New Years in Swedru

Happy New Year I had a pretty good start to the year at a crazy festival and then the beach. A member took us on a little adventure today to the Fancy Dress Festival it was more like the freaky dress festival but still way cool. It's gonna be a good start to the year with a little bit of 2018 still in Ghana. My area is doing really good. Our days are busy and full of teaching the area has been known to be hard in the past but we are just going out with Faith and a lot of good is happening. The weekend was one activity after the next we have Swedru 1-4 and so a party for each of them kept us full and on our feet dancing. Ghanaians love dancing. I spent my day in the sun so I'm fried but enjoy the snow for me!  I love all of you!

Elder Christopherson

Work continues in Swedru

Hey crew life is good and work in our town is picking up! I did 9 baptismal interviews throughout the week so I have learned everyone's area now and I can finally get around and not be lost just took 3 weeks is all. I went on an exchange with Elder Steiner from Alaska so I shared with him the story of Great Grandpas Alaskan plane crash which took place around this time. My companion is having hip problems so he can't bike right now so we are walking all over our area and its dusty. ''The Harmattan is a season in the West African subcontinent, which occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.'' so I'm breathing in dust for air right now but the weather is less humid. Teaching in our area is going good we hope to baptize a couple more people soon!

I hope you all go out and do something worthy everyday.

 Elder Tommy

Tastes like Chicken

Hey Friends and Family another week has gone by and a lot has happened the past couple of days. We had an eventful Saturday, first we had a baptism for a few people, then from there it was straight to an organized march across the village. They called it a float but it was a marching band and I was at the head of it holding a banner sized invitation for the creation of the Asamankese Stake. After this weekend we will be a Stake instead of a District. We played volleyball and soccer afterwards to top it all off. The highlight of my week was seeing a few people at Church on Sunday that hadn't been in months. Oh almost forgot I ate a cat.. Weird part was that it was a pet to a man I interviewed for baptism and his love towards us resulted in us cooking a cat in our kitchen. It was delicious watch out neighborhood cats I'm home in 4 months! I love you guys thanks for all of the love and support.

Love Elder Christopherson

Oda in the Fall 2017

The Work continues in Oda

I have many months of pictures to catch up on, but here are a few from last week in Oda.

This week was full of unexpected stuff so really it was just a normal week. I will start with a story. I got a flat tire while proselyting in 100 degree weather so I pushed my bike to a repair guy in the market. I was sitting down waiting for my bike to get fixed when I noticed a fruit stand right next door. On my way I walked right into the side of a low metal roof in between the shops full speed and put a gash in my head. That's not the worse part they cut some hair so I have a bold spot on the top of my head. That's not the worse part either I had to go to a Hospital it was nuts! Rewind a few days to another story we went as a Branch to a village that I never even knew about. The tiny village is called Asim and to my surprise they had a Roundabout at the school. So I played around on that with the kids for awhile. I'm excited to explore a place I didn't even know existed in my area! Fast forward back to my head injury I pretty much laid low until Sunday when we traveled to Asamankese for General Conference. I really enjoyed the talk Elder Nelson gave about The Book of Mormon, and not just because he told a story while in Accra. As a mission we are reading two chapters a day in order to finish the book by the end of the year. In his talk he said that we will make better decisions every day when we prayerfully study from it every day. Give it a shot, see whats happens. Last month we had a goal of 125 baptisms as a mission and we reaches 161! 

Much love,

Elder Christopherson

''The Book of Mormon provides the fullest and most authoritative understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere'' (Russell M Nelson)

"Obedience makes us progressively stronger, capable of faithfully enduring greater tests and trials in the future". (Robert D Hales)

pics- bridge to Asim, roundabout, 5 star hospital.. or were there 6?, raining

Catching Up on Missionary Pictures!

Elder Christopherson transferred to the town of Oda, northwest of Accra and in the bush.  The primary language is Twi and he is loving the area.

Farewell Pizza in New Gwabe

Branch Members in New Gwabe

His new compnaion from Nigeria.  He is 27 and just finishing his mission!

Winds

Family friends and the rest of the Crew. This week I wanted to share something about sailing. "A tailwind is a wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object, while a headwind blows against the direction of travel. A tailwind increases the object's speed and reduces the time required to reach its destination, while a headwind has the opposite effect." When you're sailing and there is a tailwind you can just sit back and enjoy the ride using whats called a spinnaker or a sail designed for sailing off the wind. Headwind is a little different. How can you sail into the wind? You can achieve this by doing whats called tacking. Maybe you've seen this before but rather than going straight into the wind a crew changes the direction of the sail back and forth. The boom swings over your head and the direction of the boat turns. The sail boat then zigzags towards it's destination. It takes a little bit of work. You have to rely on your equipment like ropes etc..  that are designed to make moving up wind possible. I want to compare this to life. When the wind is strong and coming right at us moving forward can seem impossible, but God gives us the instructions on how to make it. It takes some work (tacking). The work I'm talking about is prayer, reading your scriptures and making good choices. The end goal or destination is making it back to Heavenly Father. We can't control the wind but we can still progress (sail upwind) in any and all conditions. I promise all of you that if you're tacking right now having to work harder in the head wind you are becoming stronger and learning. If you feel stuck try using the equipment God has given us to progress. If your sitting back relaxing on a spinnaker make sure you're going in the right direction and if you are it means you should have the energy to get out there and help those experiencing headwind.

Peace be the Journey

Elder Christopherson

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain