As we celebrate this special time of the year let us remember that it is just a date. Nothing much. You know it really is sweet here when you have lights off every single day for 2 whole weeks. But who is complaining? Not me. Ok maybe right before bed, but not too much. :) Ya I am on super early today because we are going to be busy later on so I wanted to at least get to the cafe before it got busy. So next week I will get to chat with my parents.
This was a strange week. Our week was fine until Friday when my companion had to go to the doctor for his knee. There was like some water bubble in it, called brucidos? I don't know. So Saturday and Sunday where were we? In the apartment because my companion wasn't allowed to walk or bike on it. So I sat in the apartment all day and just relaxed. Cleaned the apartment and studied. Also got a FM (free meal). That was awesome. There is a lady who stays not even a minute from the apartment who wanted to do a FHE with all the missionaries, so we got Elder Metivier up there and enjoyed a good game of Sorry! She has Sorry! And I won! YA! She is awesome.
That is where we are actually going today around 3. She is making us lunch for our "off day" as she calls it. She loves the missionaries so much. She knows all the rules about the missionaries and loves to have them over and she has a washing machine! Awesome. However, when there is no electricity it doesn't work.
No Task force at the Church this week. It was quite peaceful. It is funny because the Teachers were at every door this week. I guess in Teachers Quorum they got chastised for not being at the doors last week. This week the doors were covered.
I am good. Just relaxing. Downloading some music for my ipod right now. So all is well. Ghana is sweet. The power just went off so now the cafe crashed, but they have a generator so the power is back on so I am still here. I might go buy a pineapple after this because it is past my lunch time I am very hungry. LOL.
The District is doing well. Everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying having fun spreading the gospel.
Alright, so that is it for today. BYE BYE!!!!
LOVE,
ELDER BOWDEN!!!!!
-----------------------------------------Elder Ty M. Bowden, Ghana Accra West Mission-------------------------------------------- This blog is written by Elder Bowden and his family. When we receive a letter, picture or an update, it will be posted on here so all of his friends and family can see.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
MOB AT SACRAMENT!!! RUN!!!
Greetings to all those who might be interested. Well as you can see in the title: MOB AT SACRAMENT!!! RUN!!! You might be wondering what the heck this guy is talking about.
WELL...we are all at church attending our Sacrament meeting. Elder and Sister Pack of the Self Reliance Center was there along with another senior couple from Welfare Services. All is well in Zion. Meeting starts and we are going well. THEN, just as the Sacrament hymn is starting, an angry mob (AKA the Ghana Task) storms into the chapel and stops the hymn, runs to the pulpit and over to the organ. As soon as they enter the building Elder Pack and the other senior missionary jump up and rush over to the mob. Our Bishop also is there and yelling starts and all of this craziness. The 1st counselor in the Bishopric got to the pulpit and said, "please stay calm" and that just made things worse. The mob wanted our organ! Oh, as soon as that was heard, the Mormons went crazy. Twenty plus minutes of arguing and phone calls and what not. The leaders were finally able to escort the mob to the commons area and continue the battle out there. Two of the mobbers were still at the organ. They really wanted to take the organ, badly! But the Mormons wouldn't let 'em have it! YA!!!!
So what happened? Finally the leaders were able to send the angry mob away, after they pocketed a little cash for themselves. Turns out that there is some stupid traditionalist thing where today no music is allowed in the area. So the Task Force somehow skips all of the churches around us and goes straight to ours (ours being the only one without drums and guitars and etc.) and try to take our organ. It had to of been planned. The Bishop and the Stake President and the two senior couples traveled to the police station to complain. One of the members (who is a recent convert) was so upset that after church was over, he got on a tro tro and went all the way to the main Task Force Headquarters in Ghana. Apparently he has a friend who is high up there. So next week we shall see what happens.
Great news is that after church we had a baptism. A 9 year old girl named Joyce was baptized into the church. That was super awesome! She is super smart! They school a little differently here than back at home. She was in class 4 and was pushed up to class 6! That is amazing! Super smart! She is a champ!
