This is how banku and kind of kenkey get their beginnings.

It smells like silage when you are rolling the powder in water
and packing it tight to let the flavor kind of mix and add '
some fermentation.

This week was a pretty good one for all of us here. Our district meeting this week was pretty chill. Until out of no where our neighbors started having a fight. It sounded like dishes and maybe even the kitchen sink getting tossed around. This week I definitely re-realized that Ghanaian food isn't eaten because it tastes good they just want to put as much as they can cram into their stomachs. I ate lots of cookies and fanice just to try and get something that tasted good. We went to this neighborhood called race course. It is built in a circle and yeah maybe we treated it as a race course until Elder Frimpong almost fell over. I did get to sit in a leather chair this week. Too bad it was disgusting as a little kid, probably 6 or 7 just kept swearing like a sailor as he watched soccer on tv. I'm guessing he picked it up from his dad. The lesson wasn't too interesting for me since it was mostly in Twi. The lady named Mary speaks one one English so thankfully Elder Frimpong is Ghanaian.

We had a sweet experience this week of using a member to help us fellowship an investigator. We are teaching a lady and her son. We felt like talking to a Liberian named Tony to come with us to the appointment for the son and ended up that the mother happened to be in and that she use to be a nurse and that Tony had come to her to be treated for Malaria when his family first moved to Ghana. It was sweet to see all the quirky coincidences. A lady in the ward named Sis. Otoo invited all the missionaries in the ward over to her house and fed us a huge plate of rice and even threw in a mineral to boot. It was pretty sick especially since all our appointments had kind of disappointed us that day. Another member gave us fufu too and the soup totally made me think of blood. Picture definitely included. I crashed my bike again this week. I was riding at night through kind of a junkyard/mechanic shop area. Part of the place has kind of a small hill and didn't realize that a water pipe or barrel had broken and leaked across the road. I was clipping along and my front tire just dropped into the mud and I went over the handlebars. It was sweet cause I did a front handspring and was able to land on my feet right in front of frame from a tro tro. Glad I didn't get tangled up with that.

Next is a typical ghanaian table setting for a fufu dinner. This was the soup that reminded me of blood. It was pretty sweet I guess. When I first put it in my mouth I wondered if I hadn't bitten my tongue because it kind of tasted like blood. It is just oil and tomato paste, I think. Have a great week! Love ya!


Teaching this week we had a new investigator named Xena. Took me back to the Xena Warrior Princess show from when I was a small boy. So found out that Elder Anderson, as in the apostle, came to Ghana on Thursday. He met with the single adults and I guess the missionaries didn't fit into his schedule unfortunately. Maybe another time. Friday we had a really interesting lesson. A member girl said one of her schoolmates wants to come to church so we were shown the house and taught her. On our way back we were stopped by a group of Muslim guys wanting us to teach them. It was probably our sweetest lesson of the day. We talked about the similarities between the two religions and kind of left it at that. It was sweet to see a few of them coming to church, though they said they were just wanting to see how it was not that they were really interested in knowing more. Uh Saturday there was a baptism. One of the other wards was there with us and they had a woman so fat that she couldn't fit into any of the clothes we had so they had to rush and find something large enough. I think they took an old curtain and used it when I looked at her. Something that was really funny that I noticed today was how everyone kept asking us how the weekend was and I just wanted to tell them it hadn't started yet that our weekend was Monday and that was about it. Anyway that was most of our adventure for the week. Hope everyone is doing well.

For Halloween I think I'll just bust out this sweet orange and black tie that I bought a few weeks back and call that good. They don't actually celebrate Halloween here so yeah a small bummer.

love travis

Walking down the street with no one around. Kind of like
siesta besides not being nationally recognized.

Another week of living in Kaneshie. This last week I went on splits with one of our zone leaders. His name is Elder Southwick and he is from sugarcity, Idaho. It was way chill day since Kaneshie was his last area so after teaching some of our people he showed me where a lot of the member's homes were. This week it seemed like we had a real struggle with people choosing the world over God. Tetteh Oaklet and his family own and run a furniture store. They recieved a massive order and because of it were unable to keep their appointments and come to church. Lots of things like that have seemed to pop up lately. Have to do our best to surpress it. Riding around on our bikes we kind of found a new area that it doesn't really seem missionaries have visited much. If they have it has been a long time since anyone has proselyted there. I saw a fight this week, super rare. People in Ghana when they get really really angry just kind of yell at each other as a crowd gathers and usually nothing physical happens. This time though it must have been way serious. They started getting into. One of the guys had a friend hand him a piece of something and he was whipping the other guy with it. Worst part of all it was that no one did anything to stop them. Just let them continue as they watched. We had some sweet question and answer sessions this week with people we've contacted. One time we were in the market and a guy just came up and flat out told us that he didn't like our church. Unfortunately Elder Frimpong decided he was going to try and convince him otherwise. After hearing it for a little bit I got bored of hearing them share opinions about things so I stepped in and cut Elder Frimpong and told him just to bear his testimony because our time isn't worth spending if someone wants to argue with us when we can find plenty of people who will be interested. Must of cut the guy pretty deep because he actually asked for a pamphlet before we left.

