E-mail dated 2/2/15

Mom and Family,

Well, another week (and month) has passed here in Africa and I'm still alive and doing well! I can't believe that it's already February. My first transfer here in Dunkwa (Doonk-wow) has really flown by as I have been insanely busy here. It sounds like everyone is busy back home as well! I was glad to hear about the Jazz and the Super Bowl. I hope everyone had fun and ate a lot of good food for me! I was excited to hear that you were able to meet Elder Von G. Keetch this week, I'll tell you more about his son in a minute! 

This week was somehow the most normal week I've had here in Dunkwa, which has been nice. No fonts to put together, no drills being used during sacrament meeting, no crazy disputes we've had to settle. It's been good! This week at church we broke the 100 mark which was really exciting. The amazing growth that we have seen has been incredible. The Lord has prepared this area for us and we are thinking that before we leave here Dunkwa could become a district. We are anxiously looking forward to that day! President said that our papers to become a branch have been submitted and that it now needs to be approved in Salt Lake before it can be sent back. He said it could take up to 90 days, so we will have to see! 

As an apartment we were invited to a random man's pig farm, so we gladly went on Saturday morning! It was crazy as he showed us his hundreds of pigs that he keeps in pens. It's actually very well kept, which was surprising! We are trying to buy one to kill and eat, so I will keep you posted on that. I will try and send pictures when we eat it!

Now for your questions...

1.  Did you get to meet Elder Keetch a few weeks ago?  Is he your Zone Leader?

Yes, I rode to the Praso Zone with Elder Keetch and he is my Zone Leader! He came here to Dunkwa last week for mutual and stayed the night. I love him! He's really tall, and I have known him my whole mission. He was in the zone right next to me back in Nketsiakrom, so we would always see each other at combined zone activities. That;s crazy that you met his parents! On a similar note about homecomings, Elder Pearmain is coming home in a few weeks (my old ZL who went to Murray). I don't know how you could find out when his homecoming is, but I thought you might be interested as well!

2.  The Stevensons indicated on their blog in a post from yesterday (Saturday) that there has been a few down pours this week.  Has it rained a lot where you are?  I am assuming that even during the dry season you can get a few good down pours.

We had a little bit of rain here in Dunkwa, but not too much! It rained just enough to clear the inches of dust on the tin roofs, but not a whole lot. I wish! 

3.  Does everyone speak Twi or do most people also speak some English?  Does Twi have English mixed in with it so you can sometimes understand what is being said?  

Everyone speaks Twi, but some people can speak both English and Twi. You can easily mix in English words with the Twi, but it still doesn't make sense when the only English word is "different" or "small". It's coming along though!

4.  Does your companion also speak fluent English?

Yes, he's from Accra and he's very well educated. He's studying animation in college and wants to go to BYU (but every member in Ghana wants to go to BYU...)

5.  Are you sleeping well at night?  

YES! I'm so tired I don't have the energy to stay awake.

6.  You seem to be more limited on time to e-mail in Dunkwa.  Is that because the internet is slow or because you are so busy and don't have as much time to e-mail? 

Sadly, both. The internet isn't great and I have much less time than in Takoradi. But I am learning to manage my time better! Please forgive me if my emails are short.

I love all of you back home and I hope you are all safe and sound. Thank you for everything that you do for me. God bless you!

Love,

Elder Degen