SORRY!!!

Hey everyone!!

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in a few months. Not that it's a good excuse, but I had finals and graduation, had a baby, moved to Laramie, and my hubby started a master's program.....soooo..... we've been really busy =)

But Tyler called me to repentance last week (actually, he just thanked me for keeping up with the blog...woops). So I commit now to do better =).

11/1

Hey guys, I hope that you all had an amazing week and an even better
Halloween. On Sat. we had our first baptism in Sunyani, and it was the
most peaceful and spiritual baptism that I have ever been to. We had a
member do the ordinance who did a really good job and didn't mess up
at all, and all of the children that were there were very reverent. I
think that it was a perfect baptism. Because of the baptism there was
a lot of paperwork and stuff, and because we are a new unit we have no
ward clerk to help with it. I was thinking about that on Sat night and
decided that I needed to find out for sure that we were doing all of
the necessary paperwork, so I decided to do some basic research to
find out. When I did the research I found that there were quite a few
other papers that we needed to fill out that we have not even thought
about, because they are usually already done for us, such as request
for membership forms. Now I get to go back and take care of all of
those things and try to make them all work out all right. It will be
really nice as soon as we can call someone to be a clerk, but we have
no authority to do that and need to work on a Branch Pres. before we
can do that. Until then, I guess that I just get to learn how to be
both a ward clerk and a missionary at the same time. We have really
had a lot of fun this last week though. I feel really tired because of
all of the things that have been going on in our area. It seems that
whenever you have a lot of time to do things, that you wish that there
were things to do, and that when you feel like everything is going on,
there are more and more things that just keep piling up. For instance,
we will start the day and have one or two appointments, and then an
hour of free time to contact or something, and as soon as you hit that
hour everything goes wrong and you have nothing to do or you just dont
feel like you are doing what is the most effective thing to be doing.
As soon as that time ends though, you have appointment after
appointment and everything just seems to blow up in your face and
youre going all over trying to make everything work out. I hope that
what I just said makes sense. I guess that that is the way that life
is most of the time, besides that not having time with nothing
productive to do. This last week, we started to go through our
investigators and drop all of the ones that were not serious. Now we
have relatively few people to teach and are probably going to have to
start contacting a lot more again. I guess that this week I may need a
few more prayers than usual. I hope that I have not sounded
discouraged or down in this e-mail. Im still loving it here. This week
has been really a growing week for me, because we will go from one
appointment and the spirit will be really strong there and then the
next will be just a dud and we will have to drop them. I have really
started to understand a lot more about discerning peoples feelings
towards the church this last week. This last week, I also got to bear
another 20 min testimony to fill in time at sacrament meeting. I
talked about the restoration and feel that it went really well. There
spirit was really strong there. I am thankful for all that Heavenly
Father has done for me and for the great outpouring of the Spirit that
he has given us. I know that this Church is true and am grateful to be
a part of it. Thanks for all that you guys do. I love you and cant
wait to hear form you again next week.
Love Ty

10/25

Wow, it sounds like like a lot has happened this last week. Jen, good
luck with the shoot-out, and no I don't know the Johnson, they might
have been in the Accra mission. That is crazy that since I have been
gone, not only has the ward changed, but also the stake has been split
too. I guess that when I come back there will be a lot of new faces.
Nate and Megan, when is Owen being blessed? Any pictures that anyone
wants to send would be welcome here. Happy Birthday to Nate and Carli.
I hope that I haven't forgotten anything else. Sorry that you didn't
see anything while you were out hunting dad, but I guess that that
means that some things will just never change. I hope that the house
is looking really good. It sounds like you guys have put a lot of work
into it. Jon and Nat, I hope that all is going well with you guys and
that you are happy. Ry hope you guys are having fun over there in
Korea. Shelly, I wish that I could have gotten high on fumes with all
of your kids, that sounds like it would be a blast. They should start
to do that in Seattle. They could take the smokers and give them a lot
of drugs and have them all get high together. If the kids are anything
like Chris and Cam were a few years ago, that would do one of two
things, either it would make them stop right away and would clean up
the area for good, or else it would take them on a trip so extreme
that they would become even more addicted. Derek, how is football
going? Have you gotten to play anymore since you last wrote? I'm also
curious as to what all of the Kids are going to be for Halloween and
if you could all e-mail pictures, that would be great.
Well, this last week has been really good here in Sunyani. We are
having our first baptism here and so this last week Elder Ayim and
myself have just spent a lot of time trying to visit ans get ready all
of the candidates. We are baptizing 3 people who are named Wilson,
Mary and Douglas. I'm hoping that I didn't write about this last week,
or it will be really boring to you all. Wilson is the guy that came to
Asuyeboah when he started to talk to the woman on face-book about the
church. She stays in Australia and he just started to talk to here,
because they share the same name. She bore here testimony and told him
to do whatever it takes to come to church, and so now he is being
baptized. Mary is the mother of one of the members in the area. She
has a son on a mission and a sister that works in the area office.
When we met her she told us that the day before we came some of her
friends at her old church came over and she bore her testimony about
our church and told her friends that because the true church was now
there that she was leaving her old church and being baptized by us.
The next day we contacted her and now she is ready to be baptized and
in two weeks we are hoping to baptize her daughter, who is named
Earnistina and is about 20 years old. Both are preparing to go to the
temple to do baptisms for the dead. The last person that we are
baptizing is Douglas. He has been taught before by missionaries, but
moved just right before he was baptized. When we got here he told us
he was a member and started to bring friends to church. later we found
he had not been baptized himself, and so now we are fixing that
problem this Sat. Other than visiting with all of these people, it has
been a normal week.
We had 31 people at church this last week, including children, and
missionaries, which is a new record for Sunyani. I taught Sunday
School, which I'm not really sure how it went. I had been planing on
talking about how our body is a temple and had some things prepared
for it, when Sunday morning I woke up and felt like that was not what
I was supposed to talk about. I changed it to obedience and I hope
that the people understood what I was talking about. I was trying to
let them know that God has promised us blessings when we obey his
commandments. I used the "For the Strength of the Youth" pamphlets to
go over some of the commandments that we believe in. I talked about
how we can use if, then statements to figure out the blessings that we
get from keeping the commandments. For example, if you dress good,
then you will have a better chance of having the Spirit to be with you
and you will be an example to others. I hope that they got what I was
trying to say. There was a lot of participation so I guess that it
went OK.
Well, I guess that Im out of time. I hope that you all have a good week
Love Ty

