Hey Hey Hey

No missionaries were actually hurt in the making of this photo.

So this week definitely had a good ending. Friday we had the chance to go to the temple which was awesome. Even if just to get away from the hustle and bustle of everything around it is sweet. Another thing that is pretty awesome is that it was announced that Jeffry R. Holland is coming to our mission on the 24th. Guess it will just be a pretty spiritual couple of days. Something else that went fairly well this week was just some good reactions from our investigators. We baptized a man and now his wife and children are feeling the desire to come to church. It will be sweet to see where that goes. Families are always nice.

We met a guy this week who I kept messing up his name but he was cool with it. His name is Emmanuel Fiakon and I couldn't pronounce the surname to save my life. It is suppose to be really throaty. He has been a member of his church for a really long time like about as long as Dad has been alive. About 10 years ago he was at a friend's house and read about Joseph Smith in a pamphlet or book. When we came along he said the pieces went a together a lot better since we explained about the apostasy. We'll just have to keep praying and see where it goes.

Something else that was sweet was we had a few people interviewed by the zone leaders and they basically told us that we had our goal reduced because the assistants thought it would be too big but now we are on track to exceed our old goal which will be even higher since they reduced it. Plus one lady I guess started crying because she is excited to be baptized so that is pretty sweet. Another thing that is more of a downer is that we need a couple abortion interviews from Pres. Smith. Guess it just is all a process. Last night I have a really crazy story. We were eating fufu at a member's house. They were having some kind of celebration in a compound nearby and well lots of drinking. We were eating and someone thought it would be great to say hey imagine if one of the drunk guys came over and wanted our fufu. Literally 5 mins after that we get a startle by a drunk guy basically running into the back of one of us. Yeah that was great to handle him and make him leave. It was wonderful but at least he wasn't too hard to handle. That is about it from me. I guess. I love you guys and hope everything is going fine.

ballin'!

Well I'm not doing as good as you that is for sure! I would love some juice, juice is SUPER expensive here. It is definitely a splurge of mine when I buy it. The mangoes are awesome. I have been chopping them like crazy the last few weeks.

Love the English language . . . don't you?

love Elder Gibson

Happy Valentine's Day

Just another normal week for the most part. Tuesday was fairly interesting. We were teaching a lesson when a naked guy ran by followed by a crowd. He had stolen something so they were going to beat him. We were teaching with a member so he went and checked it out. Luckily there were some people who kind of stood up for the guy so that the police could come and pick him up instead of being beat to death. We got a new Ward Mission Leader this week. I think it will be really good. He is a returned missionary which is a big help for sure.

Mangoes have been popping up like crazy. It has been a pretty sweet treat to have. Some of them are HUGE! This week we finally had our water turned back on. It had gotten so hot that the whole city was basically shut off. It rained really hard like two days in a row so they turned it back on. We met two guys this week who own a Ghanaian gym. Basically metal pipes and old car parts. I wish it was closer to our apartment I'd probably hit it up. The two guys are really big though. One of them is named Gigi and the other is Martin. Martin has wanted to become a pastor so it is really interesting to teach him. We received a referral this week for a young woman in our area. Her mother was baptized in Greece and had heard that her grand kids were sick and called the missionaries to see if they could receive a blessing. The crazy part is that it took less then 12hrs from the mother in Greece in hearing about it for us to show up at her house.

We had a member, the Sackey family, feed us this week it was really interesting because they use to live in Scotland so they tell all kinds of funny stories about what it was like in Scotland. More or less how different Western culture is. Friday night my companion and I scrubbed and filled the baptismal font for Saturday. As we were leaving the chapel we ran into the other missionaries we live with, Elder Kalou and Elder Schmidt. They asked if we could go help teach a guy. I felt like the missionary mafia rolling four deep. Oh well it was sweet since we actually gave the man a baptismal date that night. Saturday we were lucky enough to have our baptism without any kinds of problems. Everyone was on time and all those things . . . oh yeah except someone had taken the baptismal clothes home or something from the night before. We rounded some up so it ended up all good.

