Hey!
Ya, sorry the letter was late haha. The time is going quick. I can't believe another week has already passed. It feels like just yesterday that I was writing an email to you.
Thanks for the package, it was very thoughtful. But really, don't send me anything. I can get the same stuff cheaper over here. Plus, I'm right next to the mission home so I'm not in great need. I'm in the safest place in Ghana. I'd rather use the money you are using to send the package for fruit. So please please please, if your going to spend money on me- Just let me draw money out of my account. I'd feel much much much better about it.
Ya the sachet's of water are purified so they're fine for me to drink. The caution is really the plastic bag, if it's dirty or not. Plus we have a water filter. Haha we've been out of water for the past few days and I've been showering with a cup. It's a bit exciting.
Mitch sent me an email! Go Mitch :). Haha sorry I never wrote you! I'm a terrible friend.
Go Caleb! That's awesome. He'll be a great missionary.
Jamaica?! Haha Adam that rocks! I think that's where Rasta Farian's come from. Hmm that will be interesting. Also the Cool Running's bob sled team. Will he go to the Provo MTC?
I'm always down with birthday money :P. But yes once again. I don't need any packages. I understand that you think that I'm joking on this one. But I'm dead serious. No packages please please please please please please please. I think I got it across now? Haha. I promise the best thing is just to put money in my account and I'll get the things I need here. Plus our money is like doubled here. It's like 1.82 ratio to 1. So yes remember that when you spend 17 dollars on a package In my head I'm thinking 34 Ghana Cedis, plus the cost of whatever is in the package. And I can get 48 packets of Milky Magic Biscuits for 10 Cedis here (which would last me for the whole month).. So I kind of weep inside when I realize what I could have gotten for the same amount of money.
Alright I'll tell my companion Hello for you. By the way he said thanks for the treat money!
Hmm.. stories about the week?
Today we watched 17 Miracles. That movie is awesome. Elder Eldredge bought the whole group 2 Fan Ice's (which is like a bar of ice cream). My apartment is really good at giving away free food :). Anyways it was awesome. The power went out at the very end of the movie Haha look at the blessings. It's been raining all week. Last Monday We had to walk through a river that had been built up by the rain to get to our apartment. Needless to say, we weren't able to proselyte that day.
I had my first bite of mashed potatoes the other day. I was in heaven. Buttery... Delicious.. Mashed Potatoes. But once again. Do not take this as a hint to send me buttery mashed potatoes. It still would be far too expensive and I'd rather use the money to buy fruit.
Hmm.. Brother Davis has been able to get a ride every week from a member named Brother Tando. Which is sweet! Brother Davis is the 77 year old man that has trouble walking. Anyways we gave him an invitation to be baptized this week on the 24th of June. And it just happened to be his birthday. But he accepted! (Which we weren't ever in doubt of, this guy is sooo powerful). He's the one that spent 6 cedis for a ride to and from church once.
Ebenezer has been able to come these past couple weeks, and has been confirmed and received the Aaronic Priestood. He's a really powerful member already. He wants to share the gospel with everyone. He also really wants to serve a mission and has already asked if he can come to lessons with us. That would be cool as well because he'll continue to learn as we teach with him. We're still trying to find some fellowshippers for him when we leave though. There is two guys his age, one's named Paul Wesley and the other is Kofi Johnson. (They are both the only members in their family and are just a few years older than me, that seems like a powerful sacrifice in itself for me). Anyways hopefully they will become friends.
By the way every time I shave the missionaries say that it looks like I haven't shaved? I've kind of just learned to just deal with it. Because I do shave every morning, I'm not sure why it doesn't shave. I have been using 1 razor for a full month to save money, but it looks like I might have to give up on it because I'm starting to get the pimple thingys. Those are no fun to shave with. But ya, even with a new razor the missionaries still say it looks like I haven't shaved.
Hmm I don't know what else to say.
I'm adjusting even more to the missionary schedule. I did pretty well during church yesterday. I think drinking more water would help as well. I'll have to buy a small bag to carry around with me. (Sunday's are hard because our apartment isn't close to our area, and I can't buy sachet waters because it's Sunday).
I haven't had trouble with the food since I got here. I think that's a miracle in itself. But I have heard quite a few stories soo I guess it will just take time. Maybe I've just been lucky with the food I've gotten so far.
The hymn's are helpful when you're getting discouraged out in the field. They help you stay focused on the positive rather than the negative. (Haha I'm sure the other missionaries are sick of me singing hymns)
Cherish, you were right. I'm suffering from not having back tickles. I saw Sister Asay giving her husband Brother Asay (our Mission Office couple) a back tickle. Anyways, I'm glad that the culture in Ghana seems to be totally different because I haven't seen them do it. I don't think I realize how blessed I am that there isn't all this stuff reminding me of what I'm missing back home. Because like there T.V. programs are terrible haha. I don't understand why they like it.
Well I'm not sure how much time I have before this thing turns off so I'll send this email and begin another one :).
