Wow this week has flown by once again. So many things to talk about. I didnt get transfered but Elder White in our apt. did. His companion Elder Akoki is now training a new greeny who is a white guy yaa!! His name is Elder Harris from Burbank, CA. He's an awesome guy and is exciting and relieved about Ghana. He had some of the same thoughts about Africa that i did and hes realized that in our area its not so bad.

The work really is sweet. Yesterday at church my companionship had 4 of our investigators at church and i sat by two of them throughout all of church. Their names are Harrison and Bounti... Bounti is my age and Harrison is a nurse, they are both really young but they are progressing. Bounti keeps asking what he needs to do to be baptized (so we are teaching him the rest of the discussions, while making sure he really is ready) and Harrison has really been touched by the gospel. We have taught him all the way up to the point where we challenge him for baptism and yesterday after church he told us very sincerely, "thank you for bringing me such good news" (referring to the gospel of course).

We still havent been able to hear anything or see any of conference :(. We get to watch two sessions on sunday at the stake center with the whole stake there. Im excited for that! The missionary couple who lives by us, The kiffers, printed off what they said was one of the best talks of conference, the Elder Holland safety for the soul talk!! It was sooo powerful just to read, if only I could of heard it! I hope i get that talk in the sessions this weekend.

Well, im sorry I am just not as impressive as Elder Lytle, sounds like he is doing just great! Its harder then you think to just pull out a bunch of paragraphs about my week when im rushed. The letters i sent are better because I can take my time.

Ghanain culture is crazy. They love to sing and dance all the time. I have sent a CD with letters on wednesday so i hope you get that. It has videos of a few things including a Family Home Evening at the "timothy's" home. They are great family! I wish we could invite all other families in the ward over to the Timothy's so that they can be shown how a REAL family home evening is supposed to be conducted. You will know what i mean when you see the videos haha. Elder Harris told me yesterday that he noticed that I dont speak like an American anymore haha... He says i speak slow and like a British guy. (I have to speak slow english cuz nobody understands english when i speak "fast"). It really is a good feeling to have a new greeny in the apartment. It really opened my eyes as to how much ive learned in just a transfer.

I wish i could of been there to eat all the chocolate chips mom!! Or even eat some of that roast you cooked... oh how i miss mom cooked meals. I have been relying off of egg sandwiches and they are getting old. Sooo this last week I kinda got a little sick... nothing to worry about though. I had "runny tummy" which is what the Africans call it. My companion and I were just getting to a members house where we teach some investigators (Daniel and Esther, not related, I teach in english to daniel and Adjeifio teaches in Twi to Esther) and all of a sudden I remembered what a missionary in the Accra mission told me in the MTC, "Every single American Craps his pants atleast once on their mission and if they say they didnt, they are lying!" Hahaha, thankfully for me I didnt have that problem, BUT I still had to go sooo bad and my companion was making fun of me for walking wierd. So we got to the members house and he told her I had runny tummy and had to go now! She laughed and said that her toilet has been leaking so I cant use that, so she pointed towards the back of where these chicken coops were and there was an old outhouse there.... she didnt have paper or even toilet paper for that matter so I used my Hanky that i use to wipe off sweat.... it was quite an experience and I didnt get THOSE pictures on the CD I sent home so itll have to be next time!! :D Youll never believe what this outhouse looked like hahaha.

I am really enjoying the africans in my apartment... They have such a different kind of humor here it was hard to get used to but not its hilarious! They like to use parables, especially parables from the Bible. (They really KNOW their Bible) It's funny to just listen to them argue and laugh cuz they sound so funny, but now that Elder harris told me I kinda sound like them maybe the joke is on me now haha.

We have a new zone leader, Elder Mason. He was Elder Carton's companion in the office, an office elder. Since we now have a new couple in the office the office Elders were no longer needed. Haven't been able to talk with him much but i will at p-day today when we meet the two Kumasi zones at Bantama ward's chapel to play games and enjoy for a couple hours. They have now changed yet another rule, we HAVE TO leave the church at 12:30pm and cant stay to play games past then, not sure what the problem was but being submissive is a Christ-like attribute so im not going to say anything, just follow the rule.

I am enjoying the lemonade and Kool-aide packets that i brough from home. i didnt use them in the MTC and am now enjoying :D.

I would love to have gatorade but thats probably asking too much haha. Mom, i know you want me to tell you when im suffering or dont have enough of something but i just cant disclose that information, I plead the 5th. Haha. Im just kidding... There really isnt any problems, im taken care of pretty well and youve seen my apartment, its not a bad place haha. I guess im just lucky to be in the city of Kumasi, it's really a nice place, despite some of the 3rd world areas we go teach in.

Ties here are 3 Cedis!! Which is less then $3! I have gotten a few new ties but havent found too many Kentay ties (you know what i mean, the kentay cloth, the cool tie I got before i came).

It rained 3 days in a row which hasnt happened since ive been here! It rains at night and it poured so hard! I loved it because it cools off the apartment! It's so hot in the sun and this is "winter." I guess sometime in January the Hamaton (not sure if this is spelled right) starts and it is freezing cold at night and hotter then heck during the day. The best part i found out is that it lasts a whole month in Kumasi and only a week or so in Cape Coast sooo yaaa its gunna suck to walk around in.

Yesterdays Sacrament meeting was the best one I've had since ive been here! Probably because ALL of the speakers spoke in english and I could understand! It was pretty nice for a change. They called Elder Harris up to bare his testimony, which is what Bishop likes to do to all the new guys that come to our ward. Im not sure everybody udnerstood him cuz he still speaks like an American and speaks really fast. Well, I understood him atleast and it was a solid testimony, he really is pumped and ready to get to work haha.

I also sent in my envelope home a letter for the ward so i hope you get it, probably this week sometime. It's kinda expensive to send letters home when its not pouch haha. But there is also some printed pictures in there so enjoy! :D

Well i love you so much and hope all os going well (sounds like it is). Keep up the good work!

Love, Elder Lehr

Helaman 3:35 (scripture of the month)

Thats so awesome to hear about matt, blake and jared!! Cant believe he got to come home early for his brother! Thats great! Well we finally get to watch a little conference this sunday which im sooo excited for!!

How did karlis tournament go?

I am getting pictures printed today and sending a big letter home with some pictures :D Hopefully the memory card thing will work.

lol Jared ward keeping things from his family isnt a suprise.... but dont be suprised if you find a whole lot of NEW things about my mission for when i get back! haha. Oh and i get called Obrunee every single day...some of the people even call me Okokonee sometimes, which means "red man." Not because of my hair but because im just have a red complexion hahaha. yaaa not so funny anymore, it was cute the first few times now it drives me crazy to hear it so i ignore it.

Ghana beat brazil to win the U20 World Cup!! Tell that to sis. dos santos! haaaa. How can i write her? you didnt really give me a way to get a hold of her, looks like ill write her next week.

This last week we got to have a suprise zone conference where Elder Carden from the 2nd quorum of the Seventy came! Hes the Area President of the West Africa area. Hes from Mesa, Arizona area...wheres that? Hahaha. He really is powerful! The second portion of zone conference he stood up and pretty much asked all the Elders... "what would you like to know?" It really shocked me that he really asked that kind of question. Some elders asked some good questions and it turned out to be one of the most powerful meetings ive had on mission which is hard to come by. :D

This week is transfers and we honestly have no idea if anyone is gonig anywhere or not, but atleast one of us in the apartment is probably leaving. Everyone is telling me that you just cant predict what president is gonig to do. Some guys stay in an area for one transfer and others are there for 10 months!!! So i just never know! haha. I love my area and hope i dont have to move.

Well this week has flown by and so will this next week. As long as i work hard and make everyday enjoyable it just goes by fast oh and its a good thing to not think of how many months you have left, that always helps haha :D

I love the mission and am doing my best. The Lord really is making up the big difference :D

Love you all and have a good week.
Elder Lehr

Family!


I have been waiting for p-day to write you guys! So much has happened. First lets talk about homecoming!! I cant believe my sister is grown up so dang fast! WHAT HAPPENED? Well it sounds like it was a lot of fun and that the whole family got involved hahaha, sounds like my family, always getting involved. Im just glad that this time it wasnt me, jokes on you now Tine!! Hahaha.

Moving on... Missionary work is the sweetest work ever. We are working hard on this new goal, We have completed the 5 services projects (more like 8), we have visited 15 members homes that we didnt know where they lived before and i am learning all the members names (the goal is %80 of the average number of people at sacrament) I am probably at like %60 or so. Still have a couple weeks to finish that! The work is much better when we have gained relationships with the members. Member referrals means more "fruit that will remain." We teach less lessons a week but ALL of the lessons are to people that are progressing towards baptism. We help them understand commitments and how they are making promises to the Lord and not us. We had 10 of our investigators at church and there were only 67 people in sacrament. The members make things so much more productive and easier on us because they can answer little questions that we as missionaries arent always around to answer. We have 4 Elders in one ward and its still not enough to handle all the work!!! Crazy!