That same day we went to teach the children of the one of the men that had been baptized. As we sat down to teach we had all the kids in that same house come. Ended up getting up to 10 kids surrounding us. It was pretty hectic. Valentines was very low key here for us. By the time we closed from church we had a member who had prepared fufu since it was Valentines day. After that we did some work and went home for the night. Today we broke our door handle. One of the missionaries tried to open the door without unlocking it and just broke off our handle. Everyone was surprised that we could just go get a door handle and put it on ourselves. Thanks Dad for teaching me how to do things myself basically we would be stuck in our apartment otherwise. That is about it from me, have a great week!

Happy belated LOVE day to you too! My companion isn't feeling too well so we aren't spending too much time. I hope everything is going good for you guys! Love ya!
Elder Travis

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!‏

Hey another week has come and gone. This one brought a few more changes though. It was transfers so our apartment is a little different. I will be staying in Kaneshie for at least another transfer which will make it 6 months that I've been here. The Nigerian elder was transferred and there is now another American. An Elder Schmidt from California. He is the same MTC group as Elder Saidu so he has been out just over 3 months. He is a pretty sweet guy though. Definitely has a good head on his shoulders. We amazingly have a problem with NOT wanting to baptize someone. There is a woman we are teaching who basically wants to be baptized because we give the gift of the Holy Ghost, but the problem lies in the fact she doesn't really want to leave her church. It has kind of been tense explaining everything to her. It kind of feels like she just doesn't want to listen but we're trying.

I found an appreciation for the Gospel Principles book this week. Several of our investigators were able to get one and they love it! Makes for some pretty easy teaching. We had leadership training this week which is always a learning experience. It is really easy to tell the Pres. Smith was a very very good businessman. He is kind of teaching us some of the things he has adapted from his career to run the mission. Basically lots of paperwork and incentive, sort of. I saw a guy this week who was riding a bicycle who only had one leg. Thought the guy was a stud cause he was just pumping along and was booking it. I had a lady try and give me a hug this week. It was really awkward because she was really FAT and I kept just backing up and kind of tripped over a rock which saved me since I stumbled enough to be able to turn away and just wave goodbye. That was about the excitement for the week.


I love you guys!
love Elder Travis

February here we are! So this was a pretty normal run of the mill week for us. Though Tuesday we did have a surprise. President Smith called around 7 in the morning and told us he was coming to inspect our apartment. Man it was funny to see everyone else in the apartment completely rush to hurry and dress and do a little straightening. It was pretty good. President and Sister Smith are pretty funny so when they visit it is a good time. So we are teaching an old woman named Odonta Lamptey. She is pushing 90. Anyway it seems maybe every 3rd or 4th time we go and see her she tells us this story about how she use to sell corn and then her old church kind of did a sneaky deal on her and she gave up on it. Even better was at church on Sunday it was combined and they taught about tithing and she called us over in the middle of the lesson and told us that she wants to start paying a soon as possible. She is a cute old lady. Her grandson reminds me of Cameron a little bit.

It rained again one day this week. It was pretty funny because it made us get somehow stuck at an appointment. It came out because we just kind of chatted with them that they had heard the church was occultic and that we worship stones and things. Glad that we could clear that up for them. We meet two really interesting people this week. One of them is Sexy B. His real name is Francis but if I was as ripped as he is I'd probably go by Sexy B too. Another was a lady named Gloria. We were riding our bikes pass her house when she came out and said Latter Day Saints in a THICK English accent. Ended up that she had been living in England the last 20 years or so and came back to Ghana less then a year ago when her husband died. She said she remembered seeing advertisements for the church on the telly and radio back home and hoped we had something inspirational to share with her. Our appointment is later this week and I hope that we can do a good job.

Something funny was that after the official contacting and what not she asked me what country I was from. I guess from my voice she thought she had caught some Irish, Australian and even some Ghanaian. Maybe my mission language should have been put as mutt voice. Sunday we got a big surprise. Our ward's boundaries have been completely rearranged and now he is no longer there. So we now have a completely new bishopric and kind of the bad part some of the people we are working with will now go to a different ward. It was kind of a surprise. Sunday we also were told to be in our apartments by 4 pm because the African Cup of Nations Championship (soccer) was playing and Ghana was in it. They ended up losing 1-0 to Egypt. It was a very quiet night. Even the bar by our apartment didn't play music like it usually does. WELL that is about it from me. I hope everyone is having a great week! Love ya!

