Hello all!

I had a good week this week!  My mom claims I am getting better at the whole letter writing thing. That is weird!

After this short letter I take it back  : )  haha

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Because I did!  Elder Ashby (from Utah) and I celebrated Thanksgiving with fried chicken and mashed potatoes! I did the chicken and he did the mashed potatoes! It was so good! I will include pictures! 

I keep hearing how Colorado is snowy and in the teen degrees! Here it is the same as always! 500 degrees with 120% humidity!

I have started getting myself some Christmas music now that the season is beginning!  The way I will be celebrating Christmas is by relaxing and calling my family!

Sorry I do not have much to say this week! But I hope you all find joy in the pictures I will be sending! :)

Love you all! 

Elder Brandt

 My KFC experience came in handy as I fry some chicken...

Fryin' some birdies

 Thanksgiving Dinner!

Elder Ashby (from Utah) ready to chow down!

FOR ALL:
      

We had a pretty good week this week. Nothing very special happened so sorry I do not have much to report.  Yesterday, Sunday, was interesting because we got to watch the Sunday morning session of General Conference. I did not get anything out of it because we watched the Twi translation of it.  I received a package this last Friday the 20th! Thank you Momma Hansen! :) You have no idea how nice the jerky was! (I am sure it was probably Steven's idea)  My mom just reported the amazing, beautiful, white, pure, amazing snow that was just showered down upon Colorado! :( I wish... haha

Currently our two most powerful investigators are a man named Issac Appiah. And another man named Patrick!  They are both very kind, spiritual, and god-fearing men! They are both so excited for their baptism dates! Besides them we have about another 3-4 people with baptism dates but they are the ones that stick out to me the most! Do not get me wrong I love all of my investigators the same!

This morning we went on a hike. Except for it was more like mountain climbing because I felt like I was walking up a black diamond ski slope! It was nuts!  Also this morning I took some very cool Ghanaian fabric to a tailor to be made into Africa Wear! I will include pictures of the fabric this week and next week me wearing it! :) 

I love you all! Make sure my mom is not worrying about me too much!

Odo,

Elder Brandt                                                                                                              

Matthew 5:14-16 is a great read!

 My favorite little guy Emmanuel!

 Angelina and Emmanuel

 Just me being my cool self

 Sorting beans!

Fabric I bought and took to a tailor to be made into African shirt and trousers!

Stay tuned...

Hike Pictures

 My companion Elder Nortey-Annan

 Elder Ashby

 Elder Hill

 The Hills are alive in Ghana!

The Obusai Gang

Vegetables and Dessert (i.e.Elder Brandt's version of sweet and sour) : )

November 16, 2015

Hello All!

There were so many things that happened this week that were awesome! And also some not so awesome things... but that is the nature of the work here!

Let me start with the vegetables...  
Earlier this week my companion and I were walking from one village to another.  Between those two towns the road goes downhill and then uphill and cars often like to go very fast through there. It is pretty scary as a pedestrian because if people here know their car is 4 feet wide and there is a gap 4.2 feet wide... they will go for it!! Maybe slow down small small if they feel like it! Yikes!  Anyway, as we were walking we could hear a car coming from behind us, and as it approached the horn was honked a couple times. My companion moved off the road and right as we turned to look at the mini-bus we saw it run over a dog!!!  I was so heartbroken! I will not go into detail about the rest.  But, even after the bus hit the dog, they did not even slow down! All I saw was one guy lean out the window, shrug his shoulders, and lean back into the car!

This week we also had Friday the 13th!  It did not exactly go well for us. haha. Every morning my companion heats up water on the stove for his bath. This morning as he was pouring it from the pot into the bucket, he spilled a bunch on his foot and got a pretty nice burn.  Next, as I was cleaning up the kitchen small small, I bent over to pick something up and knocked over our crate of eggs.

Before: approx. 15 eggs

After: 2 eggs

Then later in the afternoon, we were teaching a lesson to Isaac who we just baptized yesterday, Sunday!  As we were teaching him my companion and I were sitting on one bench and he was sitting on another bench.  In the middle of our lesson, the bench broke!!! My companion and I both fell to the ground!  Ha!

Now I will give the dessert!

This week our branch was able to go the Accra temple and when they came back, all they could talk about is how happy they were and how amazing the temple was!

On Sunday, 15 November, we baptized a young man named Isaac Beppile (Gala)!  He is a very powerful guy!

