Merry Christmas from Ghana

December 30, 2013

Family,

Well this last week was a nice week that kept us very busy! On Tuesday we had a Christmas carols night in the Austuere branch and everyone went and sang songs and there were small skits that our branch clerk came up with and it was very nice.  Then Christmas was Wednesday and we woke up opened our presents and enjoyed the whole day. Sister Steinman sent all of us small nerf guns and little remote control cars for us to play with. So sweet of her! Then most of the day was just going around and getting fed by investigators and members. One of our investigators that Elder Steinman and I found and taught for a while got baptized on Christmas Day so that was awesome to watch!!  I’m sorry if I sounded different on the phone. It's because I was laying on Dr. Dugbateys bed with the lights off and fan going and so I was having a hard time staying awake. It was good to hear from everyone, but the last few minutes I’m not sure what was going on because I heard Kraymer start to talk to me but than I couldn’t hear anything else so I just said a few words and hung up haha (Kraymer was on Skype and we had Kade on Speaker phone so it was difficult for them to hear anyway and at the end Kraymer was bearing his testimony to Kade and us and we were all bawling, I was afraid Kade couldn't hear what was going on. :( Then Thursday was our Christmas party for the 3 branches and it was way sweet, nothing like a church Christmas party I’ve been to! They brought us a bunch of food and then brought in huge speakers and had way sweet music playing the whole time while visiting with everyone! Friday we had a dinner party for all the missionaries in our area that was put on by our district president and then Saturday our branch president fed us as well! So this whole week was crazy but awesome!!

This next week should cool down and do some good work in our area! Also yes I got the package from Janae' Saturday night! The Cosgrave’s were in Accra and picked it up for me :) there were two boxes! One box was for Elder Steinman and I. It had remote control helicopters (I was flying it this morning and got it stuck on the roof haha) and chocolate! Then the second box was for me with so many things in it! Wheat thins, jerky, chocolate, pictures, etc. It was really cool, she sent a puzzle that she put together and then wrote a letter on the back of it and than undid it and I had to put the puzzle together and read the letter on the back of it! Super creative and awesome. Make sure to let Janae and Sister Calaway know I got it and thank them so much!

Well family, I love you all very much and I'm grateful for the presents you sent me, especially that Nike watch!!! It is so sweet! It has GPS and tracks how far we walk and things like that!!! Elder Van Scheltema got his package and the zone is doing pretty good, we had a bad month and are working on trying to figure some things out. Have a great week!

Elder Eppich

"Afechia pa" and "sending lots of love from Ghana"

Kpong Primary with Geckos made by BC1Ward

Kade's "family" in the mission (trained)

Washington Elders

December 23, 2014

Family,

Afechia pa… (a way to greet someone merry Christmas in Twi) this week was a very busy one again! We started off going to Ho Monday night so I can be with Elder Jones and prepare for our zone training meeting the next day. That went really well in my opinion. After we finished that we ate some pizza in ho and then came home. We then went to Accra on Thursday morning for our Christmas conference. That was was fun because we were able to meet up with all the missionaries and I was finally able to meet a familiar face! I saw elder Hatch right when I got there and was able to talk with him a little bit. He is doing really well and enjoying mission. It was so weird to see him though! I took some photos ill try and send. I was also able to some of my former comps and they are all doing well. Elder Kandeh is in his last transfer on mission! Oh also before I forget Elder Van Scheltema got called to be an AP in the other mission. I knew he would! He is a stud and I miss him a lot! After the Christmas party the Kpong zone and the Kofridua zone slept the night at the mission home and so elder hatch and I were able to talk more about things back home. We woke up Friday morning and left Accra back to our areas. Then on Saturday morning we had our branch temple trip and I forgot to tell you that the one a few weeks ago got cancelled and so elder Steinman and I went and helped with that. Which was good because there were very few Melchizedek priestholder there. So we enjoyed but when we returned home that afternoon we were so tired!!

I got the family Christmas letter and it was very nice the only compliant I have is that why is Karigan's picture the biggest and mine the smallest? I mean what the heck hahaha jokes it was all very good. I also received a letter from the Riries and it was very nice of them for thinking about me in the Christmas season! Also, I was able to give the Gecko key chains out to the kids and they loved it!!! I will try and send a photo and you can share it with Shaniel and aunt Kathi and the rest of the ladies. The older people in the ward wanted some too, they liked them so much and so they all got taken fast haha.

So hopefully Christmas Day we will be having baptism. Sister Pat is still scheduled for that day but I'm not sure if it will be a yes or no. I'm praying that it will be!! So we will see. If it does, it would be the coolest Christmas for me haha 6 months of working with her!! Normally we never spend that much time with an investigator but Sister Pat is different so let's see how it goes J

Well family, I love you and I'm grateful for the support you give me. It doesn’t feel like Christmas and so I don’t really have to worry about getting homesick. I'm excited to talk with you but it will probably be around 40 minutes long. Have a Merry Christmas! Sending lots of love from Ghana!

Kpong Soccer Match

Elder Eppich

Ghana Accra Mission - Decmeber 2013

"It will be a Christmas Never to Forget!

December 16, 2013

Family,

So this week was a crazy busy week and very tiring! On Wednesday Elder Jones and I got together with our district president (president Tyson) and discuss something that the district needs and then we went to Accra that night and spent the night there and had the Mission Leaders Council where it started at 9am then ended around 4pm. We talk about so much but it was sweet because for lunch sister Judd made us some ice cream with chocolate syrup with mango and bananas on it!! after the meeting Elder Jones and i headed back to Ho and i went on exchanges all Friday with missionaries there! then Saturday morning i came back to Kpong with the Cosgraves who were going down to Accra for a YSA meeting. When I got home I found out part of Sister Pat's shop that she sells African wear that she makes caught on fire from a candle. We went there for a couple of hours to help her clean up, she accepted a BD (baptismal date) for Christmas day and we're praying that it goes through!! She came to church yesterday and paid her tithing a third time! We're praying that the 25th is finally the day for her and her family! It will be a Christmas to never forget if all goes well! We had one of our RC (recent convert) whole family come to church yesterday and they loved it. We had been working with the father for a week or so and he has already come twice and so he will be baptised on Christmas day also and hopefully his wife will follow him the next Sunday after that!

So transfers really surprised us this time. No one in our entire zone got transferred! We all have our same companions and everything! I was happy because Kpong is too sweet, and Elder Steinman and I will enjoy together! I got all of the packages and so that was very nice and we opened that first package and started to decorate the place, so it looks really nice :)  well as nice as our apt can look like haha.(I sent pillowcases, Christmas stockings, 12" tree and battery lights and blue foam snowflakes) 

And yes we bought the triple combo for bro Deborah, but we buy them at the distribution center and it cost like 80 peswas which is 40 cents so it is nothing. Yes I gave the money for Christmas to Sister Avery on Thursday.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week and remember the true meaning of Christmas!! 

Elder Eppich

Hard to say Goodbye

December 9, 2013

Family,

Well this last week was a pretty busy week, from Thursday to Saturday I wasn't in my area but was on exchanges with missionaries in the zone. On Thursday and Saturday I was with Elder Pouinu from New Zealand to show him around Somanya and have him meet our investigators that are there. He and his comp will do a good job in helping them progress to baptism. Before I forget, I found out that my RC (recent convert) in Achimota received the Melchezidek priesthood on Sunday and his wife is doing super awesome in the church as well! It made me feel so good knowing that they are doing so well in the church!! 

    So one of our investigators sister Mary was able to be baptized on Sunday and it was a very special day for her! Her daughter is actually a member in Accra and came up to Kpong to see her be baptized! It was also a nice Sabbath day because our branch building wasn't full of members because they split the branch into three and so there wasn't as many members there making noise.

And then a cool experience is our investigator bro Deborah that stays in Somanya came to church to Kpong and he seriously loved it! i cant remember if i mentioned him to you last week but this man loves to read and so we got him a triple combination and I think he is in Mosiah now in his reading and then he also loves reading in the Doctrine and Covenants! He even asked about possibly being baptized with the lady if he would have known how amazing the church is! He truly is elect and it is going to be hard to say goodbye to him and hand him to the other missionaries,but like I said, they will do a good job with our investigators there!

We won't find out what will happen for transfers until tomorrow morning and I'm somehow nervous haha because I don't know what will happen! It will be sad to say goodbye to Elder Steinman, but it would be super sweet if we could stay together but that normally doesn't happen once the training is finished. We will see what the Lord has in store for us! If I do get moved I hope I  get put a little closer to the other ZL, it's really hard to be split apart and be so far away. We are literally  75 minutes apart tro tro (bus) drive so its a little tough. I am still missing package #2, I hope it comes. I love you very much and hope all the best! Have a good week!

Elder Eppich

"One of the Crown Jewels"

December 2, 2013

Family,

Well this last week was an awesome week and a historical one for where we are in Ghana! Our branch in Kpong got split into 3 different branches! The church is growing in places it hasn't been before and it is so awesome to be a part of it! We now have branches in Odumase, Astuarye(spelling ?) Kpong, Senchi, Tshito, and two in Ho. The only bad thing is that Elder Steinman and I were told yesterday that the Odumase elders will be taking over Somanya, which is pretty sad because we have such awesome investigators there. We even had a cute little family where the parents are probably late 20's and have 2 small kids and the mom is pregnant and is suppose to deliver the baby on November 28th. They all came yesterday to church and it was so awesome! Our teaching pool has really dropped because we handed over Somanya to the Odumase elders and so this week we are really going to work hard to find some new investigators in Kpong! Nothing else really happened this week that I can remember. I didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving haha but we had a party last night with that suitcase that Sister Steinman sent Elder Steinman! It seriously blew my mind once more haha the things that were inside i havent seen for 10 months. My stomach kinda started to hurt after some of the things we ate like snickers, ritz crackers with cheese and a huge summer sausage haha it was great! Well I love you all, oh it was awesome because yesterday President Judd spoke to the congregation about the area we are serving in and he was telling everyone that he knows this area (Kpong area) is one of the crown jewels on Heavenly Father's crown and it is so true! This place is amazing! love you lots!

