A Week to Remember

Dear Family,

This week has been such an incredible week. Honestly one of the most amazing weeks of my mission. ​It's going to be hard to fit everything in. I'll just go chronologically. Ready? :)

Tuesday: District meeting. Okay, well, the district meeting started way late because of some issues with the other apartment, but we got it started, and it went fine! This is miracle number 1. His name is "E2" [same name as the previous (younger) E, so we'll call this one E2. E1 is still progressing]. His story: he has a friend in Takoradi who told him some things about the church, so he got really interested. He happened to be driving by when he felt like he should just pull into the parking lot and see what's inside. So he did. And he met our 1st counselor! Bro. Hansen proceeded to call us in and introduce us to E2. We got all the information, introduced ourselves, and we found out that he had already downloaded the Book of Mormon on his phone! What?? :) So, we gave him a pamphlet and invited him to the movie night that evening that we have been planning for the ward.

Things moved on for the day, and we didn't have too much going on. It really wasn't that different from usual, but we were really excited for the popcorn movie night. We organized the whole thing, and we had the ward come to the church for us to watch the Saratov Approach! Who showed up? Investigators. A couple of them! Plus a bunch of members. We had a chance to teach E2 before the activity started, and we learned that he had already read the entire pamphlet and introduction to the Book of Mormon, the two assignments we gave him. Woot woot! The activity was a great success, and everybody felt the spiritual message of it so well! I was really happy with how it worked out, and every single person there truly enjoyed the evening. All the members have been asking us if they can get a copy of it. :)

The night didn't end there. Right as the activity ended, we received a call from Pres. Stevenson. Elder Halterman answered, and then told me that it was for me. My first thought? "Crap, Mom/Dad/Rikki/Ryatt got in a terrible car accident... This ain't good." So I greeted Pres. Stevenson, and I was called to be a trainer!!! :D :D

And we had an exchange. Started that night, and went through Wednesday! I went with Elder Barlow in Sekondi; it was technically my first time to lead in Sekondi, so I was excited for it. We had an incredible day with eight lessons. Crazy. It might be my record for a single day here in Ghana. :) That in itself qualifies to be another miracle. Then we went to the church for some baptismal interviews: Benjamin and Ekua being interviewed by president Stevenson! It went really well, and they both passed. :) 

[in the past Elder Price has spelled her name Akua, so we have abbreviated as B and A. Turns out she spells it Ekua, with an E.]

It was a really good exchange! After coming back with Elder Halterman, we finished the evening off by eating caramel corn at the Julanders while watching videos of Christmas Mormon Tabernacle Choir concerts that Sister Julander was in.

Thursday was another good day, we taught E2 again! He's doing great. He is progressing SO well. :) we taught four lessons, and we had some great times. We realized that one new investigator who called us over in a "not serious" kind of way is actually serious about learning and hearing our message! That was another lil miracle. We mostly just planned on this day.

Friday was unique for sure... I went to Nkanfoa (by Cape Coast) with Elder Allen! And some other couple of people. It was the Trainer's meeting! 

Trotro to Cape Coast

Trainers Meeting!

It was so good, and I'm glad I was there. They fed us. Normal rice and stuff, but one thing was better than I've had in a long time: butter. BUTTER. I got BUTTER. :D :D :D I almost died. I tasted the buttered bread, expecting the margarine that they use all over here, and it was BUTTER. :D :D Definitely a highlight of my week. Not to mention seeing Elder Cooper, Elder and Sister Miles, a bunch of former district members, and feeling the spirit. :) It was a good day. But...The travel was TOO long. So far. Hours. and hours. We got back after dark, and we had left at 8:30 am. It wasn't a very long meeting, either. But we made it home safely, and we visited Abigail, a sweet member who is incredibly talented at cooking, and she gave us some cake!!!! :D It tasted amazing. She's one of the best cooks I've met on mission.

Cake by Abigail

Saturday was the big day! We went to chapel cleaning in the morning, and we discovered that the font wasn't working. So we thought about filling with buckets.. Yeah, no.

