Good morning good morning! I am doing just fine here in Assin Foso, how are you! Wow it sounds hot there, it’s nice and breezy here today, so I feel bad for you hahaha! Thanks for sending that pic of you with the Shulz', that is SWEET!  I’m glad they had nice things to say about me, that’s always a plus eh? I think it’s funny President said he is happy I am with a Twi speaker haha. I loved them, they were awesome and worked so hard for us! I hope they will enjoy their time with family now! That is sweet they sang the GCCM Called To Serve!  Man that would have been awesome to be there I bet! You are lucky!!! We met the Stevensons and they are AWESOME!!! Wow I am really impressed and excited to see what happens with them. I got to have my interview with President and man I really enjoyed talking to him! He is very nice and calm and just seems like a great man! Sister Stevenson was incredibly quiet, she must still be dealing with the shock of Ghana haha! But she will warm up I am sure! No news on a motto or anything, we will have to wait and see I suppose but I would bet they will do a new one. We had a great meeting though, the Assistants gave a great instruction about setting goals to become all you can be. Elder Cavaness is the assistant so it was awesome getting to see him again! Man he is a great guy so that was fun to see him. But yeah, President Stevenson is awesome so I am really happy and excited to serve with him! But I’m sorry the dog story made you sad hahaha, made me sad to witness it as well. We are gonna make fufu again today. No, Elder Assibey doesn’t know how to do it. In fact, back home he didn’t eat fufu, only out here in the field. But our ward mission leader can, he did home economics in school hahaha so he knows how and made really good soup! No, I really can’t cook anything except for mackerel stew haha. It’s good though, so I am happy with it! Nothing like a big plate of rice covered with mackerel stew eh? Mmmmm. Haha but maybe by the time I come home I will learn how to make something really good! It is really crazy I have almost been out here a year now though, I was thinking about that the other day. Man time goes so quick! Feels like I just got here in some ways, other ways it feels like I have been here forever!  It goes to show though how important it is to live each day as we should, cuz soon the day will come where I will be laying in my bed back home wondering where the time went. I’m glad I am working my hardest! That is one thing I can say, I truly work hard. Don’t want to boast, but I am thankful I am doing that because it really would be terrible to be going home and knowing you didn’t work as you should have. We have two baptisms this Saturday for Bro. Kofi Elijah's kids so that is exciting!!! We are hoping he will be able to baptize them, but his record number isn’t here yet so hopefully it comes by Saturday or else someone else will have to do it. He is sweet. There is a funny story I never got to tell you about him because of no internet. When we were reviewing with him before his baptism we were going through the interview questions. One of them is "have you ever participated in a homosexual relationship?" Bro Kofi is full of conviction, so I was really excited to ask him this question because I thought he would just freak out with righteous indignation at the very thought of it. So I asked it and covered my face so I wouldn’t laugh, after I asked it he kind of just smiled and laughed and said, "No no, I don’t believe it even exists." Hahaha oh man I was dying, just the way he said it was so funny. I guess you had to be there...But yeah, his kids are good to go for Saturday! We also have two more scheduled for the 2nd, though I don’t know if I will be there for those. I’m thinking I will probably get transferred next week, the news comes on Saturday so we will see! But they are great, one from Akonfudi and one from Bereku. One is a 63 year old woman named Affia and the other is the wife of the ward clerk. So that is great! The work is really moving forward here! I am happy to see that because when I came there was not a lot of work here at all. So it has come a long way!

I got the package last week....THANK YOU!!!  Man there are so many great things in there! I almost had a heart attack when I saw the bacon!!! I ate all of it in like a day so the possibilities of a real heart attack are high. You guys are the best! Thanks! Oh thanks for getting those shoes as well! They will be needed when they come. Those Rockports are champs for sure! I do have a request. This request will probably need to be fulfilled by Brady since he is technologically inclined unlike others haha. But if I could get a USB with my MOTAB from my iTunes account or from my Amazon Cloud Drive, that would be BOKO(sweet). Also, I have some piano hymns on my account as well, but I can’t remember the guys name, but if those could be put on as well I would literally be the happiest person in the world!!! That’s basically all I listened to back home, not having it out here is a bummer! It is so uplifting! Thanks in advance!!! Honestly, I forgot my planner with my email list, so I can’t remember what else I wanted to email haha.  Me and Elder Assibey are doing good though! I have enjoyed my time with my Ghanaian companions, my Ugandan companion was a bit difficult, but no problem. I will say that living in a two man apartment is kind of boring, regardless of who you are with. But we have fun and get along and work hard, so no complaints at all! Things are going good here though, hope everyone is doing good back home!!! I am always praying for everyone! I hope you have fun in San Antonio, sounds like a good place to go (I don’t know). I love you though and I am so thankful you are my mom! Keep up the good work! LOVE YOU!!!

Elder Hack did write the last two weeks, but we have been traveling and couldn't get them transferred to the blog.  Sorry!! Here are the last two emails:

Ahoy there traveling pack! How is it going?! Wow those pictures are awesome!! I miss good old NYNY! That is amazing that the Edge did so well! Give Adam a big pat on the back for me!

I think today I have good internet, so YESSSS!!! It’s been a LONG time since that happened haha! We have had a wonderful week here though, it really has been good. We have been busy working hard and TEACHING a lot. We especially have been focusing on finding and reactivating the less active members. Yesterday we had a number come to church so that was rewarding! Missionary work a lot of times has no reward visible, but it is so sweet when you can see the results of your labors. Oh and I know the Lord blesses us even when we can’t see those blessings!!! But yeah it really has been a great week! I was looking through my first planner from my time here, compared to now this place is on fire! Granted it is still a slow area, but I am so happy to see the progress it has made since I came! Can’t take any of the credit for that, it is the Lord's work. But one thing that I can say is that I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! I know I say that a lot, but when I am making my email list each week that is always something I put on there! Each time I read it it just fills me with love for God! I learn so much each time I read it! It testifies of Christ and the divinity of this His Church! I am in the book of Omni right now, I just finished Enos. Enos is a short book but WOW we can learn so much from it! Enos had a true desire to know and also to repent from his sins and the Lord heard him. After he felt the peace the Atonement brings he desired it for his friends and family the Nephites, then his enemies the Lamanites as well! Such a great example!

In other news, we did kill the dog. Oh man that was the most violent thing I have ever witnessed. The elders quorum president did it. He brought the dog to our house Wednesday morning and man the dog was beautiful. I felt so bad. We went to his house where he slaughtered it with a machete. I have some pictures that you will never want to see haha! But the meat was amazing! We have a freezer full of dog meat now. On that note, don’t kill Tiki ok? Today we are going to go shopping then go back and we are gonna pound some fufu and make some soup with our dog meat haha!  We will be meeting the new mission president on Thursday! Should be good! How was the 4^th in NY? Was it sweet? I got a call from Elder Cavaness on the 4th, that was my highlight haha!

Oh I was thinking, here there is so much fabric, I want to bring some home so that maybe you can make a quilt with it! How many yards of fabric would I need for a quilt? If you can tell me I can buy a couple different types at some point and get a nice "Ghana quilt!" Thanks! We are doing great here though, we have been visiting our recent convert Bro Amuadu, the old man and haha I love that guy! He is so funny! He loves telling us stories about his life and talking about politics and stuff! Every time we go over he just talks the whole time! It’s good for him I think to have some people just to talk to. We have been teaching some new people that I am excited about. One guy is named K. and he is a really smart, educated guy. We have taught him all about the restoration and Book of Mormon and he really understands and has a desire to know if it is true! Hopefully he will really seek and get his answer! He asks great questions! That is my favorite part, is when people ask good questions! Another is a guy named D, he is also really smart and educated, but he isn't as committed right now. We will keep teaching him and help him to understand though! Hope we can get these guys to find out for themselves that it is true!

Me and Elder Assibey are doing good though. Yeah he speaks Twi, which is a must here haha. A lot of the time he just teaches and I kinda sit there and add my comments haha! But he is a sweet guy!  We have lately had the opportunity to testify to a lot of people about the Atonement and its power in our lives. People are having problems! But we have been able to help them as much as we can by testifying of the Atonement and if we will just rely on Christ He will give us the strength we need to press forward! I know that is true!  I love you sooooo much though! Glad you had a great time in NY!! I loved being there with you guys! I was thinking last night about what an amazing family I have! You guys are my best friends! I am so glad we can be together for eternity!!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

This letter is from July 1, 2014:

