Settlers of Dunkwa

From being bored in the Nyenasi as few months ago and straining to remember the rules, I made a Settlers of Catan game. Now as a four man appartment, Settlers of Dunkwa was whipped out today for a epic settling battle. That is... if we remembered the rules right.

But we have been working hard too! This week we got to take the exciting 2 and a half hour ride with road like unto a roller coaster, without protective head rests. Each bump brought a new and improved angle of which to be bounced. The bumps on our heads did not affect the unbumpable testimony in our hearts. We only have to go down once a month, so my head will have time to heal.

My new duties as a District leader also brings its fair share of bumps and bruises, but again-the testimony: unbumpable.

We have been working and contacting and working and serving and working and sweating and working this week, with which we were payed off by the Lord by having 60 members at church 17 of which were investigators. The small living room of which we currently worship had the missionaries and one or two members worshiping... outside. The chairs and benches and stools and couches were finished putting us in the nosebleeds. Probably on the best church services I have ever attended.

After hearing this, the mission president is, in his words, "turning the heat", for a chapel and a baptismal font. But even with out them, it will not change the church being true and the actuality of the restoration of the Priesthood. 

Elder Riehle

Dunkwa Paradise

Dunkwa (pronounced Dunk-WOW) is probably.... THE GREATEST place in this mission. Maybe the world. Not sure. I have only been here for about 4 days but I have seen life. I have seen the work. 

I broke my mission record. 120 gospel conversation in 4 days. Pretty hard to beat. But still on it. IT IS SO EASY. 

Everywhere we go- 

people want to know-

who these guys with white shirts on

who have the gospel glow.

Seriously, we have had so many people walk up to us and ask us, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Well, hello best question ever. And that has been happening about 20 times a day. People are so shocked to see us (especially that I am speaking their language) and want to know more!

Our area is 4 hours away from the mission home and 2.5 hours from any church congregation. The road in between which is BY FAR the worst road I have ever been on. It is a dirt road that you have to go like 5 miles an hour on for 2.5 hours. So we are very stranded out here. 2 of the other guys with me, Elder Halterman (who was evacuated from Sierra Leone) and my MT Elder Moffit, were just the office elders, so we got the hook ups on the boxes of pamphlets and Book of Mormons. Two boxes of each. AKA enjoyinggggg. I have given out more Restoration pamphlets in my life. 

There are about 35ish members here who some have been waiting for the church to come to this place for 2-3 years. To see the excitement for the gospel they have, is so humbling. All of them have 10 referalls each, so we have our work cut out for us. The most amazing thing has been while we have been walking and a lady yelled, "Elders of Zion!!!" and ran to us SO HAPPY to see us. She said she had been waiting for us for 3 years and was almost to tears knowing that the restored gospel is in here reach again. 

Already there are about 10 people ready to be baptized and it should be some more soon. Right now we don't have a baptismal font.  The surrounding areas are some of the best gold mining areas in the country so the river is not clean at alll. So no using a river like earlier in my mission. We have been looking for a pool, pit, pond, anything that holds water. We might be digging our own font pretty soon. 

I am with my past Ghanaian companion, Elder Bannerman and I have learned ALOT more Twi since we were together. So right now we can pretty much talk to any person with out speaking English. 

Our house is right next to our currant meeting house which is a large sized room in a MASSIVE gold company house which a number of members live in. It is the first time I have ever seen Big washing machines, personal indoor ovens, AC for every room and massive couches in a persons house in Ghana. And all they said we can use. What makes this awesome place a heaven on earth is that the house is owned by an American... from Utah... who is a member... and was a BYU Bishop. What?? He will be coming soon. And the company cook, a powerful return missionary has already told him to bring plenty American food for Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. This guy is also a professional pizza maker. Umm What? This place is awesome. We are blessed. 

It has been so great to see the light of the restored gospel in peoples eyes, even those not yet members. The Spirit has helped me so much to be BOLD to anyone and everyone who will listen to my voice. I have seen the Lord's hands in the work. Every child is loved by Our Father in Heaven. 

It is all true. 

Elder Riehle

God makes dreams come true.

This has been the fastest FOUR WEEKS in Agona Swedru ever. Saturday evening I got the call from the assistants. I am going to a NEW area where four of us are going to OPEN the church in a town called Dunkwa. I have known about the potential opening of the branch for a while now and have been hoping and praying to go there. And it came true! I am go to be the district leader for a four man district with my past Ghanaian companion, Elder Bannerman and my MT Elder Moffit and one of the missionaries that was evacuated from the Sierra Leone mission because of Ebola. The crazy thing about this place is that it is on the very edge of the mission . The people have been traveling to Obuasi, which is in the Kumasi mission but reside in the Cape Coast mission. So it became a problem of boundaries. They should be in GCCM but they are TWO HOURS away from any other Church congregation. So they are sending us up there and we won't be seeing other missionaries for a long time. Funny thing is that I am going back to my old Zone with all my old peeps in it and my old Companion too! Elder Bannerman and I might even be able to go and visit our are together. Basically, God knows how amazing and super excited I am for this call. We will be pioneers of the church in a big town in Ghana. I am so blessed and honored.

