Love of God

My Testimony

I know of and have seen miracles. God cares about us and our individual needs and wants.  He loves us dearly because He is our literal Father in Heaven. I'm grateful for His love and I know we can show His love to everyone if we are only willing.  I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Fun Facts

·         Towns vary in size from around the size of a small neighborhood, to around 2 square miles.

·         Most people sell things out of little shops. They are mostly the same 6 or 7 kinds of shops, with some specialty shops, like hair salons or tech places. Most shops sell food. There is a drink shop with sodas and fruit drinks. There are cleaning and body care shops. The rest of the shops are clothing, furniture and accessories. Each shop has a specialty. It is cheaper to specialize in one type of thing, than to have separate departments.

·         Kids mostly got to school. They have long school days, around 9 hours. When they come home, they help wash clothes, clean, cook dinner, or play in the road. They all love to ask me for sika, which is Twi for money. They call me bronie (sounds like bro knee).

·         Everyone socializes with the children in the community. The kids are all treated like family by their friends' parents. The people here are kind and accept all children. I've heard many say that the children belong to the community. 

·         The dads work. The moms are all working hard to make sure the family runs. Most of them have jobs and take any younger kids to work with them, if they are too young for school, or they leave them with a neighboring mom. There are very few single parents here.

·         Where I am at it's actually really sweet. If anybody asks someone else for food, they'll be provided everything they need and then some, if they are able. Most people don't go hungry where I am. I have not seen a malnourished child in my area, but I am sure it happens.

·         All the roads are dirt unless it's a main road and a very few of the offshoots.

·         The police and military take bribes and are corrupt. The laws are basically just suggestions to the people, so each community makes their own cultural laws. One of the missionaries I live with told me that in a previous area he was in, if someone yelled thief, everyone would run to catch whoever stole, and the consequences could be fatal. There is not much stealing. 

·         The flies here are bigger, and the mosquitoes and ants are smaller.

·         There are lots of different fruits!

·         The gutters are the grossest part of being here. They are alongside the street and are deep with boards laid across as bridges. They have sewage in them and smell so so bad!

·         Most people live in homes with multiple rooms, but they aren't usually in good repair. The bricks they use have a lot of sand in them and erode quickly, leaving holes and structural disrepair. Bricks and the beginnings of structures are EVERYWHERE. They are never completed because they run out of money or pass away before completion.

·         Most of the people would do anything to be in America. They are very hard workers and could make a lot more money to support their families. They want their children to have opportunities for the future. They have a very harsh working environment here.

My Week

2-22-22

Personal study this morning was wonderful. I was going through the first lesson, The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and things are starting to click for me. I 'm able to better teach. In the evening we got to teach an interested person named Noah. he is so eager to learn and we got to give him a Book of Mormon. His first question was if there were other witnesses to the gold plates translated by Joseph Smith. Right away I was able to show him 11 witnesses' testimonies of seeing the gold plates. We also explained that the Book of Mormon doesn't replace the Bible, it works together with it as another testament of Jesus Christ, from ancient American prophets. Right after we finished explaining I could see the understanding in his eyes. I hope that Noah and I will learn and grow together in our testimonies of Jesus Christ.

2-23-22

Today started with interviews with the mission president. They went pretty well. He was surprised that I had a scripture memorized for him. Every transfer he interviews everyone and for that interview we're told to memorize a scripture about Christ. 

I memorized 2 Nephi 25:26. "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

We spent the rest of our day building our relationships with the church members. The faith of the people of Ghana is so powerful!

2-24-22

Okay, so I was mistaken. I didn't go to zone conference last week. I went to a district conference. I know this because this morning we woke up super early and drove 2 hours to meet with about 40-50 missionaries and that was two zone's zone conferences. In a mission, the units of division are area, which is the place that you and your companion personally teach, then district, which is a group of areas that are close together (I've got 5 companionships in my district), then a zone is a group of 2-3 districts. Hope that helps some of you with mission lingo.