Attempts at bucket filling

 So we found a really long hose! With no connecting pieces, of course, and a flowing tap. Another miracle here: that morning I saw the bag of balloons I have, and I thought, "maybe I'll make a balloon animal for a kid at chapel cleaning today" so I took a couple with me. Keep in mind that I hadn't used those for about five months. COMPLETELY random. Well, when we were using a plastic bag wrapped around the connecting part of the hose and the tap, I realized that it needed to be fastened down with something. What should I use? The balloons in my pocket. And the thing worked PERFECT. :) We got the font filled.

The rest of the day was also perfect. We taught a couple lessons, one of which has a sweet story. We taught a prison guard in his watchtower 30 feet above the ground. He called us up (we had met him once before) and we sat on some benches at the top and taught him about the Book of Mormon! Immediately following that lesson, a random member from Kweikuma ward was driving by and pulled over as we were walking and bought us three fresh coconuts from a girl selling and opening them. And then we went to the baptism. :)

The baptism went without a hitch. We even started at the perfect time, late enough that we had people there, but soon enough that the service ended right as the sun was going down (light [power] was off in the chapel). It was a great experience. I baptized! Benjamin is REALLY tall, so... After an unsuccessful first dip, we had Benjamin sit down before I brought him into the water. So everything went great! :)

That evening we had a "Ghanaian Food Night" with the Julanders, where we picked up a bunch of random Ghanaian foods that they've never had and made a potluck out of it! It was really fun, and I like my killywilly (fried plantain with some seasonings). :)

"Ghanaian Food Night"

Sunday was great, too! We received several new people to teach! The Julanders joined us at church for the confirmations of Benjamin and Ekua. Everything went great, and Benjamin is even a Priest now! E2 came to church, too! :) As well as a man who is the husband of a member who live in Sekondi but for some reason attends Kweikuma ward (probably something about the time of the services). He's apparently attended several times, and now we'll be teaching him! We also now have a baptism coming up for the 11th of April. Soon, right? Her name is __ [we'll call her M], and she's the fiancee of Bro. Hansen, the 1st counselor! She's been taught by the missionaries in Accra, and she's been attending church a bunch! Basically, all we need to do is double check her preparation, and then she'll be baptized. Get this though: their daughter is from Philadelphia. With an American accent and everything! She's going to be around for five weeks, so it's going to be another unique experience for me! She's been a member for a really really long time, but her mother hasn't, so, since she's the best English speaker in the family (American English, even.), she'll probably be helping us out a bit. 

Andddd transfer news, since I haven't mentioned it yet:

I'M TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!! (Okay, I've mentioned that already...)

Elder Halterman is going to Asikuma; far away into Central Region.

Elder Allen is training!!!

Elder Wight is going to Kissi (Elmina zone, baby!!!)

Other things in the district: Kweikuma 2 is being closed, which means Elders Salawu (who just got there) and Tu'akoi are both going to different places. Elder Barlow and Elder Ekpo are still around. And the zone leaders are still the same. The new AP is Elder Halverson, the former district leader of Takoradi district (not my district, but my zone).

Thanks for the update from you guys back home. :) I love hearing everything! I'm glad that things aren't too hectic for the time being, and it's good to see all those pictures! I'm doing my best out here, and I feel like these two coming transfers will definitely be a learning experience for me. Even if I'm on the downhill, I'm not coming down. It's not easy to keep getting up and working, and I'll admit that I'm far from perfect, but I know why I'm here more than ever. Training a new missionary will be an adventure. Let's see what happens! :)

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Price


Bonus photos:

"view from apartment ledge"

"Random Sekondi picture"

"Nice nature pics to finish it off. :)"

Photos from last week - 18 Month Celebration

Celebrating his 18 month mark with Indian food!

"Indian food!"

