YOOO!!! One email left and i dont think ill even email cuz its a very busy day next monday. We are having a sweet fried rice and chicken meal with both zones then a few of us are heading golfing with elder zoll! It will be legit! I cant believe its so close!

Yesterday was sweet, a father and son show up randomly to church saying they are just visiting and want to know more! Too bad i wont be here for their baptism! Ah! But two of our investigators nana and osei came! I WAS SO HAPPY FOR THEM!!! They've been promising for weeks to come, they both bought white shirts to come, i sure hope they are here to stay. Bishop talked to them and they are very happy but still wanting more time to "go through the teachings." Its sweet!! I would love to baptize them before i go!!! Nana will be coming to the US for 6 months by the beginning of next year, he wants to see me when he comes he says haha. Its been pretty sweet lately. Im leaving my companion with some serious investigators for him to work with, which is pretty sweet considering how difficult asokwa is.

Im glad the dogs are ok! hahaha more importantly that you are all ok! I come home at 10am!! Holy crap, i can have lunch! That will be awesome!

I just lost all train of thought of what to say, i guess it doesnt matter right? Two weeks away...sweet!!

Love you!!!

EFY!! Awesome! they will be great! Two more mondays left to email, that last monday ill be traveling to cape coast and probably wont email, and wont need to!!! :D :D :D :D :D Can u believe it mom, its finally here!!! Got just a few more weeks of keeping my head down and ill be right there flying over the hoover dam seeing the casinos! i cant wait! :D

I just asked dad to put some money in the acct, if not then its his wood carvings that wont make the flight!!

Bug sounded really excited about maybe making batbusters and having the byu coach talk to coach doug about her....thats so awesome, i hope everything works out well.

I love you mom, i cant wait to see you, i know u want to be my first hug, but im sure youll have to beat the girls running... or i can just imagine tine waiting at the end of the....disting.......i cant remember what they are called....stair thing that moves ummm....escalator??? Sigh, im so ghanain!

Elder Aloysius ate his first fufu yesterday and hated it.....it was the two biggest balls of fufu ive ever seen a member give us and he couldnt eat half of his and i ate 3/4 of both of ours......im a beast...you cant tell by what i look like, but just ask sister zoll. Elder Zoll things i have worms. They made us beef and chicken tacos last night.... OH MY GOSH!!! Ive missed REAL mexcian food, and sister zoll kept saying they ARENT COSTCO tortillas but it works! hahaha i love them. Needless to say i had a bloated stomach that whole night and i can feel my intestines right now, they are so sore! hahaha. It was worth it! :D

Well mom i hope your week is great! ITS AUGUST BABY!!!!!!!

Love Elder Lehr

Sounds like a crazy week! Thats awesome about efy and bug getting to bat....winning the game for them! ha. BYU knows my sister....when its time to get karli in, we'll tell the BYU coach he has to pull some strings to get her brother into the school or else she will go somewhere else! hahaha, never know, it could happen! :D

I cant wait to be with you guys, its getting so exciting....the only problem about it is that i am having a hard time not talking about home and its killing my companion because he is just realizing how long two years is and seeing me leave will be really tough for him, he's pretty homesick. Reminds me of myself! He's a great missionary already!! We just had a baptism yesterday, he got to baptize brother Tetteh!! He was pretty excited to have his first baptism. Hopefully we'll have another one a week or so before i leave! We're praying for them. Mercy and Josephine came to church for the 5th or 6th time in a row! Awesome!

The zolls are getting to know kumasi very well, they dont really need me to show them around too much anymore. Elder Zoll is a pro ghanain driver haha. I love them, they are so down to earth and hilarious! They are still kinda in shock with being in ghana though, its not an easy thing to do.

Thats so awesome that Jared, Don and Justin get to go to scout camp in san diego together!! What a coincidence!! :D Im jealous of that....we need to go to the lake when i get home....can we plan a trip?? Lake mead isnt far! :D

Not much else to talk about! I love you guys, dont count the days just yet! Im pretty sure i want olive garden!

Love Elder Lehr

Hey mom!


This week has been alright! We got to meet our new mission president, pres shulz and his wife! They are pretty awesome! They served here in kumasi as CES couples 10 years ago and loved it! Pres is a sweet guy! He asked me about 30 mins ago if i would train a new missionary, this will be awesome!! the Zolls are very happy im staying here haha. Im so excited! This greeny is lucky because we have worked our butts off to get 4 serious investigators and probably 3 that will be baptized within these 6 weeks. We'll have a baptism for brother Wisdom Tete either this sunday or the next, gotta talk to the district about it since there are 3 groups that are under Asokwa's leadership and they want to coordinate baptisms together....their excuse for that is to save water. Lame. And nobody likes when there is more than one person being the baptizer....also lame. I think if the investigator wants their missionary to baptize them then it should be that way....not somebody from another group or another missionary who never taught them, thats just how i think though and its almost never the right way here. AND IM OK WITH THAT! Does this even sound like cody to you? I knew you'd say no!


Sister Wallace went to Cape Coast today and goes home tomorrow! She was probably my favorite sister in my relief society district in bantama...remember them?


Elder Zoll always tells me i have a worm or something because I can eat so freakin much but im so freakin skinny. Its funny, karli will definitely lose the wings competition!


I cant believe im on my last 6 weeks, last transfer. Holy crap time has flown by. Im excited but also very sad because i know i probably wont see most of these people or missionaries ever again! Its going to be a rough plane ride but im sure ill be very excited when i get to new york to see all of you in vegas! Got my flight info yet? I called the assistants to ask them to check on that.


Well ill send you some pictures! I love you guys! Have a sweet week! :D I have no idea where my companion is going or even who i am getting to be my companion yet. Youll know when i know i hope!


Love Elder Lehr

Glad you got the pictures! Cant believe its 4th of july...didnt think about it til an elder at pday said "happy 4th of july!" All i could think of was las vegas lights and blowin stuff up and driving out to the indian reservation to buy boom booms AND BBQs!!

Yes the zolls are just so winderful!! I honestly think ive gained a good 5 pounds or more this week, especially after sunday dinner! I cant believe i heard them say sunday dinner, havent heard that expression used in a while! It was delicious pasta and chocolate chip cookies. Their grand kids skyped them during dinner so we got to meet a lot of their family....which includes a really cute grand daughter headed to BYU this august! :D I miss white girls... anyways!


We were with Elder Leko for a full week and got his same exact companion back. President just needed to talk to him about some stuff, now he's back. They are in UST ward where i used to have district meetings when i first came to ghana. Now we have them in our building here in asokwa which is nice.


Baking bread was a lot of fun especially since we are trying to speak twi and they are trying to speak english and neither of us can understand each other except for the small twi that i can speak haha. A member's mother in UST is the bread maker, i dont think we got a picture with her but just the workers. She is really nice, hopefully one of these days she will ask her son more about the church since we help out a lot. Those Elders in UST ward go there every saturday to do that, it takes most of the morning and afternoon to do. I was a little sore just lifting bread and bread dough off the ground to put in the oven....Im such a sissy and so out of shape its crazy.

Played some football today though! That was a lot of fun....the american team dominated, except the last game ha. Elder Harrison plays for BYU so its good to be on his team.

Do you know how many investigators i have given shirts or pants or ties and still never came to church?!?!?! I just wish they would tell me the truth about what is stopping them from coming so that i at least try to help them, but they like keeping things to themselves.


Lol runny tummy huh? I didnt notice you said it like a ghanain til i read it again haha. Sorry for bug!!

Im sure the dogs here would love to eat that little bird....they are just skin and bones here! Saturday night elder david and i raced back to the apartment because we both had a turtle head pokin out of us and then some dogs started barking at us and my companion freaked out and stopped running thinking they would chase the guy running...ha, i win! These skinny little dogs dont scare me much, they are rat dogs haha.


So you went to dinner with who? Uncle Bob!? How is he doing? He has spent more of his life WITH her then WITHOUT her so im sure i would miss her like crazy too if i were him! Even with the knowledge and assurance that we will be with our family again, its still a lonely world without your companion! Gotta try and stay busy!!


