Elder Warner Ashby in Africa: This weeks stuffs

Hey Everyone,

I hope everything is going well.

I have eaten fufu, banku, empasi, tessert, ebba, etto, konkonte, all kinds of rice, but no chin chin or puff puff. I don't know what those are. (We asked if he has eaten some other Ghanaian foods that we have seen online). The stamps are one cedi each. The cedi symbol and the cent symbol are the same I think.

President Cosgrave emailed me and said that he would be happy to send that letter to the Regents scholarship place. He asked for just what they wanted to know and I told him all the stuffs you told me. He asked if I needed the 30 days grace period thing and I told him I didn't think I would need it. He is going to start writing the paper right away. (Just a letter explaining why he won't be enrolled in the fall semester classes so his scholarship can be deferred for longer.)

This week was nice. We had to do some serious contacting because the last few weeks have not had plenty new investigators who keep their appointments. So this week we went to an area that we haven't gone to very much. Earlier in the week, I just did not want to move out of my room after lunch. Since we are in training, we take 2 hours for companion study and then eat lunch for an hour and leave around 12. It was a very hot and windy day and I was thinking that the day would be long and no one would listen. But I knew we had to go out and do something. So we went and contacted for some few hours and found only some potential people. Going back to the apartment that evening though, I still felt good about what we did that day even though we found no one to teach then. I knew that we had tried our best. This week was better than some of the past weeks. We found some cool people that I hope can progress as we teach them. Some weeks are better than others. I just try to keep moving and go out. Try my very possible best to do the work I am supposed to and pray that Heavenly Father can help with the rest.

Today, we had a district activity where we played football. It was pretty fun, but our team still lost. Towards the end, one of the elders in the apartment, Elder Ike, was coming with the ball towards me and I tried to take the ball. He choose to bull doze me and we both fell. I did a nice backwards summersault and was dazed for a few minutes. I took a break for a while and let a small kid watching take my place. My upper back and neck are sore now, but I might live.

    Something I forgot to mention last week. We were having a FM (free meal) with one of our members who wanted to feed all of us. As we were eating, we were watching an apostate church program. We wanted a good laugh that night. The only one in english was talking about how Jesus said that all men need 3 things in life: energy, wisdom, and money. Then he asked the congregation if they wanted those things. Of course all of them said yes. After the sermon, they all started praying in tongues (aka, babbling) and jumping up and down. It was definitely funny. We know they are a joke. When everyone is speaking in tongues and looking crazy. Explaining why it is wrong to an investigator is sometimes a pain.

    I have used the pictures you sent to me last week to try to explain ice fishing to some people. (One of Elder Ashby's favorite things to do is ice fishing. His dad sent him some pictures of a recent fishing day) They still have a hard time believing it can get that cold. I converted the temperature at home to Celsius and showed them and they were dumfounded. Of course now when we are in the Branch Presidents office for meetings and the A/C is on 17 degrees or 62 degrees Fahrenheit, I am cold. People here don't understand cold weather. It is cold when it is in the 60's. I have told Elder Naawu a couple times about Utah weather and his face becomes shocked that it gets below freezing, or even colder than the freezer. I figure I will have to force myself to adjust to winter back home. If I wear a coat for a while, you know why.  I'll be that kid in the Christmas Story. When we have our meetings in the Branch Presidents office and the A/C is on I am rubbing my hands to keep warm. Really sad. When I converted it to Fahrenheit, I was shocked .

    Well, I hope that all of you have a great week. Enjoy your school and fishing.

Love you,
Elder Warner Ashby
What one year in Ghana does to your things!