"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: