Week 29

Dear Mom,
Yes I saw Elder Bradley and he is doing great. They split Teshie so now there are 8 missionaries instead of 6. Elder Larsen is now a zone leader which is pretty sweet. It was great to see everyone. Yes I got my camera back. No I got a charger so don't worry. Oh and I got the other package this week. Just a note when you send anything like shampoo shaving cream stuff like that just tape the lid down so it doesn't spill. The shaving cream spilled just a little bit.  

Just a lot of crappy fireworks. I am glad I no longer have to worry about stake dances. Alright that is pretty much it for this week. Nothing too exciting. 
love Elder Thornhill

Dear Father, 
Oh yes I almost forgot. That was yesterday. Happy birthday to Kasey then. You should have heard how long some elders talked to their families like 4 or 5 hours. I could not do that. I can't even do that when I'm home ha. Cool I can't wait to get it. 
Thanks dad for writing. I hope you have a great week. I love you.
Elder Thornhill

Week 28

The letters this week were very short because Mitchell calls us tomorrow! 

Hello, 
Ok I will probably call your phone and I'm not sure when I will call. There is still a chance I could Skype but I'm not sure. Yes I am still with Elder Thom. Its going good. Yes we have a ton of people we are working with. no I have not opened the packages.  
1. (Why don't you do anything on p day? Does you companion not like to do stuff?) Ah elder Thom doesn't really like to have fun and he doesn't like to do stuff so we don't do much on p day. But we wash clean email  home stuff like that.  
2. (Do you make your own fufu?  How do you make it?) No it takes way to long and is to hard but I know how to make it. you boil cassava and plantain till it is soft and then you pound them together to make like a ball sort of thing it's hard to describe. 
3.(Have you been sick at all?) Negative.
4. (Do you still sleep in a mosquito net?)  yes and it is pink. I don't want to get malaria 
5. (Will they put more missionaries in your area?) I don't know I guess we will see.  
I guess that is it for today love you 
Elder Thornhill

 Dear Father, 
That is so cool what Carly has done. It is so great. 
Yep that is correct. Elder Thom is going to work hard until the day he leaves. He really does not want to go home. He is always saying that he would switch me places if he could. so don't worry about that Elder Thom will work so hard these last 6 weeks. 
Thanks father 
Elder Thornhill

Week 27

Dear Mother, 
It will probably be best around 2 or 3 my time so like 8 or 9 your time. I'm, not sure how far ahead we are.  

1. (Why did you get a new bike?) Because my old one didn't have pedals and the back rim was bent.  
2. (Did you have transfers? Did some of your old companions get transferred?) Transfers are on Wednesday so I will find out tomorrow if I am going anywhere.  
3. (Did you get to go to the temple?) No. We went to the temple site but we didn't get to go do a session. I don't know when we will be going next. I think in January.  
4. (Who are you working with?)  Agnes, Stella, Elizabeth, Kwame, Charles, Veronica, Douglass, Ephramin, Sylvia. That is everyone we are focusing on this week. Stella came to church this week. I had never met her but she just came to church by herself. Those are the best. We are meeting her tomorrow. Veronica is also one of my favorites. We didn't see her last week but she came to church with her son Richmond. He is the coolest little kid. I love him. She needs to be baptized but we still have some concerns to work out there. A lot of our investigators have a hard time coming to church. That is one thing we are struggling with right now. We got 4 this week but we can have a lot more. 
5. (Did you have the baptism?) No we did not have a baptism. We are having one on the 29th. We have been working hard but it has been hard getting people to church and getting them to commit to baptism. But I am hoping we will have 3 baptized on the 29th. 
6. (How many new missionaries did you get in the last transfer?)  I'm not sure about last transfer but I know this transfer coming up on Wednesday there are like 10 elders coming and only one leaving so it going to be quite the transfer sheet. New areas are going to be opened. 
7. (Is it still hot there?) Yes and it will be hot till the day I leave here haha. But no its not to bad its hot but I have a sweet fan. That is the worst time to be hot is when you are trying to sleep. When the power goes out it's so hard to sleep without a fan. 
8. (How is your companionship?) Good. It is going good. I am learning to be patient and see the good in my companion. I am striving to be more Christ like and it has been going pretty well. 
10. (Do you ever do anything fun on p- day?) No not really. It's just the two of us so not really. We go to the cafe but that's about it. We went to the market and that is always an adventure. 
Things are going well. Don't worry about me I am doing fine. I love you mom
 Elder Thornhill 
  

Dear Father, 
My week was good. Yes I did talk to a bunch of strangers but that is pretty much the norm in Ghana. We stand out a lot here and they always speak to us in twi and when you respond they act as if they have never heard a white guy speak twi before ha. Wash our clothes clean buy food and go to  the cafe to email you guys. Elder Thom isn't one to have a bunch of fun so we haven't really done anything cool here. But it's cool. We haven't really done it yet and the ward mission leader teaches the investigators class. Just fun around trying to talk to investigators and members and try and have our coordination meeting. Sundays are kind of crazy sometimes.  

I actually did hear about the shooting. We went to a church members house yesterday and they have Ipads so someone was looking up the news and I saw that. Pretty crazy. I wouldn't have known if I didn't go to their house. We got fufu which was amazing. My first fufu FM. I usually have to buy it at a chop bar but not yesterday. and we also got fanice which is ice cream. It was great.  

"Francisco that's fun to say." That movie is so hilarious. I love it. "Then I walked through the forest of swirly twirly gumdrops then I walked through the Lincoln tunnel. My finger has a heartbeat. That s a nice dress its very purply. Debra you're so pretty you should be on a Christmas card." Those are all the lines I could think of ha. I hope things are going well for you and I love you. 