This was a great week! Took the Zolls around to all the different groups meeting houses in kumasi, which took two or so days since they are so spread out. Took them to our favorite investigator who randomly came to midweek on wednesday saying his brother found the church and he wants to know more. Met with him that wednesday night adn thursday and friday is when we took the zolls with us for their first discussion....they loved it! We taught him about the origin of the book of mormon, read some scriptures then went through the introduction with him. After that we taught him about prayer and the Holy Ghost....how to receive answers to prayers. It really was just a spiritually powerful lesson. Turned it over to the zolls and they bore their testimonies....both of them crying haha (we would call them "fresh") It reminded me of my first few lessons that were really good and i was trying to hold back the tears.....Im not much of a crier now! You wouldnt believe it! :D Then they opened up their laptop and we played the Restoration Dvd for him. He loved it and told us....now its up to me to read this (the book of mormon in his hand) and pray about it. Then he came to church on sunday and told us and the bishop he is ever ready to be baptized so we told him we could do it this month, we just have to finish a few more lessons with him! I mean come on....we just found him! He's sweet....sorry i didnt mention his name...Wisdom Tete. His brother said the church is a huge blessing in his life! Love him.

Also, we had a recent convert bring his wife to church the last 3 sundays, its almost impossible to meet with them but even through the rain we went to see them yesterday evening. Her name is lucy yeboah and she is just SOO SHY. She wouldnt hardly look at us or face us in the lesson, we kinda thought she was being rude and not wanting us to be there til we asked her how she felt about the church, her eyes lit up and she turned to us and said she likes it but just needs to learn more about it...she said kakra kakra which means, small small. So that has been our week, add a good lesson with a young guy named peter, he is reading the book of mormon here and there, we gotta push him a little more to come to church. So in short, im LOVING IT HERE! Its great to finish in this area i started in, the members are great!


I am well and fat and doing very good....7 weeks!


Love Elder Lehr

yo ma!
The week has been pretty crazy, lots going on. First on wednesday we get a call from the ZLs telling us to pick up our 3rd companion since one guy had to be transferred to cape, so we took his companion with us. The guy with us is elder leko and came in elder harris's group. He's a sweet guy from uganda! So we had him with us all week.

Saturday he said there was a planned service project in between our two areas, we went and helped a bunch of non-member woman bake bread in those mud ovens....the round dome shaped ones with a single door. We have some pictures so u can see...maybe next week with the pictures.

Sunday we had a combined baptism at Asokwa for the Daban and Atonsu groups that both came off of asokwa. We are the ones with the font so they came to our ward after sacrament and sunday school. It was a pretty sweet baptism, 3 people and two of them were a husband and a wife. Nobody baptized from us though, not yet!! After that we went to see some less active recent converts....one was sick and the other had traveled somewhere, excuses excuses. They are powerful guys, they jsut need a little push.

Then we stopped by our apartments and met president and sister sabey with Elder and Sister Bennett and the new couples....Elder and sister Zoll (Bonnie and Bud, they havent gotten used to calling each other elder and sister zoll yet so we know their first names well haha). They are hilarious!! They are converts to the church contacted by two elders in OREM!! Now they have 5 sealed children with 19 grandchildren all strong in the church, wow!! He is an ex-marine and just retired from as a lawyer. I love them haha. Today was there first day out and we took them to the chapel to pass out subsistance for all the missionaries and they got to spend some time with all of us getting to know us. Afterwards we went to town and showed them some few places to buy some things they needed, lots of people trying to take advantage of them....This is Ghana. Then they took us for pizza....they have been treating us like kings ever since we got here, we've been very thankful and i feel very spoiled!! They are so ready to get going, but they just dont know kumasi or the leaders here yet so im going to be helping them a lot, which is sweet cuz they are awesome!! They are from sandy, UT.

Elder Lytle is home, wow!! Love that kid!! :) Zac is engaged!! Holy crap! haha too soon for me too. :)

Love you, have a sweet week!! The Zolls want me to extend cuz 2 months isnt long enough haha, he says he'll tie me down and water board me if i dont!!

Love Elder Lehr

cant believe tine will graduate today! Sorry about having to make a slideshow cuz cody did hahaha, wish i was there to make it for you! The stones have been gone for a while. Feeling great! Except im sore from playing football yesterday.

Madagascar sounds freaking sweet!!!! Thats so awesome! I think that is a french speaking mission....maybe?? My MTC president, president harmon served as a mission president over a mission in madagascar and i think it was french! Does he go to provo?? Presidnet harmon loved it there!! Its pretty close to south africa so im sure its fine!! Its an island....remember risk??

I have never told any of my friends to start writing karli....they are just doing it...karli needs to be straight forward with them or just not accept their friend requests!!!!

Well i lvoe you so much!

Gotta go! Love your son, Elder Lehr

Yeah so im not sure if the kidney stones have broken up and passed or if they are just in my bladder still, but the mission doctor says i have an infection and im taking ciprofloxicin for that starting today. Every since that first day i havent had much pain but if they are still in there waiting, its only a matter of time. For right now im just taking those meds and drinking tons of water to hopefully flush it all out and get rid of this infection. Its not making me sick so its not too much of a problem, just really painful that first day. Um ya im not taking in very much dairy at all ha.

Elder david has been here only 3 months so he is pretty fresh and reminds me a whole lot of elder ekaette. I really like the guy and we're getting along just fine. We are sending 5 families to the temple on thursday to complete the mission goal for 9 missionaries in the other zone. Most of them have come to our area to teach these families and the next few days more will come. Asokwa is pumping out families for this goal haha. Everyone is very thankful and im suprised that so many from asokwa are prepared and ready to do it. The bishop is all about temple work and not so much into missionary work so thats perfect for this mission goal haha.

The Senior couple has had some visa problems for some reason and should be here the 26th, so i havent even met them yet, they are at home waiting to come still ha. So ill have 8 weeks to get them into gear, not that im counting :)

Today we drove out to see the Barekessi (thats how it sounds) dam. It was pretty sweet to go around the place and get a tour and be able to go underneath it through some tunnels where all the pipes are. Its a lot better than just playing football every week. It was a good change of scenery.

FHE at bishops wasnt anything special, because it was my first time i had to give the spiritual thought (they call it spiritual talk). Good thing i had the conference edition.(Thank you sis. Mackay) I went to president monsons talk on temples. It was sweet, they gave us water melon after wards.

Well ive gotta go, my companion is bored.

Love Elder Lehr

So tuesday at 3am i woke up with pains in my side and back, then it went away. Wednesday morning about the same time i felt even worse pains, and it did NOT go away for 7 straight hours i was dying of these severe pains in my abs and side and lower left back.

Went to the hospital got some fluids in me since every time i would drink something i would throw it up. There was blood in my urine and just all kinds of problems. Got through to a doctor by 1 in the after noon cuz Ghana and hospitals suck! Got a few prescriptions including an antibiotic to kill the infection in my urinary track. Went to an ultra sound place and a med lab to take blood and urine tests....Ive been feeling pretty good since ive been taking that medicine every day 3 times aday.

The mission doctor says he's 100 percent sure its kidney stones....and i still havent passed them yet, thatll be a sweet experience. Ive been drinking water like crazy and havent felt too much pain since that wednesday but just thought i should let you know! Ill be fine i promise!! 3 months left! Dont worry about me! :D :D 7 Missionaries are coming to our ward tomorrow to teach some families so they can complete the temple portion of the goal from our families....asokwa is powerful! Love you dad! You can tell mom if you wanna scare her! :D

My week was fantastic! I got here on wednesday and we have been working our butts off every since. My companion has been here for 3 months and is from Nigerian, Elder David. He is awesome! I love this kid! We have found 6 new investigators that could be interested so we'll see. Asokwa has changed a lot. This is the very first area in kumasi that i came to straight from the mtc. I love it here. There are now groups in Atonsu and Daban that take a lot of the old members but there are also a lot of new faces that have moved here or been baptized since i was here, its exciting to be back.

