Jolly Rancher Times

We baptised Francis and his daughter Saturday which was awesome. We thought the new font wasn't done yet so we went to the Jolly Rancher/dirty sock-smelling river Tokor again......I didn't perform the baptisms this time it was my companion. I wont complain because the last time I did it, I smelt like a sweaty clown working in a sushi factory the whole day.

Oh! Last week was awesome! After I emailed you about not having a chance to play basketball, Elders Olschewski, Grant and I were walking back to our apartment and we heard a whistle from the other side of a mysterious wall. We crawled through this small metal blast door and BOOM. A soccer field and a make-shift concrete court was laying there in front of us. I was thinking, "Narnia?".. I don't care how dezal it was, it looked 

like gold pavement to me. These three Africans wanted to play a pick-up game with us and it was the funnest thing I've done out here so far. They claimed that they didn't whistle for us... Who knows, maybe the Spirit whistles as well as whispers, and did so that night. It was awesome. 

Fufu is so freaking good.  Ghanaians are so obsessed with it and so am I.  It's plantain and cassava pounded up to a paste and dropped into a bowl of soup.  You then dig in with your hands.  ONLY YOUR RIGHT HAND if you use your left they will murder you.  They never separate bowls, so when we have four Elders eating out of one bowl it looks like a zombie feast scene from "The Walking Dead".

haha Kpando is straight up thug' out here in the African bush.  It's smaller than Snowflake/Taylor by a few thousand.  it's very spread out though.  I hated our bikes at first because my chain kept breaking and my darn pant leg kept getting caught in it, but I'm so thankful because we decided to walk yesterday for a few appointments and it really sucked some large lemons.

We've got four missionaries in our apartment but our DL and another US greenie, Grant, come down on Sunday nights and P0days for District meetings on Tuesday.

The Ghana accent is hard because my Nigerian companion and the Ghanaians have different accents.  i'm starting to get it more though.

I went on exchanges with Elder Vosararawa this week which was so fun.
 I love that cool Fijian!!!!

1st Baptisms!

Baptisms! 

My first ones!!  They were so awesome.  emmanuel and Isaac are the coolest kids.  They speak very little English so it was hard teaching them but before their interviews we were having a fake gun fight at the chapel on Wednesday.  They're my homies!!  I had to baptize Isaac THREE TIMES because he kept letting go of my arm.  

We baptized them in good ole Tokor, which has a strange scent like Jolly Ranchers mixed with dirty socks and seafood..... somewhat pleasant.

This picture is SWAG! In the back is our new branch President Elias Kotoku, with Elder O' and Kate walking out, and me and lil' Isaac walking back with him clinging on to me like a cling rat.

Me and Elder Olschewski swaggin during baptisms.

We built a fire and participated in an African ritual of burning a pig head......... haha jk we just burned it because it was stinking up our fridge big time!

Me and my District Leader Elder Vosararwa. He's a chill Fijian!

"I'm starting to really love Ghana, the people, the FOOD and the work.  I basically breathe in FUFU and bread.  You guys won't believe it but your tall & skinny Brombones has developed a little bit of a belly. CARBS!  The members feed us as often as they can  Some investigators aren't even interested in the Gospel but they always invite us back to feed us."

"Kpando is my town!!!!"

Zone Meeting

Here's our zone

Instruction and Learning

Chillin' with the guys

Good food!

Alive and Angry!

Here are some pictures of ..... just a beautiful waterfall, a monkey chilling' on my shoulder and a tiny goat we found (no biggy)  And it came to pass that we named it Juantavious and dubbed him the mission mascot.  I will tell you all a little bit about the goats....  THERE ARE GOATS EVERYWHERE!   Goats and chickens.  I have no idea how everyone keeps track of their own goats.  I think Kpando has just been transformed into a giant community goat farm.

It is seriously impossible to feel down when there are hundreds of goats (tiny goats) running aimlessly across the roads.  It's hilarious.

ALIVE AND ANGRY!!!!

Oh my gosh! The roads are insane! I genuinely fear for my life any time we ride on them.  I don't understand how it works.  There will be constant taxi and Tro-Tro traffic both ways on these small two land roads with a 3 foot trench on each side, which is dangerous enough.  But when you add in loads of people, salesmen, bikes, motor, and notwithstanding GOATS, it blows the human mind!  Nobody crashes either! there are zero fender benders.

We are teaching this guy named Shelter who is a toal boss!   He has muscles on his muscles.  He eats a bowl of nails like every morning, WITHOUT ANY MILK.  He's a stud but he talks so quiet like everybody else.  I busted up laughing in the middle of one of our lessons because we asked him where we went after we die and he just looked off into the distance and whispered... "heaven"  haha idk why, but it was legendary!

All of our lessons are outside on wooden stools.

Ghana has this thing called "light out" where for a certain period of the day the power goes off for 6-12 hours.  It's dezal when it's at night or morning because it means bucket showers and a sauna apartment.  I will never ever complain about washing clothes or dishes ever again.  Without a bucket, one cannot have clean things.  Mom, I love you.  All I gotta say.  I want you all to go into the laundry room, stare at the washing machine, and thank the Lord Almighty for it.

We are all so blessed!  Treasures in heaven everybody!
-Elder Flake

1st Letter!

Hola Familia!

I feel like saying that because all of Payton and Charly's letters start that way lol.Things are going great. I will admit it, at first I was really wondering what I got myself into. It was mostly because I was extremely tired as result of the jet lag. I still have trouble sleeping at night when my body is telling me that it's 3 in the afternoon. But oh my gosh I'm just loving it!  

My companion is a big Samoan guy who speaks veryy little english which was very hard at first but I'm counting it as a blessing now. He is such a great guy and his name is Elder Taunuu. 

There is seriously so much to tell you about. Sports time is fun. Yes. The rim is like 9' and 6''. I dont really go hard in the paint yet because I'm saving that for the field. But I throw down every now and then... The food is amazing here, I have no idea what all the Americans are complaining about. Probably the worst thing we've had was the fufu. Which wasn't even bad, it just made you gag for some reason. It's mostly chicken and rice, but at 9;30 pm we go and eat "snack" which is most of the time a sugary, cornmuffin-looking thing with African cocomilk that is AMAZING.  

I love my companion and all the Africans they are freakin amazing. The first few days when I was feeling down, we all got together in the chapel and sang called to serve and I'll tell you what, It was hard to hear our instructor after the song. They sing so loud! They're not even good but because they sing so loud the spirit is so strong. It makes my day so much better. Just the random song, Israel Israel God is Calling is like my favorite song now because they are very shameless singing it and it sounds so good. 

My companion was struggling with the language really bad at first, but he seemed okay until I saw him on his bed almost in tears, so we fasted all of Monday and it was really amazing because at the end of the day, when I was a hungry, tired and upset boy, we started talking about food and stuff and in no time, we were laughing and joking and having a good time. He was starting to understand me well and I have no problem understanding him. The powa of fast is real! 

At the Ghana Temple

We leave to the field next Tuesday so that will probably be your next letter.
You are the best! I love you all!

Elda Fleek. 

(That's how they say my name.. they are very confused about it and they love calling me cornfleek)

P.S. I Love You And I didn't bring a hair comb or any gel so the struggle is real.......