Dessert at the "Squeeze" Smoothies

"Weird bug"

stake conference

stake conference

stake conference

stake conference

18 month celebration cupcakes "Amazingness"

Broken Glass

Dear Family,

Hello! Things are going well over here in GH. A pretty strange week, to be honest, but not bad! It all started off with our zone conference on Tuesday. It was nice! We were in Takoradi for it, and it was my first time to sit on their nice wooden benches. Yep, benches. Crazy, right? I almost forgot that chapels can have benches! With little places for the hymnbooks! It was a good conference, though it wasn't combined zones. President Stevenson really emphasized unity, something that went well with his former instructions on obedience. It worked well because, unfortunately, often times when obedience is stressed it causes contentions. "Instead of a culture of obedience developing, we've been developing a culture of contention!" --Pres. Stevenson, paraphrased. So he talked about unity. It was cool to see how applicable the instruction was. 

For lunch they gave us some fried rice and stuff with bottled drinks. I had the bright idea to open the bottle on a cement step! A great thought there. Okay, but in my defense, normally it works. But for this time, it didn't. I hit the top of the bottle like normal to open it and *SMASH* the entire bottle shattered in my hand (as far as the physics of it go, I could possibly claim that the pressure in the bottle was so far negative that when the top of the bottle expanded the volume without increasing immediately the air inside the bottle, the pressure made it implode. Possibly. ;)). So, that was a fun mess to clean up. ;)

On the way home from the conference, we saw an American football jersey that my companion LOVED. What team? The Broncos. :P Well, we checked out the jersey. It looked nice, and, though I wasn't in support of it and had to lend him the money to buy it because he forgot his wallet, I spotted him. We looked at it closer later and... It looks legit. The emblem on the front of the neck looks like the machine missed a stitch, which could mean that it's just an imperfect jersey, but it is WAY nice. For less than US$10. Crazy, right? Not some cheap-o jersey, but a NICE one!

Between Wednesday and Thursday, things were pretty boring on the reporting end. We taught some people! We found a couple new people to teach that we're excited about. Friday was a more interesting day to talk about; it was my 18 month mark! So it started off with some exciting stuff: failed appointments and lots of walking! ;) Yeah, it wasn't the most fun thing to do, but one of our wonderful members, Sister Akim, saw us as she parked her car to go do something at a small boutique and called us over. We went over and she handed me the keys to her minivan (holding those keys was such a strange feeling... Cars... O.o) and told us to grab a couple malts out of her car for ourselves. It was so nice! It gave us encouragement to contact more people. Malts are good, though I don't know if I have talked about them before. At first taste, they taste like CRAP. But then they get better. Over these months, especially in Ghana where they drink them more, I've been learning to really like them. They're barley based, and even look in such a way that they print on the label "non-alcoholic", because quite a few alcohol companies produce malt. Do they sell the stuff back home? Anyway, we talked to more people and drank our malts. Then we reached a pivotal time: 4 pm. We had been trying to call a potential investigator all day, but her phone was off every time. We had no idea where she lived, except for "11th street". Great help there. But it was 3:50, and we had a decision to make. Do we go there? We did. And as we were in sight of 11th street, her phone was still off. But we kept walking, and as we set foot on the corner of the street and called, it went through. She was just returning from work, and right nearby. She met us on the road, and we went and taught a great first lesson! A little miracle there.

The second half of the day went nicely, and we also received another new investigator, a girl who is a new employee at the restaurant that a recent convert, H., is the manager, and her auntie, ... owns the restaurant. So we taught their new hires! ;) We're excited to teach them. :) We weren't able to do anything that evening to celebrate my 18 month mark because we were planning to be on an exchange that didn't actually happen, but it's okay. The next day made up for it. :)

Saturday started with chapel cleaning! Normal stuff. I found the chapel's supply of pledge and had pure joy as I cleaned with pledge. The other missionaries laughed. Mom, thanks for teaching me to appreciate using pledge. ;) Anyway, we did some stuff and then it was stake conference, the adult session! That went well, and it was cool! They did role plays up on the stand to teach the stake how to do things like BYC and Family Councils! But that ended soon enough, and I overheard Elder Judy talking about some really amazing Indian restaurant that he wanted to try out. Soooo... me being me, we talked our way into taking the zone leaders with us to this amazing place. Pics next week. It's called "Bombay" and the food was SO good. Not some American home food thing, but just GOOD food. I got Lamb Vindaloo. So good. 

