Goodbyes, Rice and a Baptism

Dear Family!

This week has been good, though a bit odd. Life with my new companion is good! Elder 'Atu'ake is chill, and we're having a good time. I'll see if I can have him teach me the haka. ;) Being a district leader again isn't too different for me. I mean, I haven't given instruction yet in district meeting, so once that happens I might feel it more! It is a pretty big district, but it's still two companionships smaller than Logantown zone was [when he was zone leader in Liberia]. The work is pretty hard right now, it's just been hard this week to get up to our area, and when we get up there we don't have very many people to go see right now. We're trying though! I'm trying to keep a good attitude about the area, even though it's so slow right now. No grand new investigators yet, but I'm sure they'll work their way into our teaching soon. :) No service projects this week, but more on that in a bit as I run through my week.

So, this week!

Monday: I bought myself a real Givson! ;) Yeah, Givson. It's a pretty red color, and it's actually full size! It's super great to have it, and I like playing around the apartment. I played it for some of the neighbor kids, but I learned quickly that I can't make that a habit; they'll always pester me about it! I found a Hymns Made Easy book or something like that in the apartment. It has the chords over a bunch of hymns! It's awesome 'cause now I can play something more than the few riffs I have memorized.

Tuesday: We had district meeting! Elder Hinckley gave his last instruction; he gave it on being Christ-like, and I really enjoyed it. The meeting went long, which was disappointing because we weren't able to make it to Agona, but we had an FM [a meal] with a member named Charlotte! It was RICE!!!! :D :D :D :D I loved it SO MUCH. I can't describe how fast I downed that. Then the rest of the night was Elder Hinckley packing. And Elder Judy made a cake. Which was incredible. Chocolate cake. Mmm..

Wednesday: I went to the taxi station with Elder Hinckley in the morning, and he was gone pretty fast. Then my companion arrived pretty soon after that, sooner than I expected, so my plans for the day was kinda throw askew. My first day with Elder 'Atu'ake!

Thursday was some "splits." That's what they call exchanges in this mission. It feels so uncomfortable to say. But I went with Elder Judy into Agona! Actually, first, for lunch, we went to Elmina Beach Resort and split an amazing pizza. But then we went up past Agona to Ekutuase for Sister Debrah's interview for baptism! She passed! That was the highlight of the day.

Friday was lame. We were supposed to have a service project, but we showed up to the place, and the people hadn't been informed, so we couldn't do it. It made it so we didn't have enough time to do much afterwards, so it was a pretty nothing-filled day.

Saturday was the baptism! :) It was good, though nobody shows up to baptisms here in Ghana. That part was lame. The rest of the day was pretty slow again, but the baptism itself was really good! Sunday had a miracle in it! Sister Debrah called us that morning saying that there weren't any cars at the station in Ekutuase, so she might miss church. But.. partway through sacrament meeting, she walked in! And we had her confirmed. It definitely was a miracle. I felt awesome about having her baptized.

They kinda just have their baptisms here whenever there is someone to be baptized. It's not quite as often [as Liberia], but it works pretty much the same way. Yeah, my first baptism in Ghana!

This past week we haven't been looking for an apartment really because we don't know if we're supposed to or not yet. But the work is coming up, small small. It's hard and slow, but I know I just need to push through this sludge, and things will eventually get better. But it's not easy right now. As far as my apartment, we're doing great! I love all the guys around me.

Elder Curtis will be coming for a "mission tour" this week! That will be awesome! And we cleaned our apartment crazy good for it, too. I'm gonna keep pushing and keep working. I'll admit, I did feel sad to say goodbye to Elder Hinckley, but this gives me more chance to grow. A bit more pressure with the area, a bit more pressure as a district leader, but I'll rise up to what I need to do.

I love you guys so much! :) Have an awesome week!

Love,
Elder Price

p.s.
This cafe is terrible! Anyway, byee! I'm excited to go to an FHE tonight. :) Have a wonderful week! Thanks for being awesome!
__________

Excerpt from letter to his mission president:

Dear President,
...
As I’m taking over this area with a new companion, I’m feeling that pressure to get into our area even more and pick things up, no matter how slow they might be right now, so I have set some goals with my companion for this coming week to have a more effective week.

I decided to show Elder ‘Atu’ake the building that is planned for the church to worship in on Sunday, and we had a chance to talk to the caretaker.
...
I'm not sure of the progress of the building and other aspects, but I hope that it's going fast. It's still difficult for us to have a strong presence in the area because we're still worshiping in Elmina. Also, did you want us to find an apartment out there? We noticed that as a part of the same building to worship in there are a couple attachments that could possibly work as missionary apartments.

My companion and I are doing well so far together, and we're trying to implement good attainable goals in this area so that we can see some strong results. We have been doing quite a bit of contacting, and through those efforts we have set up a good week for this coming week, and I hope that they occur as planned.

Thank you for your support,
Elder Price

Ice Cream and Transfers

Hello, Fam!

It really is September! And it's crazy how fast it's reached September; I hardly remember August!

Ah, Chuck-A-Rama is finally opening?! I know where I'm gonna be eating within the first week I'm home. ;) I was actually talking about that with Elder Judy this week. I'm thinking In-n-out will be in the top 3 places I go.

I can't explain how jealous I am of you guys going to that concert [we went to a Paul Cardall performance Saturday evening].  I really wish I knew what he closed with!!! If it's anything from the albums I have I would definitely know it. I can only imagine how beautiful that sounded. I miss real concerts. Thanks for the pics!  [Paul Cardall officially closed with "Redeemer" but then played an encore song that I didn't recognize. Elder Price played Paul Cardall's rendition of "Redeemer" at his mission farewell, and it was the last song he played on our piano before leaving for Africa.]

Thanks for sending the package! :) I'm sending out a letter to you today, through the Ghanaian post. Apparently it's really reliable, especially for receiving letters. Feel free to write to my address here!

Elder Makani Rain Price

Ghana Cape Coast Mission

P.M.B. CC 1385

Cape Coast, Ghana

I do like the info about Ebola, I would feel completely left out of my second home without it. I just wish my member friends from there would email me.  [I sent him updates from Liberia news, and asked him if he wanted me to continue sending that type of info.]

TRANSFER NEWS!

Sooooooo I'm staying in Agona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO! President called us Saturday afternoon and told Elder Hinckley and me our personal transfer news. He said that the unit there should be open in just a couple weeks; that'll make the area progress way fast! He also said that we'll be trying to get us moved out to live in or close to Agona. But... "we" is not Elder Hinckledincklebee and me. It's Elder Atu'aki and me! Elder Hinckley is being transferred to Cape Coast, and Elder Atu'aki is being transferred to me! He's Tongan. I'm excited. I loved the time with Elder Hinckley, so I'm sad to see him go, but I'm looking forward to this coming transfer! Moves take place on Wednesday in this mission, so I'm still here with Hinckley for now. He did go to Davis, but no marching band. We've had fun this past transfer! Also.. What I've left out thus far.. I'm now District Leader over here in Abura district. Ah!

I've been trying to get rid of my headaches lately, because they're pretty much daily occurrences. I can't seem to get them to go away, except sometimes randomly I won't have one. Usually I have a mild one, but sometimes it gets a bit worse. I've been adjusting how I eat, how much water I drink, etc, but I don't see a whole ton that seems to work. Just thought I'd let you know. it's not slowing me down too much; it's just annoying, really. That's why I asked for multivitamins. Maybe vitamin B could help? I dunno. Somethin' different in my diet, probably.

Okay, so, my week. District meeting was cool! Nothing huge there. But right after we finished the meeting I went to the chapel.. Where they have a kawaii electronic organ. That was amazing. So much bass, and the keys felt more right than so far on mission, and everything felt... awesome. I was reminded why I love the piano so much, why I'd spend hours behind the keyboard. It was wonderful. For the rest of the day we basically got rained out. No umbrellas in this mission.. So not much proselyting. People can't really hear us over the sound of rain hitting the metal roofs, either.

On Wednesday we taught a couple lessons, we're preparing a woman for baptism this coming Saturday! She lives way far away, Western Region even. She comes to church every week though, so I'm excited to baptize her. Thursday was pretty slow, too. On Friday we did the service project for PROaid Africa again! Helped build that orphanage more. 

On Saturday we did another service project, but that one was just me and Elder Hinckley. We went up to Agona (actually a village past Agona called Ankaase) and cleared a bunch of a member family's land (with machetes, of course). They live in a bushy area, so I saw some sweet spiders and stuff. Still no snakes for me, but one day.. Elder Hinckley also introduced me to something called "fanice" on Saturday. They're less than one cedi (which is around 33 cents), and they are plastic bags filled with ice cream. like the water satchets, but ice cream. SO GOOD. I ate 4. :D Ignore the stomacheache, it tasted amazing.

Sunday. Elder Judy woke up way sick. Strep, probably. He couldn't go to church, but his companion had to represent their area for their investigators at church. So Elder Hinckley went to church and said his goodbyes with Elder Moleme while I stayed home with mr. sick man. It was pretty fun! He was sleeping the whole time, and I wrote that letter.

So, that's about it for the week! It's pretty exciting with the transfer news, but it'll be stressful with the district leader thingy again! We're also getting another companionship of sisters in our district this transfer, so my district will have 12 people. Crazy talk! Also, I've been showing Elder Hinckley crossfit lifts. It's been good! We have a weight bar, so I've been doing more lifts again! They feel amazing. not much of a chance of running, really.

I love you all so much. Have an awesome week! I'm working hard out here and having a great time with the people around me. The area's not easy, but I know the Lord has a plan for it. My hands are getting stronger from the service, and my spirit is getting stronger through the work. It's a pretty great combination, and I'm happy.

Mwah!

Love,

Elder Price

_________

Excerpt from letter to his mission president:

Dear President,
...There was a great day with Elder Hinckley this past week where it was evening, and we really had nothing to do in the area. Our appointments all failed, and even our members weren't able to come with us. We had a lot of pamphlets, though, so we decided to give them all out and have a gospel conversation with each person. That was an incredible thing, and I saw more potential in this area than I've seen in the past few weeks. We even saw the Lord's hand in our work as we found a small service opportunity right there--picking up some corn from a giant pile and helping some people--as well as some people who were very interested in our message. I'm hoping for more miracles like that throughout this coming week, and I have a new energy in preparing this area for the church.
...

Elder Price

Fastest way to a man's heart is his belly

Hey, Family!!!
This week was full of events! It was a very fun week. :) (and this keyboard is MUCH better than the one I was using last week. Typing is gonna be easier..)

I played piano all week and learned those 3 hymns: I Am a Child of God, Teach Me to Walk in the Light, and I Stand All Amazed. I was prepared to play on Sunday, but at church the power was out, so no piano playing anyway!

On the 5k: What?! That's so cool! :) He's preparing to do a tri with me! Yes, my dad is awesome. ...

Anyway, I have a bunch of notes of the days for this past week. Here we go!
 Monday (after emailing): 'cause Elder Otieno, Elder Moleme's companion was home, we were in a threesome with Elder Moleme. We went to a (an?) FHE at a members house, and it was awesome. I loved it. There were a couple kids who were adorable the whole time: they talked so much! Here in Ghana I can actually understand all of what the little kids say! These two were singing funny songs and playing games with us, and I had a blast. It really lifted me up. :)

Tuesday: was fun! Pretty odd day, though. We had our district meeting, and a few of the sisters were being transferred, so they did some funny things in that meeting. Right after the meeting in the chapel, the three sisters, Sister Otieno (hilarious, awesome sister from Kenya), Sister Fani (hilarious too, from Botswana), and Sister Izidor (quieter and Nigerian) all got up and were singing funny versions of various hymns. Sad to see them leave. They took us all out to a chop bar for fufu, banku, etc! It was yummy and a good time. We've paid for them several times, so they wouldn't let us pay at all this time, they took the bill. We spent the rest of the day with Elder Moleme doing some small things in his area, 'cause his area is near the apartment.

Wednesday started with Elder Hinckley and I accompanying Elder Moleme to the "station" (a place where people pick up cabs, trotros, etc). I was generally super tired, but it was okay. We went proselyting, and it was a normal day! Except it was my 11 month mark. That's cool. :) The night before Elder Hinckley had lost the key to the apartment (E. Moleme had one), and we couldn't find it anywhere. Waiting for a cab to take us to the station with E. Moleme, we started telling E. Moleme that we would need his key, etc. Then a miracle happened. We looked across the street, and there's a cabbie leaning up against his car holding the key in his hand (it had an oil container on it, so we knew what it was), smiling. So great. We almost got hit by a car we were so eager to cross and grab it.

Thursday was a district (without the sisters or zone leaders...) service project! I have amazing pictures from that. We farmed! We were on Bro. Ewusie's farm. Which means machetes in the BUSH. SO COOL. I enjoyed it. We spent the rest of the day at the apartment ('cause we're too far away from our area)...

Friday was another service project! This time for the entire zone. We helped lay the foundation for an orphanage! Something maybe called Proaid? I forget. It was a fun day. [The orphanage project they were helping with was PROAid. Here's a link to their website: http://www.proaidafrica.org/ ]

Saturday morning we cleaned the chapel, and we talked to Pres. Stevenson about Agona unit. It's not established, and we're trying really hard to get it there. We had a sweet lesson with someone named Selena. We had met her brother at this printing shop and planned to have this lesson. She was there too, and we had a lesson with them both. They are both very involved in their church, but it was a notable lesson for me because of the sharp contrast between her and her brother. Selena (in her 20s) was very thoughtful and willing to ask Heavenly Father if what we said was true. Her brother was stubborn. It was so sweet to teach her and see someone who put so much thought into processing and pondering our message. It was nice. :)

Sunday: I already explained that the light was out. Yep.

Today was amazing. Just gotta say that. We had a zone activity. In the Elmina Beach Resort. INCREDIBLE place. We had a breakfast buffet, all you can eat of GOOD food. I played pool! Goodness it was amazing. Loved it. Hence the title. I'm so stuffed right now. :D Such great food, and the entire zone was there! I also played ping-pong and got some great pictures from the area. Wonderful experience, they might have a website? [http://elminabeachhotel.com/]

I was surprised to see him in jeans, since he didn't take any from home. He said he bought these in Liberia.

I've been having a great time with Elder Hinckley, but transfers are next week. We don't know what'll happen with our area or us, but we're trying our best. It's not easy, but we get along great! Elder Judy is also really great to have in the apartment; all 4 of us have a really great time. :)

Thanks for all the stories and support!
Love,
Elder Price

oh, I forgot to add this story:

At the resort today, I learned how to do a backflip while getting off a swing. So cool. I got sweet pictures mid flip. :)

[Me: I love how upbeat your letters are lately. Dad suggested it’s just from all the newness of the new experiences. Or you’re really super depressed and doing an awesome job of covering it up! ;-) ] 

Elder Price: Best time on mission yet. Seriously. I am SO happy right now. I like newness, but the people are great, too.