As for the couples i havent met them yet, they come up on wednesday sometime. I think they are called the Zolls. Elder and Sister Zoll. It will be exciting for them to come. They have no idea what Ghana is like so it will be funny to see how they adapt :) . I got an envelope from the Mackay family! They sent me the new ensign and i got it today, tell them thanks for that! I get to use it to teach a FHE lesson with our bishops family! :D

President and sister Sabey leave like the first week of July. The Assistants have gone around taking videos of everyone saying something to them and theyll put it on a disk for them as a going away gift, besides that i think they have scheduled another zone conference in the next two weeks where im sure we can say our goodbyes and stuff, itll be interesting getting a new mission president. The new president has been to ghana i think twice, serving as couple missionaries both times.

I feel so good being in this area again. My companion and I are working so hard and its such a good feeling especially getting close to the end. Its a sweet feeling when my companion looks to me when teaching or when Im speaking a little Twi and he asks how to say some things and im able to teach him. I never thought i could get to this point where i finally feel like i know what im doing....Ironic part is that it will only last these 3 months haha. I wish i could have been like this my whole mission, how powerful that would have been.

Bounti, the guy that adjeifio and I baptized within my first few months is still here and active and going to the temple next month to do baptisms with the wards!! He was just so excited to see me again and to tell me that he's going to the temple and planning on a mission after his school finishes! :D :D

Well ive gotta head to bishops house for FHE. I love you guys. I know that God lives and loves me. I especially feel that love when i kneel in prayer asking for forgiveness each night. The church is true and this work is HIS work, to bring to pass the immortality and immortal life of man and HE directs it. I have had so many trials and frustrating times as well as amazing and powerful experience....add it all together and its called...mission, the best two years...SO FAR. :D I love you all and will talk to ya next week!

Elder Lehr

So after we finish appointments durign the day and the evening comes there is nobody around to translate for us, so we use the day time and work all day then when it hits like 7 we come to the stake center to use the internet, its free and no hassle and just nice cuz of the AC....all of this doesnt matter since i am being transferred to.....DUN DUN DUN.........drum rollllllll.....................................................................................................................................................................................
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Dont cheat youve gotta read all of this before you know... ....................................................................................................................................................................................
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ASOKWA!!!!


Hahaha just kidding....


No really.... im going back to where it all began!! I cant believe it but its for real haha. President called me and said he has a special assignment for me and my heart was racing so hard.... then he explained the news of a new couple coming to finally replace the Kiffers spot in asokwa and he wants me to train them. Since i know all of kumasi so well. Then he said my companion is also very new and will also need some training too.....training 3 missionaries? Is this possible? Im excited to see the old stomping grounds and bare my last testimony where i bore my first! It will be sweet! My companion here in Fosu is also leaving so they are white washing this area.....which sucks cuz we just got a huge teaching pool and even baptized that man Baffur that was coming to church for the last six months....that was sunday! YAA! He was so happy and appreciative of us and going through the lessons with him. He'll is a solid guy!! He needs a calling!! HES RETIRED AND BORED OUT OF HIS MIND! Haha. We just got a sweet referral who is a nurse at the clinic across from our apartment...SOLID! She will be baptized in the next month for sure. She's so funny and smart....Its such an awesome feeling to teach someone educated and understands what the heck im saying without translation. I can actually learn how to teach that way! haha.

Well i love you so much and I can tell you that ive seen myself grow and change in a lot of ways which is wierd since i normally cant see changes in myself. This is a good thing. Ive still got a long way to go but at least im on the right path. Pray that i can get good enough grades for BYU's crazy hard business school?? haha ill never make up my mind will I? The church is true. God loves us all and shows us in so many ways....we need to humble ourselves and ask for blessings and He will be able to unleash so many more that are being held back cuz of our lack to just ask. I know that is true. I pray for certain gifts of the Spirit that i feel that i need and ive started to see changes. Ive got so many things to share with you and the rest of the family but just typing things and reading them just doesnt do it. Ive gotta be there. 11 more emails left after today! Can you believe that? Its almost less than 10 weeks left....very soon i will be home. I lvoe you so much! Im headed to Kumasi wednesday to be with Elder David from Nigeria!

Love Elder Lehr

Hey fam,

This week has been sweet. We had a meeting last week with the ward missionaries talking to them about referrals and this week we gained 4 powerful referrals that we were able to meet with. 2 of them are a husband and wife and the husband came to church yesterday then we met with him after church in his mom which is surrounded by members! Im so stoked for them! haha. 3 other referrals are these young guys in their junior year who are best friends with a ward missionary gideon who was baptized less than a year ago! He's powerful. 2 of the 3 seem very interested and serious, the other guy, henry will be a little bit more difficult to work with but its good for him to see his friends accepting it, that will help him see the light. The man who has been coming to church the last 6 months, Baffur came to church and we have finished teaching him the Restoration and Plan of Salvation and he is loving it and wanting to be baptized. The other elders in ward 2 are having a baptism this sunday so we will bring it up to him and see if it is too soon or if he wants it to be this coming sunday! We are going there wednesday and friday and possibly saturday if he needs to be interviewed for baptism. He's a very intelligent and wealthy older man who lived in an area near Asokwa in kumasi and couldnt come to church there because of his job but now that he lives here he can go to church on sundays and he was very excited to get away from kumasi for that reason haha. I named a few companies near his home in kumasi and he was so suprised i knew where he had lived haha.

Florence and Cecilia are doing well, they've been in the church for 2-3 months now and loving it still. They come to church almost every week. My companion was asked to give a talk on saturday for sundays sacrament meeting....last minute? haha but its ok the missionaries can DO ANYTHING. The women in the church even believe that we are more worthy and prepared to give their children priesthood blessings than their husbands.....this is something we are trying to change here!!! I was also asked on that saturday to teach elders quorum class....better than speaking in my opinion haha. I talked about the Fall of Adam and Eve and how it was necessary and a few of the bretheren had some wierd ideas that the Fall changed God's plan, meaning satan frustrated the plan a little bit and God's back up plan came into affect. I explained from scriptures how everything is done in the wisdom of Him who knows all things and it pretty much straightened their twisted theory out. Its kinda sad how people can be in the church for so many years and now fully understand basic standards and doctrines of the church. I used the same outline Elder Holland used when he spoke to us last year Feb. Its a sweet and simple outline that works well when teaching the Fall and the Atonement. I love it. It was wierd how everyone looked at me funny when i started talking about how the Atonement helps us to become exalted like God and how we can have all the He has.....It was like they had never heard that before. It was an awkward ending to the lesson. haha.

Besides the weekly stuff, our zone is finished with the goal, not for long im sure....transfer news are next monday and im sure we'll get 3-4 elders who havent yet finished and we'll have to send some more families to be sealed. Bring it on, Foso is powerful. I hope you have a good week and STOP counting the days!!! haha. Love you!

Love Elder Lehr

Everything is pretty good, we had more food at our PEC meeting on sunday and walked into a baptism....a guy who has been coming for months but for some reason everyone thought he was a member, so we will start teaching him the lessons this wednesday and have a baptism in two weeks i bet. Transfers are two weeks from today, the 30th. I hope im staying since i havent been here for more than 5 months but you never know, things happen. This week we had a meeting with all the ward missionaries to plan an activity and also to talk about how we can get more investigators...im sure after this week we'll have at least 4 referrals so that will be sweet. Much better than no help at all! :D Its almost like if the members feel like its been too long since they've seen a baptism they start sending referrals towards the missionaries. Its funny but its like hey, we wish we could of had these earlier haha. We played football today, elder ikor wanted to play really hard since its his last game against us haha. He seems so ready to go but hasnt stopped working hard just yet! He's a funny little guy.