Elder Eppich

Oh funny story it was fast Sunday yesterday and a lady went up and bore her testimony on missionary work and how her daughter is serving her mission in Kumasi Ghana and that she said she called her a few days ago to tell her she got transferred... the look on President Judd's face was so funny. So he got out a piece of paper and wrote something down on it. I'm guessing he wrote down the lady's name to tell the mission president in Kumasi what is happening. Haha it made me laugh so hard, because that was the worst time for that lady to bare her testimony about that right in front of a mission president. lol

"Super elect and prepared for us to teach him"

Elvis and Gabriel

Kpong football field

November 25, 2013

Family,

Well this was a nice week for Elder Steinman and I! We were able to see brother Gabriel and brother Elvis baptized yesterday!  Brother Elvis was the one who called us over and told us he was praying to meet someone from this church to fellowship with and brother Gabriel was one that was just super elect and prepared for us to teach him!! I'll try and send a photo of the baptism.

And yes i finally got that package from October and was super pumped when i got it! I was also able to receive a couple of Christmas presents that came super fast!!!

Dang, so super awesome story....so, a few weeks ago I went on exchanges with a Senchi Elder and we did a lot of finding to help teach this missionary how to contact. We met this very nice older lady that seemed like she had potential to be a great investigator. A few days later after I returned to my area, the missionaries in Senchi went to go teach that nice older lady that we contacted and taught. When they got into the compound where she stayed they couldn't find her, and they asked other people  around in the same compound where she stayed and everyone said that there is no lady that stays here and have no idea who they were talking about. While they were looking for this lady they met a super awesome family that stayed in the compound that was very curious about what they had to share and the father came to church the very next day and then the family came the week after that! The missionaries in Senchi said that they think that the lady they went to go see was one of the three nephites or something like that, that would lead them to this elect family.  Hahah it was a really cool story and I thought I would share it with you! (I hope it all made sense Well this Saturday  our branch is having a temple trip and the missionaries are invited to go and so were going to take our RC (recent converts) and its going to be way awesome!!! Wel,l I love you all and hope you have an awesome week! That's awesome Kaitlan is having a boy and a girl!! I was hoping for two boys so they both can be big Walker outside linebackers hahaha. Love ya

Elder Eppich

Member Referrals

Elder Steinman, Brother Mark and Elder Eppich

November 18, 2013

Family,

Well this week was a nice one for Elder Steinman and I; we were able to see one of our investigators baptized yesterday. His name is brother Mark and it's awesome because he is good friends with one of our RC (recent converts) Emmanuel and Emmanuel was a good friend to David our other RC so because we were able to baptize brother David a while ago it led to two other investigators getting baptized. It helps so much when we are able to get referrals from the branch and they fellowship them really well and bring them to church. I honestly don’t remember much about what happened this last week, but one positive thing is that Sister Pat is getting closer to baptism we believe. The time is soon approaching and our branch president lives really close to her and so he is really encouraging her about baptism and once she commits then her family will as well! So I'm really praying for that! Oh and yes I got a package from you…but it was the one you mailed November 8th!! It got here in 9 days! I thought it was the Halloween one but when I opened it up it had little individual wrapped presents and I’m guessing they're ties so that will be nice to give out to the Elder's that don't have Christmas gifts! I couldn’t believe it got here so fast!! I’m praying the one you sent in October will get here somehow soon! Dang that is sweet that you finally got rid of the old computer. Haha. I think I will just call on Christmas, because there is absolutely no place you can skype from out here unless you go to Ho and we would have to do that on a Pday which is the 23rd or something like that so I would rather just call on the 25th. As for the suitcase, that is awesome of Sister Steinman but one thing that Elder Steinman just said is that we can buy the pancake mix in Accra so maybe don't send that because the Cosgraves can pick it up for us sometime and we just opened the second bag of mix today. And I honestly can’t think of anything right now besides chocolate Haha but I’m hoping you sent some in the October package (if I ever get it) or the Christmas one, so we will see. I think this is the longest time I have been with out chocolate sent I came out of the womb! I love you all very much and hope you have an awesome week! I’m proud of Karigan and how hard she has worked this volleyball season!!

Elder Eppich

Crazy, Busy Week

November 11, 2013 Family, Well this week was a crazy, busy week! On Tuesday morning Elder Jones and I came down from Ho to Senchi and went on exchanges with some of the missionaries there. Then we went to Kpong and met with our district president (President Tyson) and then we went to Odumase for the rest of the night and did exchanges once again. Then on Wednesday we went to Akuse and went on exchanges for the day. Then around 5 at night Elder Jones and I went to Accra for a meeting with all the zone leaders, I think there was 12 of us. It started at 9 am Thursday morning and ended around 4 pm. It was such a long meeting but we learned a lot and were able to get a lot accomplished. We headed back to Kpong and during this whole time Elder Jones and mine companions were with each other doing work in both our areas. We had all day Friday to proselyte in our area, and then Saturday we had a big wedding at our branch building. So us missionaries went and set up a little table with a bunch of handouts for people to take. It was a very nice wedding and they fed us afterwards so that was double bonus! So this week went by very fast for me but was very busy. Oh then on Sunday we had lights off and we had just got a new generator and when the generator kicked on it started a small little fire in the control panel so that was pretty exciting but we were able to put it out quick and then turn off all the power Haha, it could have been pretty bad if nobody was around or smelt the fire! It was cool we had this investigator come to church for the first time when we watched General Conference (they have only received Saturday am session) and they offered CDs of it after we watched the conference and our investigator named Gabriel took one and watched it like 4 times and he loved it! He said he was so touched and moved listening to the Apostles and Prophet! He came to church again yesterday and was participating in Elder's quorum class! He is an old man around 60 yrs old and really wants to be baptized as soon as he can and so we set a date of the 24th this month! Well family I love you very much and appreciate your support! Have a great week. Elder Eppich

Leaning on Prayer

 

Dugbatey, Elder Eppich, Eric and Elder Steinman in Kpong



Kpong Zone Pizza Activity!