I Like Goats

Hey, Family!!!
Things are going good! I'll start with my "answers" to the mundane stuff of the week. ;) ...
I'm going to be writing another handwritten letter this week or so.. I printed off a couple pictures to join it, so that'll be good!

Awesome! Thanks for getting those books! [Fante language books] I'm excited to really start learning. I can get a street understanding of it eventually, but to really know how to speak it I need to know more.. So thanks!

My shoes are just fine. :) My missionshoe brand shoes seem to be a bit bigger than we should've gotten, but I'm handling it. My eccos are just fine, but they are heavy... I use my sandals a good amount. It looks more unusual here, but it's allowed for regular proselyting.

[Essential oils:] I'm using them! I use the lavender one or the pasttense every night before I go to sleep. The peppermint, lemon, and malelueca are getting used, too. Sometimes I use the peppermint, but I mostly use all three when I mop... hehe... It makes the floors smell better. I don't use too much when I do that, though. I don't think I need any more, though I'm not quite sure how much of the lavender is left.

[News about Robin Williams death:] That's terrible. Jumanji..

Amazing pictures. Thanks. :) Speaking of weather, Ghana isn't actually hot compared to Liberia. It's actually quite cold.. Brrrrr.. (that's how I am at night and in the mornings) Maybe it's just for this time, but it's different! Also, it was raining almost every day in Liberia, but it's only done the weird misty rain thing once since I've been here. It didn't even pour!

That's so sweet! He looks good in that uniform. Good number, too. :) It really is an awesome thing. I'm proud of my brother. [he dropped ten pounds this summer]

No mission pics this week, so we'll include a photo of "little brother" wearing his "big brother's" number

[I taught a lesson at church yesterday and shared many stories from Liberia] Liberia stories in RS..  I'm sure I'll use those for the rest of my life. :) That's sweet that you went to [Elder Widdison's] homecoming! I like that guy. We'll see if my accent wears off or not... I definitely talk faster than Elder Widdison, but I talk the same way as him. Interesting stuff!

Elder Cottrell and I got along great! We made a lot of adjustments to everything in the area (and apartment) while he was there, and it was sweet to be able to make some adjustments that I simply needed a companion who also had the same vision to make. We worked well!  [We really enjoyed meeting Elder Cottrell's parents Monday evening]

Elder Hinckley is great. :) We're still companions as of this weird not-transfer transfer (caused by missionaries going home) that takes place on Wednesday (announced on Saturday before). There's two more weeks until the real transfer day. We get along great, and for some odd reason I'm able to talk a lot around him. It's funny. I've been telling so many stories--I didn't even know I had that many! We're working hard, and we don't have a hard time communicating things at all.

Food: Fufu and Banku. The same "___ and soup" mixture (Like, rice and soup) style. Fufu is like bread dough, while banku is a little bit more.. firm? You eat it with your fingers. :)

My week was good! I'm doing my best out here, y'know? Oh, random note before I forget: I met Elder Larsen today! We were in Cape Coast ... and I met him! We introduced each other, and he asked me where I'm from. I told him that I was from American Fork, and he immediately asked if I knew the Petersons and such. Very cool. He even called Dean "Dean", which made me laugh.

So, this week:
Tuesday was a "combined district meeting" which I'm used to calling a "zone meeting". SO many terminology differences here. That meeting was good, though, like everything, it was different from what I'm used to! Same general principles, but different. We went up to Agona afterwards and had a pretty regular day; we're mainly trying to find solid people to teach and help the progressing people to baptism. On the ride home in the taxi (which is surprisingly hard to get at night... Blah.) I was sitting next to a Ghanaian woman named Gloria. She was really nice, 22 years old. We began to talk, and she asked me where I was from. I told her "Liberia" ('cause that's my thing), and she paused and thought for a moment. She then said, "I don't believe you." So I asked her, "if I speak in Liberian English will you believe me?" And she said, "yeah!" So I continued to talk in thick Liberian English. She then replied to my first statement, and I understood her perfectly and replied in something more. After her second reply I realized that she was talking in Liberian English with me! It was so great! :D Made my day. I got her number so the missionaries can visit her over where she lives, too. She spent 4 years in Liberia, Congo Town, so we had some good conversation during the cab ride (while my companion was sitting in front of me talking to some crazy guys).

On Wednesday it was a pretty uneventful day, really. We taught more lessons than ever before in this area! Nothing big. Thursday was weekly planning, which is now right after companionship study, and that messed with my head. I'm used to it on Thursday evenings! Ah! :) Friday was another pretty un-storyful day. Sorry, I should take more notes of the fun things that happen in each day... But Saturday was good! We had a service project! :) The whole ward (weird... ward...) and us missionaries went to a nearby hospital and cleaned, swept, and weeded/mowed with machetes the clinic's grounds. It was a fun service project! They use actual machete things here to brush [weed] instead of "whips" that Liberia uses. It was a great forearm workout! We wore the mormon helping hands pennies, and it was my first time actually working in one of those! That night was transfer news, and... Elder Otieno is going! He was one of my zone leaders. He's going to Kenya. Yep. He's finished his mission, so now a new guy is coming here. That'll be fun! Elder Judy or something. 3 americans and one awesome south african in the same apartment--I'm excited.

