Chillin in the good ole Sun

Hey Everyone! So this last week has been cool and fun... it has been getting pretty hot and humid here... man I am getting really tan.... or maybe its just a permanent burn... but yep!  I am in Cape Coast right now since Ghana just passed a new immigration law where we had to come down and get immigration cards or we could be stopped and put in jail if we didn't have them (but really you could just bribe the police officers and it would be fine)... so the church has to pay a lot of money to get all their missionaries this so everything is cool with the Ghanian government.
But yeah... other than that not much happened this week... I went to Praso to go on splits with the District Leader and we biked to the town Kayriku again... it has been pretty fun... I think that we might have a baptism this next week... this guy, Brother Danquah, had his little kid (9 years old) baptized by the missionaries before me and so this guys is really strong... we have been teaching him for about two months now... yep!

Life is good... I only have two more weeks of training left and then I will probably be put with someone else as my companion... it is crazy to think that I was set apart 12 weeks ago today... And we watched the missionary broadcast today so I was President Bowman and our chapel!! That was cool... just like I was at home again!  Well... I love you all thanks for everything! And thanks for the packages Mom and Kristi!!

With Care!

Elder Trevor Walston

Doing well here in Nyenasi

This week was just another week here in Ghana... not much really
happened... we got fed fufu three nights this week and then we were
just doing work trying to get people to come to church and then them
not coming... Last night we were teaching a lesson and right as we
said the closing prayer then the lightning struck nearby and the power
went out... and it started to rain pretty hard... we still don't have
power back... hopefully it won't be out too long this time... it makes
it a little harder to do stuff especially if we run out of water.
So I went to the farm again this week... we went to a members cocoa
farm and helped him harvest the cocoa... so cocoa can be green and
purple or if it is ripe it will turn to yellow or red... not what one
usually thinks of when they think of cocoa... but it was pretty fun.
And then we harvested a little bit of cassava so he could feed us and
his family fufu... right now that is the only Ghanaian food that I
really love. :)
So yep!  That is life here... just same old same old...  It is getting
hotter... at least I think it is... I am sweating a bit more...
especially during my study time... but yep!  I think I will probably
only have three more weeks here Nyenasi but who knows.  Love everyone
back home and miss you all!
Elder Trevor Walston

Just another week!

Hey! This week was just one full of work...  I went on splits again with the Zone Leaders this last Wednesday... I had to lead everything since I stayed in Nyenasi... that was interesting but fun... we had a hard time finding a translator for the first two hours so it was interesting just trying to talk to people but then our Branch Mission Leader was able to come and help us and we had some pretty good lessons.  Life is good though... this last week I found out that I have been eating giant rats for quite a while... they call it grasscutter meat... guess I should have figured it out before but we saw them on the floor of the place where we buy our fufu and then I realized, "That's the meat that I have been eating." But yep!  and I got to eat the tail the last time we went there.... yum... actually it didn't taste all that bad.

So yep... today we came down to Cape Coast and had interviews with the mission president... it was cool and fun.... we went to one of the forts up here as well... I think it was called fort Victoria or something like that and then we ate fufu here... the best I have yet had in Ghana so far and I am really starting to like fufu... but not banku yet....

Life is good and I really don\t have all that much interesting to say... Love everyone back home and yeah!

Take care and with love from Ghana!

Elder Trevor Walston

Where we buy our Fufu

A door

 

Elder Walston at Fort Victoria

 

Another Marvelous Week in Nyenasi

Hey everyone!  This week was alright.... hard but good at the same time... But yep!  So... this last week was rather boring... we are having a hard time to get our investigators to keep their commitments especially coming to church... it stinks that we have to be out proselyting for at least nine hours a day and that it is hard to get people to act upon anything even though that everyone says they will come to church or do something or another.  Oh well... I went on splits with the Zone Leaders for the first time last Saturday through Sunday... I went to Praso!  It was cool to see the differences and similarities between the two different areas in Ghana... I definitely felt like I was a little more at church in Praso and that they where more organized... But it was a nice change to see the differences and similarities of missionaries as well... I went with Elder Harris who is brand new to the area so that was an interesting experience but it was fun and I guess the want to do it again so I will having him come to Nyenasi this Wednesday.

But yeah... I am in Cape Coast today because the Zones got together for P-day and we played some football (soccer) and just chilled.... It was cool to see other missionaries and I got to meet Elder Dalton and talked to him and his companion for a bit...It is funny but we were talking and he came to one of our football Thanksgiving matches about three years ago where I probably meet him before.  Football was fun and I have a little competition here with the Africans and a few of the Americans can play as well... although I think I got burnt really bad for the first time since I got here... my forehead is burning right now!

I was able to weigh myself the other day and I am losing weight!  I have lost about 16 to 18 pounds... not sure how okay I am with that but I am back down around 150... but I better stop losing so much and tapper off... but the Elder Harris I went on splits with lost 90 pounds so far on his mission and he is 6'6" and he came here weighing only 270...  But I am going to do well.

One interesting thing that I saw this week... I got to see a goat give birth yesterday... right outside our Zone Leaders apartment... literally on the dirt ground right in front of their apartment... it was interesting and after a while the baby just popped out like in less than a second... Interesting to see... kind of gross though.

That has been my life for this last week... Though, fun, interesting, and I am not the youngest person in my district now!  Two Americans came this last transfer!  But yep!  Life is good and Ghana is still here and pushing forward!  Love everyone home and I really enjoy the letters!  Keep 'em coming! ;)

LOVE YOU!

Elder Trevor Walston

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!

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

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!