Love you guys, not much else to say!
Elder Lehr

Concussion?? what the heck?? Thats crazy! I want pictures of the prom!! Dont mail them....email them im not here much longer. haha. my last phone call has finally come....and i dont want to spend a lot of money this time so itll be shorter and probably be on speaker for everyone to hear me ok? Just wait out 3 months like i have to ok?? Be strong! :D and please stop being sick!! What will the family do without you up and going?? Get the rest you need...remember it takes 7 days with or without medicine...grandma says so. I am doing just fine...honestly. Im over the sickness completely. My toe is probably like my finger except it healed correctly, well atleast its still healing, im sure its broken, nothing i can do about it. It doesnt hurt unless i pull on it so ill stop pulling on it. Im a little irritated with having to deal with zone leader stuff....planning pday activities that nobody wants to do and if i do nothing then everyone gets bored, theres no winning with whiney missionaries. An apartment's electricity will be out for over a month so we have to move them to an apartment in fosu, so dealing with that is a lot of fun. And an elder's money is missing and is blaming his companion and his companion claims he didnt do it and is mad for being blamed so thats a problem... all 3 of the apartments in this area are almost completely out of propane and the place to fill it has been out so that is a problem, so we are carrying 3 or so tanks with us on a tro tro to trade with some elders in cape coast tomorrow, then head to zone council and talk about the goal that should of been completely finished by today but two of the other elders families arent going for a couple weeks, they out of the blue changed their minds. But hey atleast our family is at the temple right this second sealing their marriage!! Exciting! And then we have to deal with all of the money for paying bills. Just stupid stuff that i wont have to deal with, missionaries acting like little selfish kids, im sorry for ever being that way and giving you and dad such a hard time....i can now see how much of a punk i was for so long. Well the light is about to turn off cuz its raining and i need to send this, if it continues to work ill send more pics. hope you got the ones i sent to dad yesterday?!?! Nobody ever replies to tell me they got them!!! SO REPLY!! :D

LOve you!

Cody

I hope this video works! Its of a monkey we found while coming to the internet to email today hahaha. Also a rare thing is what the monkey was crawling on.... an F350!! Never see american cars, well atleast not manly trucks. This week has been pretty good. We found a few service projects to do and also found a sweet new investigator named eric. He was convinced that there was no life after death....till we sat down with him and opened up the scriptures. We made a believer out of him and now he wants to know more about the church and joseph smith. Should be a cool week with him, we'll see how well he does. We went to cape today to get our money and we felt like a burger so we went to that place with the crocs and ate there. The place was packed today! We saw so many white people it freaked us out. There was a young mormon couple who live in accra there. I guess he works for the embassy so they live here. He was embarassed to say he is from Kanaab....saying yeah remember the place everybody uses for the bathroom before they get to lake powell? haha funny guy, but just wierd that he lives here. He asked us if we drive cars in our mission...we laughed haha. Burger was good and my companion couldnt just go without one so we enjoyed together. Expensive but worth it! Well i love you guys, everything is going good here. Im not counting but i am now sprinting for the next 112 days then i go to accra and wait for my plane. Its going to be freakin sweet to see you guys!! :D Im getting really tired of writing emails and trying to make things sound exciting when its just the same stuff every week, but ill continue to try cuz i know you love hearing it anyways. Ill try to send more pictures and keep the emails a little shorter. Deal? I love you dad. The church is true. Repentance is the only way we can become like our Father. Price for our sins are free, but God-hood takes refining AND God's help. Im learning a lot lately about the Atonement. Its opening my eyes to a lot of simple yet misunderstood doctrines of the church. Love it. Well im gunna load some pictures so i hope it all works! Love you!

Sorry i havent sent an email yet for this week but there isnt much to say. I have finished the malaria drugs and feel a lot better and have an appetite again but just still always tired. Itll be a few days of that im sure but its all good now. Hope you guys enjoyed your carne asada you punks....i thought about that all day sunday. Thanks for that torture. We are meeting with a couple who plans to go to the temple next week tuesday....they did the marriage ceremony with the bishop and some members there this last weekend but cant go til tuesday, so no worries thats approved (its supposed to be within a week of your marriage that you go to the temple or else you have to wait a whole year). So we will be the last ones in our zone to complete the mission goal, which is just fine since we will be the first zone completed!! Thats exciting! Well ive gotta go, love you all!
Love ELder Lehr

I wish i had a lot more to say about this week. Yesterday was transfer news and nothing happened in the zone, since we had emergency transfers last week and the week before. Our zone should be finished with the goal the first week of may, which is freakin good compared to other zones. There is something about assin fosu that just cant happen in other places in this mission. Its always the first zone to finish the goals. Im really blessed to be here. So last sunday we had ward conference and it was pretty good, cant say awesome since i dont understand what they are saying 90% of the time. Yesterday we all went to cape coast and played american football on the beach, tackle of course. It was pretty sweet. A few times we would get tackled in the water and a wave would come and nail us, so you cant call it swimming! :) Im really enjoying my new companion haha. He's a sweet guy, both of the Liberians in the apartment are sweet. Elder Holmes texted me today asking if we could come over and give him a blessing. He's been taking coartem (for malaria) since yesterday and its not working. He throws up everything he eats...Flu? Stomach Flu? Anyways, it went well and he went straight to the shower and off to bed after the blessing. He should be fine in a few days. School is out for 3 weeks here so we get to spend a lot more time with the ward missionaries and a few of the guys that sent their papers in. One guy is Joe and elder nelson and i like him a lot. He paid for our dinner (big fufu) at a chop bar for my birthday unexpectedly. It was really sweet!

Well i dont have much else to say...not a very exciting week haha. I love you mom and hope you can live through all of the stress of life. It will all work out i promise!

Love Cody

Hey mom!
Foot is doing fine, i can finally fit it in a shoe. :)While you were watching conference i had sacrament meeting! :D Cant compare the two. I cant believe its my last one on mission. Ill be excited to get the DVDs from Salt Lake to finally watch conference. We'll have to fight the ward for them ha. Church went well, had some investigators at church. Florence (our recent convert) was in the hospital for a few days, not sure what was wrong but she was released on sunday so everything is fine now. We have that family we are working with for the temple part of the goal and they are doing good and the mans sister cecilia will be baptized this sunday!
Thats sweet everythnig is all figured out for registration. Yes economics, but im pretty sure itll still be general classes since i havent even finished a full year yet so just jam it with general classes.
This week was kinda crazy, a lot of mid transfer changes. Two guys in the other fosu apartment were moved to different areas and so Elders Holmes and Baron came into that apartment to be companions! Im stoked cuz i love elder holmes and i finally get to be around my MT elder baron that i havent gotten to know so itll be sweet. Today was a sweet p-day! Elder Ochieng and I planned the party today....the goat party! We got a member to sell us a goat and one of the ward missionaries Sombato came and killed and skinned it. We grilled it! I hope you enjoy the pictures, we had fun with it! TIA! :) We had a bowl of fufu and a bunch of the goat meat to chomp on, expensive (like 7 bucks) but freakin delicious. Tomorrow we have interviews with president and i guess now we have to instruct...theyve never had the zone leaders instruct at interviews but now apparently they are. Ill be glad just to get tomorrow over with, then wednesday we have Cecilias baptism interview. Either Thursday or Friday we will go on splits in Praso, which is always fun seeing the old stomping grounds. Sister packer and Kasim are always the favorites to see there.
Thats all ive got for this week, ill work on more of those pictures for ya! Have a good week!
Love Elder Lehr

Dear fam,

P-day was pretty great, quite the adventure. Got up and ready to go to Cape Coast to play ball. Left by 7:30, got there around 9:15, headed to the bank to take out money, card got stuck in the machine.so I went inside to beat the heck out of someone and I explained what happened to this lady and she didn’t want to tell me their policy because she knew id get mad so she told me to wait in a line of a few people to talk to one of the managers, so I did. When my time came I explained what happened and he told me that the bank’s policy is that when a card is retained it has to be sent back to the bank it comes from….at this point im pissed and fired up and wanting to scream. Then he says, however, because of your circumstance I think I might be able to get it for you, BUT you’ve gotta come back at 2 o clock. I said fine.

