Nov 18 2013

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope it’s a great day for everybody. Can't believe it’s that time already! This week was crazy so I'll just jump right into it.

So it was transfers on Wednesday. They took place in a place I that I didn't know how to get to so it was an adventure just to get to the chapel for the transfers. We all gather at a stake center, meet our new companions then disperse back to our new areas. So I met my new companion and the members of my new district. Both the missionaries that stayed from last transfer are very young. My companion is still in training and the other just finished training. So they don't know their way around town or anything and didn't know how to get back to our areas. So I was now with my new district and none of us knew how to get back. I asked some people got up some courage and took off. We got back alright which was a miracle but fun. We have a great bunch of guys. I am the oldest on mission, 3 months longer than the next oldest so we are a very young apartment. We will all be together for Thanksgiving and Christmas so that's pretty cool. We will all do the Christmas stories together so I'm pretty excited.

My new companion is from Logan. He is a big time water polo player. Then we have an Elder from Provo. He is a world record holding rock climber, actually a canyoneerer, I don't know the difference. He shorter than me, I was really surprised. Then we have his companion from Uganda. Then little old me haha. Not much special about me. (We disagree!)

Oh yeah, so my area not quite as large as my last area but still pretty large. We have a university in our area (KAAF) and a Liberian Refugee camp so it’s pretty diverse. The area is called Buduburam.

Oda was a great place to serve. I had some friends there who made me food before I left which was sweet. They are great people.

I hope you all had fantastic weeks. I saw a picture from the Hansen’s with a snowman. Guess you guys are getting some snow now! Crazy it still feels like July over here.

Elder Clark

Oh yeah, I forgot about one of the highlights of my new area! Running water! I love showering!! The best part is that all the water comes from a big black water tank out back. Black and Africa means hot so... I get warm showers in the evening before I go to bed! What luck! We are so blessed in the US. So blessed, remember your blessings this week for Thanksgiving! Something I started is writing down a blessing everyday just like we used to and put them in the basket. It's pretty great how much we have been given.

(Our dear friend Cory Hofman, took a package to Ghana last week for Tim.  In it was a bout 1 1/2 dozen hommade cookies so...)

Haha funny story. We the Hofman's at Stake Conference yesterday. I had no idea he would be there. I was ushering and a taxi drove up and there they were. Bro and Sis Hofman, the kids and 2 friends they brought to church. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been sharing them with the district too don’t worry haha.

I love you All, have a fantastic week!

Hey Everyone,

I hope all is well. Last week was busy and this week is going to be super busy too. Hannah I don't know how you knew but I am being transferred from my wonderful home of Oda to a new place. It's called Buduburum in the Kasoa Zone. I'll be relatively close to where the Hofmans are, I think.  I've been called to be the district leader there so that will be a little busy. I'll be doing the second half of a missionaries training as well. I'm really excited though. I've been saying goodbye to old friends and members here since yesterday. I found out yesterday morning before church so I was able to announce it in church. Lots of people have invited us over to come and eat food with them.  We're going to be busy the next 2 days with me packing and visiting people and then Wednesday we get to get up early to go to Accra again for transfers.  I'm just excited to be going to a place with running water!!

Anyway back to the report. I've got a lot for this week. Sunday we had a missionary Sunday, meaning that we did everything.  Another elder and I spoke in sacrament meeting, and then the branch president translated everything. I spoke about how members can be missionaries. I thought it went really well. I think we all can do better at being missionaries.  It was a really good meeting. The members are really starting to get involved in the missionary work.