Also this week on Wednesday we had one Elder move out (Elder Lindley) and we another brand new Elder move in! (Elder Naawu).  Elder Naawu is Ghanaian and a very powerful teacher!  I think the week was a little hard for him though because he was trying to spend every minute of his free time cleaning. He even tries to bathe 3x a day. I think he is starting to loosen up a little bit but I am not sure.  I really like him though! He is a funny guy!

One story about Elder Naawu,

      Just last night the 4 Elders in our apartment we were all hanging out in me and my companions room. Elder Naawu was sitting on my bed with me, and Elder Ashby was sitting with Elder Nortey-Annan on his bed. Elder Naawu was looking around and saw the picture of my family I have hanging over my desk.  He saw it and immediately pointed at Lauren and asked if it was my sister.  I said yes and he quickly responded by telling me he wants to marry her! I was slightly in shock! For the rest of the night he was talking about how beautiful Lauren was and how I was going to be his future brother-in-law! I am currently in the process of bringing him out of the clouds as gently as I can haha.

Hope all is well with all of you!

I love you all! 

Please Email me! :)

Odo,
Elder Brandt

PS - Sorry also the internet is crazy slow today so I cannot send pictures today :( 

I will be sure to send them all next week though!
Love Elder Brandt

A Day in the Life of Elder Brandt in Obuasi...

Hi Family and Friends...

I will definitely be in Obuasi for Christmas! We even have a branch member, Brother Samuel, who has a farm and said that his pineapple and papaya are almost in season and he wants to give us a lot of it for free! :)

As far as the weather here. It still rains but it is definitely starting to slow down as we begin to enter the dry season! The rain is much much lighter and not as frequent!

This week was the end of a transfer which means missionaries are going to be moved around and transferred. For me, my companion and I are not going anywhere. Elder Lindley is being transferred to Dichemso which is in Kumasi.  Elder Ashby is staying in Obuasi and will be training another new missionary. So in the apartment we will have one new missionary! Nobody knows who it is though.

I have become really close with some of the branch members.  Specifically a girl named Angelina and her son Emmanuel.  They are both very cool, nice, kind, and lots of fun to be around. I am going to miss them very much when I leave. 

I can now say I know how to work hard. After walking around in the hot sun for 8 hours a day in a shirt, tie, and trousers! I am sorry not much happened this week and I have no pictures. :( I love you all and wish the best for all of you!

Odo,

Elder Brandt

The average day of Elder Brandt: (per request of mama brandt)

6:30 am - wake up

7:00 am - bathe with ice cold water using a bucket and a cup

7:15 am - get dressed

7:30 am - breakfast and take doxycycline (anti-malarial pill)

8:00 am - personal scripture study

9:00 am - scripture study with companion and confirm day plans

10:00 am - (because I am still in my first 12 weeks) additional study and training.

11:00 am - lunch

12:00 pm - leave apartment

12pm to 8pm - teaching, serving, finding new people to teach.

8:00 pm - return to apartment and plan for tomorrow

8:30 pm - eat dinner

9:30pm to 10:30 pm - free time

10:30 pm - lights out

JK - Here are some pictures...

 Elder Ashby, Elder Lindley, Brother Samuel and me

 Asonkore, Obuasi

 Me, Francis Aseidu, Elder Lindley, Elder Nortey-Annan

Me!

Halloween, Soccer, Baptisms and a Package!

Akwaaba!

October was a success! I think... jk! Great week! 

We got to celebrate Halloween yesterday by carving watermelons! Halloween Ghana style!! 

This morning we got to play a zone Football (soccer) game!  It was district against district!  We lost 3-4 :( Fortunately I realized that I was still not bad at soccer! I could juggle the ball with an average of about 6-7 hits before it hit the ground. Also some of the Africans were able to show me a few tricks and I was able to do them.

                                    My package came!!  I received my package on 30 October!  Loved it!! 

By package I mean a new hat!

Ya.... I am a Ghanaian Samurai Elder

On a typical day we usually walk around 5 miles! That will most likely increase as I finish my training! 

My pants fit fine. I switch my shoes everyday.  Yes, I have gone down 1 notch in my belts!

Love you all!
Elder Brandt

BTW I baptized 2 more people yesterday : 0  : )

Joe and David and Elder Nortey-Annan

 Boys from the Obuasi Branch!

Found this weird bug on my shirt!