WOW what a week! Being a missionary is still very surreal to me. Leaving my family was really sad but as soon as I walked to the gate and saw a bunch of Elders all going to Ghana I got super excited. Sitting next to Elder Freedman (Ben) on the flight was a great blessing because it was so long (16 hours). We got to Ghana, shoved our bags in the vans and then drove literally like 100 miles per hour down the street weaving through traffic. It was crazier, scarier and more fun than any amusement park ride I've ever been on. The first couple days here were veryyy long. Lots of big meetings that just seemed like they went on forever. My companion is named Elder Brockbank, hes from PG. Hes a really good guy. Quick description of him is he is really smart, like super smart, hes 6'5 so he played volleyball and he hopes to work at NASA one day. Actually hes already applied to work there we'll see if he gets in! The things I really like about him is he is super calm and patient, hes super easy going and he works out with me which is way fun. We actually got called to serve as Zone Leaders which has been a lot of fun. Basically what we do as Zone Leaders in the MTC is teach lessons in church, make sure everyone in all our districts is good and hand out a bunch of deodorant and other essentials to people that don't have them. I kid you not this place smells so bad, its so hot and its so humid so you sweat all day, bad BO everywhere! I don't think many of the Africans wore deodorant before they came. In fact we had an hour long meeting on how to brush your teeth and put on deodorant. Not many Americans have African companions in the MTC, i guess they like to keep us americans together as we learn french. That brings up the next thing... french! It is super hard. I haven't gotten down on myself though because its only been a couple days but its been tough. I'm hoping that the gift of tounges will kick in soon. haha. Luckily we have the best teachers in the world. Total studs. Now you're probably wondering why the title is "dry bones"... well this week I have eaten lots of bone. Before I left for my mission many people told me to become African for 2 years. Many of the Africans here eat the bones, so I figured I should too. They actually aren't that bad though, kinda rubbery and first and then they just crush up into like dry powder kinda, doesn't taste like much and they say its really healthy for you. Another thing that was fun to eat was fufu. I've heard so much about it so I couldn't wait to try it. For those of you who don't know what it is its pretty much mashed up bananas and bread stuff and then they make dough and you dip the dough in this soup stuff. You're supposed to swallow it down whole which is impossible, I almost throw up every time they give it to me. fufu itself is gross, but the soup is another level. Its literally this gross orange stuff and what i found in mine was a piece of cow. I say a piece of cow and not a piece of beef because it was bone, meat, and then the skin and hair. Literally I could see the hair. Naturally I tried the cow skin and it was disgusting... never again. Anyways the food here is not great. Lots of rice and chicken and its already so old. I don't starve because I eat so much rice but I dread meals sometimes. After all this I would just like to say how happy I am here. I love this place, the people here are amazing. The Africans especially have built my testimony a lot. They say the best prayers and have so many scriptures memorized, they are really good examples of not having been giving much but really loving the lord and just having a desire to serve him. The halls here are often filled with songs, the Africans love to sing. They are just such happy people, I hope people can see that happiness in me. At times it seems like the mission is going to take forever but i'm really happy. I know I can do hard things. The good times out weigh the difficult. Their have been a couple nights that I just notice myself going to sleep with a big smiles on my face. That never happened back home. The spirit is real and God has already blessed me so much, I really have noticed his hand in my whole experience so far. I'll try to attach some pictures, hopefully they work! Love you all I think and pray for each of you, family and friends. That's it till next week! Email me I want to hear whats happening back home!
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