They caught the tater.

by dad

This week Elder Darrow expressed gratitude for emails, bemoaned the news of the Utah coach Jerry Sloan retiring and lamented about how long it takes for mail to reach his new area in Kumasi. The Harmattan Winds, Sahara winds that blow sand the first couple of months each year, have come and created a haze in the sky and makes the air quality a little less than desirable.

Here is what went down this week. This week we went with the zone leaders. It was really cool to be out and about with e MacKay again. He’s such a stud. Didn’t think I would get that ever again but SURPRISE... I did…

As for the highlight of the week. e Holmes and I walked around roaming and looking for service. A lot of the time when you serve, they feed you. Which is a bonus, but sometimes, all it really does is make for one great story, and here goes...

We went to a family who isn’t even really investigating the church they are just good friends to the missionaries. (Seed has been planted... in time). Well we got the chance to help them fetch water. Really such a humbling experience. I always forget how much of a luxury it is to turn on the faucet and boom! Water. Well they were filling all of their empty gallon jugs. I would guess they were 5 gallons. We took them all to the closest working well and one-by-one filled them. Then we loaded them up on our noggins and carried them back to their house. Soaking our shirts and making a mess. It’s not easy. I have so much respect for the women here. They do WORK. They are so strong.

So after helping them we came back to their place and they had a little table and stools set up for us to eat. What’s weird is that they had the table set up in the front of their house so all could watch. Usually when you’re fed your put in a back corner somewhere so no one can see you. Well they come out with our food, a big bowl of okra stew (research okra) and 2 big fat balls of Banku. Banku is made with cooked FERMENTED corn dough and cassava dough. They put that in a big pot and heat it up and mix it with water. It turns into this sticky ball of warm nasty stuff. Some missionaries learn to love it, but as for this guy... I DONT THINK SO. e Holmes also does

not like it so when she put down 2 huge balls of this stuff we got REAL worried. 1 ball is a little bit bigger than the size of softball. I have tasted it once before but hated it, so I would go out of my way to avoid this stuff. And I did very well. Went 11 months without being forced to put this stuff down and at a last. They got me. (They caught the tater)!

I take the first bite and just about lost it. It’s not like when you’re first learning to eat fufu where it just slides down your throat. This stuff sticks and doesn’t go down so easy. Each bite got harder and harder for me to swallow. It seemed like this was a never-ending ball of Banku. The problem was I was out in front of the whole family and kids so; A) I couldn’t just take a baggie and put it in my backpack cuz they can see me, and B) they are watching so I can’t really make nasty faces as I eat it. I have to show a poker face the whole time. Being totally honest with you, mentally it was the hardest thing I have ever done. Bite after bite I struggled to swallow then I had to use all my strength just to keep it down. NOT EASY. There isn’t a single one of you back home who could have stomached this. It was a full-blown miracle that I ate it (cuz leaving any left is not an option). Honestly it was. The blind can see. The deaf can hear. And I ate Banku. All the same in my eyes.

To make the whole thing awesome is on the way home I puked it all up. Very Sad. It’s like "hey elders... come and do some hard labor for us and then sit down and eat some food only we like!” Sweet?

That small warm fuzzy feeling I had from doing all the service was thrown up with the banku.

Love you all so very much. Thanks for all that you do. You guys are so awesome.

LOVES & SNICKER-DOODLES

Elder Darrow