Goodbye Nkanfoa, Hello Ntranoa, Quad Companionship, and Prisoners Pounding the FuFu

Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing this week? I hope that you are all doing well!

This week was pretty great, and now I am here in Ntranoa and it is pretty great. The Ntranoa area consists of Assianmo (where we stay about 20 minutes’ walk into Ntranoa), Koful, Quarters (I think because of the prisons nearby), Abee, and Simeo. I have only been to Assianmo, Quarters, Ntranoa and Koful, but Elder Kiiza has never been to Abee or Simeo, so we might explore the less actives there or we shall see what we have time for.

Monday was my last P-Day in Nkanfoa and we had a Zone Activity at the mission home. There we played some games, had some food. It was great.

Tuesday was my last Supply Day and I got a package from my family and Uncle Ed's Letter, so that was nice! After Supplies I said my last goodbyes to Quartsons, Bishop, and his family, and Sister Theresa and her family. I love them all so much!!!! Oh and I was packing... Super Fun ha-ha!

Wednesday morning- Finished last minute packing and said goodbye to Elder Adams and then Elder Johnson dropped me off at Pedu Station and then I met my 3 companions when they came: Elder Kiiza, Elder Park, and Elder Nsenga (I'll talk about them next time), but then we got in a taxi and we headed to Ntranoa. 

We are in between Abura and Elmina, so it's a bit of a smaller place but I love it! And there is this HUGE tree that we walk by every day which is so great!!! I got my first tour of the place and I was able to go out Friday and Sunday as well. Thursday and Saturday I was with Elder Park with his toe, but I will explain more about that later.

Sorry this email is really lame this week, but Ntranoa is great, and the pictures of our apartment is nice (We are in the small place, not in the big place--that's our landlord’s.) I will write a better next week!

Love you all have a great week okay!!!!

Love,

Elder Harward

    

The Second Part is of Millcent and her baby and they are great and of Vida, Mary, and Ninson (The three of them) We also have this cool taxi that's small and we found a cricket outside our apartment, oh and Sister Sophia thought my name was Hayward so we went ot the monument in Koful for this football player that died here in Ghana and the father build a school in remembrance of him. Anyways Ntranoa is inbetween Abura and Elmina so it's a smaller place but I love it here so far!!! :) Oh the picture of the person I was standing with Earlier is Elder Kiiza by the way, and we have this HUGE tree on the way to our apartment and I love that Tree, it makes me happy!

The Working Continuing on, Transfer News, and Last Full week here in Nkanfoa.

Suffer the Children

 Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing this week? I hope that you are all enjoying life, and that you are having lots of fun adventures! This past week has definitely been interesting, and kind of a roller coaster for me.
 

Monday of course was P- Day. :)

On Tuesday we had District Meeting and Sister Newton instructed us on our purpose as missionaries and then we did our supplies (We have a jam song to Ye Elders of Israel that's on this CD in the Tro that we take in to Cape Coast, so it's always fun to blast that song)

Wednesday we saw Francis and we talked with him about The Word of Wisdom.Then we saw John and we read with him from 1st Nephi and he is doing well at reading on his own! We read chapter 5 and 6 and it was really nice to see him. Then we saw Michael by himself and tried talking to him, and it was pretty good. He is doing well, but his English is not as well as we thought, so we it was harder to help him understand our message on the Book of Mormon. His brother Derick knows English better so we assumed he did too, but we will for sure bring a translator with us for sure next time. That night on Wednesday it rained really REALLY hard. Elder Johnson and I got soaked because the other elders wanted us to get rice for them, and we did at Mame Patricia's rice stand, and then ran to the Tro and we are just soaked from the whole thing, but it was really great!
 

 

Thursday was a bit of a slower day but Elder Johnson and I did go and see Mary and Regina and talked a little bit about baptism.

Friday we got some work done on our Central Region orders that we had to do. Our supply room looks a little different and it's pretty nice because we have extra shelves put in so we can grab the bleach, dish soap, and hand soap pretty easily now, and it's great! Elder Johnson had some great ideas, and it really has helped out supplies a lot. That night we went to Green Hill were I did 2 interviews for the Green Hill 2 Sisters and it was really nice: One was a 14 year old young woman named Velina and and the other was a 20 year old man named Isaac Menash and it was really nice to hear about their experience in the church so far. After that Elder Johnson ad I got the 10 fried rice down in Cape Coast (We can only get it when we go into Cape Coast at night and that's pretty rare and it's expensive for rice, so this was the 2nd time I've done it) but it was really nice, and the guy was a pro at doing 10 orders at once.
 

