Kwabenya

July 14, 2014

Hey first sorry everyone the cafe is super slow today. It's a little tiny one down here in Kwabenya. This place is so different from Ho. The houses are way nicer. Either my scales have changed or this place just reminds me of America... probably the first but still it's huge and definitely city. I thought Ho was a big town... nope haha Still surprised I'm here, feeling homesick for Ho. But Kwabenya will be sweet and my companion is a cool guy. His name is Elder Peterson, it's just the two of us in our apartment, the apartment is pretty nice though. The toilet faces the right way anyways.

Nana Ama was baptized, I called her and also the Ho elders told me all about it. She was super excited and is doing really well. A few other recent converts have talked to me and they are doing good, which is so sweet.

This week was pretty... surprising. I really thought Cole was going to overcome all these things. Maybe he will, If God can organize a Universe, than he can do anything. Last time I was in the Cosgrave's house I picked up a manual about the new Testament. There was a talk given inside about 'The Man we worship'. He talked about how Christ was not a novice or amateur. He organized 'worlds without number'. He went on to discuss how, though incredible to us, the feeding of 5000 would have been relatively simple for him. Isn't it true? I don't know what the will of God is, I wouldn't even have a good guess. But the important part is that we trust that He can do anything. So whatever He chooses will be exactly what is best. He loves us.

Teaching some cool people though, the man named Stanely, I think you know him, came to church and he has such a solid understanding of the Gospel. It will be exciting to see how he is when he has the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We are also working with Faustina and Phillip, and a few other people who we will have to see how serious they are. The church here is sweet though. Very organized and welcoming. Bishop Aliche is a great guy and they even organized a rescue committee for the less-active. Excited about that. In Ho I was used to just taking care of everything, the branch support was usual minimal except for the youth. The youth are more faithful than people back at home. Now in this ward things are quite a bit different. It will be good to learn some new things.

Elder Peterson is a cool elder and we get along well. He is a pretty good teacher too. We've gotten lost a few times but led to meeting some new people. Guess your not lost, just not sure where you are. The two man apartment can get a little old but again just helps me learn new things. Nice being with him though, this will be a good time.

Thanks President for the support. Not even really sure how I feel, sometimes it hits me other times I'm just trying to figure out where in the world Kwabenya is haha. Hope you have a great week.

One thing though. At the end of the day I made a promise to serve with all I have and do my best. I said yes to that unconditionally. So I will, problems at home won't slow the work. If anything they speed it.

Mom note: sometimes besides our back and forthing on Mondays he responds to my letters... The 25th is one year people...one year!!!!!!..its been long, but he is where he belongs.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Logan Van Wagoner <logan.van.wagoner@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: I hope you are loving your new place..
To: Myrna Van Wagoner <mfvw500@gmail.com>

Hey mom how are you doing today? Pretty crazy week. Not going to lie I broke down on Wednesday, didn't see that coming at all, when elder Cosgrave called me over I just thought he was saying goodbye.

Since then I have felt better, just so weird being in Kwabenya. I feel homesick for Ho. Nana Ama got baptized the Saturday I was gone for. Sweet but just was imagining going home to Ho, kinda different. haha 

The new area is interesting, The houses are so nice compared to Ho.I always wanted that at first, but now I would rather get back up into Volta region. The ward is very strong, the bishop just organized a committee to rescue less actives. Some of the best organization I've seen in Ghana. Elder Peterson is cool, pretty like chill/reverent, but funny too. it's a two man apartment, so it can get pretty quiet and boring but at least elder Peterson is good.

District leader is like basically the exact same as regular missionary, just that i have to: take care of exchanges, do weekly numbers report on my district, do interviews, and take care of the weekly district council meeting. So as for the schedule nothing really has changed. haha

The Melissa thing is so sweet, she is so good. how are the Andings?

Yes we are still praying for miracles. I haven't really told anyone about Cole except for when I was in Ho. How is Elise this week? How is Matt? Please make sure they know i love them so much and pray all the time for them.

On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 7:09 AM, Myrna Van Wagoner <mfvw500@gmail.com> wrote:

I wish more then anything I could have just hugged you this week.  As hard as it has all been, we are all together, facing things together. Laughing, crying, spending time together. But you, you have to hear all this, and assimilate it, but do it yourself. I was so grateful to the Cosgraves and to your mission president.  I have hoped with your new calling and responsibilities that you wouldn't have much free time. That's selfish of me huh? I just didn't want you to have the time to think about everything. I hope you have felt my prayers..I have been so hopeful that you have known how much I've thought of you?

So how do you like your new area? And your companion? And what is it like to be district leader? What do you do? What is your schedule like? ..Melissa spoke in church today and said you told her to make something up...everyone laughed. But she told about Divine and you sharing understanding the spirit.

She also shared a scripture. It was the same scripture that dad had shared with Elise last night before he gave her a blessing. Melissa shared a story about the guy who had given her the holy ghost when she got baptized. She kept thinking about him and finally contacted him after some serious hunting. She didn't know why. She finally did and told him that she had a boy on a mission and she was married in the temple. He shared the story with his missionary son who was struggling and it made a big impact on him. Gave him a new and different perspective on his mission.

Tonight we had the July birthday party..for Allison, Audrey and my cousin Tonya..It was really fun. But the highlight was the quilt Brenda made for Savanah. It was just so so sweet. I'm sending pictures..

So I don't really know what to say about this week. I have been all over with my emotion. But here is what I am going with.  Our family has no shortage of miracles. I don't know why we would give up on that now. And for Elise's sake we are not going to give up on this baby. We are praying for miracles.

We are praying for healing and true miracles.

Dad is reading RJs letter to us. He is a great missionary. He is so sweet.

So I want to tell you a story.  When we moved to this house, we had Elise who was 5 and Ashley who was 3. I was pregnant with you and since I was pretty sick on the first day of school I asked Gerret to walk Elise to the School Bus. When she got there she looked up at dad and said "I want mommy". She was terrified to get on. I was watching her get a blessing last night and I thought of that moment. She was so scared. And in my mind I saw her once again getting on a bus. Still my little girl and still terrified. But she will get on, and she will be ok. We will all be there just like when she was 5. We will all be there and Cole will be part of our family forever. So I fully believe he will be spending time with you. I hope we get to keep him. I love him so much.

So tell me about the very best things this week.

I love you Logan. You are so important to me.

I love you to Ghana and back, and through eternity.

Ghana Mama

Mom