Elder Gabe Wawro in GHANA: Catching a Mouse, Parts 1-4...

The internet is a little better this week, so some pictures and video are flowing! :)

Congrats to Uncle Randy getting married this week! Uncle Randy is a friggin' fantastic guy, so he will treat her verrryy well :) Have fun in Nauvoo while you guys are there.

Yep. Lots of weird foods. You know, I was a little more picky eater when I was at home, but I'll eat 98% of the food now. When I get back, I will literally eat EVERYTHING! Ha ha!

This week has been sweet! :) Tuesday, we got stuck in our apartment with insane rain! Yikes, but I have some sweet pictures and videos of the rain and our apartment. :) What makes it better is that we didn't have any water in the tank, so we had no water in the apartment, so the rain was sweet to fill up literally all our buckets! :) I even washed our dishes in the rain! :)

We killed yet another mouse this week. It was sweet! I took a video, but I covered the mic with my finger -__- so the audio bites... But oh well... It was big and really fast, but Elder Davis caught it in mid stride for the door and we finished the conflict! :) That's mouse number 7 in our apartment! Yikes! Hahahahhaa :) It's not an option to just throw them outside because we have so many that they would just come back in. But the cats next door are enjoying. :) "Gafra Wae" ("Sorry") about the dead mouse picture below. Ha ha! Trying to work the new language. :)

We had transfer calls this week, but I am not leaving, so I am now crowned as the Reverend Slayer. We have a whiteboard in our apartment, and because Elder Simpson is old, he is dubbed Reverend Simpson! So I will 'kill' him this transfer (he will finish his mission with me). So I will be in NKoransa for about 8-9 months total! :) Elder Abrams is our AP in the mission, and he was in Nkoransa for 9 months, so we will have a laugh about that! :)

Elder Davis is getting Elder Sewell, so that will be sweet because I don't know him. :)

Elder Davis and I bought these Ghanian journals but they were pink, so we spent last night making them more manly and less girly... :)

This morning we got a call at like 6ish to run and give a blessing which was a cool experience for sure, to give someone a blessing of healing. It is cool to think that I hold the same priesthood that the apostles of old have and the same that the current apostles have as well.

This week, I had this thought running through my head. It is a quote from Dad, I don't remember when I heard it or the situation, but it just helped me out this week. It is short and simple. "Sometimes, we just do hard things". This week was pretty tough missionary work wise, and when my spirits were low, that was the thought that came to my mind. Just for me to see the bigger picture and not to really focus on how tired I was or how bad I felt, was eye-opening to me to know I am part of something greater than I (or any man) for that matter.

Also this week, I spent a lot of time listening to Elder Bednar's recent talks in conference. There is a quote from his talk, "Chosen to Bear Witness of his Name" I think it's called, but there's a part where he talks about a conversation with Elder Robert D. Hales about having limited mobility as he grew older and Elder Hales responded, (and I will butcher this), " when you can't do what you've always done, you only do what matters most". I really reflected on this a lot these past few days, and just to see how it really applies to people, especially missionaries. As a missionary, I can't do a lot of the stuff I have always done like TV, video games, driving motorcycles, and eating normal food, but all of these things are just appendages to the bigger picture. Bringing families together in this life, and in the life to come is what I am here for, and what every other person on the earth is here to do. To be sealed as a family, to be righteous, and to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Sometimes I try to wrap my mind around true joy and what life will be like after this one, and every single time, it is with my family. I can't understand how we can go through life with a family...learn, laugh and love together, and then give it up after we die. That is just not the way the Plan of Happiness works. Love your family, spend time with them, do fun stuff with them, and make memories that will last this life, and the next. :)

Love you guys,

Elder Wawro

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