Saturday we weren't able to see anyone because the members went to do a Temple Trip in Accra, so we couldn't have anyone come with us to translate so that was sad. However Elder Johnson and I did go to the Green Hill Sisters Baptism that evening. The Bishop did the baptisms (Since his daughter was also getting baptized) .After that we went to our transfer party and I found out my transfer news! So... I am getting Transferred! I am going to a place called Ntranoa. It's a Branch! And that makes me really excited because I have only served in wards so far. But we had some crazy stuff happen with this new transfer. Nkanfoa and Green Hill are going to Yamoransa Zone and so Yamoransa zone spilt (Being so big). So now we have a new zone called Mankessim Zone. Ntranoa used to be in the Elmina zone but President Stevenson is moving it to Cape Coast. So I am staying in the Same Zone, and I will be with the Abura Sisters in our district, so that's cool! I also am in a 4-some. Yeah a quad companionship. So I have 3 companions. This being because Elder Park had some pretty bad ingrown toe nail and they removed it but they messed up the part in between his big toe and the other toe so he had had a slower recover back to full time. So one person will be with him at at the apartment and help him if he needs to go to DIS to get rebandaged and all that fun stuff. The other two will go out and proselyte. So we will take turns with that (I'm assuming). So my new companions are Elder Park, Elder Kiiza, and Elder Nsenga (Elder Nsenga is my TC) so it's going to be really interesting, but I am excited because I get to be full time again! 
 

 
Sunday was my last time in Nkanfoa, and I gave my departing testimony. It was hard, because I started saying goodbye, and I don't like to say goodbyes. You know the rest. After lunch Elder Johnson and I went around to see some members to say goodbye and wish the best for them. My love for the people here in Nkanofa has grown so much and I learned a lot from being here.
 

 
I am really going to miss them.
 
 I love all of the people here but I know that the work moves on and that the Lord has people prepared in Ntranoa, and that Elder Johnson and Elder Simpson will do great things here. I am really going to miss Elder Johnson by the way. Really cool guy, and a good friend to me. He helped me improve and grow, and I really appreciate all the help he has given me. The more I have gotten to know him the more I am impressed by his dedication and service. I told him he has to come to Salt Lake to say hi, and he says he will, so that's cool. But a really great missionary, and a good friend so I know he is going to do great things.

 

 

Anyways that's all the news for this week. I love you all so much. I hope that you are all having lots of fun adventures, and that you all had a nice Father's Day. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward
 

Saying Goodbye to Elder Reyes, The Work Continuing, Rainy Season is Back, and One Year on Mission!!

Rainy Season is back and it came hard this week. It rained almost every day this week, and it's quite fun:  one moment it will just be a sprinkle and the next moment it will just start to pour, and you have to book it for shelter.

On Monday we had a FHE with Bishop and his family and we talked about 1st Nephi Chapter 8 with the Tree of Life. Every time in a verse when it described something, we had Bishop and his family draw it on a big piece of paper, and it was a lot of fun. We also talked about the Temple being a goal in their lives. Baptism is just the gate but our goal as missionaries is to help people endure to the end and to feel of our Savior's love, and we can really feel of that love in the Temple. It was a nice lesson!

Tuesday was our MLC report with the Zone. It was really good. The Zone Leaders talked about Qualifications for Baptism and what that should be like. The Zone Leaders said that the Assistants talked about District Leader Training, so I don't know what that's going to be like, but I am going on an exchange with them next week so we shall see. The big thing we talked about was from the Sister Training Leaders from President Stevenson and the rules between Elders and Sisters. Basically talking about the do's and don’t’s between each other. It was a good reminder because we need to avoid all appearance of evil. Elder Johnson and I are going out earlier on our supply days to proselyte and then take the hours to do office work at night; that way we can see more people, and because of that we saw Helina and it was really nice!

Wednesday Elder Reyes went on Emergency Transfer to replace Elder Adams, and Elder Adams is now in the office and will be the new Financial Secretary, so I said goodbye to him.

 But after that we saw Francis and I got my shoes back and they look really nice, and it's pretty sweet! We also finished Lesson 3 with him and gave him a baptismal date for July 2nd! It was really great! He is a really great guy, and he is progressing really well. 

Then Elder Johnson and I saw Micheal and Derick and we went through Lesson 1 and it was really nice. They understood it pretty well, and Bro. Sagoe helps us in case they don't understand our English, but they are doing well. We saw Mary, Regina, and Mercy (Who all live by Sister Theresa) and it was a nice lesson. We also saw John Aggrey and we reviewed 2nd Nephi 31 with Him and read that chapter with him.

 We actually got soaked Thursday night coming home and we just had to run to the truck so that was fun! We actually took an apartment picture of us soaked!

