"We were proselyting in his area, and we saw this chicken lying awkwardly on the ground, looking like it was dying. This guy came over, covered it with a huge metal bowl, and started banging on it with a coconut..."

Dear Family and Friends,

     This week went by extremely fast, probably because our building is finally being renovated. They are about halfway through right now. Now they are bidding that it'll be done mid-February, and we can start using it early March. I'm sooooo stoked, it will be such a huge blessing to this area. The work has been pretty slow lately as we are waiting for the building. We told most of our investigators that a building would be built soon, because it's exciting. Unfortunately, they all decided that they won't come to church now until they building is finished and it's convenient for them. Most of them only need to come to church to progress. So, I have a lot of random stories to tell this week.

     Elder James and I have been cooking like mad. Last Monday, we took 3 hours to make a stew, and it's a killer stew. We've been eating it for a week and it will last about a week more. The best thing to do with it is pizza. We just throw down some simple dough with egg, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and fry it with a lid to make a little oven.. I've been adding that taco seasoning I brought with me. Total it costs about 2-3 cedis making one ourselves, when buying one is about 15 cedis, and it doesn't taste as good. Also, I found real potatoes down here, so I made the most amazing, greasy, so-bad-for-you french fries. (I love you mom) :) We're having a hay-day down here. Dad, you should send me your recipe for salsa, I could make some killer salsa down here with all the fresh stuff. And Mom, in response to your question about protein, I eat tons of eggs, so my protein count is fine, but I will appreciate the calcium.

     We got a new, rechargeable light for our room in case of lights-out, and when I pulled it out of the package, I couldn't stop smelling it. It smelled so new! I haven't smelled something new in so long, ha,ha. You really enjoy the simple things down here.

     So, there is this school really close to our flat, and almost every morning the marching band marches around our building. It's really annoying when you're trying to do personal study, but I actually listened to the song they were playing yesterday and I recognized it. They are always playing Confederate marches. (Nate, it immediately reminded me of Fallout) I found it really ironic that they were playing those. If they only knew where those songs came from---the people in the U.S. fighting to enslave them. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

     I saw something hilarious on splits with Elder Carstens again this week. We were proselyting in his area, and we saw this chicken lying awkwardly on the ground, looking like it was dying. This guy came over, covered it with a huge metal bowl, and started banging on it with a coconut. We were laughing and asked the guy what the heck he was doing, and he said he was waking it up. Apparently he threw a rock at it to stop it from digging in the dirt and making dust, and he nailed it in the head. And he was trying to 'wake it up'. I just giggled to myself, because he probably gave it brain damage or something. But then, he grabbed it's neck, opened it's beak, and started blowing air down it's throat. Elder Carstens and I just about died watching this guy perform 'chicken CPR', which likely wouldn't work anyway.

     So, there is something really depressing that happens to white guys down here. You'll meet some people, start greeting them, and everything, then smile and say something to their baby or small child. Then said baby or small child immediately bursts into tears of bloody murder. It's really sad, because I've gotten pretty fond of kids down here, they are fun to meet and stuff. But some of them are deathly afraid of Obruni. :-).  Oh well.....

     But some people down here, mostly immature teenagers, love to come up to white guys and chatter Fante at them, and laugh about it amongst themselves because we haven't a clue what they are saying. At first, it made me kinda mad, but I found the greatest combat for it. I found that if you throw some Spanish at them, they panic, ha,ha. One particular time, some guys at a taxi station were doing this to Elder James and I, it was really rude actually, so I looked at them and said, "Yo quiero queso e un gato en me pantelones! E tu?" Ha,ha! That wiped the smiles off their faces, and they got all nervous looking. Then they asked me if I spoke English, I told them no and tossed some more Spanish around. It really ruined their joke. Haha so I've been dredging up any and all Spanish I know is floating around in my head.

     This week Elder LeGrand R. Curtis of the Seventy is coming to tour the mission, so we did a DEEP clean of our apartment this morning in case he rolls around for an apartment check. Our zone will be meeting with him for some kind of conference on Wednesday, so that should be cool. Also, Elder Quentin L. Cook is coming to Ghana for a training conference. Unfortunately, he will be staying in Accra, so we won't see him, but our Branch President will. Jealous.

     I have a long story about another investigator, but that will have to wait until next week. It's been an interesting time with him, but we are slowly finding the truth about him. So we'll meet! Yebesheya wye!

Love,

Elder Clinton Doggett