Celebrating 18 months of service with Indian food (more photos of this day here)

When it came to order the dessert, they didn't have the Indian dessert thing there, so Elder Judy suggested this "great place that's on the other side of town called 'Squeeze.' It sells REAL smoothies!!! Plus, it's closer to the Sekondi station [station to get a trotro from Takoradi to Sekondi] and closer to our apartment so the transport won't get in the way of anything!" Needless to say, we went. And got smoothies. And they were incredible. :) It was a good 18 month mark. But it wasn't finished there!

Sunday was stake conference again, and it was good, again. :) SO MANY PEOPLE. Oh my goodness. So many. Plus, the choir was wearing this hilarious teal outfit. The Julanders were part of the choir, so I got a nice picture with them. :D 

he didn't send the "nice picture" yet, but here's one from Pres. Stevenson's blog

Updated with the "nice picture" with the Julanders :)

And our friend S, the formerly less-active girl, was there and singing in the choir! It was awesome! Things went well, and we eventually got back home and out. That night we had planned a great activity up with the Julanders for my 18 month mark! It was awesome. They're great people. :) We had cake (a mix that had been sent to Elder Allen) in the shape of hearts with frosting on it. Such good cake, and a great evening up there to celebrate with the people around me.

This morning we had a zone activity at the stake center, sports! I played all the ones that were running, and one guy even had roller blades! So I laced myself in and rode around on those for some time. Really fun to do that again. :) Plus we played football (soccer), volleyball, and touch rugby. I didn't sit any out, I like playing. ;) Our volleyball team dominated. It's been a good week! Some good people have popped out for us, and we're able to work with more now to use our time. We've been planning with the ward this week to have a ward movie and popcorn night on Tuesday! It's been planned by the missionaries, but we're trying to help our ward have more fun. Something that will make them want to bring friends with them. So we planned this! After polling the members, we've decided to watch the Saratov Approach. Exciting, right? :D We're looking forward to that. That and the baptism on Saturday will be GREAT! I'm so excited for B. and A. They're doing great, though we didn't see them this week because of their travels for work. I will definitely have pictures with them for you next week. :)

It sounds like things are going well for y'all back home. :) I liked the pictures, and the hair thing was really cool! I love you all so much. :) Things are going well, and transfer news is on Saturday. We'll find out who my new companion is! I'm trying to still make a difference and overcome the natural man. It isn't easy, but I won't give up! I want to make it strong! Have a great week. Do good things. The church is true, y'know. :)

Love,

Elder Price

[His PS comments are related to some photos I shared with him at the end of my email. The computer in the internet cafe wouldn't read his SD card, so he couldn't send any this week. Instead I'll share these:]

PS whoahh that Torihada picture. O.O

PPS hahaha... Uh... I was mimicking the Africans when it rains. They cover their hair. The chemicals they use to make it look or be softer wash away in the rain, and the rain can also ruin the artificial hair.... :)  

PPPS can't wait for hot dogs!!! 

"Cooking Lessons" blog post on our family blog

Street Art

"Lunch today. We found a place out of the way to sit and eat our rice from plastic bags. ;) jollof rice and wakye mix is mine... with some sauce and spaghetti noodles and pepper and stuff on it.​"

Dear Family,

Hello! I was reminded so graciously that this week is my 18 month mark... *check calendar on the computer* Yep. On Friday. Crazy, right? I think so. Didn't I just turn 1 year? 6 months has gone! The next 6 I'm sure will go fast as well... Blah. I haven't really registered in my head yet that I'm at 18 months. I mean, some people, like members, ask me, "how long have you been on mission?" and I reply honestly ('cause I'm a missionary ;)), "uh, a bit more than 17 months..." or "18 months...", and people always mention something about either how fast the time goes or how little time is left. It's true. There's not much time left. Which is why this past week was a bit frustrating... Why? Because of SICK.

