01-01-18 "2018 Baby!"

Well, Christmas wasn't too eventful, nothing crazy after our family phone call, we were fed rice by a member, and then went home to sleep! New Year's is so crazy tough, they do huge parties and things, seems more crazy than I remember the US being. Sounds like you had a great night, we went to our ward party, which was approved by the stake I guess, and there was food and some skits, but we were told not to be out past 9pm, so we missed the majority of the party. And nobody is out today, like seriously, 98% of shops are closed today! It is so weird, but everybody was out partying last night, so I guess that is expected.  :)

Well, time to recount the last 3 weeks of my life because I have been busy doing college applications and Skyping home and other wonderful things!  :)

I am staying in Kwamo for another 6 weeks which is a miracle because I have been here for 6 months already, so this will make 7.5 months in one area, but if there is any area too stay this long, it would be Kwamo.  I love it. After this transfer I have 6 weeks, so maybe I would get to stay a little longer and finish out here. How crazy to think about that!

A few weeks back we were rejected by one of our investigators who seemed so promising. That was rough, but we are still on good terms I guess. It is really odd for people to just send you away after so long of visiting them, she blames it on her mother, but I am not terribly sure about that. Her mom is a leader in another church, but there were some other red flags that were not from her mother. Well, it was sad, but that is missionary work. Some days are good, and others not so good! But we learn from them all the same.  :)

For Christmas, we were invited to the Dearing's (a senior couple missionary) for lunch. Wow.  It was wonderful!   We had lasagna and garlic bread with cookies that were almost  like American cookies.  Oh how I have missed American food, that was so delicious! :) We went with the assistants and the office elders there to eat, so we were blessed to be with good company!

I also went on exchanges with elder Dudley, the new assistant.  He is a great missionary, I really love him, he is awesome.  He is also in my MTC group and we will go home together, so that is equally as cool. He is really loving and listens really well to his investigators which I think I can do a little better at.  All in all, it was  wonderful exchange to get to know him and learn from him.

We got to fix our beds this week with real power tools, that was different. Elder Dearing showed up because I haven't been getting great sleep since I came to Kwamo, so they decided to get me a new mattress which was needed.  Well, they brought it and sacked the cheapy mattress I was on, but then, he said we ought to strengthen the bed frames, and whipped out some power tools from the US.  Interesting that power tools made me a littlr homesick. It was so fun to get to use a screw gun and a drillbit, and had wood glue too? What a great day!  :)

I also got to ride a bike for my first time in Ghana. We went up to Mampong to visit Elder Oshilaja (my 'son') and Elder Cunningham to do a baptismal interview. We had to grab some things from their apartment, and I got to ride their bike to go to their apartment. It was awesome and I felt like a true missionary as I rode, it was awesome!  :)

We were asked to prepare talks this Sunday as some did not show up to talk. Well, I spaced for a few minutes thinking about what to share and this is the scripture that came to my head:

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I was really enlightened by this scripture. This is the time of year where we all make resolutions to be better than we were and to do more than we did. There is no better way to start of the year, than by lighting up another's life through our actions. We can bless so many by doing simple things to let our light shine. Smiling, doing a small act, or even just reaching out to someone who looks sad can change their life, and ours as well.

Love you, Elder Wawro