"When you get home, you should come to Fiji ok?" - Mamae Varo

Dear Family,

While elder Varo was Skyping home this Christmas his mom wanted to talk to his companion for a little bit. So I slid in front of the computer and said hello. She asked me how long I have been out on my mission. I said I have only been out for a very little time. "Oh so elder Varo will come home before you come home then?" yes ma. Well after you get home from your mission you should come pay us a visit in Fiji! I work at the hotel so I will get you a room for free and elder Varo can take you to see the sharks!" YES MA! Gotta remember that one. She was a very sweet old lady.

 The best part of Christmas was definitely getting to see you guys. We are lucky that we were able to use a member’s laptop, that may not happen again on my mission. 

Our view of Elder Peters on Skype...it was the BEST Christmas ever! (we are showing him the Golden Oreo cookies that we are going to send in his next package...can you see how excited he is about that?)

"I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" - A Christmas Story

Elder Peters sharing his name tag with a young future missionary.

Dear Friends and Family,

So we got these push up lizards all over our apartment and compound and they are super hard to catch. They don't really bother us but there are all over the place. as I was sitting outside doing my wash this morning I looked up from my bucket and saw a rather large one sitting on our wall underneath the barbed wire and he was doing push-ups, and I had this quick thought flash through my head:"if I had my bb gun right now, I would blow that sucker away.." and I went on to think about how dad got me one when I was 8 years old for Christmas, and decided to use that as the quote for my email. Funny how many thoughts are quickly turned to Christmas and family these past few days.

"I want a PONY so i can ride it twice, get bored then SELL IT to make GLUE!!" - The Grinch

I was surprised this morning at 3:45 AM with my phone going off and Elder Peters was online.  He was wondering if we could test out the Skype connection from the internet café where he was (next to the ShopRite store, which is Ghana's version of Rite Aid).  So I quickly jumped out of bed and fired up the laptop.  I was trying to be quiet and not wake anybody in the house so I didn't turn on the lights and had the volume down, but soon he was on the screen.  It looked like he couldn't see me, so I turned on the lights and he smiled so BIG!  I couldn't hear him, but we waved to each other and then the picture went out.  I can report that he looks happy and healthy!  It was AWESOME!

"Afesshapa!" Merry Chirstmas in Twi, From Elder Peters. He painted this Christmas Tree on his wall with electrical tape.

We were able to exchange some short emails back and forth.  Some cool things he shared.

He's going to Skype with us at 8 AM on Christmas day!

He gets to go to the temple Thursday morning.  Then they are having a mission conference to say goodbye to Pres. Hill.   He also told us that on Transfer day last week, he got a phone call from President Hill just to tell that "he's really hit the ground running and that he's adjusting to missionary life very quickly and very well".

He commented on lessons learned from DXC specifically for teaching him to WORK HARD when it's time to work and PLAY HARD when it's time to play.  So...shout out to Talley, Brad and Coach T...you guys are still coaching in Ghana.

The new Elder in their apartment (companion with Elder Friday) is Elder Brown from Pleasant View, UT.  He's pretty new to mission life and Elder Peters is working to help him adjust to life in Ghana and to be his friend.  Lucky Elder Brown.

Some things that he wrote to his Mom:

Letter to Primary Kids

I forgot to post this earlier in the week.  Our Primary kids made Christmas ornaments that we sent to Elder Peters (along with a few from the Waffle Friday crowd) so he sent this letter back to the kids in his letter to James this week.  It's pretty dang cute.

Dear James & Kaysville 9^th Ward Primary:

 

Thank you so much for all the ornaments and the stocking you sent me in my package! I got it on Wednesday. I wrote a letter for the primary kids to for you:

Little kids go to school here just like you, some don't get to go though and there is no place that they would rather be than at school. Be sure to be grateful that you have the opportunity to learn and be smart.
Little kids here love to play in the rain just like you love to play in the sprinklers at home.
Little kids love to dance and sing and play sports just like you.
Little kids love to hear scriptures stories and stories about Jesus just like you.
Little kids like you go to the well to fetch water and carry it in buckets on their heads back to their homes to wash their clothes and cook their meals.
Little kids love fireworks just like you.
There are a lot of lizards and snakes. They (Ghanaian kids) are deathly afraid of snakes.
Thank you so much for the Christmas ornaments. I’m sure that there are more goodies (in his Christmas package) waiting for me but I am waiting until Christmas to open them! I love you all!