Love you all
Elder Adair
Monday, May 28, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
May 21 2012
I'm doing great. Still getting a little nervous in lessons thinking
that I might be training in 3 weeks. I think I can teach the covenant
training pattern, Baptism, and Lessons 1-3 pretty well. (Not well
enough not to be nervous.. but well enough haha). Then Lesson 4 and 5
which are really like 10 or more lessons I don't really know at all.
My trainer has been a great trainer though.
My companion is doing well. I got put with a really good companion who
works hard. Oh by the way he's a super big Chelsea fan (football
team). He lived in Chelsea before he came on Mission. And they just
won the cup for the Champion's League so he's been freaking out the
past couple days telling everyone haha it was funny when he got a call
from a member that they had won. It was a totally unexpected win. He
didn't think they even had a chance. His whole family went to see it
live and everything haha so he missed out.
We haven't really been playing games. There isn't much time to do that
with everything I've got to do, so I kind of like not having to worry
about playing games. I'm just glad I don't have to wash my clothes by
hand. I would smell terrible, and have no time to do anything if I had
to haha.
I haven't gotten any emails from friends. Soo ya, you friends out
there who are reading this. Hurry it up :P.
Sweet Adam! I just wrote you a letter even, but you won't get it for
another 2 weeks haha. I told him my whole sandal experience while
waiting to go into the castle. But ya let me know where Adam goes.
The missionary work is coming along well. We have 2 guys (a 60 year
old and an 80 year old) that we're thinking will be baptized in the
next month. We're teaching tons of lessons, and we have 2 girls that
we think will be baptized, but they have to wait 3 months because they
are under 18.
Since I'll probably be left in the Cape Coast mission, yes everywhere
I go people should speak Fante. I don't really have to learn Fante,
the Ghanaians like you more if you can speak it though. There's many
reasons why we don't teach in Fante though. I'm sure a big part is
that they are trying to keep the doctrines pure and until the church
is more established here they won't teach in Fante. They can teach
people in Fante if they have family members that are members, but I
haven't had an experience teaching in Fante really yet. I did go with
Elder Nzuki once and he taught one of our investigators in Fante.
Their understanding in Fanti is much better too.
We drive to church yes. With a little walking included. It's just us
taking a taxi. The taxi's here are basically like buses back at home
in price. But no it's not where I proselyte. My area starts like a
mile or 2 up the road from the church. The Elders I live with go to a
different church building then me. I'm in the same Branch as the
Assistants so we get to be with them a lot, but usually they are out
of the area going on splits with other missionaries and doing what
ever they do.
Yes the church members are all Native.
Ya, we have investigators coming to church. We usually have like 4 a
week or so.
The biggest problem is the cost. We're trying to get moved to a church
that is closer to everyone in our area. I'm sure a lot more people
would be coming if the church was actually in our area. The people are
having to choose between eating or coming to church. The people don't
really come out about how much they're having to sacrifice to come to
church. My ward mission leader was telling me about how a lot of the
time they didn't make enough money and he was starving for food. So
ya, I'm not really all that sure about how much money they make or
anything. But I don't see how they are making 140 cedis a month with
the way they get their money. I'm guessing they make less than 100
cedis in reality.
Haha mom I'm doing fine, I'm not sick. They have medicine here as well
plus it's super cheap. Really, don't send me anything unless I ask you
for it. I can get stuff cheaper here than you can get it there. For
example. I can get a white proselyting shirt for 2 cedis here which
from what I hear is only 1 dollar at home now. It sounds like the US
dollar is doing better so I might get 2 cedis for a dollar rather than
1.5 cedis for a dollar. That will be nice.
Haha good sleep.. that reminds me. I have to go to the bathroom like 4
times a night because I have to drink so much water, and my mouth is
still like thirsting for water when I wake up in the morning. Haha
just had to share. Luckily I fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed
again.
That's cool people are thinking of me. Thank you all you lovely people.
Anyways I'm going to send this one and try to answer Cherish's
questions now. Last week I finished an email and was just about to
send it and my time went out. I logged back on and everything was
gone. Oh well. One thing I've learned from Mission, no reason to get
disappointed when you have so many blessings around you. (Of course
I'm not perfect at it, but man seriously we have so many blessings. We
just are always looking for the perfect life rather than seeing we
already have it.)
Love ya allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
- Elder Adair, or as the Ghanaians would say (Elder Aday)
that I might be training in 3 weeks. I think I can teach the covenant
training pattern, Baptism, and Lessons 1-3 pretty well. (Not well
enough not to be nervous.. but well enough haha). Then Lesson 4 and 5
which are really like 10 or more lessons I don't really know at all.
My trainer has been a great trainer though.
My companion is doing well. I got put with a really good companion who
works hard. Oh by the way he's a super big Chelsea fan (football
team). He lived in Chelsea before he came on Mission. And they just
won the cup for the Champion's League so he's been freaking out the
past couple days telling everyone haha it was funny when he got a call
from a member that they had won. It was a totally unexpected win. He
didn't think they even had a chance. His whole family went to see it
live and everything haha so he missed out.
