food. more food and santy claus

So I dont know if you guys know this, but missionaries lives are not super exciting 100% of the time... We had a barbeque this last week and cooked up some little steaks....(the size of a mcdonalds hamburger patty)

... I made some fried yam and tomato stew,

and then I met Black Santa

at a Christmas fireside we had last night!! (they call him "Father Christmas" but we all know he is Black Santa)

So i dont really have anything else to report... And my Mom told me that if i dont have anything to say, dont say anything! 😂 So, Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Williams

Temple, food, malaria, rats...

I will try to be a little bit less lazy this week for my email. Well, I hope you all are enjoying the cold... here, it is dryer than during the summer, so it feels hotter... so lucky me, I get more summer!! but this week was pretty cool!!

Elder Fotu and I went to the temple

(it was my first time since march) and that was a ton of fun.. then we went to Accra mall and ate out... We didnt really have any super cool missionary experiences, but we did have a lot of fun...we had some elders come over to our apartment last night and we all hung out 

and made horchata, fudge, cinnamon pancakes, and buttermilk syrup! Those were probably the best foods I have made on mission. I also thought i had malaria, but we are all good! Well, I dont know what else to say, so here are some pictures! I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Williams

we found a rat outside of the stake center and chased it into a water main box... it was the biggest rat I have ever seen... Enjoy!

the lazy week...

Sorry everyone... i am feeling really lazy this week...so i am just going to send some pictures and hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Williams

(*PS: Elder chatted w/me on Google chat thingy and told me that those are plantains and that's a little bird's egg, NOT a tarantula nest, as i had thought. he also added the following....

I knew you wouldnt be satisfied with that email... so i wrote this in an email to Izzy that challenged me a couple weeks back to come up with a spiritual experience i had this week...

So this last Saturday, We had had meeting all week and so we didnt have a single new person we were teaching... so basically, as missionaries, it didnt look like we had been doing anything... So Saturday morning, my companion and i went out and tried to find people we had a goal to find at least 3 people... and as soon as we found 3, we would go take cold showers and eat some food.... so we set out on our adventure...... we walked clear from one side of our area to the other and back... (it is like 7 miles each way....)... in over 100 degree heat...so basically, we were dying and thirsty and yeah.. during all of those hours, we tried contacting a whole ton of people ... but not a single one would listen to us... they wouldnt even give us the time of day... nothing.... so we were both really discouraged, and sweaty, and sore, and tired and just ready for the day to be over.. so we headed back to our apartment empty handed... well, as we were walking up to our apartment gate, 3 guys called us over and wanted to know what we were doing in Ghana... so we were able to talk to them for about an hour and a half ... we taught them the entire first lesson... it was amazing because we had just sweated more than you could imagine, walking around the dirtiest area in Ghana... and no luck.. but as soon as we were about to be done, the Lord put 3 people right next door to our gate to talk to us and make us feel like we had been successful that day ... it was an awesome experience..   )

Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving is generally quite a bit different for missionaries in Ghana than it is back home. Back home we usually eat a big meal and just hang around with family... well here, we went out and proselyted because they dont actually celebrate Thanksgiving. Elder Fotu, a few other Elders and I lucked out. There are a few members in some of the wards close by that are from the States that were celebrating with us and decided to invite us over. So we had the typical American Thanksgiving feast. It was amazing. (I will attach some pictures.) 

The other main event that happened this week was that we had the chance to go and do the missionary Christmas music devotional in Adenta (my first area). That was awesome because I was able to see a whole bunch more of my members from my old ward. We sang and then went over and visited a couple on our way back to our area. It was an awesome time. 

Reflecting back this week, I have to realize how thankful I am for everything that i have because of thanksgiving.... I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to be able to come to Ghana. I am grateful for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the chance that I have to share it with others. I am grateful for my family and friends and the support that they give me in my life. Most of all, I am thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the ability that is given to me through it, to be able to be forgiven of my sins and shortcomings. I know that The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church here on the earth. I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you and miss you all.

Love,

Elder Williams

Turkey bowl (good ole American football), Rootbeer, and Mountain Dew!!

Well, It is another Monday! I hope you all have had a great week?

This week wasn't too eventful! I got my xray results back and my wrist is not broken (thank goodness) and it has started hurting less and less everyday! Well, the Christmas choir that we have been practicing for had its first performance. We sounded awesome!! My favorite song that we did was a small mens choir version of Carol of the Bells... we did it a cappella and it sounded amazing! That was a ton of fun! 

On the way back from our practice in Accra I was told about an American store that sold some sodas that you cant find on the streets here, so we stopped by and I stocked up on some A&W rootbeer,

Mug rootbeer, and some good old Mtn. Dew!! 

