little bit of home. So guess what? It's Hamattan! (Or the Dry Season) It has officially started as of Friday. I was looking at the air and I was thinking "Why is it so foggy?" But Elder Wightman explained that it's the dust from the Sahara Desert blowing over here and so and it will last for a couple of months or so. So it's foggy every day kind of reminding me of winter, but definitely not anything close to what you guys are experiencing. 

Okay so as for this week!  On Monday we had a zone activity at Winneba Beach! We had A LOT of fun and Elder Montgomery and I brought our Christmas Hats and took pictures on top of the boat and we had a good time. That night Elder Montgomery and I went to FHE with Elder Wightman and Elder Kavilata to Brother Fred and His family's home. They made us DELICIOUS FuFu with Light soup and I really enjoyed it! (They make REALLY good Light soup) After wards we only had a small time but Elder Kavilata and Elder Montgomery said good bye and Brother Fred shared a great scripture in Mosiah about being born on God and it was a nice FHE.




On Tuesday we had District Meeting and Elder Larsen (Our Zone leader) gave one of his lasts instructions and it was on remembering and he really focused on Lesson 1 and the points of Lesson 1 and what we can do to improve as missionaries and that was a really neat lesson! After that Elder Montgomery and I saw Matilida in the evening and we just finished up Lesson 4 with her and Matilde is doing really well. After That Elder Montgomery and I saw Sister Vida and Theolopus and we just watched Finding Faith In Christ with them because we thought they were leaving soon, but Theodosius told us that he didn't want to Sister Vida to travel in December and so they won't do the Knocking or Bride Price until January 1st so hopefully all will go well with that, but we just really wanted them to keep pressing forward and really follow the savior.
We saw this little girl who had a SUU shirt. I asked her if she knew what her shirt meant, but she didn't. But it made me think of home.

Wednesday and Thursday were both pretty slow days but Elder Montgomery and I were able to see Matilde both Days. On Wednesday Elder Montgomery and I stayed for Mutual and Elder Montgomery taught the youth how to sing and I did a small role play where I was an old man and the youth came over and were showing to me service and that was fun. As for Matilde on Wednesday we finished Lesson 5 and Thursday we interviewed the Baptismal interview questions and got her information and she really understood it and truly was ready for Baptism. (We also confirmed her Mother's permission to baptize her so that was amazing!!!) On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Kavilata and that's when Hamattan started and it was a good day. It was a holiday (Farmer's day) and everybody was gone so our appointments fell through but we did go to Richards Baptismal Interview and he passed! After that the family brought out Cocotena (Face the Wall) which is like a softer FuFu but it's weird because the dough is hot and not the soup but it was pretty good! Elder Wightman and Elder Montgomery came right as we were eating and Matilde Passed her Interview and she asked Elder Montgomery to baptize her and that was really neat!!!
 

Finally it was Saturday and our apartment went to Chapel Cleaning in the Morning and then came back home and did our studies and eventually we Had Matilde’s and Richard's Baptisms (We combined with 3rd ward0 and it was SO great! The service was spiritual (I got to talk on the Holy Ghost) and the Holy Ghost really was testifying there at the service and it was so great. I am SO grateful that Elder Montgomery and I get to be an instrument in the Lord's hands because it is his work and if we listen to the spirit and follow its promptings we will always find those who the lord needs us to find. After the baptism our district headed to Ryan's Restaurant to await Transfer news and our zone is last (Winenba) so it takes a while but after we eat us all split up and we got back to the apartment. We sit down and then we go the call from the zone leaders, so here we go.... I am staying yay! I wasn't surprised by that, but my new c companions name is Elder Jones. There are two Elder Jones in the Mission and I know both (One is my in my MTC group and one is in the office) so I don't know who is coming but I ready to work hard these last 6 weeks before Accra West comes in. (This is the last transfer I will be here for sure because next transfer everyone goes for sure). I Was Sad to see Montgomery go but that night we took our Christmas Pictures and they are awesome! (Did you see the lights in the background!? IT really is looking like Christmas!)




On Sunday we had Fast and Testimony Meeting. Matilda was confirmed a member and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost and it was amazing! Elder Montgomery gave his last testimony and it was sad, and the ward will miss him. After Church we had to go home and Get Elder Montgomery y Packed because he was leaving on Monday then on Wednesday (which is usually when people switch around) but after he got packed, we headed over to Aboso to have a party with the other Elders and it was fun!
Our District
Today I actually said goodbye to Elder Montgomery and that was hard. I will miss him, but I learned so much from him and we had some great moments together. I know he is going to do great things in Liberia and that the Lord has great things in store for him. Anyways that is all here from me. I I hope you all have a good week! Enjoy the weather okay? :)
Love,

Elder Harward