Elder Gabe Wawro in GHANA: Broken Chairs, Playing Piano

Time to type as fast as possible! Sorry for the spelling errors as usual - thanks mom, for fixing before sharing. Ha ha!

First, to start the week, I had to pack all my stuff into my suitcases.... I have no earthly idea how it all fit and no zippers were broken, but somehow it all made it to Sunyani! It seems I am not as good at packing as Carina! :)

Before I left, I had the honor of defending baby sheep. This little kid was throwing stones at some sheep so I scared him away and got to take some pictures of some baby sheep that were so cute! :) It is normal here to throw stones at the goat when they come to eat your crops and things, but I was not okay with stoning baby sheep.

On the way out, we saw this HUGE wreck that had like 5 cars involved!!! It was insane, and they even called out a fire truck to the scene. I didn't get to capture the whole event because we were driving, but it was crazy!

On that note, in the taxi, the drivers seat belt clip was broken, so he had to reach over to the passenger buckle clip and clip in there. It was hilarious! :)

Ah, and then I had to leave my Ghana Momma and her kids. :( It was very sad, but at least I know I will visit them before I leave Ghana! Godfred, her son, wanted to carry my backpack, so I let him and it was almost the size of him! It was really cute and sad at the same time. :( But, we grabbed some pictures and I gave them BIG big hugs, except for Sister Emilia though, because that is against the rules, and I said my goodbyes.

I traded some shoes that I never use in for a pair of black proselyting shoes and a pair of Adidas running shoes. It was a sweet trade and I was glad he took them because I never wore them. :)

Now time for Sunyani...Sunyani is really sweet! It's like 4 hours from Kumasi, but it feels like I have entered another country. The weather is hot, but it is like Texas hot...sorta dry, sorta humid, which is sweet because Kumasi is ALWAYS humid and hot. So I am loving that for sure! It reminds me of the Texas summer. Overall, the weather isn't too bad, especially since my body has adjusted so much. Even the fan on at night makes me really cold. I don't know how I am going to re-adjust when I come home, but it will be interesting. :)

My new area is pretty sweet! My companion, Elder Naawu, is really cool. He is Ghanaian and can cook all the Ghanaian food really well. So we enjoy the food. The members and even some investigators feed us all the time. Every single day I have been here, I have been fed by someone, so I am definitely enjoying that change! :) Elder Naawu is a really hard worker, and a fantastic chef. We chop Ghanaian food all the time and I am definitely enjoying it. I am living the life, not to mention we both can eat a lot and love to be clean. We are really getting along so far! :) My apartment is amazing! Elder Isaako and Moyo are hilarious! We all get along really well and we all work hard, so we get along even more. There is something that brings you closer when you are all doing your best and working at full potential, and then come home and come closer. It is really sweet! :D

On that topic, we were eating some banku this week and Elder Naawu's chair just gave out, and he went right through the wall to the outside! :) Hahaahhahahaa! It was soooo funny. I still don't know how the chair broke because he wasn't leaning or anything, but somehow it broke and we died laughing!

So, for future care packages, could you send some travel-size shampoo and conditioner? It is not easy to find 'white people hair products'. Ha ha ha! Right now I use...uhhhhh...body wash or just the bar of soap. :) Hahahahaa! :)

Lastly, for church they don't have a piano player and the branch piano is at our apartment, so I decided I would play for church on Sunday. I have been practicing and practicing out of my Easy Hymns books and went to church. Sheesh, I was nervous!!!! I played hymn 220, then 194, then last 166. I was praying for sure, and I was super scared, but I trusted in the Lord to help me. So I began playing and somehow I didn't mess up much at all! And when I did, I was able to recover and continue without much of an awkward gap. Most of the time it felt as if my fingers were just moving and playing the right notes at the right times. I don't know where it all came from, but I definitely thank my Father in Heaven for the strength I was given to play. My testimony of the Atonement has grown through this little experience I had. I know that I could not have done that by myself, and only through the grace (enabling power) from the Atonement was I able to play for sacrament meeting. I don't know how I was able to play the hymns almost perfectly after only playing a little bit for the past 5 months, but Jesus Christ truly made up the other half for me.

Sorry the pictures are behind...I hope some year in my life I can catch up on pictures...Yikes...

Love you Dad, thanks for the update! Enjoy your SWAT schools and competitions and make sure to take some sweet pictures!!! :)

Anyway, that is my letter for the week!

Elder Wawro

VIDEO:

PICTURES:

More pics from the service project...
me digging out the drain/ditch in front of our chapel a while ago!