We haven't really been playing games. There isn't much time to do that
with everything I've got to do, so I kind of like not having to worry
about playing games. I'm just glad I don't have to wash my clothes by
hand. I would smell terrible, and have no time to do anything if I had
to haha.
I haven't gotten any emails from friends. Soo ya, you friends out
there who are reading this. Hurry it up :P.
Sweet Adam! I just wrote you a letter even, but you won't get it for
another 2 weeks haha. I told him my whole sandal experience while
waiting to go into the castle. But ya let me know where Adam goes.
The missionary work is coming along well. We have 2 guys (a 60 year
old and an 80 year old) that we're thinking will be baptized in the
next month. We're teaching tons of lessons, and we have 2 girls that
we think will be baptized, but they have to wait 3 months because they
are under 18.
Since I'll probably be left in the Cape Coast mission, yes everywhere
I go people should speak Fante. I don't really have to learn Fante,
the Ghanaians like you more if you can speak it though. There's many
reasons why we don't teach in Fante though. I'm sure a big part is
that they are trying to keep the doctrines pure and until the church
is more established here they won't teach in Fante. They can teach
people in Fante if they have family members that are members, but I
haven't had an experience teaching in Fante really yet. I did go with
Elder Nzuki once and he taught one of our investigators in Fante.
Their understanding in Fanti is much better too.
We drive to church yes. With a little walking included. It's just us
taking a taxi. The taxi's here are basically like buses back at home
in price. But no it's not where I proselyte. My area starts like a
mile or 2 up the road from the church. The Elders I live with go to a
different church building then me. I'm in the same Branch as the
Assistants so we get to be with them a lot, but usually they are out
of the area going on splits with other missionaries and doing what
ever they do.
Yes the church members are all Native.
Ya, we have investigators coming to church. We usually have like 4 a
week or so.
The biggest problem is the cost. We're trying to get moved to a church
that is closer to everyone in our area. I'm sure a lot more people
would be coming if the church was actually in our area. The people are
having to choose between eating or coming to church. The people don't
really come out about how much they're having to sacrifice to come to
church. My ward mission leader was telling me about how a lot of the
time they didn't make enough money and he was starving for food. So
ya, I'm not really all that sure about how much money they make or
anything. But I don't see how they are making 140 cedis a month with
the way they get their money. I'm guessing they make less than 100
cedis in reality.
Haha mom I'm doing fine, I'm not sick. They have medicine here as well
plus it's super cheap. Really, don't send me anything unless I ask you
for it. I can get stuff cheaper here than you can get it there. For
example. I can get a white proselyting shirt for 2 cedis here which
from what I hear is only 1 dollar at home now. It sounds like the US
dollar is doing better so I might get 2 cedis for a dollar rather than
1.5 cedis for a dollar. That will be nice.
Haha good sleep.. that reminds me. I have to go to the bathroom like 4
times a night because I have to drink so much water, and my mouth is
still like thirsting for water when I wake up in the morning. Haha
just had to share. Luckily I fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed
again.
That's cool people are thinking of me. Thank you all you lovely people.
Anyways I'm going to send this one and try to answer Cherish's
questions now. Last week I finished an email and was just about to
send it and my time went out. I logged back on and everything was
gone. Oh well. One thing I've learned from Mission, no reason to get
disappointed when you have so many blessings around you. (Of course
I'm not perfect at it, but man seriously we have so many blessings. We
just are always looking for the perfect life rather than seeing we
already have it.)
Love ya allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
- Elder Adair, or as the Ghanaians would say (Elder Aday)
Monday, May 21, 2012
May 14 2012
Hey I found the email I wasn't able to send last week! Here
you go. Love you
The mission is going good, it's getting closer and closer to when I
might have to train. So i'm trying to take the lead in lessons and do
all the things that my companion does automatically. Haha I'm not even
sure if I make sense during my lessons, but hey I'm teaching the basic
stuff so at least I'm teaching them something ;). Even if I make no
sense, at least I invite them to read the pamplet.. Hahah the pamplet
is a way better teacher than I am. I think I need to work on involving
the investigator more in the lesson though. I'm trying to study Preach
my gospel in whatever spare time I can find. It's nice to have at
least some guide in what to do, because there's so many things that
are involved in a simple lesson. KISS- Keep it simple stupid :P. Best
advice I ever got.
Ummm.. The Book of Mormon is a great tool for encouragement as well.
Haha when I read what Laman and Lemuel say I always start thinking..
Hey that sounds exactly like what I was thinking earlier.. Then you
read Nephi's response and you're like.. Ya.. that's what I should have
been thinking!
