POST 91

Hello Family,
          Well today we came to town (Kumasi) and went to the cultural center and bought a few things like hand weaved baskets and smocks. Ha.. And now I’m finally able to send a few pics.
          So church yesterday was great! We had 12 investigators come, but still a bunch that wanted to didn't make it. We are hoping for maybe 3 possible baptisms this next month.
          It finally rained for the first time in 2 months. Just enough to clean the roofs off and keep the dust down, but now its starting to pick back up. It’s been pretty over cast, so it holds the heat down and the humidity. But for the most part things are OK.  We haven’t had power hardly at all. Maybe each day we get if for a few hours, just enough to charge our phones and cool our water in the fridge.  It’s a good thing we don’t store much food in the fridge or we would be out of luck.
          We have been able to make progress with our people. Owusu John is a man who came to church on his own last Sunday. We were able to meet him on Saturday. He is a guy that is really prepared and ready to receive the gospel. We actually contacted his house a while ago with the help of the Spirit, but we did not meet him, and some time down the road he found us.
          The snake skin I bought a few weeks ago was 200 cedis, which was a pretty good buy. The man started at 350 and I got him down because I bought other stuff from him, so now I’m his customer.  So the snake skin rolls up. They say they have regulations on importing fruits and animals from other countries into the USA; so I’m not sure how to get him home, or should I send it through the mail?
          Sounds like things are going good back home and you are all doing fine and enjoying life. It’s going to be a shock for me to get back and actually have lights for more than a few hours a day. Haha… Well better go!  Take Care! May God Bless!
                                    Love,  E. Blackburn

Cleaning up the official church building in Offinso.

Inside the new building.

Companion (Elder Ilunga) with my "purchase of a lifetime."

POST 90

Hello Everyone,
          Well yeah, everything is OK.  Last week I was at a crappy cafe and waited and waited for your email to send, but I guess it didn’t?? I apologize.   But on the bright side, we moved into our new chapel building yesterday. It went very well.  We filled the sacrament hall with…. I think there was 50 or 60 chairs. and they were all full with a few people out side on chairs. The thing that was cool was there were lots of little kids in the primary room. It was completely full!! Also, we had 3 baptisms which was also great.  We spent Saturday morning cleaning the yard and building for Sunday.  We burned weeds and leaves, and such. We even saw a snake. It was a yellow mamba! It made a quick escape! We weren’t fast enough to kill it.
          So the power has been really crappy the past week and a half.  There’s outages everyday. It comes and goes like flies. We get it for maybe 6-12 hours a day, so its not easy to get much done. It just seems like the norm around here now. Just as long as we have water I can put up with it.
          Transfer news was Friday. President Holmes released me as DL and said I’ll be staying in Offinso for another transfer with my companion. He said he is real happy and pleased with the work in Offinso. As a district so far for the month of January we have had 7 baptisms, and still have two more Saturdays to go. Now that we have the new chapel, things are going to go a lot smoother. It will be great once they get the font erected.
          The investigators are doing fine. We have 5 or 6 pretty solid progressing ones. They for the most part just have small farms. They raise, yam, plantain, casava and corn. They seem to do pretty well and can survive on eating and selling a few acres of produce.
           I’ve been unable to send pictures from these small little crappy café’s.  They all have virus’s so when I try to send pictures they will never download. Next week we are going to go to Kumasi and start to buy some things.
          It sure sounds like everything is running smoothly and doing well back home. Spring is somehow around the corner. Haha… When I left it was snow and cold, and when I come home it will probably be the same.  I’ll probably freeze to death!!
           Well I better go. I need to find something to eat. There isn’t much to find on the streets of Offinso that a guy can be satisfied with and not get sick. Fried rice is pretty hard to come by, its only around at nights. But anyway I have made the purchase of a life time last week. I bought an 11 foot python skin that’s about 2 feet wide. I got it for a steal of a deal!!  The only problem is getting it home and past airport security.
                               Till next week. Love you all.
                                               Love E.Blackburn

POST 89

Hi Everyone,
          The New Year was good. That is good to hear that people are still thinking about me over here.  Mostly everyone probably feels like I have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Haha… Well yeah, it’s true, I have. Haha..   We didn’t end up going to Suame for New Years. We will go there on Tuesday night because on Wednesday we are having a Zone Conference at Bantama, with the Bantama and Obuasi Zones. Suame is a part of Kumasi when you are coming from Offinso. The Elder's names are Richman and Rindlisbacher, they are both from Utah.  So for us on Wednesday (New Years) we stayed up. Well just me, Gibson and Helgesen. Elder Ilunga went to sleep. I watched Gibson and Helgesen play chess, and I made one of the brownie mixes. That is pretty much all that happened.
          We are planning on moving into the chapel the next Sunday after this one. It will be great. We could have probably an easy 15 people come when we are in the new building.
          So another blessing that I have received while being on my mission is being able to see how the gospel can bless others, and how they can prosper while living the commandments.
          That is good to hear about the calving.  It sounds like it has turned to Winter.  Over here it is just getting warmed up. It’s starting into the dry season. This morning it was quite windy and dusty. They have graded the dirt road in front of our house which was a mistake. It’s just all powder and the tro tro’s just fly down it. All the roofs are just caked with at least a half an inch of dust. We have to keep our windows closed always now.
          That is about it for the news here. It sounds like everyone had a good time for New Years. Well I better go! Thanks for all you do.
                                                 Love,  Elder Ty Blackburn