Christmas in Africa

Ghana Accra Mission Christmas Conference

Hello Mom! This past week we had our Christmas Conference for the entire mission in Accra on Thursday! It was really cool but it took the entire day and traveling by trotro seriously wears you out. (just think of a super over crowded city bus driving on really terrible dirt roads).

On Wednesday though, I went on an overnight exchange in Kpone with our Zone Leader, Elder Ballard ( yes he is the grandson of the apostle) anyways it was really cool to see the different teaching styles and ways that I can improve. Also on the Friday following the conference I went on another exchange with and Elder from Nungua, so it would suffice itself to say that I am a little tired of traveling and this past week has just been horribly busy.

Kpone

Nungua

Anyways on Sunday we were able to have another baptism! Yay! Her name is Jackleyn and she had been taught by the missionaries since the begining of September and just would not commit to a day to be baptized but she finally did and we were super happy to see her get baptized.

As far as Christmas goes it almost doesn't exist here haha. Easter is a really huge celebration but as far as Christmas, it's just another day in the week. My plans are to go out and proselyte so it'll be good :) Elder Moss and I will be able to call home on Christmas. We're planning to call at like 6 in the evening here so I think that's like 11 back home. He'll call first and then I will, so it'll probably be closer to noon when you all back home get to hear from my sweet melodious voice, speaking the broken English of Ghana. Oh Yeah!! haha

Well the time is short and I'm at an internet cafe super far away from my area since the internet is down in the wonderfully dusty town of Klagon.

Love you all and I'll talk to you soon

Learning all food does not come from Smith's...

So first off I just want to say that the whole dehydrated fruit thing is awesome! BECAUSE I eat oatmeal every morning and having some fruit in it just makes it super awesome! So next time you decide to send me a package could you include like a variety of dehydrated fruit and berries? There is a ton of fruit here but you have a limited choice of Bananas, pineapple, mango and oranges, occasionally starfruit and cocoa beans. Can't really do too much with coconuts so they're pointless in my opinion haha. Thank you again though

Ok so this week has been really good. Elder Moss and I taught a ton of lessons, like 38! It was really cool. Since I've been in Klagon we've baptized 4 people and we currently have 8 people with baptismal dates so we are really excited and we are definitely feeling blessed.

Lately I've been doing a lot of studying from the Old Testament. It is really awesome! I've been using a student manual for it (it's like religion 321 or something down at BYU. It's Genesis-2 Samuel. I know they have ones for each of the books of scripture. It'd also be super cool if possible if I could get some of those manuals because we only have the one and they are crazy helpful in understanding some of the tiniest details that get looked over.) I've become somewhat of a scriptural nut lately . Oh well :)

Elder Moss and I get along really well! Teaching is great and I honestly haven't had any problems adjusting to mission life. I feel bad because I've seen some other elders who are struggling. But yeah I'm doing really good! Time completely flies by and I lose track of the days-which is a good sign I suppose. Tamales would be awesome, unfortunately the choices of foods available in Klagon are incredibly limited. My meals as follows: Breakfast is always oatmeal. Lunch is almost always stir fry and most nights I don't eat dinner, but if I do it's ramen noodles. SUPER EXCITING!!

Earlier today I went to Ashaiman to get my sub(monthly money we live on...90 dollars. It's pretty thin). Just some background on Ashaiman, it's probably the most dangerous area in our Mission. It's also the dirtiest and the smelliest. We go there every couple of weeks to do some grocery shopping and such (we literally don't have a market) and we went to the meat market today!! Man that place was so gross!! haha there were just decapitated cows and goats heads just laying on the ground and entrails of animals were strewn about every which way and it was huge!!! it was nuts! And the smell!! Oh the smell hasn't left me and I was there like 4 hours ago

Well I love you all and tell the Kiddos I miss them. How is Carl by the way? Haven't heard from him and tell Leanne that I got her letter on thanksgiving!!! Wow I have forgotten for the past two weeks to say that! I wish I could write letters back but I don't have any stamps!
Anyways I hope Christmas stuff is going well and I love you all

Love Elder Green

Moving right along...

Hey Mom!
How are you doing? Well I hope. I got the package you sent me! Thank you so much for all the food. The dried apples are great--I put them in my oatmeal when I am boiling the water so they get re-hydrated. Unfortunately though ants got to dry beef and peaches before I had the opportunity to do so. It's ok though! That potato soup was amazing though! Holy cow it was super delicious and everyone in the apartment was crazy jealous, so i shared it around :)


And yes Ghana is the same as Ecuador. Nothing gets done till people are paid off and nothing ever gets finished because no one can afford to keep paying people off. However Juliana and Micheal will most likely get wed at the start of January. It is a 21 day process and the Church takes care of all the fees. So Elder Moss and myself are very excited for her :)

I'm really excited because mango season is right around the corner and the fruit here is just absolutely delicious so it's very exciting. Today however in the morning I went and bought an Ostrich egg :) we had some of the best omelets for lunch.


I've had this perpetual cough since i've gotten here which has been a little annoying but hey! I can't complain too much. Transfers are in two days and I'm really excited to find out who our new Elder is going to be in the apartment. The work here is chugging along and Elder Moss and myself have been really blessed to have some really well prepared people to teach. Our branch is small and the members aren't exactly the strongest but our Branch President is awesome and we are trying our hardest to strengthen everyone.


Oh and I am really excited for that other package! Thanks a ton! The two things i miss the most here are dairy products and chocolate. I'll live though. haha
I love you very much and I will talk to you next week
Love Elder Green

Short but sweet...

Dad has had Ostrich? What the heck was the occasion to that? Haha well sadly for me when we got to the Ostrich farm the owner said he's not slaughtering them anymore because he want's to sell them alive. 200 cedis! That is soooo tempting! I mean honestly mom what is cooler than buying an 8 ft tall bird of terror for just under 100 dollars?? Man that'd be so exciting! Hahah but don't worry we probably won't do it. . . .probably ;)
Anyways how is the family? That's super cool about Travis and saving that man on the bridge! It was super weird watching that video because seeing home was just strange since I am in such a different world now. But it was still super awesome!


So there is this woman named Juliana who is just super awesome and has had tons of spiritual confirmations that she should join the Church but the only problem is that she is living with her boyfriend and they have two small children together. Church's policy states that she can't be baptized because technically she is breaking the Law of Chastity since she is not married. SO our problem has been meeting with her boyfriend Micheal to discuss marriage but he's kinda of a loser in my eyes since all he does is go out every night with his friends to party. Really dissapointing. Anyways we're going to see him tonight hopefully. And I'm super excited for Juliana to get baptized so I hope that it happens!



Anyways the internet is really slow (like usual) and sending pictures is super hard so I will try to send some eventually. Sorry about that :/
I love you Mom and I'll see you soon!
Love Elder Green

Settling in.... to mission life

Hey Mom!

It's good to hear that everyone is doing well! For thanksgiving we're probably going to be having some Ostrich and potatoes! Haha but we still proselyte till 9.

Haha and that dress is the coolest thing ever!! Everyone wears them! And tell Emma congratulations on being able to open the door.....she must be proud. ;)

It's rained a couple of times here and man-when it rains it pours. It makes traveling impossible though since almost all the roads are dirt everything just turns into a giant lake of mud and sewage. But aside from that the weather has been, well, hot.



The Branch that I'm in is really small and new. The members honestly aren't that strong on the whole and it's kinda the culture to attend one church for a few years and then move on to a new one. But Elder Moss and I are working really hard on strengthening the leaders and almost all of our lessons with recent converts and less active members are on the Book of Mormon because people are super unfamiliar with it.

On Sunday, I was able to Baptize two young men; Justice and Festus. They are both 18 years old and are best friends. They were referrals from one of the recently converted members, Richard-who is Justice's older brother. Anyways really cool guys and Festus has a really strong testimony that this is God's church on Earth.
It's really funny how big the Church of Christ is here in Ghana. Almost none of it's members understand that it is a break off the LDS church and a serious part of the culture here is to attend one church for a few years and then switch to another one so it makes retaining people more difficult. Elder Moss and I have been working really hard to strengthen the leadership in the Branch. Our Branch President reminds me so much of Pres Watson. Very similar personalities.

I'll send some photos of the Baptism in a little bit...the internet is slow again. And I have not heard anything of a package for me as of yet so as much as I'd love one I think it should rather wait. Also from what all the other Elders have said no matter what I'll have to pay some kind of fee for my package no matter what, but I'll try and get more information on that matter.

Well for now I am doing well and currently have 5 people scheduled for Baptism on the 8th of December! Wahoo! haha well I'll talk to you soon Mom.


Love, Elder Green

We Have Water!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Water situation has been cleared up and I am in good health! Haha don't worry mom :) and my companion and I work in perfect harmony with eachother I'd say the talking is like 60-40 me being the lesser on that. he is usually the one to start the lessons but I'm getting better! Haha it's great to see Audrey with that deer! That really is exciting! and I am jealous about the snow! It is still super hot and dusty here so not much has changed. Tate is going to email you some pictures because I can't get them to attatch to the email (I blame it on the crappy internet and old computers) so I really do apologize for that. I love you all very much and Yes I am trying very hard to learn twi. But theres also Ga, Ewya, and a few others from the Volta region so it's all pretty hit or miss. But we usually teach around 35 lessons total in a week.
The branch we are in is relatively small and has a few problems but I will expound on that next week when I have more time to email. I again apologize for the shortness of the email but I am doing well and I am in good health! Haha it's exciting to hear that Kaden comes over-what exactly does he do when he's there? haha anyways next time you see him tell him to email me! Love you mom and I willl talk to you longer next week.


Elder Green

Settling in to mission life

                  

Hey Mom! Thank you so much for the package!! That is so rad that you were able to get me those scriptures! And thanks a ton for the food! Yeah anything that you can just add water too would be amazing. Dairy is pretty much non existent-except for in powder milk form. Bailey has teeth???? Finally! Hahah that is so great! And I am so glad to hear about Carl! That truly is a blessing! And thank you so much for the money transfer. Next package you feel like sending me can you include a shower loofah? Never realized how much I was going to miss that thing haha. Thanks a million again.
Well as for cool things I've seen I'm not sure I have seen many amazing things. Klagon is a super dusty town the size of Farr West with only three developed roads. Suffice it to say, the scenery isn't that amazing. Lizards and wall geckos are everywhere, even in your house so that is kind of cool haha However! we have gone two weeks without running water (The landlord ( who in in Togo for the next month) and tenant of the neighboring building are in a feud and the neighbor disconnected our water line-as in he cut it off and connected his own. The police and city have zero motivation to do anything about so we'll see how that goes for now).
I'm really glad to hear about the family and Ryan will never stop being a smart mouth will he?
Well as of right now we have 8 scheduled baptisms! 4 for the 24th of this month and another 4 for the 8th of December!
I love the people here! Ghana truly is a blessed country! I'd say that 9/10 people are always interested in hearing a message about God. However, the majority of Folks are uneducated and don't speak English very well so we have to dumb the lessons down a lot, which makes teaching more difficult. BUT! It is still such a blessing that I have this opportunity. We usually teach about 7 lessons a day so we are always busy and I get home completely exhausted.
Been eating more Ghanaian food. Still super spicy and weird but is alright. Seriously though don't get to disappointed in me but lets just say I don't currently have the technology to send any photos right now....it's a long story. Anyways I love you all very much and I am loving my mission life right now :)