One thing that I wish I would have known back home. - Instead of
memorizing scriptures, I should have just learned the scripture
reference and a couple words about what it was about. The Book of
Mormon can answer tons of questions. The thing is knowing where the
answer is. I think if I knew what each chapter was about it would have
helped a ton. But then again the most important thing right now seems
to just be learning the lessons.
As you learn about the lessons you start to realize that you hardly
know anything. But I think that's one lesson that God wants us to
learn - We know what is MOST important. The little details will come
over time. But we don't need to get caught up in the little details
when the big picture is what we need to be focusing on. If we were
trying to focus on every little detail we would go insane.
Patience is definitely a needed attribute. Trusting in God as well.
Things just work out when you trust him.
Anways love you all
Elder Adair
P.S. Tell Suzy she better still like me when I get home, or she's in
big trouble. I feel like she's not even going to know who I am when I
get back.
you go. Love you
The mission is going good, it's getting closer and closer to when I
might have to train. So i'm trying to take the lead in lessons and do
all the things that my companion does automatically. Haha I'm not even
sure if I make sense during my lessons, but hey I'm teaching the basic
stuff so at least I'm teaching them something ;). Even if I make no
sense, at least I invite them to read the pamplet.. Hahah the pamplet
is a way better teacher than I am. I think I need to work on involving
the investigator more in the lesson though. I'm trying to study Preach
my gospel in whatever spare time I can find. It's nice to have at
least some guide in what to do, because there's so many things that
are involved in a simple lesson. KISS- Keep it simple stupid :P. Best
advice I ever got.
Ummm.. The Book of Mormon is a great tool for encouragement as well.
Haha when I read what Laman and Lemuel say I always start thinking..
Hey that sounds exactly like what I was thinking earlier.. Then you
read Nephi's response and you're like.. Ya.. that's what I should have
been thinking!
One thing that I wish I would have known back home. - Instead of
memorizing scriptures, I should have just learned the scripture
reference and a couple words about what it was about. The Book of
Mormon can answer tons of questions. The thing is knowing where the
answer is. I think if I knew what each chapter was about it would have
helped a ton. But then again the most important thing right now seems
to just be learning the lessons.
As you learn about the lessons you start to realize that you hardly
know anything. But I think that's one lesson that God wants us to
learn - We know what is MOST important. The little details will come
over time. But we don't need to get caught up in the little details
when the big picture is what we need to be focusing on. If we were
trying to focus on every little detail we would go insane.
Patience is definitely a needed attribute. Trusting in God as well.
Things just work out when you trust him.
Anways love you all
Elder Adair
P.S. Tell Suzy she better still like me when I get home, or she's in
big trouble. I feel like she's not even going to know who I am when I
get back.
May 21, 2012
We're teaching uhhh
Ebenezer, Millicient, Bob Lewis, Brother Davis, Mike Nyarko,
Charlotte, Mary Saacky, Precious, Eric, Evelyne, Paul Wesley, Adama,
Augustine, Hagar, etc.
Brother Davis? He has legs. But he's not very mobile. Just like an old
person back home haha. Umm but we've been able to get him a ride to
church so far, and he's read up to Alma 51 which is wayyyyyy farther
than any other Ghanaian that I've met. We're thinking he'll be
baptized next month. He's seriously the coolest guy ever. He asked us
before we asked him, When am I going to be baptized?
We've had 1 baptism. Ebenezer. He hasn't gotten confirmed because the
week after was general conference, then the next week he didn't have
money to come to church, then it was stake conference, now we're just
hoping he'll be able to get some money somehow for next week. He's a
really powerful guy. We had a lesson with him on sacrifice and asked
him if it came to that point if he would walk to church and he said
yes. (It's like an hour or more walk, but he's a young guy and he has
a strong testimony so we thought it was appropriate)
Ya the kids go to school at public schools and some go to boarding
schools where they don't stay at their own house.
Mm I'd say they have pretty decent size familys here. I don't see the
family's sitting together at church though. I'm not sure if it's the
culture or what though.
I haven't worn my sandals yet. But I had to buy some today because my
shoes got soaked at Elmina castle. I was trying to get crap off my
shoe and a big wave came in and soaked me..
My favorite thing to do on P-days is relax.
You're fine with the snail mail. I don't really mind. It's nice to get
some though. Ya I got your talks, they were really good and made me
want to make my fasts more meaningful. I love that scripture from
Isaiah.
What can you do for me.. Hmmm... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Get Emily to move
back to Utah by the time I get home haha.
Love you all
Elder Adair
Ebenezer, Millicient, Bob Lewis, Brother Davis, Mike Nyarko,
Charlotte, Mary Saacky, Precious, Eric, Evelyne, Paul Wesley, Adama,
Augustine, Hagar, etc.
Brother Davis? He has legs. But he's not very mobile. Just like an old
person back home haha. Umm but we've been able to get him a ride to
church so far, and he's read up to Alma 51 which is wayyyyyy farther
than any other Ghanaian that I've met. We're thinking he'll be
baptized next month. He's seriously the coolest guy ever. He asked us
before we asked him, When am I going to be baptized?
