Hello All of my friends, family, and loved ones!

Unfortunately this week my letter will not be super long. I hope you find room to forgive me, but we had a pretty rough week.  This week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Tuesday, we were coming home from District Council and it began to rain on us. So me and my companion started jogging home. Then the rain began to pick up so we began to sprint to the apartment! Unfortunately the rain was faster than both of us and we were destroyed by the rain! It was so heavy and windy. The rain was going sideways and it did not feel like water, it felt like gravel! So we got home soaked, changed, showered and waited for the rain to stop. Finally it stopped around 5:30 - 6 so we had enough time to get dressed and then go see one person.

Wednesday and Thursday were fine, no rain, but super hot. Although, from the time we left our apartment at 10am, we were walking, walking, and walking. Appointments were falling through, people were making excuses, people not being around because they forgot we were coming, trying to find and teach new people...... none of it was working. We sat down from 12:30-1 for lunch, then continued. After lunch, the same pattern continued. Nobody was meeting with us. We had appointments, but ALL of them were falling through. Until finally at 4pm our appointment came through! Then after that we just one more lesson. Then we were so tired around 6:30 we decided to go home. Luckily this time, we got home just before some small rain came!

On Thursday the same thing happened, only someone came through at 3 and 4! Then from there for the rest of the evening.... nobody :(

Life goes on doing its normal crazy things. Uncontrollable, crazy, unpredictable, fun, sad, joyful, boring. You just never know! BUT! God knows! He gives you exactly what you need exactly when you need it! So for all I know, that was what I needed at that time and I don't know why.

I love you all, I hope you had a better week than I did! Thank you for all of your love and support!

Odo,
Elder Brandt

YAY for Mosquito Nets!!!

Hello Everybody!

I love so much hearing from home and hearing how everybody is doing! Thank you for all of the support and prayers you are giving to me! I guess I will begin by answering some questions from my mom!

1 - How was your week? My week was pretty cool I had some sweet stuff happen this week!
2 - How is the companionship going? What is his family situation like? My companion is great! He is great guy and he is pretty knowledgeable, especially about the gospel! He has a good family situation! Both his mom and dad are converts to the church. In his family, both him and his brother are serving missions! Great family!
3 - What was your Sweet? This week I finally got a mosquito net! I have finally been able to sleep in peace the past few days! :)
4 - What was your Sour? I had a few headaches this week, but no big deal!

Now maybe I will tell a few stories from my week in paradise! :)

On Wednesday morning the Senior couple missionaries, the Wardles, brought us our mosquito nets! You have no idea how happy I was that morning! I know I already mentioned this in my sweet for the week but it was SO sweet I had to mention it twice! :)

On Wednesday we had an appointment with an investigator named Nana Yao. He lives in a town called Akyawkrom. It is quite a walk it takes you about 45 mins to get there. Eventually, we did get there and meet with him, then when we finished and began to walk back, we saw someone who was preparing to leave. He was driving motor tricycle with a bed on the back for carrying things, except it was empty! So we decided to ask him for a ride! He motioned us to hop in the back, so we did and it turned our 45 min walk into a 5-10 min ride! That was fun :)

On Thursday I got to go on exchange with Elder Sutherin! Unfortunately the rain was pretty prominent that day so we got captured a few times inside of buildings waiting for it to die down enough for us to go and see someone! But other than that, it was fun! I learned a lot from him and we had a great day even though we had quite a bit of disappointments!

I love you all! I hope you all had a good week as well! Remember that God loves you!

Odo,

Elder Brandt

I am a new District Leader and I have New Companion...

Hello Everybody!

I hope everything is well! This last week we had transfers! So my companion Elder Anai was moved to an area called Bantama. For me I will be staying and my new companion is Elder Akpan! For him he is from Nigeria and he is now 4 months on mission!  He is a cool guy and I am excited to continue working with him for at least the next 6 weeks!

Recently we have been working with one of our recent converts, Nicholas. We have been teaching his wife and now she wants to be baptized! She absolutely loves learning, and she really loves all of the things and lessons that we have taught her!
This week I got some Kente ties! Kente is a Ghanaian pattern that they use in a lot of traditional clothing! I will try to include a picture! ;)

I love you all and pray we may all be able to put our FULL trust in God and allow Him to bless us as he sees fit!

Ether 12:27

Odo,

Elder Brandt

My new companion, Elder Akpan from Nigeria

My new Kente Tie!

Watch Tan!

The "Rafiki" Lesson...

Hello All my Friends and Family!