I have been thinking alot about my exactly one month here in Swedru. What was my purpose? I didn't even have a single baptism of progressing investigator. Does that make me unsuccsessful? The beautiful thing about this work is that success is not measured on the number of baptisms and investigators but on the QUALITY of work. It has been so hard the past few weeks seeing all of the potential contacts and investigators who really have promise... living out of my area and having to hand them over to other Elders. It has happened 4 times and 3 of them have dates. Did I have any baptism? But are souls saved from the work that I have tried to give my HEART AND A WILLING MIND to do? Yes. That is what our Lord looks at. We are all working for the same church, same gospel and same salvation. Whether Ghana, Korea, Japan or Brazil, we are for the same Lord and Creator.

This work is so divine.

It is also divine that I am being transfered at this time because Electrical Transformer for the whole city of Swedru just BLEW UP. It is a good 20 miles away from where we were and we saw the sky lit up with red, blue and green. Power is expected to be out for 2 weeks to 6 months. Basically from those figures- no one knows when it will come back. But I am going to Dunkwa!! an hour from the Capital of Kente!!

Elder Riehle

Melchizedek, Prophet, Amazing, and Kolob

Once again, What do all these things have in common? Rack your brains! The answer is at the end of the email!

It has been an adventurous past weeks here in Agona Swedru! We are finding more investigators and more members and more creative ways to do the work! One of the members we have met is named Brother Nash. He is such a solid member with a great testimony! He joined the church in Ukraine a loooong time ago when he confronted the missionaries trying to prove them wrong. he has been through many trials in his life including getting into an accident and loosing his right arm and leg. He is home bound and has read every book ever-in English and Russian. We have visited him a few times and he has taught me the strength of testimony through hard trials. (Elder Judy- His place doesn't smell thaaat bad)

Last week we had the oppurtunity to has Elder LeGrand R Curtis Jr. of the Seventy come for a mission tour. He is the Area Presidency for all of West Africa Area. He gave us some great instruction and told us the whole situation of the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Lord's hand was in everything that the Church did to save the missionaries. Not a single one was hurt. The Lord loves his missionaries.

A whole year has gone by since we got our Non-Citizen Residence cards. So it was time for them to be refilled. For those of us in the Swedru and Winneba Zones, they found it was more cost effective for us, instead of going to Takoradi, but to go to.... wait for itttttt... ACCRA!! Yeah! We got to go to Accra! It was pretty much the first time ever that a group of missionaries got to go to Accra except for coming or going home or if sick. So... Basically a big deal. We go to go to the temple (not in, just pictures) and see Accra! Three small world things happened there. First, I saw my first Zone Leader from Nigeria who went home a loong time ago. Second, I got to see my past companion's, Elder Bannerman, Dad! He is a Gate gaurd for the temple. And third, while I was talking to some members, I found out some were from Kumasi. I went on a limb and asked if they knew Elder Seyoum.... and they did! He was just being transfered from their ward! They called him up right then and there and I got to talk to him. Elder Seyoum- We are going to ENJOY we went get home. It is a small small world!

This monday, we had a beach party at Winneba and.... I learned a valuable lesson. There are many ways to kill a cat. but the best way is puting it in a bag and wacking it against a wall a few times. Cat tastes very good! 

The answer is..... They are all names of Children I have met in the last 2 weeks! Yes, I seriously met a baby named Kolob. 

Also on a serious note. An Elder in our mission's sister just died of Ebolla in Sierra Leone. These are real people over here. Keep them in your prayers that this ends quickly. 

Elder Riehle

Pictures from Accra Trip

Pictures from our cat feast!

White wash and Hog Slaughtering

So I am here now in a town Agona Swedru, a large city in Central Region. It really is... large. But I guess, anything is big compared to my village, Nyenasi!  But in this town alone there are 10 missionaries and 2 wards! 6 in my ward and 4 in the other. My companion Elder Egunza and I are white washing a new area, a previous area which was massive in to two halves. I see what you mean now Elder Judy. It is big. Even split in half, it still takes about 45 minutes to walk to one end and 30 minutes from top to bottom. SO MANY PEOPLE. and the craziest thing is EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. You cant realize how big of a deal that is. I can seriously talk to every person I see. With great power comes great responsibility. With that in mind, we already contacted 50 people in 4 days!