A view of the temple. Still trying to get Elder Frimpong to
understand where to line the camera up at.

A view of the temple. Still trying to get Elder Frimpong to
understand where to line the camera up at.

This is Elder Richards. He thinks he is a lady's chap. I'll admit
though very pretty girls send him pictures so yeah.

We had a temple trip this week. Definitely was a nice experience. We ended up getting to the temple a hour early and had a chance to just sit and wait for our session to start. Friday the U-20 World Cup Championship was played. It was Ghana vs. Brazil. All of our appointments basically fell through because everyone was watching the game. We ended up catching the last bit. They played into extra time and it went to pentalty kicks and Ghana won. It was crazy to see how people went out into the streets and just kind of partied like it was the real world cup or something. The worst part was the next day people were kind of failing appointments. Some were too tired from the activities of the night before, some of them were out still celebrating, etc etc etc. Plus since I'm white and they think everything is about race they rubbed it into my face that they beat my people. Probably the only chance I have in life to pass off as a brazillian and it happened in Africa.

This was the celebration in front of our apartment after Ghana won.

This was the celebration in front of our apartment after Ghana won.

Saturday something really funny happened too. Some apostalic church was celebrating its 40th anniversary of being a church and they organized a walk, basically to get donations. So on one side of the street you have about 400 or 500 apostalic church members all dressed up and on the other side two missionaries just kind of like wow, wonder if we should contact them. I wanted to take a picture but figured it might cause some problems so didn't. Sunday was interesting. Our gospel principles class didn't have a teacher show up so they picked me to teach about the Kingdoms of Glory. Yeah teaching about all of them for over a hour isn't that easy on the spot. Hopefully they got something from it because it was rough. We did have an investigator come and tell us that he and his mother want to be baptized. He is Frank Abbey and his mother is 85 which is pretty old for here. They just have three funerals in a row which means about a month or two months of weekends down the drain. They take their funerals serious here. He came because we've been coming by the house with no result and wanted us to know he is serious and everything just needs to take care of the family. Guess you kind of have to take them like they come.

Early this morning I woke up and decided to organize our materials.
It's okay to be jealous that you don't have as many pamphlets as us.

This little girl just kept coming up to me at church. No idea if she
even belongs to anyone in our ward or whatnot. She is adorable
though. Kept wanting to take her shoes off though.

Okay baptism with the crew

I knew a mission would be work but what's this?

This last week definitely had its interesting points. My first District Meeting was certainly exciting. The assistants came as their first trip around all the districts to kind of check up on everybody. It went over okay though. One of them was trained in this ward and the other served in the other ward that meets in the same building so it was cool as we talked about the ward they could relate to the people we have been working with. As most everyone here is converts you have to do a lot of I guess member training for how things are done in the ward. This ward seems to be pretty set though. The bishop is really really good. His brother was living in the mission home too when I first came on my mission. Tuesday was also the first baptismal interview that I did. It is for a man named Joe Appiah, and he is a doctor. He mixes the tribal traditional and modern medicine for bones. He use to do a lot more but now he just works out of his house and does smaller things. Like setting broken arms and the such. He is a way cool guy though. He was referred by the family of an ex-seventy Elder Adjei. It was nice to see the support he received from them.

I was tired of studying one morning so yeah!

Liberty Jail mugshot

This week we started teaching a lady, Sis. Mausi, who just happens to be really really good friends with Elder Frimpong's mother. He is from Kumasi, Cape Coast side, and she recently moved to Accra and well just kind of works out. Always is a good sign when you go for the first appointment and after finishing teaching they won't let you leave because they prepared some food for you. Ooookay . . . and the fact that she came to church on time and with her Book of Mormon was good too. So this week it made me really glad that missionaries aren't suppose to give personal council about things because we were asked about it a lot and thankfully when it got past just little trivial things we could just pass it off and say sorry can't help you out, but you do have a bishop to talk to. One of the members, Bro. Menson, and I got into I guess an argument of some kind this week. We had finished teaching his daughter and it was our last appointment and began to talk about soccer and everything. It came out that Christiano Ronaldo, reigning World's Best Player, got hurt or something. He went off on how some lady had come forward claiming that she had contacted a fetish priest to curse him so that he would get hurt and never be able to play again. Being the typical over superstitious Ghanaian he was totally buying it and we went back and forth about it. It was pretty lighthearted but he told me that I'm too American to understand. Saturday we had a baptism for his daughter though. It went good and kind of normal. The candidate arrived 30mins late, then the bishop 30mins after that so that by the time the baptism should of been over it started. We did have to talk to our ward mission leader and explain that he doesn't hold the keys to preside over a baptism unless the bishop gives him permission.

A couple stories up with the city lights behind me

This is Sabina Menson, probably the most mature out of
anyone in that family. She is way beyond her own years.

