Called to Serve

by dad

Pictures from the last few months.

Pounding plantains and cassavas to make Fu-Fu.

Helping the sisters in the ward cook.

Making Kakra from plantains

Alex says they are always looking for opportunities to serve. Here they are helping to make bricks. The process involves filling a single brick mold with a concrete, sand, and water mix. Then they carrying the filled mold to an area where they can tip it over so the brick can harden. Once they harden, they are stacked and ready to use for building.

Filling the mold.

The drying process and the finished stack of bricks.

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

Loving my time here.

Just elder darrow...

(Elder Holmes and Elder Darrow - Kumasi, Ghana)

As for things here in Kumasi, I'm loving my time with e. Holmes. He is so very close with members, which is so important, so we have been seeing a lot of them. I’m doing my best to get close to them. It takes time though. We don’t have a ton of investigators. Mostly cuz every time we have someone who speaks Twi the other companionship takes them cuz e. Adu-Gymfi speaks Twi. So it’s just easier. So don’t have a ton of people to teach but I’m sure we will soon.

We do have a solid family we are teaching. Sister Julie (who isn’t a member) is trying to get married to her husband who is a member. They are planning on getting married the beginning of March so hopefully that will come thru. Their son is Kingsford. He is the little boy who I met at church last week. He is a stud and each time there I get closer with him. I love the kids. But no surprise!

One thing that I have noticed here in Kumasi is that the wards are a bit dysfunctional, but they have incredible faith and put in the work.

(Bantama - Kumasi Zone Jan 2011)

As for updates from Sekondi... I received a phone call from e. Matheson. He told me Marsha is being baptized on the 15th of this month and Pricilla has been pushed back to the 19th. So things are going just great back in the home town.

Also so you know, every single p-day I have long talks with e. Dadegon. He is so, so grateful for you guys. Every single letter he trips out. Thank you so much for doing that.

Not a whole lot more to say. Sorry we don’t have a ton of time.

Love you guys big time. And thanks again for all that you do.

elder darrow

Asuoyeboa - Kumasi, Ghana

just Alex. . .

Okay so this has been one crazy, crazy week. I don’t really know how to sum it all up and I don’t know if I really can, so I figured I will answer every question you asked me. I hope that will make you happy.

Secondi - Yes saying goodbye was sad. It was very hard cuz there were so many people I loved there but lucky for me I somehow knew it was coming and it wasn’t a huge surprise to all the people when I said I was going. It wasn’t easy by any means. Was very hard to say goodbye to the Lambs. I love them so much. Don’t worry momma. She took care of me. Sent me off with food for the road. She rocks.

Wednesday - Transfer day was crazy. To make a long story short our bus broke down near Assin Fosu so we had to wait for a new bus from Takoradi. So we spent 3 hours playing football on the side of the road with little kids. Was a long day. Left our apt around 9 a.m. and got to my new one around 11 p.m.

To give you an idea of the ease of travel in Western Ghana (or lack there of), Kumasi is about 120 miles due north of Sekondi. That’s about the same distance from Provo, Utah to Logan, Utah. That drive would take about 2 and 1/2 hours. Transfer day took 11 hours (not counting the 3 hours of soccer).

New apartment - it’s really cool. It’s a bit bigger then my old one. Doesn’t have as much of a main room as sekondi so we eat in our rooms but it’s a sweet place. No complaints. Wait… one! only one bathroom but it’s cool. I still have a working fridge and e. baron has a washing machine so it will be coming up next few weeks. :-)

Reliable power? Well... T.I.A (This Is Africa). Reliable power is a hit and miss but it’s all good. I brought my old net for sleeping so no need to worry there. Do I get hot water? Yes I do! What I do is I take a pot and if I put it on the stove I can boil water. But that’s usually for cooking. If your talking about the showers... still freezing

Walking? - Yes. Our area has no bikes. We have a huge area and as soon as we step out our apt we are there. Basically to explain our area, we are a 10 min normal car ride from Kumasi on the road that leads to Sunyani. But because the traffic is INSANE up here it takes about 30-45 min just to get into town. Kumasi is nuts. I went to central market and its crazy. So many people. I love it though. I love the city. Basically there is one main road and our area is all around it. Our church is about a 15 min walk from our apt and it’s in the middle of our area.

