Walking the Rails.

by dad

So here is what’s going on with your son over in Africa.

Transfer calls are today and i'm really hoping nothing changes in out apartment. This is Elder Fij’s last transfer here, he goes home in 6 weeks, so i hope we all stay. I’m sure Elder Bahme has a transfer in the works. He has been here almost 9 months so it will happen for sure in the next 2. i just hope i get another 6 weeks with that guy. he’s awesome.

Elder Darrow has taken a liking to the area where he is serving, Sekondi, Butamagybu (BU), and Katan. He says he probably walks 5 - 6 miles a day. There are two ways to get to BU; by street - when they are in working in the city of Sekondi, or by walking the rails - when go they straight from their apartment. They spend time in BU to teach and to work with members. One of the families they visit there is the Mensah family.

This is a picture of Sister Mensah and her daughter Irean. Alex said Sister Mensah is not as mean as she looks.

Elder Darrow is fanning the charcoal to help the Mensah family cook dinner. Irean is trying to warm-up to her new, giant white friend.

this week we did 2 service projects. we cut lawns. it's so much fun! Not. the way they cut lawns here is with machetes. you basically do just what you think, get low and swing a sword around as many times as you need till the grass is low and all cut. it takes forever! man it just rips up your hand. i seriously respect people who do that everyday here. makes me miss a lawn mower or just a good weeder. really did stink.

Alex has emailed home that there are little kids everywhere. In fact, there really are a lot of children in Ghana. Almost 37% of the population is under 14. That compares to about 19% in the U.S. The life expectancy there is just 60 years old.

This is a group of kids that followed Elder Darrow around to watch him do magic tricks and make his ring disappear. They were very fascinated with the camera.

as for the goal and what's going on here, we found out that Justice and Catherine (the two who are ready and just need to be married who said they would do the civil marriage) said that Catherine’s mother wouldn’t except it so we are back to square one. Justice has to go and do the knocking (he goes to her mom and gets a list of things that he has to buy their family so he can marry there daughter). that is a HUGE nut. so hopefully we can get him to do that or i don’t know what we are going to do. they have been trying to do that for the last 6 months so i guess we will see. :-)

i found out this week that Thomas and Boaten (bwart-en) are moving. they were 2 people who were prob going to be baptized in June and they were just here for school. now they are gone. so that’s a big bummer. So with brother Atto (ah-toe) moving, there goes 3 baptisms planned for June. really sad but its not about the numbers. i planted a seed and hope things turn out. we do have 2 baptism planned for June so far. on the 9th of June we have Joseph and King David. and on the 15th we have Rockson, a guy who was mostly taught by Elder Bahme but still is sweet. so with those 3 and hopefully Justice & Catherine, we could have 5 baptism in June plus another 3 maybe so lets hope it all works out..

i love you all soooo much and i can’t wait to hear from you again. make sure you are reading those scripts. and keep on praying. i see the blessings in my life everyday.

xoxox

Elder Darrow