Love Elder Peters

"You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!" -Elf

I have a request from all of you.  With Christmas coming, I thought that it might be kind of cool to send Elder Peters 'selfies' for Christmas.  Take a photo of yourself doing something cool and send him a low res copy in his email.  He LOVES seeing what is happening here...and the Africans love to see anything with snow in it...so if you get the chance between now and Christmas please send your selfies to brandon.peters@myldsmail.net  thanks!

From his other letters today we learned that:

His zone has 24 missionaries in it.

He was REALLY excited for Elders Paddon and Perry to be called as trainers and thinks they will be amazing.

To his Mom he wrote:

"Coffee is the lifeblood that drives the dreams of CHAMPIONS! Everybody drinks coffee even little kids in mexico DRINK COFFEE!" - Kicking & Screaming

Some other things we learned from Elder Peters Letters this week:

I really haven't been sick yet, I am doing my best to stay healthy, but to be honest I think that I am just not built for cold weather. This may be the first winter in 4 years that I have not gotten a sinus infection that brings on other problems like bronchitis and strep. 

"Maybe were just tryin' to hard, and really its closer than it is too far" -Sum 41

As usual we were able to get a few short exchanges with Brandon this morning. Here are some interesting things we found out:

A typical meal day for him is: "fried rice for lunch, bread and egg for breakfast, and a pineapple and papaya (popo) for dinner."

"Cuz this is AFRICA!" - Shakira

Welcome to Kasoa...

As usual, we were able to exchange a few short emails with Elder Peters this morning (at 4:30 AM) again and some of the little things he shared with us in them are:

"Whats the password? OPEN THIS DOOR! Not even close!" -Tangled

Just as an FYI to all of you.  We were saddened to hear last night that Sister Hill, Brandon's Mission Presidents wife, passed away last night quite unexpectedly.  Brandon found out today while they were playing soccer for P-day. It's a sad day for the Ghana Accra West Mission. Keep President Hill and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Here is a link to a Desert News article about her:  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865641045/LDS-mission-presidents-wife-dies-in-Ghana.html 

Left to Right: Elder Peters, Elder Varo, Elder Paddon and Elder Friday, enjoying an outdoor cookout at the end of a busy day. (photo courtesy of Elder Paddon's Mom)

"Cuz they keep comin' from wall to wall!" - Chris Brown

Dear Family and Friends, 

This week was good. We got referrals and baptisms coming up that will fill our church building from wall to wall. Literally, last week Elders Paddon and Varo went to this area that has a school house where a few members meet because the church building is really far. They are opening a group there for them to take the sacrament. Quickly it will be a branch and then we will need two more missionaries in our district to cover their area. For now though, two of us will go there every week until we get two more missionaries. I think next week Varo and I will go.

"It's a good day to be a DART!"

Yesterday we were able to catch Elder Peters online again and both Kaylin and I got to send a few short emails back and forth to him.  I didn't include them in my post yesterday, so here are some of the more interesting/funny things that he shared with us.  There is also a more detailed account of his reaction to the DXC Boys winning state that is really funny if you visualize the "Obruni Cocoa" (red headed white man) jumping up and down and cheering in an internet café full of Ghanaians.

From his notes to Kaylin:

 

"HONEY??!! WHERES MY SUPER SUIT???!!!" - Incredibles (with some sweet photos)

Late last night I got a text from my friend Thomas Apiah, who is from Ghana and went home to visit family last week.  In the text were these three photos:

Elder Peters holding a package that we sent him.

Elder Varo, Elder Friday, Elder Peters and Elder Paddon

Thomas Appiah with Elder Peters

Dear Family and Friends,

I thought that I would start off by sending a few journal entries that I made this past week because they really describe things here well.

"Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once and a while you might miss it!" -Ferris Beullers Day Off

So we did find out that Elder Peters is serving in the Kasoa 2nd Ward in an area known as "Top Town"  He's doing a lot of biking and trying hard to find new people to teach and baptize.  Unfortunately he could not get his camera to talk to the computer in the Café where he was, so no Photos again this week.  :(

Dear Family & Friends,

It feels like only yesterday I stepped off the plane here into Ghana for the first time. Mission goes FAST! So I’m doing my best to make the most of it. Apparently the mission is changing a lot right now; there are plenty of missionaries that are going home, and a lot of new missionaries that are coming. 

I have learned that having the skill of a super good memory will benefit you so much on a mission. This transfer, being the first time I have been transferred, I have realized that every 6 weeks to 18 weeks you will have to memorize several miles of a new area, an entire new ward, all new investigators, contact about 5 new people every day and remember their names, and everything about them, find new places to eat, figure out how to bargain with a different shop lady who doesn’t know you yet. A lot of memorizing. Oh ya and you’re supposed to continue to try learning 2 or so new languages. Asemole! (It’s no small thing in Twi)

"Cool beans" - Hot Rod

Dear Family and Friends,

I am going to be transferred to Kasoa 2b area with Elder Varo (of the island of Fiji). Islanders have an awesome reputation here and they know how to kill and cook goats and pigs so that will be fun. I am sad to leave Mamponse, I have made many many good friends there and I will miss them very much.

So this is pure speculation, but in his email Elder Peters says he's going to Kasoa 2B...I don't know if this is a typo, or if he's going to the 2nd Ward.  The 2nd ward is the highlighted area on the map.  If he ends up somewhere different I'll update it.

"Don't whanna be an American Idiot..." - Green Day

The first paragraph here in Elder Peters letter might be shocking at first, but it is a fantastic lesson on how NOT to be a missionary in the service of the Lord.  Unfortunately too many missionaries are just like this and it makes it tough on those who genuinely want to love and serve and he wraps it up beautifully with his example at the end.  With that in mind...here is his letter for this week: 

So this week went well but I have some chastisement to issue. Today I just finished lunch at KFC with several of the other white elders in our mission (we were eating at KFC to "escape Ghana"). They were talking about the beats (headphones), Ray Bans, Nixons (watches), and other stuff that they have bought over the week. A lot of missionaries view their missions here as a 2 year waiting period to buy expensive stuff for really cheap (compared to how much you would get it for at home, its actually really expensive here. i.e: 240 Ghana cedis = about 80 us dollars.) They whine and complain about the Ghanaian people. How much it sucks to not have this or that or whatever they want to complain about. When they aren't whining they just talk about how many days they have left to go home, how nice home is compared to "this place", they walk down the road and insult people in twi. I'm sitting here cafe-ing with them watching them watch music videos on YouTube. They have no love for the country in which they are serving or the people which they are serving and its really sad because I know that one day they will look back on their mission and think to themselves, "if only I would have enjoyed it, then maybe I would have worked hard and seen miracles,perhaps it would have changed my life..." They will go home small boys, instead of men. Sad.

OK enough negativity. 

"Theres all this dough ya see, and its all under A BIG DUBAWYA!" -Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (With lots of pictures)

Dear Friends and Family,

This was a very eventful week. First of all we are currently teaching 3 people with alcohol addictions. that's why the quote about the big W. I always write the lesson next to the persons name we are teaching so restoration is L1, plan of salvation is L2, and so on until you get to commandments then its TI (tithing), CH (law of chastity), and (WW) the word of wisdom. I guess its really rare for someone to have this problem, according to other missionaries, because most people can't afford alcohol. So Francis has a family of 2 kids one girl and one boy, he is also married. (still need clarification on if he's actually married, that's a big problem here because of bride price) he came to us while we were teaching Abigail one day and asked us if we could help him overcome his addiction because he wants to send his kids to school. It was pretty cool, people will literally come up to us and ask us to teach them. We are helping him, we helped him create a plan and sat with his whole family and a friend named Sarfo and talked about ways they can help him, and ways that he can get help from them. I feel way unqualified to help someone break a habit that is so incredibly powerful, but I know that with Gods help, all things are possible. If anybody has any advice, it would be readily welcomed by my companion and I. also we had two dudes almost in a fistfight on the road, and we were walking by and one yelled, "Hey elders!" that always gets our attention because most people just call you obruni and they aren't serious so we don't mind them. They guy said, "help my friend, he wants to go drink and I'm trying to keep him, to tell him it wont do him no good!" The one wanting to apiteshi (alcohol in twi) got mad and stormed off, but we were able to sit down and talk with Stephen about how he can help his friend and taught him the restoration. I'm still not sure if he's serious because he has another church, but we will see.