This week was kind of cool! As you may or may not know, Monday for us missionaries is our (off day). The day we get to do our grocery shopping, do our laundry, and email our families and friends! (you should ALL email me by the way!)  So one of our recent converts Nicholas found out about this. So last Monday morning we received a phone call from him wishing us a T.G.I.M. (Thank God It's Monday) since that is our off day and not the normal Friday like everyone else! That gave us a pretty good laugh!

In my Easter letter you may remember I talked about Ernest Owusu who was baptized.  We have begun teaching his wife and children as well!  And his wife told us an amazing story!  The current building being used for the church, was purchased from someone with a 20 year contract.  She told us how their family used to reside there with Ernest's older brother and his family.  Ernest's older brother was running for the position of member of parliament and was spending a bunch of money in the process. When he did not win, he found himself almost bankrupt.  So he decided his only option was to sell that house as fast as possible (at the same time the church was looking for a building to buy. So when he sold the house, he then went and told Ernest his family needs to be moved out within 3 days.  So just like that, Ernest's family was sacked from the house. So with no home arrangements and very little work, Ernest's family ended up living in a kiosk.  When the owner of the kiosk found out, he forced them to pay some kind of rent.  Ernest was struggling with work, and this whole time, his brother was refusing to help even though he had enough money for him to be traveling to the US for vacation.  As time went on eventually Ernest found a woodworking business and eventually earned money to buy a house for his family as time went on. Now, Ernest is one of the 3 owners of the company, and the house his family resides in is owned by him. After telling this story, she told us that she wants to come to the church, but she cannot because that building will bring too many bad memories and much sadness.

I then shared with her one of the lessons my mom taught me as a kid.  My mom taught me this lesson about 12,798,398 times. If you have seen "The Lion King" you may remember the part where Rafiki hits Simba in the head with a stick. When Simba asks why he did that, he tells him that it does not matter because it was in the past. Now here is the important part. Rafiki then tells him, "Oh yes, the past can hurt.  But the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it." I shared with her that the past can hurt us very much and maybe even wound us spiritually, but wounds heal and we need to look into the past and realize we cannot change where we have come from, but only where we are going!

I love you all! I hope you enjoyed your week! 

Me odo na empaebo (My love and prayers)

Odo,
Elder Brandt

PICTURES!!! Worth a thousand words!!!

Lost in Thought

Lovin the Bike!

Elder Anai

Off We Go... 

(notice there is not much room between my legs and the handlebars...haha)

Havin Fun!  (Mom is noticing how huge his T-shirt is!!!)

The Ejisu District

These are a few of my Favorite Things!!!

Ahhh...Liquid Gold, Heaven in a Bowl, Mac & Cheese

Answers to Mom's questions... and that's all : )

How many miles did you ride?  We probably ride about 5-10 miles a day. Maybe a little closer to 10.

Who are you teaching and what was your best lesson you taught last week?  We had a lesson with James, with a recent convert present, Nicholas. It was awesome! They connected so well and Nicholas really helped us get the message across!
How many people are in your branch?  How many kids? The Branch has about 20-30 active members, plus about 10 active kids.
How are all your roommates? Great! I always look forward to coming back to the apartment because it is fun!
How are your clothes fitting? All of my clothes are fitting nice, baggy, and loose! :)  But really, they are fine!

I probably be in our apartment on Sunday! There is no good place to skype in Kumasi. That is really just one of the blessings of Obuasi. :/

Love you!!!!

Odo,

Taylor

Packages Received! THANK YOU!!!

Hello Beloved friends and family!

I have heard about all of the amazing, beautiful, fluffy, white, sparkly snow that has been falling in Colorado.. but not in Ghana...haha :)
I also received two packages recently from Mom and Dad, and also Grandma and Grandpa Lerner! Thank you :)

It also makes me really happy to hear about all the mission calls that have been flowing into the Highlands Ranch Stake! That is awesome!!

For us we a former investigator named Christine. She lives in a town called Onwe. We had never been there before because she used to meet us in the chapel to have a discussion. This week we decided to just ride our bikes there to see how she is doing. We did not now how really, really far away Onwe was. It was about a 7-9 mile ride. When we got there, we called her, and then she told us how she was actually in the market in Kumasi. Well....... Then we just had to ride back to Ejisu. Man I was TIRED!

On Wednesday, I decided to cook some Macaroni and Cheese that was sent to me by my parents!  I think my insides were completely melted from the nice, amazing, scrumptious, and delicious taste. :)

This week I studied and pondered over 2 Nephi 31:20.  I though would share some of the thoughts that came to mind! When it talks about being steadfast that means we need to be firm, strong, powerful, and immovable.  When it says to feast upon the words of Christ, that means we need to be hungry, always wanting more, and never satisfied!

I love you all! Enjoy your lives! :)

Odo,

Elder Brandt