Love Elder Green

Well I am in a little city called Klagon. Super dusty, not a lot of resources, we haven't had running water since I moved in but I love it here :) the work is going really well. We have 8 people committed to a baptism on the 24 of this month. However, probably only 3 will go through with it. My companion is super cool, he's from Boise and his name is Elder Moss. He's been out about 4 and a half months. We get along really well.
I'm so glad that Katie is starting to talk! Kinda bummed it took me leaving to get that to happen ;) haha oh and my diet literally consist of a loaf of bread a day, usually like half a pineapple, if I'm feeling rich I'll eat some eggs or biscuits and I usually have oatmeal for breakfast. In my apartment there are four of us. We all get along really well and they all say I was the best transfer they've had cause I'm a super cool kid and I like all the coolest bands and music and am pretty much the chillest most humble person around ;) hahaha don't worry I won't let it get to my head :) two nights ago I had this stuff called Banku. really gross and you eat with your hands and you don't chew it at all. Haha everyone says I'll learn to love it. Oh and the food is still crazy spicy. Anyways I'll send you pictures next week-I just forgot my camera and our house is like 20 minutes away. Well mom I love you lots and I'm sorry this email is kinda short-we don't get a lot of time at the internet cafe. But I will definitely try and show you what my area looks like next week with some photos.
Love Elder Green :)

(This is Banku)

oh p.s. This month we'll be going into Ashiamon to do a little gift shopping soooo yeah :) haha there are a lot of Muslim people here where we are so it makes things really...interesting


I forgot to mention that I am a dough head. Having a quad set is a huge bummer when trying to teach people. If possible do you think you could send me a Bible and Triple combination (Small/pocket size) sometime soon? Maybe some like teriyaki Jerky haha?? That way people aren't always like whoa! why is your Bible so big?? What other books you got there?? haha The Distribution Center is outside of our mission boundaries and it honestly has almost nothing except for garments. Oh yeah! forgot to say the the Temple ISN'T in my mission! The boundaries are the street that the Temple is on and it's on the wrong side of the street! haha but we still get to go like every 6 months so it's no big deal :) Anyways!! if that's possible that would be super cool! if not it's still cool :) Tell Christina that I got her letter!! but it's a lot easier to send email's because there really isn't any sort of mail box to drop stuff off except at the mission home and that is almost an hour away.

Here's some pictures...

Oh hey let me explain those pics! haha Top one is of me and Elder Gissignon.
He speaks French and Spanish.Super cool guy-we'd be best friends if we
could fluently communicate with each other haha.
Oh and he's from Cote D'voire

Next is me and my roommates. Elder Mabizela form South Africa,
Elder Barnes form North Carolina, me and Elder Waako from Uganda
and then the last is me and my district with one of my instructors
in the bottom center row.

Life is grand!

Hey Mom! I'm super pumped about that 84 bucks! ;) haha and that red sauce is just called tomato stew and red red is like baked beans-but super gross and spicy haha. The food at the MTC has been exactly the same meal the whole time we've been here-Rice with either fish or chicken, hot cole slaw with tons of onions and everything covered in tomato stew. We eat that for lunch and dinner and for breakfast it's either oat porridge with watermelon and bread or milo (hot chocolate basically) with bread and watermelon.


So I leave the MTC on Wednesday-midnight tuesday for you guys and I'm super pumped but I can't quite say I feel like I'm prepared to go. There's probably like 70 missionaries here at the MTC with about half being english speaking. and of the English speaking ones Theres like 15 of us from the States.


Elder Waako and I .....are definitely different people. Haha he's a great guy but i think he doesn't quite grasp what I'm saying to him all the time and he is always speaking in metaphors and third person. It's like speaking to some one out of the Old Testament haha just super hard to follow but I can't complain too much, he's a really great guy.


Tell everyone I'm doing great, I've already given away like 4 ties to the other elders which I wasnt' expecting to do at all but

it's all good-I'm glad to do it :)


Oh and I lied earlier. the MTC is in Tema which isn't far from Accra.


