Last Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

Well can you believe it? This is the last email from Ghana that you guys will receive from me. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL!

This last week was pretty nice. We gave out a total of B.O.Ms........ 152! Yay!! I wanted to push myself from the 100 and do more and we did it with that and I am so grateful for sharing the Book of Mormon it really helped me to testify of it more. Other than that we have been seeing some few members and Investigators. We even got to eat some Cake! I was surprised to see this stand and they wanted us to buy so they lowered the price for us. IT WAS SO GOOD! Although after I ate it I wasn't feeling super hot haha. My body is not used to Sugar right now, but I am sure I will get there haha. I also got to instruct on Tuesday and I guess I am Instructing again this last Tuesday (In front of the whole zone) so I will tell you guys about it on Sunday. I have been saying some goodbyes this past week and it's been hard.

I'll be honest I never thought I would be this sad to go home. When I first came on my mission I looked so forward to this day, but now being here has brought it into new perspective. I love Ghana so much. I love it all. The people, The land, The culture, even the food. FuFu for life haha! This has been the best 2 years of my life. I know that Missionary Work will need to still continue, and that there is some other person needed here in Ghana, and they need to be here over me at this time. But what I know now is that my mission experience was not meant to be a one time moment, because now it's my job to continue to apply the things that I learned on my mission, throughout the rest of my life. I need to always do my Heavenly Father's will. I will never forget all of the amazing people here and all that I have learned. I hope to always continue to increase my love and my discipleship each and ever single day.

As Jesus Christ himself said in Doctrine and Covenants Section 1 verse 30 "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord am well pleased." I know that this is Truly this is the Lords True Church, and I know with all of my heart that Joseph Smith Truly was A Prophet of God and he did see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Because of that moment we now have all the saving Ordinances to help us Return to our Heavenly Father, and become as he is.

I am so grateful for this knowledge, and I hope to always continue be a true Disciple of Jesus Christ.

I will see you all on SUNDAY! :)

Love,

Elder Harward

 

My Last Full Week in Ghana

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope last week you had a happy Mother's Day to you all! I hope that you enjoyed time with your family during the weekend. It was SO nice to talk to my family right before I come home so I am so grateful for them and all that they do. It's been a pretty nice week indeed...

So the start of the week my companion wasn't feeling too well, but he is doing better and we are grateful for that. But on Wednesday we were able to go to Ntranoa for an FM by Brother Ninson and his family. I guess they wanted me to come one last time before I left. I love this family so much and I love the people in Ntranoa so much, they are so great. I gave the Branch some pictures too, so hopefully they enjoy it.

On Friday I went on my last exchange with Elder Kiiza(My District Leader) in Abura Dunkwa! It was really nice and I got this AWESOME lunch from Elder Nemet with Chicken and Rice and Stew, SOOO Good. I love rice haha. :)

I have been pushing myself it give out 150 B.O.M's before I go home (50 more than what we put as a group) I am at 133 right now so we shall see how it goes. We even went to try to find this one Village apparently in our area but just got stuck in the Bush but luckily we made it back home haha

The Stake Presidency came to Church on Sunday so that was really cool, they were doing interviews for Advancement  to the Melchizedek Priesthood so that was nice.

I was hoping President Amos’ Family (All of them) would come to church one Sunday just one Sunday to feel of the spirit and to just feel how Families can be together forever. Well they have never come (Expect one daughter) so we shall see how my last week goes. I've been asking them so, hopefully they will accept my last request.

Anyways everything else is just small small as you know, but anyways I love you guys so much and I hope you have a great week!

MY LAST FULL WEEK IN GHANA! a little weird, and sad, but hopefully I can do the Lord’s work and push on Love you!

Love,

Elder Harward

Hello Family and Friends! Okay first things first.... I GOT MY PICTURES TO SEND!!!!! :)

 So now you can see everything from the past few weeks! Life is good here in Asebu. Elder Tupola and I are getting along great as companions and it's nice to have Elder Johnson in the apartment with us so it's fun. The work wasn't super great this week. 

We need to work with our members more strengthening the branch and all that fun stuff, so this week should be better. My last Zone Conference and Interviews are this Friday so that will be sad, I hear it's all about working with Members and our Ward/Branch Leaders so I am excited to learn and apply what we need to know. 