On Saturday we were able to see A-Boss and read with him from the Book of Mormon in 2nd Nephi and afterwards he actually gave us a referral! Then we saw Helina and talked with her about the sacrament and what that means, and she said she would come to church, but she didn't but we will keep trying. We think she needs a little more encouragement and support and then she will come back. Then we met with John and read a different chapter with him and at the end of the night we stopped by Albert and just talked about his needs and concerns. This night we got some pizza from one of the guards that went to Accra, and it was really nice.

 Sunday was my one year mark!!! Party! Haha just kidding, but we went to church and we had ALL of our investigator show up that we taught and that was a really neat miracle that happened this week. All of them were able to partake of the sacrament and feel of our Savior's love, and I am really excited to see how they learn and grow. We also had President and Sister Stevenson come to our ward. One of their daughters is here for a small time to visit, so they came to our ward. The rain spoiled our plans for the rest of the night but we did manage to get a lesson in with John before the rain got bad again. Then I made popcorn to celebrate my one year mark Party!!!

 Well that's all for this week! I hope that you are all doing well that you are enjoying life, I think and pray for you all.

Just a quick thought that I had on Sunday. I can't believe that it has been 1 year since I came to Ghana, and I love being a missionary, and I hope it doesn't go by too fast; this truly is the Lord's work. We can all be a part of the Lord's work, and sometimes (Even I back home) think that it's just too hard, but really the missionaries who are the most powerful... just follow the spirit. They may not know all the lessons, or might not know what to say with a scripture or anything, but as we follow the spirit, we can really know what to say at the right time at the right place to really help them. As we learn of Jesus Christ, we will gain more love for Him and then we will have more desire to serve Him, and that's something I am even trying to improve on as a missionary. Continue to apply the atonement in your live EVERY DAY because repenting then becomes a blessing, not a burden because it allows us to be better representatives of Jesus Christ.

I hope that I can say at the end of my mission I gave everything to the Lord, and that I did everything I can to do His will and to follow Him. I love being here, and I hope it doesn't go by too fast because I know I will miss this one day.

I love you all. :) Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward

Elder Johnson's Birthday, His Foot, and Going Exchanges with Elder Jager and Elder Reyes

I I just have to say how grateful I am for Ghana. The back part of our apartment looks so green and there are these huge trees which makes me really appreciate how much our Heavenly Father loves and how wonderful it is to be living here at this time.

Tuesday was Elder Johnson's Birthday!!! He turned 19 years old, so I  told him I was going to baptize him, and he wasn't too thrilled about it, and he told me he would get me back if I did it; but I still did it haha! Elder Reyes and I had this plan that I would buy everyone biscuits and give it out to our District and then Elder Reyes would give each of us Pure Water to help us "Wash Down the Biscuits." But the whole District was in on it so we planned on NOT drinking the water but just talking and then waiting for the code sentence "Sister Danga what is your favorite color?" (Said by Elder Reyes) And we would just spray him with the water! So I was trying to be discrete about it, especially when buying the biscuits and it worked well. Later we had District Meeting and I instructed on How do I Study Effectively and Prepare People to Teach for PMG Chapter 2 and I talked a little bit about Joseph Smith and his experience before the First Vision, with him pondering the  Scriptures, and having that real intent to know the answer. I really enjoyed it, and the contributions from the District were really nice, and I learned some new things to apply as a missionary. So after the instruction we followed through with our plan and we got him wet! It was SO great! Elder  Johnson had a feeling this would come so he brought his silly string and sprayed some of it on me, but I guess it was out so I had this nice blue spot on my shirt, and he used his water to get me wet, so that was nice, but I think he had a really good birthday! After District Meeting we did our Supplies and we took some photos (For Elder Johnson's Birthday) on our loop run on the way to the mission home, and it was a good day.

 Wednesday we saw Francis. Francis actually repairs shoes and is a security guard at night, so he is a pretty busy guy! But we usually teach him at his shoe stand in Nkanfoa and I was talking to him and he does some really great work to fix shoes! I was impressed. I actually showed him a pair of my shoes in which part of the tread on the bottom has fallen off. Since I walk on my side half of both of shoes on this pair the tread is competely off but the other half is okay, so I asked him if he could fix it and he said yes! I was hoping to make my shoes last my whole mission and that's plan still. He is doing really well (I will get a picture with him soon) and we just finished Lesson 2 about Where we will go after we die.

 

The next day we talked a little bit about Faith and Repentance (Lesson 3) and he understood it well. As he would say it "Sweet Sweet" we combined this lesson with the woman next to him (She told us her sister was a member and she has come before but just hasn't been taught. She is a bit older so we need a translator to teach her) and it was pretty nice, but hopefully we can see Gifty (The woman) by herself next time. Then I started my exchange that evening with Elder Jager! He is Elder Griffin's TC and is from Oregon! he is a great guy, and after Coordination MEeting we saw John Agrrety in our ward and talked to him about his baptismal coventatn and it was a sweet lesson, and I enjoyed the exchange.

