I'ma Ghana Serve: September 2021

Since the last time I emailed not much has changed, other than now I know I'm allowed to email during designated free time. I've not been liking the online lesson format, but as we get used to it, and become closer as a group, it actually isn't that bad anymore. Besides just one thing. The old people here don't know how to use technology and don't follow their own online schedule😂. They are very kind and loving, but I know on Wednesday, when we are back in person, I'm going to love the MTC (Missionary Training Center) so much more.

We will ALL be getting our own phones this week, I'm very excited for that. It will be so much easier to send photos on the phone and easier to transfer them from my camera.

I guess something else new, or I guess old, is the food here. I really love the food, but they keep giving us the same food over and over again. Chicken, rice and pepe. Fish, rice and pepe. Sometimes with other things like pineapple, watermelon, different kinds of soda, and gross salads. It is kinda giving me heartburn and it is making me wish I brought tums.😂 Oh and Takis!

As I get ready everyday I keep finding these notes from Sara and Laney. They are things like Brandon Sanderson quotes, funny things our family says, and just nice things. I love and miss them.

I also love waking up and praying everyday, and then going to bed and praying. It's so great starting my day off with that.

When I first got here, I thought I was going to be able to buy shampoo and body wash right away, but I couldn't so I was stuck using a bar of soap to clean my body and hair. Oh, and I forgot floss, but I did bring my metal pick. Finally, yesterday we were able to go to the store that we have on the MTC grounds and buy things. They didn't have a lot there, so I got stuck with Axe two in one shampoo and conditioner (gross, but it doesn't smell bad, and I'm just happy to not have gross hair. It's so crazy how much we have access to in America) and a dove vanilla bar of soap (specifically the four pack, because I'm not sure what I'm going to have access to in the stores outside of the MTC).

I've started to memorize some scriptures and things from PMG (preach my gospel), and it's crazy how good you feel when you put yourself in the Lord's words.

This is the top of the Ghana Accra temple and that's the most I've seen of it. The elders who are across the hall get to look at the temple all day during their zoom meetings. I want their room

This is what I get to look at all day. Just two bag banking Buildings.

I was forced to take these two pictures because Elder Allison didn't want to go outside and he likes getting his picture taken so I had to convince him with bribery.

His name is Tyrone Allison. He is from the capital of Liberia, Monrovia, specifically Bushrod Island. I think it's a suburb of the capital. He talks about his home with such pride, but also with sadness because he knows that his country isn't doing well. He loves the food there. He says he loves that his country is free, like America, and that there are no taxes. Also, he loves his family. He tells me stories about his grandpa and his older brother. His country, he says, is very underdeveloped. He feels they are getting left behind and they can't catch up.

This is Fufu and spicy goat soup. The soup was very tasty and spicy just like how I like it. But the Fufu was sticky and very hard to swallow, but it didn't taste bad in the soup. I hear from my teacher sister Mawuli, ( you say her name like the island Maui. I'm still not sure how.) that most of the fufu in Ghana is brought down from Kumasi and cities around it. They say it tastes so much better when it's fresh.

Me and Elder Allison after he got his shots. He wasn't very happy. It was his first time getting shots.

These are some pretty Flowers in our courtyard

This is our courtyard, central to the 4 main buildings at the MTC.

I really do love it here. The food is tasty even if it's a bit weird and I love pepe.

I love this place! The Spirit here is like no other place. The flight alone, at first was hard, but I just slept my anxieties away like typical Andrew. When I got to New York, I was alone from 6:30 pm till about 8:30 pm. I finally found some Elders and it was wonderful to be with others. I had gotten some food just before I met with them and it was gross. Everything I could find just didn't look appetizing, plus it was also expensive. A little bit after 9:45 a group of 11 elders joined up with us and we all chilled and talked until the flight started to board.

And guess what! All of those papers I printed, out of all of them I only ended up using one of them, so I could get the address of the Ghana MTC.

The flight to Ghana was very long but I slept the whole way there and woke up about very other hour for a while, and every hour at the end of it. When we got to Ghana it took about an hour and a half to get through all of the testing and official things, and I still haven't needed any of the papers we printed. So you can imagine that I was a little bit annoyed with all the things we had stressed so much about.

We slowly all got out of the airport, and while we were waiting for the bigger part of our group to get out, the mission president found us and brought us to his truck (which I took a picture of, and wouldn't mind if you shared that with Freddy and Sam). After we waited for the rest of our group to be done we went to the MTC.

My group was the first group of new missionaries to come since Covid. When we got into the MTC, I took pictures of the art for you and Sara. We ate and did some orientation stuff. Just before everyone met at 8pm, a large group of missionaries from all over Africa came.

My companion, Elder Allison, was a part of that group. There is a small language barrier between us but it's not that bad and I'm super excited to have a native African companion. (He speaks English, just broken English.) He's from Liberia.

I love you so much!

Elder Alger

Leaving Phoenix! 5 hour flight to NY. It's getting real.