Dear Family,

BAMF stands for Brother Anxiously Maturing Ferociously.

Well another week has gone by and things are starting to pick up. The weight of training is still a heavy burden but I am still having fun. If I am not enjoying my mission, I'm doing something wrong. When I first came I thought it was going to be work, work, work. We work hard, then we play hard.

Elder Rogers is already a changed person since I first met him. He still has some American in him, but that will go with time. He is now in the coolest zone in the entire mission and I hope he enjoys himself because things will probably never be as good. We get along almost all the time, lol. I was reading my journal from the days when Elder Akoki was training me. I wrote that my companion and I got along great but sometimes, especially when he turned around to ask me if I was ready for companion study, I just wanted to hurt him. I'm sure Elder Rogers feels the same way about me sometimes, but over all we love each other. You can't choose your father or your sons so you might as well love them.

This past week has been full of mixed emotions. Some days I wake up ready to enjoy myself, because I only have a year to go in Ghana. The same day, I'll take a short nap at lunch time and wake up feeling like every part of me wants to be home RIGHT NOW. I have an entire year to be here. None of me wants to go home, but sometimes I just want to be finished and home. I hope that makes sense. I've just been stressed out like never before because everything is on my head. Today has been pretty sweet though. We went to Bantama, then hung out in town where we bought some Dr. Pepper and a new guitar for Elder Vanchierie. Elder Vancherie, Elder Mbong, Elder Holmes, Elder Yaggi, Elder Rogers, and I always move together in a group. We are all in the same district so we are pretty tight. This is the coolest district and zone I have ever had. Overall, I am enjoying myself even though my patience is being pushed to the max for a multitude of different reasons (my companion isn't one of them).

We had a baptism yesterday that was completely crazy. We have to do all our baptisms at the Asuoyeboa chapel so everybody gets shipped out in a tro tro right after church. Asuoyeboa was having their own baptism so tons of people were there. The original plan was to have our own service right after theirs ended. However, the other bishopric came out and started rushing our candidates telling us that they had to join their service. Everybody was so uptight since there were tons of people there. I was mad because they were acting as if the members were a paying audience who had to be kept happy. Now when you ask the people who were baptized for Abuakwa what their baptism was like what will they say? Well, I don't really know, I got there and I was rushed to the water to be dunked. It was just bad. Elder Rogers did get to do his first baptisms though. He did well except for when he was trying to hold their head instead of their back. Africans don't get around water very much so they are hard to baptize. Instead of helping you out by bending their knees, they straighten their legs and pretty much freak out. It's like trying to dunk a scared cat. Other then that, Elder Rogers did well.

We baptized a kid named Afriyie and his brother Tony attended the service. We contacted Tony at this house when Afriyie wasn't around. After the service, Elder Rogers asked Tony if he wanted this for himself one day. Tony told him that he would definitely want to be baptized one day. He hasn't been taught anything, but I'm sure the day will come very soon.

The work is moving forward in Abuakwa. We found about eight investigators this week so we're getting more busy. Some are downright crazy so we're going to have some fun breaking Elder Rogers in. He can teach really well so I'm not afraid for him. He will probably end of being my favorite companion on mission which is hard to say because Elder Akoki and Elder Buah were BAMFs (Brother Anxiously Maturing Ferociously).

That's all for now. I have more to write next week since there is a lot planned for the next few days. Our temple trip got canceled so you should all go to make up for it. Instead we are having a special training day at the temple. We are going to learn about doing family history work and marriage. It should be awesome but... well it's not the same thing. Keep us in your prayers and remember your boring life is not boring to us on mission. Just tell us everything;)

I love you all!
Elder Harris

Ps.

It won't be long before another day
We're gonna have a good time
And no one's gonna take that time away
You can stay as long as you like

So close your eyes,
you can close your eyes, it's all right
I don't know no love songs,
and I can't sing the blues any more
But I can sing this song,
and you can sing this song
when I'm gone