Down in Nkanfoa

This last week has been pretty fun and crazy.  So last Tuesday my companion and I were trying to get the area and everything ready for the next set of missionaries who were going to Nyenasi... and then at night the branch held a farewell for us missionaries... which I kind of felt bad for but it was really nice of them to show how much they cared and they are really nice caring people.  So Danquah from there was able to get baptized last Saturday and that was AWESOME!! Even though I wasn't able to be there.

So my new place is pretty sweet... Nkanfoa is just barely outside of Cape Coast and it is where the mission home is... our apartment is actually like a two minute walk to the mission home.  So I am going to be in the office on Thursdays and Fridays from 10 to 4 just doing whatever they need... buying supplies, finances, and anything else they need help with and I have been told that they can call us whenever else that they need help... honestly I am already really bored of that place but it is still fun.  My companion is Elder Adams and he is from Logan, Utah... he is a really big and a really really quiet quy... kind of reminds me of Brandon Leonard looks and Nathan Jones in talking.... So we can say that I am having to be the one taking charge when we are out proselyting... its kind of weird because I am not the most vocal person but it is good for me.  In the first few lessons that we have taught I probably spoke all but 5 minutes... a great learning experience!

There is a ward here in Nkanfoa and most of the people here speak English but there is still a descent amount that just speak Fante... Fante is similar to Twi but people say it is easier from going to Fante to Twi.... so no luck in that but it is fun... I still understand small.  Our apartment is one of the biggest in the mission and I have the biggest bedroom in the mission... I almost don't like it but it is pretty nice.... there are two other Elders in the apartment, Elder McKeon and Elder Caviness... the are sweet guys, that are both from America as well... Elder Caviness is having to come home this week to get surgery, So I will be in a threesome until he comes back which should be in about two weeks later... hopefully.

Life here is good... missionary work is hard because they only have one person to teach... but hopefully I will be able to it moving along.

I love you all! I got a package from Mom this week.... it is nice being here because I then get the mail as it comes! :)  Thanks for all the love and support!  It is weird that it has already snowed there... I think I will have summer for at least the next two years... or a really really hot and humid summer for two years.. :) Love ya!

Elder Trevor Walston

Time to Learn some Fante

So... little bit of news... I finished my training and tomorrow is
transfers and I am leaving Nyenasi... kind of sad... really sad... we
have an investigator being baptized on Saturday, but we are leaving
tomorrow... both my companion and I are being transferred out of the
area so we hope that all our efforts do not go to waste.  My
companion, Elder Molefe, is going to be a Zone Leader.  I am going to
the Mission Home Office to be an Office Elder... my proselyting area
is going to be Nkanfoa... from what I know they speak Fante there and
it is a little village right on the outside of Cape Coast... it will
be fun... I am going to be companions with an Elder Adams... hopefully
all will be well!
But yeah... it was pouring rain here almost all week... there were a
few times where we got stuck at certain places for quite a few
hours... but yeah it was fun... and my companion was a little sick as
well but we were still able to go out and teach... I think that we
have one other investigator who could be baptized in a few weeks if
the people after us keep on teaching him.  One of this guys best
friends is a strong member so I think that will end up good.
It was sad to have to bear my testimony and say goodbye to everyone at
church on Sunday... when we told the branch president that we were
both leaving the area, you could just see his head and shoulder
droop... it was sad to see President Armah, who is like 75 years old,
just look so devastated... but it will all be good!  They are having a
meeting to say goodbye to us and a member of the branch who is leaving
on a mission this Friday to Nigeria tonight.  But yeah... it has been
hard yet fun here... I have definitely seen myself grow!
So yesterday we had a Zone activity... it was pretty fun and sweet!
We watched the Best Two Years and the Other Side of Heaven and then we
tried to make hot dogs and onion rings with what Ghana has to
offer.... we also played some card games... it was pretty sweet!  Life
in Ghana is sweet... I think I have realized that I need to be more
like this people here... they are so nice and charitable... yeah...
But I think life will be a little bit different these next few months
as I will be at the mission home and everything even though I will
still be proselyting... Life is good though... you have to enjoy what
you have while you have it.  Love everyone back home!!!  Miss you and
wish everyone the best of luck with everything!

Elder Trevor Walston

Life is good :)

Hey guys!  So today we came down to Cape Coast to play some basketball
and soccer... I didn't really play... just talked to the other
missionaries... but yeah... life has been cool. It is raining really
hard right now... this weather confuses me... yep! Yesterday was
pretty sweet... there is a member in our branch who hasn't been able
to come to church for quite a while because he had a stroke a little
ways back and can barely walk, his name is Kwame Adu... we where able
to get him a wheelchair and take it up to him after church yesterday
with our District, Branch, and Relief Society presidencies... we
talked with him and sang a hymn... that was a cool experience to be
able to help someone out like that!
We also were able to go to the farm last Saturday and help a less
active harvest his cocoa... we cut them open and just pulled out all
the seed and gathered them together... we probably went through around
800 cocoa fruit... it was pretty cool and fun except that i think i
kind of messed up my thumb... I got some of the fruit jammed under my
fingernail and it got shoved way far under... kind of hurts but it is
cool.  Other than that life is cool... it is weird to think that I
have been in Ghana for three months now. Oh... by the way... I got
another package from Mom and Dad!!!  Thank you!  Everything here is
great... life is good and I am keeping fairly healthy... or just
getting used to being sick. ;) Love everyone back home and miss
everyone as well! Thanks for all the mail and packages I receive!
Yebehyia!
Elder Trevor Walston

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