Excerpts from Spencer's latest email . .

Life is great! I had fun describing Thanksgiving this week to the two Africans in our apartment. There are 4 of us, Elder Leko (Uganda), Elder Jeppsen (Sugar City), and Elder Elephonia (Nigeria).

Sacrament Meeting will be held in the living room of the missionaries' apartments in several newly opened areas until they can get a suitable place to build a chapel. In the beginning, the missionaries will be conducting the meetings.

This week, we met a man named Michael at a mineral store (soda pop store). He wants us to continue teaching him, and plans to come to church next Sunday.

One of our favorite members is a single mom with one little boy. She just lost her job and is now selling her shoes and extra clothing, which she carries around on her head, until she is able to find another job. Most of the Ghanaians we teach don't even have electricity.

I think I was a little naive before I came on my mission thinking that every missionary would be ready to follow all of the rules. Being an obedient missionary is a lot easier than a disobedient one, so it puzzles me sometimes why those things happen when we are serving the Lord in any calling in the Church. In this mission, there are about 20 different cultures that sometimes clash. That is our struggle. There are people to teach, baptisms every month, but what we really need is exact obedience from the missionaries. I know that's a bold statement, but it's how I feel.

This week while walking by the Catholic Cathedral in Elmina, there must have been 200 kids, between the ages of 6 and 9, that just got out of school. Many of them started yelling "obronie" when they saw me. Man was it funny. As we continued to walk, I had 2 kids on every finger of my hand and a swarm of others that couldn't find a space. I love the little children here.

This past Sunday, our ward had its Primary program. It was probably the most entertaining thing I have seen in a very long time. The kids had their parts memorized, and when they sang, they sang loud. Most of the scriptures they quoted were not easy or short. These kids are dedicated and these members are incredible. The theme was Latter-Day Prophets, and they taught us about each one. They spoke clearly and in English so we could all understand. The whole ward laughed at the funny parts and those kids who were shy stole the show. I love my ward and I love my area. I love this work and I love the people that we teach. Without the Gospel in my life, I would be nothing. The Lord lives and is guiding this Church today through President Monson. “O Come All Ye Faithful” is my phrase for this month that I will share with our investigators, but especially our recent converts. All of the three that were baptized were confirmed last week and man was that a sight to see.

I love you all,

Elder Hair

Love it when it rains!

Things are great!!

We had another sweet rainstorm this week. You would have loved it and some of the sunsets that I see. It’s amazing the things that we take for granted.

Randy Darko's baptism is on the 19th. He is prepared and has already become a missionary. He has a friend from work named Karim whose Dad is Muslim and Mom is Christian. Karim has been trying to decide which faith to believe. Before we even met with Karim, Randy talked to him about the Church. He gave him the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and the Book of Mormon based on the questions he had. That night he read the whole pamphlet and all of the introduction and testimonies of the Book of Mormon. Now remember, this is still before we even met him. Karim then prayed about what he read asking whether or not it was all true. That night he had a dream about the war in heaven, and how Satan and Jesus presented their two plans and God chose Christ to come to the earth. Karim has been attending the Muslim church and does not yet know much about Christianity. You can only imagine how we felt when we first met Karim and heard of his experience.

This week we incorporated something new to our list of creative ways to build trust with the people we encounter. Each day we see kids playing---chasing a small torn up ball, or just playing other games. I decided no matter how dirty or sweaty I get, I was going to play with them. It has been one of the most amazing weeks. Many of the smaller children are scared of white men, so it's fun when their Moms bring them to us just to try and scare them. But soon they warm up to us. On Sunday, I was asked to teach the 14-15 year old kids. The topic was obedience. I ended up using a soccer analogy because that is what all Africans enjoy.

I love you all very much and my love for the Gospel and the Savior grows stronger each day I teach about them.

Elder Ihwi

Elder Leko and I have been looking for more opportunities to serve. I know that as we teach to meet our goals, and serve at the same time, we will be blessed as a companionship and as a mission. Something that Elder Leko and I pray for almost daily is that we can work to be the best companionship in the mission. I hope that doesn't sound selfish, but it has helped us be obedient to the mission rules.

We had seven baptisms this past Friday. The first was Kofi, who was so scared he held onto me for dear life. When he came out of the water, he gasped and everyone laughed. It was pretty funny.

We played soccer with some little kids today outside of our apartment, and man was it fun. When they call me "Obronie" (white man), I say "Obebenie" which is what they call themselves, (black man), and they all laugh.

I love this area. The Lord has truly blessed me.

Love,

Elder Ihwi