Elder Ty M. Bowden, Ghana Accra West Mission: Greetings from a DRY Ghana!!

Hello once again! Ghana is going well. It is December and we have 6 inches of dust. Apparently during December, January and February is what is called Harmatin (Ha Ma Ton). It is a very dry season in Ghana. It goes from raining like crazy to dust like crazy. We seriously cannot see 100 yards ahead of ourselves. There is so much dust in the air. If anyone wants to send a mask please do so. The dirt is terrible. It just started 3 days ago and one of the older Elders says that it will get way worse.

However the humidity is gone almost. You feel like you are in St. George in the summer.

This being the season of Thanksgiving, I would like to thank all of those who have sacrificed so much that I could be out here on my mission. I know it isn't easy to do that. It's not easy to have someone you care about leave for 2 years to a foreign world. However the Lord has commanded, and we must obey. All I know is that if you are my friend and you are not a member, prepare to be seeing men in suits as soon as I get home because you are going to be a referral.

This next paragraph is for my sister mainly. I have some explaining to do for her. I emailed her last week telling her that two missionaries were going to write to her. Why? Well, I have a picture of her in my room, and well two of the missionaries noticed it and they have a desire to write to her. I find is super funny, Halie is my sister! It's strange having someone telling me that my sister is beautiful. Of course it's true, but it's just so weird to think and hear it come out of someones mouth. So, I made a deal with them. If they were actually serious about this if they wrote a hand written letter to her, I would provide an envelope with the address on it. Well, this has been done. They will be sent over to America tomorrow. So Halie, prepare for two letters from missionaries.

Well, Last Monday I bought a Christmas Tree. Well, it is awesome. It's as good as I am going to get here for a good price. Now I have an awesome tree for two years! I am not sure if I will keep it after 2014 Christmas and give it away OR bring it home and put it in my college apartment. Not sure yet. Details... Shout out to Aunt Wendy and the Horman Family! First family to have a package under my Christmas Tree! Super Excited. I wasn't sure if I was to open it or not, so I did and once I realized that there were wrapped packages in it, I put them under the tree. However, the candy did not survive the temptations. Thank you for the sugar. Thank you for the package.

So this past week was a very good week. We had our best week with our numbers. Surprising to me, we had the best numbers in the whole District!

I have no idea how that happened. But it did. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have such a week. I pray that we are able to maintain these kind of numbers and hopefully build off of them. Try to stay consistent in the good parts and try to bring up the bad parts.

FYI you are all invited to a baptism this Saturday. It will start at 4:00 at the Ofankor Chapel, Tesano Stake. A young man named Innocent will be getting baptized this day and we are all super excited for him. We've been working on him as long as I have been in Ofankor, if not longer. It is weird to think that I've been in Ofankor for 2 months now.

Funny Story - I might even have a new ward soon. Not because I will be transferred but because the ward will hopefully be splitting soon, and that would mean that I would be part of the Amasaman Ward. YAY!!!! The rented building is much closer to the apartment and is actually in the Amasaman District. So pray that that happens before I am transferred. We will be splitting hopefully before the start of February.