First Letter Home From Ghana MTC

(From a hand-written letter dated Sunday November 7th, 2010, received, Friday, November 19th)

November 7, 2010

Hallo Family!

Greetings from Africa! I don't know where to start, there is so much to say! Well, as far as the place goes, I am in Tema, Ghana, and it's about a billion (86) degrees here! It is very lovely though, very much like Hawaii. The thunderstorms are rather awesome too. No cool animals of which to speak yet, except for the lizards that sunbathe around the planters. The last group saw an alligator (fingers crossed).

The living conditions aren't bad at all. It's a fairly standard dorm setup with a nice view of the MTC football field (yes,"real" football). All the classrooms are air conditioned, but our rooms just have an oscillating fan to try and beat the heat. It's not bad at all here, except at night when it stays just as hot as mid-day. Oh, and the water pumps are in disrepair here, so we have to haul buckets upstairs to bathe out of until they are fixed.

The food here is pretty awesome. I think my favorite has to be the "pancakes" we had for breakfast yesterday. They tasted like spongy crepes without the fruit. We also have a lot of porridge (one looked like gravy, which was weird), and this horrible ovaltine-esque hot chocolate (it takes 3 scoops of sugar to be drinkable. Everyone here LOVES sugar). There's lots of chicken and rice, which I like, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to watching my companion eat the chicken bones. Ew. They crunch so loud...Nasty!

So, as far as people go, there are only 21 missionaries here (19 elders and 2 sisters). Everyone here just calls me "Elda" (because they can't say the "-er" very well) "Vone", "Vog-han", or "Vogue". I don't really mind, it makes me feel like Elder Groberg. Elder Amoh just calls me "White Guy" because I'm the only American here. Talk about insane! The lunch lady calls me "Bologna", because apparently that's slang for "white" here. My companion is Elder Momodu (pronounced "Mum-oh-due") and he's from Sierra Leone. I'm just getting to know him, but he seems like a great guy. I've become pretty good friends with Elder Amoh (Ah-moe) and Nkonu (Nick-oh-new). They enjoyed trying my bizarre American candy and beef jerky. They've never had that kind of stuff!

So, yesterday all of the African elders (so, everyone but me) got immunizations, and I helped. It was very interesting, because most of them had never had a vaccination before! And today, we taught them how to do family history for the first time. These people are just SO different! As I write here, my room is getting swarmed. They love my American food, and they think my American toiletries smell amazing. Elder Amoh got a hold of my photo album and he keeps saying he's my in-law (watch out Hil!) I've got like 8 Africans in here. You should have seen what happened when I pulled out a pack of gum to share! It's ridiculous! I'm so glad I have so much stuff to share! At first I thought I'd feel like a pompous American with all this stuff, but they love it!

Well, we're going to the temple next week, and I can't wait! I miss the temple so much... So many elders here have never been to one. It's a very special thing for them. They marvel that I'm "close" to four temples.

Well, I must go now. Know that I love you all so much, and that I am growing so much here! Thank you for the wonderful notes too. :) I love you love you love you all, and miss you like a flower misses the sun!

Elda Vaughan

"Eef Yooh tink goood, yooh leeve goood."
(If you think good, you live good.)
Elda Amoh