My address is: Next to Odogonor School, and we have a blue gate

Ok, yeah so far I do have the Christmas package for all of us, so don't worry about that one . I just have to decide now how I am going to set them up.  Like should I have everyone decorate their own stockings, or just put their names on them and put them out that night as a surprise?

Yeah the pills are helping. I haven't been eating as much, but I m still hungry a lot.  Also my runny tummy isn't as often.  My stomach is definitely not regular, but even the guys who have been here for almost 2 years still don't have regular stomachs, so that is just how things are.

Hey I got Money!!!!  I finally found an ATM that worked!  It only took me almost all morning.  It is in a place called Kasoa, which I think is over in Eastern region.   Either way, it is at least an hour chrochro ride, so I doubt I will get to go very often. 350 Cedi could last a ways if I only had to buy food.  But I have a lot of purchases that I needed to make like for laundry, and I owe one of my ladies 66 Cedi for a bag of rice. 25 kg of rice should last me for a little while now. 5kg only lasts me a week, if I stretch it,  so 25 kg should last maybe 4 weeks if i am lucky.   But yeah money can go pretty dang fast.  

When poor people hear that we only get 180 Cedi a month, they are mortified and wonder how we aren't dying.  Our recent convert says he was getting 250 Cedi while doing a service thingy, and he said it was horrible and no where near enough!  

For Christmas, I got Kanu some mineral and some Fanice.  So we will be having a party.  We cant actually fit the tub of fanice in our freezer, so I had to pour it into pots and Tupperware to make it fit.  Yeah, and we get a new fridge soon, since ours isn't really working.   It doesn't get anything cold or chilled.  It just makes it... less warm than outside, haha! 

I have not tried to use any merchants, because like none of them have card scanners here.  And I don't trust the ones that do!  I know a gym that takes cards, and I also know that the guy who owns the gym steals peoples card info and gets stuff shipped to the US, and then to Accra.  So I don't try merchants.

Yeah and it's funny that you think they might have phone books here!  People and stores just have their phone numbers written on walls.  And I have literally only seen 10 homes, or anything, that have a street address.  And if they do, those people are crazy rich, so not likely anywhere here.  Literally our address is Abrantia.  If we have to be more specific:  we are next to Odogonor School and we have a blue gate.  There aren't good stuff like that.   Sorry!  Haha!

 I don't know how often you think we get mail.   So they maybe get it once a week, if we are lucky.  We then can only get it from them when someone either goes to temple site, or luckily sees them some other place.   Your mail kinda stock piles a little before you actually get any, but I should get some on Wednesday when I go for transfers.

(He has been asking me to ask everyone to send pictures, so I asked him what kind he wants)

Ummmm..... just pictures of people, places, and things.  Pictures of home, pictures of family, all sorts of pictures!  And I am glad you got some of the pictures I emailed.  It takes a lot of work to send them, so I can only send a few at a time. Maybe I can get a few more next week.

It has just been a constant really hot all the time here, with a variance only of dust and illness haha I love it!

Of course i remember my part! I was saying it in my head a couple of times just last week! It's one of my favorite things that I have memorized! (Trav memorized and performed this when he was 4 for a Christmas play.  What will I give him small as I am, if I were a shepherd I'd give him a lamb, if I were a wise man, I'd do my part.  What will I give Him?  I'll give him my heart.)

Did you realize that if you come to pick me here, and we stay for like a week, then I will have been in Africa for 3 birthdays! I will have left on my mission at 18 and come home 21! How cool is that!??

To Tay: Dude there seems to be a lot of perks to me being gone! All of a sudden you go to the movies a bunch and do all sorts of cool stuff sheesh! Somebody better be making it up to me when I get home!  Good luck with Guitar! I was just thinking about how good you must be getting. There is a guy in my apartment who is learning the guitar too, and I keep singing One Direction every time he starts to play, because I am thinking of you!

To Gracie: Now you can juggle!? why is this the first time I am hearing about this!? and did your eye pop out? was it super gross? man I would not lie my eye to pop out that would make me sick!  I hope you are ok. yeah I was thinking about taking a palm leaf and using that for a Christmas tree because there isn't really anything around here that I could do. So Either a banana leaf or a palm leaf you get to decide for me :)

To Tali: guess what! guess what! guess what!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! already a big 9 year old how does that feel?! are you so excited? are you feeling old? do you need a cane to walk now because your getting too old? :) i  wish I could get a nice birthday dinner! that would be cool! you gotsta tell me how the delicious chinese food is! I hope you liked your presents and had a super fun time!!!! have a fun time at circus circus and Arizona ok.

To Ty:  Dude Christmas is crazy! I love getting the packages though because everyone else gets excited and jealous, and I just get happy and then go to my room and wipe a few tears. dude tell me all about the concert. oh by the way you are doing beast in FX... shhh dont ask me how I know that (front left from your view) Finals are easy as long as you did good during the semester. So did you do good? I bet you did and you didn't even have to study!  dude the new hobbit is already out! sheesh! Dude Knight 1 sounds way cooler than Sir Harry anyways, so don't worry about it!   You're are going to be a total boss!

Gosh it is so nice to know that the people at home care, and they wish to be a part of the experience!

This week we had our Christmas conference where 3 zones got together.  We had food and a talent show and sang some hymns and had some people address us. It was pretty nice, but everyone that is old on mission was saying that last year's was much better,  so I don't know.  I just told President Hill that it was the best missionary Christmas Conference I had ever been to ;) I hope he doesn't look too hard into my wording.  But it was good, I got like 10 french fries and a"slice of pizza".......like the size of a brownie!  And I don't think there was actually cheese or anything on it, soo I don't know what to really call it.

Next we had Zone Training meeting. I personally decided it was a terrible time to have it, because it was just a week before transfers,  Some people will leave the zone and new ones will come in.  Oh well, it was really informative, and I am glad we had it so that it could help me be a better missionary!

This week, because of Christmas conference, ZTM, Christmas, transfers, and my companion, this week was pretty chilaxed! 

One of our investigators was referred to us by our cafe guy, so we teach him in the cafe.   Each time and our cafe guy usually gives us free time now, so I haven't had to pay to browse for a while actually, which is really cool!

They have started a new thing. They call the missionaries that are being transferred the Saturday before they will leave. This is much better than the Tuesday before you leave, since everyone leaves on Wednesday!   But now Elder Kanu knows that he is leaving.  He is going to a place called Ensawme, which is the city in the bush.  It's where you can get both, and it isn't too bad of a transition.   He is going to be with the elder that I wanted, Elder Hoskins.   But Elder Hoskin's trainer is coming here now to be my new companion. Sheesh on Wednesday I will be completely finished with my training!   I think I am doing pretty well so far. I talked to a guy from my MTC today, Elder Bass, and he says he is still struggling with teaching and stuff, but I feel like I am doing fine!

Alright, well a short, and pretty easy week.  Man it is sweet here!

I love you!

Love, Elder Legg

The Super Missionary!

Things I haven't explained:

Kenkey is kind of like Banku, but you buy it wrapped in a leaf.  Even most Ghanaians don't like it, but if you're poor you buy it I guess. I haven't tried it, but I want to.
Yep, a whole fish in the fufu.

Ok, so there is a man in Nigeria who says he Jesus Christ reincarnated.  So he called 12 people in his church and told them that they are the 12 apostles reincarnated.  One of them, just so happens to be the pastor to the church next to ours, whom I contacted and brought through our open house. :)   He has been calling a couple different missionaries and inviting them to be baptized.  Elder Robertson said he would give me 200 Cedi, and he knows a guy that he could get me a pet monkey if I would go and get baptized. We say as missionaries all the time, that if you aren't baptized by proper authority then it is just like showering.  So I was really tempted, since he definitely doesn't have the priesthood.

I almost got in a fight with a a tailor for  ruining 3 of my companions trousers, and then he tried to get 70 Cedi for it!

2 chrochro (bus) drivers got in a fight for no reason.  But Ghanaians are terrible fighters, so it was way lame, until one picked up a monster rock and tried to smash the other guy.

When an old lady threatened me:  the lady was coming up behind me, and I was walking on the side of the road, so she slowed down and followed me for a ways.  I waved her past, since there was a break in the cars.  And she pulled over and cut me off.  And then she started yelling at me saying I was rude and I was a guest.   So then I finished her in Twi, and told her I lived here.  She just got mad, and drove off eventually.

Yeah its cool to have my own "guys":  water guy, computer guy, music guy, hair guy, I even got a soy sauce lady!  Totally working this place!


Yeah the hamatan is starting, so things are getting dry and hot and pretty soon we will be having dust in excess enough to block out the sun!   Everyone says its cold at home, and I wish it was cold here!  And now I miss my snow pants!

My district:

We went to the temple site with Brother Julius who was our super awesome investigator, until yesterday when he got BAPTIZED!!!!!   Yeah I have been having a party with that guy! 

We aren't earning any money here, so we don't pay tithing.  But every fast Sunday I pay 10 Cedi in fast offerings.  It's more than I need to, but I need some extra blessings!

Guess what!  We have mice living with us too!   We have had some mice in our apartment for a few days.  One tried to attack me in my room yesterday!    I kicked it with my bare foot when it jumped at me, and I almost threw up!   It took all the strength that Elder Thornhill, Elder Kanu, and I could muster, but we 3 missionaries went all kung fu with brooms.  After at least 20 minutes of screaming and trying to broom it to death we finally broke its back... and possibly my broom.   Yeah I had one of the new ones. Shhhh!  But we were finally able to vanquish its evil!  
Our Kitchen:

Ok so this week, I got sick again on Tuesday.  I slept from 3pm until 9am, which is what 17-18 hours straight? Yeah I spent a long time in bed and didn't eat or drink for those 2 days just slept, read, and prayed.  Actually Elder Kanu got sick at the same time, so I had to give him a blessing, which was cool and he healed up pretty fast! And I hurt my wrist really bad I don't know how, but it's hurt for about a week and a half and now. I have a really sore lumpy bruised thing at the base of my thumb on my palm.  It's not nice and everything is painful, especially bikes!

Oh well, working hard and getting sick, so is the life of..... The Super Missionary!

Yeah that's what I am calling myself now ;)

Love Elder Legg

Early Christmas Miracle.......Kanu Cares!

This week has been awesome!  So Elder Kanu opened up to me and decided to completely trust me and now we are way closer!  We have been partying this week and having tons of fun! So I guess things are pretty good with him and it makes me happy! So things are much nicer now. 

Man I cant believe we are all going out into the world now, things are totally getting crazy fast. I don't want to get left behind, but at least I am starting on to my own life, so I can grow up and take care of people!

Yeah our Thanksgiving wasn't really anything special here.  Other than we almost burned our house down when we tried to pop popcorn.  There was so much smoke and we couldn't breathe!   Can you believe that popcorn isn't supposed to cook for 15 minutes!   Who knew??  Stupid Elder Thornhill ;)  We didn't end up with the rabbit, apparently they sell them for like 50 Cedi.    I can just go kill myself a grass cutter for free, and it'd easily be the same size!  A grass cutter is kind of like a mix between a rat and a beaver.  At least that's what it reminds me of.  We didn't get a rabbit, but they made us some banku which was pretty good.

I have some sweet investigators that aren't very serious about the gospel.  But they feed us all the time, because they like to see the oh broney eat Ghanaian food.   Yeah, but too bad I live here, and the joke's on them!

Also I polish my shoes everyday as of late.  They always look sooo sweet after, so I love doing it!

2 foods I eat all the time, if i can, is Donuts which aren't really donuts.  But they are good with sugar.   And burkina which is basically a parfait you drink.  Without berries or fruit or anything, just yogurt and half soggy granola.  It's pretty awesome!

So I feel like I have terrible eating habits, because since I have gotten here I have eaten 2, 5kg bags of rice and 3 boxes of 40 packs of Endomie. Yeah then the last few days I haven't felt well so I haven't had more than one meal a day and not nearly as much as usual.  Oh well the work shall continue!

Also In Twi there is no word for good.  So during introductions here, all anyone ever says is "I'm fine."  And I hate it.  So whenever someone says etisen (how are you) most people say ayye (I am fine).  Instead when someone asks me etisen and I say boko (cool).  Haha that's  sweet right?

 Yeah people here are very dark because the sun is very very hot here! T he Nigerians are not even close to as dark. My companion is pretty dark now, and he even has a tan line from his watch that he wears everyday! 

Dude that isn't even a buzz cut though!  That was with a 4 guard on the trimmers! I am going to grow it out now, or a while and then get the sides shorter and keep the top long so it will look sweet!  Yeah it was dang short though.  It was shorter than I have ever had it before, I think.   Keep the CTR ring there. I don't want to try to keep track of it or anything while I am here, and it will get dirty and gross. My hands get disgusting every day.  Every like 30 minutes I can rub my hands together and have a ton of nastiness fall off. Thanks for taking care of the ornament Ty, I was worried about that.  And I might have just had to wipe my eyes here in the cafe. (Tyson put up Trav's special Precious Moments Baby's 1st Christmas ornament at the top/center of our tree, and wants Trav to do the same for him when he is gone)

Dude! I cleaned my room today too! I even moved some stuff around a little bit, which means I pushed my bed into the corner and shifted my laundry hamper.

It has been a few weeks without a baptism, but this Saturday we will baptize our investigator Julius.  He is like 23 and awesome!  He just absorbs everything we teach him.

Today I almost died during football, because Elder Uwadi kicked me in the throat when I headed a ball. It hurt so bad and I couldn't breath, but oh well I survived!   Football was good and I can see my improvement. I haven't been able to practice much, because of people crashing our complex, but oh well they are nice and they cook for us sometimes!

Ok I am not sure what all I have or haven't said, so I will recap a list of stuff that's happened and anything I haven't explained, tell me.

baptisms

transfers

fufu, banku, kenkay

meeting a reincarnated apostle of Jesus Christ

learning Jesus Christ has come again and lives in Nigeria

being offered 200 cedi and a pet monkey to be baptised in another church

smelling terrible all of the time

always running out of laundry

finishing people who condemned the church

almost having to beat up a tailor 

watching 2 dudes almost kill each other for no reason

being threatened by an old lady in her car

getting an xbass

getting my own "guys":  water guy, computer guy, music guy, hair guy,

I have gotten a few of the packages so far And I love getting them!  I got the money in the pills. I think the taped packages were not messed with. I got Lance's package which was so awesome of him!  Gosh that was so sweet!  I am putting up his decorations today!

By the way mom, Ghana is one of the most peaceful countries around.  Honestly there is a higher chance of me mugging someone, than someone mugging me!

I am in Africa spending 2 years away from my family, so that other families can be together forever. I know I am doing the right thing, and I know I have a special purpose for being here.  There is a joy in this gospel that shows its truth in itself. 

I love you guys

Check out my new haircut... high and tight!

                                           See the Ghana Temple in the background

Not for the Faint of Heart

Anything I buy, I buy off the side of the road and I have to bargain for the price!  It stinks being white. Because every time if they don't know you, well they Oh Broney price you!  That's where you are white and they think you are rich, so they double their usual price.

I think I was telling people lately that my name meant loved messenger of God.

Oh and our name in Swahili is Mguu (mm-go). So yeah it's pretty cool so far yeah!

Gracie I love all of the pictures you do for me! I have them all in a special box! :)  

Here for Christmas I don't think they get very much unless they lived in America or they are rich. Christmas here is going to be mostly a regular day, but if I was in the bush (the bush is like the forest or wild) I would get fed sooo much!

The kids here love me, so I help them with all sorts of stuff and sometimes we walk them to church! It is cool!

Dude I wish I could watch movies here. Actually if I wanted to I could do it so easily.  Because I have a dvd player for training, or our land lord has a huge tv that he would definitely let me use if I asked. And I can get 2 movies for 1 Cedi.  So temptation is there, but not really. I am too busy studying and serving to waste time with a movie. But don't worry in 2 years, I am going to not move from the couch for a few days ;)

I wish I could play more soccer, but man there is no time! Most of the time I don't even have clean laundry!

Yeah so funerals back home are terrible.  Here our land lady died last Sunday and we had a week of partying! Like fully 7 days of over 100 people in our compound eating food.  And last night was the last night, so they spent thousands of dollars on music, alcohol, food, chairs, and a bunch of other random stuff.  There was a couple hundred people stuffed into our compound.  We even had a drunk dude passed out on our roof!  It was so fun!!  We couldn't really participate, but we live there so I got a ton of food and mineral (pop).

 Elder Thornhill and I went out back and got to pound fufu for this lady named Matilda.  She is like the hired help almost.   For pounding fufu, there is like a wooden stump with a cake pan sort of cut out and it is flat and smooth.  And you have a huge stick that has been manipulated to look kind of like a flower at the bottom and  you smash it.  Thump Thump Thump.   All the while  you are pounding, you have someone with their hand in the stump turning the fufu.   It goes fast, and it is dangerous, so it was super cool!

I am adjusting pretty well I think.   Today, I had to wash out a pot with my hand... oh yeah the pot was completely filled with 5 week old stew that had maggots in it.   Yep, mission is sweet!

NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED:

 Also for a wedding on Saturday, they butchered a cow like 3 feet from our apartment.   It was sooo cool!! It took like 10 minutes to die, because they just cut out a chunk of its neck.   And it was squirting blood all over.   It filled a bucket and a bowl!   The cows here are already scary looking!

Oh yes I have gotten 2 packages so far!!  And I got a lot of the song lyrics!!  Which was awesome, because it came as 40 some odd letters.  And I just looked like a boss with all that mail :)  Yeah does the dear elder website cost anything? (not to some missions...Ghana Accra West has a free mailing option.  He got them the same week we submitted them online, much faster than regular mail)

I don't know what kind of celebration they have here for Thanksgiving, or if it is even a big deal.  ELder Thorhill and I are the only Americans in our apartment.  We are going to get dashed a rabbit today, and we are doing that for our Thanksgiving haha.  When someone gives you something for free, we say they dashed it.   So we are doing family home evenig at this member's house, and they have a small rabbit farm.

Ok so Cedi, the money, is said like See-Dee.  And Twi is said like Chwree, but the"w" is almost non existent and the "r" is really fast and short.  The things here are weird to say,  so it's hard to accurately describe some of the sounds over email, but don't worry I'll do my best!

The work is hard, but it is also sweet.  I never know how a day is going to go, and every week my goals and expectations are destroyed.  Every week I get on my knees and sweep up the pieces, because I know that no matter how poorly things are going or how sad the outcome of my week, I have something to say and the more I say it the more will listen. I have been called to serve and I intend to do that by serving people and the Lord. I don't have to convert everyone, I just have to love them.

