Tuesday, August 20, 2013

One Transfer Down!

So hey everyone!  It is great to hear about everyone and their lives!  This last week was alright... we took a bike trip to a little town that took about 30 minutes to get there.. it was fun and it was raining quite a bit but then it cleared up.  At the town we went around and just talked to the people about the Gospel and as we were riding the bikes (we have to borrow them from a member) a guy waved us over and then he started chewing us out saying that we have no right to be in Ghana and what are we doing taking pictures there... it took a while but we explained everything and he understood... he said he thought we were spies.  Why would anyone send spies to the middle of nowhere in Ghana?!  Oh well...  The place we biked to is in Western Region, while Nyenasi is in the Central Region... I guess that we are pretty much on the border.
I got the book from Dad to try to learn Twi better today!  Hopefully it helps!   Thanks a bunch!
We also had an opportunity to go to our Branch Mission Leader's farm and weed and plant plantain and cassava.  It was pretty fun but everyone was like a white man can't do work... gets kind of frustrating... people really really really stereotype white people over here as lazy rich people who can't do anything for themselves.  Oh well... the farm was still way fun though!  Got blisters on my hands from using the cutlass but it was good.  I also got to try some cocoa... it is actually a really fruity sweet... it is the seeds where we get the chocolate from... pretty sweet!  But that is life in Nyenasi!  Love everyone back home and miss them!
Elder Trevor Walston 

Laundry!
 


Food!

The Farm.
Cocoa Bean!



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

5 weeks in!

So... Ghana is interesting.  I was able to experience my first funeral
as a member in our branch died three months ago... they do their
funerals a LONG time after they die it's weird... there is going to
bee one in two weeks for a guy who died over six months ago!  But they
are really weird... they last all weekend, three days, and there is
lots of music and parties and dancing.  They bring in huge speakers
and blast music all weekend REALLY loud.  I mean really loud.  I can
hear it from any part of town and it hurts my insides when I walk by
the speakers... put it is definitely interesting to say the least.
So... I am doing alright... picking up Twi more and more, day by day.
People always laugh and me when I say something like its a white man
speaking Twi!  And maybe a because I know so little.  But we have a
few pretty strong investigators right now.  They are mostly in their
teens or low twenties because the younger people here are the only
ones who can really speak English... any older than people in their
twenties and most of them can't really speak English at all. But
yeah...
We were fed Banku twice by members this week.  I don't really like it
all that much... fufu is much better but I have been trying to stay
away from Ghanian food since I got typhoid.  I miss food from home...
I am starting to get sick of rice and ramen noodles but I think I am
starting to find other things that I can manage.
I have to say I miss everyone from home but I am trying that to drive
me to be a better missionary.  I enjoy receiving letters from
everyone.  I am so excited to hear that Anders and Angela made it out
of the hospital safely.  I love everyone!
Ybesha!
Elder Trevor Walston

Thursday, August 8, 2013

I'm alive in Ghana!

Hey everyone! I am almost completely better from the typhoid now... I just get a little tired at times.  It is all good though and we are starting to teach some pretty sweet people.  I am starting to find food that I actually like and can eat and fix for myself.  I got a package from home today!  It had the photo album... thanks so so much!! Yep....  I am so excited for Angela and Eric and little new Anders!  I hope Angela is able to recover quickly and get better.  Speaking of little kids... one of the less actives in our area that we have been working with just had a kid a two weeks ago... we were just outside the home when his wife gave birth and we heard the baby's first cries... well... supposedly he is giving his child the first name of Walston... not quite sure what to think but I guess I am spreading my legacy here in Ghana!
We have had the opportunity to take some bikes and go to other towns in our area... we have gone to (I have no idea on how to spell these) Abredome, Kayieku, and Adejea.  It is cool to see the other villages around Nyenasi.  I have been picking up some Twi small small.  That is what they say instead of a little bit... but hopefully I be fluent in no time!  People are friendly here and I have quite a few people say that I talk way too fast so that they can't understand me... I am trying to slow down but I feel like I am then talking to a two year old.
I sent a few letters two and a half weeks ago and I will get the chance to send more today.  But thanks for all the letters I get! Umm.... I don't know what else to say...  It is really hot and humid here but it is rainy season so it is either hot or it is raining... and everything here is dirt... so it is muddy.  We organized a district in Praso last Sunday... so we aren't apart of the Assin Foso Stake anymore!  Life is good and getting better... I am here for a reason.
Washing clothes by hand sucks though...  Seven of my fingers started bleeding this last time I washed... it hurts... and then you are fed fufu and you eat it with your fingers... and with wounds on your fingers and putting it into the hot soup... it burns!  But yep! Love everyone back home!!  Miss everyone too! Take care!!
Elder Trevor Walston

Fufu

One of the houses.
Kids in Ghana.


Washing clothes by hand.

How they get pure water.
A Storm coming in.
The water pump/well where people get their water in town.
Elder Walston's first baptisms!