Week 11

Dear Family, 

Thanks for the updates and I just finished emailing Erica and she sounds like she is doing good. (What does your apartment look like?) The apartment is very plain I actually have some pictures that I will try and send soon. It's very simple. Concrete floors very simple toilet and shower. Just two beds in the rooms and a little closet thing. (Who are some of the people you are working with?)  Ricahard and his wife. He's been to church a few times and he's great. He's getting married this month and I think he's very interested in eternal marriage. Saul as well he's 24 and we introduced the Book of Mormon to him last week. He is great and his girlfriend is a member. I really hope we can get him to church. I think it will take some effort but I know he will love it when he comes. (What is the funniest thing that has happened to you since you have been in Ghana?) Umm  funniest thing I don't really know. There's a lot of funny things but we burned a shirt last night because it was my companions one year mark. So that was pretty cool. (How long does it take you to wash your clothes?) Today I think we did it in about an hour and a half. It went fast today and its good cause I do it with Elder Bradshaw. (What are the stores like?) A lot are just little shops that people have. There are very few stores that you actually walk in and the stuff is more expensive there anyway. So there is just a lot of stands with stuff to buy.   

Kasey it's great to hear from you and I'm sure goodwill is as good as ever. I hope school is going well and that's cool dad bought a jacket for Skyler. yes Randolph was fun and a great experience I hope you enjoyed it. The food is ok and I'm still getting use to it but I'm sure I will love it eventually. Have a great week and stay hipster.  

Thanks dad that update about Randolph was great and is sounds like you had a great time . I'm sure Randy will love to talk to you in the next life. Thanks Dad you are the best. I hope work is good and you are enjoying taking the bus and being a desk jockey ha. I hope the calling is going well and I'm sure it's a lot of work but very rewarding. I love you dad and I miss you. You are a great example to me and I hope your week is great. ha thanks for the joke and it's good to see James has a mission call. 

Carly it's good to hear from you and it sounds like everything went great. The pep rally sounded pretty legit so good job with that. Yea that stinks about the game but you can't win them all right. That's sad about Kristin's mom and that's sad. her mom was pretty sweet. I love you all and I'm having a great time here and this work cannot be stopped. I love it here and I hope all of you have a great week I love and miss you all. 

Love Elder Thornhill

Week 10

Dear Family, 

Good to hear from you Carly. I'm sure you are getting excited for buff week and I know the pep rally will go great. I'm sure the seminary party was fun. Congrats on being captain that's great. I've never been captain of anything ha. Yes spread the nectar love. America is a great place. That should be exciting to hear from Erica. Thanks again Carly have a great week and good luck with everything. 

Thanks for all the questions dad ha. Teshie is pretty big I'm not really sure how big but there are enough members to have three wards. We just work in one ward the other elders are in another ward and then the sisters are in the last ward. We all make up the Teshie district. The ward is good not as good as the other elders ward but the bishop is good and a lot of people come. I like it and its like my bed is a little tent. I sleep very good. Yes we actually got a another white guy in the apartment on Wednesday so I played with him. His name is Elder Bradshaw from Alpine,  Utah. He's really sweet and we have a lot in common. It's good to talk to him. I'm sure mom did great and tell her thanks for the shout out. Oh yes I remember when we did that. That should be a great experience. Skyler better get his eagle. Thanks dad I hope all is well with the bishopric and I know you are doing a great job. I love you too. 

Hi mom. The new missionary is great. He really made me thankful that I have not gotten sick at all and that I haven't really been homesick at all either. I have been very blessed with being out here and the Lord is watching over me. we have 4 elders that live in our apartment. My companion is from Zimbabwe and so it the other elder in the apartment. Yes we eat at members homes a lot and they make pretty good food. The city is crazy and its always an adventure to ride our bikes to the chapel. The chapel is like in the middle of town where it's the busiest and our apartment is kind of far away so we get to ride there. Dad said you did great on Sunday and I'm sure you have a great talk. Oh and thanks for the package. I got it this week. The candy was great and didn't last long ha-ha but really thank you for sending all that stuff. The youth are great and very faithful and we are over one ward. They treat us very well so that's good. Thanks mom for everything. I'm glad Marshall is coming over and tell him I still hate the Lakers haha he'll like that.  

Nicki it look like life is cheer and school but that's good. I'm sure the game will go good and cheer your little heart out haha. Good luck with school and I know if you work hard you will do fine. Have a great week. Abbey I hope all is good and enjoy high school. I hope cross country is going well and I know you will do great. 

This week was another great week and I've really realized how blessed I am and how hard it is for some people to adjust to mission life and living in Ghana and being away from there family. I really have been blessed and Heavenly father loves me. The church is true and I hope all is well in Tempe and know your little boy is doing fine in Africa. 