Okay, that didn't make any grammatical sense. But it made sense in my head, so you're sorta forced to accept it. Sorry yeah? ;) But anyway, I was sick this week. It was really strange. I didn't expect to be sick (but who really does...?), but it just came. Like a brick. BAM! Sick. Monday was cool and all... After all, we went and pretended to be tourists. ;) Just kidding. I hate feeling like a tourist. Elder Wight just whips out his camera and I'm like, "I think I'll just walk over here... 50 yards away... I don't know you. I'm black, dontchaknow?" But we saw the street art, and it was SO cool. Elder Halterman hid my camera from the view of onlookers [so I wouldn't look like a tourist].

"Street art. So cool."

"More amazing street art. :)  "

Later that day we ordered African shirts. Mine: A light blue with gold trim... Think Elder Guymon's, but different colors. And different stitching pattern. It's special colors... CHARGERS! It finished on Saturday. It's a little baggy, so I'm gonna have it tailored more, and then I'll take pictures. It looks so good, we're going tonight to order some more. I think you'll like 'em when they're finished!

But back to the past. I woke up on Tuesday with a sore throat and a killer runny nose and accompanying great feelings. I figured I'd be okay... So we proselyted! Of course. Why not? I may or may not blame the new fan for blowing too hard and making me too cold (my temperature was 97.2...) I gave my fan to Elder Halterman. I took his fan. I run his on the lowest setting. :) But that day was going alright, but then we were walking and I couldn't really walk anymore... Or I'd pass out. That's what it felt like! And that's what it looked like! A great experience happened with that one. We were looking for a bench to sit on out of the sun 'cause I was dying when we looked across the street to a warehouse that is usually either having trucks or nobody in it. There were a couple guys sitting on a bench there! So we walked over there and asked if we could sit; they allowed us. I was trying to regain myself, which I eventually did, as the main guy gave us some free soft drinks. It was really nice of him. I think it's termed a "tender mercy." :) After this great thing, we went to the chapel and had another little miracle as the chapel was locked, we didn't have the key, and we didn't have the number of the guy who would most likely be around with the key. But Thelma works close by, and she just pulls out a directory for the stake (we didn't even know they had one of those!), and we get the number. He's inside, but he's just locked the gate and made it look like no one was there, so he simply opened the door! And I went and made my chair bed. SLEEP. It felt so good... Elder Halterman called S. (I think I mentioned her before?), and she came to the church and Elder Halterman taught her while I was laying there dead. Don't worry, I was conscious and contributed a very little bit in the lesson... Like a thumbs up here and there. Elder Halterman has a couple pictures of what the situation was like, but I don't have them. Other members were coming by throughout the day (Tuesday is the midweek activity at the church each week), and coming and saying hello to me. :) 

"Sleeping at the church on a "chairbed" that I made." 

We didn't go back to the apartment because that's far, and we wanted to be present for the YW activity that we had be helping them prepare for all those weeks back. That all went well, and a thousand missionaries showed up whilst the activity was going on. From Tarkwa zone! They slept over for the mission tour with Elder Dube for the next day! That made for an interesting night... More interesting for them. I was simply dying, so it didn't feel too interesting for me. ;)

I wouldn't have proselyted on Wednesday... But Elder Dube was at the thing! I had to be there! So I was there. And not feeling well at ALL. I think I was edified in some sort... I'm just glad that I got to see a Seventy again. I don't think I've ever been around a member of the twelve, and even members of the Seventy are a nice rare treat that I wouldn't want to miss. I saw him once in Liberia during the first few months I was there, so this makes the 3rd time I've seen him. Still great stuff. That's about all I have for Wednesday... After all, we just went back to the apartment and I slept obscene amounts of time away. Thursday was actually very similar... But no mission tour. We went to the PEC meeting in the evening, and then came back. Rest! Friday was a bit different because Elder Allen stayed home with me while Elder Halterman went with Elder Wight. I rested more, and we played some fun games when I wasn't sleeping. Slowly feeling better, and if we were driving in our mission... or rather, not just walking in the blazing sun all day long, I think I would've been able to proselyte. But, circumstances being what they were, I stayed in.