Elder Steinman and Elder Eppich

November 4, 2013 Family, Well this week was a nice week for Elder Steinman and me! We weren’t able to do confirmations for our baptismal candidates because we had General Conference finally!!! And it was awesome! We watched only one session but I absolutely loved it! It’s so funny how my perspective has changed for GC in the last few years (mostly just this last year) I enjoy being able to listen to our Prophet and Apostles! We had some investigators come and watch it but we’re not really sure how they saw it or enjoyed it so this week we will try and see them and help them understand more about it! Well, last week on Monday I got a call from President Judd at 10:30 at night and I was already passed out asleep. (Pdays I’m always super tired) and I honestly don’t remember what was said, but he asked me to be a zone leader for Kpong zone! I was very surprised and don’t remember what I said other than yes Haha. So Elder Jones in Ho and I will be the Zone Leaders (mom I think you said that Elder Jones mom emailed you last week Haha that’s funny) so I’m pretty nervous right now! I’m really going to have to lean on prayer a lot these next few months!! Elder Steinman and I came up to Ho last night so I can be with Elder Jones to report numbers to the AP's and then we played basketball this morning and after we café (email) we are going to get pizza or hamburgers afterwards! Ho is a very nice place and so there are really cool food joints around! I think today was the year mark of when I received my mission call or somewhere around this date! Time has been really flying by! I keep thinking things I want to tell you back home but I keep forgetting what to say Haha. We should be having a baptism this week and so please pray for Bro Elvis and Bro Mark this week! Oh and you can read Elder Steinman’s blog because he gives a lot more detail about things that have happened to us that I don’t remember Haha. Thanks mom for those awesome quotes! I can’t wait for the Liahona with all the talks in it so I can study them more! Well I love you all and if I think of other things that have happened in the last week in the next little bit I will email them to you! Have a great week! Elder Eppich

A nice week in Kpong

Kpong - Jospehine and Michael

October 28, 2013 Family, Well this was a nice week for not only Elder Steinman and I but also our district and all the missionaries in Kpong. So currently we have 5 sets of missionaries that are at one branch out here in Kpong. They are preparing to split our branch in the near future, so we had a nice little baptismal service where 9 investigators were baptized. For Elder Steinman and I had a lady name Josephine who is 26 years old, she is very soft spoken but very smart and loves the church! And another brother named Michael. He is 25 yrs of age and has been taught by missionaries for six plus months, but they all dropped him because he would never come to church. Finally Elder Halavaka and I started to teach him and got him to come once before Elder Steinman came in and took over for elder Halavaka and he came ever since the first time and he loves the church! When president and Sister Judd came for the district conference, Sister Judd talked with him for a little bit and he was just saying how much he loves the church!! It was really awesome to hear him talk about the church that way! Brother Elvis wasnt able to be baptized yesterday because he had some concerns, but we helped resolve the concerns when he came to church yesterday. Oh by the way Elder Halavaka got called to train this transfer! He is going to do awesome!! Oh Then this week was the Krobo Festival. Where we are there are so many Krobos and so the place got really crazy. They were playing loud music all the time and everything was super busy all the time! It was so funny because there was some advertising going on and there were four dwarves in the back of the truck dancing while loud music was playing and it was so fun. All Ghanaians here can dance! It is sweet! Then Elder Steinman’s mom sent a suitcase with a missionary that is coming from there ward and it was full of straight candy and pancakes!!! It was awesome! It was like a straight jackpot Haha so we’ve been eating pancakes every morning and enjoying! She also made us other 3 missionaries in the apartment little Halloween bags with candy, very sweet of her! Something that made me happy this last week is that people kept saying that I’m getting obollo (fat) haha so that made me feel good! And no my sonicare broke like a week after you sent me a new one. I’m hoping we get to watch conference next week! I’m happy that Daniel F is doing well! Well, family I love you very much and I’m grateful for your love and support! Elder Eppich

