Hello from Ghana!

Everything is going pretty good here.  The first couple of days here were kind of hard, it’s just really different in every way.   I'm over the jet lag for the most part now.  I am starting to get used to being hot, always hot.  It's never not hot.  I'm always sweating.  It’s so hot. The classrooms are air conditioned when we have electricity.  But so far 2 days we haven't had any electricity.  We just got a new generator yesterday so it should work better than before.  In Ghana you are always sweating.  Nights are probably the worst.  Nothing like trying to sleep in a puddle of your own sweat.  It's not bad though.  I'm usually exhausted anyway.  The MTC is like an oven, its way, way cooler outside the MTC.  I haven't touched the hot water since I left the US.  I take straight cold showers and it’s the best part of my day.  Well, not the best part but one of them.  I have been assured that all of my apartments will have running water, that doesn't mean showers though. 

The MTC is good.  We have class everyday all day.  I'm learning a lot.  I'm feeling a lot more confident than before.  I'm really anxious to get out into the field though. My favorite thing is singing now.  I know, right?  Never would have thought that from me.  In my district the guys don't always like to sing so sometimes I find that I'm singing by myself.  I like to whistle and hum all the time. 

We get play time everyday at the MTC.  We go out and play basketball or futbol.  Yesterday I was the only white guy playing futbol with all the Africans, I even scored!  That was one of the high points of my MTC stay.  I get my first transfer next week.  We ship out early Wednesday morning so I don't know when I will next be able to email you.  It turns out I will end up learning how to speak Twi (chwi) just because everyone does and I'll end up picking it up.  I'm having some of the Ghanians in the MTC teaching me some stuff, it’s a cool language. 

The food.  So far I've liked the food.  We eat SO much rice.  Rice with every meal.  Fried rice, white rice, rice porridge in the morning.  rice, rice, rice.  Good thing I like rice. We have some sort of meat with every lunch and dinner, either chicken or fish.  With the rice we always get tomato paste on top of it. Gives it flavor.  

Yes, my companion is Kenyian.  He has a sweet accent but he still speaks English.  I get along really well with my companion.  We work pretty well together.   

Ghana is really different.  Everything is really poor here compared to the US.  The people are sooo humble.  It is a real eye opener. 

Ghana is awesome!!

Love,

Elder Clark

Greetings form Ghana!!

Hey everyone, I made it here in one piece. First impressions... its hot and humid. Very hot and humid. They say this is a cool day too. I can't wait to get out of my suit! Ghana is not what I expected. Its pretty green. Not a whole lot of trees but a bunch of shrubbs and grass. The MTC is like a fortress. It has big walls and an electric fence around the top. I like it so far though.

 We waited for a long time at the airport to gather everyone together to drive to the MTC. There ended up being 12 of us total coming in. There is a bunch of native elders coming in this afternoon. My companion is one of them. He's from Kenya I can't wait to meet him. Driving here was crazy, there was traffic because a truck broke down on the highway and the driver just jacked it up there to fix it on the road so everyone else had to drive off the road to get around. Then we had to wait in a line to go through the toll booths. There are tons of street vendors. People just walk down the middle of the road with big boards with their stuff on them to sell to you. Lots of women did the same except they carried everything on their heads.  It's pretty much different in everyway from America.

The people are really nice. They are always trying to help you or laughing or just being happy. I like that a lot. I had my first Ghanaian meal for lunch. It was chicken, fried rice, and pineapple. Not too different. We all got a little nevious when we saw a woman selling snails to eat on the side of the road. They were probably 8 inches long.   

My next p-day is wednesday next week then a week after that I head out. Things are going pretty well I guess, I'm really nervious but super excited. Well, I don't really know what else to say. 

I love you guys and miss you.

Love,

Elder Clark