January 11, 2010

Hey family!

this past week was good and we planned a baptism for the 16th of jan, this coming sat. but i think we may have to change that date cause one of our investigators will be traveling. i'm still in a 3-some for today, but this afternoon, i'll go back to being just with my original companion. transfer was yesterday and now there will be another elder coming to our apt. so things will go back to normal haha. things have been going well lately and we continue to have success, so we've been blessed by the Lord always. yesterday at church, we were able to have 4 investigators come and one brought her husband which we were very happy to see there with her.

mom - about the package, it's just the mp3 player and the memory card. on xmas day i told you guys my mp3 player's battery fried, but i cant replace the battery cause i cant take it apart without destroying it and doing more damage. so i just bought a new one thats similar to my other one. so you don't have to wait for anything else. thanks very much! if there's room in the package for anything besides those calc. pills, that'd be great if you could send some more pepto tablets, they help out a ton. also my companion was asking me if you could send some sleeping pills or something like tylenol pm. he has trouble sleeping at night haha theres gotta be something wrong with his head though, cause he wakes up at about 2 in the morning everyday and then has trouble going back to sleep. so whatever you could possibly get to help him. he doesnt wanna try any medicine here at the local pharmacies and i don't know why. so thanks again. everythings going great here thanks to all your prayers back home.

i'm so grateful for everything you've done for me! thanks for the ensigns also, i got that package this past week. tell gma and gpa newbold thanks for the shirt they also sent to me, i love it. i've definitely felt the blessings here.

i hope you received the pictures i emailed last week. i was able to find a cafe that allows me to plug my camera into the computer to email pics. ok well, i'll write you soon and tell you more about whats happening here for me but until then take care and i love you!

- elder newbold

January 4, 2010

hey there fam!

sry i didn't email last week, i kinda couldn't, so i'll tell you more about that. beginning last sunday evening the 27th, there were riots outside our apt. and throughout the town. apparently there was one muslim man who had been killed in a bar, that saturday night before, so they buried him on sunday and then that evening is when everything started. the muslim boys got together and grouped themselves and started destroying things in the town, so it wasnt safe to go outside. so monday morning came and the police kinda settled things down, but the riots continued and we still couldn't go outside. it was pday and we were planning on having an activity as a zone, to go and play soccer, but we weren't sure if we'd be able to get out of the city. luckily things were calm enough for us to leave and then come back that night, so we were blessed. tuesday came and in the morning we went out and proselyted but then in the afternoon we had to come inside again cause the riots started again. so that's when they brought in the military and settled things down. so sunday night through wed morning, we were hearing gun shots, and things were kinda crazy, but in the end we're safe and so things are good now.

so that's why i couldn't email, but now him happy to be talking with you again. christmas was wonderful and i'm very happy that i was able to talk with everyone. um i already bought the mp3 player and also a memory card, for one of the elders here. so make sure you send both those things along with the calcium capsules, thanks so much.

i'm glad to hear my hand-written letter finally got to you, sometimes it does take a really long time in pouch.

thanks for answering those questions i had, dad, it cleared things up pretty well for me. so how was everyone's new year celebration? i hope you all had a great time and stayed safe. oh by the way, i'm now in a 3-some for companionship, because one of the other elders went home a few weeks early for school. so now i'm experiencing what it's like to have two companions. it can be difficult at times but i'm sure we'll get through it okay until transfer when a new missionary will come.

so that's all for now and i'll talk with you all soon. love ya!

- elder newbold

November 30, 2009

hello again!

this week went by very fast and i'll let you know some of the details and stories. but first, to answer those questions. about the phone call, i will be the one to call you on that day and i'll be calling from my apartment cell phone, so i hope the reception will be okay and you'll be able to hear me. but i'll find out what time i'll be calling on xmas day. i'm fine with stamps here, i'll let you know if i ever need some more soon. but i think i'll be okay with the ones i've got. the packages have not yet arrived, according to my knowledge, yet. but i'm sure they're on their way. and if they've arrived, then i'll be getting them this week from the zone leaders. so i'll let u know more on that as well. my companion does get some email, but not from family. his family doesnt have any email address that they can talk with him through and i'm not sure if they know how to work a computer either. but i'll ask him if he'd like for you to email him too.

it is getting drier here each day and i've had to start using lotion cause of the dry weather. but oh well i'll get used to it. it's still humid though and hot.... so that hasnt really changed.

i'm jealous to hear the family was all over for thanksgiving. i didnt really have much of a celebration for that holiday here haha. so it was just a normal thursday here in ghana. dad, good luck with the book and that work concerning it. i'm excited to see how it's progressed and finally to see the final product. i'll buy one from you, okay? haha.