Sunday was super good, too. I mean, church was kinda.. We first thought that we would have 0 investigators at church, but miraculously we had one, Sister Agnes, come to church. She lives WAY far away, and we visited her once. She's come to church before a ton, but she's never made it to sacrament meeting, so it was a miracle; she made it that day. :) There was apparently a downpour in Agona that morning, and that may have been a reason why many of our investigators didn't come to church. There were other excuses given as we passed around that afternoon, but hopefully next week. We need our building in Agona.. Also, after church I plugged in the keyboard and began to play. The Young Women's president came up to me and asked if I could play the hymns for the primary program on the coming sunday (she's filling in for the primary president whom traveled). I explained that I can't practice at the apartment, and she said she was going to ask the bishop if I could take it. So.. I have it at the apartment! And I'm going to be playing a few songs next Sunday. Please pray for me? I'm kinda worried about it. It's amazing to be able to play at night, and I might get myself a keyboard out here, but learning the hymns is hard for me. Later that day while we were in Agona we were passing very close to the forest, wanting to go in, but we knew it was taboo for us to enter like that. So we didn't enter. Then an old woman yelled to a younger guy in Fantee, and the younger guy turned to us and offered to take us inside. It was so amazing. BEAUTIFUL place. Loved it. He said on a different day he could take us up to the top of the giant rock thing and go deeper. I got pictures, don't worry. :)

That seems to be about it for this week... :) Things are going good! I had an emotional bump (nothing bad, I was just down for a while) during the week about Liberia. It felt like it was finally hitting me.. No more numbness. But I'm doing okay. Things are different, and I'm in a good situation to be happy. This mission truly is a great one, and I'm happy to be here.

Love you guys so much. :) Have a funny week!

Love,
Elder Price

Q: I like goats?? Hahaha! So what’s the goat story? [He used that as the subject line of his email, but as you can see, never mentioned goats]

A: Haahaahahhahahahhaa I wasn't going to explain it. :) But there's a lot of goats around Ghana. And goats sound like human beings when they scream. :) They also prance all funny.

Q: What’s up with the forest? There are forests there??? And you can go in with a guide?

A: Yes, real forests. JUNGLES. But no monkeys, 'cause.. I don't know why. 'cause we're near the ocean, probably. And yes, I can. :)

Me: Today the news announce some crazy looting of the hospital “in West Point.” Like they were stealing soiled sheets and hospital supplies and 17 ebola patients have gone missing. Sad stuff.

E. Price: SERIOUSLY?? Whoah! West Point was actually a "no proselyting" place because of what it's like there, so I'm not too surprised that something like that would happen in that place. That's really sad though.. I told Elder Freeman (Elder Baldwin's companion, same district, previous companion of Elder Hinckley) and Elder Baldwin about it, and we all talked about that for a while. Craziness.

I'll go where He wants me to go

Hey, Family!!!

Ay! I'm glad to hear the homecoming was good! I love the Hezseltines. :) And it's sweet that you talked to Elder Widdison! His accent is basically how I've been talking. I spent those last few days in the apartment with him, and his accent seems fine to me. ;) My accent has gotten way thicker since Mother's day, but it'll probably reduce now that I'm in Ghana. More on that later. Those pictures with Elder Humpherys are hilarious! Elder Humpherys, as you know, was my first zone leader. So that's cool to see you with him! He likes to have fun, so it sounds just like him. I've seen that scripture case before, too! It sounds like you guys had a party with that homecoming. 

I'm glad you liked the videos. :)  [he sent his camera card home with the Hezseltines, on it were a few short videos, one from mid-May with him talking in the background. His accent was thick.]  I still talk in some kind of Coloqwa with the Ghanaians, but not as much. Definitely not deep Coloqwa. The accent here is more British, but mostly.. well, mostly people speak Fantee. An entire language, not just something that I can sit back and gradually adapt to. I'm learning it already! I'm taking notes from tons of members as they teach me. They love teaching me!

So, this week was crazy. I already emailed you halfway through it, so here's just the last half. :)

Somewhere in Ghana. Where will this path take him?

