Hello all! I have made it safe and sound to Accra!! Holy smokes I'm in Ghana!! The flight was long, but not too terrible. I was the only missionary leaving from Portland, making me the only elder in the MTC from Oregon. A big Utah group found me and a few other guys from Idaho and Arizona, so there are 18 Americans...?? Other than us Americans on the plane to Accra, there was no whites! Some missionaries sat next to each other, but I sat by a lady from Accra, so she was fun to talk to. Ghanaians are already friendly people.
Don't even try to ask me what happened after we landed in Accra. We had zero idea what was going on and what they were needing from us. Although my mission call says I'm english speaking, I'm definitely not. It's really hard to understand Africans' english. They have to repeat it several times for me to pick up on something. I'll get adapted. We drove to the MTC in some cool vans, and it was a total culture shock just on the drive there. We were taking pictures of things left and right. There's people literally everywhere selling their stuff (usually on their heads!) Can't really describe how foreign it is already.
The MTC is very small, but there are lots of great people. I am in a 3-some companionship with Elder Myute (It's not spelled right, for sure) from Kenya I think, and Elder Dbondo from Nigeria. Lots of missionaries from Nigeria. They all look the same, so it is really hard to distinguish any of them! We are going to go outside soon to play sports, so it will be really nice to burn some energy. The humidity is pretty real. I was told I'm lucky it isn't the hot season. First thing Sister Robison told me when I entered the doors was "I hope you brought some sunscreen".
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| First picture of Elder B with his name tag!!!! |
I feel so misplaced here, but at the same time I feel like this is where I should be. When I walked away from our family, I immediately felt really peaceful, like I have been on 50 missions to Ghana already! I don't know when P-day is, or really anything actually, sorry. I will know more soon. Talk to you later!
Love Elder Nissinen
Love it! Every bit of it.
ReplyDeleteHe's going to look back on it and laugh about not being able to understand their English and not being able to tell them apart, or how to write his companions name. Pretty soon he'll be able to say "that's all easy now!"