Friday and Saturday were slow, due to supplies on Friday and Elder Johnson's Foot is not looking to well, it actually keeps getting worse so we are going to the hospital today it check that out (It's especially bad by his toe next to the big One) so hopefully he can get better so he can walk. (Keep him in your prayers please :) )

Sunday came around and it was really nice! Francis came to church again and the meeting was good. I planned on an exchange with Elder Reyes before Elder Johnson's foot problem but we were able to still go on our exchange and Elder Johnson rested in the office with the other elders. But we had a great time, we saw a good handful of Members and talked to them and we even saw James Aypiey (who is one of our members ex husband) and we talked to him about Repentance (He is pretty less active) and tried to encourage him to take any steps of repentance that he needs to in his life and follow Jesus Christ, it was a nice exchange!

This next week I hit my one year mark on Sunday! I think I am going to make popcorn to celebrate :)

Haha anyways I love you all and pray for you. Have a great rest of the week!

Love,

Elder Harward

(P.S. if you could pray for Francis/Elder Johnson  that would be much appreciated :) ) 

Zone Conference, The Work moving on, and Meeting with Micheal, Derick and John Agrrey

Hello Family and Friends! How are you all doing this week? I hope that all is going well for you and that you are enjoying SUMMER! Party! Okay so as for this week it was a pretty nice week.

Monday/Tuesday- Of course Monday was P- Day and Tuesday we just did our Supplies (We had no district Meeting again due to Zone Conference) and that was nice.

Okay Wednesday was Zone Conference for the Cape Coast Zone!!! :) It really was so good. Our Zone Leaders talked about Putting on The Whole Armor of God and that was really nice. Then The Assistants talked to us about Goals, Why do we have goals, and the point of Goals and how to make SMART-ER goals (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Reward, Time Based, Evaluate, and Revise) and their instruction was really nice. Then we had some nice rice and chicken for lunch :) After lunch President Stevenson talked to us about Key Indicators, that they are not about the number but about helping how to help people progress so that was nice. Then we talked about the Weekly Planning Session! Yay! Weekly Planning can be really boring at times, but President Stevenson helped us understand the importance of it and it was really good! After Zone Conference Elder Johnson and I helped Jesse load the Truck with Supplies and it was nice :)

 

Thursday was Weekly Planning! It literally was 3 hours and I got distracted a couple of times, but it really was effective and I can see how effective planning really makes a difference in our goals and I think it's going to be a good week this week :) After Weekly Planning we saw Francis and we talked about the B.O.M and it was really good lesson. We are working on Brother Yanka to be a good fellowshipper for him, so hopefully that works out. Then we had our Coordination meeting and that was nice.

So this is the fried rice I get every time we go to Mame Patricia's Rice Stand at night. It is SO SO good, but definitely not healthy. The black stuff on top of it is called Shit-o (Litererally that's what they call it) but it's actually really Good! It's spicy and hot and I always ask mame patricia to add plenty of it on my rice and she does and it is so good!

Friday was another day of supplies! But first we went to go to Green Hill to do a baptismal interview for a woman named Cecilia, and I really enjoyed  the interview. Then we had supplies, so it was nice! PEC didn't happen that night and our appointments that we planned didn't work out, but that's okay.

Saturday was a nice day. Elder Johnson and I saw Francis and we went over part of Lesson 2, and it was really nice and he is doing really well! Then we saw Michael and his brother Derick (Edward Moses referral he came with us with Brother Sagoe) and we had a nice first lesson with them. We also met with Comfort Appieye, and it was nice to talk to her and her son and we are trying to help them. Elder Johnson and I finally then saw John Aggrey (A less-active young man) and we tried committing him to church but he actually didn't come.

Sunday came around and it actually was our “Invite a friend” to Sacrament Meeting Sunday! Christiana brought her younger sister named Cecilia who just recently moved into Nkanfoa, and it was really nice, so hopefully we can see her and help her learn and grow. Elder Johnson and I also talked To John Aggreay and tried to help him understand continuing on and enduring to the end, and it was a nice lesson! He reminds me a bit of me, like when sometimes it was really hard to go to church because I felt like it would be better to stay at home, but I told him that  it doesn’t make you happy. It didn’t make me happy. But When I relied upon the Savior and really started applying the gospel into my life, that's when church really started to make sense, and I tried helping him understand and relate to him.

Well that is all for this week! I hope that you are all enjoying and are having lots of fun adventures! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Harward