Thursday was the day I was interviewed and called to serve with Elder Hinckley in Agona! I showed up to their apartment that night. The apartment's pretty nice, I don't really know what to say about that. There's a shower! Not many mosquitoes. Looks like a nuclear shelter. I cleaned it a ton this morning. On Friday I had my first day proselyting in Ghana! Only a few lessons, but a great time meeting people and.. being in shock from the language. I got kissed on the cheek by a drunk man that day too.. Ew. What a crazy day. The area is BEAUTIFUL, too. Another note that I wrote down.. There are fireflies on the pathway back to our apartment (after all the long car rides to our area)! My first time seeing fireflies that I really remember. Anyway, Friday was another day of trying my best to be a missionary! I'm learning a lot from Elder Hinckley. He's the district leader right now! We were MTC mates! So we have a good time talking to each other. Sunday was cool, we went to church and all. The building is so nice, and the classes are being taught in English and Fantee at the same time! The teacher just talks in both as he teaches. It's really interesting to sit through. We took a "tro-tro" to Agona after church (after taking some photos with my district at the castle), and we proselyted for the rest of the day. That was an amazing day. Members were going with us, we got so many referrals, everybody was so happy and missionary work was so wonderful. Elder Hinckley made a comment: "I've never tasted this fruit before.." both of us with smiles on our faces being surrounded by Ghanaians in this village. That's what they call Agona. A village. But don't think of those African villages that are made out of mud and sticks, it's better than that. There are cement regular African buildings, though there are tons of hills. I can't describe how beautiful this place is.

Agona Village

Elmina Castle

View from Elmina Castle to the bay

You asked how it is to serve in a ward. Well, I'm not in one! I worship with them at this point, but we're hoping to move buildings into Agona soon. We're an unorganized unit right now. Hopefully we'll be an official unit soon. :)  Great food! Just different. They don't eat pepper. (pepay..) At all. It's really different, not as spicy. Very little rice, too. Mostly banku and fufu. "swallow" foods. Another note that I found: people dress so nice to church here! I mean, it's nothing crazy, but it's nicer than where I'm coming from. It's interesting! Just much more consistency in the standard of dress. Also, another note, if I could get a fantee/fanti to english dictionary or grammar book that'd be WONDERFUL. :) I'm trying to learn as best as I can. Also, they don't take free rides very much. The cab system here is very very organized. You go to a "station" which is where you can very calmly get in a car that's heading to a certain place. No real flagging down of cabs here, to be honest. I got Elder Hinckley his first free ride from flagging down on the roadside that he's had on mission! Nobody was going to where we were going, so I told him, "let's flag down a free ride!" Instead of taking a roundabout way, more expensive, to where we were going. So we went to a less crowded place and were walking, and I flagged a truck down to give us a ride. Nothing new for me, something new for him and here. :)

Things are good here in Ghana. It's definitely different here, but I'm slowly getting the confirmation that this is where I'm supposed to be. I miss Liberia and all my many friends there. I miss them a ton. But it's okay because this is the Lord's work, not mine, and I'll go where He wants me to go. The refiner's fire is taking me somewhere else, apparently, and that means I'll do my very best here.

Love you all so much,
Elder Price
______________

From his letter to his new mission president:

Dear President,

These few days here in Ghana have been very exciting for me, and I feel that I have been learning a lot, not just about Ghana, but about missionary work, too. Coming to Agona with Elder Hinckley has provided a challenge of its own, but I’m excited to see the Lord’s hand in the work as we continue doing our best in this area. Agona is a very great place, and the people are receptive and ready to receive the gospel. The biggest challenge they face, however, is coming to church. The unit is not yet organized, but the members are ready, and many of them take a "tro-tro" to come to church all the way to Elmina. The building in Agona is not yet prepared for us to worship there yet, but many of the members are eagerly awaiting the church's arrival there.

My biggest difficulty over this past week has been communication. My English communicates pretty well with most Ghanaians, but many of them in Agona speak mainly Fantee. I've been working on learning Fantee, and I've been praying for help in my learning. I've seen His hand helping me to pick up Fantee; though I have not had one of those miraculous experiences of speaking in tongues, I’m seeing divine help as I’m trying to learn.

Elder Hinckley and I have been praying for miracles each and every day, and we've seen miracles in our proselyting. Starting in this (basically) untouched area, we have been trying to do the best we can to use the Lord’s time wisely. Putting faith in the Lord, we asked some of our members to show us to their friends that they have already talked to about the missionaries so that we could teach their friends. In doing so, I had one of the best days of my mission. I felt God guiding us so much, and we were able to meet a lot of new people for us to teach. The members are working with us a ton, and things are looking up for this area. I'm looking forward to a full week in this area.

Thank you for all your support,

Elder Price

______________

Other Q&A:

How is it to work until 9pm? Is it a relief to be able to stay out longer? [they had a very strict 7pm curfew in Liberia, for safety reasons]

We have a hard time staying out until then because car business gets hard at night... It is awesome to stay out past dark, though. I love it.

Any bicycle missionaries in your mission? 

There's a few, but not many. If we ever moved apartments into agona, I would definitely campaign for a bike. We need one, but we can't take car and bike at the same time.

No more motorbike rides? 

no more... :(

Do the missionaries just take tro-tro’s like everybody else?

Yep! We all take cabs and everything like everyone else.

Any riding in back of trucks?

Probably not...

More details about the apartment?

um... no oven now, but apparently there's some funky way to make an oven out of a stovetop. 
toilets flush! :)

Is Agona considered a “new” area then? Have missionaries been there recently before you two?

a new area. No missionaries have been there full time, but missionaries have gone there for one day out of the week in the past.

Faith In Every Footstep

Elder Price is healthy and safe in the Ghana Cape Coast mission. We are thankful. We know that angels watched over him and the other missionaries as miracles paved their way for safe travels.

Timeline update from our end: 7:15 pm on Tuesday August 5th we received a short phone call from Elder Price. He was at the Cape Coast mission home. He was tired, safe, and a little sad. Wednesday, August 6th we received many chatty emails from him as he was at the mission home with seven other elders that he had served with in Liberia. The eight of them had been reassigned to the Ghana Cape Coast Mission (GCCM). He also sent us a very long "journal style" email, with many details of the events of the past week. An edited version is here:

Dear Family,
So, for this email, I've decided to do something a tad different. I'm just going to go through what has happened this past week, almost like a journal entry that's really long. I don't know if I've remembered to write everything in my journal, and I enjoy typing much more, so this is just like my journal. From the beginning:

Tuesday. Ebola rules were strictly reinforced. We were told to be more careful than other times; the Berretts visited at the end of district meeting and reminded us to be exactly obedient. The day went on. It had been pouring for the past few days and the road inside Doe Community was flooded bad. We took some nice pictures of me sitting on a bench in the middle of this flooded stuff; overall, we taught some good lessons. 
We saw a man named Vorkpore at the end of the day, and we walked through crazy place to teach him. We went inside this very short building-the roof was so low that we had to duck a ton just to walk inside this hallway. On our left and right of this cement building were these short doors with their locks on them--each one was someone's home. Inside a doorway is a small space, one room, where someone will live. We've been in a place like this before, but this one was a very short building. And it went on. The building was long. We kept walking and walking, above us was an open space where you could see the wood poles built, holding up the zinc sheets of metal that were the roof. There were massive amounts of spiders in this space, big ones, with huge webs. We kept walking through this hallway down and down until the end where there was a small open space with a bench or two. We sat down and taught Vorkpore there. Crazy place. Slums of Liberia.

Wednesday. This is the day everything started. This was the last day in my area. Wednesday morning the New Kru Town missionaries were called and told that they couldn't proselyte in their area, they were initially told to work with the Point Four elders and help Point Four branch. An hour or so later, the transfer was extended to the Point Four missionaries, too. The APs were calling all the people that were involved, and we went out proselyting. We taught a lesson to an investigator named Mulbah. We had Vera Morris with us, an amazing recent convert who was baptized by Elder Zaugg and Elder Kamara. She's awesome, but her boots were only just about the ankle rubber boots, too short to allow her to walk through the deep puddles. Elder Cottrell and I did a scout carry with our hands to lift her and carry her across the deep puddles; it was full of laughs. It was a great time. :) Before we physically sat down to teach Mulbah, we were standing outside his porch, and we saw another investigator, Brother Botoe, walking towards us over this cement bridge. We talked to him and asked him where he was coming from; he told us that he was coming from a house (that we could see) where a man died. He explained that the guy was working as a pharmacist in Redemption Hospital. A few others with that guy died, too. We asked the symptoms; yeah, it was Ebola.  We gave Bro. Botoe some hand sanitizer. :) We sat down with Mulbah and taught him, helping him to get married soon. We finished, carried Vera across more water, jumping on tires, bridges, flooded paths, broken bricks, all over mud. It was good. We went to another appointment, the Nagbe family. We sat down, and I went to relieve myself in some bushes around the side of the house (the whole place was completely flooded, too). As I was walking back, I got a phone call from the APs. The APs said that Point 4 elders weren't answering their phone, so it was our responsibility to go into their area and find them. So we dismissed ourselves from that lesson, said goodbye to Vera when we reached the road, and we took bike out of our area. I took a video on my camera of that last bike ride. Laughing, Elder Cottrell and I said that it might be our last day in our area, ever. It was.
["took bike" means they rode on the back of a motorcycle, the driver along with the two elders on the seat behind him. What a treasured video that will be.]

So we went to Point Four. We couldn't find them fast, but we said a prayer and 10 minutes after the prayer we got a call saying that they finally answered their phone. We went back to the apartment and helped the elders move out: they were now being transferred to Banjor and Duala. We then cleaned their apartment and taught Christiana, my convert, the security guard. We were called that night by President Kirkham. He told me to collect all the phones. After I collected all the phones, he told me that we were not to go out of our apartments the next day, and we weren't allowed to be communicating with anyone, members, investigators, anyone. [Elder Price was the zone leader, which is why he was the one collecting phones, etc.]

Thursday. Our first day inside. Spent the entire day doing random stuff. Elder Cottrell was teaching me how to waltz! We were told that we were going to be staying in for some more days. We were told to stock up food. So we bought a ton of food!

Friday. We were called that morning that we were going to be leaving the country the next morning. We weren't told our calls at that point. We spent the day packing. That night President Kirkham called us and told us our calls. That was when I was told that I was going to Ghana Cape Coast.

Sister Berrett, Elder Price, and Elder Berrett. Saturday at the mission home.