Love Elder Legg

It's All About Who You Know

 We only have one new guy coming and that's at like Dec. 23 or 17 or something.  I want to train, but for a couple months my chances are ridiculously slim.  But in like 6 months to a year, it is almost guaranteed that I will train, which is super cool. 

I am trying to use as little sub this week, so that I can have a lot on the 4th week.  If I only use 35 cedi a week then I'll have 75 cedi for the last week which would be so cool!  Then I would buy pork and a tub of Ice cream!  Or I would go to Shoprite and buy some nice home like stuff.

So far Elder Kanu has been a little nicer to me.  But I did get him a little grumps last week when he bothered me, so I bothered him back.  He calls me Elder Legg just like the entire rest of Africa. I have a job for you.  Everyone keeps asking me what Legg means can you try to find out the meaning and if it doesn't have one, then I need you to make up something special! Can you do that for me?  (this was to Gracie)

Yeah I have been singing lots of songs that I used to sing with you because it makes me feel happy! Hey I bear my testimony every day! :) the best thing about a testimony is it doesn't have to be long or smart it just has to be a few Things that you know to be true. I know that I am here for a specific reason. I know that God is putting people into my life to shape me and prepare me. I know that God hears my prayers. I know that I am never alone. (this was to Tali)

When you serve you sacrifice, and when you sacrifice you give up something that you need in order to help someone else.  We are giving up time, which is one of our most limited resources, and we are becoming tools in the Lords hands!

Yeah my knees and ankles have been feeling pretty fine, and I only have to wear my braces sometimes. But they get stronger the more I work so things are ok! And every missionary in the mission has a bike. We have had them in our extra room the whole time, but we just recently got them all fixed and started using them. I personally hate using bikes. I would rather run to appointments than to bike.  And the bike gets me so dirty, and I don't know why!  Yes, we have run to appointments a couple of times.

Gosh so I study so much. I am currently reading the Book of Mormon with a Book of Mormon student manual and marking it up, so I'm doing that with a brand new Book of Mormon.  Also I am trying to go through my Missionary hand book 3 times. I read in it every day with Elder Kanu, so total I've read it 4 times.  But I have only gone all the way through with blue pen. now I am using black and next I will use red! I have a picture book of the stories in the New Testament that I keep reading through also. I have 6 pamphlets that I have been reading through and turning into my own lesson plans.  And that's just during my minimal free time!

So for food then, I can buy a 5kg bag of rice for 14 cedi.  Is that good?  Because that seems like a thing that will last me the most. I bought it on Thursday and I still have maybe 1kg left.  Yeah I have blown through it and I only have mayonnaise to put on it.   Which is probably horrible for my body, but man it is sooo good! I should be getting some soy sauce this week from my fried rice lady.  It's all about who you know.   Big bottle from her: 3.50.  Bottle half that size from the rubbish store owner down the street: 30.  Oh yeah!

This week it was stake conference.  Saturday and Sunday we had to ride a chrochro to Kasoa, which is about an hour ride.  But Elder Vincent talked and he is soo good.  He is our Area Authority and he is from Australia. He kind of reminds me of Wormtail from Harry Potter, but he is insanely smart!   Did you know the story of the Good Samaritan is actually a type and shadow of the fall and atonement!  Go figure!

We had transfers this week, so Elder Robertson and Elder Schmeltzer have gone out. Elder Thornhill and Elder Kagoza have taken their places. Elder Thornhill is from Arizona and he is here to work.  He is a pretty dang good missionary.  Elder Kagoza is from Zimbabwe and he is pretty cool.  He doesn't like the Zone Leaders, which I find so funny!

Ok so here is a scripture thought for all.  And all can try to ponder on why I chose this scripture! I don't think any of you have read this before. Ok so in the Bible in the Deuterocanonical Books.
Bel and the Dragon 1:27

So Daniel took some tar, some fat, and some hair and boiled them all together. He made cakes out of the mixture and fed them to the dragon, when the dragon ate them it swelled up and burst open. "That's the kind of thing you Babylonians Worship," Said Daniel.

Just some food for thought  :)

Oh and also our land lady died yesterday!  It was weird, random, and sudden.  Now there are a ton of people in our compound.  And it's been freaking me out!   But they are cooking lots, so we get a bunch of free food.  Everyone goes at some point... right?

Love Elder Legg 

Naughty Goat = Smelly Scriptures

Another need is could you send me 2 just cheap cloth scripture cases. Yeah, So story time: my scriptures were on my bike bars and another missionary asked to check out my bike. So he sat on it for a while and I walked off. He balanced it in the gutter/sewer for a minute while he grabbed something and along comes a goat.  The goat knocks my bike and my scripture case right into the gutter/sewer.  We cleaned it off, but it still kind of smells.   I need some that I could just really wash when they get dirty. 

This week was the first week that seemed even remotely long honestly.  It was weird, but it wasn't bad. Elder Kanu since he doesn't know how to train just kind of expects me to do whatever he says and do tons of things for him.  This week I had to do all of our planning, all of our goals, all of our appointments, all of our teaching, all of our leading.  Saturday he made me do our area book, by myself while he played monopoly.  He made me do it because he knows he doesn't know how to.  It took like 2 hours to make it the way I liked, but oh well, If I try to just do it every night it won't take very long. Yeah, he's been trying to get out of work to watch football matches a lot lately and its been really frustrating.  The only one I let him watch was the Fifa under 17 World Cup Final between Nigeria and Mexico. Nigeria won 3-0. But I have been trying to push him and we have even ran to a few appointments so far, but I think the best way to push him is to just push myself and lead by example.

Oh also, so this place that you could maybe count as a mall, that I went to today, was crazy.  It was like being in the movie I am Legend. Except the infected people are all African shop owners.  Man it was a building that was just cement and obviously not finished, but there were tons of vendors inside and it was supa swick!

Yeah sheesh packages are expensive!  And I have no Idea how that kid has gotten so many!  I'ts really cool though because they have piled up by the time you get them, so he just had a huge box with about 8 or 9 smaller packages stuffed in it. Maybe I can get something this week since it's transfers and people will be seeing the office Elders. Oh yes, grape flavored drink mix would be another good thing to have too.  We can buy some drink mix here, but it just makes it possible to drink the funky flavored water :)
You have to barter the price here for the mail because they aren't a set price. The mail is messed up here.