Shopping and Internet?- well in the city of Kumasi there is tons. Lots of great shopping. I can’t find too much stuff that isn’t in Takoradi. Basically there is a just lots lot more. As for Internet there is a nice Vodafone cafe in town that we will use some times but there is one right by our place that we will usually go to.

How's the companion and the rest of the apartment?- e. Holmes is awesome. We get along so well and he is a great teacher, he knows how to work and we laugh all day long. I forgot how much I love laughing. He is just a solid guy and I really hope I get to be with him for a while. BUT he has been in the area for 6 months. So a change this transfer wouldn’t be out of the question. So I’m just trying to soak in the awesomeness while I can. As for the apt. e. Baron is a really cool guy. His comp Adu-Gymfi is a Ghanaian. He has 2 transfers left. He’s really cool. So we have a lot of fun.

In church on Sunday I had "the whole new kid at school" butterflies and was real nervous about fitting in and making friends and was worried about it. Well 20 min into sac meeting a little boy (Kingsford) saw me and came over to investigate who I was he’s maybe 4. Well he ended doing a full-on Hook / Peter Pan face examination and I guess he saw it fit to be my friend and we chilled all meeting. I guess he knew I was looking for a friend and wanted one too. The people here really are so awesome

So that’s about it for now. I think I have said it all. I will talk a lot more about the area and the people but it’s only been a few days and I don’t know much yet. I’m still getting settled in. just know that I’m happy and healthy and that all is going well. Thank you so much for all that you do. Love you guys big time.

xoxox

your baby boy

elder darrow

Sekondi photos

My Big Friends

My Little Friends

Sharing a Soda

McAllen Kweku Oppong a.k.a. Mike

by dad

Beyond the emotions of transfer news, Alex also emailed about the missionary work and service they have been providing. It seems that he has been very blessed with amazing experiences. The members of the Sekondi wards are very strong in the gospel and are very supportive of the missionaries. He will miss them and their friendships. Regarding the past week, Elder Darrow wrote...

I called e Mackay earlier in the week and he said "you wouldn’t believe what I did today. I had a baptismal interview for Mike Allen.' He's the guy who we taught every single day for a month and then he moved to Kumasi. Well long story short, they have been teaching him and things are going sweet. (Duh...) He said the day was set for Sunday. So come Sat night I called Mike and he freaked out. About as happy as I have been on mission. He told me 'Thank You' like 30 times. He was just so happy and it was so cool to hear him tell us how grateful he was for us.

Come Sunday e. MacKay said the baptism went great and Mike was more then excited. He was trippin. Was just so awesome to have all that work out. I really got to see the hand of the Lord work thru me as we were teaching him. I have never been guided by the spirit more then when I was talking to him. Said a lot of thing and made a lot of promises to him that i would normally never make, but when I did it wasn’t me talking. Just such a great feeling and I'm so happy that he is actually baptized. Wow. So cool.

(Baptism of McAllen Kweku Oppong - next to E Lehr!)

To explain the name... he said his name was 'Mike Allen' but said it with a Ghanaian accent. He told us to just call him Mike. Then e Mackay said he thought it was actually Mac, but just said it like Mike. And now that they have the actual spelling it's 'McAllen Kweku Oppong'. - He will always be remembered

Things are going great with Sarah and Augustine. Lessons are still super powerful and we have really been focusing on if they get an answer to prayers. (They are active in their church and are in the choir and all so it’s hard) They tell us they always feel different when we are around and that they do feel something different when they pray about all the things we teach.

Also this week we have been going to Kojokrom a lot to teach Pricilla. I told you about her last week. We have spent some time with e. Dodd and e. Bassey out there. Well the lessons with her are sweet and sorry I haven’t told you more about her. Lots of crazy stories not enough time. But we have a baptismal date this week for the 12 of Feb. so that will be cool.

elder darrow

Transfer News

by dad

Change is a good thing. Alex sent a lengthy email about his experiences this past week. I will share them later in the week. As for now, Elder Darrow is being transferred to Kumasi. It’s the second largest city in Ghana. It’s in the Ashanti region on the map to the right (light brown area). It is one of the northern most cities in his mission with missionaries, except for some new areas that have recently been opened to missionary work. Here are his thoughts on the transfer.