Today was also super fun! We had a Turkey Bowl (American Football tournament) and so I finally got to play some football! My team took second in a triple over time in the championship game... but I did make a touchdown catch to tie the game in the last minute!

So that was pretty cool! But we are going to have a busy week this next week, so I will be sure to take some pictures!! 

Have a great week everyone!

(Here are some pictures from this week and last... sorry I couldnt get my camera to work last week)

Love,

Elder Williams

subject headings are for chumps.... (or, spiders, responsibilities and car clippings...)

Well, It is Monday again! That means all of you lucky people get another email from me!! 

So this week was pretty exciting! Not really for missionary work, but it was exciting in some other ways! 

Tuesday wasnt very exciting, we went and attended District council in the morning and then tried to deep clean our apartment (we have an ant infestation, so we have been trying to get rid of those..)

Wednesday we went out and did some contacting and met a guy named Freeman... He is a super cool guy that actually lives out of our area, so we wont get to teach him again, but he was super interested in learning about the Book of Mormon! So we got to refer him to some other Elders....

(this is where the excitment comes into play...) 

Thursday was the day for interviews with President Keyes... My interview was really different this time... rather than asking about me like he usually does, he was asking me about my companion and how he is doing... This got me thinking later that night that I need to keep putting others first... like more than I am right now... one thing that President said that I liked was "Elder Fotu is now your responsibility... The Lord trusts you enough to put his mission in your hands"... that was pretty scary/cool/weird to hear... on our way back to our area, I had a car drive up and clip my right wrist! that was pretty cool!

Friday I woke up and my wrist was swollen and I couldnt bend it without it hurting... so we ended up going to the mission nurse to have her take a look at it... it turns out that i may have broken it while playing soccer a while back and the car just broke it some more... I dont have the xray report yet, but that is what it is seeming like! 

Saturday we had our Christmas choir practice and afterwards we went to the Accra mall for lunch. So I got to eat at Burger King! It is amazing how similar it seems to back home... but in a good way.. 

Sunday after church, our bishop invited us over for lunch/dinner... and his wife is from Montana, so they cooked us up some nice "American" food for dinner... so we enjoyed some roast beef with roast carrots, onions, potatoes, some rolls, some cool whip jello salad with oranges in it, some deviled eggs, and she even attempted to make some tongan watermelon drink for Elder Fotu... That was a super good meal.... 

Monday (today) Elder Olsen, a few other elders and I went up and hiked to some water falls in Aburi. It is super fun to go hiking through the jungle... we didnt see any snakes or any super cool animals.... but we saw some massive spiders (like 5-6 inches) some super cool spiderwebs that went through a group of trees, a whole ton of lizards, and a bunch of snails... on our way back it started pouring rain... so we rushed back and Elder Fotu and all of his Tongan Friends had made some Umu for us (where they bury some charcoal and the meat) so we enjoyed some really nice chicken...

Well... I hope this is a good enough weekly report for you all! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Williams

Halloween, Fresh from the MTC, and a Brand New Area to Top it All Off!!

So like i said last week, This week was transfer week!

So on Halloween day, all 4 people in my apartment moved out.

Elder Maddox and Elder Nnana got a new apartment in their area, Elder Shaw

got sent out to the bush, and I got my brand new companion!! Straight from the MTC! His name is Elder Fotu and he is from Tonga! He is about 2 inches shorter than me and about 30 lbs heavier... so we are some pretty big dudes walking around Adjei Kojo (which just so happens to be the most dangerous area in our mission.) but hey, we are pretty intimidating (or so I think!)

So we moved into the new apartment in Adjei Kojo. It just so happens to be the biggest apartment in the mission... but, it only has My companion and I in it. So it feels a bit empty. But we are enjoying! The ward is pretty interesting. The bishop attended Utah State University where he met his wife from Montana! they seem like really cool people and I cant wait to get to know them a little bit better!

Elder Fotu is a super cool but super quiet guy. He is just learning English (he speaks Tongan) but he is super funny when he does open his mouth. He likes to point out scriptures out of the Book of Mormon out of context to me just to make me laugh sometimes... so yeah... he is funny... He had his first ball of banku this week... I will send a picture...

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Williams

Mid-October, Brother Prince, Surprises in the mail...

Well, October is basically halfway over.... It has become slightly scary how fast time has started flying.  So I want to apologize for not emailing last week... It has been a pretty crazy last few weeks. My companion went to the hospital for a stomach infection and i almost spent the night in the waiting room, we had conference, and have just been busy having fun and doing the Lord's work. 

This week was an exciting one. We finally got to have a meeting with Brother Prince after he postponed his baptism. So we were able to meet with him and set another for sure date! Brother Prince knows with all of his heart that the church is true, he has just had some troubles with his family not wanting him to join. But he knows it's the right thing to do, and now his family has seen how the church can make people change for the better, so now his mom and brother all want to start learning with the missionaries! That was my cool missionary experience for the week! We have also been trying to find more new people to teach, but havent had the best of luck with that. But Elder Shaw and I are making sure to enjoy the time we have to serve. 

