Hey guys!
So much to say... well first off yes we lost and YES everyone was going crazy all night long!! Dancing and partying, loud music and screaming haha. It was pretty sweet to see how united a country can be over just one sport, never had that before haha. Everyone was giving me and Elder Holmes crap because we are the only white Americans in the whole village. Man it was hard to be patient. lol.
We did have our baptism on Friday!! It was pretty sweet! Everyone showed up so we had 9 in all. We invited President and Sister Sabey and apparently their son returned from Argentina on his mission and came to Ghana straight away so they were all at the baptism. It was cool for the branch to have his support. Sister Sabey was so happy to have her son home, couldn't help but think about how happy my mommy will be haha. So the goal is finished!!! There are like 8 missionaries who still have to finish by this Sunday, the last Sunday left!! All of them are in the same zone, kinda scary but have faith! We even were able to contact our families few older children during a match and they are interested so the next goal wont really be much of a problem no matter what companion I get. Transfer news is today! That came fast! 6 weeks already... I wish they all were this fast. I like it when things go fast! So i bet my companion leaves since he has been here 14 months. He would leave Wednesday if it happened. There will probably be a lot of changes this transfer in the mission, lots of missionaries coming in. It will be sweet. President has worked on a few new apartments and areas for the church to be in so there will be some opening up of new areas which will be sweet!
Today was a sweet P-day!! We went to Kakum which is one of the only rain forests left in west africa. There is a huge canopy rope bridge walk. Its like 150 feet or so. Not too bad, our Ghanaian companions were freakin out though haha. They hate heights, but so do I, I just don't show it like they do. I was swinging the bridge and really messing with them. Took lots of pictures! After that we waited to get a tro to a nice resort hotel called Hans Cottage. We were almost there when i realized i left my bag on a bench on the side of the road when we waited for a car. No big deal, just an ipod and flash drive and pictures that i need to send you and some letters for you....so we rushed back freaking out about the whole thing. Found that the bag was never touched....there were some criminal looking guys who sell things to tourists at Kakum and apparently they never saw it because it would of been gone for sure! Tender mercy!! Ok, then we went all the way back to Hans Cottage and walked around a huge pond full of crocodiles, SWEET!!! 40 plus crocs in the pond! Then we got to touch one, lots of pictures again!! Ate some burgers! Then we are finishing the day printing baptism pictures and emailing then heading home to wait for transfer news! What a full week!!
Yesterday I really felt like i was going to puke because i ate wayyy too much fufu. The member made more then usual and everyone was already somehow full. I just kept swallowing little pieces til it was gone, my companion was surprised because its usually him who saves the day by finishing it up haha. I was going to pop! Walking the long way home hurt haha. I love fufu now.
I love you guys!! Have a good week! I'll let you know if anything happens to anyone in the apartment for transfers! Transfer week is never really productive especially when people are moving out and in. Gotta go!
Love Elder Lehr
Hey Family,
How are you? mom, Stop crying yet? Bahaha I'm sorry to laugh....just funny how we both have the same feelings sometimes. Some days its just not easy to be so far away. Two years is a long time but the year is coming so i guess that came quick. Of course I'm your favorite son, I'm your only son even though Tine is a tough girl and Bug plays sports like a guy. HAHA Don't tell them that. Ohh World Cup...Just hoping the US beats Algeria then we can advance and maybe play Ghana for the first game, haha that would be interesting and fun. Everyone here goes crazy when somebody scores, especially African teams and of course Brasil... They are just too good.
My companion will probably be transferred this transfer, president has kind of hinted that he has been here long enough and needs a change. Just hope i don't train a new missionary here. There are 3 elders leaving next week and 12 coming so lots of expansion in some areas and a lot of people training and all that junk. It'll be interesting.
Sorry for Manny....hes dang good so who cares about Boston fans. Haha. Dodgers still good this year or what??
My Branch President here is as young as Bishop Prince and he is a stud too! He served his mission here and served in Asokwa way back when and was a zone leader there haha. Hes a sweet guy and knows what he is doing. This branch has only been here for maybe 5 years and is a branch of from another branch down the road. This area is growing pretty fast compared to other places. We are finishing the family goal this week Friday with a baptism of 6 including a sweet family. The husband and wife have two other kids we are going to start teaching and we contacted them during a world cup game so they both qualify for the next mission goal that has already started. I'm not worried about the missionary work next transfer, just worried about the new companion I'll probably be getting. Never know...
That's freakin sweet about Nate Waggoner's mission call! Philippines will be sweet!!!! That place is growing! He'll probably speak Tigalo... That's what the member who was in Asokwa who was from the Philippines spoke. They are a sweet people! Landon?? No mission call? We wont see each other for at least 3 years now haha....sucky.
Yes the soups are the same as in Kumasi...i just like how they cook them here....much better. I'm a machine now when it comes to eating fufu....i wasn't til this transfer because the soups weren't that good. I love abenkwine...which is palm nut soup. Its these orange colored nuts that grow on huge palm trees that they grind up. It makes your whole face orange and your hand orange. Its sweet. Its my favorite soup!!
We are hopefully going to Cacum next Monday just us four... its the rope bridge place you've probably seen pictures of. We'll see if we can go.
Well i love you!
Elder Lehr
Hey Family!
The last few days have been really exciting yet difficult. This mission goal is not an easy one, but it seems like everyone is keeping it haha. Even in the far out reaches of Twifo Praso there is plenty of temptation, yes even members asking us to come in and watch and yes even Ghana's match on Sunday. You just don't understand how much they love it here. People ran up and down the streets with Ghana flags screaming when they won...I just keep saying, it was against Serbia, so what. Could Ghana tie England? Doubt it. Haha. We'll see. Anyways, a lot has happened this last two weeks. An Elder in Assin Foso got hit by a car while riding his bike, concussion and a night at the wonderful Ghana hospital (bush hospital). Hes fine now and said after it happened that he WILL ride bikes again hahaha. Hes mad at me for writing this to you right now haha.
Last Saturday we went to a members farm and cut down trees in their "farm" jungle. We crawled through trees and bushes to even get to the farm haha. It was sweet.We were IN the jungle chopping down trees! I have a huge fear of snakes and they had to reassure me that you don't see snakes in Ghana very often so i felt better, but then after we were finished and tired, we rested all sitting down kinda in a circle and one of the members started screaming the word "OWO!!" really loud and everyone except me and the other American got up screaming and running away. I WAS TERRIFIED AND DIDNT KNOW WHY!! I didn't know "OWO" means snake in Twi. Haha. IT WAS A BLACK MAMBA!!No it wasn't Kobe Bryant in Ghana it was a real Black mamba! Elder Ayim took a machete and killed the crap out of it...100% kill rate without anti-venom and there is NONE in Ghana sooo i guess it was a scary experience. We laughed at it though. I love farming here! Its sweet!
Today we are in cape coast and played soccer on the beach, WHAT A NICE CHANGE TO P-DAY! Elder Harris is right when he said it felt like we were on an island in Kumasi. Ive now seen all the missionaries in the mission in just this transfer which is fun. After the beach we got dressed and the other cape coast zone said we could go to the castle and get a free tour because there is a recent convert who is in charge of it and said we could come. So we went there today! It was pretty sweet, got some pictures. The stories weren't happy ones of course. All the slaves that came from Africa came from one of 3 castles and the cape coast one had the most come out of it. It was fun to see Elder Adjeifio and Elder Akoki! They are companions and zone leaders together!! So funny to see them together, two funny guys together as zone leaders. They both say the same thing about leadership positions haha. Not a fun job unless its your "dream" like some elders. Kinda funny.
Sorry about the softball tourny! You win some you lose some. Beat out by a little girl? Sorry....bahaha. What a downer to the confidence/cocky level. Haha humbling experience im sure. Love ya!
My companion is sweet! I hope we stay together longer but im sure he wont be here much longer since hes been here 14 months. THE SAME BED FOR 14 MONTHS! I couldn't do that. 9 was plenty for me. We have 2 elders leaving and 12 coming so it looks like some areas are going to be opened up! Maybe even in our area since there is 3 branches to us 4 missionaries. Its cool though, i really enjoy this area. Its just far from Assin Foso and far from Cape Coast. Horrible roads getting to either place and we travel to those places at least once a week on average for something. This week we have interviews so we are traveling to Assin Foso for that because that is where the District Center is and most of the missionaries in our zone including Elder Harris are close to there. They can email there but because we don't always go there that's why its every other week. The road is just not worth traveling to email. As much as i love hearing from you its just not an easy thing to do and to put my companion through for my benefit and yours so sorry.
No, i haven't gotten your letters but i might get them Wednesday if they are in. We'll see! I hope so!
Anyways, the power has turned off twice and Ive been scared for losing this email because the first time i lost everything and had to re-write the email again, kinda frustrating. I'm loving life and enjoying the area and companion. Wont last long since transfers is coming. I love you guys and miss you!
Love Elder Lehr
PS There is probably more i could write you but since the power has turned off twice Ive lost my train of thought, sorry. GO US!!! DESTROY SLOVENIA AND ALGERIA SO WE CAN BE THE NUMBER ONE SEED!!!!
I don't have much time to write today, we tried our cafe in Twifo Praso and it didn't work so we are in Cape Coast today since today is zone conference, so we have a short time to write some stuff. I love the new area and my new companion and apartment. His name is elder Ayim and he is in Elder Adjeifio's group. He is almost 26...ya thats his age. Awesome guy and a studly missionary. He has been in this area for almost 14 months and loves it as i do! Its a great experience this last week!
We have a new goal that is starting early even though this last goal hasn't finished yet. It is not not watch a single match of the World Cup and we have to baptize a person that we contacted during the hours of when a world cup match is playing. We have a month to find those people and then til September to have them baptized. Oh and by the way....i still haven't finished this last goal, there are 4 of us in the zone and 3 of the 4 came from Kumasi this last transfer, if that tells you anything about Kumasi. haha. My area is bush but its not so bad. The apartment is probably the nicest building in the little town/village. Almost all of our lessons are in Twi, Elder Ayim translates everything. Kind of annoying but its fine, i love it. The members here are amazing...much better leadership and help from members. I guess there hasn't been a white elder in this are for more than a year and now there is me and Elder Holmes from Kumasi. Its kinda funny to see how the primary children react to us. Some scream and cry and the others love us! Way funny. I love it here and am glad for the change. I guess Elder Harris is in the most bush part of the mission. They go at 6:30am and farm til noon 3 times a week. He said today that he loves his area, but he hasn't been to the farm yet.
Assin Foso is the zones name and yes its almost halfway to Kumasi from Cape Coast, but Twifo Praso is another hour west of Assin Foso....Its far. We drive through jungle dirt roads to get there. I really love it. The people are so great! We teach so many lessons without even trying. My companion really works hard and i love it. He is a stud. Even when both of us are exhausted and about to sleep, he'll say, Companion lets go! At first it sucks but after walking it goes away and we really get a lot of work done. There are 3 branches out here in this area so we take a huge area of Twifo Praso branch and the other elder take the other two branches and a small area of Twifo Praso. They don't really go to the other areas to proselyte in, but just teach the investigators that came to church on Sunday.
Even though I'm in a MUCH smaller town/village area, i love it. Its so sweet here... You would be surprised at what i call normal haha. Everything here is just normal to me now, weird feeling. Ladies pulling down there shirts to breast feed in the middle of lessons, no problem. TroTros driving crazy fast, people speaking only Twi, and seeing only on two story building which is our apartment (we only have the top story haha) is all normal to me here. Hahaha. Im much better at pounding and eating fufu and will definitely have to get better since we do plenty of both.
Well i love you and i think we can email next week since we are going to Takoradi next Monday for futbol against their zone. Its a full field and should be sweet! Oh and i forgot to mention it but my companion has a wooden bench press with huge rocks on the sides of a big metal bar so ill be lifting the next weeks maybe months. Should be sweet. Actually get strong again hopefully. Its getting ridiculous haha.
Love you guys!!
PS: I saw the beach today! Bet you can say that!! :D :D ITS SOO NICE!