it's good to hear your being missionaries back at home in our neighborhood. keep it up and look for any opportunities to help and serve them. just like ammon in alma 17-... it's an amazing story and we've read it many times with our investigators.

this week we had a baptism and it went well. there was a problem in the neighboring village, with their baptism and they could not get any running water for their font to fill up. so they traveled over to our chapel and we had a combined baptism. the biggest one i've ever seen haha. 14 people baptized. so that was pretty cool to see, but it was pretty long too and it started an hour late haha.

i'm glad to hear i'm a full tithe payer haha. as the bishop declared. so i'm happy for that. time is running out here at the internet cafe, but i love you all. tell dan not to get sick anymore. i'm curious how his car is doing and if he's still using my phone or what.

i do have alot of questions from the scriptures, dad, so i'll be writing a letter to you and hope that you can answer them for me. thanks for everything and i'll talk with you all very soon! bye

- elder newbold

November 23

hey there fam!

it's good to hear about the activities going on back home and to hear about the nice cold weather that i'm jealous about. you wipe snow off, and i wipe sweat off... they're a little different haha. so today i had the wonderful opportunity to go to Kakum Forest, about 30 mins drive from Cape Coast. we went as a zone and had a great time there. we walked across a rope bridge that is about 100-120ft in the air. so i took pics and i'll let you see them when i figure out how i should safely send my memory card to the U.S.A. so until then you'll have to just imagine what it looks like, or you can look up the national park online. i'm sure you'd be able to find some pics there, of the forest. so it was a fun experience.

this past week was fun and interesting at times. i was hugged by a drunk man haha and everytime i see that same man, he always asks my name and where i'm from. so this was the 4th time i've met him, but the first time that he actually hugged me haha. it was pretty unexpected, but funny.

i had the opportunity to tell one of our investigators the story of how i first received my testimony of the church and that was probably the most i've ever felt the spirit. when i testified, i could physically feel something inside of me and... it's hard to explain, but even just talking about it, i feel that same way. so i'm very grateful to have that strong testimony in the church and in Jesus Christ. it's amazing how it works, but that same girl who i was bearing my testimony to, said that she too could feel and see that i knew the church was true. it was an amazing experience all together. hey there fam!

it's good to hear about the activities going on back home and to hear about the nice cold weather that i'm jealous about. you wipe snow off, and i wipe sweat off... they're a little different haha. so today i had the wonderful opportunity to go to Kakum Forest, about 30 mins drive from Cape Coast. we went as a zone and had a great time there. we walked across a rope bridge that is about 100-120ft in the air. so i took pics and i'll let you see them when i figure out how i should safely send my memory card to the U.S.A. so until then you'll have to just imagine what it looks like, or you can look up the national park online. i'm sure you'd be able to find some pics there, of the forest. so it was a fun experience.

this past week was fun and interesting at times. i was hugged by a drunk man haha and everytime i see that same man, he always asks my name and where i'm from. so this was the 4th time i've met him, but the first time that he actually hugged me haha. it was pretty unexpected, but funny.

i had the opportunity to tell one of our investigators the story of how i first received my testimony of the church and that was probably the most i've ever felt the spirit. when i testified, i could physically feel something inside of me and... it's hard to explain, but even just talking about it, i feel that same way. so i'm very grateful to have that strong testimony in the church and in Jesus Christ. it's amazing how it works, but that same girl who i was bearing my testimony to, said that she too could feel and see that i knew the church was true. it was an amazing experience all together.

i'm happy to hear about the family doing well. dad's work is going well and i can't wait to see the finished book. good luck with everything going on and i'll speak with you on the phone soon. i'm amazed that November is already almost over and December begins. we have a baptism coming up this Saturday, so we're praying that it'll go on successfully. i'm grateful for all your love and prayers and i can feel that comfort. did you ever receive my letter? or is it still in the mail and hopefully not lost? anyway, let me know. i'll give you more info on how and when i'll call home for xmas. so until next week, goodbye and i love you all!

