ሰላም! ( HELLO!)

ሰላም! ( HELLO!) , 

It was my first Sunday in the MTC and officially one week down! Every week you are supposed to prepare a 2–3-minute talk to be ready to give and also so you have one once you are on the mission to give in Sacrament meetings etc.. The food is really good! My body has finally adjusted to it!  Dinner is my least favorite and that is mostly because there is not much variety.  Every night it is chicken and rice.  It must be very popular in Ghana.  We cannot leave the MTC church grounds which are large and contain the Ghana temple.  So, eating outside of the MTC is not going to happen while I am here.  I figured out that I will spend 10% of my mission here in Ghana in the MTC.

I can tell the MTC is going to be the hard part for me because of several aspects that honestly, I will just have to get used to. And that's ok! One of those things is learning the language here.  Our teachers are from Ghana and have been missionaries in Ethiopia.  I am having to put in my own time for language training to really work on learning the language.  Having worked with Nate Liljenquist before my mission with the Amharic language has proven to be very helpful and I am thankful that he spent so much time with me helping me learn the alphabet before I got here! I love being elder Frasier 

Highs: 

 I met an Ethiopian sister who is going to serve in Ghana, and we had some really good conversations about the church and some advice for when I get there.  She told me that I need to help strengthen those members that have already entered the waters of baptism.  She said that there are over 2000 members on the records in Ethiopia as the church has just entered the country.  However, many join and then never return and do not fully understand the commitment that they are making. 

Me my companion Elder Mabvaro and the Sister Missionary I met that is from Ethiopia.

Waking up is getting a lot easier and hopefully I am over the jet lag. It was really hard the first few days.

We learned Moroni 10:5 in Amharic and I think i got pretty good at it hahahaha 

 I was able to go to the temple here in Ghana twice already! It's so beautiful!!!!! The Celestial room is amazing, and the Ghana temple is so pretty, and I’m so blessed to get to go while I’m here.  For those wondering it looks very different than the Bountiful temple inside.  I love it!   Small world story.  My neighbors the Griffins who live back home in Bountiful 5 houses down the street are serving in one of the new missions in Ghana.  I was walking out of the temple this week and I looked over and there they were sitting on one of the benches waiting to go into the temple with some missionaries they were taking to the temple before they go back home.  I ran right up to them, and it was so nice to see someone familiar from back home.

Lows: 

My companion ( Elder Mabvaro ) had to get his wisdom teeth pulled out right after last p day which wasn’t fun for him.  But the silver lining for me meant I got to take more naps while he recovered. That was actually a high as it is what helped me get over my jet lag.  I was, however, glad that I was able to get mine out before getting to the MTC. Many of the African elders do not have access to get this kind of dental work done in their home countries, so the church provides this to them while at the MTC.   Elder Mabvaro is from Zimbabwe.  There are some problems with the people in my room (not my companion) and it will hopefully get fixed. There are four of us and all of them but me are from Zimbabwe. 

The schedule here can be difficult.  One of my strengths has always been being on time and keeping a schedule.  One example is that yesterday they had us scheduled for class, a temple trip and laundry time all in the same 1.5 hours.  So, I am learning patience as things must work themselves out. 

The lord is always by your side and will never leave you. No matter how much you try and pull away he will love you.

 - Elder Frasier  

This weeks zoom with my parents!