10/18

Sounds like everything back at home is going really well. For us here
in Sunyani, it has been a really eventful week. On Wednesday, we had a
new senior couple come to our mission from Utah. They are called the
Bennetts, and we are really happy to have them. They seem to be really
kinda shell shocked though, and its funny to me and makes me wonder if
I was the same way when i first came to the mission. The next morning,
we all climbed into their truck and headed down to Kumasi for some
temple training. We were supposed to be going to the temple as a
mission this last week, but the area pre. did not approve for us to
leave our mission to got to the temple, because then they would have
to allow the other missions in the area to leave and come and that
would mean that they would have to go to entirely different countries,
so they just decided that they would not allow anyone to go at all and
save a headache. Pres. Sabey felt bad though, because he promised us a
trip to the temple so he made it that we all got together as a zone,
and he and sis Sabey came and taught us about the temple and helped us
to understand some more about it. Since then, we have been really busy
in trying to make up the time that we missed for going to Kumasi. On
Saturday, we had an appointment with a pastor who is the grandfather
of one of our investigators, and when we got there we found that he
had tried to prepare to make us feel like small boys. He had read the
pamphlet that we had given to his granddaughter and had a list of
about 20 scriptures that he thought contradicted the things taught in
it. We got there and sat down and he started by telling us about all
of the schooling that he had had on religion and offered to show us
pictures. He then started in on a tangent about how there was no need
for a prophet in these days, and that God was the same as Jesus Christ
and the Holy Ghost and that he was a spirit. We sat and listened to
him for about a half of an hour and then after that time we felt
impressed to help him understand a little bit more than he already
did. By using the same scriptures that he used we were able to let him
know a few more things and by the time that we were ready to go he had
to change the subject, because he felt so bad for not understanding
correctly. We told him that we would love to come back next week to
help him with his other concerns and so we have an appointment with
him latter. I love to feel the Spirit with us when we testify of
truth. Another experience that we had from this last week was that we
had one of my favorite investigators finally come to church. His name
is Peter, and his is an old catholic man. Last week we gave him the
Book of Mormon, and since then, he has read all of First Nephi, and
some of 2nd. He called today and said that he really enjoyed church
and that he would be coming again. Please pray for him; I really feel
that he would be a big strength to the unit up here and that he has
been prepared to help the church to grow. We have also contacted into
a members family, and they say that they want to be baptized as soon
as they can so that they can go to the temple as soon as possible. I
know that God has really been watching over us and has been helping us
so much. I am thankful for his support as well as your own. I pray for
you always and hope that you pray for me too.
Love Ty