So as for the title... Yeah this week it becomes official that I will be home like really soon. I had 2 dreams in a row about it. Like I have had dreams about home before but this time there was 2 in a row. One where I came home and I flashed back into the past and just looked at how much my parents did for me and how much I wanted to tell them I am sorry for not being a better son, and telling them how much I love them.  The second one was more typical where I am at home and I am  talking to my family one by one, but it's been weird...

I'll be honest I am  excited to see my family again, I can't wait until that day that I get to hug my mom, It can't come any faster. However at the same time the closer this is getting  I am getting progressively sadder and sadder and sadder. I don't want to go home, I do because I want to see my family, but I don't. It's really mixed right now.  But I love Ghana so much. / Anyways this is home for me ,and I love these people and the culture so much. I love being a missionary here, and I love being here every day with such incredible people with such incredible faith, love, and compassion. 

So with that being said, it's my time to just focus on the work and continue on. We are at 99 B.O.M.  1 more to reach 100 for the group but I want to give out another 30 more, so hopefully we can do that. I love this gospel so much, I know that we are in the Lord's True church today. And I know that Jesus Christ loves you, and wants the best for you, Turn to him and he will help you, he is your advocate, your brother, your savior. I am grateful for him and for the message that we get to share about him each and every single day. I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward

Hello Family and Friends! One more month. 

We had a baptism on Saturday and Confirmation on Sunday for the 4 boys! (Ebenezer, Ernest, Godslove and Kelvin) They were so happy, and I got to perform the baptism. Cool Moment: Ebenezer he came into the bathroom as I was changing and he asked me, "Are you going to baptism me?" and I said "Yes I am." Then he said "Yes!!! with like the fist going down in excitement part. The baptism and confirmations went really well, and we got the boys a fabric tie and we still are trying to get two of them white shirts. Such a great weekend, and we still have some people we’re working with, so we shall see how it goes. Asebu is a sweet place for sure! Oh and we went to Abura Dunkwa on Sunday after our 2nd Service to Witness the Abura Dunkwa Baptisms and it was sweet: there were some cute kids that I got pictures of.

With that being said we got Transfer News on Saturday and Elder Kiiza and Elder Tillman got called to Train so they are opening up Abura Dunkwa into a 4 man and Elder Neville got called to be a Zone Leader (Super excited for him) and Elder Williams is leaving me. :(   It was a sad day, but also good because he is going to learn and grow with his new area. So my next companion is ... Elder Tupola! And Elder Johnson (The one I was companions with a while back) is in the apartment with us, so that's sweet! 

So yeah Elder Tupola! This guy is just awesome, like really. From the first few moments I thought to myself "Man I wish we could be companions for two transfers." He is From Utah, Sugar House to be exact and went to Highland High School. He played Football, Rugby, and Wrestling, so he is definitely strong. This is his 4 transfer on mission, so pretty young, but he is very humble and kind and just willing to work so I couldn't ask for a better last companion on my mission. Oh I forget to tell you he is also 19 years old and likes Musicals like the Sound of Music, so we were listening to some songs last night.

But yeah he is great, so we are excited for the work here in Asebu. Mostly we have just been vesting the members and getting him acquainted with everyone. We had some new people on Church on Sunday so that was really exciting, so we shall see what that entails for sure.

As for the Easter Holiday in ABK they had "Pink Friday" which basically is just, "Let's have a party and be stupid" nothing about Jesus Christ, which truly was sad. Satan really wants people to not focus on what really is important, so it was just meaningful for me to remember Jesus Christ even when the world doesn't really want to. Speaking of that I loved the Initiative #PrinceofPeace and I love that the Savior is the Prince of Peace. It reminds me of my favorite Hymn #129 Where Can I turn for Peace. It really is comforting to know that Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of that peace, and as we rely upon Him, we can find truly and lasting happiness, by doing His will.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward

Two Months Left

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope that you are all doing well! This past week we had Mission Tour and Finish Strong Meeting! It was really sweet! We are just trying to talk to as many people as we can in Asebu. It has been super great and I have learned a lot of good things! 

So our Group Goals for the May group our 75 Baptisms total then Averages  3.5 at Sacrament Meeting 4.5 with Baptism Date and 4 new investigators and as a group we are trying to give out 50 boxes of B.O.M. by the time we go home (So 2,000 Copies :) ) Yeah so it's like 10 per week and I have been trying to push that by 6 a day so that's cool! Oh I signed the shirt above Elder Day I put an arrow from him to me (Father next to him) and (Son) next to mine I am a proud son ha-ha and it happened next to be Elder Stulce so that was sweet!

WE HAVE NEW INVESTIGATROS!!! #so sweet! Ben, Esther, and Tina. President Interviews are this week and they should be great! I only have 2 months till I go home. Super weird, but let's not talk about that ha-ha.

Okay so you know the goal for the B.O.M. WE are supposed to give out t10 but we have been doing 6 a day and we got 27 placed this past week super sweet! 

Tina is a sweet woman and we are seeing her tomorrow, and we have a bunch of these small boys who come to church a lot so we are hoping for 4 on April 8th Ebenezer and his little brother, President's Son, and A Small boy named Kevin (That made me so happy when I heard his name :)) who stays with the Nyarko Family but we are going to follow up and see how long he will stay there. Ebenezer and President’s Son (Alex) came in their white shirts and Ties that we got them so I was happy. :)

Oh my companion's Birthday is next Monday and we have a district Activity at the Castle so it should be awesome!

I love you guys, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harward

Sorry for the delay, but I'm still here

Hello Family and Friends,

How are you doing? I hope that you are enjoying the spring weather. Everything is going okay in Asebu.

We had a hard week with no one at church and no one having a baptism date, but that's okay--this week should be better because we are going to continue to work hard. 

As for the good stuff I went on two exchanges this week: One with Elder Neville in Abakrampa and we celebrated a member’s birthday; then on Saturday Elder Momoh came with me to Asebu where we got fed by Salamatu (the Muslims) so it was great!  OH and I said goodbye to the Zone members leaving last Tuesday (including Elder Maumau) and now I just saw the new guys today.We also had a Mission Tour with Elder Stanfill of the African West Area Presidency on Wednesday.

As far as transfer news, I am staying! Wooo, so I have this transfer and 1 more, but who’s counting?

Have I told you about our Muslims?- We have this SWEET Muslim family and they don’t speak English and they feed us ALL the time, and it's HUGE not kidding at the HUGE part. It really touched me that Ghanaians truly are so friendly and kind even to complete strangers from a different religion (back home I’m not sure if we would do that to someone whom we didn't know, but the fact they did was pretty awesome) They are sweet! I am actually called Maghid and Elder Williams is Sedu (Our Muslim names) haha, and they  always say Maghid is here, you know so it's great. Truly sweet women!

Edward- Is good during the lessons that we teach him but.... has stopped coming to church :( Super frustration and heartbreaking. We really do not know what is going on (So we are going to try and figure that out) and he just needs a lot of prayers so that everything will be okay. We are just holding the whole "Baptism" thing out of the picture until we can help him. He used to be SO good, so I am just confused, but hopefully we can help him.

Samuel Otu- He did come to church for the first time the previous week ago. It was good, but he still doesn't feel that he has answer to know if the church is true or not, again I am frustrated and just hoping that he will get an answer; sometimes he listens to other missionaries who come to him, so to be honest he just needs to have Real Intent when he prays because I don't think he is willing to act. If God says this is the true church, then he would have to Leave Methodist Church and get baptized again with the proper authority, and I think he is just not willing to act. Hopefully he will get that answer but he needs a lot of prayers too.

President Amos's Family- SWEET family. To be honest more of the branch is Under a Year old (Most of them not all) and the recent converts are less active so it's hard at  times, but we have been really trying to focus on the members and strengthening them, specifically President Amos's Family. The wife is still selling alcohol, but we don't judge her, we jut are trying to show her love. We have been working really hard with Belinda, Christ, and Shelia (All of President Amos's Children who are less active as well) and this week was nice. I sat down with Shelia and we just talked about normal stuff this past Sunday and I didn't bring up "Oh why didn't you come to church". Instead I just listened and tried to show love, and I learned so much more about her and her sweet daughter Madjoa (Boyfriend is not in the picture, one-time thing I guess) and at the end of what we were discussing I said, "You know Shelia you are a good person" She responded emotionally; it was SO sweet. She really likes us there, and Elder Williams and I are trying to develop that relationship to be even stronger. I have learned Less Actives don't need a one-time moment of, "Why weren't you there at church" but rather just taking the time to know them, love, and then when the time is right, then share a gospel message that will bless their lives and help them.

