Dear Family,

Plenty of things have happened to Elder Akoki and I this week. First of all we had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Woodhouse and Elder Npanaukau (the currant Aps) on tuesday. Instead of doing the regular, boring contacting we've been doing for two weeks now, we decided we wanted to do some service. We all carried water in big pales for the bishop's wife Sister Nicol but we needed a lot more to fill the time. After driving around for a little while, Elder Lehr decided to call a recent convert named Grace to see if she had anything big enough for six elders. She said sure and we drove out to Atonsu. We didn't realise that her eldest brother is actually an Ashanti Chief who works under King Osei Tutu II. After talking with him for a half hour or so, we got to work mowing the lawn and weeding with machetes. It was nice to have a change in pace.

Elder Woodhouse goes home on the 23rd of this month and the thing I admire most about him is that he DOES NOT WANT TO COME HOME. He's sprinting toward the finish line of a long hard race and refuses to slow down even when the win seems secure. I hope that one day I might be able be as dedicated as he is. He is a fine missionary and we are going to miss him a lot.

Lately we have been teaching a stubborn French woman who seems to think we are there to argue doctrinal points and discuss the bible, when really we are just there to deliver a message from Christ. We were discussing about the Great Apostacy and she just woudln't let us talk. Half way through I zipped up my scriptures because she knows the Bible so well and has a crazy view of everything we try to teach. In the end she told us in french that we have devils and that we are anti-Christs. You have no idea how much patience it takes to sit through this kind of lesson. I asked to to just pray about our message and she said that we should pray hard because we need Redemption. We still need to go back and finish The Restoration and then it's up to her. We did our part.

I'm still holding up well. We are slowly finding more people to teach and we aren't walking quite as much as last week. I am learning that there is sort of a pattern to missionary work. First you need people to teach so you go out contacting and looking for referals. Once you get a bunch of people you spend your time teaching them until they either progress or get dropped. Then all of a sudden you have nobody to teach and you have to start finding all over again. The sad part is that many of the people we teach have other reasons than finding the one true church in mind. Many just want to come to America while others think that the church will help them financially. Its a pain in the butt cause we can't tell who is who. Ghanains are experts at hiding their true feelings. To us they always look very nice and interested in the church, but often times they don't really care at all.

Our golden contact turned into kind of a funny story. Jerry disapeared after coming to church for two weeks. Every night we would stop bye to see if he was around with no success. Finally this past Saturday we stopped by in the afternoon and found him out side with a girlfriend. He was turned away from us facing his girlfriend. When he realised we were there he chucked his phone which hit the girl and turned to face us slowly. He said quitely and with a very serious look on his face that this girl makes him so mad he could kill her. He had his shirt off and I realised for the first time that he has a huge 'Thug Life' Tatoo across his stomach. Elder Akoki told me later that he really felt like he could have killed her. Well we invited him to church the next day and he didn't show up, but we are still going to to back and teach him if we get a chance. Who knows? He may really need our help right now and the Gospel could really change his life. I not lying when I say that I'm a little bit scared. lol

I'm sorry you've been missing me this week. I'm always missing home small small but I've come to get used to the feeling. I have so many dreams where I'm finished with my mission but for some reason I can only remember my first three transfers here. Everytime I wake up and before I open my eyes I ask myself if I am still in Africa. I always am.

Its funny that a Police CD made you think of me. I haven't been able to listen to the police at ALL and it drives me a little bit crazy. The songs still pop in my head from time to time though and it amazed me how I can still remember entire songs. I'm getting better at guitar but I'm always breaking the strings and they are so expensive for me. Oh well. Five strings is ok I guess:)

As for T-shirts I wouldn't mind if you just sent me some of my old ones. The only shirt I wear now is my Burbank Track shirt. You can send me my Eagles of Death Metal shirt and maybe some other darker shirts. They are just easier to clean:)

So I love you lots. I can't tell you how much I miss Santa Barbara and the Ocean. Hopefully we will get to walk down when we are in Cape Coast but I don't think we will have time. We are only going to be there one day and its about a 3 hours bus ride.

Well anyways! Bye Bye Brunis!

Elder Harris