This week has been super busy. We have been running all around our area looking for people to teach, but we just can't find anyone serious to teach. We try and try and try to find people, but they just are not interested in joining the church. We have three now that are progressing towards baptism on the 8th of June. If we can ever meet with them. One can only meet with us on weekends and another can only meet us on certain days at certain times and the last can only speak Twi (no English) so we have to have a member be there with us so that takes time. At least we have these three people we can work with. We pray that Heavenly Father will give us the places to find and the people to meet that are truly ready to hear the restored gospel.
Me, I am doing well. Just keep pushing along. Ghana is awesome!! This area is super nice, except we have light off about twice or thrice a week. That isn't any fun! So in your prayers if you could pray for "Lights ON" for Elder Bowden and company, that would be very nice. Thank you. I am not sure if I have told you that we have a ping pong table in the apartment. It's not really a ping pong table, but it is a big table with a net and we have two paddles and three balls that we can use. Ping pong balls cost 1 Cedi here. Holy cow! That is expensive! Ghana is not doing well money wise. If you think America is suffering money wise right now, Ghana is doing worse. Last week as of Mother's Day the exchange rate was around 2.7 and now it is 3.08! That is a big jump. If you have a 50 dollar bill, you would get 135 Ghana Cedis as of Mother's Day and as of today you would get 154 Ghana Cedis! That is a difference of 19 Ghana Cedis. With that much money I could buy almost 10 pineapples!
That was my week. A very exciting week. Well...ta ta for now. I am off to a FHE tonight.
Love,
Elder
Ty
M.
Bowden
WELL...we are all at church attending our Sacrament meeting. Elder and Sister Pack of the Self Reliance Center was there along with another senior couple from Welfare Services. All is well in Zion. Meeting starts and we are going well. THEN, just as the Sacrament hymn is starting, an angry mob (AKA the Ghana Task) storms into the chapel and stops the hymn, runs to the pulpit and over to the organ. As soon as they enter the building Elder Pack and the other senior missionary jump up and rush over to the mob. Our Bishop also is there and yelling starts and all of this craziness. The 1st counselor in the Bishopric got to the pulpit and said, "please stay calm" and that just made things worse. The mob wanted our organ! Oh, as soon as that was heard, the Mormons went crazy. Twenty plus minutes of arguing and phone calls and what not. The leaders were finally able to escort the mob to the commons area and continue the battle out there. Two of the mobbers were still at the organ. They really wanted to take the organ, badly! But the Mormons wouldn't let 'em have it! YA!!!!
So what happened? Finally the leaders were able to send the angry mob away, after they pocketed a little cash for themselves. Turns out that there is some stupid traditionalist thing where today no music is allowed in the area. So the Task Force somehow skips all of the churches around us and goes straight to ours (ours being the only one without drums and guitars and etc.) and try to take our organ. It had to of been planned. The Bishop and the Stake President and the two senior couples traveled to the police station to complain. One of the members (who is a recent convert) was so upset that after church was over, he got on a tro tro and went all the way to the main Task Force Headquarters in Ghana. Apparently he has a friend who is high up there. So next week we shall see what happens.
Great news is that after church we had a baptism. A 9 year old girl named Joyce was baptized into the church. That was super awesome! She is super smart! They school a little differently here than back at home. She was in class 4 and was pushed up to class 6! That is amazing! Super smart! She is a champ!
This week has been super busy. We have been running all around our area looking for people to teach, but we just can't find anyone serious to teach. We try and try and try to find people, but they just are not interested in joining the church. We have three now that are progressing towards baptism on the 8th of June. If we can ever meet with them. One can only meet with us on weekends and another can only meet us on certain days at certain times and the last can only speak Twi (no English) so we have to have a member be there with us so that takes time. At least we have these three people we can work with. We pray that Heavenly Father will give us the places to find and the people to meet that are truly ready to hear the restored gospel.