Saturday I received my freedom. Somehow. We went and proselyted! A. had heard on Friday that I was sick, so we started the day off with lunch from her, which was amazing. I got the recipe. It tasted REALLY good. Light soup and rice. mmmmm. (she was unhappy about the food I was eating while I was sick... She's right, indomie (ramen) and egg sandwiches aren't the best of diets... But we didn't have any food at the apartment!). She also told us a trick to make "neat fufu", which is fufu that is boxed and sold on shelves which you can boil and stir to make somehow like actual fufu, taste better. That'll be helpful for when I get home! Which is also why I want to know... Is it easy to find starch back home? Apparently starch plus dried potatoes (she said powder... I'm thinking of butter flavored fufu from our potato pearls ;)) makes some decent not-fufu!

Sunday was pretty simple. We went to church, things were calm 'cause this ward has a hold of everything, and we taught B. and A. in the afternoon with the Julanders. It was another great lesson, though we really didn't have too much to teach them. We reviewed what the covenant of baptism is and some other faith promoting things. They're doing awesome! I love being with them. They'll be gone on business for this week, but they'll be back next week in time for their interview and baptism!!! :D We're still working with E., but we haven't been able to teach him as much as we need to, and he missed church... But we still have our hopes. 

The email from you guys was awesome this week, again! I loved the pictures! Sounds like things are fine for you all back home, and it's fun to hear about the various adventures. Seeing all those pictures is also insane... I know those people! They know me, too! :) Reminds me that time's short. I've been out 18 months, and I only have 6 left. I'm not quite at the end, so I'm not freaking out, but it's starting to dawn on me how short this really is. Liberia already feels like a dream, soon Liberia and Ghana will both be dreams. The only thing that I can truly take with me is the person I've become, and the only thing I can truly leave is the changes in the lives of those around me. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Price

Bonus Photos:

Starting to climb the hill to our apartment

Cows on the road!

"They sell hookas here. They did in one or two Liberia supermarkets, too. But I got a picture of this one. :) "

"Bathe Daily, If Possible"

Dear Family!

Wow. Great email from you guys today. That movie sounds interesting! Did you ever see the "testimonies" video of Liberia? I forgot the official name. It mentions that story quite a bit. I know Prince Nyanforh and all of those things. I'll be interested to see it! I'm glad to hear that Dad liked it. :) Also, that gopro-like video camera sounds like it will be AWESOME. [We saw the movie premiere for "Freetown" this week and really enjoyed it. It was a story about missionaries in Liberia. We sent him our personal movie reviews. And Dale went to a paintball tournament last week and had a chance to use his new video camera.]

RIKKI'S HAVING A GIRL!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! Yep. :D  

The stuff with the homecoming sounds sweet! You met a lot of people that I know! And I had heard about that Elder Smith before; I believe he was in the Logantown zone when he finished his mission and I arrived. And it's good to hear about what the realistic things are about the reopening of Liberia. I'll keep praying. :)  [I went to Elder Guymon's homecoming yesterday.]

Uh, wow, those are some crazy responses about [last week's] pesticide story! These ones were just a different brand, y'know, there's different manufacturers and stuff. Yeah, it's no big deal now, don't worry. :) This is one of those exciting differences between my mission experience and.. let's say, those in Europe's missions experience!

"Porridge and pincaso. Yummy breakfast for today. :) 'You're gonna miss this...' "

[Googling it, we learned that pincasos are a Ghanaian doughnut sold on the street. I'm pretty sure Dale would be eating these daily if he were there. Probably not the porridge, though.]

Okay, now, I'll get to the real reason for why I actually write this email. Update! :)

This week's kinda.. Well, I didn't keep track of anything. So we'll see how this goes. I'll probably just share a few experiences from this week.. But first, Tuesday was pretty normal, though no district meeting. Wednesday was strange, they put in new nets over our windows! The old ones were gross, so they changed them. After letting Elder Halterman sleep for awhile, I woke him up and coerced him into helping me clean the windows, which involves taking the windows out of the lever things, putting them in buckets and washing them, then wiping them off and re-installing them. We did that to the entirety of the main room. If I had more time to clean, this apartment would be much cleaner. :) Thursday didn't have too much of interest.. The same guys came back and scrubbed our floors! That was interesting... "You mean, they're.. mopping for us?" "basically. with some chemicals." "So mopping. with scrub brushes." "Yep." Hahahahaha, well, we enjoyed that.