We had Asebu Conference this weekended it was nice, the Stake Choir came to sing for us so it was really sweet. 

 As for me I am too hot, like as I am writing you I am sweating a lot. I don't know, but today is just hot, but that's normal haha.

On Thursday our apartment got Fumigated so we were in Abura Dunkwa and got to spend the night there, so that was nice. On Friday I was on an Exchange with Elder Neville and he is a great guy. He is from Idaho, and he will go home this year September. He is a really good trumpet player by the way so that's cool. I learned some really great things from him. On Sunday we taught the youth/Primary since no teacher came and we had no investigators come to church. God has a body that was all I tried to teach them and that He is our Heavenly Father.  After Church we got fed twice, once with Rice then FuFu (But my companion hates fuFu) so I just ate the FuFu alone so it was nice haha.

Anyways that's all I love you all Bre Bre (A lot)

Love,

Elder Harward

Hello Family and Friends! What a week it has been! I hope that everything is well for you guys at home! I thought about what Ghana would be like with snow but I don't think the people would like it. They get cold and really it's still hot so that would be interesting if it happened huh? Sorry for not writing the last week, but hopefully this email will be good!

For this week it was a pretty interesting week! On Camille's and Sam's Wedding (The 14th) we received the news that my companion was going, so he got to say goodbye's to some people on Sunday up to Tuesday. Then on Wednesday I received... Elder Williams! He is getting to one year on mission (In June) He is from England which is SO cool so I have been talking like a British man with him but I am not very good haha (I will send you a picture of him next week) He is a convert of 2 1/2 years (joined the church when he was 19) and is 21 years old now. He actually has a degree (A Bachelor's Degree I guess England Education you Graduate Faster or something) in guess what...  English Literature and Creative Writing (Dad would love him). He is a pretty sweet guy and we get along well.

So then on Thursday we went to farm for Auntie Alice and she made us FuFu like always but she is so funny because she called her soup in-purity soup so the other elders and I were joking about it later. She is just so old and the way she prepares her food is not the most sanitary but we still eat it, because it's bad to leave food in Ghana (Super Disrespectful) but if she goes into the woods somewhere we can just chuck some of it out, and she doesn't notice so that's cool ,but I try to finish mine and not throw it but it's hard not to. I usually have finished it (Even though it takes me a while) and I haven't died so that's great.

I should Elder Williams some of the members throughout the rest of the week and Edward came to church on Sunday and that was great! He is progressing well. (Keep him in your prayers please) but actually on Saturday we had a fun time. We went to Farm in Abura Dunkwa for the Abura Dunkwa's Investigator named Grace and we waled FOREVER to get to her farm (7 kilometers according to her from her house to the farm) so we walked and walked and walked and then we farmed the Corn and Weeded. Afterwards she feed us HUGE Bonku (Not kidding) like 1 filled me up but she is smarter than Auntie Alice so she just waited and watched us. I was able to finish the second  one but it was a struggle. But it was really sweet, and she is a great woman. Then After we headed out the farm I got to carry some of the corn on my head and it was so great!!! Super Hard, but sweet. I started with a big bag, then carried a medium bag on my head, then I just could only carry the small yellow bag. Carrying stuff on my head was SO hard but SO cool and great, by the time we got to her house I was SUPER tired, I wanted to just sleep but we took a picture and then headed back to ABK for a baptismal Interview I got to do for a boy named Isaac (I had no time to change so I just did it in my mofity) He will be baptized this next week due to water issues so that will be great! We were out from 7 to 7 that day so it was pretty tiring afterwards. Anyways that is all for this week. I love you all, and hope that you have a great week, and keep having fun adventures.

Love,

Elder Harward

P.S. Shout out to Camille and Sam for getting Married! I throughout about you guys the whole day. Families really can be together forever and I am so grateful for the Priesthood and the Temple that make it possible. Love you both!!!!! (Hopefully you guys got my letter as well, that I sent to you).