So this past week, My companion and I pulled out our cooking skills to see who was better (really just so that we could eat dinner, but I am overly competitive so it turned into a competition)  So Elder Shaw made us Brownies and Fan Ice (really weird vanilla Ice cream here in Ghana... and yes, it comes in a satchet)

... And I made some Hamburgers... this next week we are going to make spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, and macaroni and cheese. So dont worry about me eating here in Ghana. I am eating too much if anything. 

I got the coolest little toy that i have ever seen this past week, as well as a whole ton of junk food in a care package from back home! (shout out to Jessica Anderson/Chance Spencer! Thank you guys!) So i attached a couple of pictures, I promise that i will start taking and sending more... I just always forget, so i will work on that. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Williams

ghana medicine

So this week has been a long one! But, one for the books!

This past week has had a lot of ups and downs, even more so than most other weeks. So I think I told you guys a little bit about our investigator Prince. Bro.Prince is one of the coolest guys I have ever met. He has been going through some super hard treatment from his family, friends, and previous church since he started learning from us. We have taught him every single lesson and everything we are supposed to teach people before they are baptized.... so we were planning on baptize him this past Saturday, but that didnt work out as well as it should have. So we are still teaching him, and hopefully one day he will be baptized. 

Because of the stress of dealing with him, I have started getting sick. I think it is just a common cold, and i guess we will see later...  My newest medicine is a bottle of coke and a nap, it has been working so far on my mission... maybe i need some more coke.... But hopefully this clears up soon. While it was probably a very bad idea, This morning, we played basketball in the pouring rain.

.. so we will see if that really could be that bad of an idea, but, it was a whole ton of fun!

My companion has been enjoying this area already. We go to the mall quite frequently, hang out with a bunch of the missionaries around us.  It has been a ton of fun! Elder Glance is a stud by far my favorite missionary out here! (he wrote that) ... but yeah, he is super cool! so we have been enjoying Sakumono! 

Life is going well here in Sakumono and Ghana is treating me well! I hope all is going well back home! I love and miss all of you!

Love,

Elder Williams

So It was transfer week again! That means that on Wednesday, I dropped off Elder Asiegbu and picked up my new companion. His name is Elder Shaw and he is from Saratoga Springs Utah! (I dont remember if i sent an email last week with all of this... Probably so...)

But it was hard to leave Elder Asiegbu

at the mission home. He was a really good missionary, that by the end of the transfer that i was with him, we had become really good friends.... plus, i really liked his British accent... I picked up a couple of words from him that i can say with a British accent that sound super cool! He was just super quiet at the beginning of the transfer... but as I said, we became pretty dang good friends by the time his last 6 weeks were over. Now i have officially "killed" a missionary. (In our mission we say that missionaries "die" when they go home) So that was a sad part. Before he left, I bought him a couple of Kente ties to bring with him back home. They were so cool, that i had to buy myself a few as well. (I will attach a picture or two to this email.)

So Wednesday was a sad and happy day. Elder Shaw is a super funny and just a quiet guy in general.

.. So lately, I have been teaching the entire lesson for our appointments. I don't mind it all that much, because we don't have too many lessons a day because our area is super slow for missionary work. So we will keep trying. 

While waiting for the transfer bus to come and pick me up, Elder Asiegbu and I snuck over to the Africa West Area Office and went and saw some of our friends, The senior couple that is serving in our old ward in Adenta that new my parents up in Alaska, the Winegardens.

That was good to be able to stop by and say hi to them.

We got Brother Prince to pass his baptismal interview this last week! That means we will be baptizing him this next Saturday! I am super excited, and I think he is even more so... He is one of those guys that wants to go and do baptisms for the dead a couple days after baptism. Which is awesome, but the temple is still being remodeled until next month sometime.... but we will definitely be going with him as soon as it opens back up! 

I don't have any other news for this week! Just know that I am alive and well! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Williams

the week of slow internet, packages from home, and homemade chicken pot pie

I hope you are all enjoying your week! I dont have the fastest of internet here in Sakumono, so i will have to keep this email pretty brief....

This past week has been pretty awesome. We have been getting fed by a lot of our members and enjoying some good Ghanaian dishes.

There is also a Family that lives in one of the other wards in our stake that invited us over for dinner this past week. The wife is from Fresno California and loves to cook, so we went over there and she made us Chicken Pot-Pie! we had an awesome time and then right before we left, she pulled out a tub of Blue Bunny ice cream!

(It was about 100 cedis for one small tub... That is like 25 dollars...) So we had an amazing night!