We then went to a chapel by the field we were planning to play the other two zones at when I saw all the elders coming back to the chapel. We got kicked off, apparently because the field is near a school and the headmaster came to tell everyone that they are distracting all of the classes going on, yes, their classes are INDOORS! Whatever! So we all grab our stuff from the chapel and started getting into taxis (we are a group of 40 so this might take a little while to get that many taxis to handle us). Eventually we get to the other field (the crappy dirt one, it works though).

We play and have fun and and the game goes smoothly right? Well sorda…It seemed t get very competitive, lots of fouling and arguing with the ref (another elder). We were getting beat 2-0 with 10 mins left in the first half (yes, we played a full game! And yes im also surprised I can run that long) when I decide I want to play UP FRONT instead of back all the time, so I did and I get a great pass to me and I beat the last defender (one of those very competitive elders that drives me crazy) and nail a ball passed the keeper…with the left foot! Take that! That finished the half and we came back ON FIRE! We ended up winning 5-4! It was sweet especially cuz these same zones played last transfer and they killed us like 5-1. It felt good. Then we get dressed back into priesthood and pass out mail (a sweet package from grandma over there in gilbert, AZ! Thanks for that! Oh and I totally forgot to mention for you to thank Sister Mckay for the letter and the music she sent!!)

then we left the field and get into a taxi to go to this burger place called mcdonalds, not what you are imagining. The taxi got in trouble with the “police” so the so-called policeman got into the car with us to arrest the man after he dropped us off. (He is just a guy who works at the taxi stations who wears a uniform and wants to show it off and probably get some lunch money out of this taxi aka bribe) So we get to the place and enjoy a nice burger, just me and elder joseph. We then remember that I still need to get my bank card before we head back to Fosu (an hour and a half away). We get to the bank and I wait in a long line this time to talk to the guy, he saw me and called me up and asked for my passport…umm sir I don’t have that but I have my drivers license, will that work? “Well I think that will work.” (IT BETTER!!) He gives me my card after I sign something to get it and we happily move on to Fosu…falling asleep every few minutes in the car that is speeding way too fast and hitting too many potholes along the way, swirving in and out of cars on a 2 lane road, it was sweet.

When we got out of the car it started sprinkling so we start running to the house cuz its probably about to down poor harder than you can imagine. We wait a little bit till it stops than head to the café to email. Rain=water. Water=electricity problems. Light off=no emailing. So I hope that explains why im emailing you today on Tuesday for the third week in a row. It rains a lot in Fosu! Which is great! I love the cool weather in the mornings, but the no emailing thing sucks. So that was my day yesterday.

Sunday we woke up and got ready for 8:30 church. When we get there, a man who was about to be called as a second councilor in the new bishopric, told us that we should be prepared because they are going to use us to perform ordinances. What? My companion and I just look at each other confused as to what that means. So as the meeting goes on, the new bishopric was sustained and took their place on the stand then it came time for confirmation from our baptism two weeks ago (cuz of stake conference last week) and only one of the girls was there, Florence. So they asked my companion to confirm her (I was excited that he was doing it haha). After that they then did something ive never seen done in a sacrament meeting, they called the priests who were sustained last week to be elders and asked us to ordain them to elders….lucky for me I don’t have my line of authority with me (I didn’t know I needed to have it to do this! The new bishop asked me if I had it and I said no so then he said I couldn’t do it…YES!) But he had us stand in the circle for the 3 ordinations. After we sit down, the other sister that was baptized last two weeks walks in and so my companion tells the bishop she is now here so they call us up again to confirm her and now my time has finally come, I couldn’t get out of this one. I was way nervous and struggled to get words out of my mouth, she understands English but not when im talking freakin fast and that’s what I was doing when I actually got words to come out haha. So now that that was over, church finishes and we realize that we have NO FOOD in the apartment, so we just went out to teach a few investigators and see a few members, hoping that maybe one of them would invited us back in the evening to eat. (Its called forced fasting…and if you don’t start with a prayer its called starving) So I starved all day and guess what….none of the members told us to come back to eat that evening so I look at my companion as we are headed home and asked him how bad it would be to buy an egg sandwich, he said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath hahaha, this is why he’s my companion. So we waited forever while the coals cooked our eggs and went back to the apartment. Right when we get home we realize its late and we need to do our numbers and then receive the weekly numbers…fun!....not! So we finally finish that then we chopped those egg sandwiches fast fast, went to bed and that’s when pday began. All of this is only two days of this week, a lot more has happened but these two days are more interesting haha.

I cant believe what has happened in Japan! Elder harris said that over 1,000 bodies washed ashore this morning in Japan…I wanted to cry! Wow, pray for them! That’s good that the missionaries are fine!

How did it feel for that family to come to church this week? That’s exactly how we feel when our investigators come to church for the first time or when an inactive member comes back for the first time after we’ve met with them for a few weeks or months. It’s refreshing and it gives me a hope that what I am doing actually has meaning and worth and its working! I love it!

Don’t worry about high school softball, no need to blow a blood vessel over it! She’s not worth our time if shes going to mistreat anybody over their beliefs. Sadly, she won’t have the last laugh.

So when do we find out the scores of the proficiencies? Don’t worry mom, im sure she really meant it this time when she said they were easy! Hahaha that’s so Tine!

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO BRO. Neuenswander!!? That is so scary and crazy!! Tell Frankenstein I say hi and that he should lay off the led-foot. jk

Just imagine in 5 months that escalator at mccaran with your wittle boy smiling ear to ear, giving you a big hug! Have a good week!

Love, Elder Lehr

(the bank just sent Cody a new card due to a breach in security--that's what it said--card is not expired and there is money in his account....gotta switch his B of A account!!!! We have sent his new card to him)

Thank you for the money, it will go to good use…dad says im too skinny so ive gotta change that.

Today we had a zone fufu party! A member prepared all the soup and chicken and we pounded the cassava and plantain after playing soccer with ward 1 and ward 2. Yes I said ward because on Sunday Assin Fosu became a STAKE! Woo! It was a sweet day. President Carden, the area president and Elder Mensah of the seventy (from Takoradi) and the temple president and president Sabey and their wives came and most of the addressed us. It was sweet to hear and learn from them, even if I had to stand in the back on the stage fighting to even look at them while they spoke….there was just so many people there. My branch president became the new stake president! He’s a sweet guy! He loves having us over and gets mad when we don’t come eat his food since he has a son on mission and knows that members are feeding him, so he has to contribute. We don’t mind! Plus, I got to see all of the members from Twifo Praso! They were so happy to see me again haha. Kasim came running up and about killed me with his hug ha. I was caught off guard. I love them though so it was great seeing them.

Sooo there was a sweet temple trek! Man it sounds like it was amazing! Wish I could have been there, I want pictures! Even if you have to email them, do it! You’re right about how the girls need to do things without their parents….it’s kind of like moving out going off to college, it’s a test of testimony instead of relying on mommy and daddys, just on a smaller scale. Next generation of great YM and YW in Silverstone ward has come! That’s sweet about the testimony meeting being such a powerful one. I hope they will always remember how they felt about the temple that day. I remember a powerful testimony meeting at the San Diego temple on our priest trip to cali!! From that day on I knew it was where I need to be. Im jealous…I can’t go to the temple for 5 months and 2 weeks…I didn’t know how long I had left until I read bug’s email! Dang her! Just leave the counting alone for now, wait until its days! ?

Do you have landons address? Or his email? Same with Kayla, you have hers? I need to write them! Matt wrote me and blair an email telling us how lazy and trunky we are since we don’t write to him anymore haha. Then he wrote something in Spanish and translated it just for me, blair probably loved that. All 3 of these guys will be spittin Spanish when we come home. Don’t worry, matt said they will force me to learn it.