Hi!!!! I HAVE INTERNET!!!! YES!!! The internet in Foso is not good at all haha, I am sure you have noticed that. But I am doing great here, we are working hard in Akonfudi and Bereku! Last week we had Kofi Elijah's baptism and we are now preparing two of his children for baptism as well so that is exciting!!! We have set a goal for 3 baptisms in July so we are gonna be working hard to accomplish our goal! Sister G, the woman we caught smoking, is still having problems and is so sick and she just won’t let go of smoking, so that has been sad to watch her struggle, but we are praying for her! There is a woman who we are hoping we will baptize this month. She is older and really understands the teachings very well so that is sweet! We have been working on reactivating the less actives here since over half the ward is less active, so that is what we spend our time in Akonfudi doing. Bereku is fruitful so we go there most of the time! I feel so bad for the less active members, hopefully we can get them coming again! Thank you for sending the pics, I love seeing them. Yeah they show up, sorry I can’t send any to you haha! I didn't really get to know President Shulz all that well since we didn't see him all that  much, but he was awesome and I loved getting to talk to him each time! Next Thursday we are having interviews with President Stevenson, so that will be sweet I am sure! Sorry, this is gonna be another bit of a short email, but I don’t have much time today, we need to get back to our area. I have a confession, we bought a dog for 30 cedis and are going to go "prepare" it with the elders quorum president hahaha. Oh man I feel bad, but dogs are not pets here so I guess its ok! I LOVE YOU SOOO much though!!! I am happy, healthy, and love being able to serve the Lord! I am so blessed I can’t even believe it! I know this is His work! LOVE YOU!!!

Hi I tried to send a real email but the internet is just a joke here... Haha but I am alive and well! I am sorry I can't send more, but I don't want the internet to Crash again! We had a great baptism on Saturday for bro. Kofi Elijah so that was great! I am happy and healthy though, the work moves on! Thank you for sending the package! I LOVE YOU sooo much! You are the greatest! Tell dad happy birthday for me! LOVE YOU!!! I hope to actually email next week haha!

YESSSSS!!!! I have internet hahaha!!!! Sorry about last week! I spent an hour on both Monday and Tuesday trying to get the net to go, but wow it was so slow it wouldn't even load a page. I felt bad, I had so much to send and I knew you guys would be sad!!! But first, I am staying here in Akonfudi for at least 6 more weeks! My new companion is Elder Assibey from Ghana so that is sweet! I am happy to have another Ghanaian companion! He is a sweet guy too, he has been out for only 4 months but he is powerful! So we are having a good time! 

Yeah so you heard about the hospital dilemma and P, that was so sad! Elder O and I went out for the day and after seeing Bro. Amuadu he said we needed to go to the hospital to get tested for malaria. We went to Foso and did that. They had to take blood to test right? Oh man, he did not like that at all! He was so scared.  Man I just thought of you and how you get blood drawn all the time like a champ.  Well, he had malaria and they hooked him up to an IV since he was dehydrated, I had to talk him into relaxing. Then they had to give him some shots which he refused. So again, had to talk him into it. The nurse just kept laughing at him as he was crying. It was a very interesting experience haha. I feel like I really learned what its like to be the parent of a 4 year old who is at the doctor for the 1st time. But it was sweet, I really learned a lot those days and honestly am very thankful. One thing I have really learned and internalized here is that trials are AWESOME. They suck at the time, but looking back you learn soooooooooooo much!!!!! So yeah, I am very thankful and happy. Elder Uchtdorf gave a great talk on gratitude in this last conference about being grateful in any circumstance. That is what I did last week haha! I learned a lot as I read the Book of Mormon last week as well! I finished it again last week and man I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!! I HOPE you are reading it each day! If not, DO IT!!!!! Man it is so amazing! Each time I read I learn something new and feel the Spirit. I need to start reading it again, I kinda dabbled through the Pearl of Great Price the past few days, but man the Book of Mormon is so amazing. But onto the P. story. Yeah so we were sitting at the hospital as Ouma layed on his gurney. It had been raining for the last 30 mins or so. In comes a boy with no shirt covered in sand and a nurse. The boy is just completely freaked out and doesn't know what is going on. He sees me standing there and reaches out his hand and calls "Elder!" I was confused. The nurse came over and told me that he was in a building that collapsed in the rain and that his mom didn't make it. I felt the Spirit so strong that I needed to go and give him a blessing, even though I didn't know who he was. I asked the nurse if I could go talk to him and she said yes. So I went in and talked to him. He told me his name was P. and that he was 14 years old and his grandfather was the stake president. Then he looked at me and said, "Elder, please, give me a blessing." I said ok as I rubbed his head then went and told the nurses I wanted to just talk to him privately for a minute. Elder Ouma got up and came and joined me as I gave him a blessing. Oh and nobody had told him is mom was dead, I don't know when they told him but it wasn't when I was there. But wow what a humbling experience. I will tell you what, the thought came to me when he asked me to give him a blessing that I was so thankful that I was worthy to do so. I can't imagine if I wasn't. It is so very important that we are always worthy to act in the name of the Lord, and also to receive those blessings as well. 

That is pretty crazy about the earthquake in Centerville! Hopefully it stops there eh! Man lots of movement in that area lately!  Yeah the US plays Ghana, its at like 10 pm here so I don't think it will disturb us too badly haha! I hope not anyway! I will try to send a pic today, we will see how that goes! I am happy transfers have come and I have a good companion. We are having a baptism on Saturday for our good friend K, so that will be sweet! He is excited! He has some kids we will have to teach and baptize as well! So I am glad the family will come into the church! The work here is moving, Its always been kinda slow in this area, but we are doing the best we can! It is the Lord's will! I honestly am so thankful for the time I have been given here and for everything that has happened! I have such a strong testimony that this is the Lords work and that He loves us! I have faith in Him and know that He always provides for us!  I love you, you are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful the Lord gave me such an amazing mom! I love you!!!!

So no email from Elder Hackmeister again this week.  I am grateful for a sweet mom who shares her son's emails with me when I don't get one!  Elder Doggett is Kyle's zone leader.  So here is a story of how Elder Hack's week went last week. They did have transfers this week. I'm guessing he stayed in Akonfudi but will have to wait until Monday to hear if that's where he is.  It sounds like it was a tough week. I am so proud of our missionaries!!

Now let me tell you about how Saturday did not go as planned. We started early in the morning with a service project moving blocks for a member, then went home to actually get ready for the day. We only taught one lesson before we got a call from the sisters, saying they needed support at their baptism. We went  round 4 PM and it turned out they didn't really need us, but we stayed anyways. Then the rain started in torrents and that delayed us further. Finally as we left the gate of the chapel, we got another  phone call. Elder Ouma had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the day for mild malaria and his comp, Elder Hackmeister called us. They were fine, but he said one of our members was just admitted to the hospital, a 14 year old boy. He and his mother had been in an accident where a tall wall collapsed on them due to rain. The mother was killed. The boy was brought into the emergency unit and he saw Elder Hack in the next room. He was in shock, but he recognized them and asked for a priesthood blessing, which was immediately given. After that is when Hack called. We were very close when he did, just at the  stake center. We got there in minutes to see the situation; the nurses were working on P., the boy. He wasn't badly injured. I walked further down the corridor and saw the mother's body lying on a gurney. Elder Nakedi was sitting with P., he knew him already from serving in Achiase formerly (one of the areas in our zone). P. asked him, "Do you know where my mom is?" He didn't know that she didn't make it. My companion said that just crushed his confidence as he tried to comfort him. Elder Nakedi then called President F and Bishop O. Both of them were speechless. The woman, Sister V, was President F's daughter-in-law, and she lived right next to Bishop. The nurse gave my comp the bill and he later passed it on when the others arrived.  Just as I picked up the phone to call and cancel our appointments, the Assistants called us with transfer news. I sat down with the phone and took the info in my planner. Elder Nakedi and I are staying together but there are some positive changes in the zone. I then had the pleasure of calling everyone and hearing the mixed reactions of sheer glee, disappointment, or apathy. Transfer calls are fun. Then we were able to leave the hospital and salvage our night. By the time we did leave, nearly the entire ward was at the hospital. We went to Paramu that night and most of the members were in mourning. Some were literally pacing around weeping and wailing. It was sad. But I stood by as a quiet observer and pondered the comfort that comes from the plan of salvation. Death isn't the end, it's only a transition; like stepping into another room. Most people in the world don't know or understand that. That's why we are here as missionaries, to bring light to those that sit in darkness. Everything that happened on Saturday was by the Lord's hand. I'm glad Elder Ouma was sick, so they were there to administer to P. in his need. And we happened to be very close by when they called us. If not for the rain, we would have been back in our area. My companion was able to comfort the boy and call those who needed to be called promptly. It went rather smoothly honestly. A friend recently told me that coincidences take a lot of planning. Oh, how true that is.

Me holding my good friend, the Grasscutter haha!!  Really just a giant rat, tastes like roast beef!  (the poor guy is not among the living anymore, he was "whats for dinner")

Hi there! I am alive!!! Sorry, last week the power was out for Monday-Wednesday, so I didn't get to email!!! I was pretty disappointed, as you were I am sure haha! But luckily the power is on this week so I get to email!!! The rain has been pretty bad the past few weeks so it has gone off a ton!! Power in Ghana is not a champ like in the good ole USA haha!  But that is really pretty cool about that Ghana article in the Tribune. Yeah the church is very young here and it often shows. I frequently think about how in 30 years things will be so much better for the church because then there will be people who have served missions and really grown up with the church in their lives.  The Lord is making me stronger and stronger, so I am enjoying the little challenges that come every now and then! Really, adversity is great! Its like having soft hands turn into tough hands. Did that make any sense? It did to me haha! 
  