- elder newbold

November 17: Power Outage

so you're probably wondering why i didn't write yesterday, but don't worry i have an excuse. the electricity was out all yesterday and part of this morning, so i had no chance to email, and thats that. but now i'm happy i have the chance to talk with you, so here goes.
to start things off, we finally saw a session of general conference and it was fabulous. i've waited this whole time and it definitely paid off, cause the second i saw and heard the choir, the spirit was very strong and i truly hope the others in the congregation felt the same way. the messages were great that i heard and i really was so grateful to hear some real american english... i dont get too much of that here and so now i appreciate it much more haha. i'm really not sure why it took so long for conference to arrive, but out of all 6 sessions, i only saw the morning session of sunday. but still i'm blessed to see and hear that.
this passed week was interesting at times and good at times. to answer some of your questions, i still get called 'Obroni' and i think that'll be the same way for as long as i'm white and living here haha. especially this week too... cause as i was walking with my companion, we passed by a school of little children. as soon as they saw me, they all started chanting 'obroni, obroni' so that was definitely an experience to remember :) it rained a lot this week and so at times the weather was a little cooler, but the humidity is still a killer. at night is cools down a little, but i still have to have a fan on me all night or else i'll drown in my own sweat haha just kidding, but it's difficult to sleep when its that hot, believe me. oh by the way i saw dad in testaments when we watched it sunday night with a recent convert. so once again i see your face, father.
i hope my letter arrives to you guys there soon. i'm sure it'll come this week, and if not, then it's lost somewhere. but i'm looking forward to the packages coming here also, and hopefully in a good condition, safely. thanks a ton for those xmas gifts haha. i'm glad to hear you successfully hacked my safe as well, good job.
it's good to hear everyone's doing good and works continuing to keep you busy. keep it up but don't kill yourselves off by working too hard. i also got an email from gma lindsay finally and successfully, so let her know. in the letter that you should receive, i also wrote gma lindsay, so deliver that note to her, if you could, please and thank you.
i'm eating a certain stew everyday, that my companion makes. so, i'll have that along with fish or rice or some other native dishes here. we have bananas, papaya, plantain, oranges and a few other fruits that we eat, oh and especially pineapple... how could i forget that. so the food here is good and keeping me full all the time, which is good. for water, people sell pure water here, basically everywhere, so its safe and usually cold, which is the best.
good luck with the book and work, dad, i hope all goes well with that. i'm excited to see some of the art in the book.
tell everyone hi for me back home and i'm glad they remember me haha. i can't picture snow right now, let alone being cold. i'd give money to be cold... but anyway, the time will come when it'll happen.
i'll write more next week and tell you some more experiences that i've had here. we do have a baptism planned for the 28th of November, so we're sure that'll work out. but we're looking forward to that. so, i'll talk with you all next week and until then, God bless and i love you. cya soon.
- elder newbold

November 9, 2009

hey fam!

it's good to hear from y'all again. things have gone well here this past week. on saturday we had 3 baptisms like planned, which was a blessing. so within the 2 months i've been in swedru, i've been blessed with 7 baptisms already. the people here accept the gospel so nicely, but we need to keep helping them come to church. yesterday, on sunday, one of our candidates to be confirmed didn't show up, so we had to run to his house quick. haha. but luckily everything worked out, and we made it back to the chapel in time for him to be confirmed as well. so it worked out and we were helped by the spirit.

i'm glad my letter arrived at carol's so soon—i didnt know how long it would take for it to get there, but i'm happy she received it. i also sent a letter last week, home, so you'll have to let me know when you get it. it also has the pics that i sent to carol in it. so you can finally see a little of me.

this past friday, we had district meeting in another village called odoben, which is north of swedru. so me and my companion instructed there and i taught on patience, a very important Christ-like attribute. it went smoothly and i had a lot to talk about.

i'm still healthy here and have been continually blessed, so thanks again for all the prayers for all of you! they truly help me every day to keep going. the work's hard but worth it and it's easy to see the rewards already from hard work.

i hope everyone is okay back home, and i'll talk with all of you very soon! keep up the good work going on there with each one of you. i love you all and will see ya soon!

- elder newbold

November 2, 2009

Hello again family,

This week went by quickly. Monday was pday, and then the next two days I stayed home cause of my sunburnt neck from going to the beach. Ya I didn't use sunscreen like I said last week, so I suffered the consequences. So Tues. and Wed. I stayed in the apt cause my shirt would rub against my neck and ya... painful. So I felt bad that i couldn’t go out and visit with people, but now i'm better and I went back out on Thursday. Then Friday we had a zone conference in Cape Coast with another zone. So we heard from our president and his assistants. It was a good meeting.

This Saturday we have 3 baptisms, so they weren’t last Saturday, but this coming one... so we're praying that they'll come in the morning and be baptized, if all goes according to plan.

I received letters this week, from back in the beginning of sept. cause they were sent to the mtc and i was sent out to the mission, so i just received those that you sent i think at the end of august haha. so i'm glad i finally got them.

I also weighed myself this past week and I weigh 140 lbs now... so i continue to get fat haha. i started the mission at about 127... so i calculated that if in just these2 months i've been out, I've gained almost 15 pounds, I'll be REALLY fat when i get home. I'm not sure I'll continue to gain weight though, but we'll see. Who knows.

Well I hope everyone is ok and things continue to go well in Utah for all. Ghana is great and really hot all the time haha. So be glad you have snow, cause I'd rather be cold than hot. Ok I love you all and will talk with you soon!

- Elder Newbold