Christmas Parties with Nigerian Businessmen

 Good morning everyone! This week was a blast. Christmas in Cape Coast is so awesome. And my ward is awesome too. A lot happened this week, so maybe I can just give you some of the highlights:

This Wednesday we had a mission wide Christmas party in Takoradi, a big city about 4 hours away from Cape Coast. We all got up at 4:30 and got on a tro-tro (just a big van) with a bunch of other missionaries and headed to Takoradi. 

It was so much fun! Seeing my MTC group, former district/zone leaders, and other friends was a blast. Since I'm in Cape Coast, the incoming missionaries sometimes stay with us before transfers so I know quite a few of them also. It was great to see everyone. 

And the party was sic. There was a really funny talent show where every zone did a talent and then individual missionaries did stuff. Our zone did Joy to the World featuring Elder Ence on the kazoo and me on the guitar. I don't know how great it sounded but we got a lot of laughs. There was a fun mix of really impressive, creative talents, not-so-great talents, and hilarious talents. I also played the guitar and sang. I'm not sure which group my talent was in, but I enjoyed. 

Also, President Morrison is incredible. He surprised the whole mission with washing machines and microwaves for every apartment! We already knew about it because they stored the machines in our apartment before shipping them out, but everyone was so excited. Like jumping on the tables and yelling excited. Washing by hand takes like two hours every pday, so we are going to be a lot more free. And the microwaves will make eating a lot faster as well. President also re-proposed to Sister Morrison in front of all of us (her ring got lost so he got her a new one) and it was so great. Me and sister Johnson are going to be like President and Sister Morrison one day. 

Another highlight of the week was that Elder Seeley and I finally got our shirts back from the tailor. They look so awesome. Kind of a mix between culturally incredible African wear and casino carpet. I'll see if we can get a picture today and I'll attach it. 

On Friday we had a stake choral service. Each ward did a number, the missionaries did a number, and the stake choir did a few numbers. It was just normal, chapel music for most of it but towards the end the stake choir did a great song where we all got up and danced and clapped and everything. It was so great. When the conductor was trying to get everyone to get up and dance, no one was sure what to do because we were in the Chapel. However, the Stake Presidency was encouraging it, and so one by one we all joined in. Me and Elder Gabrylczk (who is an awesome elder in my district and also one of the funniest people I've ever met) were undoubtedly the best dancers there. It was so fun! 

Of course, Christmas was a huge highlight. My family sent me an incredible package to share with my apartment so we opened our gifts, did our studies, and had a great morning. At 2 we went to our ward party.

It was a blast. When we first got there, there was no food yet, but we were able to help carry it over from people's houses and get things started around 4. Ghanaians love loud music, and African music is the best music ever, so we just kind of ate and danced and enjoyed. We were able to get a lot of non members there, including Jessica who we're planning to put back on baptismal date this week. It was so wonderful to just be with the ward and enjoy Christmas. 

On the way home there was a huge rainstorm and we got absolutely soaked which wasn't great, but we got to run through puddles which was pretty great. All in all it was a great December 25th. 

That night as I was talking to my family, I found out that I'm going on transfer on Wednesday. That was kind of a sad thing, but I sort of thought it might happen. I've been here for four six-week transfers, which isn't at all common. I'm just glad that I have been here in the promised land for as long as I have. God knew I needed to be here. 

Elder Seeley is staying though, and he's going to be training! He'll do great. It's kind of exciting to be a "grandpa". It's going to be sad to leave Elder Seeley, but I know great things are on the horizon for both of us. By next week at this time we'll both be with totally new companions, but we'll be doing the exact same work. It's glorious. 

Speaking of glorious, our friend Maxwell came to the choral service, church, and he invited us over to cook Nigerian food on Sunday. It was so fun. It was supposed to be a cooking contest, so we brought stuff to make pancakes (of which we eat a lot) but all there was to cook with was a crock pot thing so they didn't turn out that well. Maxwell made us some Eba (which is powdered cassava called gari mixed with boiled water) and a really yummy chicken stew though, so we definitely didn't go hungry. We also had a fire lesson with him after, and are going to start teaching his cousin Chidiuto who was also there the whole time. The whole extravaganza took almost 4 hours, which caused some of our other lessons to be rescheduled but it was a really great time and the lesson after was awesome. 

It was awesome because Maxwell read the chapter we assigned him to read. We were just planning to have the after dinner lesson be a quick scripture, but as we were closing Maxwell said, "Wait, before we close I want to summarize the chapter you told me to read." A few days before, during a lesson, we had asked Maxwell to read 3 Nephi 11, which features the Savior’s ministry to the Nephites, and had totally forgotten to follow up on it! Terrible I know. Luckily though, Maxwell is awesome and read it anyway. As he recounted the story of Jesus Christ descending from heaven and offering his hands to the people to feel and see, I felt the Spirit so strong. As Maxwell continued on, telling all about the proper way to baptize and so on, I was amazed. The Book of Mormon is true! And Maxwell knows it is. That's what it's about. That's what Christmas is. It's Christ giving Himself to us so we can be blessed by Him. The church is true! 

Sorry this was a bit of a long one. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday. 

Love, 

Elder Johnson

1. Gifty and Co, a lady we really love who doesn't have any interest in meeting with us, but her whole family goes to our church so she doesn't stand a chance. 

2. Helena, a lady we baptized awhile ago who I just love. 

3. Maxwell and Chidiuto and me and Elder Seeley after the eba adventure

4. Me and Maxwell. I was about to cry because this was after church on Sunday and I had to say bye to everyone. 

5. From left: Elders Rowell, Ence, bollschweiller, James A., Johnson, and Ogdon. Elder Ogdon is so freaking awesome. Everyone calls him president O
gdon because he's basically the mission president. 

6. Us right before breaking into our house. We got locked out of our compound and no one was around to let us in so we had to climb the 10 foot fence,  smush down the razor wire, and jump on top of the water tank to get inside. It was honestly really fun. 

I'm also hoping to take more pictures today as we visit people so stay tuned. Love you all.