We've had 1 baptism. Ebenezer. He hasn't gotten confirmed because the
week after was general conference, then the next week he didn't have
money to come to church, then it was stake conference, now we're just
hoping he'll be able to get some money somehow for next week. He's a
really powerful guy. We had a lesson with him on sacrifice and asked
him if it came to that point if he would walk to church and he said
yes. (It's like an hour or more walk, but he's a young guy and he has
a strong testimony so we thought it was appropriate)
Ya the kids go to school at public schools and some go to boarding
schools where they don't stay at their own house.
Mm I'd say they have pretty decent size familys here. I don't see the
family's sitting together at church though. I'm not sure if it's the
culture or what though.
I haven't worn my sandals yet. But I had to buy some today because my
shoes got soaked at Elmina castle. I was trying to get crap off my
shoe and a big wave came in and soaked me..
My favorite thing to do on P-days is relax.
You're fine with the snail mail. I don't really mind. It's nice to get
some though. Ya I got your talks, they were really good and made me
want to make my fasts more meaningful. I love that scripture from
Isaiah.
What can you do for me.. Hmmm... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Get Emily to move
back to Utah by the time I get home haha.
Love you all
Elder Adair
Sunday, May 20, 2012
May 14 2012
Haha ya I've already been making tortillas, I just eat them with sugar. They taste like German pancakes to me.
I'm sure I'll be healthier this week. It's just that a couple weeks ago my stew turned out gross, so I do my big shopping on Monday's and so I waited til Monday to make a new stew. The stew lasts for a week, and if it doesn't turn out good then you have to wait a week to buy a new one.
I think my problem was first that I put the vegetables in the freezer and that ruined them. The humidity turned them into water. Plus I put far too much oil in my stew. But yup this week my stew was really good. The stew tastes a lot better with rice as well. I'm not a big fan of Gari (It's another dough type thing that you dip in the stew, It's really cheap but rice tastes so much better).
Haha ya it was sweet to call home! It felt like it was there and gone though. 9 months til the next one haha.
Uhh for plumbing? The toilet situation is like the plunger stick thing we have back home I suppose. Some people have toilets, some don't. I wouldn't use the people's toilets unless I was desperate though. Luckily the ones in our apartment seem clean.
Ya Ghanaian's are awesome. This is definately the perfect place for me. I wouldn't have chosen anywhere else in the world.
Love ya all, it was great to hear from you!
Elder Adair
I'm sure I'll be healthier this week. It's just that a couple weeks ago my stew turned out gross, so I do my big shopping on Monday's and so I waited til Monday to make a new stew. The stew lasts for a week, and if it doesn't turn out good then you have to wait a week to buy a new one.
I think my problem was first that I put the vegetables in the freezer and that ruined them. The humidity turned them into water. Plus I put far too much oil in my stew. But yup this week my stew was really good. The stew tastes a lot better with rice as well. I'm not a big fan of Gari (It's another dough type thing that you dip in the stew, It's really cheap but rice tastes so much better).
Haha ya it was sweet to call home! It felt like it was there and gone though. 9 months til the next one haha.
Uhh for plumbing? The toilet situation is like the plunger stick thing we have back home I suppose. Some people have toilets, some don't. I wouldn't use the people's toilets unless I was desperate though. Luckily the ones in our apartment seem clean.
Ya Ghanaian's are awesome. This is definately the perfect place for me. I wouldn't have chosen anywhere else in the world.
Love ya all, it was great to hear from you!
Elder Adair
Monday, May 7, 2012
May 7, 2012
The last week was good. I think I'm getting a bit more in the hang of things.
This place reminds me so much of Saint George with all the dirt paths we take everywhere, I feel like I'm going on a hike. This was definitely the right place for me.
It's alright just give Mitch a call and tell him my email address and tell him to let my friends know that they can email me. But they'll receive letters from me.
Ya I go to the same ward every week. The ward is good, we have an awesome ward mission leader. He knows everyone in the area, and is good at giving us referrals. He's basically a missionary himself. The ward's aren't as organized here, but they're still learning the gospel over here so it makes sense. I'm sure in 50 years it will be majorly different.
I'll be with my companion another 5 weeks at least. We're 1 week into the 2nd transfer.
Ya the weather is good and the food is good. I'm still learning what things I can cook here though. The mission presidents wife is suppose to be making a book with recipes in it.
Hahahahaha. K so this made me laugh. There's a letter that comes once a transfer and it has a note from the mission president, a recipe, and some other info. And the recipe they gave us was like.. what's it called.. White soup? White gravy? It had Milk, eggs, and butter. Hahahaha.. I don't know if the person who wrote it remembered that we live in ghana where that meal would cost us our whole subsistence for the month. And then she put that you could put it on chicken, and all these delicious meals that we only have back home. Yup just made me laugh. I think it was torture to remind all the American's what they're missing :P.
Anxiety has been good. The hardest parts are when you're having doubts, but I just have to push through them. I feel like I have a strong testimony most of the time. But it does come to a point where sometimes I'm just hanging on for the day. The mission definately pushes you, but it's cool to see that the gospel is really about becoming like Christ. I liked a sign that I read, it said something like if we expected all those who went before us to sacrifice so much, then why don't we expect to have to do the same. Eternal life was never cheap. I think that's something so cool.
Ya I've been taking my meds, but I need to start taking my multi vitamin pills. These past couple days all I ate was flour and water basically so I haven't been eating really healthy. My stew didn't turn out so well so I just had to throw it away which took away my vegetables for the week. I haven't been wearing the soccer cleats yet. I probably should have just saved the money and bought them here because I probably could have gotten them for a few dollars.
I think I get to call home this Sunday? So let's say 6 p.m., sound good? I'm guessing that's 11 over there? The phone's aren't that good so hopefully i'll be able to hear you.
So far the blenders been great. It kind of scared me when I brought it home and it wouldn't turn on, but I found out it has to be locked in place for it to turn on.
Mm yes we have regular church, but it's all in Fante so I can't understand anything they say. I mostly am just fighting to stay awake all of church. It's hard. Oh but hey yesterday I got to watch 2 sessions of Conference!! It was amazing! And the t.v. and the sound system worked. Yes it was amazing.
There's about 20 people who come to church. I'm pretty sure there's like 100 members in our ward though. At least it seems that way. I don't know if i'm suppose to say this.. but like even the branch president didn't come for general conference. Haha and from what I hear most of the bishopric won't show up when it rains.
Ya we the missionaries don't have to conduct luckily. Elder Kitchen must be working in hard area. Sounds like my area's the easiest so I got lucky.
Ya there's tons of stores. I'm not really in the bush like you thought I'd be. It's pretty normal. The major difference is that I have to be careful what I eat, there's no air conditioning, and no milk products. (Except there's things like Fan Ice which is like a little vanilla ice cream in a plastic bag). I'm sure I'd notice a lot more things missing if I wasn't a missionary. But since I am there isn't much missing.
Their stores are basically like our shed at home. They just line the whole street, and they sell different stuff. None of it's refrigerated, and it's not washed. So like if you buy mango's they're all sticky. Mostly I just focus on the food. I buy things like mango's, banana's, pineapple for fruit. Then Tomatoes, Onions, Peppe, maggi cubes, curry for my stew for lunch. Then I'll buy Indome for dinner. and Eggs and bread for breakfast. Occasionally I'll go to a chop bar and buy fried rice and chicken for 2 cedi's like every other week, but I try to keep all my meals to 1 cedi. Or Fufu for 1 cedi without meat, once I bought with meat (which the meat is really good, but seems expensive since I'm trying to stay on 1 cedi a meal). I think that's mostly all I get. Oh this last weekend I bought 2 cups of flour and 1 cup sugar for 3 cedis. Then I just make a tortilla with sugar on it. Haha I really like it, the other Elder's think it's disgusting. But hey I don't want to use the eggs cuz there 30 peswes each. I'm excited to know I can get quite a bit of sugar for 1 cedi though yay!
The16 year olds will make fun of you alot in Fante. But it's just dumb because you can't understand them and they're making fun of you for not being able to understand them. Sometimes it's nice not to be able to understand people :P.
I don't really get to talk to the Mission President. Usually I'll see him if we're out the door a few minutes late soo it's just intimidating when that happens haha. It's usually because we're waiting for a ride with the AP's to save money from getting a taxi. We have to take a taxi into town everyday because our apartment isn't in our area.
Anyway's love you all
Elder Adair
This place reminds me so much of Saint George with all the dirt paths we take everywhere, I feel like I'm going on a hike. This was definitely the right place for me.
It's alright just give Mitch a call and tell him my email address and tell him to let my friends know that they can email me. But they'll receive letters from me.
Ya I go to the same ward every week. The ward is good, we have an awesome ward mission leader. He knows everyone in the area, and is good at giving us referrals. He's basically a missionary himself. The ward's aren't as organized here, but they're still learning the gospel over here so it makes sense. I'm sure in 50 years it will be majorly different.
I'll be with my companion another 5 weeks at least. We're 1 week into the 2nd transfer.
Ya the weather is good and the food is good. I'm still learning what things I can cook here though. The mission presidents wife is suppose to be making a book with recipes in it.
Hahahahaha. K so this made me laugh. There's a letter that comes once a transfer and it has a note from the mission president, a recipe, and some other info. And the recipe they gave us was like.. what's it called.. White soup? White gravy? It had Milk, eggs, and butter. Hahahaha.. I don't know if the person who wrote it remembered that we live in ghana where that meal would cost us our whole subsistence for the month. And then she put that you could put it on chicken, and all these delicious meals that we only have back home. Yup just made me laugh. I think it was torture to remind all the American's what they're missing :P.