Zone conference was really good and I feel very motivated and guided by what was said. I'll share one thing though. Sister Kunz, the mission president's wife, gave a great devotional on miracles. She said miracles can be big or small and most often happen without an apparent reason, although often the reason/explanation comes later. The way we are able to see more miracles in our lives is by expressing a forgiving heart and having faith that they will  happen. Also, recognizing that they happen can help you notice the miracles you don't normally see in life, the ones we could dismiss or pass as simply coincidental. No matter where it's coming from, miracles happen and it's good to be grateful for these blessings from the Lord.

2-25-22

Today started off as a rough day, mostly because I was missing home. I know everyone is doing great at home, and I'm doing pretty good here but just being so far from home is hard. So in one of my morning prayers, I asked for comfort and help being able to see why it's worth it for me to be here. I wasn't expecting my prayers to be answered, but about half way through our day, we were called over by this old man. His name is Reverend Andrew. He proceeded to tell us about his life and family. He was a pastor for 36 years and he loved serving God. He met his wife about 10 years before becoming a pastor and he adopted her 3 kids when they were married. After he finished he told us they had all passed away for one reason or another, except for one son. He and this son are not on good terms, but he wants to be. 

So Reverend Andrew is 73, finished with his work as a pastor, and the church he used to work for has forgotten about him. He also has type 1 diabetes to add to the list. By all rights, he could be a very bitter man, but instead, he couldn't be closer to God and is so happy because of that. The reason he called us over was that he felt the Spirit talk to him and say, "Those are your people." This is the reason I've come on my mission. To share the Church of Jesus Christ to the people who are so desperately searching for the light we have to share. This was an answer to my prayers and I'm grateful to see that God is looking out for all of His children.

2-26-22

Today was pretty good. It was nice and full, but the best part was being able to see Reverend Andrew. Yesterday, we took a picture with him, and we were able to print it out and give it to him. Photos are something he values so much. It meant a lot to him. We started to teach him about the plan of salvation and how we are only judged for our own sins. We ended on how the atonement of Jesus Christ is central to God's plan and about what He did for us. I'm grateful for Reverend Andrew. He's a strong believer in Christ.

2-27-22

Church today was powerful. Not because of a talk or a lesson. I don't understand most of what is said because it's in a local dialect called Twi. Because I don't understand, I just use it as personal study time. Part of the way through the first hour of church, a man I had communicated with last week sat next to me. I say communicate because he is deaf. His name is Joshua Kojo-Mahama, and he is somewhere between 50-60 years old. I didn't get a chance to ask. 

We got to "talk" a lot longer today, and he told me about his childhood, and how his family didn't want him or support him because he's deaf. When he found the church, he found a place he is able to fit in, where people ask him how he's doing. He goes every week and even though he isn't able to understand most of what is said, he still goes. My heart was so touched by his faith and devotion to the Lord, and we can all learn from Joshua. 

Sadly, this was his last week at our church building. He will be attending in a different city because he's finally been able to get enough money to go to a school for deaf children. He will be attending with them. We said our goodbyes and we both prayed that we can see each other again.

Later in the day, we were forced to walk home in a rainstorm. When we were taking cover under a building, I found Joshua! This was a miracle in my life, because this man and the power he has meant so much to me. I shared my testimony of God's love with him, and we both were emotional. I'm so happy that I got to see my friend again and I wish the best for him. I hope and pray we'll meet again!

Pictures

We got to know some members pretty well today. We bought some food from them to support their business. It's called Indomi Instant Noodles, but she cooked them fancy.

It's like instant ramen but the noodles have a different texture, and she added lots of other things.

My friend,  Joshua Kojo-Mahama 

My hair clippers melted when I was shaving my sides. 

I bought an adapter in England that said it would work, but I guess not.

This is Noah's mom. She is an incredible cook. She has made the best food I've had so far in Ghana. She made a stew for us, with goat and fish. It was delicious!

Me at home, eating pawpaw

Sheltering from the rain

The ground is hard like in AZ, so a lot of it doesn't change with rain. 

Only the regular water paths become mud.

Elder Nuwagaba, me, and Reverend Andrew

He's not living the best of conditions, a one room house with an outdoor bath.  His home is good because it's sturdy, and doesn't seem to have holes, but it is very small. Most aren't that small. 