We had our 2 regular investigators come to church again.  We felt prompted to visit one of them Friday evening even though we had plans to see other people. We stopped by and found him drunk. It was pretty hard to see but we had a great lesson and then he came to church and we did the same lesson again because last time he was intoxicated. He bored his testimony to us that even though he’s addicted and he knows it will be really hard he is going to do everything he can to stop drinking because he knows that the messages we are sharing with him bring true and everlasting happiness. It's so true; this gospel really is the only source of everlasting joy and happiness. What a great guy. The other guy heard that the branch is going to have a temple trip soon and he really wants to go. He knew that he has to be baptized first so he's ready to be baptized at the next service. They are 2 really great guys.  It's hard to leave them but all that matters is that they truly have embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Speaking of the temple, OH MY GOSH!! I love the temple so much. What a great experience. It was so incredible to be able to visit the house of the Lord again. It reminded me a lot of when I went through the temple for the first time in Logan with Mom, Dad, and Matthew. Man, the temple was so cool. I love the temple. I was so overcome with gratitude in the temple.  I started getting emotional seeing how incredibly blessed we are in America. I had some really sweet experiences there this week.  It truly is the closest place to heaven on earth.  I am so grateful that we have been sealed together as a family for time and eternity. Ya done good Mom and Dad.

Before the temple we had some cooking lessons. I was really excited. We learned an easy way to make tortillas and Bisquick mix for pancakes and other things. We also learned how to make fried rice. I don't cook much but I plan to cook more with my new companion.

 
Hmm, what else? We came across a really cute bunch of puppies with week. We're giving piano lessons to the branch president which is cool. Umm, that’s pretty much it. Lots of exciting work going on here.  I love Oda!  It’s a fantastic place.  I can't wait for you all to see it someday!!

Love,

Elder Clark

PS: Dad, the well is super nice.  It's probably a good 35-40 feet deep. Yep we just have a bucket on the end of some rope that we heave up. I think the idea of a well in the crawl space is great but I'm pretty sure the water table here is a lot higher than in Idaho. Yep, they're dug by hand too. They just lower a guy down in there.

PPS: An Elder from Idaho was telling me how his Dad is a crop duster. He told me he'll give me flying lessons when I get back so that I can get my pilot’s license!! He also builds his own planes so..... (A long time dream of Tim’s)

November 4, 2013

Well Hi there...

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!  I hope you have an absolutely fantastic day!

October sure went by fast. Seems like every day goes by a little faster than the day before. This week will go by fast also. Wednesday we are going to Accra for a Temple trip. I'm so EXCITED!!  I haven't been to the temple in such a long time.  I love the temple.  It really is God's house on earth.  I remember when the Bishop (Bishop Firmage?) challenged us to double our temple attendance.  I bet that we all can double it again, and then double it again.  It's definitely worth it.  I remember at college I went Tuesday and Thursday in the mornings.  I promise the blessings come.

We had some pretty cool experiences.  In Ghana there are villages and towns. Those villages and towns all have a chief, like a king. The chief owns all of the land and people have to come to him to buy land or do anything.  So we were in one village waiting for a member.  While we were waiting I decided to go out and do some contacting, I hate standing around.  So we were contacting a little bit and one man called us over. Told us his name was Nana and he wanted to join the church.  Nana means chief. The chief then invited us to the palace that night.  We went and it turns out he is a less active member who wants to come back to church.  He’s a super nice guy. Coolest thing is that in his palace he actually has a throne.  SO COOL.  It's not made out of gold or anything but it’s a throne.  

Our dear brother E. gave me a heart attack yesterday. We called him in the morning before church to remind him and he said that he was already at HIS church.  I was SO bummed. We got to church though and there he was, waiting for us. I guess he got to church around 7AM and waited for us.  I made sure he knew we started at 11 and he said "I know but its Sunday, where else should I go?" To quote Mr. Gural, "What a guy!"  I guess on the phone he was referring to the LDS church as 'his' church.  I love him.

Other excitement for the week was the pig. We have a Fijian missionary in our district. We decided to buy and pig and cook it island style. It was a lot of work. We bought the pig Saturday morning, live. Had to build the fire and then kill the pig, it was a lot of work but worth it though. They cook the pig by building a big fire over a pit and throwing rocks in the fire to get them super hot. When the fire wood all burns up the hot rocks are left. We put the pig on the rocks and covered it in palm leaves and let it cook for 2 hours. Man in was so good. So good! So far I've butchered a chicken and a pig and eaten dog.

Hope all is going well for everyone. Have a great week!

Love,  

Elder Clark