10/11

Well, I am happy to officially announce that runny-tummy is now
history to me, (I guess that it could be future also). This week has
been really good. Its also been a really long week. Elder Ayim says
that it has been the longest week of his mission, and I think I'm
about ready to agree with him. Its not that its been a bad week, or
that we haven't worked hard, or that we are not having fun and getting
along together, but it just seems to have dragged on for some reason.
I think that the reason may be that because we are opening a new area,
we spend most of the time contacting. Somehow it seems like after the
first few times of contacting you fall into a rut of the things that
you say and because of that, you just keep saying the same thing over
and over again. That is one thing that Ive been really struggling to
overcome this last week, repetition. We still have had really good
lessons though and I feel as though this last week I have grown a lot
and learned a lot about following the spirit. Ive been able to do
something recently that has been a lot of fun and really interesting
that I have not done as much of in the first part of my mission, and
that is listening. For the first part of my mission, I was being
trained and honestly every time that either my companion or the
investigator was talking I was trying to figure out what to say so
that I would not look and feel like more of an idiot than I already
am. The next part of my mission I was training and so even though I
listened, either I was the one that was directing the conversation, or
I was worried that something would go wrong with the lesson and I be
stuck really bad. I know that I probably should not have even worried
about those things in either instance, but I did for a lot of the
first part of my mission. Now, I'm with Elder Ayim. We were trained by
the same missionary and teach a lot of the things the same way. At the
same time he really likes to talk a lot and if I didn't feel like
saying anything, he could teach the lesson completely by himself if he
had to. On top of both of those two things, he has a lot more
experience than me and if something even starts to go wrong with the
lesson, I don't have to worry at all, because I know that he is there
to help take care of it. This last week, Ive had a lot more time to
really think about the things that are being said and to try to feel
what the investigator is feeling, and what the Lord would like me to
say, instead of trying to come up with the "right" thing to say. I
don't say very much in a lesson, so I figure that what I do say should
be much more powerful, and the only way for that to be is if it is
exactly what the Lord would say in that instance; and so Ive been
trying to say those things he would say. I really should have been
doing that all along, but I guess that I'm just a slow learner.
This last Sunday went really well at church also. We had 20 people
attend church this week!!! 10 of them were investigators, so if you
look at it statistically, over 50% of the people at church were
investigators, and I don't know about many missionaries that can brag
about that (not that I would brag to anyone but you guys, unless it
was a really cute girl). The work has been going really well here in
Sunyani, and we have gotten a lot closer to our members and those that
are seriously investigating also. During Sacrament meeting we had
asked for two of the sisters to prepare a 15 min talk and then we were
going to have an intermediate hymn, and then, I was going to bear my
testimony for any time that was remaining. Unfortunately for me, what
happened was that the two talks only lasted for a total of about 10
min, and then we sang the hymn which happened to be a short one. After
the hymn, we asked a member to bear her testimony to take up a little
of the extra time, but she just stood up and said, "I know that what
they have said is very true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen", and
sat down. That left me with about 35 min to talk and I hadn't planned
anything, because I was just going to bear my testimony and that was
it. It was really nerve racking, but at the same time it was really
cool, because I felt the entire time that what I was saying was
exactly what the people that were at church needed to here. I talked
about the atonement of Jesus Christ and about how because of it we
were saved, after all that we do, and talked about how it was really
important that we realize that its not just by grace that we are
saved, but rather, "by grace after all that we can do" (2 Nephi
25:23). To the people there It probably sounded like I was just
rambling, but I really felt like I was directed the entire time that I
was talking and it was a really cool feeling. I love the atonement so
much and it has been one of my favorite things to study since I have
been in Ghana. I'm so grateful for all that the Lord has done for me.
Well, I guess that I'm about out of time again, and that means that
I have been writing way to many things that are not needed to be said.
I love you all and cant wait to hear from you all next week.
Love Ty

10/4

Well I hope that my favorite family is doing wonderful right now. We
here in Sunyani are just great. Today we went to Kumasi to play
football with the rest of the zone for p-day, which was only a 3hour
drive one way. Honestly it probably was not the best use of a p-day
that a missionary has ever had, but it was approved by Pres. Sabey and
it was a lot of fun, so I'm OK with that. This last week, I have had a
little bit of runny-tummy as it is called here, which was kinda
annoying, because at the same time Ive had really bad gas, so every
time I need to pass wind, I'm not sure what will come out. Other than
that though, I'm healthy and happy. This last Sunday, Elder Ayim and
myself had our first sacrament meeting by ourselves with the members
in our area. We had about six members and six investigators come,
which disappointed Elder Ayim just a little bit and really excited me.
Elder Ayim was expecting a lot more than that and I was expecting a
lot less, so I guess that its just the half full and half empty thing,
and my glass is half full. I guess that Ill give you the basic outline
of every day for this last week. Every day was about the same, so Ill
give it to you in basic and you can guess where the changes are. Wake
up at six and poop. Fix breakfast and poop. eat breakfast and poop. Go
and do personal study and then companionship study and maybe if there
is anything left inside me poop one more time before leaving the
apartment. After this Elder Ayim and myself will go proselyte for the
day, which at this point, because we have only been here for a week is
basically contacting all day long. Its OK though, because with him its
a lot of fun, and at the same time we are starting to get some really
cool investigators. When we get home Ill poop and then well close for
the day so that I can go and fix dinner and then eat and poop one more
time so that I can go to bed. During the night, Ill usually wake up
and poop once or twice just for fun, (because as you can imagine, hand
washing sheets that have poop in them is not fun), and then Ill wake
up at six and do it all over again. Ive just typed so many Potty-mouth
words that I guess I better go and wash my hands right now. Anyways,
that's about how this week has gone and actually I have really enjoyed
it. I'm really tired right now from the trip to Kumasi and its getting
late though so I think that Ill just have to cut this session short.
Sorry about that. Please know that I love you all and pray for you
every day. Seriously, I'm sorry if this weeks letter is boring, I just
cant think of anything else to write about because right now I need to
poop really bad and its a long walk back to the apartment to a toilet.
Love you lots and wish you luck in all of you endeavors.
Love Ty