I read these emails yesterday but then the internet crashed so im replying today. As for right now we don’t have any baptism dates, mostly because we are working with member families, helping them to prepare to go to the temple to seal their families! The hard part is getting them to legalize their marriage, plan for a small ceremony, and getting the money to actually go to the temple….oh yeah, did I mention this goal ends in june? We’ve got 4 months to finish that and baptize someone who has a family member in the church. Could any other mission do this? President told us that the Lord doesn’t just want these people to benefit from this goal, but us as missionaries. We get to learn the importance of sealings. President is convinced that the main reason the Lord sends us on missions at this age and time in our lives is to prepare us for marriage. Everything we do is with a companion….one that we didn’t get to choose. This is perfect practice and sometimes its freakin hard and most times its sweet!

Wow, Sorry to hear about Rachel! I hope she gets better! I pray that she will be just fine. Her new child will definitely make the sickness worth it! Happy birthday Jacob! This might be the first time ive said happy birthday to a member of our family in an email ha. Im terrible with remembering things like that.

I wish I could be there to help you in all the ways I didn’t when I was at home. Ive got a lot to prove when I go home, I hope im ready for those 5 months to be finished!...Not yet, still working at it!

Love, Elder Lehr

Nobody ever told me Josh Howells had a call! And now he's leaving! Thats so awesome!! I just love that family! Was his mom as hysterical as you get?? Hahaha im just kidding!

Pres Utchdorf in a State Stake Conference!! You guys are so lucky! Thats awesome you got to hear from him. And it sounds like the same advice that we have been given since forever! Its very simple advice but a lot of us members have a hard time just DOING it. I can definitely see that we need more missionaries, there are so many areas jsut in our mission where president sabey could use more, but we just dont have that many to do what he could do with this mission. Its frustrating im sure.

It looks like speeding tickets run in the family! Hahaha im not the only lead foot! Hehe. Tine is lucky that i lead the way in tickets so that if she ever got one it wouldnt be as big of a deal to you and dad! It worked! :)

Oh no....you poor guys with no dryer!! What will you even do now?? Atleast you can dry your clothes inside where nobody can see, but we hang it on lines outside and of course they always get blown off into the mud and we've gotta rewash em. You would think by now we would of gotten clothes pins (yes i bought some for when i came but they are gone now).

Sorry i cant be there to help with the funerals!! Im coming very soon ha! As sad as it is to see anybody pass away, its so good to hear that she was about to go to the temple and worthy to go!! SHE DID IT! We should be happy because of that!!

So this week we have been preparing florence for her baptism which happened yesterday!! WOO! It was awesome. We combined our baptism with branch 2. It went really well, except that the power went off right when we got to the chapel so that means, no pump to fill the font.....dont worry, the young men in our branch are powerful!! They took a bunch of buckets and went across the road to fill them and carried them back (on their heads of course) until it was atleast passed the knees. It was still difficult to do the baptism cuz the water was so low, but it worked out! Also, more exciting news... This next sunday is the district conference and they are going to announce that they have applied and been accepted by the First Presidency to become a Stake!! Everyone was so excited because they have been working very hard at accomplishing that goal. Branch presidents have dont wonders in this area, sending 25 or so elders out on missions, sending so many people to the temple and of course this area is known for the amount of baptisms each month! These people are working so hard, they deserve this! President Sabey has been telling them that if they want to be a stake they need to start doing things as a stake and that they need to look like a stake, so they fired the custodians that are paid for by the church and started using members to clean the chapels and mow the grass and keep everything in order. Its been sweet! A few members of the area presidency and another general authority will be at the conference this weekend and im sure President Sabey will also be there. It will be an awesome conference! They will prepare tons of food to celebrate afterwards!! (fast sunday being the following week haha).

So i said the good news first, now for the not so good news....yesterday morning the assistants called me and told me that there will be some emergency transfers that will happen today (monday). Elder Speechly and Fawole left this morning. Speechly is going to Sunyane and Fawole to Sekondi (Takoradi). Everyone was kinda shocked and wondered what the heck is going on, but i guess its all because they have moved all of the foreign missionaires from Ivory Coast and made Togo/Benin their mission and they had too many missionaries so they sent the missionaries from that mission that were from Accra area to come to our mission. So we got 3 extra missionaries from their mission that showed up on saturday and now today they will be with their new companions in their new areas in their new mission. Kinda sad for them, no more learning or speaking french. We are getting Elders Gibson and Dodd (i think thats how you spell his name) in the place of Speechly and Fawole. They are on the way here right now...I hope they are ready to play some football because we are going to play against branch 1 and 2 today at 3! Itll be sweet especially cuz they talk a lot of smack and think us obrunees cant play! We'll show them! haha.

Well i am doing great and loving life, knock on wood i havent gotten malaria in 8 months or so!! YA!! Dont ask me if i sleep in a net or take my meds, i dont want to lie! :D I love you guys! Cant believe Feb is over already! Bring on March!

Love Elder Lehr

Family!

Everything is going great! Im loving it here in foso. Its a sweet place to serve. In Foso there is Elders grant, speechly, and sintim who i have been around a lot before and love. These guys are awesome, especially speechly who's blog you always read i think. haha.

i will be home before you know it and youll want me out of the house before you know it too!! Try and believe that! haha. Tell everyone hi for me! I dont know what i said in my emails to have somebody cry, but i guess its a good thing? And yes I see elder ikor every two weeks or more it seems. He is a zone leader and doing very well! I love that kid. I saw elder ekaette yesterday for this meeting we had with 4 general authorities!!! He is doing good and got emergency transferred because they were opening up a brand new area in asokwa and brought in two new elders to take his place, so he got moved down to swedru, nothing serious haha.

Yesterday we had a chance to hear from a few general authorites.......
President Gonzalez and his wife spoke to us. Hes a president of one of the quorums of seventy. Him and his wife are from uruguay....he's a crack up. He mentioned where he is from and talked about how he wont mention the outcome of a certain soccer game that took place last year... meaning the world cup game between Ghana and Uruguay. He said it will just bring problems. Funny guy.

Also, Bishop Mcmullan (dont know how to spell it) from the presiding bishopric and his wife spoke to us. They spoke about their missions. He gave a powerful testimony about how our missions are the hinge on a door and will determine how wide that door of our lives opens. He bore testimony about how hard we need to work and even after our missions until the time "where we go to lay down our weary bones for the last time and pray saying O God, I thank Thee for....my mission." The way he said that hit me so hard. It reminded me of how President Holland always talks about how he is the most thankful for his mission and how much it changed his life. It was very motivating.

His wife, Sis. McMullan served when she was 21 and was sent to west germany....with NO MTC! She talked about how a certain experience helped her rely on the Spirit and ever since then the language just started coming to her. After being out for 3 weeks or so she was called to train a new missionary and was shocked! She said that not only does the Lord look out for each individual missionary but he looks out for each mission in itself. It was great hearing from them, i wish you could of been there! :)

Besides that my week was normal, we have a baptism this sunday. Her name is Florence and she is 19 and was born in Ivory Coast but moved to Ghana when she was young. She was one of the people we taught when president came and when we asked her if she kept her commitment, it felt so good when she responded with Joseph Smith's story almost verbatim!! Elder Joseph and I smiled at each other because it felt good to have our investigator be serious while teaching with president haha. The work is really growing here and these mission goals have really blessed not only our mission but each of us too since we get to learn the importance of families and the temple while completing these goals. Our new goal is going to be difficult but we're working on it with the branch president. He has already told us of 3 families who are trying to legalize their marriage so they can go to the temple within the next two months!! This goal is so sweet! Helping families become united by being sealed in the temple! :) :)

Hmm...something you didnt know about ghana....Is that you have to do everything with the right hand. Whenever you pay for something, use the right hand....when eating you use the right hand. If you use the left hand its an insult and a lot of people will give you crap for using the left. If you go to hand someone something with the left hand sometimes they just wont take it til you move it to the right hand. Not sure why, but i think its cuz they use the left hand to wipe....hahaha I dont know how many people use toilet paper. :)

Thats all ive got for this week. I love you guys so much! Oh and my camera is ummm spoiled, ill try to just copy pictures from other guys cameras so i can still get new pictures the rest of my mission. No problem! Itll be all good.