Oh and so far I've only found fleas in the beds ;) haha love you Mom and take care! Hope that Carl does better!

I love my missionary!

Ghana Accra Temple

Yo Yo Yo mama Green! Surprise Surprise! I get to send another email today! Haha well today I was at the Temple which absolutely fantastic! I forgot to tell you how the food is. SPICY. Holy cow it is ridiculous. They put red red on EVERYTHING, but I'm starting to get used to it a little bit but the fruit here, especially the pineapple is absolutely amazing! I love it so much. Well not much has changed since yesterday but it's 2 o clock here and the sun is shining!

I forgot to get a micro sd memory card so my camera could only hold 1 photo but i'm working on getting another one! Love you lots family! Love Elder Verde ;)

Second Week

Hey Mom!

I'm excited to hear from you! Wow lots of Q's haha well let's see. I am in a 6 man room with only 4 Elders. My companion is from Uganda and his name is Ivan Peter Waako-or Elder Waako- haha. There aren't too many missionaries from Ghana at the MTC right now. About half are North American and the other half are African. Lots from Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Lione, Togo, Debin and a few from South Africa. It's really hearing all the different African languages cause a lot of them speak Swahili (that's the only language I know the name of haha)

It's true what Logan said-the Elders from Uganda speak incredibly slow and my companion speaks quieter than Emma and has a super deep voice-but we get along really well. Well lets see as for as the accents go I would say that mostly the 'T' sound is said with a 'D' and there is a lot emphasis on the 'K' sound. Oh and another thing! It's really fun cause about half the MTC speaks French so I talk to the French speaking guys all the time and there is this one guy, Elder Gissignon, he speak French, Tribal Language and a little Spanish so he and I always talk in Spanish to each other! HahaMy MTC pres is really nice-He's from Idaho and has some Green's in his family so we may be related he thinks and his wife is British. They love it here and it is really nice, but humid.

Yesterday I went to the bank in Esu to get an ID card and the driving here is absolutely insane. As in if the road is crowded-you simply drive off the road or you go on the opposite side of the road and the pedestrians all just walk out into the middle of crowded traffic without even flinching. I hope I never have to drive.

Everyone here is just so friendly and everybody loves my name!! They always ask if I know an Elder Blue, or Purple. It seems they just like that it's a colour and they love saying I'll be green forever haha.
I am loving it here. The Spirit is just so strong and all I really want to do here is read from the scriptures. We mostly do like practice teaching each other and then we teach an instructor as if he was an investigator. Honestly I haven't used PMG that much-mostly just for lesson outlines and what topics I need to teach as there is no script or anything.

Well my time is short and there are lots of power flickers so I'll have to go! But I love you and the family and I'll keep Carl in my prayers! Tell him I love him!

Hey Hey Hey!

Hola mi familia! I have safely arrived at the Ghana MTC and it is hot. Like holy cow you would not believe the heat that is here. By the time I landed in JFK there were a total of 15 Elders all headed to Accra and I had the amazing experience of being able to teach a young man who in the Airport who was on his way home to Ghana about the church and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon. We had given away a total of 3 before we even met any church officials in Ghana. Anyways I don't have much time as I need to get to class soon. But I would just like everyone to know that I love them very much and that I am in good hands here.

Love, Elder Green

Day 1-Travel to Ghana

We sent our Elder off this morning.  It was so much harder than was expected.  Elder Green will be traveling until tomorrow-He has a long day ahead of him.  We love you Elder Green and safe travels!

                       

This is a blog dedicated to sharing the experiences that Green will be having during his service to the Lord amongst the people of Ghana. He will be serving in the Accra area.  Feel free to post encouragement, mission experiences, and uplifting words. Please refrain from telling him about what he may be missing at home. We have told him that home will be there for him when he returns and home will take care of itself. Thanks and enjoy his experience with him.