He doesn't have the ability to take care of himself. He's doing the best he can. He still has so much faith and love to share.

Examples of random shops and such. 

A main road through the village

Bricks and half built buildings are everywhere!

Our drinking water comes in bags.

Blessings of Ghana

  2-15-22

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday. It went so well. I got to bear my testimony. It was my first time bearing it since I was last in Africa. We spent a lot of time learning the farther parts of our area and spent most of the day walking around. A bit of a boring day but necessary because we are white washing the area. For those who don't know what white washing is, it means that both me and my companion are new to the area, so we have no previous knowledge as to where everything is.

1-16-22

Nothing eventful happened on Wednesday. We mostly just walked around and contacted people. It's starting to be easier to know where we are going and I'm definitely grateful for that. It's hard to be walking around and everything looks the same. There's also not many street names and all of the small areas/towns have names but they aren't on any maps. I'm sure you can see why it's so important for me to know the town. In the evening we taught Mrs. Deborah again and gave her a BOOK OF MORMON! It was so amazing seeing the smile on her face when we gave it to her.

2-17-22

Thursday we spent most of the day trying to find new interested people. We were able to find a good amount of new people and ran out of pamphlets. In the afternoon we went back to Mrs. Deborah and helped explain the things we told her to read. We kept the lesson short because we could tell she was tired. On our way home, random people stopped to talk to us and we got invited to eat with them. Fufu is so so good and I encourage everyone to try it.

2-18-22

Friday was a late start. We didn't end up going out until 1ish because my companion didn't feel well. Once we were out everything went pretty well. We met someone new named Empress Tina, kinda a cool name. She didn't have time for a lesson so we just talked with her and ended up getting free kettle corn or sweet popcorn. We tried to find people to teach but only got lucky at the end of the day. Mr. Evens was someone we found the day before and we decided it was a good time to give him a Book of Mormon. Just like with Mrs. Deborah he had an amazing smile. Then on our way home it rained. 

The heat wouldn't bother me if it wasn't so humid.

2-19-22

Today my companion and I left the apartment much later than I wanted but we got to clean the church again, which I enjoyed. It helped calm my mind and scripture memorization too. I'm working on 2 Nephi 25:26.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins."

Later in the day, just before coming back to the apartment, we taught a lesson about the restoration. Usually we don't introduce the Book of Mormon in the first lesson, but I felt inspired to share Nephi 8:12,

 "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit."

 and Nephi 11:22, 

"And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." 

I invite you all to read that and tell me how you feel about it.

2-20-22

The final day before P-day (preparation day when we do laundry, clean, play, relax a little, talk with our families and such). We woke up and got to church early to see if our interested people would come to church. No one showed up. That is okay, it is only my first full week and I'm prepared to do my best this coming week. The rest of our Sunday was just meeting members, and we had more fufu. 

I love Christ. Time and time again he helps remind me of the reasons for me coming out here. Africa is beautiful and the people even more beautiful. My adjustment period has been kinda rough with culture shock and still trying to forgive myself for the reasons I had to go home for a couple of months. 

When we struggle and reach out God sends help. I know that through the atonement of Christ we can become anything and be washed of our sins. God has sent me experiences and scriptures that have shown me that I'm ready to be a missionary and that I've been forgiven for the mistakes I've made. I testify that Jesus Christ is our brother and friend who knows us and has a perfect understanding of the things we have experienced and the things we have yet to go through. 

Thank you for all your support. I have loved hearing from some of you. I appreciate your love. It has helped while going through such big adjustments.

Love, 

Elder  Alger from the Ghana Kumasi Mission

This is banku and pam nut soup. You eat pieces of it, dipping it in soup and you swallow it without chewing. Banku  is corn and cassava dough basically

Me and my hat

This is just a bunch of kids who were asking me a whole lot of questions about me and my family. 

They are kids from my area that know me.

his is Evan. He has a wife and kid.

This is Noah.

Back in Ghana!

Straight to the field, back to Ghana. After having to miss my flight with Delta Airlines, the church was able to find a flight to Ghana through American Airlines to Chicago, then British Air to London Heathrow Airport continuing on to Accra, Ghana. Flying isn't that bad, it's just all of the things in between flights. 

