Master Chef Ghana Edition

 Hi Everyone! Some things happened this week.

The first thing that happened was cooking food for Sister Sacky. Brother Sacky is one of our favorite members in the ward and his wife Sister Sacky is just as cool. We went over to their house one day to teach a short member lesson. She ended up offering us some rice and beans and they were really good. After we finished though she told us that we now needed to cook food for her. At first, we laughed because we thought she was joking, that was until she brought us both aprons. We then went into the kitchen and she walked me and my companion through a rice and stew recipe. I helped make the rice and cut up some of the vegetables while my companion Elder Asante cooked the chicken and made the stew. At the end of everything, it paid off because we took some home and it was actually pretty good.

When I say driving in Ghana is crazy, I don't think you understand how crazy. People pass each other going like 50 mph on roads littered with potholes. Motorcyclists will swerve between cars and pop wheelies with three people on the bike. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone die yet. We can't get into crashes though because we are missionaries and we have God on our side, right? Wrong. Yesterday we were on our way back to our area after a stake activity. We were riding in a Tro Tro (Van Bus thing) like usual and there was a car pile up in front of us. The van in front of us stopped super hard and our driver didn't have time to stop. We rear-ended the other Tro Tro. Not hard enough for anyone to get hurt but hard enough to dent the car. The best part about the whole thing was that nobody go out of their cars. They just pulled up next to each other, waved and said sorry, then drove away. That's the most Ghanaian thing I can think of.

I have a new love here in Ghana and it's called FanMilk. FanMilk is a company that makes drinks and yogurt. They sell it in bottles but the best thing they make by far is the pouches. It's pretty much just frozen yogurt in a bag, but they have a ton of flavors. Chocolate, Strawberry, Peach, Strawberry Banana, Coconut Pineapple, and my two favorites are Vanilla and Mango Passionfruit. Vanilla sounds underwhelming but it is the consistency and flavor of a Vanilla Shake. The Mango Passionfruit is self-explanatory, it's just really good.

I just wrote an entire paragraph about frozen yogurt. That's the best part about these emails, I can talk about whatever I want to.

And that's the whole week. Some advice I have for anyone on a mission or preparing for one is to find something that you enjoy doing.  If you like contacting then do more contacting, if you like personal study then study more. The more you do things that you enjoy the easier it is to do things you don't enjoy.

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Little Rascal

Eden, on top of the world

Caveman Cooking

The Finished Product

Our Queen, Sister Sanders 

(Mission President's wife)

The Forbidden Fruit

Hungary Man Size

Salad Dressing = Mayo and Ketchup

KON KON WONDERLAND

There wasn't a lot that happened this week. It was pretty average when it comes to contacting and teaching. We did have the chance to do another service project, but we had to reschedule it because we didn't have all the tools we needed.

Now to the good stuff. KON KON WONDERLAND. Now it's a little hard to explain what this place actually is. They call themselves "Ghana's first farm resort and ecological park". Now I don't really know what that means but the poster had a turtle on it so we decided to go. In order to get there, you need to walk about a mile and a half up a dirt road. You pretty much keep walking until you are in the middle of nowhere. 

When we first got to Kon Kon, we were a little confused because it was completely empty. The place was pretty nice and it was well kept in most of the areas, but there was nobody there. We walked around for about 10 minutes until we found a woman who said she worked there. There were two workers total and she was one of them. She gave us a tour around and it was very interesting. You can't really call it a zoo but they had animals. They have a snake, and a donkey, and a horse, and turtles, and chickens, and pigs, and that's it. I'm honestly just happy they had the turtle that was on the poster. I even got to hold the turtle and it was super heavy. The chickens and pigs were part of the farm and they were all sorted by color. I took pictures of the chickens, but I'll spare you from the horrors I saw in the pig pens. At the end of the day it ended up being 10 Cedis, ($2 USD) and I can safely say it is the best zoo... in all of Bawjiase.

And that was my week. Good luck to all of the missionaries reading this, keep on grinding.

See you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

Me and Franklin

Petting the Donkey

White Chickens

Brown Chickens

Kon Kon Wonderland

Almost a Zoo

Goal Post Guys

🌱Sugar Cane in the Membrane🌱

Hi everyone, this week we had an opportunity to do some service. We went with one of our favorite members, Sister Afia to her sugar cane farm and helped her cut some down. To be honest, I thought sugar cane was only in Minecraft. It tastes exactly like sugar and you just chew on it to get the water out. It was really good and they even let us take some home. They grow in big bamboo-like sticks. They're also planted in the mud and water, so we got kinda dirty. Overall, it was a really great opportunity and it was fun serving our members.

This week Elder Segura and I also had more opportunities to proselyte without our trainers. We went to his area in Papase for a day and then went to my area in Bawjiase for a day. I love being able to plan my own day and teaching people lessons in our own way. (It's also just nice to hang out with another American.) Transfers are coming up in a couple weeks, so there will be some big changes soon. I could be sent to the bush with a new companion, so we'll see how it goes.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is the phone calls here. I am pretty much used to everyone's accents. Sometimes they'll say something and you have to hear it again to understand. On phone calls, this is times ten. When people talk on the phone, it is so much harder to understand them. Not only that, but they can't understand my accent either. Sometimes we text people but when they text, they sometimes use Twi phrases. They'll also type things like "De" instead of "The". Learning how to text here is like learning a new language.

 

And that's my week! I'll see you all next time.

Elder Holyoak

Sister Afia and associates

Mmmmm, Yummy!

Sugar Cane Farm

Bush Bois

Untitled Artwork

Brethren

God Bless Oatmeal!

This week we were fortunate enough to get 5 more baptisms! We have been working hard with visiting members and it has paid off. Three of the people baptized were the nieces and nephews of one of our members. The other two were the grandkids of another one of our members. They were all kids from the ages of 11 to 15. We aren't just teaching kids I promise. It is always fun though to be able to teach kids gospel principles for the first time. They are always naturally curious and they learn very quickly.

There were also some small victories this week when it comes to food. First of all, I tried a food called Akpeley. It is very similar to Banku where you have a dough that you dip in some sort of soup or stew. The only difference is that they add corn into the dough and I think it tastes better. Another food that has changed my life is Oatmeal. It is amazing how boiled water, oats, and brown sugar can make something so delicious. I now have up to 3 foods to eat in my apartment! 

The last thing I wanted to talk about is the weather here in Ghana. Most mornings you will wake up with almost no clouds in the sky. By the time we go out to proselyte it is 80 to 90 degrees plus the humidity and the sun. The sun is my worst enemy and water is my best friend. The weirdest part about the weather though is how fast it changes. It could be super hot and sunny with no clouds in the sky and then 3 or 4 hours later it is raining like you're in the middle of a hurricane. The roads literally become rivers out here. 

I'm gonna end on that note but I'll see you all next week!

Elder Holyoak

 Hi, from Eden

Baptism Day

Missionary Attire

The Bois

All Alone

Hi everyone, this week was pretty fun. At the beginning of the week Brother Sacky, our ward mission leader, helped us make our own soy milk. It was a long process of blending, heading, and straining soybeans. We ended up with a lot of milk and even made some chocolate and strawberry flavors.

This week Elder Segura and I had the opportunity to spend a day without our trainers. It was a small glimpse into what life after training will be like. We were able to teach two lessons and contact a few people. One man named Paul even came to us! We were walking down the road and he rode up to us on his bike. He told us that he had seen missionaries before and wanted to learn more about the church. He also said that he isn't currently going to any church and he wanted to have a way to receive the word of God. We hope that he actually meant what he said because a lot of people here are all talk.

The nightlife in Ghana is awesome. In Kasoa, the city next to me, there is always loud music playing and people yelling bible verses into microphones. For some reason, the Tro Tros (bus) at night are always way nicer than the daytime ones.  They'll always have high ceilings and bright neon lights. I've even been in a few of them with TVs. The people at night are even more friendly than they are during the day.

Well, that was a little bit from my week. We have been setting up some baptisms so there might be good news next week. Until then I'll see you all next week. 

Elder Holyoak

Remember the Name

Proselyting in the Rain

Homemade Soy Milk

Tro Tros (bus) at Night

Look close at the sticker on the back of the Tro Tro 

Coconut Head 🥥

This week started off well with a devotional. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Kacher from the 70. He talked all about using the Book of Mormon in missionary work. He also spoke about forgetting your personal concerns and focusing on what the Lord wants. The whole meeting was like a mini multi-zone. We got to see two other zones and I saw some MTC friends.

We also had the chance this week to do some service for our ward mission leader Brother Sacky. We helped weed all around his house and we were rewarded with some chicken and rice. Brother Sacky has two kids, Mormon and Eden, and they are both full of energy. They love the missionaries and I think I've had some pictures in past emails with them.

The last thing of the week was a 24 hour fast. We decided to fast for the people in our area because we have been struggling with sacrament attendance. The fast wasn't easy but it has already started to work with 5 new people coming to church on Sunday. Breaking that fast was amazing. Water and biscuits have never been so good before. 

Everything here feels normal to me now. Even all of the naked children and breastfeeding women. This week I had a new record of 4 women breastfeeding during lessons. The food isn't the best but I like some of it now. Water and sunscreen are my new best friends, as long as I don't get Malaria.

I'll see you all next week!

Elder Holyoak 

Devotional Day

Coconut Men

Coconut Head

Service Day

Crab and Fufu

Rain

This week wasn't very eventful. It rained during a couple of the days so we weren't able to proselyte for most of the day. It has been nice to have some extra study time, but it might be a little too much.

One thing that's always an adventure here is the food. Our ward mission leader Brother Sacky is a cook and he made some spring rolls and Fufu for us this week. The spring rolls had some sort of meat in them and they were fried. They were super good. The Fufu we had wasn't half bad either. They put it in a bowl of soup and you eat it with your hands. We also celebrated the birthday of one of our members this week. Her name is Sister Comfort and she is one of the more active members in the ward so we brought champagne (non-alcoholic of course). Brother Sacky baked a carrot cake and that was a gift from God.

One thing about Ghana is that nothing is ever good. Everything here is always "fine". When someone asks "How are you?" You say "I'm Fine." If you are in a taxi and you want to tell them where to stop you say, "Here's fine." If someone is giving you food and you want to tell them it's enough you say, "That's fine." You get the point, the word fine is used a lot here.

It was just a normal week in Ghana. Not a lot to say about it, but I did get a haircut. 

See you next week!

Elder Holyoak

Sister Comforts Birthday

New Ghanian Haircut

This week's new food experiences.

Jollof Rice

Adame

Fufu

Spring Rolls