Official Letter from Ghana

Dear Family,

  I made it here. I’m sick of airplanes. My comp’s name is Elder Agbonavbabe which sounds like a-bon-a-var-ay. He’s from Nigeria, and serving in Nigeria, He’s really really cool but very hard to understand, The food here is great, I love it all. It is all kind of salty, kind of spicy with a flavor like ramen noodles. The fruit is amazing too. I’m only in the MTC for three weeks so by the time this gets to you, and you respond I will get mail in my mission. The address on the front of this letter is good for all pouch mail for the rest of my mission.

       They are not officially teaching us any languages here, but I have been learning both French and Twi. Twi sounds like tree. There are 53 missionaries in the MTC, 11 from America, 2 from France, and the rest from all over Africa. All of the Americans and some of the Africans are going to Cape Coast, and the rest are going all over Africa. The Africans kind of sound like Jamaicans, but they don’t say “man” a lot.

       All of the missionaries are really nice and I think they like me almost as much as I like them. I’m the biggest one here, and just about every time I see them, they either say, “hey big man” or “you are very fat” or something like that, which is meant to be a compliment. It’s really funny, and I love them all. They made me district leader of one of the MTC districts, which is cool, but hard. Well I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Russell. 

His Address:

Elder Tyler Russell           

Ghana Cape coast mission

Po box 30150

SLC Utah,  84130-0150 

He says that when you mail him letters: Do not use an envelope-- it's too heavy for pouch mail!! Instead, just take a regular sheet of lined paper, tri-fold it, tape it closed, and write the address on it like you would on an envelope... weird, huh? But... =) I guess it will have to do. Thanks everyone!!! 

Safe and sound in GHANA!!!

Hello everyone!! Tyler made it safely to Ghana (I know... probably a little late to be making that announcement) :o). His mission president's wife sent the following email:

Dear Parents,

 

We're happy to report that your son has arrived and is adjusting well at the Ghana MTC.  He will be finished with MTC training on October 21 and will be contacting you by e-mail shortly thereafter. 

 

We're grateful for the wonderful missionaries in this group--they are prepared to have spiritual experiences and an accelerated learning of the gospel.  We know the Lord will bless them individually according to their needs.  We also dedicate ourselves to their comfort and well-being.

 

Feel free to contact us at this address if you have concerns or questions.

 

Sincerely,

President and Sister Harmon

Ghana MTC

We also received a letter from Elder Russell that I'm waiting to receive from my parents so I can post it on the blog. Essentially, he said he's doing well. He's only in the Ghana MTC for 3 weeks!! So by the time that we send him and mail, he will have already left the MTC. His address is yet to come (sorry... I still need it from my mom) but it is a pouch address, so plan on it taking a few weeks for him to receive.

He also said that he's the biggest missionary in the MTC, and that they refer to him as such. He said the people of Africa calling him fat is supposedly a compliment, so he's OK with it-- what a self-esteem boost, huh? He loves his companion, and is learning French and some other language that I can't remember off the top of my head... again... yet to come in the letter.  He is having a difficult time understanding the other missionaries (the majority of them are from Nigeria or other parts of Africa) and he says that they sound a whole lot like Jamaicans to him, minus the "yah, man" and such (see Cool Runnings for further examples...). 

Over all, he sounded really well. He's such a great missionary, as we all knew he would be. It was a short and sweet letter and hopefully there will be more to come soon!! I'll post his letter and new address as soon as I receive it (insert friendly reminder to Mom to send it...). 

We love you guys, and truly appreciate all the love and support you show our family and especially Elder Russell.