The Faith of Agnes

by dad

From Alex...

So as for elder Sintim. He is so tight. Man I am really learning to love that guy. He is from a city called Asamankese, which is in the eastern region. It's about an hour from Accra and is somehow close to Swedru (a Zone in our mission). He’s a shorter stocky guy. He’s so sweet and very, very funny. We laugh a lot together. He is also a very American-Ghanaian. He also grew up in a better off family. Of course he is still Ghanaian and culturally different, but I really am going to love being with him . It’s so cool to be with a local. He is just so much more comfortable and knows the culture and it’s a cool change. He speaks Twi (chwi) and doesn’t hear Fante( so he says. he actually hears it very well just not 100%) and while I’m at it lets clear this up. Fante the old school original version. Twi is a lot like Fante just simplified. They say Twi is way easier to learn. But its crazy cuz everyone comes from random places all from Ghana and I would say Twi is the dominant language so we often run into people who speak it then I just sit there as they go crazy and I just smile and wait for them. I get small parts of it and can understand the subject they are talking about and such but really not much more than that. And when they try to get me to speak... FORGET! (wow... that is a VERY Ghanaian saying. ... Forget... hahaha sigh...) anyway. He really knows how to work. He also knows how to Enjoy (another thing they say here... "have fun") He’s very good at knowing when it's time to work and when it's time to enjoy. He’s good at switching them when needed.

(Elder Sintim & Elder Darrow)

Also, yes this Friday with Ghana losing and all was quite sad. I can’t even begin to describe to you how different and serious the goal is for my companion not to watch. Man was he suffering. He’s a stud for that and mad respect. We were outside listening to the noise of the game and man was it intense. Very sad to see... I mean hear them lose but i'll get over it. wait... I just did. : ) And I’m sure for the few of you who knew it was very controversial and lots of yelling and people upset. But all is well.

Big news. GOAL COMPLETED!!! (to baptize a family or a husband/wife of a part member family) That is all I know. We have zone conf tomorrow and I am SO stoked to hear how it happened. I do know that is was a crazy finish as always and I’m sure it's the covenant we made helped us more then we will ever know. So crazy.

The apartment is sweet with the new elders. E MacKay is way sweet. Hope to get to know him. Could be living together for some time. Should be fun. We are going to have lots of fun.

As for members and so on there are so many things I could say so I will just say this. This week we were walking to a members house so we could teach her little brother who she wants to be baptized and it was a bit of a walk so she met us and took us there. She has been trying to get us there for some time and its not easy cuz they are so far away so we did our best. Well this is what I found out. This sister Agnes was baptized 4-5 years ago. I bet she is 17-19. She is the only member in her family. Her father and mother let her go to church but don’t support it in anyway. She has been taking her little brother to church with her for the past 1-2 years. This is what is so cool about this girl. She has been dying to get us there to teach her brother Ebenezer (different Ebenezer) and I now understand why. What this girl goes thru is unreal. She has no support from her family at all and gets her brother to come to church with her every week.

( the roads and hills of Sekondi)

Well from their house it is a 30-40 min walk up and down big dirt hills to get to the main road. Which then they have to buy a Tro-Tro (that I’m sure she pays for) and then it’s a 10 min ride to the church. Week after week she comes. After making that walk to teach him it really gave me a greater understanding for how incredible this gospel is. It gets this girl to do all that just to go to church for a few hours. What incredible faith. What an incredible example she is to all who notice her. I honestly look at her and think if I was in her shoes would I do or would have done the same... I hope the answer was yes but I don’t know. And as I sat at the door on Sunday greeting everyone as they came in it brought tears to my eyes seeing her walk thru the doors with a smile from ear to ear with her little brother. Just knowing what she went thru to get to church is unreal. I really do love this gospel so much. I know that it’s true. Sorry I don’t have time to tell you everything that goes on. I just like to share my favorite parts.

(Sekondi chapel & church)

Glad you got the mem cards and such. Doing my best with pics. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all the prayers. I see the blessings everyday.

Elder D-ROW

Love you guys lots and lots