Friday was a zone meeting; it was good. I got a couple letters! No package yet, I'm expecting that to be this week now. They reminded us to dress well and not be dirty. The handbook says, "bathe daily, if possible." Pres. Stevenson has changed that. It's now, "Bathe daily." No exceptions. Even if it's with sachets. XD Haha, well, other stuff was instructed too... For example, I am now buttoning up the top button on my shirts! Not like you could tell. But we were asked to do so. "Elder Halterman, do you see a difference?" "Yes." "liar." "No, really, the spirit is so much more with you!" Hahahahhahahaha :D We saw a member on Friday, Abigail, and guess what: she made us a cake! Like.. a really good one. Coconut shavings on the outside. It was incredible. We brought it back to the apartment and shared it with the other elders. It was SO good. :) That's what my picture is of! She's the same woman who made me Palm Butter. :)

"Our wonderful return missionary friend made us cake."

Saturday was normal, we went out to our far stuff. Not too much goin' on out there, just meeting some people. Our Ward Mission Leader's mother, Sister Aidoo, is awesome. We went and visited her somehow-family member, Atoo, who is a recent convert, and they gave us a really good fufu. Her and her family go WAY back with the church, and have been crazy active members for a really long time. She told us that child of record lessons are the best, and that you have to treat them nicely, but that they'll always answer the questions correctly. Child of record lessons, we learned, equal meals. :) We were laughing so hard.

Sunday was good! We had a rocking FIVE people at church!!! :D :D   B. and A., E., and a couple other people that surprised us! It was a good service. The elders quorum president came up to me at the beginning of sacrament meeting and asked me to teach elders quorum. So.. I did! Hahaha, barely any preparation. I don't think it was too bad. :)

Other updates.. So, I sent you a picture of me writing on the chalkboard during S's lesson. She's awesome. She's been less-active for a while, but we've been working with her for the past few weeks. We taught her last week, and then her ENTIRE family came to church. Then we taught her more this week, and we prepared her with her testimony and understanding and had her proselyte with us! We thought to have her go with us because she's the same age as some investigators that have been referred to us, so we started preparing her. We realized that we actually needed to sit with her and help her first... She's now able to be working with us and praying and doing all these good things! A funny experience about this was when we had her to come proselyte with us. We were waiting at the chapel for her to come when she called us saying, "Elders, my mother doesn't believe that I'm telling the truth when I told her I'm going with the missionaries, and she won't let me go. Can you tell her for me?" *phone switches to her mother* "Maame (mamie-liberia/mommy-america) etisen? Yes, she is telling the truth." "Oh, okay, she can go." Hahahaha, can one repent too fast? Well, too fast for others to catch on, maybe! :D

Crappy fans: So, lately I've been having the one horrible fan in the apartment. It barely blows any air, and most of the time you have to spin the metal axle to get the thing to even start. It's not good. They gave me a new one yesterday!!! I assembled it last night; it felt like Christmas. I love putting things together. :)

Old fans

New fan! "It felt like Christmas. I love putting things together. :)"

And about B and A. They're still amazing. :) No question. He surprised the heck out of us when he walked into sacrament meeting in a SUIT! Woot woot! Fresh guy. We had a meal and a lesson at their house yesterday, and we're preparing them for their baptismal interview. We asked about repentance and they started talking with EACH OTHER for 10 minutes about what repentance is. It was wonderful to witness, and those two are so strong. And they're a great couple that I love. A. has started reading the book of Mormon, and earlier in the week we read a chapter with her, and we're having a great time with them. Their baptism seems so close, especially 'cause they're so prepared, but we still have to be patient.

Things are going up. It wasn't the best week, number wise, but the area is definitely progressing, and I'm feeling good. I'm doing my best out here! I love you all so much, and I'm trying to get past the part of me that is still resisting becoming more spiritual and more righteous. The natural man is strong, and I gotta fight! I love you, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Price

We call this his "Hot Wheels" tie.