OK so the guys name is Brother Kissi and he and his dad are doctors that own a hospital and are super rich. also he reminds me totally of Mr. Child! He's same height, same build, and bald its soo coool!  I wish we had soft hand towels. The bathrooms don't usually have those and a lot of the time your lucky to have t-roll.

 I had a bite of pork the other day too! It was hard to chew and not very flavorful, but it was better than chicken or goat or fish head ;)   Man I miss chocolate, like I can get some here, but it wont be as nice. I have bought a lot of chocolate chip cookies so far because it is 1 cedi for them.  They are kind of like much harder chips ahoy.

Probably 1/10th of the girls I meet are named Esther. the Esther that feeds us is Esther Tawir. 

Ok so this week has been hard to see people, because it seems like after we contact someone and come back for the return appointment they have all traveled to Accra! We taught this one sister this week who didn't seem very serious about seeing us, but we taught her and her 2 younger siblings and invited them to church. The sister was unsure, but her siblings were incredibly excited! We went to pick them a little early on the way to church yesterday and the kids were totally ready to go. Their mom tried to stop them, but once we talked to her she was fine with everything. Those kids really helped my testimony in knowing that no matter what the Holy Ghost will help you if you stay strong. The little boy is 10 years old and I asked him afterwards why he liked church. He said, "Because it is the house of the Lord."

 I know that this Gospel is true and I know that the harder I work the harder things will get, but the easier it will be. Mission is sweet but Neowsem kituah  (it's not easy).  Yeah you won't pronounce that right. I spell all of my Twi words kind of how they just sound.  Try this Knee-ow-sem kit-oo-wah 

Love Elder Legg

All I Want for Christmas is.......Velveeta Cheese????

The rat was fine. I haven't had cat yet  because my investigator traveled.  But I eat fufu like a boss now! It's pretty cool actually, and I don't gag anymore.  No, the rat doesn't have rabies, and they aren't on a stick. Actually it just ripped in chunks, so it looked the same as the goat or the sheep. 

Yeah I get donuts every morning, but its a Ghanaian version of donuts, so I buy a bag of sugar and add that to it.  Yeah I have to pay for the bread!  It's 2 Cedi for a loaf, which sounds cheap, but when I only get 6 Cedi a day, it's a lot.  You wouldn't like the goat or cow skin called Killy Willy.  It's way hard, and you just chew it forever.  I don't like it at all.

I wish I could have trick or treated!  That would have been way fun, but their candy here is just cough drops. Like honestly, they hand you a piece and the Africans get excited because it's their candy.  The brand is Hacks, and it is Menthol flavor.  That is exactly a cough drop!

Yeah my week was a lot of walking, and a lot of eating because my investigators love me ;) This week was cool I got fed 3 or 4 times by my investigators.   And I usually get to eat most of it because Elder Kanu gets  full easier than me. One day we were eating lunch and our Recent Convert Sister Esther called and asked us to quick come over.  We cleaned up and were headed out and she called again so we rushed over. She had ended up making us a big thing of Fufu with like 6 pieces of chicken and 2 Pawpaw. Pawpaw is a papaya. I had to eat almost all of it.  So needless to say, I am probably going to get pretty obalo (that's fat in Twi, and no I did not just ask my companion for that!!) 

Yeah there are barbers everywhere here! Like at least every 5th shop on the road is a barber. So I can get a haircut pretty much, but no they are terrible at cutting white hair.  The last guy here took a tiny bit off the top and just shaped the rest!  It was terrible, so I had my Zone leader redo it.   I just had him cut it pretty dang short so I don't have to do anything to style it.  It now looks kind of like a shorter version of Jake's hair :). Dad should totally not get a haircut till I get back!!! I've been trying to grow a mustache out, but it isn't really working.   But I can grow a very nice sweat mustache in like 2 minutes here!

 I sleep on a nice and hard bed.  They make this stuff here called latex foam and it's hard, but better than nothing, so that is what my bed and my pillow is made out of.  My pillow still isn't broken in. 

 Yeah we were thinking about trying to join a league here, and then we could even play on proselyting days. We think we could probably get into division 4 here!  Man though only getting to play on Monday is hard, but I go out and play by myself every morning for my physical exercise.   So hopefully if I have a ball I can do that for the rest of my mission, and if so, I'll probably be good enough for college ball ;)

(I asked Travis what his needs and wants were for Christmas.  This was his reply:)

So for Christmas I will for sure have 5 other guys with me. I don't know who they will be, but I will be in my same apartment through Christmas. 

So List:

 Needs-

1.Pictures

2.Bricks of Velveeta Cheese

3.A full individual letter from everyone

4. Highlighters!

5. Song lyrics! so I can sing a full song instead of half a chorus over and over! Songs like Disney ones (Mulan songs are non-negotiable) anything that could be cool and mission related or inspiring in any way. 

6. Maybe money?

Wants-

1. Candy (Reese's Pieces)

2. an Ipod loaded with church music, any kind of church music

3. a flat billed snap back cap

4. a Calle soccer ball (those are specifically made for street, regular ones get ruined really fast here)

5. back up CTR wrist bands

6. powder drink mix
7. a few decorations. 

Also as a side note you are kind of slacking in the package department. I am halfway through training and I have received 0 but Elder McCoullough Is almost done with his training and he has received nearly 20... Just sayin......

This week wasn't fast Sunday because we got a hold of some General Conference and watched the Sunday sessions, so that was really nice.  They moved Fast Sunday to next week, but it's just about the same as home. 

Also we had the temple trip this week, so I got to see the 2 big markets at Kaneshie and Circle, where I am probably going to buy some cool stuff soon. SIster Hill thought it would be helpful to show us some easy to make recipes while we were there.  So she cooked us some stuff.  Issue: we don't have a grittle, we don't have a grill fry, we don't have milk, we don't have cheese, 9 of the 10 recipes needed at least one of these things... hmm, Wache it is, since that is just beans and rice. 

Something I keep forgetting to say! Darrin Luke smiles like a little Ghanaian! That's what I think of every time one of these 12-15 year olds smile at me!

