letter 3 - 2/24/14

Memoachi Everyone!


I'm so sorry I did not emial last week. With finishing MTC training and being sent to my first assignment in the field, I did not have a chance to email. But I am now in my first assignment in UST 2 with my father (trainer), Elder Noble. He is so awesome. He is from Namibia and has been out 19 months. We share an apartment with my future BYU roomie from Virginia, Elder Seyoum, and his companion who just so happened to be my MTC companion! It's Elder Amadi! We have the best apartment.... Well the apartment sucks because we only have power a couple of the hours we are home each day, but the people are awesome. So Elder Noble and I are in a whitewashed area, which means that both missionaries that were there were taken out of the area, and neither of us know the area. To help matters, the former missionaries didn't really leave much about investigators besides one named Ferdinand. We will be baptizing him either March 2 or the 9. But other than that, we have really been putting in work. I have to train extra fast because President Holmes said he wants me ready to be able to train by the time my training is up, just in case. But this week is crazy. It's a complete walking mission, and we walk probably around 8-10 miles a day, with an average of 95 degree weather and humidity like Pennsylvania's. This week, we gained 15 new investigators, and aside from Ferdinand, we have a guy committed to baptism March 16. We may even have another family baptizing around then too. It's the family of Sammy and Anita. They are very sweet people with 3 adorable children of the ages 4,2 and 3 months. So it was an awesome first four days on the field. Service-wise, we haven't been able to do anything big yet. We help a lot of people move stuff and clean, but no building projects or anything. I love the people here. Elder Noble says I will tire of it, but he obviously doesn't know how much I love children. Most of the children call me "Obroni" (it means white guy in Twi) and the adults call me "mr white man", but some of them do actually call me "Elder Robeenson." I am way better at the accents and can understand English pretty well now. But the TWi... some days I feel like I'm learning it rapidly, others I feel like I should just forget it. There are missionaries here who never learn Twi in their whole 2 years here, but I am determined to learn it because it will help me connect with the people so much more. I like when we are proselyting after school because all the kids come out, yell "Obroni!" and then kick the soccer ball to me and I play a little as we walk toward appointments. I am absolutely terrible at soccer, and even the 4 year old show me up here, but it's still fun and I love interacting with them. These people need the full Gospel, but they also need love. And that's what I will give to them. So good news! THEY HAVE RAMEN HERE!!! it's called indo-mie and it's super cheap so every missionary is guaranteed to eat at least one indo-mie meal a day. It's 60 pesewas (about 30 cents) per bag, and since we only get 100 cedis (equals 100 pesewas) every two weeks, it helps us be able to affford all hygiene, food and clothing we'll need those 2 weeks by just buying that. But don't worry, I have had lots of food that they eat here. I really like Eba. Its from a ground plant/nut/whatever called gari, you just add water, and then dip it in a sauce, and swallow it without chewing. It's weird at first, but you get used to it. Alot of foods here they eat without chewing. I'm definitely not fed as well out in the field as in the MTC, but we still definitely survive. People do give free meals (FMs), but in UST, we are right near a very large university so most people are college kids and are poor just like us. However, a guy on Chelsea's soccer team with the last name Asomugha, his father is in our ward. Filthy rich man, but he is so sweet and kind and he tries to feed us at least once a week. I'm so excited for our first dinner appt with him soon. Rumor has it, he feeds you better than anywhere else on the mission and it's the best food ever. It's been such a crazy busy week, but I am absolutely loving it. I'm sorry if I do not reply to everyone's emails personally, I have very limited email time. Well I'm going to try to upload some picks so y'all can see me and my companions, and then I have to go. Washing clothes takes awhile when you do them by hand and it's quite a walk home from the internet cafe. Stay safe and keep having tons of fun eveyrone! I love you all. Ps, I don't have time to upload MTC photos, so if you want to see them, go to ghanamtc.blogspot.com


Love, Elder Robinson

This is my trainer and I. I promise he isn't always this serious

My MTC companion, Elder Amadi, on the left, elder Seyoum on the right

These are the really cool lizards I try to catch everyday. They are everywhere in Ghana. A picture of a monkey will be in an email coming soon.