When I got to Ghana, I had no issues with getting through security and covid testing, unlike the last time I came to Ghana. After that was all done, I got my bags and was so excited to go back to the Ghana MTC. Someone with my name found me. I came to find out that I would be staying in the Alma House. They showed me to my room. It had a very comfortable bed, but periodically I'd hear banging on the windows. 

At this point in time I was very confused on what was going to happen. No one had really told me what was going on. I was the only missionary at the Alma House and the only thing keeping me from feeling like I had been kidnapped was a picture of President Nelson in my room.

The next day, I was taken to the travel office, right next to the Accra temple, to get my non-citizens ID card. After 4-5 hours of waiting in lines, and getting my 5th covid test that week, I was able to get my ID card.

The people at the travel office fed me lunch, more chicken and rice. I just sat in the office with them from about 12-4. They got me another plane ticket with African World Air with a 7 pm departure. I actually enjoyed this flight the most. I had no problems with security and when I found my terminal I took a nap. The plane I flew on was so small. To board the plane, we were driven out to it by a bus and then walked over to it and into the plane.

I landed in Kumasi about 7:40 and was excited to meet Pres. and Sis. Kunz. They were there to pick me up right when I arrived to start my orientation after brief introductions. We got to their home and continued my orientation inside until 10:30. I was so happy to be done and taking my first shower since I got to Africa.

In the morning, we drove 2 hours and thirty minutes to meet the senior couple missionaries, Elder and Sister Alred. I drove with them for about the same amount of time to my apartment. I met my trainer, Elder Nuwagaba. Our area is Dwomoh 1.1. We have the villages of Jamestown, Dwomoh, Diampa, and Bamire.

Our first day, when I got here, we started off with getting to know our area. We are white washing, so not much happened. Sunday was amazing! I wasn't able to understand most of it because it was in Twi. We also had branch council after church which I also didn't understand most of it. My companion and I were off on our own when we were done with our meetings.

The day before we were with another companionship who knew the area, so it was easier to connect and talk when there was just the two of us. We were able to find 4 interested people

 with some of their family members included. The last grove of interested people I got the chance to serve then by helping them make fufu. We also got to eat some of that with a salmon fish soup. It was delicious! I like that preparation days are on Mondays. Sundays are going to be more relaxed proselyting days, so it's kind of like a weekend. I love you all and I'm happy to be back in the Ghana Kumasi Mission serving the people of Ghana. Thank you for all of the support I have been given, and I'm sorry for not saying many goodbyes. It was sudden for all of us.

Love, 

Elder Andrew Alger

Me and Elder Nuwagaba

Machines that help with making fufu

Dining room with our missionary supplies and antibiotics that we take daily so we don't get malaria.

My bed

Our kitchen, propane stove, water filter for the sink

Our front yard, locked gate and razor wire on top of the fence

Making fufu

The view behind our house. It's a mountain of garbage!

A hat I found in the apartment that no one claimed. It should help protect me from the sun.

Dipping my fufu in the soup

Sunday, still quarantined, in the MTC

Since the last time I emailed not much has changed, other than now I know I'm allowed to email during designated free time. I've not been liking the online lesson format, but as we get used to it, and become closer as a group, it actually isn't that bad anymore. Besides just one thing. The old people here don't know how to use technology and don't follow their own online schedule😂. They are very kind and loving, but I know on Wednesday, when we are back in person, I'm going to love the MTC (Missionary Training Center) so much more.

We will ALL be getting our own phones this week, I'm very excited for that. It will be so much easier to send photos on the phone and easier to transfer them from my camera.

 I guess something else new, or I guess old, is the food here. I really love the food, but they keep giving us the same food over and over again. Chicken, rice and pepe. Fish, rice and pepe. Sometimes with other things like pineapple, watermelon, different kinds of soda, and gross salads. It is kinda giving me heartburn and it is making me wish I brought tums.😂 Oh and Takis! 

As I get ready everyday I keep finding these notes from Sara and Laney. They are things like Brandon Sanderson quotes, funny things our family says, and just nice things. I love and miss them. 

I also love waking up and praying everyday, and then going to bed and praying. It's so great starting my day off with that. 

When I first got here, I thought I was going to be able to buy shampoo and body wash right away, but I couldn't so I was stuck using a bar of soap to clean my body and hair. Oh, and I forgot floss, but I did bring my metal pick.  Finally, yesterday we were able to go to the store that we have on the MTC grounds and buy things. They didn't have a lot there, so I got stuck with Axe two in one shampoo and conditioner (gross, but it doesn't smell bad, and I'm just happy to not have gross hair. It's so crazy how much we have access to in America)  and a dove vanilla bar of soap (specifically the four pack, because I'm not sure what I'm going to have access to in the stores outside of the MTC).  

I've started to memorize some scriptures and things from PMG (preach my gospel), and it's crazy how good you feel when you put yourself in the Lord's words.

This is the top of the Ghana Accra temple and that's the most I've seen of it. The elders who are across the hall get to look at the temple all day during their zoom meetings. I want their room

This is what I get to look at all day. Just two bag banking Buildings.

I was forced to take these two pictures because Elder Allison didn't want to go outside and he likes getting his picture taken so I had to convince him with bribery.

 His name is Tyrone Allison. He is from the capital of Liberia, Monrovia, specifically Bushrod Island. I think it's a suburb of the capital. He talks about his home with such pride, but also with sadness because he knows that his country isn't doing well. He loves the food there. He says he loves that his country is free, like America, and that there are no taxes. Also, he loves his family. He tells me stories about his grandpa and his older brother. His country, he says, is very underdeveloped. He feels they are getting left behind and they can't catch up.

This is Fufu and spicy goat soup. The soup was very tasty and spicy just like how I like it. But the Fufu was sticky and very hard to swallow, but it didn't taste bad in the soup. I hear from my teacher sister Mawuli, ( you say her name like the island Maui. I'm still not sure how.) that most of the fufu in Ghana is brought down from Kumasi and cities around it. They say it tastes so much better when it's fresh.

Me and Elder Allison after he got his shots. He wasn't very happy. It was his first time getting shots.

 

These are some pretty Flowers in our courtyard

This is our courtyard, central to the 4 main buildings at the MTC.

 I really do love it here. The food is tasty even if it's a bit weird and I love pepe.

I made it to Ghana!

 I love this place! The Spirit here is like no other place. The flight alone, at first was hard, but I just slept my anxieties away like typical Andrew. When I got to New York, I was alone from 6:30 pm till about 8:30 pm. I finally found some Elders and it was wonderful to be with others. I had gotten some food just before I met with them and it was gross. Everything I could find just didn't look appetizing, plus it was also expensive. A little bit after 9:45 a group of 11 elders joined up with us and we all chilled and talked until the flight started to board.

And guess what! All of those papers I printed, out of all of them I only ended up using one of them, so I could get the address of the Ghana MTC. 

The flight to Ghana was very long but I slept the whole way there and woke up about very other hour for a while, and every hour at the end of it. When we got to Ghana it took about an hour and a half to get through all of the testing and official things, and I still haven't needed any of the papers we printed. So you can imagine that I was a little bit annoyed with all the things we had stressed so much about. 

We slowly all got out of the airport, and while we were waiting for the bigger part of our group to get out, the mission president found us and brought us to his truck (which I took a picture of, and wouldn't mind if you shared that with Freddy and Sam). After we waited for the rest of our group to be done we went to the MTC. 

My group was the first group of new missionaries to come since Covid. When we got into the MTC, I took pictures of the art for you and Sara. We ate and did some orientation stuff. Just before everyone met at 8pm, a large group of missionaries from all over Africa came. 

My companion, Elder Allison, was a part of that group. There is a small language barrier between us but it's not that bad and I'm super excited to have a native African companion. (He speaks English, just broken English.) He's from Liberia.

I love you so much!

Elder Alger

Leaving Phoenix! 5 hour flight to NY. It's getting real.

Layover JFK International in NY

10 hour flight to Ghana!

Finally done with the airport and now off to the MTC!

The Accra Ghana Temple

The art in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) is amazing!

For Sam and Freddy

My companion, Elder Allison

My closet

My bed

They feed us well.