23 August 2010

Hey everybody. I guess your summer is about over. Hope you enjoyed. It seems like time is really flying by. This last week was pretty packed, but not with so much teaching. More like hours of riding in trotros and days of rain and mud. On Wednesday when we went to Kade we met the ZLs from Abomosu to go on exchanges. I went to Abomosu with Elder Asiedu and Elder Nielsen went back to Asamankese with Elder Hicks. It was my first time to go to Abomosu. It's a tiny little village. It would be a cool place to visit, but I would never want to go there to serve as a missionary. First of all you would be a zone leader which at least in this mission is no fun. And second of all, you are over 5 different branches with each branch being 45-90 minutes away by car, all in little villages. With no car to drive from place to place. You totally depend on branch missionaries. Who're, in general, totally undependable. Too much stress, too little joy in the missionary work. Not to mention no internet for emailing. Anyway, on thursday I went with Elder Asiedu to Konongo so he could do some baptismal interviews there. We left at like 7:30 and got there by 10:30. It took us 4 different cars to get there. Then left for Kade by 1:00pm to meet back with our companions It took me 5 cars to get back to Asamankese by 8:30pm. Well now I've been everywhere in the North Zone and everywhere in Accra is all the same. The only place left in the mission to see is Ho in the Volta region. Also I can say I've been in 9 different cars in one day. Which I don't think many people can say. Friday was spent proselyting in Asamankese. We had a pretty sweet morning of teaching appointments, but the afternoon we were troubled small by the rain. In the evening though, we had more success. We are trying our best to follow the teaching process we've been taught: 1. ask inspired questions 2. listen to the investigator and the spirit 3. discern the spiritual direction 4. Teach the doctrine (in small segments) 5. Check for understanding. When we were practicing our teaching this week we decided that the easiest step is by far #4, and that we do way too much of it. Then on Saturday we left by about 5:30 to get to Koforidua to have zone interviews with Pres. Smith. Interviews went normal. Pres. Smith kept it short and from Kof town we stopped by in Suhum for baptismal interviews to be done. Then we went to Oda to do some more baptismal interviews. Then finally we made it back to Asamankese by 8:30pm. In the next week we have a trip to Accra to look forward to as we are having a mission tour. Update on Francisca: she was in Accra and couldn't be interviewed so she was a little bummed that she'll have to wait to be baptized in Accra. It's probably for the best though, that way her new ward will get to know her better. Well I love you guys a ton, Elder Chambers

16 August 2010

Hey everybody. I hope you guys are enjoying the last weeks of summer. I'm sure you guys are very busy. Hope everyone is ok. On wednesday we went to leadership training in Koforidua again. We learned about the process of revelation and the importance of getting our investigators to pray. We also learned about the importance of getting them to read the book of mormon. It was a really good training. I learned a lot and really l feel like my own prayers and my own Book of Mormon study could use some improvement. On thursday we went to proselyte in Kade, where the big news was that Francisca told us she's moving to Accra, but she still wants to be baptized before she moves there next week. So we'll be trying to help everything work out for her to be baptized and confirmed this weekend. She's the third of our baptismal candidates to move this month. It kind of bummed us. On Friday and Saturday we spent some busy days in Asamankese. Did a lot of teaching, which is always really nice. I think maybe when I come home I could study to be a high school teacher or something. Get three months of vacation every year. On Sunday we went to church in Kade. We taught the law of chastity in the investigators class. It was a really good discussion. Then we had a follow up lesson on it with Sylvester and his family. He is one guy who really is prepared to repent. We also went to this one village, Pramkese, to see a referral from one of our investigators. They investigator and referral are brothers, Emmanuel and Bright, and they are both correct guys. Hopefully we can prepare both of them to be baptized in September. Well that was my week. I love you guys. Hope you are praying for me. Love, Elder Chambers

9 August 2010

Hey everyone. I can't think of much interesting that happened this week. It was the pretty normal stuff. Everything went pretty well. We found some good people, we taught our other investigators some good lessons, rode around in a bunch of trotros. We had some disappointments as well. Two of the people we where going to baptize next week, Selena and Jennifer, have left town and will be gone for an unknown, but definitely long, period of time. So that will hurt our goal for the month. And also another couple we are planning to baptize, Sylvester and Philomena, are not going to be prepared in time to be baptized, so we'll have to postpone them to next month. Kind of stressful. Yesterday we went down to suhum so elder nielsen could do some baptismal interviews. Suhum seems like a good town, but the branch there is struggling. Well, anyway, I'm doing good I guess. I hope you guys had a great week. Keep on enjoying the summer. Love you. Love, Elder Chambers

2 August 2010

Brrrr. We've been nearly freezing the past week. I bet we've been below seventy some mornings. You have to be very courageous to take cold showers in these kinds of conditions. All in all though the weather was great this week. We had a lot going on. We are trying to take some time to be sure and get to know all the members here as fast as we can. Elder Nielsen and I are brand new and pretty new, respectively, to the area and we have a 3 branches of members to know and get referrals from. On saturday Felix was able to be baptized without us, because we were in Kof. attending leadership training. It was a good baptism and a good meeting. At the training we focused on 2 of the new teaching principles: The doctrine of Christ, and the role of the spirit in conversion. Also this week I got to have snails for the first time. They're easier to eat then cow skin. We chopped it with fufu. The other interesting thing we had happen was that the office elders came up with supplies for a new companionship. Beds, chairs, and things so probably next transfer we'll have 4 missionaries in Asamankese. Anyway, I love you guys a ton. Hope you have a great august. Love, Elder Chambers

26 July 2010

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a great week. Hopefully you are all enjoying your summer. This past week has been like the best weather of my mission. Nice and cool. but not rainy. So this big happening of the week was transfers. On Monday they took Elder Stout to Accra so Elder Kivaya and Elder Moses came from Oda to be with me Monday. Then on Tuesday the three of us spent the day proselyting in Oda. It was a pretty normal day. Then on Wednesday we came to Asamankese to proselyte. We were able to give one lady, Jennifer, a baptismal date. Then in the afternoon they brought my new companion Elder Nielsen. Elder Nielsen is from St. George, and he's been out now 15 months. He's a pretty cool guy. He's been in Accra his whole mission so he's pretty excited to be out in the bush. He'll be the new district leader here as well. He's hoping to stay here a long time, and I think he probably will be. On Thursday I took him to Kade and we went round there to see our investigators. It's somehow tough proselyting in Kade. First of all it's an hour to travel to, when we get there we have to walk everywhere, and everyone is busy until like 2 o'clock (and we need to leave by like 4 or 5). The branch there is still going well though. We'll be having a baptism there on Saturday. Friday we spent proselyting in Asamankese, and Saturday we went back to Kade. Sunday we had church in Asamankese. I was really impressed by how Elder Nielsen got to know the members. I think as we work with them this transfer we'll have a lot of success. Today we spent much time washing clothes and cleaning the apartment. I need another haircut so we'll take care of that next. Or maybe lunch will come first. Then we'll teach some lessons and have a family home evening (and hopefully dinner) with some members. The big things we'll be looking forward to this week are Kade's baptism and a 6 hour leadership training in Koforidua (which is like 2 1/2 hours away).