Elder Harris in Ghana!: CoCo Porridge

Coco Porridge

I'm sorry, the best title I can think of this week is a food I had for the first time. I'll try to think of them more throughout the week, but I honestly think I'll forget most of the time. And this week's email will be shorter than others. This week didn't have a lot going on inside. Mostly transit to distant places and so forth. I did realize also that I need to be better at making oatmeal tastier...

So, I guess we'll go!

Tuesday

I had coco porridge for the first time! Honestly buying food that comes out of a random cooler and they just put it in a plastic bag is kind of sketchy, but you get used to it, haha. As long as you heat it up enough and keep it safe, you're fine. But when I get Typhoid I'll let you know. I think I'll add a little sugar to coco in the future though. We had cleaning inspections and we passed with a passionate 10!! Righteous! We went by to teach Sister Pe, and it turns out she'd been reading, and she'd already read like half of the Gospel Principles manual, and she loved it! Holy cow! She's great! Got hopes for her!

Wednesday

Elder Ojaide's birthday! I woke up early and made us pancakes! Used this concentrated milk as a syrup, which was the best idea I've had since coming to Africa! (Later I added ground nut paste [like peanut butter] to the mix and found heaven). I also learned that I am eternally hungry. I eat breakfast, we have companionship study, I eat second breakfast, we eat lunch, before we leave for lunch I eat a little more, and then we come back and eat dinner. I think I have parasites or something, haha.

We also went to another city, and we thought it might be like a 20 minute bikeride, but it was actually almost an hour. It was horrible and hilarious at the same time. We went and taught this pastor who had seen the apostasy inside and out. Corrupt pastors and a corrupt church to no end. I hope hebecomes humble, because it seemed in his mind was, "Why Joseph Smith and not me? Don't I deserve a vision?" He's a had a lot happen in his life, and I hope he can get past it.

Thursday

Again, a ton of time lost in transit today, and such a severe rain that not a lot got done. I learned to make bean porridge!

Friday

Turns out one of our most promising investigators left for Accra! She'll probably come back in a couple of months, or maybe even a few. She had a solid baptismal date! She didn't even tell her mother she was leaving.

Pa though, has had a sudden increase in potential! He wants to be baptized so bad, and just accepts with a sincere and powerful "I believe!" He is a good old man. He's this 70 year old guy, every muscle tendon visible!

I also woke up with a mosquito in my bug net. There goes what I thought was protection, haha.

Saturday

July 4th! Celebrated independence day in my heart! I felt it powerfully! We saw Sister Pl, who has been coming to church for a while(without even having missionary visits) and extended a baptismal date to her! At this point it's all about whether or not she begins to read in the Book of Mormon. Invited Sister Ro to church, and we'd pick her up.

Sunday

We picked Sister Ro up, and went to church! Fast Sunday! Our recent convert JJ bore a short quick testimony, and I went up and got to share a bit. It was a good day. Super hungry, which meant I wasn't doing as well mentally, but hopefully the spirit took over and made it OK, haha.

Monday

Today, of course. I did laundry for a while, and made pancakes and pretty much had a good time. Also, it turns out there was a zone activity, and we came and played some futbol! My running shoes were at the Senchi apartment, since I was expecting to do exchanges with them, so I just played the African way and went straight up barefoot! IT was fantastic! And there was this little African child who played too, and I took a picture with him. Everybody here plays barefoot though. It's pretty great!

Playin' soccer barefoot with the zone, and met this youngun'!

Soccer Field

But I guess to move on, my spiritual thought this week. I have been thinking a lot about church.l Why everybody comes, and why we are commanded to meet together oft (Alma 6:6). And it comes down, I think, to the spirit we feel in the house of God. Investigators begin to make real progression when they come to church. The first thing God had Joseph Smith do after giving the foundation was to build a church. Going to church is so important in so many ways! Every single hour has such a powerful effect on us. We meet to partake of the sacrament, a sacred ordinance that is so essential to our progression, and the rest of the classes we take our time and give it to God so we can be edified and that we can edify others through the spirit. It is soo important to follow God in every way that we can, and this might be one of the most important ways! Most fundamental at least. We can't call ourselves members of Christ's church if we don't make sure to spend our time there, building his kingdom and building ourselves. On Sundays, there are so many other churches we can go to. The church of the ball game, or the church of chores, the church of games and distractions. So many other things can be used to take our time away from God, and even if they are good things sometimes, they can be replaced with the BEST things.

I love you all! 5.47% of the way in! Rocking it so hard!

Elder Harris