Rooftop panorama of Elder Peters Area

"We should hang out...BUT HANGING OUT WOULD HAVE TO WAIT" -Kung Fu Panda

We got two pretty good emails from Elder Peters EARLY this morning.  (he was online at 3 AM!!!)

The first one is to answer some of Kaylin's questions.  The second is the general email that he sends to all of us.

We were also lucky to get this photo from his Mission President's Blog.  This was taken the day
Elder Peters arrived at the Accra West Mission home. He is on the left, Elder Conner Mantz is next to him
and on the right next to President Hill is Elder Mitch Perry.

Enjoy:

Dear Mom, 

I really haven’t been to homesick because I know that this is where I am supposed to be, and you are all doing very well at home. That is not to say that I don't think about you very often, I think about you guys all the time, how you’re doing, are you happy, what you’re doing at this time of day. But it hasn't made me depressed. if anything when I think about you guys it makes me happy that I have such a wonderful family, even though I am separated from them, and I miss you, it doesn't get me down or keep me from working. I hope that makes sense...

I am very healthy. My six pack is slowly wasting away though. But I’m doing my best to keep it

"Someday I'll be 18 going on 45, 18 til I die" - Bryan Adams WITH PICTURES!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was full of unexpected and really cool events. First off right after I finished emailing last week, Elder Onen and I were walking back to our apartment and we ran into a guy who was a huge Barcelona fan. We had both just got our jerseys so we were both wearing them. He started to freak out, he was so happy. He was convinced that I was from Spain for some reason I don't know why. As we talked to him we ended up telling him why a Ugandan and American were walking around the streets of Ghana in Barcelona jerseys, to preach the gospel of course! So we contacted this guy, I don't remember his name because he is in Onen's area so I haven't seen him since but it was cool to share a gospel message with him. I think Onen will continue to try to teach him. Sometimes the ways the Lord prepares people may seem kind of ridiculous to us, but He does prepare them.

I have been trying to exercises every morning. I mostly just do XC abs and push ups. Sometimes I will talk someone in my apartment in to going for a run but its rare more than its common. Most of the time they will ride the bike next to me while I run. My goal is to do 300 push ups a day right now. Its going well but as usual my arms aren't really changing in size, in fact they might be getting smaller because protein is so hard to come by. It feels good to start the day that way though. I am also taking up the Josh Ward challenge to memorize a scripture everyday and so far I've done it, but its getting harder. I am up to 39 scriptures now I think, (that was quick math so its probably wrong)

We did this crazy service project this past week. I wrote about it in my journal:

MORE PHOTOS FROM ELDER PETERS

BAPTISMS!!!  Not sure who everyone is in the photo, but I am certain that the Sister Missionaries are on the left and Elder Liera is on the right. 



Elder Onen? (I think) Elder Liera and Elder Peters...sporting his new African Haircut.



Pounding Fufu



"Obruni Cocoa Machi" teaching some local kids about Jesus Christ.

"Thought I'd try out my sea legs!" "But Lt. Dan.. you don't got no legs." "Yes, I know that" -Forrest Gump

In addition to the letter below, Elder Peters sent a few extra notes to some friends and family.  These notes reveal some interesting tidbits of information that are absent from his main letter. Things like:

·      The missionaries in his apartment say that he is starting to slip up and say stuff with an African accent.
·       His Twi is coming along nicely

·      He had 17 investigators at church last week!!! 17!!! WOW!!!

·       He tried to play “All Of Me” (John Schmidt) on one of those electric keyboards that had enough keys (most of them are short all the keys) but it had a really bad delay on the notes so he couldn't play it very quickly.
·       Ghana isn't too hot right now, but we are still in the rainy season. Though it hasn't rained yet while he's been there.
·       The kids all call him “obruni cocoa machi” Twi for “white man red good morning”. They have also nicknamed him “Peta Croch”. I guess he’s a really tall redheaded futball player in England. Kids in Ghana will do that to the white elders, name them after a famous footballer who they think the missionary looks like. (the real player is actually Peter Crouch, he’s 6’8” and plays for Stoke City FC)

Any Guesses as to why the kids in Ghana have named Elder Peters after Peter Crouch?