Me, I am doing well. Just keep pushing along. Ghana is awesome!! This area is super nice, except we have light off about twice or thrice a week. That isn't any fun! So in your prayers if you could pray for "Lights ON" for Elder Bowden and company, that would be very nice. Thank you. I am not sure if I have told you that we have a ping pong table in the apartment. It's not really a ping pong table, but it is a big table with a net and we have two paddles and three balls that we can use. Ping pong balls cost 1 Cedi here. Holy cow! That is expensive! Ghana is not doing well money wise. If you think America is suffering money wise right now, Ghana is doing worse. Last week as of Mother's Day the exchange rate was around 2.7 and now it is 3.08! That is a big jump. If you have a 50 dollar bill, you would get 135 Ghana Cedis as of Mother's Day and as of today you would get 154 Ghana Cedis! That is a difference of 19 Ghana Cedis. With that much money I could buy almost 10 pineapples!
That was my week. A very exciting week. Well...ta ta for now. I am off to a FHE tonight.
Love,
Elder
Ty
M.
Bowden
Monday, May 5, 2014
Crappy Cafe'
Hello Everyone (and their dogs and cats in my parent's yard)!
Wow! What a crazy week! Of course every week can be a little crazy now and again. But hey, who cares! This week was exciting and full of new experiences. This area has a lot more people than my last area and best of all they are Christian! I haven't seen a Muslim yet. So we are working on getting new people to teach. The only thing lacking is people with baptismal dates. We have none yet. That will change and we will see improvements.
My new companion's name is Elder Metivier. He is sweet! He is from New Hampshire and I'm sure in the next few weeks we will get to know more about him. I like him a lot. So we had transfers and great news! I got 4 wonderful packages. That is awesome! Thank you for everyone that sent packages. I got letters, too! Thank you for sending them! The area I am in is called Mataheko. It is a very nice place. The ward is . . . well actually I can't tell you how the ward is because I haven't met most of them yet. Last Sunday we combined wards (is that allowed?) and we watched General Conference! Finally!! I have been waiting since like April to watch it! We only got to watch Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. They were wonderful. It is funny that now I only have one more General Conference left in Ghana. Unless I extend . . . we shall see. It is interesting that at this time a lot of the missionaries are trying to go home early for "schooling" reasons. I understand for August going home early so they have more than a week before school gets started, but June and July trying to go home early? It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't want to be a 23 month missionary, I am happy to serve 24 months. While yes, I might have a countdown timer until I can have a glass of tap water and not worry about dying from Typhoid Fever, I am enjoying Ghana. Cars trying to kill me, people yelling WHITE MAN!!!! and lights being off (twice this week). People, do me a favor and pray that if the lights are going to be off, it should avoid my apartment. Can you do that for me? Last night I about drowned in my sweat.
We worship at the Stake Center. That is nice. It is a big building. This Sunday is Stake Conference so I won't have had the Sacrament in 2 weeks! NOT GOOD!!! However, I have great news! On Thursday, WE HAVE A TEMPLE TRIP!!!! Finally!!!!! It has been forever! The last one was in November. December, January, February, March, April, and FINALLY MAY! Six months of waiting. The temple is like my favorite place in the world. It is only a 30 minute tro tro ride away (if I was driving it would be like 10) and yet I can't go there. It is strange, and don't question this concern, I just wanna make a statement, about if the church is so strong on temple attendance and if the temple gives you strength through the Spirit, how come as a missionary I can only go twice a year? It would seem to me (and this is just my personal opinion) why would they limit this? Now I get we are supposed to be seeking out the living and not the dead, but why not once a month? Not that it is a big concern, but it does make me raise an eyebrow (figuratively, its not like I can actually lift an eyebrow in a questioning way). But still, I AM SO EXCITED TO GO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!! Stake Conference on Sunday and the BEST PART??? I GET TO CALL HOME ON SUNDAY!!!! YAY!!! THAT IS JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE!!!! THIS WEEK WILL BE AWESOME!!!! I LOVE MY MOMMY!!!!! I love the rest of my family, too, which brings up another interesting question, why only Mother's Day? Why not Father's Day? Are Fathers not as important or are the moms just more emotional than the men? I think it is the second. But the women would complain more. LOL!
So I was just looking back and this is a long email. Half of you are probably asleep. Mom, I know you would like a book length letter, but still this is probably one of the longest I have ever written. Well, bye for now. I am going to send this because the internet at this cafe' is crappy!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!
Elder Ty M. Bowden
SHOUT OUT TO MY SISTER!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER!! You just smile and smirk while you surf the net with your iphone 5c and leave me here in Africa with a dumb phone.
Wow! What a crazy week! Of course every week can be a little crazy now and again. But hey, who cares! This week was exciting and full of new experiences. This area has a lot more people than my last area and best of all they are Christian! I haven't seen a Muslim yet. So we are working on getting new people to teach. The only thing lacking is people with baptismal dates. We have none yet. That will change and we will see improvements.
My new companion's name is Elder Metivier. He is sweet! He is from New Hampshire and I'm sure in the next few weeks we will get to know more about him. I like him a lot. So we had transfers and great news! I got 4 wonderful packages. That is awesome! Thank you for everyone that sent packages. I got letters, too! Thank you for sending them! The area I am in is called Mataheko. It is a very nice place. The ward is . . . well actually I can't tell you how the ward is because I haven't met most of them yet. Last Sunday we combined wards (is that allowed?) and we watched General Conference! Finally!! I have been waiting since like April to watch it! We only got to watch Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. They were wonderful. It is funny that now I only have one more General Conference left in Ghana. Unless I extend . . . we shall see. It is interesting that at this time a lot of the missionaries are trying to go home early for "schooling" reasons. I understand for August going home early so they have more than a week before school gets started, but June and July trying to go home early? It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't want to be a 23 month missionary, I am happy to serve 24 months. While yes, I might have a countdown timer until I can have a glass of tap water and not worry about dying from Typhoid Fever, I am enjoying Ghana. Cars trying to kill me, people yelling WHITE MAN!!!! and lights being off (twice this week). People, do me a favor and pray that if the lights are going to be off, it should avoid my apartment. Can you do that for me? Last night I about drowned in my sweat.
We worship at the Stake Center. That is nice. It is a big building. This Sunday is Stake Conference so I won't have had the Sacrament in 2 weeks! NOT GOOD!!! However, I have great news! On Thursday, WE HAVE A TEMPLE TRIP!!!! Finally!!!!! It has been forever! The last one was in November. December, January, February, March, April, and FINALLY MAY! Six months of waiting. The temple is like my favorite place in the world. It is only a 30 minute tro tro ride away (if I was driving it would be like 10) and yet I can't go there. It is strange, and don't question this concern, I just wanna make a statement, about if the church is so strong on temple attendance and if the temple gives you strength through the Spirit, how come as a missionary I can only go twice a year? It would seem to me (and this is just my personal opinion) why would they limit this? Now I get we are supposed to be seeking out the living and not the dead, but why not once a month? Not that it is a big concern, but it does make me raise an eyebrow (figuratively, its not like I can actually lift an eyebrow in a questioning way). But still, I AM SO EXCITED TO GO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!! Stake Conference on Sunday and the BEST PART??? I GET TO CALL HOME ON SUNDAY!!!! YAY!!! THAT IS JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE!!!! THIS WEEK WILL BE AWESOME!!!! I LOVE MY MOMMY!!!!! I love the rest of my family, too, which brings up another interesting question, why only Mother's Day? Why not Father's Day? Are Fathers not as important or are the moms just more emotional than the men? I think it is the second. But the women would complain more. LOL!
So I was just looking back and this is a long email. Half of you are probably asleep. Mom, I know you would like a book length letter, but still this is probably one of the longest I have ever written. Well, bye for now. I am going to send this because the internet at this cafe' is crappy!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!
Elder Ty M. Bowden
SHOUT OUT TO MY SISTER!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER!! You just smile and smirk while you surf the net with your iphone 5c and leave me here in Africa with a dumb phone.
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