Learning to Make Fufu

Hello everyone!!!

This was another solid week out here in Kwamo. It has been super busy but that's what I enjoy so I can't complain. We are still teaching lots, walking lots and sweating lots. We are trying to find time to teach everyone, we leave the house around 9:30am and don't come back until later. It has been so nice getting to know the sweet sweet people of Africa. They are super nice and super friendly. You can talk to anyone and they will carry a conversation with you. Everyone knows who Jesus Christ is, so it isn't to hard to talk about the gospel. Almost everyone goes to some church out here so it has been fun to get to know lots of different people.

We are still teaching in twi, and so I'm trying my best to pick up the language. Only a handful of those we are teaching will try to speak English with me. We did actually contact a woman named Esther at a shop and she spoke English. We have taught her twice now and it is nice being able to teach in English haha. The Twi will come as time goes on, and with the help from our Heavenly Father.

The members out here are super fun. Mama Cynthia is one of my favorites. She has 5 kids and is married to a member of the stake presidency. She has wanted to teach me how to make a traditional Ghanaian food called fufu. On Thursday we finally had time to go over and she taught me how to make it! Everyone eats fufu out here, you have to pound it and so you will hear pounding all day everyday as you walk the streets. My companion taught me how to eat the fufu and it is a bit different then in America haha. First of all you eat with your right hand, not your left. You then pinch off a bit of the fufu with your fingers, dip it in the soup and swallow it. It was super super spicy and so I was dying. My eyes started to water and noes started to run and mama Cynthia just started to laugh. It was definitely an experience, but know I can say I have made fufu haha

Other then that not much else out of the ordinary happened. I am still learning and memorizing the area. We walk tons out here, and I don't think there has been a moment I have not been sweating. But I absolutely love it!! I am coming to love the area and the people. I'm grateful for a companion who is patient and who is willing to teach me Twi. 

Obviously there are ups and downs in the field. But it has made me rely upon our Savior Jesus Christ. I definitely couldn't do it with out Him. I have come to know that he has a plan for each and every one of us. There was a reason I was serving in Utah for 6 months. I am able to use what I learned and experienced and apply it out here in Kwamo.

I hope all y'all are doing well, send me an email when you get a chance and tell me how you are doing! But I hope you are all staying safe and having fun back home. I love you all 

Love Elder Morgan.

1st Week in Kumasi

Hello everyone!!

Well I survived week one out here in Kumasi. Ill fill you guys in on some of the things that have happened 

Tuesday we got to the mission home and stayed the night. We had dinner with the mission president and his wife. We got a little orientation and then Wednesday morning president Webster told us where we were going. I am serving in Kwamo as a district leader! Definitely did not expect to be a District leader, but I guess the Lord had other plans. There are 5 sets of missionaries in my District, 2 sets of sisters and 3 sets of elders. I am the only American in my District so it has been fun. I met my companion Wednesday morning, his name is elder Donkor and he is a native to Ghana. He has been out 5 months and he is a stud. 

A ton happened this week but I'll try and point out some main points. 

My first day was crazy, my companion and the zone leaders picked me up and we had to take a taxi to the apartment because I had my luggage with me. The man driving the taxi saw that i was a white American and so he tried to up the price on the taxi ride. My native companion and zone leaders knew this and so they started to "bargain" with the man. They started to yell at him in Twi and eventually got him to lower the price haha. That was my first real experience and I was like what the heck just happened. It all ended okay though haha. Everyone here speaks Twi and so I couldn't understand anybody. We went to the market to get food and it was super crowded and everyone was yelling in Twi. Definitely need to get use to the culture out here, and I need to learn Twi.

One of the only babies who will let Malachi hold her.

Malachi's & His Companion

Malachi's Mission President and his Wife

I settled into the apartment and let's just say it is a bit different then living in Utah. We don't have air conditioning and so you just sweat all the time. We have fans and so they help a bit. I have gotten really good at taking bucket showers as the shower doesn't work. It is definitely less humid then Accra but it is hotter, so I don't know which one I prefer. I actually think I like the weather out here better. 