Chickens . . . don't know how I feel about those right now. Ghana has way too many and I'm kind of put off by them because they are the ones that walk around and poop everywhere. I love the winter olympics. I really enjoy the super ski jumps. Anyway need to run, catch ya next week! Love you guys!
love elder travis

rain rain don't go away but stay for another day!‏

Well it was one from the books this past week. Sounds like everyone in Arizona seems to having one too with all the weather going on. This week definitely taught me the importance of back up plans. It seemed as if a lot of our initial plans took a beating. It was all good and were able to get some work done. Did a little bit of extra walking around our area though and it was sweet because we were able to notice some sweet new things. I have now found at least 3 monkeys that are being kept as pets in my area. Also a house that has a bunch of parrots. Something else that was refreshing was finding some new roads and kind of compound houses that we hadn't known before.

We had our mission tour with Elder Dickson who is in the Area Presidency. He is a way cool guy. It was kind of a spiritual overload it seemed at times. Kind of like so much that was coming at you that you couldn't soak it all in. Two of the things that he really talked about is how when we are teaching our investigators there are two things we need to do. One of them is to get them committed to paying their tithing. If we can do that if we ever come back to Ghana we will have much better chance at finding them in the church still. Another thing about it was to get them to love the gospel. Have them to the point where they want to know more about the church and its teachings. All in all he gave lots of good advice. Probably the first time there was I guess "official" talk about finding your eternal companion. The whole you shouldn't wait after your mission to get married kind of thing. I was just likle WHOA. Hey now I'm still a Toys 'R' Kid and I'm never gonna grow up. Okay not really but marriage is kind of a huge step and one that seems just way too alien to even be a part of my thought process. At least there was plenty of good stuff about the whole being a missionary thing. I'm glad I was able to write a good section of notes to go over and get some more things out of what was said. I got two flat tires this week on my bike. Reminded me of the time back home when it seemed like I couldn't drive a week without getting a flat. Luckily we met some cool guys who happen to fix bikes when we were contacting. One of them thinks I'm German and won't speak English to me though. D'UR!!!

Saturday we had another baptism. This time it was two men and two daughters. The one man had about, no joke, about 12-15 other children come. He is Aryee and is 55 with about 20 children. His oldest is my age. It seemed like we were having a primary program. Sunday was an interesting day too. Right the African Cup of Nations is going on and Ghana had a game. Up to now it has kind of been pretty low key but this game was the quarter finals. Ghana won the game and basically everyone went CRAZY. People out in the streets and everything like that. I'm sure a couple bottle tops were popped that night for sure. I can only imagine what will happen if they win the whole thing. This morning we went to the main market in pretty much all of Ghana. It is called Mokola Market look it up on Google and it might surprise you. I needed a belt and the ones around our area were really worthless in quality so we went there so I wouldn't feel like I was being robbed. We ran in to the assistants to President Smith who were buying ties. I was hoping for a ride back to the apartment but no such luck. Tonight we are invited to go to a member of the stake presidency for dinner and to basically have family home evening. Everytime we go to one with members and investigators always reminds me of when I was little and my favorite part of FHE was getting to eat dessert afterward. Sure know where my priority was for sure. :D I love you guys and hope you have a wonderful week!