Oh also, there is like some Dear Elder website where it's like you email it to me, but the church brings it as a letter, which is nice. I don't really know how it works, but Soph sent me one that I got this week. Someone should check that out. 

I got all of your letters this week though which was really sweet, and Elder Kanu loved them too. I put the quotes into my missionary hand book and I hung the Travis sign on my wall.  I think some other pieces may go in Preach My Gospel. 

I miss and love all of you!

Rat & Cat.... oh my!

 So I am teaching these 3 guys from Nigeria, and one of them is crazy. So he has promised to cook me cat sometime when I come over. My companion is scared of it, but I am totally going to try it!  Also today I had RAT!  Yeah the rats here are huge!   The one we got was small, and it was still easily a foot long. We had light out and it was running around outside and somehow my companion clubbed it with a 2x4.   None of us understood that and now he won't eat it.  But another guy from Nigeria cooked it, and today We were the only ones to eat it.

I have had 3 meals from people this week: 2 times of fufu and one of rice. Both times with the fufu I totally threw it down! I barely even gag anymore!  So that's a good thing, but I easily liked the rice the best!

This week was pretty short, but that could be because I had "a day off."  Mom read that part.  Everyone else read this part. (He must have forgotten that Mom is the one who posts this for him!!) This week was pretty short, but that could be because I had a Malaria Scare. I was getting ready and all of a sudden I started vomiting really bad and it just kept coming and I had a fever at 100.2 and my body was achy.  So I ended up just having to sleep all day. I didn't eat anything until dinner, but I was a little better the next day and I got to go proselyte.  So we decided it wasn't Malaria. It was a nice day because my body definitely did need the rest!

They don't do much for holidays here.  There are a few but not any of the good ones that we have back home. I think New Year may be kind of big, but so far the biggest deal was when Ghana was playing in the World Cup Qualifiers. That was a big deal and lots of people went crazy when they scored. People were running through the streets just screaming!  Trunk or Treat sounds way fun! I wish we did that here, but there isn't really candy here and people in Ghana don't like sugar very much. If you send me candy and I have an African companion then they probably won't eat it because it is too sweet! 

The kind of bread we have is sugar bread.  Sugar bread and butter bread and tea bread are the main types of bread we have here.  Sugar bread is just like bread but it tastes a tiny bit like sugar.  Butter bread is the same, but it tastes a bit like butter.  And tea bread is much smaller and you usually use it for a sandwich from some sort of street vendor. Mercy is the bread girl's name.  Every day that I want the bread, I tell her at lunch time and she has it all ready for me by dinner! 

 Oh and by the way if you feel the need to complain about 70 degrees you shouldn't.  You should come here because its soo hot.  It doesn't even get down to 70 at night! We had light off the other night and it was so hot without our fans that each of us only got maybe 2 hours of sleep. Yeah we need a personal fan blowing on each of our beds!

Elder Kanu has kind of been a butt this week too. Since I'm getting used to teaching and whatnot, I am supposed to teach most of the lessons at this point.  But I end up teaching the entire lesson while Elder Kanu either sleeps or plays with little kids. Any time he feels like coming in he usually just repeats everything I just said and confuses the investigator. Also I didn't get to go play football today because He didn't want to leave the apartment and everyone else was going. After he got done yelling for no reason I just went to the roof and read the rest of 1st Nephi. I think President Hill is aware and I am pretty sure that is why I was picked to be with ELder Kanu. I should know more by next week though.

 In my MTC there were 90 something kids, but like 30 of them were on a different time schedule because they were French speaking Missionaries. 

When we email we do it at this little dinky cafe where there is just a bunch of computers and you pay 2 cedi for 2 hours of internet time. It looks like if they took the area of a library where the computers were and put them in a small 1 room building.

Okay and by the way we have a new wife hunt update.  So mom while you are out trying to find me the one (I didn't know I was!!), there are some pretty difficult requirements.  I heard tale of a type of female in the far away majestic land of Kenya. These ultimate wives are the women of the Masi (mass-eye).
Wife qualifications:

1. Extremely attractive

2. Cooks every meal without complaint

3. Cleans the house every day and keeps everything clean

4. Every day after work she bathes you without any effort on your part.

Yeah us Americans were pretty shocked by a woman like that actually existing, so now you have to find me the American version of that! Challenge accepted!

Elder Legg in the Flesh!!

This week in Ghana

*  Oh Oh we got to go teach at a school this week!  The schools here hold a worship thing every Wednesday, so all 6 of us got to go and teach the school for an hour.  They start with a prayer and they sing some sweet songs. When you have drums going and everybody is singing and chanting and all of the little kids are dancing around you, you know you are getting the full African experience! It was so incredible that we had them sing it again.  At the end, us three white elders were running around and dancing with them.  Our companions didn't want to join in, but we had a lot of fun!

*   Yeah if I get worms here it's not that big of a deal. I'm supposed to deworm like every 6 months here so it isn't that much of a worry. Malaria I am not to worried about so far, but I'm sure it can make things difficult. 

 

 * I haven' tried to use my card yet. Actually I ran out of subsistence this week so for about 5 days I had Indomie every meal. Indomie is the Ghanaian version of ramen noodles so I'm not actually complaining but after a few days it'd make you sick. It's 20 Cedi for a box of 4 packets. I mean I had 90 in personal money but I just wanted to see if I could make it and I had to use 40 for our energy because we ran out. Yeah we got more money today which was nice, so I got money for our fried rice lady. Since the white missionaries are really nice to her, she always gives us extra and sometimes extra pieces of chicken which is super cool of her. Also Elder Robertson gave me a Barcelona Jersey its a really cheap one but I'll probably buy a couple more while I'm here. I think I have decided I need to buy jerseys, shorts, a watch, sunglasses, shoes, and pants.  Those will most likely be a few of my souvenirs.

  *  Nope I definitely have fuzzy teeth all of the time, no matter what and I am probably going to have a lot of cavities when I get home.

* I can't wait to get your letters that will be so cool! 

* It was Strawberry Ice cream. It tastes different than back home and it's a little more runny. I buy the vanilla kind off the street sometimes. Of course we have refrigerators here! Where else are we supposed to keep our stuff cold?! Also we have 2 microwaves and a gas stove and a washing machine. 

  

* Haha yeah the only hunting we might do here is, the other guys said, that if I can get a goat into our compound then we can kill it and eat it. Holy cow you have no idea how hard that is. I think I could kill one faster with a banana leaf.

  

*  Dude I ate all of my pepperoni sticks here and they were way good. It really sucks not having just snacks I either have to go out and buy food or I have to cook it which takes so long!

*   Good luck with that primary program.  We had ours this week which was really... cool? haha it was funny when the kids would just say amen after everything and the adults would yell it back. Actually I got to go to primary this week and sing songs with them which was fun. We sang I am a child of God and If you're happy and you know it. Also then the primary gave us snacks which was awesome because we were starving! :P

*   Also this week I got to go on exchanges with Elder Schmeltzer which was so nice. We went to his area and I got to see all sorts of other things that aren't in my area and even though most of our appointments failed we still had fun and did work. The break from Elder Kanu was much appreciated. 

  

*  Elder Kanu is really hard to deal with, like almost everyone in our apartment has an issue with him. other than knowing the scriptures, I am basically already a better missionary than him. He honestly has no Idea how to plan correctly or how to companion study or how to teach me. Most of our lessons are just me talking and him repeating what I have said. He is really rude also. That is mostly because he is from Nigeria and he keeps acting like hes better than everyone else and he has something to prove. It's sad though. I can tell he's not here for the right reason. He just is out here for the honor to himself. He isn't here for the Lord and he talks about wishing he was home every day. I guess there is a reason I am with him, but we shall see. Yeah the one thing I am praying for is that If I keep working hard then I will be blessed to train soon after, and that will be kind of like a fresh start.

*   We got Disney monopoly this week and we play it pretty much every night. I've played 3 games so far and I have won 3 games so far :) not trying to brag or anything, but I am the greatest!

*   This week hasn't been all fun and games though. I took a nasty elbow to the face in football--from Kanu and my mouth was really bloody and my cheek is swollen. Also for the last week and a half about I've had a pretty nasty cold so I've been popping the pills.  It got bad enough one day that we had to turn in early one day which wasn't good. Oh well we are still working hard and just trying to push through. 

*  Oh by the way, I had another baptism yesterday if you want to add that to the blog and I am one month done already!!!

This is the Blog address for Trav's whole mission

http://ghanaaccrawestmission.blogspot.com/
There are some awesome picture of him and others on this blog.  You can get a better feel for the people there.  Check it out as well!

Ghana's Getting Better!

  

 * My schedule:  Up at 630 a get ready till 8 study and plan for the day 11 head out and walk 30 minutes to get to our area then either teach some people or do a crap ton of contacting and teach those people. We take a break for lunch in between 2 and 5 then go out for a little bit more. We are supposed to be out until 9 but it gets totally dark at 6 and there is only so much we can do at that point. Especially when the power is out and you cant really read or teach so we are usually back a little before 8 and just take our dinner then. Then until like 1030 we hang out like a bunch of 19 and 21 year old guys in an apartment together.
That's really nice.

 

* We had no general conference here. So no idea how it was. 

*  We actually got to play soccer today at the chapel with the district that shares our building it was a ton of fun but I got so soaked. Like honestly my entire shirt was wet and you could see the difference. It is so much fun since only one elder in our apartment didn't play before he came but he still tries and he works hard so we all have a good time. 

 

* One of the investigators that's in our ward his job his people pay him 50 peswas or something and he lets them stand on his scale and he weighs them. We found out I am the 2nd heaviest guy in the apartment. Elder Kanu is the heaviest at 85. Me and another guy were 75 and two others were 65 one guy didn't weigh but he is definitely the smallest. Oh and that's in kilograms so I have gained weight since I have been out here.

  

*Honestly I kind of wish that my blessing had a little more to do with the language because this Tri thing is really hard but I have some of the basics and I can greet people well enough and I can insult them. They don't have any cuss words in that language so aquasia is the worst thing you can call someone and it only means fool. For some reason fool, stupid and crazy are extremely offensive here which isn't helpful at all.

  

   * Yeah we don't have any festive decorations except like a birthday banner that has been up for a few months I guess. We might have some Christmas ones to put up in a little bit but its not like we will actually celebrate any holidays here.

  

*Yeah there are plenty of things that make this soo hard and if I had a different mentality I could see it being too hard but I honestly don't really have any serious thoughts of going home other than when it happens in 2 years. It is a lot of fun with these guys and a mission is just my life its not like I can or would change that!

 

* His first name Ogban so Elder Ogban Kanu. I have been struggling with him. Its been 5 days since he's actually said I've done anything good so I hear a list of things that I need to change. It gets hard because he says If I am humble a mission will be easy so I have been trying really hard to be humble but he just keeps putting me down and I don't think I deserve that. If I was doing something wrong or I was just messing around it would make more sense  but I am honestly trying my best. Oh and something else I've learned by discussion with my District and Zone leaders is that He has had some bad companions and I was specifically picked as a strong trainee to come and put him on the right track. I have been picked out of 90 kids as the only one sent to train his trainer. Isn't that so nice!

  

* I had a Free meal  on Monday and yesterday which was cool and not so much so Monday.  It was at this rich families house so we had tons of rice and chicken and a couple liters of mineral (pop) and all 6 of us couldn't finish it then the lady brought out a tub of ice cream and a big bowl of pineapple and some cake. Holy cow we had an hour walk home and I almost died! Soo much food. I ate 3 plates of rice and chicken and 3 bowls of ice cream with cake and pineapple on top!

  Then at our free meal yesterday we had Banku which is a stew with cooked fish that has been mutilated and put in then you have this weird stuff almost like bread dough that you pull apart and eat with the stew. I almost got sick when I pulled a full decayed fish heads out of my stew and the time I stuffed a whole fish tail in my mouth. I still ate until I was full. I can't stand Banku or Fufu but I can kind of handle Eba.  They are all pretty similar, but the stews are slightly different and the squishiness of the bread dough stuff varies and how it's prepared is a tiny bit different, but basically they are all the same meal.

 

* This week Elder Kanu and I contacted 115 people. Some people may say that's a little over zealous, but I just say its him making fun of me and my inability to talk Tri. Our zone leaders only had 70 and their area has hardly any investigators and is almost entirely contacting.