·         He sees a LOT of lizards in his area that they call “Push-up” lizards because they climb up high on the walls and then do “Push-ups” with their front legs.  Some are over 3 ft. long.

"Is this water sanitary? It looks questionable to me." "Tantor...mummy's losing her patience.."

Again...no photos this week.  We had some trouble with Google locking Brandon's account because "Someone" in Africa keeps trying to access it.  I think we have it fixed...so maybe next week???? WE HOPE!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

WE DID IT!!! 5 Baptisms!!! KACHOW!! Man it was cool. I baptized Emmanuel Bondzie, Robert Amissah, and one of the sisters’ investigators named Gabriel Nii. Richard Bondsie baptized Dorothy and Isaac Opoku. The spirit was really really strong. I don't know if I will get to send pictures because google drive is being dumb but the baptismal font is outside in front of the church next to 2 really big palm trees. It is made out of rubber kind of like the swimming pool at home and the water only went up to about my mid-thigh. The font is about 5 and a half feet long and maybe 3 feet wide. Robert is as tall as me so I was a little worried that he would hit his head but all went well and he only had to go in once. Emmanuel was my first one and I messed up because I said, "for and in behalf of...” because I am so used to baptizing at the temple. Gabriel has a bad knee and he is afraid of water so I thought that he would be a little more of a struggle but it turns out he was the easiest one. I explained to all three of them that I will hold their hands like this and to sit down like you’re sitting in an invisible chair and then lean back and I will pull you up. They all did really really good. When we went back inside and were changing our clothes I ran into Emmanuel in the hall and said, "Hey! your baptized now!" he said" Ya ya I’m baptized and he started to kind of lightly pat his chest and said, it feels...very good ya very good, thank you Elda Petas." it’s so cool when you can tell when people are feeling the power of the Holy Ghost! It was such an awesome moment. 

No Pictures This Week :(

This week, Elder Peters wasn't able to upload any of his photos, but we did get this cool drawing that he did of himself carrying his luggage on his head like a real African!

When he left the MTC he was allowed some time to write a quick note to us that someone there scanned and emailed.  We just barely got it.  This doodle was on that note.

When I can convert the .pdf file into a legible .jpg, I'll post it here.

To quote Elder Peters "Ghana is the best!"

"Don't need reason, don't need rhyme, ain't nothin I'd rather do." - AC/DC

So I was able to have a couple of email exchanges with Brandon this morning and got a couple of questions answered about food, health and such…here are a couple of his replies that I wanted to send along:

Fist of all HE’S HEALTHY: “ I am doing pretty good with the food, I haven’t gotten sick yet, but I have heard about guys in my MTC group that have so I consider myself lucky. Ghana is da best”

I asked him if he needs anything specific sent to him and I got this: “I would like the rest of my contacts. I have a year’s worth but the sooner you can get them too me the better I think. I have been using them everyday pretty much. Also could you send some beef jerky? And those juice flavoring packets we take backpacking. Most food consists simply of cassava, beans, plantain and a lot of pepper. Sometimes I wonder if Ghanaians use anything to flavor their food other than pepper. We went to the mall to me it’s the equivalent of Albertsons but everyone here thinks it’s the nicest place on earth. And we bought a pizza for the African sisters and they were complaining about how it didn't have any pepper, and I said, ya but it has FLAVOR, isn't it nice? No wes da peppa? Uhg”

He could not get his Camera to connect to the computers in the café where we was this morning so I don't think we'll get any photos this week :(  Hopefully next week!

So he sounds great and he’s loving the work as evidenced in the attached letter for this week:

 

More Photos From Elder Peters - Aug. 17th, 2015 edition

We were pretty excited to log in today and find a bunch of pictures that Elder Peters had uploaded for us.  Again, we are guessing at a lot of them because we don't know exactly where they were taken but they are still a ton of fun to see and share so ENJOY!!!

Close up on the name tag and a VERY cool Kente Tie...Dad is jealous!  That is a sweet tie!

Well, ain't this place a geographic anomaly? ITS THREE WEEKS FROM ANYWHERE!!! -Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Elder Peters was late emailing this week because he went shopping at the Accra version of Walmart...In his words this was his experience...

"ya I'm doing well. i went to the Accra version of Walmart. it was rather intense. I had my drawstring bag and they made me lock it up in a cubicle and there are security guards next to each door with machine guns even though the place is basically Albertsons except for the don't sell milk or cheese....you would have thought i was trying to get onto hill air force base sheesh"

I was able to catch him online again this week and he sounds very happy and BUSY!  Here is his email for the week:

Dear Family and Friends;

This week has been a week with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I still haven't got any of the packages or mail you sent, but i have faith that it is somewhere on this planet.

By the end of last Wednesday we realized that we will probably have 5 baptisms on august 30th. but some crazy things happened during the week that really taught me some lessons about missionary work. I will give a brief report about each of these 5 investigators

A few photos from Elder Peters

I happened to check Elder Peters Google drive the other day and found these photos that he had uploaded.  They are only a few but I wanted to share them.



This is a typical street in Mamponse.  That young man in the photo looks too young to be an Elder (Besides I don't think an Elder would be wearing a studded belt like his) so I'm making a guess that this young man is George Armah...the Preist age Young Man from the local ward who helps Elder Peters and Elder Liera with the Gha speaking people in the area. 




This is Elder Peters bedroom in Mamponse. That blue thing hanging over the bed is the mosquito netting he sleeps in like a tent.  Ah...this brings back some awesome missionary memories!



This is a typical view of the ocean.  Much of Elder Peters area is along the southern coast of Ghana and he is on the beach daily.  This is a very impoverished area of Ghana.  Unlike here in the USA, in Ghana the wealthier people tend to live inland and the poorer people live closer to the coast.  Not sure what that boat is out there...maybe a fishing boat? 

"Live in a mudhut, wipe yourself with a leaf type wild? HAHA!! WHO WIPES??!!" - Madagascar

So I think that a lot of people when they heard that I was going to Africa thought that I would be living in a mud hut, surrounded by people only wearing loincloths (though I have seen a lot of stark naked little kids, and an old man taking a poop on the beach, he had a newspaper and everything just no toilet or walls, that’s pretty normal by the way if you’ve gotta go then just go anywhere. we don't do that as missionaries though don't worry). I don't live in a mud hut, but I don't have a bed frame just a mattress on the floor and a mosquito net, but our apartment is pretty nice. I am in a town called Mamponse in the Kanishie Zone. It is right next to the ocean, and I go to the beach to get to investigators houses a lot. The beaches aren't that nice here. They are covered with trash and other gross stuff. I will try to send pictures. Since I am right next to the ocean there isn't much vegetation either. The weather has been nice. And that’s a summary of my area and where I will be for the next 12 weeks at least.

This is a Map of Elder Peters mission.  The red arrow shows where he has been assigned.

Close up of the area where Elder Peters will be working.

Dis Place About to BLOW

The Zone Leaders; Elder Perry and Elder Peters at the Temple

As I sit here ready to leave the MTC tomorrow morning that song came to mind (Dis Place About to BLOW), everyone is SO ready to get out and serve, even though we've only been here 11 days. I catch elders just staring out of windows at the nearby streets and people, I even catch myself just staring out of the windows wondering what it will be like. I think I

Aug. 2, 2015 - Ready to Embark

Hello family, this is gonna be a really short one. Hopefully I will get more time to email next week after I have gone out to the mission field. There is just some quick advice I would like to give to elders coming to the Ghana MTC.  

Elder Peters studying hard.

Starting from day 1 it was super nice to get my luggage under 50 lbs because it saved us 250$ and it was way easier to carry up to the 3rd floor. (The MTC has no elevator and the elders dorms are on the highest floor) getting here at 11;45 at night after 23 hours of traveling, the last thing I wanted to do was haul my luggage all the way up there. I have pretty much lived entirely out of my carry-on which leaves me with plenty of toiletries and supplies to enter the mission field right away. except for soap i could have used 2 bars of soap, sometimes you will wash your clothes in a bucket and it uses a bit of soap. All of the water here at the MTC is filtered so don't worry about bringing a filter bottle, and they give you one when you enter the field. a few snacks were nice to have but mostly for the plane ride and 5 hour layover in the Amsterdam airport. 