Love, Elder Lehr

PS:
1--"Ahhh melted chocolate in the dash, that really ups the resale value!" "Hm, they have a thick candy shell, suprised you didnt know that." "Your head is a thick candy shell" "Shut up Richard." "Are you talking?"
2-"I can hear you getting fatter!"

Hi family,

COOP! Thats so awesome! I cant wait to see that guy! Thats funny you ran into sister corbett....moms just being moms always crying. Elder Corbett gets home in less than a month. So yesterday i met a guy in our branch who lives here but is schooling in accra, just got home from his mission in ivory coast last september, he was companions with elder legere and i guess he talked to him on the phone like a month ago and he's getting married?? Good for him! It was a funny coincidence running into one of his companions on mission in my area haha. He tried calling him when i was there but he was probably in church. Funny.

Jacob bingham is going to el salvador! Thats awesome! The familiy is growing up without me haha. Court of honors and baptisms and birthdays! Next monday is 18 months though...YES!

So this week has been pretty interesting. Elder Joseph and I got to do some teaching with president in our area....of course i was the nervous one. It poured rain the whole time and we ran through puddles and mud going to the next lesson ha. Normally would of jsut waited til the rain stopped, but had to step it up with president around ha.

Yesterday we had a branch council meeting that started with a huge pot full of yams and a bunch of stew....best branch council meeting ive ever heard of! Its a smart way to make sure everyone shows up....bring food!! The church is true! Also yesterday we recieved a phone call from a family in our branch that just got baptized maybe 2 months ago....the woman said her and her husband were getting divorced. My heart dropped and we hoped they would be at church so we could have the branch president meet with them. They came to church seperately and left seperately and only the wife talked to the branch president. The wife and husband both called us wanting us to come over that evening...we went over and the wife wasnt there so we acted like everything was ok since the husband never told us what was going on....so we taught a lesson from the Family a proclamation to the world....it went alright ha. In the middle of the lesson the wife came home and joined the lesson, akward feeling in the house. After the lesson things opened up and the husband told us the whole story and arguments were flying back and forth and we tried to cool things down and tell them that we cant do any counseling but that the branch president could really help. The wife refused but i think things ended in the right direction....we're praying for them. Two young boys that are hilarious and full of energy. I love this family! Members really look up to missionaries and they think we can fix everything....its just not this way at home, nobody would call the missionaries to come save the day, but thats how it is here.

Thats all ive really got for this week! I love you guys!

Love Cody

LETTER TO MOM:
So happy the packers won....HATE the steelers haha. Sorry bro kilgore....maybe i could write an email to the ward and mention something? haha evil huh. I LOVE how you didnt mention what food you guys cooked up for the game, im happy for that. :D wow....coop will be home and giving his talk, thats so freakin awesome!!! I got the package from the howard clans...letters from everybody at the christmas party and a bunch of sweet goodies that are all gone already, except the ranch dressing and salsa....an elder in my apartment, elder toe, knows how to make tortillas so WE MADE A BUNCH and cooked a nice bean stew and i put the salsa on it.....MAN IT WAS so bomb! Busy saturday for don and laura, thats so awesome! They've redefined how our family does scouting. hahaha. Im so stoked about you and dad both getting work....Count our many blessings and stay humble so we get move up and onward, instead of spiral back down the path of forced humility ha. Im jealous about you going to the temple....i miss it.

Do you still have the email i sent about what classes i want and stuff? and yeah i dont think its time to register for fall classes yet... maybe ask someone at csn when that date is? I looked on the website for a few mins, couldnt find it. (and yes im allowed to do everything i need to do before i go home, meaning school and maybe online applications for jobs when the time gets closer... what do u think about what job i should look for??? I need help haha, ill be a stressed mess when i get home ha. Lots to do and not a huge clue about where i should go. Thank goodness we have our Heavenly Father. He is always there for us.

If i were home id be all over that funeral, setting up and pretending to help cook while eating the food....mostly im just moral support. haha. I love you mom. Cant believe 6 months left and a few weeks....thats only 4 more transfers after this one, holy crap. It will come very fast dont even worry. Cant wait though! :D Hope you have a good week and also hope the scriptures are able to help relieve your stress ....Book of mormon works everytime.

Love you mom!
Cody

LETTER TO DAD:
President Sabey taught us all something about our callings when we go home, especially leadership callings....he asked us to name all of the functions we could that a bishop has to do....we named quite a few and he said we could name a lot more....then he asked us what we think is the most important function....is it worthiness interviews? Is it working with the missionaries? Is it helping families? We could go on and on and on... then he said....the MOST important function of a bishop is to LEAD. There are many many men who are called to different callings that are over certain members of the church and they may perform ALL of the functions of that calling and maybe even be VERY good at it, but they are missing the point. They need to LEAD those they are called to lead....then he said now how can we lead those we are called to lead? What comes first? First, we need to KNOW what direction the Lord wants us to go....That takes effort in prayer and pondering about those we are over....then we ACT. I thought about this a lot... and its very true. We could perform all of the functions we need to in our callings but not do what the Lord wants us to do. This is how we miss out on the BIG time blessings that come from leading in the direction our Father wants us to. I hope this makes some sense haha....maybe apply it to your calling over the priests? I have no clue how you can get closer to the priests, but our Father in heaven sure does, so ask him. :) Simple concept, but certainly takes great faith to carry it out.

Sigh....both you and mom both talking about going to the temple....IM SO JEALOUS!! And your email was worse than moms because it included going on a date!! With your wife!!! You bum....you've got the life!

I love you dad. You are such an example to me. I cant wait to come home and be the best son you have ever seen. Hope you have a good week!

love you dad,
Love Cody

This is the email from last week, not sure why it got sent back to me.....
(this email is from January 31, 2011)

This palce is awesome i freakin love it here and am excited, hopefully i might finish my mission here! Ummm its a branch...there are 4 branches in this place, its sweet. There was actually more members at church on sunday in this branch then in my ward in kumasi. Sad. Abrua is in cape coast and thats like an hour away and we go there maybe twice a transfer. We'll be going there next p-day to play soccer.
Yes naomi sent me a bunch of goodies....talk about the REESES!!! AHH! :D :D
I miss hearing from those guys in ward conference...pres richards is amazing. Dont think too much about me coming home....6 months is too long to think about constantly! The time is really coming though. 5 transfers including the one that just started....itll come fast fast. My new companion is elder joseph from nigeria. In my apartment there is elder Toe from liberia and elder ochieng from kenya. Sweet apartment! I hope it stays us four for a while.
We had a service project on saturday. We went with a family to this place where they make palm oil. It was sweet, we made like 5 gallons, turning the oil press ourselves. Its not an easy thing but it was sweet haha. Ive got some pictures and videos of it, but have no way to send it to you through the internet, this computer sucks. Youll see it in 6 months haha.
I love you guys and hope your week goes well!
Love Elder Lehr

The week was great! We had a "Missionary Sunday" yesterday where all 4 of us in the apartment participated in the sacrament then me and my companion gave talks along with our ward mission leader....then we had a baptism for Francis, Frederick and Mcallan!! That was freakin SWEET!! I'll send pictures tomorrow since im being transferred......drum roll.......back to the village!! This time its Assin Fosu!! I didn’t want to leave here but if i went anywhere i wanted it to be there ha. So it’ll be sweet. New companion is elder Joseph from Nigeria. Way cool guy.

I’m stoked for coop and his family, that’s so awesome! 2 weeks!! wow! Nate....knows how i feel haha. I’m sure its a lot alike...just different language.

I’ve been slacking on the letters....I’m just so done with letters, I write a whole bunch of them, get %10 returns so I stop. I know I know....my family has done really well with letters....but an email is just as good right? I’m doing pictures more often, I hope that counts for something. I hope it DID, cuz i can’t do that anymore so hope you appreciated that ha.