Elder Thornhill 

With Elder Thom

Elder Thornhill with Elder Bradshaw

Week 26

Dear Mother, 
Yes I did some exercise this week. Elder Thom is doing good. Oh yes the ward Christmas party, I am sure it was a great event. I think we are having a ward party on the 31st of December. I think it will be a Christmas/ new year's party. I have the best watch tan line the other elders make fun of me. Thank you for doing that mother. That's great. Preach My Gospel is so important. I wish I would have studied it more before coming on my mission.  

1. (Have you been hit this week?) No I was not hit this week but I did get a new bike. And it is pretty sweet. Now I can keep up with elder Thom haha. 
2. (How big is your area?) It's not that big. We can get around pretty fast by bike. But this week I realized how close to the mission home we are. Its only like 4 miles. For an activity the youth in our ward are walking from the chapel where we meet to the temple site which is right by the mission home.  
3. (How many missionaries are in your district?) There are 6 of us. The zone leaders, my companion an me and one other companionship. There is an elder in our district named Elder Beaufeaux. He is from Heber Arizona so we talked about that.   
4. (Who are our zone leaders?) My zone leaders are Elder Onyo and Elder Angelos. Yes it is the Elder Angelos you told me about. That is cool he's John's cousin's son. I'll have to tell him, He goes home this month.  
5.( Who are your district leaders?)  My companion Elder Thom is the district leader.  
6. (Do we need to send something for your camera so we can see some pics of you?) Well about that. I may have lent my camera to Elder Bradley last transfer so I have his super crappy camera and no cord to plug into the computer so that is why I haven't been sending pictures. Sorry I just knew that Elder Bradley would use the camera a lot more than me.  
But I do need that USB cable thing to be able to charge my music player. And I got the Christmas package this week. Sorry but I couldn't hold off on the Conference edition of the Ensign. I read most of it yesterday and today.  

Thanks mom for everything. This week has been great and we have our Christmas Conference on Thursday. I can't wait to see everyone and it should be a great time. I am also going to try and see Brother Ewduzie. A man from our ward said he had a message for me. This week I have been studying from the Doctrine and Covenants and I love it, It is such a powerful volume of scripture. The church is so true and I love being here in Ghana. I love and miss you mother. Elder Thornhill  

Dear Father,

Yes I did have a good week with Elder Thom. He is a great man. I remember the Christmas party we had that one year where the cultural hall was turned into an ancient city and everyone had to wear costumes. ha good times. 
Thanks dad. I don't know if I will get that good but maybe I can have someone write it out for me and then I can say it. It would be cool though. I hope everything is going well dad. I love you. 
Elder Thornhill

Week 25

Dear Mother, 
I am doing good mother.Thank you mom. It makes me feel good that you are thinking about me and that you care for me so much.That part always comforts me and helps me when I am having a hard time expressing myself or teaching. I think that will help a lot and I will try and do that more consistently. Thank you for all the advice and love mom. It really made me feel good. We have some good people lined up for this month and I am hoping that we will have a big baptism this month. 

1. (Who are you teaching?) we are teaching a lot of people. Some of the good ones are Wise, Foster, Edward, Kwame. Wise came to church on Sunday all by himself. We didn't even know who he was. He has an uncle who is a member and he said he wanted to be baptized so I extended a baptismal date for the 29th and he accepted. Foster is also a man who we contacted one night. He kind of came up to us and we were able to teach him on Friday. He has a lot of questions but he is a good man. Edward is an older man who is very interesting. My companion loves him but I think he is a little crazy but I guess that doesn't really matter. He came to church and he really liked it. Kwame is a small boy who has been to church many times. We also taught him yesterday and he wants to be baptized. Hopefully all these people will be baptized this month but I guess we will see. 
2. (Did you hit your head when you got hit by the car?) No mother nothing happened at all really. I was just a little shook up. 
3. (Transfers are when?) December 19th 
4.( How was the zone conference?)  It was amazing. President Judd is a spiritually powerhouse. It was such a great day. Oh and that reminds me. Thank you dad for the letter and also THE BUTTERFIELDS for the package. Thank you for the candy and the pictures. It was much needed. I was beginning to forget what starbursts taste like ha. 
5. (Have you seen Brother James?) No I have not. I probably won't see him for awhile because we don't go to the temple very often. 
6. (How is your ward?) Its pretty good. Its small but the members are very good. The second counselor in the bishopric reminds me of Patrick Brown a little bit. 
7. (How is Christmas celebrated in Ghana?) I have no idea. It hasn't really changed much around here. Alright thanks mom. 

Oh that was very nice of Amy. She is pretty great. I think you should definitely do that. But I don't really know what you should get her but I support the idea.  

Thank you again mom for everything. Soon we will be talking on the phone. That seems crazy. Everything is going well here so don't worry about your little boy. I shared this in sacrament yesterday in testimony meeting but if there is one thing I know that is that the Book of Mormon is true and that is the word of  God written for our day. The church is true. I hope you have a great week mother. 

Ok that is it mom. Thank you again for everything. You are the best I hope you have a great week. Love you 
Elder Thornhill

Dear Dad, 
I know how to say friend in Twi but I can't really spell it. Twi is a sweet language by the way and I love when I say something and the people get all excited. There are some other hymns that I like these days as well. There are also some hymns that are going to be forever in my mind as Ghanaian hymns because we sing them so much. But they are great. I love the hymns.   

Thanks dad. You are the best. I hope everything is going well with work and with your calling. The joke was pretty good this week. Eye Co. That means like good going or well done in Twi.  

Elder Thornhill