Arrival Photograph with President and Sister Hillam

Not great quality but it proves that Edison has arrived at his destination - Cape Coast Ghana!

Short And Sweet - Safe Arrival Notification

Hey mom I love you so much. I got to the mission home safe and sound. I will head out tomorrow. Love you lots tell everyone hi for me.

MTC PHOTOS

The giant gathering in the airport in Accra!

The first visit to the Ghana Temple!

The new accommodations in the MTC - Edison has never lived with this many men before!

Everyone looks pretty happy to be bunkmates!

Starting off together - where will these roads take those shoes?!?

Making the rounds through the check-in process.  New friends at every table!

The bus to Cape Coast!

Seat mates - eyes bulging with excitement and anxiety!!

2nd Letter In The Same Day - More Time to Write!

So I do actually recognize most of the food but there have been a few meals that I have not been able to discern what certain things were. I have tried to be good about eating everything that I can. So that has made some very entertaining meals.

I have made a few friends in my district Elder Brown, and Elder Christensen. They are really great guys. We are all from America so we are all going through the same type to emotions and lack thereof. We shared a tun of scriptures that have been helping us. I have decided to continue this tradition and make a page of all the scriptures that I want to always remember and give out. I think that will help me a lot in the future with companions and the mission in general. 

I have realized that I have the ability to understand pigeon english (it is english but not, that is the best description i have). Most of the Americans here can't understand it but I can. It is extreme slang, in a heavy accent. So it is awesome to finally be good at a language when it is hard for everyone else. Because that does not happen often.

I was able to convince someone in my room that keeping a journal was something that should be done so your mission can really been told in your own words. Hey decided he wanted to give it a try. Luckily i had a spare books in my bag so i gave him one to use. It was a nice experience.

I have been able to hear about my mission quite a bit. I cannot wait to get out of the MTC. I have heard from people outside in my mission that the worst part for them was the MTC. I hope it gets easier once I am finally free!!

Keep working hard. I will make sure to have pictures next time. it will just take me awhile.

 I miss you all so much. 

Brother Butters

Week Two - A Bit Better and Rugby!

Hey everybody!!! I'm back!!!

Still haven't kicked the bucket. Isn't that great.

So this week had been a lot better. I have been really busy which has helped a lot. Still working on finding the perfect timing to do everything with my companion, so all those issues haven't been solved but little by little they may be. 

So my room at home was messy to say the least but controlled messy. When i am being forced to room with three other guys, it becomes very apparent that I am actually very organized. So ha, my room at home has always been clean!! I have come to the decision that it is very useful when you share a room to be able to go on long drives or have a day where you don't see anybody, unluckily for me I can no longer do that.... it makes life very hard.

So i have been going crazy trying to do everything the past few days. There is so much to do but so little time to really do anything. I have been learning a lot and progressing as fast as I can. So lets hope I can do it all because whats the point of doing anything if it is not to the best of your ability. 

So I played rugby for the first time since China.... It was fun (we only did tag because people didn't want to get hurt and sent home). The only difficult thing about the game was that I was playing against a team on Tongans.... I may have seen my life flash before my eyes a few dozen times. But everyone is great, people let anyone join in games, and exercise together. Which helps since we have been fed huge meals everyday and don't do anything but sit. I may have gained a bit of weight here. Which is really good because from what I hear about my mission i will lose a lot. 

Talking and making friends with people who have been assigned to the same mission as me has really been a blessing. We have already been able to share information that we know about the mission to one another. Which has helped calm everyone's nerves just a little bit.

My teachers are okay...sometimes very crazy and slightly concerning..... Hopefully everything they are teaching me is true.

OH!! before i forget. I was told that I cannot use my left hand for anything. In parts of Africa it is a sign of disrespect to give or take things using your left hand, I already know that remembering that will take a lot of getting used to. IO am just glad that I am not left handed. It will be weird having using only my right hand as a habbit and trying to break that when the time comes.

I love you all so much. Keep working hard

Brother Butters 

First Week In The MTC

Hey everybody! I am alive and well!

I hope you are all doing great. So far the MTC has held many new experiences for me. I have never had to share a room with four guys before, and have never really relied on someone else to allow me to get to classes on time. These new challenges will hopefully be overcome before my next email. But progress has been terribly slow. 

I want to thank you all who have sent emails it is so good to hear from home. Unlike the Provo MTC i cannot read through my messages everyday but i guess one day a week is fine.

So I had to go to the temple today...... That was very strange. It is nothing like the ones that we have in Utah. But tha'ts not the end of the world, i get to say that I have been to the Ghana temple!!!

Everyone is very hard to understand, and many don't understand me and the other guys that I came with. That just means that we are all very quite in class. 

I have talked to a few guys that know people in my mission, from what I have been told my entire mission is 75 percent service!!! I have been told to be prepared to live with a machete tied to my back!!! So i am really looking forward to that being my life for two years.

The MTC is nice. There are ups and downs constantly, people not understanding cultures, not understanding the restrictions on time and so on. But everyone is really trying, we are all getting used to being away, and the idea of the two years ahead of us. So we have all been bounding over those ties and commitments.

The food is insane!! I have had so many new things that I dont know the names of, I am not sure that I have gone a day without rice. But hey we had cereal earlier this week so that was awesome. We have all been attempting to get used to the foods that we do not know, because it is neither Ghanian or American. So i dont know what i am eating but i doubt i will ever really want to know for sure. 

Not going to lie, i miss home, i miss food that isn't rice. and I really miss all of you. I haven't been given that much time to write so this may be it for the week. I know it isn't much and I am sorry. I hope you will all stay to hear the next chapter.

First Messages from Ghana

hey mom. I am alive and well. The airplane ride was insanely long but everything is going well. The first night is hopefully the worst. I really miss everyone and wish I could talk to you all. I am so thankful for this opportunity. 

I love you all so much. I cannot talk much today. I miss you guys and love you all

-Elder Butters 

Second Message:

I know there are more emails to reply to I am just not sure on how I am suppose to use my time. Thank you so much for the encouragement and all the time that you have spent thinking about me. I Hope you know that I am doing well and will continue to do so. Turns out my P days for the week will either be wednesday or thursday. SO if anyone sends me an email, i will not be able to reply until then. To be honest I am not sure how much time I have to write today!! 

I cannot wait to hear from you all. I Hope you know that all of you mean so much to me, you have all shaped my life in so many little ways, making me who I am today. 

Ghana is cool. Well from the three streets that I have seen. 

Well my Companion has finished really quickly. I love you all. Tell everyone on my email list when i will finally be able to start the real emails. I dont want anyone worried that i have forgotten about them.

Love you all

-Elder Butters (why does that still make me feel old!!!!)

And Away He Goes!

The bags are packed....almost....the man is ready....almost....the mother, however, has a couple more loads of laundry to finish and an ironing lesson to give.

At the departure desk - so many leaving for Ghana with Edison that the woman already knew his destination before he got his papers out.

Oscar's face says it all......"does he really have to go?"

Every week, send me a chess move and I will send you one in return.....every week, Oscar.  No joke.

And with a wave of a hand, eighteen years walks in the opposite direction.  When he returns, I expect he will view life very differently and be a better man for it.