Saturday. We went to the mission home (beautiful place). We staged to go, all our bags were packed, the church had chartered a plane for us. We prepared everything and began our drive to the airport. Eventually we reached there, and we were told, frantically by the Berretts, not to unload the bags. President Kirkham came and announced to us, as we were standing in the airport parking lot, that we were denied access to Ghana.  No go. We were sent back and we redistributed our bags and organized to stay in the apartments that night. Some far elders stayed in closer apartments, and some elders stayed in the mission office and mission home. The Caldwell New Georgia elders joined us in the Logantown apartments. That meant we had Elder Pearmain, Elder Erickson, Elder Kaiser, Elder Gunnel, Elder Agyei, and Elder Obeng-Poku all joined us.

Sunday. We stayed inside. The African elders received a call that they were being picked up and shipped out. They left before all of us Americans. We spent the time playing chess, card games, etc. We were called that night and told that we were going to be leaving the next day. [on commercial flights]

Suits: Elders Erickson and Pearmain. Others (L-R): Elders Widdison, Price, Kaiser, Gunnell, and Cottrell

Monday morning at Logantown Apartment, prior to leaving for the mission home

Monday. We left. We went to the mission office and left, again. This time we made it into the plane. Everything checked, everything good. Got on the plane from Roberts airport to Brussels on Brussels Airlines. It had a touch screen tv on the seats, so I played chess... It was good. 

President Kirkham and Elder Price prior to departure from the mission home on Monday

Tuesday. We landed in Brussels. So tired. I ate at some random places there like.. well, I ate a chicken sandwich, drank a smoothie, and ate a ham and cheese sandwich from starbucks. 

  

The second flight was really short. And there are apparently windmills in the English channel: who knew?!

We had a nice layover and Elder Pishl and I were upgraded to first class on our flight! :) Nobody else, just us. It was sweet. We relaxed. At this point we were on British Airways. President Kirkham came up to where we were sitting and took pictures of us! :) 

... We landed, and we waited for our luggage. After getting all our luggage, we went through the airport. Not scary this time! No hard times with people asking for money; I'm more used to Africa now. :) I met the people of my [new] mission waiting for us, the APs, the couples, and the mission president and his wife. The APs took Elder Guymon and me, and all of us showed up at the mission home. I called you guys, and it was all good. 

This country is nice. Ghana is so peaceful. Everything is different. It's safe here. It's different here. And I miss my people. I almost broke down as we were driving on the Ghana freeway; the freeway itself and the views from it. It's hard to handle. I'm not.. home. It will become home, eventually, but it's not that yet. I'm going to be working my hardest, doing my best, losing myself. Thank you for sending me those notes from my setting apart blessing; I've been thinking about those a lot recently. I find myself talking about Liberia nonstop. I can't even describe it to these Ghanaian missionaries. They don't even.. know. Liberia is different, and I love it. I have half my mission here in each country, but I know that there's going to be more adventures ahead. I love you all; I'm doing my best to "walk with faith in every footstep." 'cause I know that's what I need. Everything has a reason. Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Price
____________________

Random email exchanges from Wednesday. They stayed at the Cape Coast mission home while the leaders went to Accra to pick up an additional eight elders arriving from Sierra Leone:

Is it true that there’s a KFC in Ghana? Are you going to eat the bones? :-D
That's what they bought for us last night -- already ate the bones. Turns out that KFC bones are really soft!"
Local chickens with soft bones. Tasty?
Hahaha, they *were* tasty, believe it or not. I'm still going to impress you when I get home!

You were so tired on the phone last night that it made me more sad for you. Sounds like you’re doing better today.
I definitely am doing better!

Did you leave much there in Liberia? Or did you manage to take everything? 
I left not much, just some things that I didn't need. I left Widdison's guitar... :P :(

How are the electric and water issues in Ghana? Even close to Liberian standards?
The electricity and water is a bit more reliable, but more on that in coming emails. 

I sent him the text of the Deseret News article from Friday August 1st.
Interesting article! It's always funny to me to read my name in something public.

I'm going to go calm my mind more and watch this church movie. I love you, Mom! BYE!!!

A couple more photos he sent us on Wednesday:

Prayers for Liberia

We invite you to join us in faith, prayer and fasting for the people of Liberia this coming Sunday (August 3rd). We believe there is power in heartfelt prayer, and that power is magnified when it is accompanied by fasting. We are praying this deadly Ebola virus will be contained as quickly as possible. We pray for the families who have sick ones, have lost loved ones to this virus, or are trying their best to protect themselves from infection. And we pray that our missionaries will make it safely across the borders to their new destinations.

We learned Friday afternoon that all missionaries will be leaving Liberia (and neighboring Sierra Leone) as soon as possible. The Deseret News (KSL) interviewed Dale for their story; Dale shared some of our thoughts and feelings in that interview. We are saddened by this turn of events for many reasons, but of course we are thankful for our son's health and safety. We look forward to following this missionary adventure wherever it may take him. He will be reassigned elsewhere.

Elder Price's evacuation destination has not yet been made known to us, but we will update our friends, family, and blog reading friends when we learn more.