9/27

Well, compared to seeing a million crazy cool things in Korea, having
spooky storie with a t-rex, coming up with a way to buy and deliver 45
turkeys to everyone in the ward, and grading a bunch of papers, I
guess that my week was dull. On the other hand, if you compare it to
the rest of the mission that Ive had so far, its been really eventful.
On weds. me and my new comp, Elder Ayim made our way to the mission
home, where we got to have a free dinner, take a shower with hot water
and sleep in air conditioning for the first time in a year. We were
interviewed by Pres. Sabey as a group, with two other missionaries
about going to out new area. Sunyani is the farthest north that the
church has ever gone in Ghana. They are starting two units here at the
same time and in the next few weeks they plan to open up two more. We
are organizing it like that so tht we cn start with a bang, and at the
same time we will be able to have a place of worship within an half of
an hour of every one in Sunyani. After that on thursday we drove for
about 6-7 hours with the mission Pres. for him to take us to, and show
us around to our new area. The next day was spent trying to figure out
the are and contacting like crazy. There are about 15 members in the
area that were baptized down south and then moved up here, who we were
able to find and tell them that we are here. They and the area are so
ready for the gospel. After only contacting for about two days, we had
6 people come to church after hearing of it for the first time.On
Sunday we had the best service that I have had in my life.We met at
our appartment and next week we will be holding it at two of the
appartments. It was done completely by the missionaries, because we
had no idea about who would acttualy keep their promise to come to
church and could not give any assignments. For Sacrament meeting me
and my companion each talked about Christs church and the apostasy,
along with the restoration, and after for sunday school, the other
elders tald about the book of mormon. The Spirit was really strong
throughout the whole service and after we had multiple of the
investigators say something like "I can see how your church would be
muh more benificial to my salvation than my church is", or like " I
really feel as though God has helped us to meet" After church we went
out and did some more contacting and were able to meet a lot more
people. In two and a half full days of contacting we have had about 15
lessons and 14 new solid investigators. I know that God is blessing us
so much and am so gratfull for all that he has done for us. THanks for
your prayers, I can feel them and know that God is answering them for
me on this end. Im still remembering you in myprayers and hope that
all goes well with you. Love you lots and cant wait to here from you
ext week.
LOve Ty

9/20

Well it sounds like a lot has happened over there that I had no idea
about. That's cool that dad was made a bishop and that everything is
going well with the rest of the family. I wish you all luck with
everything that is going on.
Well today is the day that we find out about transfers, and I didn't
think that I would have anything to worry about because I have only
been here for 1 transfer, but Pres Sabey gave me a call a few hours
ago and told me something that really surprised me. The mission has
only gone as far north as Kumasi, which was my last area, and there
have never been missionaries farther north than that in Ghana before.
Pres. asked me to be one of four missionaries to go up past Kumasi to
a place named Sunyani and to open the mission up there. Right now Im
really excited and really nervous about the whole thing. Its a good 2
hour plus farther north than any other area in the entire mission, and
there is no branch or anything. We will have to start the church
there. If I understand it right, my knew companion is named Elder Iaem
(Im not sure if I spelled that right), who is a Ghanaian from Accra.
He was trained by Elder Whaikawa who also trained me. So if you are
talking like a missionary, me and my big brother are going to be
companions in opening a new area of the mission. My new comp. is going
home in 2 transfers though, so we probably will not be together very
long. This transfer also means that once again I am going to miss out
on a way sweet baptism that will take place this Saturday. I hope that
it all goes well. Once again im really excited about going, but Im
really sad to leave. I feel like the area was really starting to pick
up here in Swedru, and we were getting a lot of serious investigators.
I guess that that is just the way the work is sometimes. Right now Im
so flustered with everything that is going on that I guess I just cant
think of anything to right about, so I think Ill just cut it short
today. I love you guys and always remember you in my prayers. Please
dont forget about you favorite missionary in Africa right now when you
say your prayers. LOVE Ty

9/14

The title of this e-mail is dedicated to Nat. I hope that she is doing
ok and wish her and official congrats for being pregnant. Sorry that
you fell in the temple. Speaking of temples, we get to go as a mission
in 2 weeks to Accra to go to the temple for our yearly trip and I am
so excited.
Yesterday the internet was out so we are e-mailing today. We just got
back from Cape Coast, where we had a mission tour with Pres. Satati of
the 1st quorum of the 70. It was cool i guess, but he spent the whole
4 hours talking about different ways of writing in your area book. I
guess that that is what our mission needs to learn how to do right
now. We have a baptism not this sat but next sat and we are baptizing
three people as of today. Just and fyi for mom, Stephen Essel missed
church again this last Sunday and he will not be included in that
baptism. His father is an elder in the Baptist church and we went to
his house and had a good talk with him last week in which he said that
Stephen is old enough to choose for himself, but at the same time he
wants to talk to the other leaders of his church before he gives his
official ok. This Sunday Stephen went to his dads church and we have
no idea what is happening because we have not been able to meet with
him yet. So the moral of this story is that we need all of your
prayers for him right now. Speaking of your prayers, I just want to
give you and update on the last goal and how it went. This is the goal
that includes baptizing a person contacted during a world cup game.
Well, I got a call from Elder Bond 2 weeks ago that he had just
baptized a man named James that we contacted during the world cup. I
had taught him most of the lessons and helped to get im ready enough
for the baptism that he counted for me also. Actually, he has a really
cool story. He called us over to his shop which is right next to where
we passed every Monday to go and play football for p-day. He said that
he had seen so many pastors that came by and tried to trick people
with magic and stuff and he just liked the way that we looked and felt
good about us. Come to find out, he was from Ghana, but lived in
Nigeria and had a big company there that was doing really well. He met
a woman and they got married. The night of his marriage, his foreman
at the company ran out with all of the money and made him bankrupt.
Very soon after that his wife got pregnant and died during childbirth
leaving him with a child. He moved back to Ghana to live with his mom
and got a small job to wait for some legal problems in Nigeria with
the company to get settled. It was there that he met Elder Bond and
myself. He thought that he had an evil spirit inside of him and that
that was why he had all of the problems in his life. We gave him a
blessing of comfort and taught him the gospel and he is now a strong
member, who helped us to finish the goal.
This next baptism should be really cool also. The first person that
we are baptizing is an older woman who had an accident that gave her
severe lacerations on her head this last January. She was being taught
by Elder Baron and his companion when I got here and I really have not
done much to help her, but be here friend, because she already knew
the gospel. The next person is a young Woman named Pat, who we just
started to teach when I came to the area. She, Elder Baron and myself
have become really close in the last month and a half and she is
already a major support for the ward, and contributes a lot at church.
The last one for the baptism is a young girl named Theresa who is
about 15 years old. She is a referral from a member of about the same
age who is very active. This last month all of West Africa had a big
cultural event where all of the youth came together and reenacted
Lehi's dream. Supposedly it went really well, but it was held outside
of our mission so I didn't get to see. Anyways, Theresa was involved
in that and has been coming to church for some time because of that.
We met her and have started to giver the the lessons and she has
soaked it all up and really wants to be baptized on the 25 with the
rest of them so that she can go to the temple and do baptisms for the
dead with the rest of the youth the next week. The only problem is
that we need to get special permission from Pres. Sabey, because she
is only 15 and would be the only member of her family that would be a
member, and new church policy is that if that is the case she has to
come to church for 3 month before she can be baptized and she would
have only come for a month and a half. Anyways, I guess that we all
need your prayers for the next few weeks that everything will go all
right for the baptism and that Stephen will be able to be baptized
soon also. I gess that Im out of time. I love you all and pray for you
every day.
LOve Ty

9/6

Hey sorry, but the commputer is way slow today and so I only have
about five more mim to write. I just have a few questions for you
guys. 1 is Nat pregnant? 2 Is Shelly engaged (if she is she has to
wait until I get homw to be married) 3 how is school going for
everyone 4 did nat and megan get into there new house 5 how is
everyone else doing 6 how are the new babies in the family doing?
Everything for me is going great. The training was great and was just
redirecting our focus so that we are better at getting people to know
why we are here and to believe us. I think that it will help a lot. IT
has helped a lot already, becasue we got 3 bap dates this last week
and are having a bap on sept. 25. Please pray that all goes well.
Everything else is going great. Ill write to you next week. love Ty

8/30

Hey guys, it sounds like most of you are doing well. I hope that
everyone is having fun getting adjusted to school, work, and there new
homes. Time seems to be going so fast lately and its kinda scary,
because it doesn't seem like its going to slow down any time soon.
This week has been really good. The 1st Pres. has come up with
another change in the mission program that may change things almost as
much a preach my gospel did that is stating this month. In it there is
a lot more training done by the mission president for the
missionaries. They are also taking away the zone conferences every
transfer, and making them every other transfer. They are focusing on
about 7 topics from preach my gospel and it looks like they are just
going to drill those into us as missionaries so that we can learn them
really well. There seems to be other changes, but at this time I'm not
really sure what they are other than tomorrow at about 5:30 I've got
to leave my comp and my area to go and get trained for three days in
cape coast. Ill be coming back every night and leaving every morning
at the same time, which does not seem like the smartest thing, because
Its a 2 hour tro-tro ride one way. Thats OK though, because I'm sure
its what God wants for us as a mission. Other than that, this week has
been really normal. We had a service project at the church where we
went through and did a really deep cleaning on the chapel, which I
would guess has not been cleaned in quite a few months. Yesterday, the
branch asked us to be in charge of what they called missionary Sunday.
We called 2 recently returned missionaries from the branch and asked
them to give talks. All of the missionaries blessed and passed the
sacrament with some of our recent converts. We had everyone who had
ever served a mission stand up in sacrament meeting and sing Called to
serve. The best thing that we did though, was an idea from Elder
Baron. We got a box and decorated it up nice and fancy, and then we
made slips of paper and handed them out to the entire branch and told
them that we wanted them to right down their names and phone numbers
and the names and phone numbers of at least one of there friends. It
went really well, and we actually got quite a few referrals from it. I
know that God is looking out for us and am happy to be his servant.
Love you all lots
Ty

8/23

First off I got to say congratulations to Nate and Megan for the baby.
Thanks for the pictures, when I saw them I just about started to cry.
I feel like doing that every time that Ive heard that someone back
home has had a baby, just because I'm so happy, and I want to be
there. Also, happy anniversary to Mom and Dad and Jon and Nat. Ive got
to be honest and tell you Jon and Nat that the only reason that I can
remember your anniversary is because its on Moms and Dads, and because
everyone else has talked about it in their e-mails. Also, happy
birthday to Chris and Cam. I'm so excited for you guys to be baptized
in the next little bit. Please dont forget to send pictures of it.
This week has been a good one. We just got back from a big
missionary football tournament that took place in Cape Coast. Its a 2
hour trotro ride one way and not very fun to get there, but it was a
lot of fun to play in. Our zone took 3 out of 4 which doesn't sound
very good, but we were actually surprised that we did so well, when we
saw how good the other zones were. I got to play the whole time and
only took out a few of the opponents. I play defense, and the other
teams only scored on penalty kicks, which means that I helped out
pretty well. I guess that I'm getting better. Anyways, I'm really
tired because of all of the travel.
The new area seems to be sweet. There defiantly needs to be a lot of
work done here. I'm not sure if I said this last week, but the
missionary that I'm taking over for was not the members favorite and
he actually got in quite a few fights with them, where they were both
yelling at each other. We have spent a lot of time just trying to go
around and try to fix all of his problems. We have also been trying
really hard to get to know all of the members a lot better. The
members are a major support here; even more so than any of my last
areas. For investigator wise, the area seems to be a little less than
average for our mission. It seems like everyone that we meet is always
busy and doesn't have time for us. It actually sounds like a regular
mission here, where you actually need to work hard to have success.
Elder Baron have been working hard this last week and God has blessed
us a lot with success. Elder Baron is really good at having a good
time and helping others to have a good time also. He reached his year
mark on the mission this last week and to calibrate, he paid a member
to bake us a cake and everything. This member does wedding cakes for a
living and is way good at it, and he did a very good gob at making
this one. It was really sweet.
Funny story of the week, well, I guess that its not a funny story,
I just want to write about one of our investigators who came to church
this last Sunday. His name is Bro. Boateng. Somehow he is very
educated and about 20 or so years ago got a job in Libia. While he was
over there, he was tortured by the police for information that he
dint have. Because of the torture, he had gone a little bit crazy, and
has become addicted to cigarettes.Because of that he was in an insane
asylum for some time and also for other reasons he has spent time in
jail. Anyways, he is just cool to talk to and a very interesting
person. I dont have anymore time at this cafe so I need to send this
now. love you all and hope that all goes well with you this week
Ty