(Good-bye Sekondi)

I shall now talk more about transfers. I wont go into crazy detail about what’s going on in Sekondi and all the places. I am going to Asuoyeboa (ass-see-oh-bwah) in Kumasi. I will be with e. Holmes. Also in the apartment is e. Baron who was just transferred in and a Ghanian e. Adu-Gyamfi. Also, e. Yapo going up to Kumasi and will be in my same district. I also have the privilege to be with e. Mackay again. I’m so very excited about that. As for e. Matheson, he is, drum roll please.... training. He will teach exactness in obedience.

Today the Lambs took our apartment to NorthSea (restaurant) and picked up the tab. (I didnt have my black magic card or I would have tried). We all got pizza and needless to say it was complete awesomeness. ... simple! The Lambs rock and I will miss them so so much. Very sad. That’s about it on the week, or at least all that I can put in an email that you can understand.

I’m very sad to leave cuz it’s home. On Sunday when I was expecting to go,

I was at the door holding my little bud alex and had a very depressing moment at the thought of never seeing him and all the others again. It does help that there are good chances you guys will come out so I will get to see them all again, but still sad. It’s been my home for 10 months and honestly know a lot of the people here better then most of the families at my home ward. But as sad as I am to go, I’m more than ready.

Thank you for the prayers and for the love and support and for all that you do and have done for me. I know God is listening when we pray to him and believe me you, that I’m praying for all of you who are praying for me, my mission and the missionaries in general.

THANK YOU!

love you like a fat kid loves cake.

elder darrow

p.s. e. Matheson was just randomly telling me some random story and about someone who someone else blah, blah, ... and it led to the conversation about recent converts. I just realized that every single one of my recent converts (except Patrick cuz he was sick) was at church Sunday.

Wow. I WILL miss Sekondi.

Searching for Service.

just Alex...

(a soccer field in Sekondi)

First things first. Thanks again for all the emails and mail. You guys are so very awesome. I got the 3rd pack from Jess with the all the ties. I had a lot of fun giving ties out to all the people I love in the ward. I think there was 7-8 ties that Nick owned at church Sunday. It was really fun when we went to Meshaq's house and spent over an hour teaching him how to tie a tie. He had 1 tie that someone tied for him a year ago. haha. That was a really cool experience. Thanks again Hammers

As for the week, I worked extra hard searching for people who are in need of our help. I get focused sometimes walking from apt to apt and don’t stop and help. I can’t even tell you the hours I spent pounding fu-fu this week.

In one of the 'walking searching for service' I saw a woman who was stirring Banku. Stirring Banku is like stirring cement that is about to dry. Well I stopped and helped her. It was so hard. And she was very grateful. Well because of the way her shack was built, the whole time I had smoke in my face and burning my eyes. Instead of talking to her as I worked, I had to put all my focus on not fainting into the fire. So after I was done, I talked to her about the church. She said that she knows King David (recent convert). She is actually working for his aunt and has talked about the church with him.

Well we came back later that day and taught her with King David and had a solid lesson. After the lesson we walked back to her house so she could show us where she lives so we could continue to teach her there. She’s from Sunyani and is in Sekondi for school for a year or so. She is going to what is like a community college in the states for accounting. It's called Poly Tech in Takoradi.

Well after that first lesson she got her sister involved. Her name is Augustine and she is also very interested. We went back and had a solid lesson about prophets. Then went back again and had a solid lesson about Christ. They are both very interested and I'm so excited to see what happens. We talked lots about the fruits of the spirit and how they will know when they get an answer to prayers. So pray for them.

We are also teaching a cool girl named Pricilla. She’s so smart and I'm sure will be baptized. Things with Marsha are still moving along sweet. She is at church every week and I'm sure once the baby comes and she gets recovered, she will move along very fast. So very solid though.

We also have another young girl who will be in the baptismal pool some time soon. She is one of Paa Kwesi's cousins. (The Paa Kwesi that was bapt. when i was with e Sintim) So that’s cool.

Transfers are a week from today. If I leave Sekondi that will kill me. But I would love to go anywhere. Ghana is just awesome and I'm sure the kids are equally awesome in Sekondi or Foso or Cape Coast or Kumasi. And I love the kids.

Got to see e Meinzer at p-day today when they came out and that was so sweet. Love that guy. All things are well. Thanks again for all that you do.

BIG LOVES

elder darrow

(Christmas day in Ghana 2010)

(Elder Darrow & Elder Sintim on p-day)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

by dad

The regular weekly email was filled with gratitude of 'support from home' and insight on the day-to-day life as a missionary. He continues to tell stories of little children that melt his heart and he's unceasingly enamored with Ghana. He is thoroughly enjoying his experiences. Here’s some of his thoughts...