God has blessed me so much in my areas with amazing young men. Everyday this week a YSA Justus has helped us. Every single day. It has been amazing, we have no idea about anything in the area and he has showed us everything. He already feels like the third member of the companionship and when referring to our proselyting area he says, "our area" and "our goals". We are so blessed to have him!

I am also very lucky to have two Fijians in my district! One in my apartment. In this mission, Polys means... PIGS! So today we bought a good sized pig and roasted it. Oh. And important detail. I was the one who did the killing. Elder Bolabasaga and Naivanwalu told me what to do and I went for it! Straight for the heart. First time I missed but second I got it dead on. Full pig roasted over a fire is so so sweet. And now I know how to slaughter an gut a pig. Mission is an amazing experience.

I am loving life being able to talk to everyone! It is the promise of the Lord. If we open our mouth- It shall be filled!

The Time Has Come

I have spent 6 months in my lovely village, Nyenasi. Many tears have been shed as I have been telling people that I will be leaving to Swedru on Wednesday.

I have learned so many things in this town and I am so sad to leave it. I will miss knowing everyone's names and everyone calling out my name when we walk by. Sometimes it has been hard to get from place to place with all the people we have to greet along the way. We have moved mountains with member-missionary relationships and with working with a wonderful family. I have been able to see and learn so many things.

I have learned how to go a farm with out modern tools and technology!

I have planted, harvested and a whole lot of weeding with cutlases. I have even learned some of the local uses for plants, the right one for ropes, for bandages and for whistling.

I have learned how to shoot a slingshot to kill things and then eat them!

I have learned how to catch squirrels with my bear hands... and then eat them too. My Squirrel count is four. And only one bit me.

Still on the eating thing, I have had so many different weird meats. I have emailed some of them. Dog, Rat, Grasscutter, Bush possum thing, and Alligator.

I have seen 4 out of 5 of the surrounding villages perhaps being the first White man some of these people have seen!

I have learned so much more how to speak Twi. There are so many times that the Lord has helped me to get across a message that I couldn't by my own power. I have even started to read the Book of Mormon in Twi and understand it!

I have learned the power of members. With out them there is no work.

I have learned to Love members. So of the best friends of my life are here. The biggest one is a recent convert, Michael. Wow. I have seen him grow so much. Now he WANTS to come with us every day and we can say, "hey Michael, tell this lady about the church." Then he goes off to her about Apostasy, Joseph Smith and sometimes Book of Mormon. I love these people. I have given them my heart and they have given me ALOT of Banku. I have gained weight here.

I have learned that even when it is hard and we don't have anyone to teach- there is still some one to teach.

I didn't come to learn this here, but I continued to learn that this work truly is divine. The Book of Mormon is too much true. I love it so much.

I will be going to Swedru white washing with an Elder in my currant district. From same District to companions. Doesn't happen very often but Elder Egunza from Kenya and I are just unique.

Being transferred hopefully means more emails and maybe even pictures! But I don't know. We'll see ;)

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Wow I totally forgot to add to the big email that we had a baptism this week!! The past month we have been working on a certain family who the father is a member but the family isn't. The mother loves us but doesn't want to come to church. This week we baptized some of the children and the mother came and watched. It was a beautiful miracle that rewarded us for a lot of hard work and time. Families can be Forever. So great!

Don't Kill Your Mother

Oh, the things I have to say when talking to everyone I see. Sometimes we get some crazy ones.

I am sure you have heard about the Ebola issue going around Africa. I has not reached Ghana (yet) and I am really safe. The missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia are being evacuated and are currently trying

to escape the country, but it is very difficult. Nigeria might be next on the list. Last night a few were able to come to Ghana, but there are still more that are trapped. God is hearing our prayers for our

brothers trapped in a Ebola Quarentine. These are the last days! Jesus is coming!

I forgot last week to tell a great story! Little Sarah who got baptized last week wants to thank Victoria for her letter! It could not have come at a better time. Before her baptism, we came to visit Sarah and Aggie (the mother) and Sarah said she did not want to be baptized. It came out of no where because she had been so excited! We asked her why and she said someone told her that she was a little kid and was too young to be baptized. We told her how God says the 8 year olds should be baptized and now that she is 12 she is not a kid but a Young Woman! At this point I was able to pull out Victoria's letter

and told her how Victoria is baptized and has even been to the temple! God loves each of the children and now Sarah has a friend in America. Thank you Victoria!

Have you ever heard of noodling? Apparently you put on a rubber glove and stick your hands into holes and let cat fish bite it. Never done that but this week we did a little crab catching! They live in shallow holes in the ground with a bit of water. To catch them you shove your hand as fast as you can and grab the crab before it can pinch you! Let it be known. I have caught a crab with my hand... and I did not get bit. Score.

Elder Riehle