Anxiety has been good. The hardest parts are when you're having doubts, but I just have to push through them. I feel like I have a strong testimony most of the time. But it does come to a point where sometimes I'm just hanging on for the day. The mission definately pushes you, but it's cool to see that the gospel is really about becoming like Christ. I liked a sign that I read, it said something like if we expected all those who went before us to sacrifice so much, then why don't we expect to have to do the same. Eternal life was never cheap. I think that's something so cool.
Ya I've been taking my meds, but I need to start taking my multi vitamin pills. These past couple days all I ate was flour and water basically so I haven't been eating really healthy. My stew didn't turn out so well so I just had to throw it away which took away my vegetables for the week. I haven't been wearing the soccer cleats yet. I probably should have just saved the money and bought them here because I probably could have gotten them for a few dollars.
I think I get to call home this Sunday? So let's say 6 p.m., sound good? I'm guessing that's 11 over there? The phone's aren't that good so hopefully i'll be able to hear you.
So far the blenders been great. It kind of scared me when I brought it home and it wouldn't turn on, but I found out it has to be locked in place for it to turn on.
Mm yes we have regular church, but it's all in Fante so I can't understand anything they say. I mostly am just fighting to stay awake all of church. It's hard. Oh but hey yesterday I got to watch 2 sessions of Conference!! It was amazing! And the t.v. and the sound system worked. Yes it was amazing.
There's about 20 people who come to church. I'm pretty sure there's like 100 members in our ward though. At least it seems that way. I don't know if i'm suppose to say this.. but like even the branch president didn't come for general conference. Haha and from what I hear most of the bishopric won't show up when it rains.
Ya we the missionaries don't have to conduct luckily. Elder Kitchen must be working in hard area. Sounds like my area's the easiest so I got lucky.
Ya there's tons of stores. I'm not really in the bush like you thought I'd be. It's pretty normal. The major difference is that I have to be careful what I eat, there's no air conditioning, and no milk products. (Except there's things like Fan Ice which is like a little vanilla ice cream in a plastic bag). I'm sure I'd notice a lot more things missing if I wasn't a missionary. But since I am there isn't much missing.
Their stores are basically like our shed at home. They just line the whole street, and they sell different stuff. None of it's refrigerated, and it's not washed. So like if you buy mango's they're all sticky. Mostly I just focus on the food. I buy things like mango's, banana's, pineapple for fruit. Then Tomatoes, Onions, Peppe, maggi cubes, curry for my stew for lunch. Then I'll buy Indome for dinner. and Eggs and bread for breakfast. Occasionally I'll go to a chop bar and buy fried rice and chicken for 2 cedi's like every other week, but I try to keep all my meals to 1 cedi. Or Fufu for 1 cedi without meat, once I bought with meat (which the meat is really good, but seems expensive since I'm trying to stay on 1 cedi a meal). I think that's mostly all I get. Oh this last weekend I bought 2 cups of flour and 1 cup sugar for 3 cedis. Then I just make a tortilla with sugar on it. Haha I really like it, the other Elder's think it's disgusting. But hey I don't want to use the eggs cuz there 30 peswes each. I'm excited to know I can get quite a bit of sugar for 1 cedi though yay!
The16 year olds will make fun of you alot in Fante. But it's just dumb because you can't understand them and they're making fun of you for not being able to understand them. Sometimes it's nice not to be able to understand people :P.
I don't really get to talk to the Mission President. Usually I'll see him if we're out the door a few minutes late soo it's just intimidating when that happens haha. It's usually because we're waiting for a ride with the AP's to save money from getting a taxi. We have to take a taxi into town everyday because our apartment isn't in our area.
Anyway's love you all
Sunday, May 6, 2012
April 30th 2012
Yup I'm still here. Today yes, It's prep day so we do whatever we want
til 6. So at 7 we do a devotional with the apartment. Then we got
ready and played football at the Fifa pitch. Now we're here emailing.
Afterwards we'll walk back to the apartments getting food along the
way. Do our cleaning assignment at home, I clean the toilets today.
Then we relax, eat or whatever. Tonight we're going to show Ebenezer
"The Testaments". He just got baptized yesterday so we figure that
will be a powerful movie for him, and probably get him more excited
about the Book of Mormon. Then we'll go home and close for the night
seeing how well we did today, and our goals and lessons for tomorrow.
Then I'll eat some Indomie (I'm sorry my meals aren't very nutritious)
I'll try and get some fruit today though. Then I'll try and write in
my journal. Which is nearly impossible. Lately we've been playing
Monopoly Deal every night with the Assistants so I'm in a rush for
bed. Haha maybe I should leave my journal at their apartment. Elder
Spencer Hair is leaving though so we might not get to play Deal very
often now.
I've got candy. I'm living off of gram crackers for candy :P. My candy
that I took out here I gave away in the MTC because everybody was
asking for what I was going to give them as a goodbye gift. After
seeing how poor everyone is (my companion only had 1 or 2 shirts.