I also go my first package from home on saturday!

That means I have almost hit my 6 month mark!! Time Flies!!! I am almost a quarter of the way done! (it seems like not that much of an accomplishment, but 6 months is quite a long time)... it was Amazing to be able to eat some good ol' beef jerky again! (they dont have it here... every other African country has it, but not Ghana)...  

So long story short, I am enjoying the missionary life for now!

Have a great week y'all!

Love,

Elder Williams

Hello from Sakumono!

Hello from Sakumono!

I hope you guys all had a great week and arent completely annoyed of my weekly emails! Either way, here is this weeks latest update!

Monday was our Zone Activity for the Kpong zone (Akuse) and that was a real "bash" of a time! We were at the Ensign medical college (it's like an extension of University of Utah) playing some games on their campus including wheelbarrow races, soccer, three legged races, and blindfold running(it is exactly what you think it would be) (please dont ask why, we missionaries are not the smartest breed) But we were having a round of blindfold running and and our zone leader ran head first into someone else and gashed open his forehead... so that was a pretty exciting trip to go get him stitched up... (luckily because it was a medical college, they had a doctor on campus, so they stitched him up right there and then... On the way home, our tro-tro mate was wearing the coolest shirt i have seen here in Ghana a "Keep calm and rock the Ag swag" t shirt.... that was cool.

Tuesday was my last day in Akuse, so we went and said goodbye to some of the members... we got a call at about 12 saying we had to be at the mission home that night, so we left around 4... that was a super long ride... imagine yourself in a 15 passenger van (a hunk of junk one) filled to capacity, plus my giant suitcase, a bike, and some ladies 5 50 kilo bags of fish... we rode for about 15 minutes with one of the ladies in the back seat yelling in twi the whole time... every now and then you could pick out an english word such as "police, uncomfortable, too crowded, and stopped"... so when we got  to the police barrier, this lady yelled at the cops and told them to pull us over... and then she sat there and argued with the driver for about 45 minutes with the cops holding them away from each other... (the cops here all have ak47's strapped to their chests at all times, so that was slightly scary)... after that, we got back on the road... just to, 5 minutes down the road, run out of gas... that hour and a half long journey turned into just about 4 hours... 

Wednesday was transfer day... and it was one sad day... I had to say goodbye to Elder Hayes (basically my best friend on mission so far)

and then grab all of my luggage and climb into yet another tro-tro to come to my new area... What i didnt know about Sakumono, is that it is just about a 5 minute bike ride from the ocean! so i got a nice picture of the beach as we drove past it! That night, i decided my hair was too long,

and instead of going and getting it cut, i just decided to cut it myself,

I dont think it turned out all that bad!

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, i was trying to learn the area... I have met some super cool people and eaten some super nice African home cooked food... It turns out that we actually have two area seventy members in our ward! Both of them are rather well to do and have fed us... (super super good food)

I have so far had 4 companions (not counting the MTC), 3 areas, and i am only 4 transfers in... at this rate, i will have 17 companions, and 13 areas... that is a little outrageous if i say so myself....

The Book of Mormon has become my best friend, It is very true, and i encourage you all to read it.... like Elder Jeffery R. Holland has said “For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other religious history – perhaps like no other book in any religious history- and still it stands.”.... This book is true

I hope to hear from you all next week!!!

Love,

Elder Williams

Almost 5 months, yet another transfer, and just life in general...

Ummm, i dont know how to start these emails, so i will just dive in... 

As the subject line says, I am almost 5 whole months out!! thats pretty cool (at least i think so)... It also says another Transfer... that was probably a low point of my week....

so we got a call about 10:15 on saturday night... The zone leaders were calling everybody and telling them the transfer news... it turns out, i am getting transferred yet again.... i guess President just wants to keep me on my toes right? but now i am headed to Sakumono... (Sack-oo-mo-no)  That is in the Tema area.... and guess where my companion is from!! I will give you a hint... he is going to be my third one from this country.... (Nigeria)   so that will be a challenge... I have heard that he is pretty cool, so i guess i will find out on wednesday! 

Life here in Akuse was pretty great! we found out this morning, that our community that we live in actually has a basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts along with a soccer pitch and a giant swimming pool (too bad missionaries cant go swimming) but I love the "small town feeling" that this village has... it reminds me of home... I like the "bush" much more than the city... 

Here are some pictures that i missed out on sending last week... i will send a few more in a minute as well....

The first one is our "chapel"

The second is the outside of our apartment

The third is our Meeting house

and the fourth is a spot we found on the Volta River

Our 

Love,

Elder Williams

 first through third: Some pictures of a cool sunset we went and watched from on the banks of Lake Volta

and the last one is one of my best friends here in Akuse... his name is Serum

Love,

Elder Williams