So on Saturday we went out to a place called Ampabame pronounced ampami. That is where Mcallan, the guy we just baptized yesterday, lives. After teaching him about the Aaronic priesthood he had a question that he asked in an interesting way....he was sooo excited to be baptized and couldn’t wait to receive the priesthood so that was his question, how long do i have to wait to have the priesthood?? We told him that its supposed to be the day you are confirmed but the bishop is in charge and we hope that he will talk to you about it. He just recently moved to this place from Takoradi (a bigger city than this small village haha) He’s heard that there is a small river that flows down the road from the town and that there are huge fish there that are children of the river goddess and if you touch them you will die very shortly!! hahaha. He, like us, didn’t believe it but wanted to see the huge fish they were talking about so we went down the trail to the river and brought bread to feed the fish and found the place. Its JUST catfish and tilapia....haha. I wanted to just go catch one and bring it on into the town to show them, but then i figured id just be transferred and they’d believe that i died hahaha. Mcallan took is two puppies with us, reminded me of walking our dogs, miss them! When we came back one of the men of the town asked me in Twi if i touched the fish....i told him that tomorrow i will go catch like 3 of them and we'll cook it and CHOP! He said no no no no no you shouldn’t do that if you like your life. I laughed, but they really do believe it. Crazy. Kind of like Juju, Satans power. watever. haha.

I have 7 months left and president has given me another assignment so I’m pretty sure I might "die" in this next area. I’m stoked for that! Assin Fosu is the zone I was in when I was in Twifo Praso, but now I’m actually in the Assin Fosu part an hour away from Praso. It’s an hour or so north of Cape Coast and they’ve been trying to make the area a stake! It has 4 powerful wards in the city and one down the road. We'll see if I get to experience that before the end. I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and am still amazed how i feel during the days that i read compared with the days I don’t, and yes that happens even to missionaries. I can really feel a power helping me, especially with temptations. I’ve gained a strong testimony of that and will keep that with me the rest of my life. I will never forget elder Holland’s talk about the Book of Mormon, go watch it again....it never ceases to amaze me the power in his words. I hope you have had a good week, a busy week, busy is always a good thing I’ve noticed, if we aren’t busy then there is something wrong. We always need to fill our days and weeks with meaningful things to do, run out of ideas? Look for someone to serve, or even better....go home teaching haha. The Lord CAN’T use us if we don’t go out and try to find something meaningful to do. Seems like a simple thing to learn but it’s real and that is how the Lord frames us into who He wants us to be.

I gave a talk yesterday about remembering our baptismal covenants and focused on a few of the qualifications for baptism found in DnC 20:27 I think.....I have it highlighted in my scriptures its on the left page bottom right of that page. My favorite one that I talked about was taking upon us the name of Christ, I used an example of working for a company and always having to do your best or else everyone will judge the company because you are their representative. I ended with the tree of life...mentioning an insight that the first thing Lehi did after partaking of the fruit was he desired his family should also partake of it. The ward members needed to hear that....not a lot of full families in this ward. I ended with DnC 18....the worth of souls is great. I really felt the Spirit as I spoke and that was a huge answer to my prayers....I know missionaries are seen as ultimate when it comes to speaking at church etc and that i shouldnt be nervous to speak.....but i still am. Im nervous for a homecoming talk haha. So much expectations to live up to. I know that my Heavenly Father can use me more effectively because of the studying I’ve done on my mission, the Spirit cant recall something to my memory if it was never there.


I hope you enjoy the pictures and video im sending tomorrow!!(video didn't work) Mostly of the baptism...Francis and Frederick were all hyped up like we were about to play a game, they wanted a sweet video to remember it so my camera and his phone did the trick, that’s the video ill send haha. You’ll love it but think its kind of funny and a little weird before a baptism haha. I love those guys...ill miss them for sure! :D Well have a good week, love you!!

I love all of your emails....you really take the time to write me, sorry im not more like you! This week kinda sucked....i had a bad cold and still have the snuffles ha.

Sorry bug! That sucks....keep your eye on the ball!! Black eye and stitches...attention hog?

THE BEAST IS GONE!! What??? You sold my truck? I loved that truck----hahaha---thanks for finally getting rid of it!!!!!

Im horrible at writing emails, sorry for that, just cant wait to come home so i dont have to write you emails, just talk to ya ha. This week we have a sweet baptism, so stoked for that!! And then transfer news comes next monday, comes so fast. Only 5 more transfers left...good thing they come so fast!! :D

Love you have a good week!!

Life back home sounds so complicated. I dont want to come home....life is so easy here. Just come move here, we'll live happy and stress free and be able to strengthen a ward here in ghana....what do you think? I cant even think of what to say anymore ha. We gave 4 people baptismal dates this week so thats exciting! Only 3 of them came to church though :( One of them is judith, she is our ward missionarie's sister. She's very quiet and very shy, you would never think she is 20! Looks like shes maybe 16. Shes pretty funny and always at institute and church so thats sweet! 2 others are francis and frederick. Francis is the guy who made friends with a member in utah on facebook and is now talking to sister missionaries on the phone and came to church the last 3 weeks!! Whoever says facebook is bad needs to learn how to use it! :D Theres my two cents about that. Frederick is his brother who hasnt been to ANY church more then 10 times in 3 years...promised to come yesterday and DID! Sweet guys! They love us and are going to bomb us with questions, elders quorum lesson is to blame....went into WHO created the earth...nice lesson for two investigators right? haha so we've got some work to do to be ready for their questions ha. THE KIFFERS ARE GOING HOME ON THURSDAY!!! HOLY SMOKES! Can you believe that?!?! Our zones got together and gave them two big thank you cards with signatures and a few words from everyone in kumasi. And printed a big picture of all of us up here and had them print ghana cape coast missoin....no i didnt spell that wrong on purpose, its what they printed on their and the kiffers thought it was funny since they know how ghana is haha. Sister Kiffer cried and gave me a huge hug ha, i told her what you tell me mom, this is not goodbye!! Its just a see you later! :D

Well i hope everyone has a better week....so happy to know the plan of salvation!

Love Elder Lehr

Sorry i am writing today, i read the emails yesterday but wasnt able to respond because we had to go meet with our bishop for family night which is sweet, i dont think the bishop has had missionaries over in a long time so that was nice. Right when we show up he was talking to a man and said we should take his number and call him and teach him this week. SWEET!! Im loving our bishop more and more the more i get to know him. This ward is pretty powerful! On sunday we had 4 investigators come to church who should be baptized by the end of the month! So that is exciting. One of the is named Francis. He said we randomly became friends with a guy in Utah on facebook and he started talking to him about the church and gave his number to the missionaries at the call center and they have been having conversations with him. He showed up to church last week asking to see us and for his own copy of the Book of mormon! SWEET!! The first day we met with him he gave us his brother, Frederick, to teach as well and we went there today to see them, powerful lesson reviewing the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, their next assignment is to read 2 nephi 31 which is the Doctrine of Christ! The baptism chapter ha. So that is sweet. Bantama's 2nd ward had a member bring two of his friends to church who stay in OUR area and we are supposed to see them tomorrow! Im stoked! Serious people to teach! The Lord is doing His work and its amazing to be apart of the miracles that consistently happen when we are just doing our simple part of going out to work. I love it. Our bishop has given an assignment to the ward council to call 2 ward missionaries from each auxilary to teach the 5 lessons after baptism to our recent converts....Elders will teach the men and relief society the woman and etc. And that doest count the 2 other ward missionaries that he has already called that are preparing to go on mission. One of them went with us today, it was sweet. His name is dennis and hes probably my favorite member in our ward ha. Well ive gotta go,.i love you all and hope you know how much our father in Heaven loves you. Anytime you need a reassurance or just a good peaceful feeling, go back to the basics of prayer and reading the Book of Mormon daily, ITS POWERFUL! Ive noticed since President and Sister Sabey gave us fresh book of mormons for Christmas and wanted us to read 9 pages a day starting with the new year. We will finish by the end of Febuary. While we read we are supposed to focus on all the scriptures where the Savior is either talking or talked about! If youve ever done this youll know that its practically every other verse! :D Im noticing things from the book of Mormon ive never noticed before and its enriching and refreshing. I love this book!


Have a good week!
Love Cody