Love Elder Thornhill

Week 9

Dear Family, 

Wow this was a long letter this week. It's good to hear from all of you and I'm very grateful that I hear from you every week. Yes transfers are on Wednesday and the other elder in our apartment is training and I think it's going to be an oh bruni. It will be nice to have a another white person to talk too. thank you for the prayer for the 4 banger. it needs all the help it can get. I hope Nicki is treating it well. Ah dang my honey badger is letting me down. It will be good to hear from him.  

Here's the letter:

The work here in Ghana is very good and people are ready to hear the gospel. It's great to see the African saint and the great faith that they have. We teach a lot and I have had the great privilege of baptizing a few people. The food is a little different but I'm surviving and things are definitely very different. I am loving my mission and the great joy that comes with     sharing the gospel.  

Carly it's good to hear about your first week. I'm sure you will do fine and the pep rally will be great. Congrats on number 1 that's great. I'm sure you are very busy with school and everything but make sure you don't forget about the Lord. If I can tell you one thing to do that is do read your scriptures every day. It will give you great strength.

Abbey yes I did have Mrs. Reynolds and she was a great teacher you will like her. That's good about cross country and I know you will do great this year. Remember to practice hard and I know you will succeed. I hope you like seminary and make sure you give 100% when you are in class and you will learn so much. 

Kasey it's good to hear from the little hipster. I know school is not cool but you have to do it. Try to enjoy it as much as you can. Goodwill is the best and when I get home we will have to do some shopping sprees at goodwill. thanks for repping the gun socks make me proud.    

Mom wow six weeks is a long time. The gift of tongues is there mom pray for it ha. I'm sure you will have the chance when you convince dad to go on a mission. Thank you for asking for my advice, I'm sure you will get much greater advice in the temple but ill share what I'm thinking. Tell the young women to never think they are too cool to follow the standards. Don't think you are too cool and that I can go to this party and not drink and just hang out. That's one thing I regret is going to parties. I was tempted and the situation is just not good. You can have so much more fun with people that are not drunk. Never think you're too cool to friend that person that is sitting alone in class or to help someone in need. You are never too cool to follow the standards and be more Christ like, Well that I'll I got I hope it helps a little and if not I'm sorry.  

"Be more specific on the details." Like details about what? Oh I have an experience. We found this man named bright and started teaching him. I bore him my testimony that I know that God knows his name and loves him so much. It was a great moment and I felt the spirit so strong.  

I had to wash all my clothes today by myself. Usually the Ghanaian missionary helps me but since he's leaving I thought I might as well get use to it. My hands are sore but I feel good. We had a FM yesterday and I ate fufu with groundnut soup. It's hard to describe what it's like but it's not too bad. It seems crazy that I've already been out for one transfer. It will be interesting to have another white man in the apartment and I'm sure I'll have stories about that next week. One thing that I have been studying and trying to more fully understand is the Atonement. It is central to the Plan of Salvation and is so important. Oh I almost forgot I got to go to the temple this week on Thursday. It was so great and just what I needed. WE walked to the independence square and that is where the picture is taken. The President of Ghana died last week so they had his funeral this week. This week was great and I hope that this upcoming week is better and that I can strengthen my testimony and teach better. I hope all is well and good luck girls with school and with everything else. I love you all and miss you. 

Love Elder Thornhill

Week 8

Dear Family,

Thanks for talking to Brad it means a lot. The work is good. We have a lot of investigators to teach. My companion is good we are very different but its good. Its teaching me to live with someone very different and its definitely teaching me patience. I think that something very important that I need to learn here. 

Yes Mom the weeks actually do go by very fast. A lot faster than I would have thought. I'm glad you had fun at your class reunion and made good use of the champ hat haha I'm sure that was a funny sight. Yes It was an investigator that is a white guy that's my age. He is doing service at an orphanage here and so we taught him and some of the orphans. He was just difficult to teach and very stubborn.

Carly it sounds like senior year is already going great. One thing I kind of regret now is not being super involved but you don't really have to worry about that cause you are very involved. Enjoy your senior year and you only live it once so take advantage of it. It is great. Wow I'm surprised Erica cut her hair so short. But have fun at school and good

luck.

This week was good. We didn't have any baptisms but we taught a lot and found a lot. I realize that one great way to strengthen your testimony is by sharing it. I bore my testimony to an investigator and it really helped me to receive confirmation from the spirit that what I was saying was true. The best way to gain a testimony is to share it so I would encourage everyone even the little girls to share their testimonies and I know that they will be strengthened. That about it for this week. We did a lot of cleaning today  and I'm going to cook some chicken later so I'm looking forward to that. The church is true and always do the little things to have the spirit and I know that everything will be ok, I love and miss you all.

Love Elder Thornhill