another week has gone by!! i cant believe its already november. its weird to meet the new missionaries and see them asking questions about the most SIMPLE SIMPLE things, like how to use the water filter in the apartments. then, i think back to how i was the EXACT same way less than two months ago. it really is humbling to see how much i've grown over this short short period of time. the Lord has blessed me ALOT.
today we played football (soccer) vs the assin foso zone, and they are very very good. they have this one kid that played for ivory coast's under 17 national team. we got worked. i did score two goals though, so i'm pretty happy about that.
Elder Kalinja is district leader now, so he will go on splits with all of the other missionaries in our district over the next transfer (six weeks). last friday, i was with my MT (an elder who was with me in the mtc) Elder Buah! it was sooo sweet. i am able to carry on the missionary work even without elder kalinja here, i've had to learn alot before that could be the case. i love elder buah!! he is extremely quiet, but he is very very smart. we have read alot of the same books, which is very rare to find a ghanaian who has read alot of books, even more rare to find a ghanaian that has read american books. he is very smart, i love to talk to him.
i forgot to mention one thing that happen
ed last week at the baptisms. i know you'll love it... so i was out in the ocean baptising this small girl named alice ainoo, and just as i was about to emerse her into the water, a HUGE wave hit us and knocked us BOTH over!! it was so funny we all luaghed so hard.
this week was zone conferences. it was soooo awesome. presidnet sabey is the man, thats all i have to say. he taught us about "the doctine of oneness" and how essential it is to our salvation. it was an amazing lesson. it made me want to get married. : )
at one point in the conference president sabey was talking about the garments, and how we need to dispose of them. he told a story of one elder who didnt cut them up and just threw it away. later he saw someone walking down the street with a really thin cotton shirt that had three holes cut into it!! hahah
so on wednesday night we were coming home from moree, and i was holding elder kalinja's scripture bag because he was holding a bag full of banku (just look it up) for us to eat. i forgot the scripture bag in the taxi!!! i felt soo sooo sooo bad. inside of it were not only his scriptures but also TWO digital cameras with pictures from months and months of his mission. i wanted to kill myself. we realized it and tracked down the taxi, and it wasnt in there. we were discussing where else it could be, when a small boy came up to us with it! but the bag was half open, and one camera was missing. we questioned the boy and he convinced us that he didnt take it. he told us that if he'd have known there was a camera in it he wouldnt have taken it. he said that God would punish him if he was having the camera.
the reason i'm telling you all this is to talk about elder kalinja. he was so patient throughout the whole process. he was mad, no doubt, but he knew that i didnt do it on purpose. he only said things like "God knows why this has happened," and "i'm just thankful to have my scriptures" and things like that. its easy for us to teach our investigators that we need to be patient through our trials, but its an entirely different thing to do it. he really showed his understanding about this life and what kind of people we need to be. i wont forget it soon.
i really learned alot from elder kalinja that night, about how to, like it says in my patriarchal blessing "focus on eternal matters." i've thought about those words alot on my mission, and i've used them as motivation to work hard during the times that i really dont want to.
since that night, a miracle happened. we got the camera back!! one of the taxi drivers, who is a very good man, went up to that boy later and asked him if he had the camera. he told him that if he did that he would give him 30 cedis for it. the boy said that his mom was having it at home, that he would sell it to him when he got home!! that little thief right??
so at this time, we were in cape coast beginning the exchanges with elder buah. the taxi driver and our bishop went over to the house to meet them, and the woman said that she would give the camera back, but only to the white man (me), because she believed that if she gave it to the taxi driver and biship they would steal it. she said that any money i wanted to give her "out of the goodness of my heart" she would accept. she only wanted me to come so i would give her tons of money. people here believe that white people basically have unlimited money. she was expecting me to come and drop a bunch of money in her lap.
i came, and i only had two cedis in my pocket. so thats what i gave her. she was MAD!! they all started yelling and stuff (in Fante) and she was convinced that the bishop told me only to give her two cedis. i felt like i was being generous, considering that her son freaking STOLE the camera from us. she threw the money back at me and told me that we could come back later with more money.
me and elder kalinja went back the next day and elder kalinja spoke to her. he told her that the boy 1- stole the camera from us, then 2- straight up lied to us about it. we could have him arrested for that. it is ours, she will give it to us. after he said that, she changed her story, saying "'oh i wasnt demanding more money, i decided that, as a good christian woman, that it wasnt right for me to accept that money." foolish woman.
actually, though, she was laughing and loved us by the time we left. i couldnt really understand what was being said so i got distracted and started playing with her children, and i think she really like that. we actually set up an appointment to teach her tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes!!
mom, i recieved the birthday package on october 28th. it took just a few weeks time to get here thats sweet. i also got another letter from you today- i havent had tim
e to open it but i think it might be the next missionary newsletter mabye??? thanks for the stuff mom i love love love it!!
thanks everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. i love you all!! there's no need to worry about me i'm loving it here. i literally feel like i am becoming more of a ghanaian every day. i love you!!
love, elder mackay
ps.shauna... how did homecoming go??
today we played football (soccer) vs the assin foso zone, and they are very very good. they have this one kid that played for ivory coast's under 17 national team. we got worked. i did score two goals though, so i'm pretty happy about that.