Kpong Ghana

Trek to Accra Temple

Kpong District

October 21, 2013 Family, Well this week was a very nice one! Not too much stuff happened so this letter might be a little short. So to start off the reasons why I haven’t been sending photos lately because I had a virus on my memory card. I was so mad and afraid I would lose all of my photos, but the man that works at the café was able to remove the virus and save my photos! It was awesome!! And then also I had spoiled my hair slippers like 4 months ago but I had left them in our same apartment and I looked for a little electrical repair man, and he was able to fix them for 25 Ghana! I was pumped! I would have paid 50 to get them fixed; I don’t like getting African haircuts Haha. Then on Thursday we had our district temple trip/interviews with president Judd. So we had to make it to the 8:30 session in Accra, so we woke up at 430 in the morning to be there by 8 and we got there at 910 Haha I was pretty frustrated because we were suppose to go Wednesday night so we could make the temple session, but the APs said we would be ok to leave super early Thursday. We didn’t make it so I was pretty mad/sad. We were able to still do baptisms, but I want to watch the new endowment session! But right when we started to do baptism those feelings were able to leave me and I loved it! And yes that is the hardest thing going from nice AC rooms to outside in Africa Haha. The interview with president Judd went good! We then traveled home at 5 in the evening and got home around 9pm. I was so tired by the time we got home! It normally doesn’t take that long to travel back and forth but the traffic was terrible!! Oh Haha a funny story when we were in the changing room there was a white man with an Australian accent (sounded very similar to Elder Halavaka) and so I asked where he was from, and he said he was from Sydney and then I told him I knew Elder Halavaka and he said how he knew the Halavaka family. Then I asked him his name and he said Elder Vincent, and I was like oh crap! he is in our area presidency and I didn’t even know him hahaha and I guess he talked at General Conference! It’s not my fault we don’t get to watch conference for a month later. Then yesterday was district conference and it was was awesome! All the members from Ho, Tshito, Senchi all came to our building (because it’s the district center) It was a packed housed!! We had to set up chairs and canopies all outside for members to come and sit! I wish I could have taken pictures, but I know Elder and Sister Cosgrave did. Well I love you all very much and thank you for the support! Elder Eppich

Elder Eppich and his companion

Elder Eppich and family in his area

"Strengthened my Testimonry of Being Obedient"

October 14, 2013 Family, Well this last week was a nice week for Elder Steinman and I. Today we were able to go to the Akosombo Dam and it is huge and really nice! Dr. Dughbatety and Bro Eric (I baptized his wife) took me and my comp. It was a really fun time! Dr. Dughbatety is a way awesome guy! Have I ever told you about him? Elder Steinman and I had a really cool experience on Saturday where we met a man, in my opinion, an elect the Lord has prepared for us! His name is Elvis. It was a Saturday night and we were walking to our next appointment when a small boy came to our side and told us a man had sent him to go and call us. So, we turned around and far away we saw a man waving his arms at us. When we reached the man he told us to sit down and talk with him. He then told us that last week he had entered the church but left right away because he didn’t feel welcomed there. But the few moments when he was there he had felt a nice spirit and wanted to return to the church, but he didn’t want to go because he didn’t know anybody in the church and so all week he had been praying for God to place someone in his life to help him feel welcome, and on Saturday night his answer to his prayers came when he saw two white missionaries walking far away! We talked more and taught him a great lesson! He came to church the very next day and enjoyed it very much! He was able to discuss with President Akuse about the church, and he really liked everything! This whole experience really strengthened my testimony of being obedient and not wasting time at people’s houses or staying too long at our own apartment. If we would have stayed maybe 5 minutes too long at someone’s house then we would have never met this man and his sweet spirit! Made me feel really good about being in the right place at the right time! We’re going to continue to work with this great man and see how it goes! Sister Pat and the family is doing really well. Our investigators are doing good as well, we are trying to work out some of their concerns. I don’t really like to talk much about our investigators in case something happens where they end up no joining the church. Kinda like “not counting your chickens before they hatch”. Dad do you remember saying that to us when we were working with those mini pumpkins a long time ago? But that is kinda the case here. We have some solid ones that we are working with and by God's grace things will work well with everything!! And yes I met Elder and Sister Call on Saturday. One of their responsibilities are teaching the members here the new curriculum, “Come Follow Me” . They did some training in the Kpong branch and sister Cosgrave was like “hey that’s one of our missionaries”, and so a lot of the members were saying I was a movie star and then a small cute little girl came up to me on Sunday and said she say me on the big screen lol. Oh and our zone activity last Monday was way sweet! Sister Cosgrave and Elder Cosgrave prepared us Hawaiian haystacks! It was so nice! Then a few of us spent the night in Ho at their apartment because we had zone training meeting the next day and she made us pancakes!!! They’re so sweet! It’s so nice to have couple missionaries here. I wish I had more time to try and cook more! Wow I can’t believe Dallas is 8 years old already!! That’s so awesome for him to be baptized! They should have waited one year for him to be baptized so he wouldn’t have been a child of record and they could have helped the missionaries out by getting them a baptism hahaha jk. Well, family I love you all and I’m grateful for everything you do! Have a great week! We get to go to Accra on Thursday for a temple trip and meet with President Judd! Love you all the church is true! Elder Eppich