8/16

Well I am officially in Swedru, which seems to be a cool place. My
companion and the apartment seem to be way cool also. Elder Baron is
from Georgia, and then there is the other companionship in the
district/ apartment which consist of Elder Mortensen and Elder
Rosequist, both of whom are from Utah. We all get along great, and the
only problem with the area is that we are all alone in this area, and
that the next district is about a 1/2 hour drive from here, which
makes it really expensive to go to the other districts. The area seems
to be a smaller town, but we have it all to ourselves and also a
couple of villages, which makes our area really big. There was a
really bad flood here about a month ago, and there is still a lot of
damage that needs to be fixed, so im not sure if we will get to do a
lot of service or not. The people in the branch seem to be really
happy to see me and are very welcoming. It seems as though from what
Ive heard that the last missionary that Im coming in for was not
everybody favorite and that he actually offended a lot of the members,
and so right now, we are just trying to put a bandage on all of the
problems to try to help them heal. There are a lot of really cute
children in the branch that all of us missionaries have really taken a
liking to. On Sunday, after church we just played and talked with them
for about and hour and had a lot of fun. Ill try to send pictures next
week, but the internet does not seem as good here as in Kumasi, so im
not sure how that will go.
I got in very late Wednesday, and we had a training meeting on
Saturday, and so there really has not been much time to get stories
for this week. The only thing that I can think of to write about, is a
man that we went to visit after church on Sunday. His name is Nash,
and he lived in different parts of Europe for about 16-17 years. While
he was in Europe, he got hit by a train and lost one of his legs and
one of his arms. He has an Electric wheel chair, but because the
terrain here is to rocky and bumpy, he cant use it, and at the same
time he lives on the top of a story building, and his only child lives
about 3 hours away from him, so he doesn't get very many visitors and
just stays in his bed all day. He goes to the temple every so often,
and he has the missionaries bring him the sacrament every Sunday, and
visit with them. Because he stays in his room all of the time, he
reads a lot of the church literature and gets a lot of personal
revelation. I guess that every time the missionaries go to him they
always sit and discuss it with him. It was one of the first deep
doctrine discussions Ive had since Ive been in Ghana, and it was a lot
of fun. We all talked to him about the three Nehpites and also John
the beloved and all of the people that have been translated. It was
really cool and we decided that I am defiantly not one of them,
because I was able to tell everybody my birthday and my full name.
Anyways that's about all that has happened since Ive been here. I love
you all lots and keep praying for you. Hope all is well.
Love Ty

8/9

Well I just found out from Pres. Sabey that I am being transferred
down to a town called Swedrew, to be the new district leader there. I
have no idea about the area, but I do know that my comp. is named
Elder Baron from Florida. He was in my first district. I had a
wonderful week this week, and one of the best birthdays of my life(we
went and bought pizza, which tastes nothing like it does at home,
because they use very little cheese, and even less meat, and the sauce
is basically tomatoes that they crushed up). It was a lot of fun being
with all of the other missionaries and talking to them. There were a
lot of things that happened this week, but right now I don't have much
time because I have to go and get ready to leave for transfers, so Ill
just have to telly you about it latter. I'm kinda sad about leaving,
because I love the area, Elder Bond, and the apartment so much. Also
we had so many people ready for baptism, and now I have to leave.
That's OK though, because I know that this next area will be just as
good if I make it that way. I love you guys so much and always
remember you in my prayers. Please remember me in yours.
Love Elder Russell
P.S. :Hope that everything goes good for all of you this next week.

8/2

Well, I guess that a lot has happened since last week. Congrats Jen on
the baby( I guess that Shaun did all right himself). Happy Birthday
Ry, hope that all is going well with you and your family. Shelly
congrats on the make-out session, and also on moving. Nate and Megan,
hope that all goes well with you and that you are finally able to get
your loan. I hope that what I got for you guys today was OK, and
thanks for the address. Derek, since when did you have a girl to worry
about? I hope that you remember who you are at all times. :-) Jon and
Nat, hope all is well with you guys too. Mom and Dad, thanks for the
packages, I'm sure that Ill get them soon. I appreciate that a lot. I
really feel like I'm missing something, but hope that all will go well
for everyone.
This week has been way busy over here. Yesterday we had a baptism,
where we baptized 2 little girls, whose mother is a member. We had
planned on having about 7 people being baptized, but for one reason or
another, every single one of them besides the girls decided to wait
until the next baptism which is in three weeks. I just hope that I do
not get transferred next week and not get to be here for it, because
we are planning on about 15 people total. I'm really excited about it.
Today we went to the wood carving village, and I was able to get some
more really cool things. At least I think that they are cool.
Other cool stories for this week goes as follows: 1st, we go to one
of our investigators house and in the middle of the lesson, she and a
bunch of other women call some other women on the street over, because
they have big bags full of bras. They put the bags down, and then they
all start to barter over different bras. This was really awkward, but
luckily, God was watching over us, because it started to rain and it
was late enough that we just went home. 2nd we were in our area, and
there is a crazy guy that talks to himself that we see often walking
by. When we passed by, he started to talk to himself about us, and we
heard him tell himself that we are from Germany and that we don't
speak English so he should not talk to us. After we passed him Elder
Bond yelled out "Goodbye Smeagle". It was really funny, and nobody
knew or understood what the heck we were laughing about the rest of
the day. 3rd we had some guys call us over only to find that one of
them was way drunk. As we were talking to them he told us that God was
late for the second coming, and that he was getting tired of waiting
for him. He then went on to tell us that he had lived a perfect life
and that he really wanted to be judged by God as soon as possible. I
thought that that was funny. 4th We started to teach one of our
investigators about the plan of salvation and we were introducing it
when I asked if she had ever thought of where she was before she came
to this earth, why she was here, and where she was going after this
life. She told us something like this, "Yes Ive asked myself that, and
no I have never been able to find the answers, please tell me, I want
to know." It was really cool, and then we were able to teach a really
powerful lesson about those things. She is now one of the people that
we want to be baptized this next baptism. 5th and final, was this
story. We are on the northern boundary of our mission, and our chapel
is the first that you come to when you are coming from the north. For
the last two weeks, we have had 2 guys travel for about 1 1/2 hours
from the north to church. We started to teach them and we came to find
out how they heard about the church. One of them was talking to some
random girl from Australia over face-book, when she decided to bare
her testimony about the church and tell him that it is the only true
church on the Earth and that he should do whatever it takes to go to
it. He decided to follow her up on it and took his friend along. They
now love the church and are starting to get a strong testimony of its
truth. Its been really cool to see how much God has prepared these
people for the gospel.
Well thats about all that has been going on over here. I love you
and hope that all goes well with you this week. Hope to hear from you
next week.
LOVE Ty

7/26

First of all, happy birthday to Grandma Skouson, Shaun, Ry and maybe
Jens new baby. Next, Congrats on graduation Jen and Shaun, and also to
Nate and Megan, assuming that they moved in. Finally, I hope that all
is going well with Jon and Nat and with Ry and Brooke with testing and
residency. If I missed anything important, please forgive me. It
sounds like you all are doing great, but that you are all way busy. It
will be strange to come home with all of the major changes that you
all are talking about.
This week has been kinda the same as usual. There really doesn't seem
to be much to tell you guys that you don't know. We were at one of our
appointments, and a girl started to ask about you mom and dad. Lucky,
you had sent the pictures and I was about to show you guys with me the
night that I got set apart. The girl looked at the picture and pointed
to me and asked, "is that your brother?" It made me laugh, and I
thought that it was interesting that I have changed that much. She
then went on to say that I have the most beautiful parents in the
world. (Yes that is a suck-up move for all of the brothers and sisters
reading this. I need all of the help I can get.)
We also had a stake fireside in which my district sang a song in twi,
and then Elder Bond and myself., along with 4 other missionaries sang
We'll Bring the World His Truth. Surprisingly it didn't go that bad,
and people actually thought that we sounded half way good. Its kinda
funny, because I thought that at home all of the black people there
knew how to sing really well. Here they cant hold a tune in a bucket
the size of Texas. I'm buying a gospel music CD from one of our
investigators tomorrow, and when I get home Ill show you all what I
mean.
We are having a baptism this Sunday, where we are baptizing about 5
people. That will be cool. We were going to have 3 people in the
baptism that will help us to accomplish this new goal, but because of
some problems, those three will all have to wait for about three more
weeks until the next baptism. It also looks like Bro. Thomas, the guy
who I wrote about last week, will be able to be baptized this Sunday
too. God has really been helping us in everything that we do. Thanks
for all of your prayers and support.
Today we played football, zone against zone. I actually did some-how
well, and nobody yelled at me for making a mistake or for taking them
out. Our Zone lost 1-3, but thats OK because we'll get them next time.
Mom and Dad, There is a wood carving village that some of the other
missionaries are going to next week that we are invited to . If its
OK, I might take out a little from the bank to get some things for you
all back at home. It will not be very much, and I hope that its worth
it, but we will just have to see if we actually go or not.
Other than that, there really isn't much new here in Ghana. I love you
all and pray for you every day. Stay happy and beautiful (especially
all of you trying to keep a boyfriend). Love Ty

