Week 59

Dear Family, 

Sounds like girls camp was fun. I am glad everyone had a good time. Well this week was good. We met some great people in our area. We contacted this one man but he wasn't very interested but his friend Ray was there and he was really interested and we were able to see him again and he is pretty sweet. We did some good finding and we saw pigs on Saturday and I petted some cows yesterday, I'll try and send some pictures. We have missionaries going home next week and we went to the art market and we saw the office elders from the other mission. I got dashed a cool mask so that was nice. nothing much to say the church is true. Hope everyone has a great first week at school. Love and miss you all 

Elder Thornhill

Dear Dad,  

We actually saw part of a stage when we were waiting for pizza one day. The office is good. We are doing good. We met some nice people and I am going to know this part of Ghana really well. Not yet still need to get a license but we are working on it. Thanks for everything love you dad

"Elder Nelson my son and me with our vans. He is an office elder in the Ghana Accra mission "

Week 58

Dear Mom, 

The only thing I can stress to the girls is a study of the scriptures. I have had that on my mind lately. As we study the Book of Mormon especially we will be able to explain our religion and our faith to anyone we come in contact with. As we treasure up the scriptures we will have that great desire to share what we have learned. That is something that I have seen is the difference is having a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is the great sieve and those that are ready for the Gospel will have an interest in that book.  

1. (Where did you move to? Do other missionaries live with you?) We moved like 10 minutes away to a new apartment. We live with the Assistants.  

2. (Are you able to find and teach?) Yes the office would kill me if we couldn't teach. We did some finding this week. But I am looking forward to this next week and being able to find more people to teach. 

3. (How long will you be an office elder?) It's usually about 6 months so we will see what happens. 

4. (Tell me about your companion .) His name is Elder Asay. He is very good with computers and things like that so he is perfect for the office. He was an office elder before in the Ghana Accra mission like 9 months ago so he has a lot of experience.   

Our mission got microwaves so we had to drive around and deliver those last week and also for the next few days. They are pretty nice. We went all over this week. It has been good. Sorry we had to do some things today so I have no time. Girls thanks for writing me. Have fun at Girls camp. I love you all 

Elder Thornhill

Dear Dad, 

I just need to get my international drivers license but I think we are working on it. Its stick so that should be fun as well ha. We don't meet with the mission president every day but he is in contact with us most days. Yes we live with the APs so we have to coordinate with them. Thanks dad I love you. Have a great week. 

Your Son

Week 57

Dear Mother, 

Sounds like a busy week. There is a new elder in the district from Ogden. He is pretty sweet. Our District has gotten very big. We now have 10 Elders and it used to only be 6.   

1. (Do you drive or do you have a driver?) We drive. I still need to get a license so Elder Asay is driving but we do drive. It's crazy sometimes but it is cool. 

2. (Do you work in the office every day?)Every day but Sunday usually. We have P day on Monday but we come to the office to email. On Saturday the office couple has their p day but we still come to the office.   

3. (How many missionaries from the old mission are in the new mission?) When the mission split Ghana Accra mission got about 120 and the new Ghana Accra west mission got about 90.  

4. He(How is the new mission president? Do you work with him every day?)  is really great. Different than President Judd but he is great. some days we don't see him but we usually see him on a daily basis but he is definitely a busy man.  

We had transfers on Wednesday so we had to wake up early to go to Tema to the MTC to pick up the new missionaries. Then we had to go to the airport to pick up a missionary from Lesotho. His visa came late so he was in the South Africa MTC. So we had to wait for him for awhile but he came and then we brought him to the office. After that we had to go to our old apartment and move our stuff out so the other missionaries could move in. Then we moved into our new apartment. We also had 2 missionaries stay the night with us because they got transferred to the bush and it was too late for them to travel. So it was a crazy day. Then the end the day we bought pizza and that was really nice. We had a busy week but it was good. We had to show the new elders around Alajo because they are both new but they are doing great. It has been crazy but it was a great week. I am still studying in the Doctrine and Covenants and I am enjoying it very much. Hope you have a good week mom love you 

Your favorite son. 

Thanks family for writing me. It means a lot. I love you 

Dear Dad, 

We drive a 15 passenger van around ha so we can haul all the supplies around. That has probably been the hardest part about being in the office is managing all the things we have to do. But we are doing better at managing our time but the other Alajo elders got most of our investigators so we have some finding to do. We are in the office now. The nice thing is that we don't have to pay.  Well dad I love you thanks for everything. 

Love Elder Thornhill

Week 56

Dear Mother, 

Sorry I didn't write you. The past few weeks I have tried to send you an email but it was rejected or something it just wasn't letting me send so I'm sorry hopefully this gets to you. We had a crazy week. 

Wednesday- We had to move the Dansoman sisters to an new apartment but we weren't able to finish completely. We had a MLC so we had to take lunches to that. Then we went shopping with the Office Couple for supplies for new apartments. And then later that night we went back to Dansoman and finished moving the sisters. I felt like I was in Elders Quorum but it was good. They were very grateful and I was happy to give them service. 

Tuesday- Sorry I'm skipping back but we traveled to Kasoa, Ashtown, and Buduburam to give the Elders supplies there. It was cool traveling to a different part of Ghana. 

Thursday- We had a Trainers Council so again we had to deliver lunches. Then we went to Amasaman. they have such a nice apartment. We are working with a Ghanaian and he helps us to lease building. His name is Ben Botwe and he actually served with Travis Gibson. So it is nice to work with him.  

Friday- We had a tri zone conference and there were a lot of missionaries there about 80. Then after that we went to Lartebiokorshie  

Saturday- Was a pretty crazy day. We traveled to Asamankese for a zone conference and that was about a 5 hour drive. we kind of took the scenic route so that we could pick up missionaries. so we went through Kwabeng, Abomosu, Asuom, Kade and then finally made it to Asamankese. It was a sweet drive. the road was full of pot holes so it was definitely an adventure.    

But on Friday I saw Elder Wylie and he is serving in my last area Mataheko. So when I was there with Elder Scanlan, we contacted a lady named Juliet at her house and taught her right then. She was very emotional and cried a lot which is something you don't see very much in Ghana, but I didn't think too much of it. So we continued to teach her and she was progressing but I was transferred so I never really found out what happened to her. So on Friday Elder Wylie was talking to me about Juliet and he told me that they had just taught her a few days ago and she really opened up to them and kind of told them the full story of when me and elder Scanlan contacted her. So she told them that the day we contacted her she was feeling very depressed and was planning on committing suicide by taking some rat poison and she was just waiting for her sister to leave. But right before her sister left we knocked on her door. She said at first she didn't want to talk to us but her sister convinced her. And she said that as we taught her we made her feel good again so she no longer wanted to end her life. and now she has committed to baptism as Elder Wylie told me and he said that she has just really felt that Spirit and it has made such a difference in her life. so I am extremely grateful to my Heavenly Father for putting me exactly where I needed to be to help literally save one of his daughters. As I have been pondering about this it has so much strengthened my testimony. I am grateful that He was able to use me to help someone in need.  

Yes I got the package thank you and we have a new address as well so you will have to inform everyone. 

Ghana Accra West Mission 

PO Box 12741 Accra North 

Accra 

Ghana 

My companion is Elder Asay from Utah he is great. We get along well so it has been good so far. President hill is great as well and it has been good getting to know him. Things are going well here. I hope this is long enough for you. Have a great week I love you 

Elder Thornhill

Dear Dad, 

I am doing great. I am in the West Mission. I am serving in the office and an office Elder. Elder Asay came to my area Alajo so still the same area. The President is a lot different than President Judd. But I like him a lot. He has a lot of great ideas and I know the mission will be successful. Thanks dad this was a crazy week. We have transfers again on Wednesday because of the mission split. Should be a good week. Love you dad 

Elder Thornhill

Week 55

Hey mom I tried to email but it's not working very well. Like it's not letting me send the email but hopefully everything is ok. I am doing well I don't know if this will get to you but everything is good. my week was good. I got a new companion Elder Asay. We have a new mission President, President Hill. It is an exciting time to be in Ghana. Things are going very well. I am going to be very busy for the next few weeks. We just had a transfer last week but we are having another one next week because of the new mission. But I love you have a great week.