The Church is True

October 7, 2013 Family, Well this last week was a really nice week for Elder Steinman and me! This week we really focused on working with branch missionaries!! We have 10 branch missionaries that will probably be leaving on their own mission in the next 6 months, and it helps so much to work with the members because they know the language really well and the area a lot better than us!! We had a lot of cool experiences this week! One was we were contacting in Somanya and we had the feeling to go and contact this house and we met this really nice guy named Jared and we gave him a pamphlet and the next day he called me and was asking questions about Joseph smith, the Priesthood, the church and all those cool things! Basically taught a lesson over the phone for him Haha, the only bad thing is he is going to Ada for university so we won’t see him tell he comes back! But he definitely has potential in the future! The next cool thing is about Sister Pat! It so cool but so frustrating! Haha so this last Sunday the whole family comes to church and Sister pat and her older Sister Gifty both paid their tithing!!! It was so sweet because she called and asked if we pay tithing the next day and we told her yes and showed her how to do everything to pat her tithes! It was one of the coolest things I have seen on mission, yet also one of the most frustrating as well because she won’t commit to a baptismal date. But this fast Sunday I fasted for her and with her paying her tithing I know the Lord will open the windows of heaven and poor out the blessings on her and their family! Plus our Branch President has really been working a lot with her so that is nice!! Hahaha so funny story, this last week it rained a lot and hard and both Elder Steinman and I love the rain and so we would go and work in the rain, and while we were walking to an appointment a car comes flying by and hits this puddle and a bunch of mud just came flying up and got all over us hahaha it was so funny because you see things like that happening on movies but this time it happened to us! We just walked it off and when the rain was falling hard we would just walk under it and try to wash it off by rubbing the clothes together Haha so funny!! I’m doing really well! A lot better week and seriously it flew by!! I don’t get sick (knock on Wood) and I’m staying about the same weight. I’m never hungry anymore because I can cook some way nice beans, rice, stews, and pasta!! The only thing bad about it is it takes time to cook Haha. I’m super jealous that you all got to watch General conference!!! That’s the only bummer here Haha but its ok we will probably watch it the last week of October or the first week of November so we will see!! Well I love you all and thank you for your support!! The church is true. Elder Eppich **(This is an excert of Kade’s letter to Todd. I included it for blogging/book purposes.) This week was a lot better than last week ! I don’t ever get down but I get stressed Haha. Especially now because I’m district leader and our zone is the highest baptizing in the mission, and so when we don’t reach our goals it seems like we are letting down the zone and mission and the blame normally comes to the DL Haha but its all good! This month our zone of 26 has a goal of 50 baptisms so we will see how it goes! Our district is hoping for 10! Yes as a district leader I have to go on exchanges, do baptismal interviews, and give instruction at district meeting. It’s really nice and I enjoy it! We have a sweet district!! That’s awesome about GC imp so jealous Haha! I’m happy your foot is healing slowly and your little scooter run was way funny (I emailed a video of Todd on his scooter in our house ) Haha well I love you very much!

"There's No Place I Would Rather Be"

September 30, 2013 Family, Haha I liked how you said "Y'all" in your letter Mom. (I am in Texas) This week was a pretty good one. It was pretty frustrating but with awesome experiences. So we asked Sister Pat to really pray and ask God if 1) If this church is the true church 2) If she needs to be baptized into the church. A little after she prayed there was a voice that came into her head that said "Yes, Yes!!!". I have no doubt that it was the Holy Ghost because when she told us the story you could feel the spirit so strong!! But then she said that "But I’m not sure if it was the Devil speaking to me or the Holy Spirit" and I was like what??? are you serious? But the last few weeks people have been really pounding her with anti-Mormon things and it’s so frustrating because she doesn’t want to offend us so she wouldn’t tell us what the concerns were until a few days ago. They are just crazy things that other churches say about our church, like when you are baptized they take you into a secret room and blind fold you and whatever body part you touch on a table is what you have to donate when you die. Haha some crazy things like that! But the end of the story is that Sister Pat and her family needs more time! She is fearing men right now more than God.Our branch President lives close to her and so he visited her and talked with her. Hopefully a few weeks will help solve her concerns! We found more investigators this last week. One man who is 20 and we contacted him on Monday and he came to church on Sunday and really liked it! He already asked about serving a mission himself!. Oh we met a lady the other day whose name is "Janet" and that was the first time I’ve heard that name in a long time and it blew my mind lol. Also I’m so happy I brought my Keens on my mission because that’s all I wear now except on Sunday when I wear my normal shoes. They are so much nicer to wear! Also mom have you had a chance to send those pictures of me to give to RC and a new USB? I still haven’t bought one yet. One thing that really helped me out this week was I was reading in my personal study DC 100!! I changed the names of Sydney and Joseph with Kraymer and Kade. It was a really cool thing to do and I know the Lord takes care of everything back home for us while we are gone away! Oh and I had a Friend name Exodus (he is a Rasta man) but super cool guy and he split my scriptures and put African material on it and it looks so awesome!! I’ll send a picture. Well I love you all and I’m grateful for you all. Yes we will be able to watch conference but it won’t be until the end of October :( I can’t believe it was over a year ago when they announced the age change for missionary service and it changed my life!!! I love it. It seems like yesterday, I could tell you everything that was going on when I got your phone call! There is no other place I'd rather be than here!.......ok except maybe Dairy Queen, Costa Vida, Tucanos hahaha, naw I’m just kidding. I love it here :) Edler Eppich JR

"I Know Who the Lord Calls, The Lord Qualifies"

September 23, 2013 Family, Well it was a nice week but a little stressful Haha. On Wednesday we went to Accra for transfers and I got my new companion. His name is Elder Steinman and he is from American Fork, Utah. I’ll try and send a pictures of us :) He is a super awesome guy and we work hard together! I also got a call from President Judd the night before and he asked me to be district leader, I was really surprised! I didn’t think they would split our district but they did. I was called to be the district leader of the new district. I know who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies. Well we were supposed to have a baptism for Sister Pat, her son and brother. Everything was going good except on Friday Sister Pat’s pastor from her previous church came and visited her. The last 2 months he hasn’t made an effort to come but right before she was supposed to be baptized, there was lots of opposition! They decided to postpone the baptism to next Sunday, hopefully it will be ok for the 29th! But I know Satan does not want this family to join the church because of the great things that this family will do! We were still able to have the Zone Leaders from Ho come down and do the baptismal interviews on Saturday, so all should be good for next Sunday I pray! That’s crazy about that storm!!! I can’t believe it blew over our tree in the back yard! Well I love you all and pray for you every day!! Have a good week! Elder Eppich