Gotta love teaching opportunities. We did get to go to a wedding that night though. A member had gotten it cleared to use the cultural hall for his cousin's wedding or something. Part of the deal was that the missionaries were invited to come and drop as many pamphlets as we wanted and talk to people, and of course they fed us. It was really good. People were giving us really funny looks but eventually we kind of broke the ice and just went table to table sitting down talking about the church handing out pamphlets. Unfortunately most of the people don't' live anywhere near our chapel. I guess planting seeds counts for something at least. Plus they fed us fried rice, jollof rice, omo tuo (rice balls), and then these yam balls that taste just like fried mashed potatoes! Yeah it was pretty fun they even put some in a rubber bag for us to take home with us. Sunday our ward did a Primary program. It is amazing to see the difference in the one here then the one I went to in Ashaiman. Kind of night and day for sure. These kids seemed to know the songs and they actually seemed to enjoy themselves. After church you saw kids having crackers and drinks though so I think they bribed them. Taking a page from the Ghanaian government on getting people to do what you want for sure.

This is Aunty Aggie. This lady sold me basically everything
I ate in Ashaiman. Plus was my "den-mother" I guess. Not
a member and doesn't want to hear about it. Too many
missionaries have tried.

This dog is from Ashaiman. I hate it, it hates me, so we were able to
coexist somewhat peacefully because we didn't want to try each other out.

When the office couple came and inspected our apartment they saw my bike and decided tape and things weren't very safety conscious so they brought me a new one. So now my bike is sitting at a bike shop since the new one they brought me is broken too. All in all it was a pretty good week. Hopefully this week will go forward just as nice. I miss seeing lawns myself. Most people here just have dirt.

love elder gibson

Welcome to Kaneshie. This week definitely has gone by quickly with all the changes. It was really sad for me to leave Ashaiman. It has been a good place and I learned a lot but I guess always moving forward. <---- Okay that is actually a very Ghanaian saying. The now President used it as his slogan for the elections about a year ago. Wednesday was the transfer day. Missionaries being transferred all go to the mission home so it was pretty much a party for a hour or two as you are waiting for everything to get sorted out. The first impression of my companion was a little different but go figure, that is usually how it goes. His name is Elder Frimpong and he is from Ghana, but from the Cape Coast Mission side. He is 25 and was a teacher before coming on his mission. He has been on his mission not quite two months yet so it makes for lots of teaching opportunities.


That first night we met a family who is very nice named the Mensons. The father has been in the church for going on 20 years and loves missionaries and tells stories about all the ones that have served in his wards. The daughter is going to catering school and is making cakes as assignments and then trying to sell them. Gave into a guilty pleasure and bought one. Yeah, Ghanaians don't truly understand what cake is suppose to be. They try though so it is all good, that cake disappeared quick enough.

Saturday we had a leadership training meeting. Kind of shocked me into everything that a district leader has to do. All of it kind of makes him the center of all the downward delegation. It is sweet though because the people in our district are pretty good and what not. My companion is the only one I haven't lived with before and that is because he is so new. Something different about my new area is the heat. I wasn't in the city and had fields around and everything but now I'm back to the straight up concrete jungle and less vegetation so the heat is a whole new experience from what I've been used lately. It is also much more commercial style with houses scattered round about. It is good though because there is a definite separation of I guess what you'd call "classes" of people. Find the poor and you've got the humble for the most part. Church was very refreshing. My last ward was somehow filled with apathy from most of the leaders but this new one treats their job more seriously. Hopefully it isn't just an act at church though, this week should let me know. I learned that we have a zone dinner every fast Sunday which is going to be awesome.

A lady in a ward that meets in our building named Momma Lee makes fried rice and chicken every fast Sunday for the missionaries in our zone. Some of them can't come though because it is so far, we are lucky that it is less then a 20min bike ride. I learned a new saying that I guess is really big in the city right now. It is HOT CAKE. I thought it meant that it was selling like hot cakes but they put a new spin on it. Their meaning is that it is off the sheldango. The best of the best around. It was funny when one guy I contacted asked me if the church was the hot cake. So I have a question, who is Westlife? It is some boy band but the people here are eating it up. They love to watch music videos here because they believe everything they see on telly is real and they can't stop watching westlife. Today we went to one of what you'd call an underground market. Parts of it are kind of dug out and what not. My companion wanted to see if he could find yeah something I didn't really get what he was saying. I was having a pretty good time just browsing around and I guess window shopping and talking to some of the shop keepers in Twi. Then you know you always are going to get that group who want to heckle. A group of guys heard and called me over because they don't think you can learn their language if you aren't born here. One guy thought he would be funny and try to outsmart me and speak a different language, Ga, and got a sick look on his face when I answered back. Then his buddies laughed at him and one of them tried to confuse me using Hausa. Obroni 2 and the black guys 0. Did get me some sweet contacts, too bad they don't live in our area. After that we went to some appointments, one was with the Mensons's oldest daughter who will be baptized on Saturday. It was good. Her father wanted us to teach from some manual about the Healing Power of Forgiveness, it was a little unexpected but she has already had all the lessons so there wasn't much else for us to do. That is about the adventure that we had this week. Talk to you next time.


elder gibson