Ankwanda and Agency

Good evening everybody! I hope you're all doing good. It's been a great week. We've had some interesting experiences and fun times this week. 

One exciting thing that happened this week is we went to Ankwanda, a village in our area, for the first time. It was an interesting experience. It's a BEAUTIFUL little beach town surrounded by pineapple fields. I didn't see many pretty beaches or growing pineapples in Wells so I enjoyed it a lot. The work is interesting there as well. There used to be 4 missionaries in Elmina: two for Elmina and two for Ankwanda. There was also always a Ghanaian in Ankwanda because most people don't speak English there. However, a few months ago we downsized to one companionship and no one has been to Ankwanda for a few months. There's 14 new members there though so we decided to go visit them. It was actually so cool. The first person we met could speak English and allowed us to teach her. Her name is Gloria and she's the niece of a really old guy named Stephen who's a member. The second person we met was a less active sister who also speaks English. Hopefully if we work with her she can not only rejoin the fold of God but also maybe help us translate. We could really use the help. The field is so, so white in Ankwanda. There's quite a few members there and a ton of interested people but we just don't speak Fante. We met almost all the members though, and they were all super happy to see us because missionaries haven't been there for a long time. We couldn't really teach most of them because of the language but we greeted and talked with all of them in our limited Fante. It was a cool experience. They all were really loving. We attended church there as well which was fun. Lots of work to do! 

We also went to Agona, Elder Mposhi's former area this week. He left four people on baptismal date there so we got permission to go there once a week. It's a far drive, but we were able to meet with all four people that were on date and now have some sense of what needs to be done to help them. We also ate really nice, really cheap fufu there. I've learned that the further from town you get, the better and cheaper the fufu gets. Interesting stuff. 

But things are good. I love and enjoy both of my companions, and the work is going well. I've thought a lot about choices today. On Sunday night, we visited a long time less active member and talked with him for a long time. In our discussion, Elder Hill said something that really resonated with me. We were talking about faith, and about how it involves action. In the case of our less active friend, we were telling him that he needs to read the scriptures and come to church to receive blessings, not just passively wait for them to come. We often talk about "having faith." Having faith to go to church. Having faith to keep the commandments. And so on. What Elder Hill said changed my perspective. He said, "Faith isn't about having. It's about choosing." I really agree with that. Everything is a choice. Our righteous choices are pretty much all we can give God because he's given us everything already. I want to be a good missionary by choice. A good person on purpose. 

Love, 

Elder Johnson 

1. The tiniest baby goat I've ever seen in my life was in our compound last night. Enjoy. 

2. A picture of Jesus stolen from someone's Google photos album.....

3. Multi-zone dinner appointment that happens every Sunday. It was Jaycie's 5th birthday and we ENJOYED. I'm still full. 

4. The first plate of rice and chicken I chopped in honor of Jaycie. More followed. 

5. Us and some masqueraders. For holidays there's groups of people who put on outfits like this and dance in the streets. It's so cool.