Yeah the weather sounds off the hook over there! It even rained a little here but literally a drizzle. It is kind of the ending of the dry season haha in the next 3 or 4 months but sometimes showers happen here and there. I can't wait for the rainy season, even though the chances of getting malaria shoot through the roof. Adults sometimes let themselves go below what they would want their children. I see it all the time even in the streets here. I mean we all have to have our standards and the best we can do is stick to them in my mind.
love elder gibson

Hello back

Hey Obroni obroni! Okay I just wanted you guys to get a start to a conversation like most of mine. This week was pretty good. We went on splits this week with our Zone Leaders. That was a very refreshing change. It kind of made me realize for about the last 6 months I have been training new missionaries. Then a second thought was that yep, that is why I feel so tired. It was nice to just have someone who really knows what he is doing to assist in the teaching. Helped me to see what kind of an advantage experience is. We taught a sweet lady named Beatrice. We had contacted her but she didn't have time. She told us just one of about a bozillion churches that people attend. As we taught her it came out that she has been searching for a church and has actually only been attending this one for about 2 weeks. Basically it was moving to see how God really puts people into our path we just have to be willing to put forth the effort to encourage them in.

That same day a guy saw us walking and dashed us these fruit smoothies. Basically one of the most amazing things I've tasted since I've been in Ghana. That same night we needed to fill our baptismal font for the next morning. As we were riding our bikes towards the chapel the rain started to come down in buckets. We were less then a mile away from the church but by the time we got there the parking lot was flooded and even the intersection by the church was too. It caused a little bit of trouble for the traffic. It made me glad that we were able to sit inside the church and just let the font fill. Saturday we had our baptism. We had talked to some of the people and decided we would go and pick them in the morning before. It made for a long day with such an early start.

A guy named Steven Yeboah had promised to come to church on Sunday but didn't show up. We went to check up on him and found washing his clothes from work, he sells car parts, his boss had called him and he had just come. He asked us to wait and afterward told us about how he had read Alma 7 and how he just feels that the church is true and wants to be baptized. It was pretty sweet, but hopefully isn't driven by the fact that we were disappointed he didn't come to church. Sunday evening we went and helped a member make fufu. Cooking and pounding enough for 6 missionaries takes a long time. The soup was so hot that my fingers are still a little tender. This morning we played some soccer with other missionaries. It ended up into playing rugby. It is a pretty sweet game. Kind of makes me wish I could have played at home. It was funny because most of us didn't know how to play so it was a little bit like a circus. This week we will have a mission tour from one of the general authorities. Probably one of the area presidencies. It will be cool to see a lot of the missionaries around though and hear whatever they have to say. I hope everyone has a great week!

If it is windy you should go fly a kite. Kids here make them out of like plastic bags and sticks and fly them so high.
love Elder Gibson

Well what a week. At least it went pretty good. I am kind of having a hard time people asking about money. I know that life is tough and everything but still church shouldn't be looked at as just a no interest bank. We went on splits this week with the people in my District. I spent a long day walking around finding in another area. It wasn't too bad but I was glad to get to go back to my area. We had a really long power out this week. Went over 48 hrs. It was a lot easier to get to sleep with a fan for sure. Keeps more of the bugs and what not away from you too. We are teaching a guy who lives next to his grandma. She saw us and kind of disappeared which we were kind of use to because she hasn't seemed to like to us too much. As we were getting up the old woman came out and told us she had something for us. Sitting back down she brought out a big bowl of banku. UGH. Luckily we were able to just down it really really quick.

We had Interviews with President Smith this week. It was a little rough. He had everyone bring their area books. Luckily mine passed because we work on it but pretty much every other one was a failure. Made for a little chastisement. It was pretty deserved though. We went to our Ward Mission Leader's house and his land lady basically started yelling at us because we wanted to see him. She is just kind of like that. Our Ward Mission Leader called us back because she was still letting him have it. We had to go back and apologize for not asking her if we could knock on his door. It was pretty interesting and I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

I met some people I had taught in my first area. It was cool because they remembered me and everything too bad I didn't remember them. Maybe if they would have been baptized. So there was a funeral right outside our apartment so we haven't really got to sleep since Friday night. Saturday was wake keeping till about 4 am. Then last night was the party. Had a stack of speakers about the size of a shed playing Ghanaian hip hop. They definitely know how to send someone out in style. That is kind of the highlights of the week. Hope everyone is having a good week!

One thing here is that they take such meaningless things and make them so important in their lives. I guess thankfully the gospel keeps you rooted in what is right. Helps us to know what we need to do and where to go.

love 'uncle travis'