Well this letter is really short this week and im sorry that its short, next week will be better! gotta go!

Love you all and remember "its the Lord's work" Not ours. Pray for His will and help!

Elder Lehr

Cant believe it has already been another week...22 and 1/4 months left. Im not counting down but some other elders sure are. I AM SO BUMMED!! We didnt get to watch ANY conference and thats because none of the members have tv's and if they do its just the few channels that come through local cable. And even the stake centers dont have satellites. We were told that in about a month or so we would get both the Liahona and a chance for all missionaries to watch it in the stake center but thats a month away!!! ahh. Im jealous.

Well this week has been just awesome... WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! Which is not supposed to happen because it's not in our mission but President Sabey took advantage of the new Area President. :D We had to leave at 3am wednesday morning to get there on time. We went through the session and then we went in to do a sealing session (my first time!!). Holy COW!! It really opened my eyes about the importance of being married and sealed to your children in the temple. wow. looong time til that happens haha.

Sounds like you guys are staying as busy as ever. I cant believe how much i am missing in my families lives!! I leave for a month and a half and BOOM! I think and pray for you guys everyday and it seems to be working so ill continue of course (id continue if it wasnt working especially!) I heard about Elder Mckay last week... poor guy... Malaria is serious business...ive seen an elder go from totally excited about a zone conference to all of a sudden pale white and feeling like death. I take my medicine and sleep with the net like my life depends on it (and it does).

My week has gone by so fast, thats what happens when you stay busy and teach a lot of very effective lessons! We committed a guy for baptism... I dont know his first name cuz nobody has even used his first name but we all call him bro. Obuachy. (a lot of ghanains have this name around here haha). He is an older man who has been through a whole lot in his life and says his mind is finally stable :D. Its so great to see people change after we teach them and bring the Spirit to them! Its so hard to choose which investigators to talk about so ill jsut pick my favorite one (if we are allowed to have favorites :D) . His name is Bro. Jay. He is a phillipino! Hahaha... kinda random. He is avery very smart guy, an engineer here to work on an overpass and some other roads. His friend is a member and was actually a member his bishopric not too long ago, so he brought his friend to church and now we teach him. After teaching him for a few weeks, we committed him to baptism and he said he just needed a little more time but he broke down and bore his testimony that he knew the Book of Mormon was true...you have no idea how much this can make missionaries happy!!

Im trying to find time to write the ward! I will write soon though and just send it home.PACKAGE??!! Sounds good to me! :DHmm what to put in it... skittles are good, hmm this is hard to decide... I want a little caesars pizza really bad!! Holy crap do I miss dairy products... Somebody should make a dairy farm here and become a millionaire!! It is all powdered milk which just isnt the same, all watery. I recommend just sending packages in those US postage envelopes that seal all the way around the package (is this making sense). I say this because they dont open those packages and check what is inside :D Anways...what to put in there. Blank CD's for pictures!! (or was there some in my luggage?) Cant remember, let me go look and ill get back to you on the package haha.

Africa is sweet!! Its crazy and i love it here... the people in my apartment really make things awesome... There are sooo many differences from the American Elders and Ghanain Elders. We just dont think the same way about many things. It has been tough to get used to but im doing a lot of changing and its really helping my companionship... I got THE BEST African Elder in the mission. He really is incredible and teaches me how to teach and I really am getting good at teaching and asking questions... Getting the people to really think and to come up with the answer before i just tell them the answers to things. It works really well and im glad to be able to spend this time with this kind of a missionary! We are working hard and get to see the fruits of our labors...we had a baptism this last Sunday! It was from the other elders in our apartment. They have another one next week in another ward (because its a french family and the guy in our apartment, Elder akoki teaches them in french). Then we have our baptism the following week with bro. obuachy! We are helping people understand the importance of commitments and they are starting to follow the commitments we give them much better. We see this plan going into effect and its working with the people here in Africa.

The food is starting to taste better but some meals it is sooo very hard! We can only have Free Meals (FMs) if we teach an investigator and the member is there and then the member feeds us and we all eat together. (This is a part of the goal that was given in our last zone conference).

President is coming to Kumasi this friday! We have interviews on Saturday and im way excited!! Ive only had a small 3 min interview at the mtc with him and he is so inspired!! I love how kind and loving and how powerful he is!

