Fish Hatchery Service Project March 26, 2018

Well it's been a good week. We still haven't got our water fixed but the work is moving on. On Saturday we went to do a service project for a man named Brother French. We went to his fish hatchery where he grows catfish and tilapia. He's a super rich guy and owns like 200 acres and calls it Zion's Camp. Well we spent all day building a lookout over one of his ponds. It was a lot of fun and after we ate some really good rice that his wife made. Other then that its been a normal week. 
                             

 Elder Howard, Me and Elder Brown

 Elder Howard (from Utah), Elder Tupala (from Utah)D.L., and me

 Elder Piutua

Broken pump = Bucket showers in dirty water! March 19, 2018

Well this week was a good week but we didn't get to see as many people as we wanted to. Mostly because of crazy rain all day and people just not being home but we still got to see the people we needed to. 
Our water pump broke so we've had no water since last Monday so we've been pulling water from a well.  This means bucket showers but I'm used to that, I think I've had more bucket showers than regular. The problem is the water from the well is super nasty so I hope we can get a new pump soon. We don't drink this water though so we can go a while like this if we need to.  All our drinking water is in little sachets that the mission supplies and delivers whenever we run out.  We can buy cold ones almost anywhere so we don't have to pack them with us. They cost 20 pesways or you can buy them for 3 cedis for 30.  That is less than $1 american money for 30.  I had fufu yesterday for the first time since I left Axim.  In Axim people are always pounding fufu, you can always hear the pounding and its everywhere but here in Tarkwa yesterday is the first I've seen it.  Here they eat a lot of banku and my favorite emo tuo which is like a rice ball and both are served with soup.  A lady in our branch feeds us every Sunday and this is where we get to eat all the good cultural food.  She is the Relief Society President, she's single and is raising her 7 year old nephew.  This is a very typical situation here in Ghana. 

This is our water sachet.  It is pretty much the only clean water in the whole country.

 This is a picture of Banku.  It is served with soup.

If we're not eating with a member then we cook eggs or indomie which is kinda like ramen noodles but we cook them and then fry them with veggies, like a ramen noodle stir fry.  Other than that I can't think of anything else exciting that happened this week but I'm still doing good and pressing on.

Rain Everyday...Finally! March 12, 2018

Well this was a pretty good week. It's rained almost every day and it's been cooling down. I can't believe it but I've been out for 6 months. Time really does fly. We have a member going on a mission and he's been set apart for a week and not leaving till wednesday so he's been with us all week. He's a cool guy and has gone through alot to go on a mission. We also had transfer news on Saturday and Piutau is staying another transfer so that will be good. We're getting some more people that may be serious but none will be baptized anytime soon. Other than that everything is going good and I’m enjoying Ghana.

Elder Piutau

                            

my apartment 

Zone Conference- Liken Ourselves unto Nephi- March 5, 2018

We had our zone conference this week and it was a really good one. It's been the first normal zone conference since I've been here. The first was a mission tour with Elder Nash of the seventy, the second was a special Christmas devotional, and the third was a huge 5 zones combined one. We had some great instructions on how we can take our mission like Nephi took the wilderness and not like Laman and Lemuel. Pres. Hillam described it like Nephi, Laman and Lemuel all were on the same journey, with the same family, for the same amount of time but they had a very different experience than each other. What made that difference was their attitude. All us missionaries are here for the same amount of time doing the same thing, but it's up to us to determine our experience by our attitude. I thought that was a good way to liken the scriptures unto us. Later that night, a women that we buy rice from who had been taught by tons of other missionaries but never was interested  told us she really wanted to be baptized that night. We explained to her we couldnt do it then but we'd do it as soon as we could. Well she said she wanted us to come teach her then but she didnt show up to church and won't pick up her phone so I don't know how serious she is. On sunday we came back from church to eat and we had the biggest rainstorm I've ever seen hit us. It was raining so hard. But I'm glad the dry season is over haha. Other then that its been a good week.

a look at the city from a nearby hill

our Chapel in Tarkwa

Zone Conference