Training again in Kpong

zone in Kpong

Zone in Kpong

September 16, 2013 Family, Well everything here is going great! and I’m happy that you guys have had light off for a few hours!!! (Our power went out during a huge storm last night and was out for 13.5 hours) Now you kinda get a little taste of me here in Ghana. Although its being doing really well these last few months! (no lights off) Sister Pat and Dominic are doing good! I got a picture with Sister Pat and her white baby that I will send to you guys. It’s so cute and something you don’t see. And as for transfers, Elder Halavaka and I will be split up! :( Kind of sad but that normally what happens once they finish their training. President Judd called me Tuesday and asked me to train again and I accepted! I went to Accra on Thursday for a small trainers meeting! It’s always nice to go to Accra from Kpong because there is a little baboon sanctuary type thing and so when we drive by this forest there is always baboons sitting there or walking on the road Haha. It’s funny because people will just walk right by them and the baboons don’t mind them at all! I’d be freaked out that one of them would attack me. Oh before I forget do you think you could send me bishop Edmonds email address? I want to email him. Thanks. Since this was Elder Halavaka and I last week we wanted to work hard so we taught a lot of lessons and plus we needed to see everybody frequently. We will be having a baptism on Sunday and so please pray for the success of all that. I know your prayers back home really help as well! Mom, we will have more than 10 new investigators each week but some of them aren’t very serious but just want to sit down with white people and learn about Jesus. That’s awesome that Bryant came home! I miss those guys Haha he looks good! And yes President Judd is an amazing guy! You will definitely meet him one day! That’s cute that you took me and Kraymer to primary on Sunday! I bet they loved that :) I mean who wouldn’t :) Haha. Well I love you and I’m grateful for everything you do for me! The church is true! Elder Eppich

zone in Kpong

"The Game Don't Leave the Player"

Baptism of Emmanueal in Kpong Ghana

September 9, 2013
Family,

We had a baptism yesterday but it was only for Emmanuel! Sister Pat and her son Dominic decided to wait a little longer before they get baptized! Hopefully on the 22nd! But I'll still get a picture with their family as soon as I can and it would seriously blow your mind how white her baby is. Its so funny and makes me laugh every time! The package was very nice, but I haven’t really used much of it though! The Mike and Ike's reminded me of my four wheeler accident Haha and I hadn’t eaten any for so long!! The zone activity was way fun and all I can say is that..... The game don’t leave the player hahahaha jk but I didn’t do too bad for not playing for so long! We seriously played for like 5 hours Haha I was literally dead the next day Haha my body hurt so bad afterwards!! But it was a blast! Even Elder Cosgrave came and played with us so that was way cool! Then we went to Elder and Sister Cosgrave house and ate spaghetti and it was super nice! Plus we had garlic bread as well! That’s awesome you had your first violin lesson! I bet you’ll pick it up fast!! That’s too bad about the football game. I can’t believe it’s been 2 yrs since I started my senior year! Wednesday we had zone conference in Kpong and it was way awesome! One thing that president Judd told us that stuck out to me is that the reason they split our mission is because "the window of Ghana is rapidly closing" and so we need to hasten our work! It’s so true what he said because Ghana is getting more westernized if that makes sense. People are trying to make more money and care less about religious things. Obviously it’s not going to change instantly but my guess in the next 10 yrs the success here in Ghana won’t be the same as it now! We have transfers next week and I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. We know they are splitting the Kpong branch into 3 branches, one in Akuse, Kpong, and Odumase so idk what’s going to happen to me. If they open a branch in Odumase it will struggle at the beginning because I think there is maybe 20-30 or so members there, but the work will increase because people will come to church from Odumase and Somanya because it doesn’t cost as much. Our zone is a growing area where there has never been branches or missionaries before. It’s an exciting time for the Ghana Accra Mission and its cool to think that I’m a part of it! I had a cool experience this week where I think I figured out another one of the many reasons why I’m here in Ghana and in Kpong especially! Not just a spiritual experience but kinda of an experience of what I want to do in life and how I can help the people in Ghana in the future once I become established in my occupation. I won’t tell you now but maybe in the future time :) Well I love you all and I’m glad all is going good with everyone home!

