Humility..

Hello family and friends,

This week has been great, I have had a good week.  The Lord has truly blessed us here.  I feel the days beginning to move fast.  Man it is so dang hot, we are moving into the dry season but it will be sunny, then bam, huge storms within 10 mins. its so weird.  The storms here are so thick and it rains so  hard the streets turn to rivers within seconds, it crazy. 

We went into Kumasi for our ID's this weekend, that was crazy.   Kumasi is just insane, I'm so amazed every time I see it, we rode over in the metro mass it takes about 2 hours, the seats  are seriously a joke, they are so close together.  I've never been so smashed, you have to sit sideways so your shoulders don't smash into each other but its only 7 cedes,  7 US dollars is a little more than 20 cedes here, its crazy.  

Kumasi is just insane but it was fun to see some of my MTC buddies and catch up on how many time we have gotten sick and what we have eaten and what not,  the food is getting better its pretty good now, its like all I know right now. The fruit here is amazing, I have bananas and pineapple everyday with fufu and pourage and more fruit in between meals, but that's just what I like to eat. 

I've always made fun of my father for eating oatmeal everyday growing up and now I have been forced to enjoy it. It's not bad, the first time I was like, okay this is tasteless, but now I'm starting to get used to everything.  Back home I was a picky eater, but now looking back I would eat anything back home,  its crazy how quickly you can change.  I'm grateful I've learned to just eat it,  I don't enjoy it, but its been good for me.

I  am grateful for all these crazy things I get to experience because I know not everyone will have the chance to eat any of these things, so with that in mind, I try to enjoy everything I can. 

This week my companion is planing for us to eat snails,  I don't know,  they make a ground leaf strew with them and there like the size of my fist. you just pop them in your mouth, but we shall see if I can do it. 

On Saturday we had an amazing experience with some investigators, Kente is a hand woven cloth here, it's absolutely beautiful, They are four 18 year old boys, and they run their own little operation to pay for school and what not, it was so cool.. They called me over "hay broni"  so we went over and they taught us how to weave.  We sat down and they showed us how to do it.  They are  such amazing people, so very giving.  

We had them make some stuff for us, we are going to pick it up later today, I'm so excited.  On Sunday we were in the area and it began to rain and it turns out we were out side of their house, they invited us in to get out of the rain, we sat and talked about why we were here, shared our love for the Lord.  We spoke of the gospel, one of the boys began to open up to us, he told us his parents had died at a young age and he has been trying to care for his younger sibling for sometime.  His business doing  Kente weaving is how he pays for them to go to school and takes care of them, he's younger than I am and has more humility than anyone I have ever met.   I have so much respect for that, he became emotional and I realized that I have such an easy life,  I have so much I need to be grateful for, it was just very humbling.   After that they invited us to have fufu, we all sat around one dish and enjoyed it together. These  guys will be baptized, I just  know it,  I feel as if we are already brothers.   I want to give them all that I have, I want them to know how much their Heavenly Father loves them and what Jesus Christ has done for them.

As I was walking back to the apartment I had such an overwhelming feeling of love for the people here, stronger than I have ever felt in my life, I know that I am here to help, love, teach, and serve these people to the best of my ability.   I'm so excited to help these people. I feel the need for this work to be hastened and am excited for what is to come. I hope everyone has had a great week and that this next week will be even better. till next time..

-Elder Lawson

Here's some of the Questions I asked him, because I was lucky enough to email back and forth for awhile.

Mom: Do you cook your own food or do you go to dinner at members houses?

Elder Lawson:  they don't have homes like us here mom :).. its like 30 percent free meals and the rest we just have people we go to or like.  We will go to a chop bar but we have gotten to know a bunch of people that have their own little shops and they give us a good deal and stuff, the people in Ghana are very God fearing, they help us and are always willing to listen to what we have to say.

Mom: How much weight have you lost?

Elder Lawson:
I don't know how much I weigh but I think I actually gained weight this week so that should make you happy, I probably won't gain weight here, I think its just because its so hot. I was talking with Elder Anderson (?), he has lost 90 pounds hahha 90! I don't even recognize him from his passport picture, its insane mom, the fruit here is so good, its my treat, I'm learning what it means to eat healthy.

Mom: Have you seen any wildlife, Spiders?

Elder Lawson: just the lizards, there everywhere and  goats and chickens are everywhere.. haha mom everywhere!  The only way to say it is  "they are everywhere" goats chickens and dogs, no spiders yet.. I've been told to watch out for scorpions and cobras so I'm excited for that I want to see a cobra and his hood that would be so cool!! (Mom: no it wouldn't) I know I will.. no monkeys, that's in Techiman.

apparently there is a village here and it has been over run with monkeys and no one will kill them because they say that they used to be people but they turned to monkey because they looked them in the eye haha.

Mom: Do you sleep well there?

Josh: Yeah I sleep good I'm so exhausted by the end of the day I can't stay awake for even 3 mins, so very tired all the time,

Mom: are you writing in your journal everyday?

Elder Lawson:   I write down everything, my hands are sore because I write so much, but its the only way I can express my day.   Basically say how I'm feeling and just get evey thing out, all my fears, frustrations and experiences, so that I can start the next day fresh and ready for whatever comes my way.

Mom: I Love this boy so much!!!