7/19

Hey guys, It was really good to hear from you all this week. Brooke,
sorry that I'm late for your birthday. I hope that all is well. Mom
and dad, the package came this last Thursday, and that was perfect. I
love you so much. It was exactly what I wanted. Everyone here cant
believe that I belong to the same family as you guys, because They say
that I'm not nearly as good looking as you all. I hope that the
pictures I sent made it all right. The pictures of me and Elder Tadaeo
are to show you guys the traditional Ghanaian wear. Its not very
appropriate to send you guys pictures of some of the clothes we see
every day so we did the best that we could to show the culture. (Jen,
just because I sent it doesn't mean that you need to post it on the
blog).
This week has been really neat, with a lot of really cool experiences.
We went to Bro Ageymans house (he's the older man that we baptized a
few weeks ago), and he told us that the night before he had had a
dream where two missionaries had come to him and taught him about
Isaiah chap. 53 and 58, and about Jesus Christ and fasting and keeping
the sabbath day holly. It was so cool to hear how much his testimony
of these things has been strengthened since we first met him about two
months ago. At the end, he told us again that without us and the
message that we brought to him he would have been lost and that we
helped him and his family to have a better life. He then told us that
there was a man that had come onto his farm, and had destroyed all of
the crops and started to build a house there for himself. He told that
because of what we had taught him that he was not getting angry, as he
would have done before, but that he was going through and trying to
work out the problem the way that Jesus Christ would do it. He then
told us that if that meant that he had to give up his farm for this
man to have a house he would do it and he would let God give the
consequences out. It was really spiritual and really neat to see that
kind of faith.
The next thing that I thought was cool was about an old man who lives
in our town named Bro. Thomas. He is the father and grandfather of a
lot of the members of our ward, and he knows that the church is true,
but because of problems with polygamy, he has not been baptized. Every
time that we have met him before now he was very bitter, and he would
always complain about how the church leaders would not let him be
baptized and that he was working on getting everything squared away.
He has even asked our bishop the baptize him in secrete. This last
week, we got the go ahead from the leaders to start teaching him again
and try and prepare him for baptism. The first time that we met him he
had this attitude that seemed to say "what can you small boys teach me
that I don't already know". The next time that we met with him he
seemed different, and since then, every time that we have taught him
the Spirit has been really strong in the lesson, and he has been
crying. Every time that we finish he says that he knows that it true
and thanks us for coming and helping him. Its been really cool to see
the change in him also.
I think that that is one of the greatest blessings about being a
missionary. You get to see the Gospel bless so many different people,
and you just know that if everyone is willing to pray with a sincere
heart, they will know that this is true. God has blessed me so much
since Ive been here and Im so thankful for that. I know that this
church is true. It has to be, because of all of the good that it
brings to peoples lives, whether they believe or not.
Well, sorry to ramble again. I love you guys a lot and hope that all
continues to go well with you. Thanks again for the package. Jen and
Shaun congrats with the graduation, and good luck with finals. Jon
good luck for the next few weeks, Derek good luck finding a job and
project. Shelly good luck with getting Rich to stay happy. :-)
Everyone else I hope that all goes well with everything that you are
doing.
Love Ty

hey guys

Well I am officially in Swedru, which seems to be a cool place. My
companion and the apartment seem to be way cool also. Elder Baron is
from Georgia, and then there is the other companionship in the
district/ apartment which consist of Elder Mortensen and Elder
Rosequist, both of whom are from Utah. We all get along great, and the
only problem with the area is that we are all alone in this area, and
that the next district is about a 1/2 hour drive from here, which
makes it really expensive to go to the other districts. The area seems
to be a smaller town, but we have it all to ourselves and also a
couple of villages, which makes our area really big. There was a
really bad flood here about a month ago, and there is still a lot of
damage that needs to be fixed, so im not sure if we will get to do a
lot of service or not. The people in the branch seem to be really
happy to see me and are very welcoming. It seems as though from what
Ive heard that the last missionary that Im coming in for was not
everybody favorite and that he actually offended a lot of the members,
and so right now, we are just trying to put a bandage on all of the
problems to try to help them heal. There are a lot of really cute
children in the branch that all of us missionaries have really taken a
liking to. On Sunday, after church we just played and talked with them
for about and hour and had a lot of fun. Ill try to send pictures next
week, but the internet does not seem as good here as in Kumasi, so im
not sure how that will go.
I got in very late Wednesday, and we had a training meeting on
Saturday, and so there really has not been much time to get stories
for this week. The only thing that I can think of to write about, is a
man that we went to visit after church on Sunday. His name is Nash,
and he lived in different parts of Europe for about 16-17 years. While
he was in Europe, he got hit by a train and lost one of his legs and
one of his arms. He has an Electric wheel chair, but because the
terrain here is to rocky and bumpy, he cant use it, and at the same
time he lives on the top of a story building, and his only child lives
about 3 hours away from him, so he doesn't get very many visitors and
just stays in his bed all day. He goes to the temple every so often,
and he has the missionaries bring him the sacrament every Sunday, and
visit with them. Because he stays in his room all of the time, he
reads a lot of the church literature and gets a lot of personal
revelation. I guess that every time the missionaries go to him they
always sit and discuss it with him. It was one of the first deep
doctrine discussions Ive had since Ive been in Ghana, and it was a lot
of fun. We all talked to him about the three Nehpites and also John
the beloved and all of the people that have been translated. It was
really cool and we decided that I am defiantly not one of them,
because I was able to tell everybody my birthday and my full name.
Anyways that's about all that has happened since Ive been here. I love
you all lots and keep praying for you. Hope all is well.
Love Ty