Elder Eppich

Loving Life as a Missionary in Africa

September 2, 2013 Family, Well it was a good week, yesterday both Vanilla and David showed up to church 15 minutes early so that they can be confirmed! This is way awesome because African time is like 30 minutes late to everything Haha and so we really focused on getting them to church early! And yes I got the package! Thank you so much I’m blessed to have such amazing mother and family :) and also support from cousins and friends! I still get letters from them and it helps so much! Thank you :) and yes Elder Avery gave me a hug yesterday when they stopped by in Kpong Haha it was funny, he said I have something from your mom....and then I’m like what? And he gave me a big hug it was really funny Haha. I’m testing out that oxi clean-stain remover later today! I think it will really help to make washing a little easier. So the coolest thing happened a few days ago! We were sitting at an investigators house in a small town outside of Kpong called Nuaso and I see this lady in the distance and I’m like oh she looks familiar and when she got closer I realized it was Sterling!!! One of my very first baptisms in Kaneshie!! I’m like what the heck?? she came running over and yelling my name Haha she said she just came to visit a friend and when she was walking she saw elder Halavaka and she was going to ask him if he knew me and when she got closer she saw me Haha! It was so awesome!! She is doing well in the church but her father died last month which is sad! The whole time I’m just thinking in my head, what are the odds that we would run into each other!!!! It was a way cool experience to see her again :) So yes the investigator with the little white baby is still doing great! She spoils us every time we go there! Like a nice full meal Haha. Her and her son Dominic will be baptized on the 8th!! I’m really excited because she is going to be an amazing member of the church! She is really good friends with one of the counselors at the branch and so that helps very much. Then another boy name Emmanuel, David| (the RC) best friend, will also be baptized on Sunday by God's grace! His father is actually a member of the church but stays somewhere in Accra. Elder Halavaka and I are still doing great! We talk all the time and so the weeks go by way fast!! We have a funny little thing where we always start laughing about and that is when one of us trip over a rock, the rocks here are all over the ground and so they stick up maybe a few CM but we’re just so tired that we kind of drag our legs or don’t pick them up high enough and so we trip over something small and look at each other and just start to laugh Haha. We ended up not going to Koforidua because one of the missionaries got chicken pox and so they kind of isolated him so nobody else gets it. A lot of missionaries here, especially the Africans, haven’t got the chicken pox and so they are being extra careful. So they moved zone conference to Kpong on this Wednesday. We're in Ho right now emailing early because we’re having a zone activity here. We have a lot of missionaries who love sports and so we put everything together to come play football, American football, basketball, etc. I’m way excited and then Sister Cosgrave is going to make spaghetti for all of us missionaries! Booyah Haha That’s cute about little Reagan Haha she is going to be big by the time I get home! And I’m glad grandpa is doing so well now! I told President Judd about him when he wasn’t feeling very well, and he said he will keep him in his prayers and I know that really helped! Alright well I love you all and I’m grateful for the prayers, love and support!! Have a great week Elder Eppich



Break the Fast meal and they made their own french fries



Sterling and Elder Eppich

Working Hard in Kpong

Baptim of Vanilla and her mom. In Kpong Ghana

Elder Halavaka (Austrialia) Baptism of David and Vanilla.

August 26, 2013 Family, Well this last week was a good one for us! (I feel like that is the same way I start each letter home, but I guess it’s better than other ways) Elder Halavaka and I worked hard and were rewarded with 2 baptisms and 10 investigators at church! Each week we continue to improve with our investigators at church! Hopefully that continues to happen by God’s grace :) So we were able to baptize David and Vanilla! We were able to get the man that knew sign to translate for us. It was an amazing experience for us!!! We would tell the man what to say, and then it would be dead silent and you could feel the spirit so strong!! When the lesson was finished Elder Halavaka and I were like '"That....was.....amazing!" We were really afraid that it all wouldn’t work out because the man is always super busy. He is an African bead maker, and he also travels the world to Universities and teaches people how to make the African beads because it is such a rare talent! That is how he learned sign language because in 2005 a University asked him to come down to South Africa to a University for people with challenges and they paid for his classes to learn sign language! It was a miracle that everything worked out and she was able to be baptized!! David is doing really well and he brought his best friend to church and so we went and saw him after church and extended a baptismal date to him! By God's grace we can have a great month in September! But as long as we continue to work hard!! Oh we got couple missionaries out here!! I’m so excited! They make everything nicer and easier for us missionaries out here in the bush. Their names are Elder and Sister Cosgrave and I think they are from Highland, Utah or something like that. We will be going to Koforidua on Thursday for zone conference, and so I’m excited for that because Kof town is way sweet! It’s a huge city that is surrounded by hills; it’s just really cool :) It’s cool because we have an awesome lady that we are teaching named Sister Pat. We also teach her son Dominic, and her brother, Emmanuel. She is married to a man from Austria and their baby daughter is white! Haha it’s so funny, but she treats us so nice! When she feeds us meals she always says that she prepares everything for us just like she would for her husband, whether it’s because we’re white, or she just likes us so much, I’m not really sure! The three of them came to church once and loved it!! So hopefully they will be able to be baptized next month!! Yes, I’m way tired at the end of the days Haha but I don’t like to fall asleep because it feels like a 5 min nap and then I’m up again. Haha I haven’t got your package yet but hopefully on Thursday when we go to Kof town. And next Pday I’m way excited because we’re having a zone activity in Ho and there are a lot of missionaries in our zone that loves sports and so were going to enjoy!!! Plus I haven’t been to Ho so it will be awesome! Well I’m glad you got the bracelets! I was so nervous that it wouldn’t get to you guys! I don’t even remember what I said in there to make you cry. Haha. I’m glad grandpa is doing better! Well I love you all and I’m grateful for all of you! The church is true! Elder Eppich Jr.

Lifting weights, Ghana style

Helping  fix dinner in Kpong :)