Elder Kalinja is district leader now, so he will go on splits with all of the other missionaries in our district over the next transfer (six weeks). last friday, i was with my MT (an elder who was with me in the mtc) Elder Buah! it was sooo sweet. i am able to carry on the missionary work even without elder kalinja here, i've had to learn alot before that could be the case. i love elder buah!! he is extremely quiet, but he is very very smart. we have read alot of the same books, which is very rare to find a ghanaian who has read alot of books, even more rare to find a ghanaian that has read american books. he is very smart, i love to talk to him.i forgot to mention one thing that happen
ed last week at the baptisms. i know you'll love it... so i was out in the ocean baptising this small girl named alice ainoo, and just as i was about to emerse her into the water, a HUGE wave hit us and knocked us BOTH over!! it was so funny we all luaghed so hard.this week was zone conferences. it was soooo awesome. presidnet sabey is the man, thats all i have to say. he taught us about "the doctine of oneness" and how essential it is to our salvation. it was an amazing lesson. it made me want to get married. : )
at one point in the conference president sabey was talking about the garments, and how we need to dispose of them. he told a story of one elder who didnt cut them up and just threw it away. later he saw someone walking down the street with a really thin cotton shirt that had three holes cut into it!! hahah
so on wednesday night we were coming home from moree, and i was holding elder kalinja's scripture bag because he was holding a bag full of banku (just look it up) for us to eat. i forgot the scripture bag in the taxi!!! i felt soo sooo sooo bad. inside of it were not only his scriptures but also TWO digital cameras with pictures from months and months of his mission. i wanted to kill myself. we realized it and tracked down the taxi, and it wasnt in there. we were discussing where else it could be, when a small boy came up to us with it! but the bag was half open, and one camera was missing. we questioned the boy and he convinced us that he didnt take it. he told us that if he'd have known there was a camera in it he wouldnt have taken it. he said that God would punish him if he was having the camera.
the reason i'm telling you all this is to talk about elder kalinja. he was so patient throughout the whole process. he was mad, no doubt, but he knew that i didnt do it on purpose. he only said things like "God knows why this has happened," and "i'm just thankful to have my scriptures" and things like that. its easy for us to teach our investigators that we need to be patient through our trials, but its an entirely different thing to do it. he really showed his understanding about this life and what kind of people we need to be. i wont forget it soon.i really learned alot from elder kalinja that night, about how to, like it says in my patriarchal blessing "focus on eternal matters." i've thought about those words alot on my mission, and i've used them as motivation to work hard during the times that i really dont want to.
since that night, a miracle happened. we got the camera back!! one of the taxi drivers, who is a very good man, went up to that boy later and asked him if he had the camera. he told him that if he did that he would give him 30 cedis for it. the boy said that his mom was having it at home, that he would sell it to him when he got home!! that little thief right??
so at this time, we were in cape coast beginning the exchanges with elder buah. the taxi driver and our bishop went over to the house to meet them, and the woman said that she would give the camera back, but only to the white man (me), because she believed that if she gave it to the taxi driver and biship they would steal it. she said that any money i wanted to give her "out of the goodness of my heart" she would accept. she only wanted me to come so i would give her tons of money. people here believe that white people basically have unlimited money. she was expecting me to come and drop a bunch of money in her lap.
i came, and i only had two cedis in my pocket. so thats what i gave her. she was MAD!! they all started yelling and stuff (in Fante) and she was convinced that the bishop told me only to give her two cedis. i felt like i was being generous, considering that her son freaking STOLE the camera from us. she threw the money back at me and told me that we could come back later with more money.
me and elder kalinja went back the next day and elder kalinja spoke to her. he told her that the boy 1- stole the camera from us, then 2- straight up lied to us about it. we could have him arrested for that. it is ours, she will give it to us. after he said that, she changed her story, saying "'oh i wasnt demanding more money, i decided that, as a good christian woman, that it wasnt right for me to accept that money." foolish woman.
actually, though, she was laughing and loved us by the time we left. i couldnt really understand what was being said so i got distracted and started playing with her children, and i think she really like that. we actually set up an appointment to teach her tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes!!
mom, i recieved the birthday package on october 28th. it took just a few weeks time to get here thats sweet. i also got another letter from you today- i havent had tim
e to open it but i think it might be the next missionary newsletter mabye??? thanks for the stuff mom i love love love it!!thanks everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. i love you all!! there's no need to worry about me i'm loving it here. i literally feel like i am becoming more of a ghanaian every day. i love you!!
love, elder mackay
ps.shauna... how did homecoming go??
