Good Week

Well last night was the first night i started getting home sick. its probably elder widdison always talking about home, i just kinda got me though. im trying to send pictures. we leave the mtc on nov. 7th. idk where i am going yet but i think i will find out soon. this week has been great and challenging i have decided to read the book of mormon before i leave the mtc. i am already in mosiah 23 and am trying to read about 50 pages a day. so i guess we will see if i can do it. my companion is good and my district is good too. they arent allowed to speak pigeon english anymore so i can understand them and we are working on not cussing (mainly the african elders). or at least not using the big words first, then we will work on the smaller ones. really frustrating actually. i feel like im trying to be the goody twoshoes. ha (in the mtc) i kinda get made fun of all the time but it doesnt bother me. luckly they are all going to sierra leone with me. whoopy.

well on a brighter note im wondering how church is going? is Eris still coming? i truly hope she is and is having a wonderful time there.

yesterday we had some pasta and about half way through my meal i found a bug, just a small one, but a bug so i started looking at each one on the pieces of pasta and i counted 17 before my meal was ended. yummmmm. we also had fish head again i will see if i can send the picture of it.

Please tell people when they write to send pictures!!!!!! \

and mom if you send packages this is what i want:

nutella, toothbrushes, good bar soap, laundry detergent some that comes in small packages, pictures, q tips, post it notes, crystal light, face scrub, and lastly its up to you but a pedometer just to see how much i walk everyday.

the mtc is just the same just hot and sweaty all the time and learning alot. the first couple of days i was very tired throughout the day and couldnt stay awake so i have added being able to stay up all day long in my morning prayers and i has really helped. i also gave a spur of the moment talk about enduring to the end in sacrament meeting today. actually went pretty good. please tell everybody there i love them very much and would you please send me elder harpers address for me? that would be much appriciated. im sending a few letters home today to some people if you wouldnt mind passing them out or finding there address for me that would be great.Well last night was the first night i started getting home sick. its probably elder widdison always talking about home, i just kinda got me though. im trying to send pictures. we leave the mtc on nov. 7th. idk where i am going yet but i think i will findout soon. this week has been great and challenging i have decided to read the book of mormon before i leave the mtc. i am already in mosiah 23 and am trying to read about 50 pages a day. so i guess we will see if i can do it. my companion is good and my district is good too. they arent allowed to speak pigeon english anymore so i can understand them and we are working on not cussing. or at least not using the big words first, then we will work on the smaller ones. really frustrating actually. i feel like im trying to be the goody twoshoes. ha (in the mtc) i kinda get made fun of all the time but it doesnt bother me. luckly they are all going to sierra leone with me. whoopy.

well on a brighter note im wondering how chruch is going? is Eris still coming? i truly hope she is and is having a wonderful time there.

yesterday we had some pasta and about half way through my meal i found a bug, just a small one, but a bug so i started looking at each one on the pieces of pasta and i counted 17 before my meal was ended. yummmmm. we also had fish head again i will see if i can send the picture of it.

Please tell people when they write to send pictures!!!!!! \

and mom if you send packages this is what i want:

nutella, toothbrushes, good bar soap, laundry detergent some that comes in small packages, pictures, q tips, post it notes, crystal light, face scrub, and lastly its up to you but a pedometer just to see how much i walk everyday.

the mtc is just the same just hot and sweaty all the time and learning alot. the first couple of days i was very tired throughout the day and couldnt stay awake so i have added being able to stay up all day long in my morning prayers and i has really helped. i also gave a spur of the moment talk about enduring to the end in sacrament meeting today. actually went pretty good. please tell everybody there i love them very much and would you please send me elder harpers address for me? that would be much appriciated. im sending a few letters home today to some people if you wouldnt mind passing them out or finding there address for me that would be great.

love you all,

elder skouson

here are some random pictures too.

The Ghana MTC

Just another day!!! in AFRICA

To be honest it really didnt feel like i have been in africa till today when we had the opportunity to go to the temple. we drove through downtown accra to get there. i had an amazing experience over half of the elders here have not had the chance to go to the temple. i escorted two elders through the temple. really really great experience. we drove back and it kinda hit me that i was in africa. there are street venders who walk among the cars and sell you anything, dried bananas, water sacks, soda, windsheil wipers. its like the best drive through system i have ever seen.;) There are always ambluances driving around and elder widdison and i came realized it was probably for people getting hit by cars. no big deal.