But yes, it has been an interesting last two weeks for sure. We had our baptisms, which were awesome!!! We had Hayford Ahonjo, his son Akwesi Mensah, and the old man Brother Amuadu baptized along with an 8 year old girl! So it was a great Saturday! Our ward mission leader baptized all of them, well kinda. Ahonjo is kinda a big guy and our WML is not at all. He reminds me of David Spade honestly. But yeah, Ahonjo was afraid of the water and when Rich Boy (that is our ward mission leaders name...) tried to put him down he would do this weird twisting of his body instead of going down, so Elder Ouma had to do it. But they are baptized!!! It was awesome, especially Bro. Amuadu. This guy is sweet, he is like 72 years old and walks to church  by himself each week with a cane. It takes him about an hour since he can't move too quick. But he was sooo happy when he came out of the water. I helped him out of the font and he was just smiling the whole time. That made me happy. Trying to collect the information for his baptismal record was really fun btw. He didn't know his birthday, or any of his children, let alone his mom and dad. So basically we just had to guess. Family history work in Africa will just have to wait for the Millennium honestly haha. 

On a nice side-note last week I had the wonderful opportunity to eat some nice dog. Yeah, don't tell Tiki, but I ate his cousin and it was delicious. When I come home forget about Wendy's, I am just gonna go get that Old Dog Special!!! I got some good pics though of the dog on the fire. We just went to visit a members house and they were grilling some dog haha! The highlight of last week though was that we had ward conference on Sunday. It went really really well! Lots of people came, investigators, less actives, and a lot of people from the stake!!! It was turning out to be the best Sunday I have had in Ghana, but it got a little crazy when there was bit of a disagreement on whether Elder O's hair was acceptable.  A few people thought it was not appropriate for a missionary. I will give it to the Stake President though, he handled it EXTREMELY well.  Well, the president talked to him for about 2 hours to calm him down.  But yeah, that was really fun to deal with hahaha oh boy. But look at the bright side, we got 4 people baptized and confirmed!!! They got the priesthood yesterday too so that is awesome!!!

I had lots of fun this week though, we went on splits 2 times! Oh and last week splits with Elder Doggett were awesome, he is a cool guy and can play guitar really well. We had fun with the guitar! But yeah, I went with Elder Cowan on Wednesday and that was too much fun! We joked that no work was gonna get done that day, but we worked really hard and had a great time! Reminded me of the Elder Cardon days! Elder Cowan is awesome though, we stayed up til midnight talking, which was probably not a good idea haha. But it was sweet. Then on Friday I was with Elder Larsen, the one from Logan! He is a sweet guy too! We worked hard and had a great time as well! It was fun talking about boating and stuff with him. He told me BreAnn always drove the GMC truck to school, so that is sweet haha. He is really good at rodeo I guess. Really, this week was fun! We have a baptism coming up on the14th for a sweet guy named Kofi Elijah Amoaku. He went to church 10 years ago in Assin Foso but had some money problems and couldn't afford to travel all the way there. When he found out the church was in Bereku, he started coming again! He has a great testimony about Joseph Smith. He is kind of an interesting guy, but he has energy for the gospel! Yesterday we were teaching him about the degrees of glory and I was explaining about how the Terrestrial kingdom is for those who are good but don't accept Christ's gospel and he got so mad and couldn't comprehend the idea of anyone being good and not believing in Christ! It was funny, you had to be there. But yeah, that will be a good day for him, going to the church 10 years ago and finding it again and finally getting baptized!! 

Oh and mom, you were asking about a future package... If you can find another pair of these waterproof rockports, BUY THEM!!! These guys are really champs and have done an amazing job, but I am kind of scared about how much longer they have!  I have another pair of shoes, but I doubt they can do half the job these guys have. Oh and some new ties and socks could be great!!!! Cookies and SPAM!!!! Spam is from heaven I think haha! 

Yesterday in church they FINALLY watched conference!!!! Except it was in Twi... So they told us we could watch it in the evening, but when we came back, yep ECG decided to be a pal and turn the power off... So I pray tonight we will get to watch it!!! I LOVE conference!!! I want to see it sooooo bad!!!! I want the Liahona to come too so I can read it and really study it! I love reading the  conference talks, hope you do too!!! But I am glad I got to talk to you guys this week! I am happy and healthy!!! I love being a servant of the Lord, this is His work and I am so blessed to get to be a part of it! Truly the things I have learned out here have been much a blessing and forever will be!!! I love you so much, you are the greatest mom and dad in the world!!!! Really you are!!! I hope you have a great week, good luck with all the baseball and stuff!!! LOVE YOU!!!!