Allright, a big huge fat THANK YOU for the packages that were sent. On Thursday night the lambs came back from Accra and stopped by the mission home. My mail came. I got 7, count them 1, II, 3, IV, 5, 6, VII! It was so flippin awesome. We put on Christmas music and I was a little kid all over again. I got Grandmas package and that was completely awesome. I got Steph’s packed with the tuna and malaria meeds, and memory cards. I also got 2 of the 3 of the packages full of ties from the Hammers. Big, big thank you. That stuff is so awesome. Also the summer sausage that was slipped in makes for great add in to my egg sandwiches. I also got 3 from Hales. Lots of fun goodies that I love so very much, but I’m actually happy you don’t send them cuz it reminds me how addicted I was to them. But was so completely awesome. I really can’t thank you all enough. So awesome so again... I THANK YOU ALL!!!

On Thurs. we had interviews. Was a very cool interview as always. Pres. Sabey rocks it. Come Fri. I was stuck with an epic cold but I had exchanges with e. Thompson to his area and I wasn’t about to miss that day. I trucked on all day. Not the smartest thing I have done but it’s over now.

As for an update with Marsha, she had a bap. date for Jan 18th. But to make a long story short, she’s 8th months prig (I thought she wasn’t that far along... but who knew?) Well with the added stress of that and always being so busy, the lessons have been a bit rushed and we/she wants to wait. I know she will be baptized someday, but she just wants to go a bit slower. So things are sweet there.

That’s about all for now. Once again thank you, thank you, thank you, for all that you do. The work is going along and I’m doing just fine.

BIG LOVES

elder darrow

Ghana 2011 - Happy New Year.

Well, just Alex...

Well hello, hello family. Happy flippin New Year. Wow. My long year in Ghana has just begun. All of 2011 is Ghana! Woop woop! (Do it twice) As for mail this week... the post office was closed for a long time so a bunch of elders have a ton of stuff coming. Hopefully it all gets here. We have interviews on Thur so I'm sure mail will come then.

As for the week here in Ghana, things are going just swell. This week we spent a lot of time helping members. I didn’t feel like we did too much teaching but it was very productive. Tues was our wards Christmas party so we spent all of Tuesday helping with that. It was cool cuz Grace Bonsi was in charge of all the food (she’s a caterer and a recent convert. ... do you think it's weird I find caters to teach and baptize... hmmm). Anyway, we show up to Grace's house and 15-20 people from the Relief Society were there and helping. Then over the morning other Young Men and Women came to help. There was a big line of fufu pounding and others doing stuff for different types of rice and stews and all types of stuff. It was really cool to really WORK for them like that. I felt like that’s the first time they all got to see the missionaries really go at it. We all left there with blisters from pounding fufu and soar arms from fanning fire. That was a lot of fun.

Then from there to the church to set up and enjoyed ourselves at the party .

(Elder Darrow entertaining the members at the Ward Chirstmas Party)

(Elders' Mathesen, Newbold, Thompson, Darrow and Haderlie)

After that e Thompson and Yapo baptized a family of 5. A husband, wife and 3 of the 5 kids. They have 5 girls all under 13. How sweet right. Ya it was a powerful meeting cuz the whole ward was there. The rest of the week with the holidays a lot of people were busy all the time (including Marsha who we went to see twice but always busy...not like "Oh I'm busy today." but like we meet her with 4 people running around the kitchen with her and she’s WORKIN).

So we did a lot of hanging and helping members. I really love that. I have gotten very close with some of the people here. I feel like letting the members know how much we love them and want to help them, pushes the work along faster then anything else. After all, 2 years from now we all go and the members are the ones who help them over the conversion so they have to have friends to push them.

This New Years...didn’t do anything CRAZY, (you gotta remember we still represent Christ) but we did have fun and make noise etc. You know me. I find a way to have fun.

On Sat there was a huge party at the stake center with the whole stake. Was very fun. Had volleyball and soccer and basketball. It was fun show the Africans 'how I be' on the blacktop. (Unfortunately they didn’t have any golf fun so all I had was b-ball) but we enjoyed on New Years Day.

No need to worry about anything. I'm safe and staying healthy. Love you guys big big time.

Thanks for all that you do.

Xoxox

elder darrow

(What up Santa?)