Elder Widdison and i are getting pretty close. he is a really cool guy and we can kinda get some frustrations out with each other. he has a "friend' he talks about alot but all the missionaries know its his girlfriend. ahah yesterday we did a money exchang we alot of the other missionaries i got money from dubia, liberia, nigeria, south africa, australian, cote diviore. some really cool bills dont worry i only spent like 55 dollars american money,

this experience has really opened my eyes to the world, i never really saw black and white before but now i am colorblind if you know what i mean. there is no difference between black and white we are just people.

im reading the book of mormon again and its making alot more sense to me now. i have really strengthed my testimony more in the past 5 days then probaly all of my life. the missionaries here dont come with a whole lot more then just knowledge and a dedication to the gospel i have never seen before most of them have been converts for like 1-2 maybe 3 years i there knowledge surpasses mine greatly.

im sorry about the water heater and the washer machine. last night i hand washed 3 of my white shirts in the bathroom sink and took a really cold shower just to feel something cool on my body im sleeping most of the night now not waking up to stand infront of the fan for a little bit to cool off. i have almost gotten use to weather. not gonna lie getting kinda tired of the mtc. Love you all and talk to you on sunday.

love,

Elder Skouson

ghana

well this week has been very busy i am finally understanding the AFRICAN ENGLISH. oh and tell shalese i have mastered the african snap. it has been very fun getting to know everyone. my comp ELDER UDOTIM is the district leader now. he is very spiritual and fun. There are two missionaries from Irovy coast elder mea and elder zolo, they both know french as their first language and ELDER MEA know a little bit of english. i sat down and talked to him about the war in his country, it was very personal to him and he expressed that no matter what his country has been through people are still very happy. there is a major difference from the different countries here. nigeria which is where about 50% of the missionaries are from and kinda loud but still very nice. cote'divore or ivory costal they are very nice, quiet and personal which i like. some of the missionaries cant email home because there is no where to receive it, meaning no computers. there is a missionary trainer here that was from liberia during the war and only has one are because of it. but here it is just life here so we deal with it.  i have learned alot about the gospel, they focus mainly on the basics and how to teach the basics it is good for me to start out a little bit slower cause im still trying to understand.

The food has been actually good and there is alot of it which is good for me. The only thing i havent like is the fish heads and plantein the big banana looking thing. every thing else (rice and chicken) is very good. i eat more than most people here so i havent lost too much weight maybe two or three pounds tops.

 

Now that i can kinda understand most of the afican english i am taking lessons from my companions how to speak krio or pigeon english. now that i cant understand at all the african missionaries that are here are suppose to speak english, because there call said they would but i think it is for us white missionaries to understand a little bit. there are only 5 white missionaries out of about 60 sooo that is a change but now i dont see black and white, its cool actually. i told them about eris and they were so excited they said we are going to get married so we can have african babies, there were astonished that i had black friends.

 

the only acon or air conditioning is in the classrooms and chapel everywhere else it is about 85 degrees and very humid. i couldnt sleep the first night because i was sweating so much. when we turn on the acon the african missionaries freeze.

 

The missionaries from South Africa are the most i guess moderized ha. but there say there is alot of racism in south africa. i have learned so much and i am doing my best to jump in with both feet.

 love you all,

ELDER SKOUSON

I'm here

Well i arrived in accra at about 1130 ghana time. everything went really smooth i didnt have to pay any money, no trouble through costums and met our greeter, cant say his name i think it was like Elder Dodooo. but i has been really fun so far had lunch at the mtc just rice and chicken i dont type really fast sorry. new elders are distracting me, my mtc companion is Elder Udotim from nigeria. He seems really nice and fun all the missionaries that are here are very nice and say you are welcome when the meet you. kinda werid so you just say thank you back. its very different being and ELDER and calling yourself that. miss everyone already definately hasnt hit me yet though. there are 56 new missionaries in the mtc and thats it. the language barrier is very difficult. its like trying to understand a like spanish language. i tried to give out a book of mormon on the plane talk to the guy for an hour then got shot down, ha oh well wont let it get to me. still trying. the keyboard here is different and hard to get use to but im still trying and will send more next chance i get. love you all very much and hope everything is ok with everyone.

 

love your son,

ELDER SKOUSON