Alma 37:37

Dear Family,

This transfer went really well. My new companion is Elder Alba from Salt Lake. We are going to get a lot accomplished as we serve together, and I am excited for what I will be able to learn from him. I've been showing him how to drive a stick. You guys laughed at me for not knowing how, and now I'm the teacher! He picked it up very quickly.

This week, I watched the missionaries who were returning home make one final phone call to their younger companions they trained. They shared advice from an "almost" return missionary to a young Jedi in training. There were tears as they expressed their love for them and the time they spent together. It's hard to say goodbye to these great missionaries, but we are excited pick up the new ones from the MTC.

E. Alba and I often have a strange schedule, so we have to be creative. We continue to find new ways to share the gospel wherever we are, and whatever mission project or assignment we're working on. The members are making a great effort to help all the missionaries with missionary work. The local leaders have seen the value in reading and following the handbook of instructions. My heart goes out to the members in Ghana for their continued effort to learn and work to follow Church standards. It is hard to leave behind traditions, but sometimes must be done.

I feel I am really growing in many different aspects of life and am learning many different lessons about myself. Within a world of hatred and satan-led minds, I'm grateful for the Savior's influence in our lives. I am grateful for challenges and yet I am more grateful for the way we allow Jesus to mend our problems.

Mom and Dad, I love you both! My mission has truly helped me feel that love for you and our family. Chris has always been an example of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, Tyler has always helped me to look at every situation how the Savior would look at it, Chandler has helped me learn how I can accomplish anything if I work hard enough and always put my trust in my Heavenly Father and pray to Him. Amanda, has taught me how to always have a smile on my face and be happy about everything that is going on around me. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!

I was in the Temple the other day and this thought about our family came to mind:

We cannot falter! We cannot budge! We are too far into this race, and the Lord is coming soon! We need to press on and we need to be one as a family. If we are not one, we are not His. Let us "lie unto the Lord when we sleep and rise with him in the morning thanking him for what he has done for us...and if we do these things, he will lift us up at the last day." (Alma 37:37)

Elder Hair

Press On

Hey All,

"When times are tough, press on." That is what we've been encouraged to do as we incorporate our mission theme, FOREVER STRONG.

"You tell me how the trainer is using the new training program and his time in the mornings, and I'll tell you how his day will go, I'll tell you how his week will go, how his mission will go, and in effect the rest of his life." -Elder Holland-

This week we've been able to spend a lot of time in our area, and had some great investigators attend Church. One man we are teaching had a stroke about two months ago and is still recovering. He reads everything that we give him, but is not getting enough exercise, and his feet are swollen like pineapples. It has been hard for him to get to church. He has great faith and we are going to try our hardest to help him in anyway we can. He's older and it seems as if his days are numbered, but if the Lord intends for him to be baptized on this earth, it will happen. We have the faith and I know that we can help this good man fulfill the will of the Father and enter the waters of baptism. We gave him a priesthood blessing so that he will have the strength to come to church.

Everything is sweet on this end. There are going to be a lot of changes as we prepare for the new mission. We are creating two new zones in Kumasi, and there will be a lot of transferring around, because of passport regulations.

I'm so happy that things seem like they are going well at home.

I love you all!

Elder Hair

A Very Full Week!

WOW Amanda!!! You will be a teenager in 3 days!!! That's incredible. I remember walking into Mom's hospital room in Spokane. You had just been born and were chillin with Mom in the hospital bed. I then remember getting the chance to hold you and feeling scared because I didn't want to make you cry, and I wanted you to love me. Remember to take lots of pictures so you can always look back and see how you have grown.

Now that we are finally back in the mission home after a week of craziness, I can’t wait to tell you what’s been going through my mind. At the beginning of last week we picked up the new senior couple and took them to Sunyani with the mission president to get them settled in. It was quite an experience to return again to Sunyani and see all of those amazing people and feel the spirit in that wonderful city. We then traveled all the way back to Cape Coast. As we pulled into the mission home at around 3 pm, we went right to work again preparing for the visit of Elder John B. Dickson, President of the Africa West Area. He and Sister Dickson would be coming the following afternoon. We helped the guards clean the cars and change a tire on our truck which had a slow leak. Then we cleaned our apartment so well you could even eat off the floor. The next morning, we met the Dicksons, said a prayer, and headed off to the Abura chapel in Cape Coast where we would meet for a mission tour with six zones. The meeting was amazing. We truly felt the spirit, and we were able to learn a lot from someone who has given so much of his life in service to the Lord. I really admire Elder Dickson. During the mission tour he talked about the importance of many things, but one lesson he taught us was how to be escalator missionaries and not elevator ones. An elevator has to be pushed by a button to go up or down and often makes stops at every floor, while an escalator moves continually until nighttime when everyone is sleeping, then it is turned off to rest until the morning. He also reminded the missionaries how important it is to be very very careful with the sacred funds of the Church and how we need to know where the money truly comes from.

On Monday, Elder Dickson pulled me and my companion in and interviewed us individually. He talked with me about the missionaries and our great mission president. I have grown more and more each day to love Pres and Sis Shulz. He asked me if I was worthy to go to the temple, and if I am keeping the mission rules, and about the overall obedience of the mission. He told me about the plans to divide our mission and create the new Ghana Kumasi Mission, and asked me how I felt about that. He finished with this advice, “when you get home and get married, marry in the temple and treat her like an angel from heaven."

The following day, we traveled up to Kumasi to continue the mission tour. Elder Dickson told us that they would not have opened the area of Sunyani if they did not first envision a stake there. The week prior he was in a meeting with Elder Holland, where they talked about Sunyani for some time. I'm glad Elder Omini and I could be two of those early missionaries in that area.

We met with some people from the Area office at the soon to be new mission home for the Kumasi mission. Elder Dickson’s iPad had the layout of the house, and we took a tour and discussed how we thought it should be organized. That was fun.

This week Elder Marimira and I went on splits with the other Elders in our branch. Elder Reid and I taught a former librarian that was well read and already reading the Book of Mormon. We taught him the intro to the Plan of Salvation and then he asked us some good questions. We ended with our testimonies. It was a simple lesson but we really felt good about it. He asked us if there were more books in our church libraries that he could read. We told him that there were but that the Book of Mormon he was holding in his hand will become his favorite book. He laughed and accepted our challenge to read it all.

Today we made some homemade burritos.

We made the tortillas, cut up some tomatoes and onions, bought some beans on the street corner, and added fried rice and chicken to the mix.

It was sweet to be with other missionaries and talk about the past months, and how much we enjoy serving here in Ghana.

I love you all!!

Elder Hair