Then next monday we are playing a full field game of soccer with pres as the referee! Tuesday we have an "emergency" zone conference. Its just that Elder Cardon is coming (The new area president). He is going around the entire mission to get a feel for what may be needed and stuff. So that he has a better idea of how the mission works and how the missionaries and people are. Im excited for him to come, he spoke to us in the mtc and is VERY powerful...wow. Hes a general authority!! So hes gotta be powerful haha.

Well i love you guys so much!! Keep doing what is right and dont worry about me! Im working sooo hard and following the rules just for you mom! Haha no really i am. You have to or you either get sick or dont have the Spirit with you and both would waste the Lord's time.

Elder Lehr!

PS... EAT A PIZZA FOR ME! :D (yes a whole pizza, one per person)

I cant believe it is monday already. Africa has been going crazy because there is a U20 (under 20 years of age, for you people who are slow) Tournament with teams from all over the world representing their country. It is being held in Egypt but all that matters is that it is in Africa. The whole continent is alive and its not even the world cup yet! Ghana was playing two days ago and you could totally tell when they scored... literally the whole city screams and cheers when they score, all the cars honk their horns like crazy (the taxis do this anyways). All the investigators and members with tvs invite us in to watch a game (we have to limit ourselves haha).

The missionary work has been really progressing. I havent been mentioning any of our investigators names because there are just so many. We teach 20 lessons a week without even trying and the goal for our mission is 30! HOLY COW I KNOW! My eyes were huge when I read this goal haha. We have about 5-6 people who are committed to baptism and need a date set, so we are working on that. Missionary work for the most part seems so easy, but I know its because we are doing what is right and humbling ourselves in every aspect. My companion is incredible. He is really helping me along and showing me how to teach the people of Ghana. (Its %100 different then any kind of teaching in the States) These people are soooo faithful! They really do KNOW their Bibles...It was a little scary and intimidating at first when investigators whipped out all these Bible scriptures I didnt know existed. But its all good because my companion knows the bible like the back of his hand. AND it all comes down to following the scripture in James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom..." If they really do pray and keep the commitments we give them then they progress and all is good! Its sad to see only 60-70 at church every week when there are a lot more members than that! We have been working hard with this Elias Goal that ive told you about.... its the goal where we interact a lot with members, especially inactive or less active members. We have visited 11 members houses that we previously didnt know where they lived this week. It is really tough here because there is no addresses or sense of direction. When we get directions it sounds something like this... "Go do this road and its the 3rd right at the roundabout then go down past the chickens and its on your right." No its not really like that but you get the point.

The easiest lesson to teach is the Restoration.... we help them understand that when Christ was on the Earth one of the things he did was establish His church. The foundation of the church was Prophets and Apostles with Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone. Once Christ and the other Prophets and Apostles were killed, the foundation was taken away and the church fell. And when it fell, the people were left with only pieces of truth that they used to create their own churches according to man. yada yada yada then the Restoration! It is a powerful lesson to talk about Joseph Smith actually seeing God and Jesus Christ. Just from teaching it we have gotten people afterwards telling us they "felt that it is true"... or feel peace or love while we are teaching them. You wont understand the joy that I have until you have experienced this missionary work for yourself. I have never been happier!!

So one thing that i havent told you guys about is our transportation! We use taxis and these buses that are filled with people called Tro-Tro's. They are all ghetto buses and that extra seats welded in to maximize the space! They are really cheap but really crazy! Pray i dont die in one! haha. We travel just about everywhere in either a taxi or tro tro. My first experience in a tro tro went like this.... I got in a bus with tons of people (of course im the only white guy so everyone is looking at me like what the heck is this rich white guy doing in a tro tro). We sat in the only empty seats which were in the back....after driving a little ways the driver hits a huge bump going pretty fast and the back door of the tro tro flies open and our seat isnt exactly welded on very good!! Our whole row started falling back until we grabbed the seat in front of us and pulled our row back into the van. We started shouting at the driver to stop! Hahaha...my companion and I just laughed and he said.. "Well this is a great first experience in a tro tro!" Hahaha...nothing to worry about mom! Its all good! :D

:D Well ive got to go to meet up with the rest of our zone to play some futbol!! They really do love that sport here :D I love you all and am happy to get your emails and letters! I am doing my best to write you back and sorry if it is only a short response! The Lord's work is definitely taking over much of my time, as it should be.

Love, Elder Lehr