July 25th

Howdy there my lovely family! It's again so great to hear from you and know you guys are all doing well. I hope that always stays the same! It's been a pretty busy last week getting to know the rest of the area and the members houses/names. So we've got some investigators now that we're teaching and I'm happy to be here, like always! Yesterday's attendance in Sacrament Mtg was around 70, which is awesome. Only about 5-6 of those were investigators. We've gone around and found out where more members live who didn't know that the meeting place is now at Kwamo instead of at the university ward. There's plenty of things to be done here. My companion and I finally moved into our own room also. Before, we were just temporarily in a side room with only mattresses on the floor for beds. Now we actually have beds and desks... they're still working on getting us dressers for our clothes. Hopefully that'll happen within the coming days cause we just have our stuff all over the room at the moment with our baggage on the floor.

We taught investigators class again but this time I taught on baptism and took up all the time. So next Sunday my companion will teach and I'll sit. It's cool to have the opportunity to teach the class and I always ask them if they can understand me okay. If someone can't speak English, then we get help with a translator. So the members are helping and I'm happy for that. Kwamo group is looking like it could become a branch or ward very soon. There are some things that the Stake President needs to clear and papers that need to be filled out so I hope they can work hard to get those things taken care of. We're honestly not sure how long we'll stay in the building where we're living. As soon as we get more people coming, the missionaries(us) will move out to a different place. I'm not sure if I'll get to see that happen but I have already seen the increase of people coming to church and I'm grateful for that.

Kumasi is an interesting place and it's definitely the most busy city I've been in throughout my mission. There's always too much traffic and the cars here drive crazy anyway... so it's a continuous adventure where ever we go here. From our apartment we take a trotro, or van to a station that's about 20 mins away. Then we take a different trotro for another 30 mins to finally get to the Bantama chapel where we have our P-day activity. So there's a lot more traveling involved too compared to other zones I've been in. But overall I'm glad I have the chance to be here. I thought I'd never get to come to Kumasi cause I'd been in all the other areas of our mission, but I guess the Lord has a better plan than me, which is usually the case with things. So I'll continue to rely on Him and I'm sure everything will be great. Even though the other missionaries may remind me of the remaining time, it's a good reminder to let me know I need to work harder and finish strong. So in a way I can view it as a blessing. Dad, thanks for your comments and thoughts on your own last month. I hope I can do everything possible to work hard and help the area to grow and flourish. I'm sure we all have regrets throughout our lives but we need to look at them as learning experiences and not bad experiences where we failed. Regrets are there to help us move forward and know that we can improve. I think at times I and probably everyone have had regrets throughout our lives that hold us back because we take so much time thinking about the bad thing we did or the error we made but we need to see it as a chance to be better. I hope all of us can remember that we shouldn't wallow in our sins or weaknesses but we should always come unto Christ and know that it's only through Him that we can be better and repent of our sins. We should all be very thankful to our Father in Heaven for His wonderful plan and His loving sacrifice to give His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die for us so we can be made clean from our sins. I'm very grateful for the Atonement and the knowledge that the Restoration has brought concerning it. Not many people apart from the Church understand that Jesus didn't just die for us but that He truly suffered even before He was crucified. The Gospel is such a blessing to us all.

I don't have much else to say but I want all of you to know that I love you. You're all in my thoughts and prayers and I hope you're all doing great, staying safe and enjoying life's wonderful blessings. God loves us so much and we need to recognize all the blessings He has given to us. Again I love you all and I'll talk with you guys next week! Take care!
- Elder Newbold