Transportation out here is whack. We take what is called a trotro around places. Just picture a van, and you take out all the seats and put benches in. You then take a bat and dent it up. Then you stick 15-18 Africans into it. Haha its a fun time, I remember my first day we had to take a trotro to one of our areas and I got a good first day experience.

The members are awesome out here. They don't like to speak English and so I am trying my best to learn Twi. I'm lucky my companion speaks Twi or else I would be completely lost. While we are together I am taking advantage of it and he is teaching me Twi. The meals out here all taste the same. Usually it is some kind of stew over rice. We have rice with everything, EVERYTHING. The members want me to try traditional Ghanaian food and so they have started preparing some for me. Yesterday the bishops wife made us rice ball. It was just a ball of rice in which you dip in ground nut soup. In the soup they had "cow meat". I soon learned that it was cow intestine so that made me gag a little bit haha. 

We have been crazy busy, we are teaching 20-30 people right now. And so we have been trying to see them all before my companion leaves because no one out here has addresses. You just have to memorize were everyone lives. My companion has been here for 4 transfers, so there is a likely chance he will leave next transfer which will be in 3 weeks so we are trying to bust everything out in these next three weeks incase he leaves. On top of that, this mission just became an electronic mission a couple months ago. The problem is the Africans who were serving here don't know how to use area book and so they haven't transferred the records into area book. So I'll have to show my companion and District members how to use area book. We will have to transfer all of our paper records into area book. So we will be busy for awhile. We put two people on date to be baptized this week and so we had two baptisms on Saturday. We were joined with the zone leaders who had 3 people being baptized. So we had 5 total being baptized on Saturday. I was able to confirm one of them who understood English, and that was a good experience.

As you can see it has been a super crazy and busy week. But I am absolutely loving it out here. Although it is stressful at times, I know it is what I need to learn and to grow. I love you all so much  and hope you are all doing well. Have a great week this week!

Love Elder Morgan

He Made it to Accra Ghana!

Hello everyone!!

Let's see, I had another solid week this week. It was full of hard work, paperwork, finishing up in the ULM, long plane rides, and HOT HOT HOT.

(Sorry this email will be longer then ones in the past, but a lot happened) 

I finished up the last couple of days in the ULM (Utah Layton Mission) and finished strong. We were in a trio and so we had a lot of fun ending my time in Utah. I got to say goodbye to all of my new friends and members that I grew really close with. I started packing Monday and had to send a ton of stuff back home, because I wasn't going to need it in Africa. I sent that back home and had to suffer through the cold for a couple days till I left on that Thursday. I had to send my suit and all of my winter stuff and it snowed on Wednesday so it was real cold with out anything, but we managed!

Fast-forward to Thursday, I had to be at the mission office at 11am and I met up with 4 other missionaries. Some were going to Chile and some to argentina. I was the only one going to Africa. One of the office elders took us in a big van with all of our luggage to the airport. I was the only one flighing through delta, so they just dropped us off at the front and said see you later haha. We all went our separate ways and I got checked in.

I met up with another elder on the plane and we flew to New York. It was about a 4 ½ hour flight and we met up with about 15-20 Elders in the New York Airport. Some were going to Accra, some to cape coast, and some to Kumasi with me. We had a lay over in New York and didn't leave for Accra until 11:45pm. The flight to Accra was about 11 hours and it was very crowded. There were quite a bit of missionaries on the flight, and there were two missionary couples as well. We got to Accra, and it was so hot. Especially coming from Utah were it had just snowed and it was below 30° and going to Accra where it was 90° and over 50% humidity. I was sweating as soon has we got out of the airport. We had to go through a lot of covid regulations before we could go, I had to get another covid test and test negative to be let our of the airport. They stuck it up my nose, into my brains and got the sample.

