1. Ghana has been very disruptively hot this past week. To some extent when it gets too hot, people run into their houses and hide, which makes teaching people very difficult.
2. Fufu is a concoction of alot of plantains and Kasava, boiled then pounded together. When eating fufu, it is placed in a big bowl with lava-hot stew and you then have to cut it with bare fingers. (you get burned not from the heat alone but also the amount of spice in the stew.)
3. People here like focusing on the Gospel but when placed up against a wall of faith or when asked to ACT on what they have been learning or put it to the test, that is where issues come in because of a lot of family things. The people here will not challenge their family and more often than not, other family members do not approve of the baptism and so those we are teaching are left with knowledge that they are not able to act on or they are not willing to act on. I am grateful that my family supports me in my decisions related to the gospel and the church.
4. Fufu makes your stomach huge but you are not actually gaining weight; it will just sit inside you for a long time.....not fun
5. You can be sun burned in less then five minutes while out here so it allows you to find awesome ways to get from shade to shade!!!!!
This is a game we often play while walking from appointment to appointment.
I want to talk about super heroes!!! If anyone really knows me, you know that from my first breath I wanted to be a superhero. When I was young my parents actually had to sit me down and tell me that being a super hero was not a possible occupation to have in my future. (Now I do not remember this day but my mother tells me that I was crushed. I am sure I have locked the moment into my subconscious as a nightmare that I do not want to live over again). I have spent years trying to find my place in this world to be as close as I can be to a superhero. I wanted to be jumping out of burning buildings, rescuing people at the brink of death, but it never seemed possible. I have discovered a new thing way to think about being a super hero: in Matthew 5 it reads: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candle stick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven".
The way I have decided to look at it is that we are all lights - that means we all have an awesome super power, but just as lights are found everywhere and even come in different shapes and sizes, we too are different. God has placed us where we need to be to be the hero that He has called us to be. We are all lights (and examples and heroes) and can all shine through darkness. We may not be able to fly or control elements or teleport or a hundred other cool powers, but we are different. This world is like a puzzle of everyone fitting together and working together the best way we can. We cannot complete the puzzle without all of our individual pieces., We control our own piece and we can build off of others and with other, or we can try everything on our own. But we each have a part that only we can play. Each of you has your own super power and your quirks and strange behaviors make you valuable to the world and to God. Be awesome, find your super power, each and everyone of you has one that no one else has, something that is completely yours. Find it and use it. Change the lives of those around you. Be the puzzle piece that goes and shines forth out of the dark. You are not just one in 7 billion, you are the only one of seven billion that can do what you can do. I promise each of you that if you search for your power you will find it and if you do not find it, ask those you love to help you. Be the super hero that you know you can be. I may not be able to fly or lift a building or have a healing factor but I can run to someone's rescue and I can lift someone's burden and I can heal others scars. With great power comes great responsibility. you have a super power so you better use it to help those in your path. And I promise that I will try to do the same thing. That is what God is needing us to do for His sons and daughters at home, in Ghana, in San Francisco, everywhere.
I love you all and I am grateful for your letters, your cards and your prayers.
Love, Elder Edison
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