The MTC food is good I usually had a bit left over after meals. They ease you slowly into the food eaten here in west Africa and sometimes I had to man up and eat things that I probably never would have eaten at home but I have not felt hungry once. Fufu is so good! They bake fresh bread here everyday and you get either a roll or slice with every meal and its way good! I think another key is to stay hydrated, a lot of the time elders don't drink enough water but I have noticed that staying hydrated helps me to stay alert in class and it helps with adapting to a different cultures food.

In conclusion, THANK YOU MOM!!! for helping me pack and making my physical experience here at the MTC a positive one. I love you guys and I will email you all sometime next week.

with love, Elder Peters

Ghana MTC: Ghana MTC 24 July 2015 Slideshow

Ghana MTC: Ghana MTC 24 July 2015 Slideshow: Here it is - one of Sister Robison's best MTC slideshow creations:

The missionaries at the MTC - July 30, 2015

My Fists Hunger For Justice - July 29, 2015

So Elder Perry and I talked to the president about our concern with only getting about 15 minutes total so far to email our families from the MTC and he felt that we should use a half an our of our personal study time to make sure that our families know that we are doing well and to talk with them. president Robison is a really good guy, i like him a lot. he cares a lot more about trying to be a good, effective, happy missionary than being incredibly strict with rules. a lot of the African elders are still learning things about being missionaries, for example elder Msomi is from south Africa and there swear words aren't swear words, he was telling us how the missionaries there that he talked to even swore because its just part of south African culture. just like how swear words in the u.s. are different from swear words in England. anyway that's just one example. he is doing a lot better because someone explained to him how we aren't in south Africa anymore so you have to say dang and heck instead of other things. also a lot of them went through the temple for the first time and a learning  how to wear garments. 

The African elders have incredible gospel knowledge.

Elder Peters, Elder Perry and Elder Mantz got to go to the temple this morning.  Notice how all these Cross Country runners wore yellow ties?  

Dear Family and Friends,

I only have a little bit of time until dinner, I have been wanting to write more because I wrote the last email in 5 min because I was limited on time again as well. things are pretty hectic here in the MTC sometimes. our schedule is planned down to the minute and I was called be a district leader and now a zone leader and I have a lot of stuff I am supposed to do in "free time" but am struggling to find much free time.

Photos From Ghana MTC

Brandon (er...Elder Peters) arrived in Ghana on Thursday the 23rd of July at about 9:30 PM (Local Time) which is about 3:30 PM our time.  After going through customs and baggage claim they had an adventurous ride to the MTC in Tema, Ghana.

We've been very grateful to the MTC President and Sister Robison for updating their blog at ghanamtc.blogspot.com, since Elder Peters group landed we've received daily updates on their activities and such.  I't's made that transition to being a missionary family so much easier.

So below are a few photo highlights that feature Elder Peters in the MTC.

Here he is...front and center with the others in his group on their first day at the MTC.  Before they could eat breakfast, they had to write home, so we got a very AWESOME...very short letter on Friday.

Elder Mantz and Elder Perry out for a run.  This has been an common sight at the MTC with Elder Peters and Elder Sakala running with them most of the time.  Why isn't Elder Peters in this photo? My guess is that on this day he chose to play soccer with the African Elders.

Energetic bunch on Saturday Morning.

Here is the advantage of having a tall, red-head for a son.  I can tell that's Elder Peters in the back of the room in this photo.  They were learning to consecrate oil with some other Elders.

Freshly set apart as missionaries and at the SLC Airport ready to fly.  Elder Peters and Elder Perry.  I told Pres. Robison that it's hard to take a photo of one without the other...well he must have felt that was OK because they have been assigned to be companions at the MTC!

All the missionaries traveling from SLC to Ghana!  It was so cool to see them find each other and instantly become friends.

Again, the advantage of having that tall, red-head....pretty obvious who's in the front there...

Elder Perry eating Sunday Dinner.  I'm 100% confident that Elder Peters is sitting across from him.