People drive crazy over here. We got into two vans to head to the MTC and the ride over was crazy. There are people all over the streets, trying to sell stuff to people driving. Everyone is balancing food/socks/water on their heads and walking in between cars. Their are kids doing this as well. We were stopped and these two kids came up to our window and the driver said to keep the window up. The kids were trying to sell us shoe polish and kept knocking on the window. Totally different then America. 

We finally got to the Ghana MTC. We got there and put our stuff in our rooms, I am rooming with 3 other elders. We then went straight to the cafeteria and got some dinner. We had rice and stew with a fat fish head on it. The food is just a bit different then American food haha. It is pretty spicy and they eat a lot of rice and "stew". 

They told us we will stay at the MTC until Tuesday because we need to get our green cards. On Tuesday we will fly out to Kumasi. There are 20 of us at the MTC right now and we are really just chillin, waiting to go out. 

There is a turf soccer field in the back of the MTC so all of us went out on Saturday, we had a little pday. We played a game of soccer and it killed all of us. We were so sweaty and had to go shower another time. I have never appreciated cold showers until I came here. 

Yesterday we had church, and the branch presidency joined us. We just did Sacrament here at the MTC with us missionaries and the branch presidency and their families. After Sacrament we had a Come Follow Me lesson and overall we had a good church service. The rest of the day we got to walk around the temple and have some missionary directed time. Today we have to get our green cards, and will have preparation day. We will probably play soccer or do something else. Tomorrow we will leave for our areas! I'm excited to start doing missionary work, in the field. I'm excited to get to my area and start working hard out here in Ghana. 

I'll update all yall next week on my area that I go to and the other experiences I'll have. I love you all and hope you all are doing well and staying safe. 

Love Elder Morgan. 

Last Week in the Layton Utah Mission!

Hello everyone!!

This was the last full week before I head out on Thursday to kumasi and it was so solid. I am in a trio with Elder Morrissey and Elder Vea. We worked hard and had a ton of fun. We combined the stake so we now cover 7 wards and a branch. This past week we taught a lot of people, we currently have around 10 friends that we are teaching. So really our week consisted of teaching them and having some youth activities.

We also had the chance to attend the temple this past week on Wednesday. We got permission from our mission president to go and attend Nikko getting sealed to his family. Elder Vea, Elder Morrissey and I drove to the Bountiful, Utah temple at 10am and met them there. It was a really good experience to be able to go to the temple again as it was only my second time attending the temple.

We actually put three people on date to be baptized this past week! We taught Kennedy and put her on date for Feb 21, we taught Zues and put him on date for Feb 26th and then we also taught Chantel and put her on date for Feb 20!! So we have been working hard this past week and have had a lot of success. It's nice to leave Roy knowing I've worked hard and have been able to see the blessings and miracles come forth, Elder Vea and Elder Morrissey are gonna kill it this transfer.

I have a couple more things to do to get ready for departure on Thursday. I got my covid test today and have to turn it in tomorrow morning. I got my flight plans, and I am starting to pack all of my stuff up! It's crazy, now that everything is happening. My visa and passport still haven't come, apparently they are supposed to get here tomorrow morning by 10am, so fingers crossed they get here in time. Im not too worried though, it will all work out. I have started to say goodbye to the members and to the people we are teaching. I have grown pretty close with a lot of the people in Roy as I have been here for 6 months, so it will be sad leaving but we will keep in touch. I'm so excited for the new experiences that I will have in Africa. I'll be sure to still email and send pictures.

Next time I send an email, I'll be in Ghana so all yall can here how it goes. Thank you for the emails, and for the love and support. 

Love, Elder Morgan. 

P.S. Malachi is on a group text with several missionaries who are headed to the Ghana Kumasi Mission. One of them already arrived and told the group to be ready to adjust to the food there and then sent a picture of what they were having that night....deep fried bat!