Elder Price in West Africa: Intestinal Fail

Hello!

Good to talk to you... Again. :) After phone call emailing is always pretty funny for me. What do I say?? Well, I guess I can formulate some sort of reply to entertain you for a few minutes. :)

This week has been good! It kicked off with some interviews with President Stevenson on Tuesday. That was great! It was possibly the longest meeting I have had so far on my mission. It ended somewhere around 5 pm. It started at 10:30 am. Ahhhhh such a long time. But they fed us! It was at the Takoradi Stake Center, and several people instructed while President Stevenson was interviewing people. The zone leaders instructed. The assistants instructed. Sister Stevenson instructed.. And we ate! That was possibly the highlight. Well, not quite, but close. After all, I did get an extra piece of chicken. YUM! But right after lunch I had my interview. That went well, and I felt comfortable! I think I have.. 1(?) more of those before I get my departing interview. Something like that. I'm not really sure.

Takoradi Zone

One of the best parts of the meeting, however, was that we got to watch "Meet the Mormons"! :D My first time! It was done really well, and I enjoyed it. I have to admit, though, it touched me when I saw the segment with the missionary leaving and his father with one leg skiing and those things.

That evening Elder Johnson had a fever! Oh no! Was he sick again? Nope. After trying to think of what to do and cancelling the exchange that was planned, we gave him the re-hydration thing.. The mixture of salt and water and flavoring to make it taste not terrible. An hour later and he was up and running! Go figure. We drink a lot more water in the apartment than we used to, now. ;)

On Wednesday we were fed by H. while we were waiting for her to be ready for us to teach her. Unfortunately, she was too busy to meet with us, and unfortunately again, I learned the first thing that I really CANNOT eat. Intestine. It was cow or goat or something of the sort, but it was.. Different. I couldn't down it. It sat on my tongue, and it was like the meat could talk and so could my tongue and my tongue was just saying, "you know, if you swallow this thing, everything is coming OUT!" So I didn't swallow. And I apologized greatly. XP Intestines? No go.

On Thursday (MOM'S BIRTHDAY!), we had a miracle lesson. We were looking to go teach a girl named Th. that lives out in Ketan. When we arrived to Ketan, we learned that bishop wasn't around! That was a problem, a big problem, because he was the one who was gonna show us where she lived. This girl is a couple years older than a child of record, and that's why they've turned it over to us, but her mother's a member and such, though we didn't know where she lived. So we went over to Vincent's house to ask him! He was there, and as we were talking to him, lo and behold, she knocks on the door! Th. came to run an errand, and we were there at exactly the right time to meet her and teach her! So that was great. :)

The next couple days were full of the normal missionary things.. Teaching, planning, adjusting plans because of failed appointments, etc. Normal stuff! Saturday, though, was a funeral at the chapel that we attended. It was pretty cool! Nothing too crazy, though I think Elder Hanson and Elder Johnson may have a different view of it. ;) It was good! I felt like we stuck out so much (don't we always, though?) because not only were we the only white people there, we were also some of the few people wearing white shirts instead of black!

So, the funeral made for an interesting day, and on Sunday we had our General Conference Review. We finally got to watch general conference! I really loved the talk that President Uchtdorf gave about grace and such at the end of the Sunday Morning session. ["The Gift of Grace"] It was really inspiring, and I'm just hoping that this love of conference that I have right now will stick a little bit when I come home. ;)

As you well know, the week ended with a nice phone call. But what happened right before that? I received a package and a letter!!! :D :D :D It was the awesome birthday package from the Kandells. Give them a HUGE thanks for me!!! :D

The phone call was awesome. Things are going well. :) I loved seeing those pictures that you sent this week! Sorry that my mission feels so long. ;) Also a pretty touching May 10th, with all those 23 year marks and the like.

I'm doing great. Thank you for all the support you give me! I'm happy to be serving, and I'm happy to be improving. I love you all SO much! I can't believe that Elder Johnson's training is already half finished, before I know it he'll be out on his own! Time flies. Do good things. Don't make exceptions, and be happy!

Love,

Elder Price

[A few notes from our Mother's Day phone call yesterday:

No power: It was evening time there when we talked and towards the end of our call he said he'd been sitting there in the dark talking to me because it's been "Lights Out" (no power) all evening. Unremarkable to him, really.

Water storage: Another missionary in the apartment said (in the background) that he was going to wash his face in preparation for bedtime. I asked Rain about the water situation. He said they had a very large trash can in their bathroom that they'd cleaned out and turned into their water storage. They fill up the trash can when water is available and power is on. They have a few buckets in their bathroom that they use to dip into the trash can to pull water as they need it.

Weather: He said he's quite comfortable in the heat. It's the cold that gets him now. If he's in an air conditioned building for even an hour, his feet go numb. He's a bit worried about acclimating to home. He asked if we could bring a winter coat to the airport when we pick him up (in September).

This time around we didn't have any list of questions for him. We were a bit surprised when he said that he had a list for us! He wanted to share more with us about the relationships and conversion stories of the people there that have touched his life so deeply. He feels very blessed to have been a part of these amazing people's lives. ]

Bonus photos: "Figured you'd like some nice food shots. ;)"