Time is really going by too fast. This last week was SO fast.  We were busy out of our minds!

So Tuesday we had Christmas Conference.  Basically we came together as 3 zones, not the whole mission, and ate a lot of food.  There was a talent show and I got to be a part of a magic show.  Got to cross that off the bucket list.  Literally, I have a bucket list.  There were some talks and things like that but mostly just a low key get together.  It was really fun.  They got all of us little Christmas mugs, they're made of plastic too thank goodness!  I've used it a few times to shower with.  We also made zone t shirts.  

Wednesday was Zone training for my first time in another Zone.  That was really fun.  I love my zone leaders.  We had some great instruction about the key indicators and redefining them.   Before missionaries would do what they want and now we are all on the same page.

Thursday was a normal day.  A little slow but the usual.  Friday was my big day.  I've been trying to organize a ward Christmas Caroling.  It was set for Friday.  The 4 missionaries showed up and I think 4 members.  It was small but really, really fun.  We really touched some hearts I think.  We went to the Refugee camp to sing which was really interesting.  When we would start to sing it would instantly get quiet and people would start watching us.  Radios would died, conversations stopped, people even stopped moving.  I haven't figured out if it is because we sounded so bad or what... It was a really special experience though.  We visited a lot people.   We visited an old man that lives by himself.  He’s pretty lonely so we went and sang to him.  That was really special.  I think he really enjoyed it.  One woman told us her Christmas was complete now.  It was really fun.  We had a great time.

Saturday we had our open house.   It went really well.  We had about 100 people attend it that we got names and phone numbers from that we get to follow up on this week.  It was pretty cool.

Elder L. is being transferred on Wednesday.  We got the call Saturday night around 11 pm.  Woke me up, haha.  He is going to a new district in our zone.  He is the closest area to me which is pretty cool.  We will still see each other.  He is now my shortest companion at 5 weeks.  A new record.  My new companion is another white guy from America.  I have met him before.  He was up in Kade and came on exchanges to my apartment a few times.  He's a good guy.  We had a short transfer because transfers were on Christmas Day so they changed it.  

One of my coolest experiences this week was with a girl we are teaching.  She is 16 and is in school but was a referral from a member.  We taught here the restoration and while my companion was sharing the first vision she started to cry.  That's the first time I've had somebody cry on my mission.  It was really cool.

Oh, one of the guys I gave a coin to from Byron took it and had it made into a necklace.  Every time I see him, which is about every day, he is wearing it.  Please let Byron know if you get a chance.  

Well, this week was really busy and really fun.  I love it here in Buduburam and everything is going well.  Can't wait to call home next week!

Love,

Elder Clark

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!   

AFEHYIAPA! (Twi, pronounced a-fish-e-a-pa) :D

 Elder Clark wanted to enjoy the lizard for his dinner but alas he wasn't allowed-thank-goodness

making a house call, can you find the missionary?

Hey everybody,                                                                                       Dec 9 2013

Just like that another week has gone by. Last week was pretty busy for us. This week is going to be crazy though. The rest of the year is going to be really busy. We have Christmas Conference, zone training, the open house for the ward, and our missionary sponsored Christmas Caroling this week. Next week will be a baptism and a zone Christmas party too. So we are super busy. Plus we have a million people to see! Man we are so busy.

This week we had a fun week. On Tuesday President and Sister Hill came to our district council meeting. Then they went with me and my companion to see the KAAF University. That was cool. I had arranged for a member to be with us to take us around and it worked out really well. I didn't know but this member is a vice president to the student body and has a very, very good reputation among the staff and his reputation played a huge part in getting us approved. The woman we were talking to just couldn't say enough nice things about him and some other members she worked with. It was a great reminder to me that people do watch us and they see us and associate our actions with the Church. They do that so much more than we realize. It's super important to always live like we are representative of the Church, because really, we are.

Interesting moment this week. We contacted one man a week or 2 ago by pushing his wheelbarrow for him. It was cool and we've been trying to get out to visit him but the schedules just haven't worked out. Friday he called us and said he wants to see us so he isn't going anyway where all day so we can come. We finally got out there around 7ish. It gets dark by 6 so it was already dark by then. Where we went there isn't a lot of electricity so we went to a building his friend owns. We walked in and it was dark because the lights didn't work. The place was a larger room, a single room building that was bigger than most houses.   I turned around and in the dark saw one of those giant church posters they have everywhere. The building is a church.  We shared a lesson with the guy and the pastor of the church in the pastor’s house right next to the church.  

Other fun times, one boy thought I was 50 years one this week, topped my last record by a decade haha. I guess I'm as old as Mom and Dad. I played the piano in Church on Sunday.  I'm going to be doing that from now on. I haven't practiced for years but I figured with faith I could do it. Well, we all have to remember that our Savior is the "finisher" of our faith and we have to do our part first. It was pretty rough. I only made it through one of the songs. It was scarier than anything else I have done on my mission. Really fun though. The Ward was so happy just that I tried so that was cool.

I have seen a general trend in the letters this week. Referring to the drop in temperatures haha. Just so you all know, I lied. When I left and said that that was my last time being cold that was a lie. I do get cold at nights. Even get the shivers.  I've almost had to pull out another sheet... Haha, enjoy those freezing temperatures. I think about the cold and just remember those miserable days working with Byron last January. Yep, don't miss it yet.