  Saturday we had an open house at the church so in the morning we helped McCarthy Hill ward do theirs and so the members are inside with a bunch of posters and they talk all about the church then the missionaries are out street contacting their butts off trying to get everyone to go inside the church. McCarthy hill ward was 9-12 am then ours Odokor Ward was 6-8 and yes our district got more people through. Also since the chapel is in my area out of the 130ish names I think I have technical rights to at least 70 new investigators. Sadly the Zone leaders need more investigators so we are splitting the names up evenly in our district. 

  

*I am already getting super tan which is fun because I am already as tan as the 2 other white elders that have been here for 18 months and they both got really bad sunburns Saturday but I did not! I love my skin.

 

* I am training one of our shop ladies so that I will see her in the morning and tell her to save me a loaf of sugar bread and then when I come by in the evening, even though all of their bread is sold out, she has a 1 left for me all packaged up and ready to go behind the counter.

* Oh yeah and for when you guys decide to send me packages the things I will need Is 2 years worth of anti-Diarrhea medicine and pictures of home and money haha we barely have enough to scrape by here and that kinda sucks. Yeah but that medicine is pretty important, I have literally had runny tummy every day since I got into the field and the other missionaries have it most of the time too :) 

Pictures won't send, so when this memory card gets full you will need to send me another one and I will just mail you this one.

Today's News

*We played a lot of soccer at the MTC and it was pretty fun.  Ribs knocked out of place are always the best because they doing hurt very much once you get the reset!

*Yeah now in the field Its Me and Elder Kanu from Nigeria. Elder Ogiembo From Kenya and Elder Robertson from UK, they're the Zone Leaders. And Elder Uwabi from Nigeria and Elder Schmeltzer from America. I think most of the Africans stay in Africa and they just know that. They all just plan on going there I think. Its pretty rare for one to go somewhere like the United states. Oh and Elder Bori's name was Friday Kelly Bori.

*Some things are a little cheaper and some things are more expensive. food is about 2 GHC a meal which is only one dollar but as missionaries we only get 6.5 GHC a day so with other expenses added in you don't have nearly enough money.

   * My Trainer is Elder Kanu and he is also from Nigeria. I got him because I am one of the missionaries that is actually good at understanding the accents and President Hill thought we would be a good match. 

  

*I told you the guys in my apartment and they are all pretty cool. Its really sad like our compound is a really nice one but honestly our apartment is crap and you guys have no idea. we do have filtered water and a fridge and microwaves which is all nice but you guys wouldn't keep them in your house in a million years!  Oh and we are one of like 2 areas that actually has a washing machine. its not very good but at this point if your clothes aren't totally yellow then you are ready to go.

  

*OK so this next part I'm going to try and describe the poverty and you guys might be able to picture it but you can truly never understand. So there is trash everywhere. on every road in between houses on houses in sewers just everywhere. The sewers are just open sewers so its basically like the small ditch at our house except its along every road and its filled with poo and trash.
 

*In our apartment we have 2 bathrooms. kind of 1 working toilet 1 working bathroom sink and 2 working showers. Both toilets technically work but neither of them flush very well and one doesn't refill with water all the way on its own. Oh and there is no temperature on the water. the sink water is regular and the shower water is freezing!

*They have about 6 or 7 different dishes but basically there is just 2 kinds of foods. rice or this playdoh like stuff. So there's fried rice and brown rice and black rice and rice with beans and regular rice. all of them taste pretty similar so it doesn't matter much what you get. next the playdoh stuff. one time is almost seedy and you wet your hands and roll a little ball of it then you dip it in this "soup" that honestly looks like you had the runs and put seasonings and chicken bones in it. Or there is Fufu which is basically the same thing except the playdoh is already in the soup and there's usually fish in it. that one almost made me throw up. I am trying everything but I dont' like the squishy stuff and pretty much everything gives you really bad runny tummy. That's what they call diarrhea.

   *The other guys gave me fair warning that there are 2 things that are almost undoubtedly going to happen to me in the next 2 years. 1 I am probably going to get malaria no matter what I do even if i take my doxy every day and sleep under my net it is still going to happen. and 2 I am going to get runny tummy. Both of those things have happened to almost all of the guys in my apartment.

 

*We walk many miles every day and its very hot. when it rains here it is like no rain you guys have seen in Idaho but a little bit of my area is rich and some is a little more bush and the church building is in my area which is really nice.

 

*Oh yeah! I had my first baptism on Saturday. I Baptized A boy named Quami and my investigator Brother Stephen. They were both very happy and it was pretty awesome! so 3 days in and I already have a baptism hmm that sounds like super missionary material to me! :) Yeah I suck at contacting though but oh well that's probably just because no one can understand me!

The whole called to serve in English stuff is a load of bull! you are called to serve in English with an adequate knowledge of Tri.  the language is crazy hard and like half of the people Ghanians don't speak English very well.

Elder Legg in Ghana

Sorry this is not the greatest resolution of this pic - but I had to take a picture of the picture on the computer. At least you get to see Elder Legg and his Mission Pres. and the Pres. Wife!

Travis's Mailing Addresses

This is the information we got from the mission on mailing letters and packages to Trav:

If you want to use the post you have two options.  Address your letters and packages to:

Ghana Accra West Mission
Elder Travis Legg
Box 12741-North Accra
Accra
Ghana

You can take your letter to the post office where they will assign an airmail international stamp in the amount of postage it needs to get to Ghana.  My mom's letter cost $1.78.

"If you mail a package, a flat rate large manila envelope from the US Post Office works well.  The cost is $23 and you can address it, stuff it, and wrap it completely with clear packing tape. We have not had any of these packages opened.  Many times a fee or tax is added to the packages that are opened."

Your second option is to use what is referred to as the Church Pouch mail.  This means of writing is less expensive and requires first-class postage only.  To use the Church Pouch, simply write your letter on one regular sized piece of paper, fold the paper into thirds, and secure it with two pieces of tape.  Please make sure to not use an envelope or include any enclosures.  Address the letter:

Elder Travis Legg
Ghana Accra West Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
                    84130

With either option, they will be delivered to the mission office, then they will be held until someone travels to Travis's area.
I know he loves to receive emails, but real mail would mean the world to him!  Include your physical address so that he can write back.

Pictures of Travis the night before he headed to Ghana