Imagine having to live like that), I just had to give it up. The thing
is, I'm pretty sure none of them like sugar.. soo they probably just
threw it all away. or sold it to their companions.
6 cedis is only 4 dollars. But a good wage over here is like 85
dollars a month. And the guy doesn't have a job so I'm sure that it's
quite expensive for him to pay that much. We finally got someone to
offer him a ride, and he actually picked him up this Sunday so we were
really excited. He's such a powerful guy. Did I tell you that when I
talked to him about how Thomas Monson is our living prophet today his
eyes lit up? Haha he was so excited.
I haven't gone to the castle where they ship slaves off yet. But yes
they are right in my area. We see Ubruni's all the time. (I don't even
know how that word is spelled, i'm not even sure that's the correct
spelling). But I'll be in this area another 6 weeks at least to finish
my training. The first transfer just ended yesterday.
I don't know what the people think of the US. Haha since the people
speak Fanti they'll always make fun of you while your standing right
next to them. Hey I"m not complaining though. I'd rather not be able
to understand them because some of them are bullies. Hahah wow also,
when kids cry over here they literally beat them. Like i'd be scared
for my life kind of beating.
My companion likes the US, he's been to Utah a couple of times to
visit Salt Lake I think it was. He's a huge Chelsea football (soccer)
fan. I'll probably be a fan of them when I get back. Everyone in Ghana
loves football, and the kids play it all day long.
My computer is going crazy. Darn.. the connection was lost and my last email didn't send. Their apartment is at the Mission home next to the Mission President. We're like 5 minutes walk down the road. Elder Hair is being transferred up to Kumasi. But ya my time is up, I'll talk to you next week. Have some good questions ready for me to answer! :P
Also! My friends can email me. So tell Mitch, Camille, Ali, Adam, etc.
I just have to write them back through snail mail. But that will be
nice because it won't take nearly as long. Love you all!
Elder Adair
til 6. So at 7 we do a devotional with the apartment. Then we got
ready and played football at the Fifa pitch. Now we're here emailing.
Afterwards we'll walk back to the apartments getting food along the
way. Do our cleaning assignment at home, I clean the toilets today.
Then we relax, eat or whatever. Tonight we're going to show Ebenezer
"The Testaments". He just got baptized yesterday so we figure that
will be a powerful movie for him, and probably get him more excited
about the Book of Mormon. Then we'll go home and close for the night
seeing how well we did today, and our goals and lessons for tomorrow.
Then I'll eat some Indomie (I'm sorry my meals aren't very nutritious)
I'll try and get some fruit today though. Then I'll try and write in
my journal. Which is nearly impossible. Lately we've been playing
Monopoly Deal every night with the Assistants so I'm in a rush for
bed. Haha maybe I should leave my journal at their apartment. Elder
Spencer Hair is leaving though so we might not get to play Deal very
often now.
I've got candy. I'm living off of gram crackers for candy :P. My candy
that I took out here I gave away in the MTC because everybody was
asking for what I was going to give them as a goodbye gift. After
seeing how poor everyone is (my companion only had 1 or 2 shirts.
Imagine having to live like that), I just had to give it up. The thing
is, I'm pretty sure none of them like sugar.. soo they probably just
threw it all away. or sold it to their companions.
6 cedis is only 4 dollars. But a good wage over here is like 85
dollars a month. And the guy doesn't have a job so I'm sure that it's
quite expensive for him to pay that much. We finally got someone to
offer him a ride, and he actually picked him up this Sunday so we were
really excited. He's such a powerful guy. Did I tell you that when I
talked to him about how Thomas Monson is our living prophet today his
eyes lit up? Haha he was so excited.
I haven't gone to the castle where they ship slaves off yet. But yes
they are right in my area. We see Ubruni's all the time. (I don't even
know how that word is spelled, i'm not even sure that's the correct
spelling). But I'll be in this area another 6 weeks at least to finish
my training. The first transfer just ended yesterday.
I don't know what the people think of the US. Haha since the people
speak Fanti they'll always make fun of you while your standing right
next to them. Hey I"m not complaining though. I'd rather not be able
to understand them because some of them are bullies. Hahah wow also,
when kids cry over here they literally beat them. Like i'd be scared
for my life kind of beating.
My companion likes the US, he's been to Utah a couple of times to
visit Salt Lake I think it was. He's a huge Chelsea football (soccer)
fan. I'll probably be a fan of them when I get back. Everyone in Ghana
loves football, and the kids play it all day long.
My computer is going crazy. Darn.. the connection was lost and my last email didn't send. Their apartment is at the Mission home next to the Mission President. We're like 5 minutes walk down the road. Elder Hair is being transferred up to Kumasi. But ya my time is up, I'll talk to you next week. Have some good questions ready for me to answer! :P
Also! My friends can email me. So tell Mitch, Camille, Ali, Adam, etc.
I just have to write them back through snail mail. But that will be
nice because it won't take nearly as long. Love you all!
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