Sekondi

Dear Family,

Happy Monday! :)

I'm just gonna reply to your email in order and then throw in some rough week report like usual. So.. Yep, new cafe! This one is different. It's on Windows 8! But the internet is definitely not google fiber. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but I'm always picky. ;) Yes, I'm in the apartment under the Julanders. We get to visit with them sometime! We did that this week. More on that! Hopefully I remember which day that was on.. I'm looking forward to the packages! Packages won't get to me quite as fast now that I'm out in Western Region (I'll have to wait until someone goes over to Cape Coast for something, then they bring it back), but they will be awesome to get. I received a few letters this week! That was great. I got Grandpa and Grandma Norton's Christmas letter, as well as the ward Christmas letters, and some others. It was awesome!

I forgot to bring my camera to church on Sunday, so I didn't actually find out if there is wifi there or not. But the chapel is BEAUTIFUL. Oh my gosh. Two stories, and the chapel is on the top floor. This one is a church owned building, not a rented building, so it's GREAT. It's not a stake office or anything, so it might not have wifi, but I'll try again this Sunday.

Tuesday!

Okay, well, I don't really remember it very well, except for me saying goodbye to a bunch of people. We had a couple meals planned, but then we went to teach someone and.. Well, there was food prepared, and they didn't want a lesson, they wanted to feed me. So we ate SO much. :D I loved it. It was really good to get the chance to say goodbye this time (if you know what I mean), and I know I'll miss them, but I could possibly see them again one day. :)

Elders Price, 'Atu'Ake, Cardon, and Judy.

It's just like being in Hawaii

Wednesday:

Transfer day! Which means I had to move all my crap from one place to another place and live somewhere else with different people.. Doing the same stuff that I've generally been doing. That's a transfer! I went to the station, and the trotro (van) ride was really long.. And.. A lady puked on me during the ride! That part was wonderful. I absolutely loved it. She was sitting behind me.. It was nice! Anyway, we got to Takoradi, and I met my new companion and went to Sekondi's apartment; it's up a giant hill. There are a lot of hills here. And the apartment, oh man, it was incredible. That is, if filth was a virtue, not a vice. So the apartment was nasty. Oh, and the water pump is broken, so we don't have water. Things just keep getting better! The front door is so flimsy that we lock our bedroom doors at night because that would be a safer block than that little piece of wood. And the mosquito nets have baseball sized holes in them. It's a great apartment. ;) We're trying to improve it. The other elders in my apartment are Elders Wight and Allen. They are whitewashing their area! But we visited a good member family that night and some others, and I learned that Sekondi is actually made in a logical manner. There are STREETS. and SIDEWALKS. and people speak English. Crazy area.

Thursday:

We had weekly planning and then tried to see some people.. Not too much written from this day. Mostly just getting adjusted to this new area. woohoo! (Elder Pearmain mentions: "hello! I'm not dead yet! I feel happy! I want help with referrals when I get home! [girls]" he's here in this cafe!!!!!) [Elder Pearmain comes home in five weeks]

Friday:

a real day of us walking far away! We walked pretty far to these outskirts of Sekondi, like the suburbs. We have split with the other elders various suburbs, so we went to our further group and I met a bunch of people! We taught a few people, but I don't know them all too well. It was a good day! One highlight: We visited the Julanders! We had a good conversation that evening, and they have a really cool past with music. He said it'd be fun to play guitar together sometime. I'm not very good, but we'll see if I muster up the courage to do it! I also got some letters and stuff. Their apartment is nice.. Definitely not the elders' apartment! ;)

Saturday:

Mostly a day of proselyting! We had a good meeting that evening with the ward mission leader, Vincent. It was a great day, but it was pretty much in the blur of the week.

Sunday:
Like I said, the building is AWESOME. So we had church. At 8. 8 is really early. :P But we got there, and the ward is awesome. They function really well, and there really aren't many stresses. We had a couple people at church, but hopefully we can get that up. That afternoon we proselyted more and then had a wonderful meal from one of the families in the ward. We're receiving a lot of support from this ward, so the work will be nice. Once the apartment is nice. ;)

Monday:

Subsistence activity! We played football (soccer) at the stake center. I liked it a ton! I like playing defense, and I always consider it a nice little confidence boost whenever one of the Africans asks me if I ever played back home. :) Thanks for those soccer lessons, right? I'm not a great striker (offense), but I do decent on defense! Football is fun.

Oh yeah, my companion: he's lived in Australia and Singapore, and he says he knows the Daynes! [checking in with my cousin, Mike Daynes, I learned that Rain's companion's family is in my cousin's ward in Singapore. Small world moment.] [Elder Halterman] went to BYU for a year before coming on his mission, and he's cool. He likes a lot of books and the such. You'll see pictures of him later, y'know? So, missionary work is true! All that jazz. Speaking of the Jazz, I saw how they're doing a couple days ago. At least they're better than the Lakers! ;) Anyway, I'm happy to be where I'm at, and this apartment is awesome. We'll see what this next week brings. 

Everything is going pretty good, and I'm doing my best! Have an awesome week.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Price

Follow-up Q&A about the water situation:

Q: Wow. No water. Ummm… you guys must be pretty stinky by now. How are you managing? 

A: Haha, we do a death defying dance to draw water out of a poly tank. it's not easy, and it's my turn next. I'm managing fine! Just bucket baths again.

Q: Photos!?! Details. Is it an above ground tank? 

A: I'll get some. I haven't had my dance yet, but the others have. Yep, it's 10 ft above sharp rocks.

Q: So if you fall one way you land on the sharp rocks. If you fall the other way you land in the tank?

A: No, all ways is the sharp rocks, standing on a slippery plastic top of the tank.

Photos from Sekondi: