E-mail dated 7/7/15

Family and Friends,

Akwaabo! I'm sorry this email is reaching you late again for the second week in a row. The power here in Ghana is really bad right now for some reason! We haven't had light longer than an hour in almost 5 days. Thankfully Heavenly Father has permitted us to finally email in some small cafe about a half hour away from Axim! You might have to get used to me emailing later than Monday's from now on...

I don't have much time today, but I want to thank everyone for the support that I received this week! I loved hearing about the 4th of July and I'm glad that everyone had fun in the heat (right now we're in the middle of the driest rainy season in history. It hasn't rained in so long). I also enjoyed knowing that everyone is keeping busy and enjoying their vacations! Eat lots of food for me :)

My week was interesting to say the least. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Cape Coast trying to figure out what is wrong with Elder Gasolo's hip, but it's not that easy in Ghana. The first hospital we tried, their machines were broken. The following two hospitals didn't have the equipment necessary for the tests we needed. So we spent the night in Cape and came back to Axim on Thursday! I did get to meet Elder Keetch's parents though, and his mom gave me a big hug from you Mom :) They are excited to see you at his homecoming! As for Elder Gasolo, his hip is still paining him and we might have to go to Accra to do some further tests. I will keep you posted!

My 4th of July was different than yours, but I was still able to feel the pride of being an American! You never know how lucky you are until you leave it all behind. We enjoy a lot of things in America that not many other countries enjoy and we should not take it for granted. I didn't realize that until I was fetching water from a well in Africa! 

I was sad to hear about the passing away of President Packer though. Something I noted though is that both Elder Packer's and Elder Perry's dying testimonies from last conference were about the sacredness of marriage and the family. Amid the big news of Gay Marriage back home, I found it interesting that the Lord knew ahead of time and prompted His servants to speak about the subject. It's amazing to see His hand in all things!

To answer your questions...
1.  How is your companion?  Were you able to go to Cape Coast to figure out what is wrong with his hip?

My companion is great! And yes, we were able to go!

2.  Does Ghana have an independence day?  

Yes, theirs is March 6th and they celebrate similarly with parades (mainly at football pitches) and a lot of partying!!

3.  Were you able to find anyone new to teach this week? 

Yes, we found 3 new investigators and 1 of them we met at church when one of the members brought her! For only being able to proselyte for half the week, Elder Gasolo and I worked as hard as we could and found great success. 

4.  How is the apartment?  Does it have a generator like your other one did?  

My first apartment is the only apartment in the mission with a generator! Not very many places in Ghana have generators because the light is on half the time (Yeah, it still doesn't make sense to me either). But, Axim has been without consistent light and water for about 5 days now!

5.  Are you considered the senior companion?  Do they still use the terms senior and junior companion?

President Stevenson tried to implement the Sr and Jr companions in the mission, but it didn't last very long. We all enjoy being unified and one in purpose, so he has allowed the culture to stay. But I definitely feel like I'm training a new missionary! Elder Gasolo wasn't able to proselyte much his first 2 transfers and so there's still a lot he doesn't know and it's my job to teach him. 

6.  Are you happy in your new area?  

My new area is sweet and I already love the branch. The members are great and easy to work with (and there's even a few that speak English!) The area is beautiful and our apartment is really nice. Definitely nothing to complain about!

Well, thank you all again for everything! I love you all. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 6/30/15

Family and Friends,

Akwaaba! I'm so happy I finally get the chance to email you today, the light was off yesterday in Takoradi so I couldn't get online! I'm glad I got to read all of your amazing emails this week though, I appreciated all of them. It sounds like it's pretty dang hot back home! I'm glad everyone had fun at their various camps and activities and that you are all safe and healthy. I'm sorry I never comment very much on the things you tell me from home, but I want to use most of my time to let you know what's going on in Africa at the moment!

So to begin, my week has been crazy. Last Tuesday I said my final goodbyes to everyone in Dunkwa and I got on a tro to Praso. I slept the night there and left for Cape Coast in the morning, where I met a lot of missionaries I haven't seen in a long time, including Elder Mocke! After waiting in the station awhile, I got in a tro and went to Takoradi, where I met with more Elders before finally departing for Axim! After over 8 hours of travel I finally arrived in my new area. And it is beautiful! I walked into my new apartment and the back balcony overlooks the ocean. The rest of the week was spent trying to get used to my new environment, but it didn't take too long! I have a lot more to tell you, but I think I can do it all in answering your questions.

1.  Tell us about your new area!  I spent some time looking up Axim on the internet.  The beaches look incredible.  

Axim is a big fishing town right along the shore in the western part of Ghana. Like I said, it is beautiful! I spend 9 hours proselyting on the beach everyday, so I couldn't ask for anything better. Even our chapel overlooks the ocean! The branch is great as well, but my area that I am coming into is very very slow. We don't have people to teach right now, but I'm sure in the next few weeks we will find plenty!

2.  Tell us about Elder Gasolo.  Where is he from?  Can you understand each other?

Elder Gasolo (pronounced Nasolo) is from Samoa! He's not french-speaking like people told me, but his English isn't good at all. We can communicate fine though! He's a big guy but he's easily one of the nicest people that I have ever met. His demeanor reminds me of Big Mike from The Blind Side! I wish I could send pictures, but the internet is really bad today. He does have a hip injury though and it has kept him in the apartment for almost an entire transfer, which is why our area is slow. We are going to Cape Coast this week to get some tests done, so hopefully we will find out what is wrong!

3.  How many attended the Branch meetings on Sunday?  

We had around 70-80 I think! The branch is sweet and I'm excited to get to know the members.

4.  How many missionaries are assigned to this area and how many do you live with?  Any missionaries you already know from your previous areas?

There are 6 missionaries in Axim and we all live in the same apartment! Elder Neilson is in my district as well (he was at the Salt Lake airport with me when I left) and another one of my MT's, Elder Makoti, is here! 

5.  You said you had to learn a new dialect called Enzyma.  Is it anything like Twi or Fante?  I can't imagine keeping it all straight.  

Oh Nzema is a stupid language. The sentence structure is very similar to Twi and Fante, but the vocabulary is completely different. Thankfully Twi is spoken almost everywhere in Ghana and I can still speak it with most people here! I love Twi.

6.  Do you think you will make it back to any of the areas you have previously served?  (Esheim, Nketsiakrom and Dunkwa)

It's unlikely that I get to serve around those areas again, but I would love to go back to any of them! I miss the people I've come to know and the places that I've been!

7.  Tell us anything else that might be of interest?

Hmmm... I've come to love cooking on my mission! I even made banana bread this week and it was delicious :) I've learned to make stews, baked goods and all variations of rice/ramen! 

Oh before I forget, something I would love in my next package is a Twi dictionary and a Twi guidebook! I'm sure you can buy some online. Make sure it is Asante Twi please, I would greatly appreciate it! thank you so much.

Well, I think my time is finished for this week, but I want to thank everyone again for your prayers and support. They are greatly appreciated! I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you next week :)

Love,

Elder Gavin Degen

Brother Essien with spices he requested

Elder Degen and the Evans Family in Dunkwa

Elder Degen with Rachel and Ezra Essien

E-mail dated 6/22/15

Family and Friends,

Akwaaba! Meda mo ase for the emails and the support this week. They were greatly appreciated. It sounds like a fun summer week back home complete with really high temperatures! I'm glad Kalli and Josh both had fun at their various adventures and that everyone was safe. I'm glad every one is being safe and enjoying their vacation! 

I have a lot to say this week, but I think most of it can be said in answering your questions so let me do that! But before I do, I wanted to update you a little bit about my investigators and the branch! So this week was really busy and sadly we weren't able to visit Frank with Brother Essien this week, but he was over at his house almost everyday so Elder Loader and I were happy about that! Frank came to church yesterday for about the 6th week in a row and we are excited for him. Seth and comfort are starting to look promising again and we are hoping that they both canfinally  be baptized in July! 

My lesson of the week was one that Elder Loader and I did with Evans and his family and we call it the "Atonement Pushups" lesson. We had one person volunteer at the beginning of the lesson who would be our push up man. We then went around the room (there was 9 people there!) and asked each person if they wanted a piece of candy. No matter what their response was, our volunteer had to do 3 pushups per person. By the end he was exhausted!! Everyone enjoyed their candy and then we related this experience to the atonement of Jesus Christ. We read from Alma 7 with them and helped them understand that Christ suffered for all of us and the reward that we can gain from the atonement is great, but we first have to take advantage of it. We then gave ideas of how we can better take advantage of the atonement in our lives! It was a great lesson and it's one of my favorites to do with families.

Okay, now to answer your questions!

1.  Just in case you haven't mentioned it yet, are you being transferred?   

So on Saturday night, I found out that I will be leaving Dunkwa!! I am being transferred to a small town in western region called Axim. It's the farthest area west in the mission! I was really surprised that I was leaving and it has been really hard to say goodbye to the people here in Dunkwa, especially my recent converts. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday and I was pretty emotional. I love this area, I love this branch, I love these people! I am so sad that I have to leave.

Axim is somehow a tourist attraction as it is right along the beach and I've heard it has one of the best beaches in Ghana. My companion's name is Elder Gasolo and he has just finished his training. He is a french-speaking elder so I don't know how much English he knows! Also, in Axim, they don't speak Twi or Fante. They speak a different tribal dialect called Enzyma! I've never heard a word of it, so it will be interesting to learn a whole new language again. 

I leave Dunkwa tomorrow afternoon and then travel for 8 hours over the next two days on my way to Axim. The Church is in the beginning stages there as well and just about 6 months ago they finally released a missionary as the branch president. I'm excited to go and build a new branch and meet new people! I know that the Lord wants me there and I'm more than happy to go where He sends me. I need your prayers this week please! 

2.  Did the package make it to you this week?  Did everything arrive in one piece?

Yes, they package came to me!!! It was amazing, thank you so much. Brother Essien thanks you as well. I will send you a picture of him smiling with his spices! I loved everything inside the package and I've really enjoyed reading grandma and grandpa Smith's auto biographies. Thank you so much for everything mom! I love you.

Oh also, it was Elder Keetch who delivered the package to me and I said goodbye to him this week! I'm sure he would love to see you at his homecoming!

3.  There was an article in the Church News on Saturday about all the service the missionaries are doing in Accra because of all the rain.  Did you get a lot of rain this past week?

It rained SOO much on Saturday night. The roads were flooded and Elder Loader and I were stuck in an investigators house for hours before we decided to get soaking wet and walk through the rain. It was insane! 

4.  You said you got to teach Primary with Abigail, do you still have like 40 kids or so come to Primary each week?

Yes, it's usually around 25 to 40 kids every week and they are a handful! 

5.  Are you still sleeping well at night?  It seems to me you told me that you are so tired at night that you have no trouble sleeping.  

I sleep great at night and very rarely do I continue waking up in the night. I've been really blessed and I'm praying that it continues in Axim!

6.  Can you believe it has already been 10 months since you left home?  Has the time gone fast for you?  Do you still think of home often?  

These past 10 months have been the fastest of my life. The time has flown by! It does not seem like a year ago that I graduated high school and enjoying my summer. I have lost myself in the work and it's been the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for!

I think that's everything for this week! I hope that everyone has a safe week and that I get to hear from everyone again next week. I love all of you so much.

Love,

Elder Gavin Degen

E-mail dated 6/15/15

Abusuafo, Mo ho te sen? (Family, how are you?) Things are doing well here in Dunkwa! I'm glad I got to hear so much about home this week and about how everyone is! It sounds like summer is in full swing and that everyone is happy to be out of school. When I heard that the family went to Snowbird, I had to stop and think of the last time that I actually slept in the room there and I couldn't remember! Because of basketball camps, jobs and other things I don't think I've slept there in a long time! It's crazy to think that all 7 of us fit in there at one point. Some things have changed, but not too much! 

For me this week wasn't too eventful, although it was full of lessons and walking. I was able to attend some of a massive Ghanaian funeral on Saturday though, so that was awesome! Sunday was also fun because Abigail really needed help teaching the Primary so I somehow got put in charge of teaching the kids again! Thankfully it was a lot of fun though and the kids were somewhat well behaved. I had all of them draw me with crayons and I now have some priceless souvenirs that I will never forget! These kids are so cute.

I'm going to try and do this once a week, but I don't know if I will be able to do it every Monday! But I want to start telling about my favorite lesson that I taught during the previous week. So for this week it was with an investigator named Frank. He has come to Church for 5 weeks now and is really serious about the gospel and knows his Bible very well. The only problem is that he doesn't see the need to be baptized again from his church into ours. We explained to him that you need to be baptized by someone who holds the power of God (Hebrews 5:4) and that if it wasn't by this power then it won't be "bound in Heaven" (Matthew 16:19). He was certain that his pastor held this power because he had read the bible and God gave him the power, just as he can do with anyone that wants it. We had to explain to him that God hands his Authority down through the laying on of hands (Acts 6) and has always done it. The lesson went back and forth, but he still wasn't convinced. So this week we are planning to go to him with Brother Essien and get a powerful testimony from a return missionary! I'm excited to see what happens.

As for your questions!

1) It's definitely only the soccer type of football that we play here in Ghana! I will let you know if I have actually play real American Football, that would be crazy!

2) Yes, transfers are a week from this wednesday and transfer news is this Saturday! I have a feeling that I might be leaving, but I would like to stay. I guess I will find out this week!

3) Yes, Elder Keetch is still my zone leader and actually he will be coming here to Dunkwa on Wednesday (Hopefully with my package!!)

4) Hmmm... My biggest challenge was seeing how the branch struggled to function a little bit when our Branch President became sick this week! There is still a lot of work to do here in Dunkwa. My sweetest success was seeing the pictures from the YSA event in Winneba that Abigail, Sarfo, Matilda attended. They had a lot of fun and possible met their future temple-worthy spouses there! 

5) Hopefully I will get the package this week! Normally I have to pay about 30 cedis duty on the packages that I receive. I'm sure everything arrived safe and sound though!

6) Yes, I'm healthy and perfectly happy :)

Thank you again everyone for your love and support and I can't wait to hear from everyone next week!

Love,

Elder Gavin Degen

Baptism!