Random side note, I quote Father Goose, "Goody two-shoes and the filthy beast" a lot but nobody gets it.

Mom, you can tell everyone I would love real letters, my emailing time is less now and I am more rushed.

Well, this week was really cool. We taught some really powerful lessons and had some interesting lessons.  We were chased by a prostitute one day. We had to be ducking in and out of crowded houses but don't worry, we went by a bunch of guys smoking weed and she got distracted by that. That was interesting.

Just to describe the camp a little bit it's a lot like those Bourne movies. I have been trying to take more pictures of the place to send home but it has lots and lots of houses and low roofs and tight allies where only one person can pass at a time. Lots of low hanging metal roofs and you have to duck to avoid. Hopefully next week I can send some pictures home.

That’s about it this week though. I love you all and of course, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love,

Elder Clark

What a crazy week! Thanksgiving was pretty awesome.  As you may know now, Brother Hofman took us out to dinner for Thanksgiving. He said he was in the same boat as us so he took the whole district out to dinner. I had to get permission from the zone leaders so I wasn't sure if it was going to work out for us but they said yes which was sweet. We went down to a place near Kasoa called Small Osu where they serve pizza. It was super good. 

 

We went to Shoprite last week to buy food. We also had some random foods in the apartment already. I made breaded fried chicken that turned out was really, really good, mashed potatoes with gravy, bushes baked beans, corn, the corn bread mix that I scored in camp, and then I made a peach cobbler and my companion a small apple pie. It was really good and a lot of fun too.

Last night we also started reading the 24 days of Christmas just like you guys. The guys in the apartment all wanted to be a part of it so I read the story to all of them, felt a lot like Dad. Enjoyed the story last night about Della and Jim. What a great story. It really doesn't feel like Christmas without being cold though. It is really messing with my internal clock.

But Christmas is still coming and we play the limited Christmas music we have. I'm organizing a ward caroling night in a few weeks and we had a small practice yesterday. I end up singing a lot of solos around here... I also taught singing time in primary yesterday. We learned how to sing Away In A Manger. It was pretty fun, I have so much more respect for those primary teachers now! A lot of solos in that too...( note from Mom, Tim always hated singing so this is pretty funny to us.)

 We got caught in a crazy rain storm. It started raining a little bit and I love to proselyte in the rain so I let my companion decide what to do. He decided to flip a coin for it and we went out. We were going and it just started raining harder and harder, then the wind started howling and we got to one spot and both of us just got hit by the impression that we needed to get out of there. So we turned and my companion started running and we ran through camp to get away from that area. Who knows what happened.  We were walking through ankle deep water for a while. I wish I had my keens. In fact, if you ever get a chance to send those that would be fantastic. The blue is even ok now.

Hmm, what else? Oh yesterday we were invited to a members birthday party/ thing, they just had us over to eat food. Basically they always will make us food and give it to us and just watch us eat. We enjoyed some good fish heads.

Well, the computer crashed and I lost all my time so I gotta go. Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Clark

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

 

Nov 25, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving this week!  I'm pretty excited for it.  We are trying to be fast fast (In Ghana you say things twice for emphasis, like I understand Twi small small) So that we can run down to Shoprite this afternoon.  We are going to go a get some good food for Thanksgiving.  I'm planning on making cornbread, peach cobbler, breaded fried chicken kind of like parmesan chicken and maybe some other things.  We saved the peanut butter cookies from Mom for then too.  I'm pretty excited for it.  

So this week was pretty big.  We had 3 baptisms on Saturday.  They are all really cool guys.  One I was only able to give one a coin so far from Byron and he was SO happy to get it.  It made his day.  He said he wants to make it into a necklace so he can always have it with him.  Another guy was a Liberian refugee. 

So another highlight of the week is this guy named H.  The missionaries have been teaching him before I came.  One night we walked by when I was still new and he called me over and we just started talking and laughing and having a good time.  We didn't even share a lesson or anything with him.  We just had a good time.  That was Saturday night.  The next day, Sunday he rode a tro tro for 20 minutes to get to the Stake Conference, that was super cool.  Best part of the story is that he calls us all the time,  he asked us to come and visit him last week.  When we got there he had a big plate of cinnamon rolls for us!  I know right???   Man, they were so good.  Not as good as Mom's but they were pretty dang good.  

Good news!  I texted my last companion, yesterday, looks like my man from Oda was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!!!  I wish I could have been there but I'm so happy he was baptized.  The other man we have been teaching is all ready to be baptized too so that is sweet.  Another guy we were teaching has been coming to church too and is preparing for baptism as well.  

Random funny moment but we were walking one day and I saw this little boy sitting on top a rock hill and he was just taking little handfuls of rocks and throwing them.  Exactly the same as Oliver was doing last year when we were taking family pictures.  Thought that was pretty cool.

Thanks for the Ensign, I'm loving it!  I've read a few talks, they are so powerful!  Elder Vinson spoke in the priesthood session I think.  That is the same guy that we meet all the time.  He's come to speak to us several times.  He's a powerful speaker.  

Well, that's about it for this week.  I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving.   Have a great week, I love you all.

Love,

Elder Clark