A Man Among Giants

Last night Mike and I were up at 2 AM and received Quinton's email at 2:01 AM.  We were able to email back and forth for about an hour before he left the internet cafe for the day's activities.

Email sent 9 Nov 2009

I never really noticed this, but when i am looking back at some of the pictures that we took last transfer i realized that i looked sooooo short! haha i was like more than a head shorter than everyone in my apartment! So i hope that i am still growing! Elder Joseph is only about an inch taller then me so that isnt as bad now. and the people in Ghana aren't that tall either, alot of them are actually my height, but then there is some that are alot taller, i would say the average height is right around 5'6 which is what cha cha told me when i texted them like 7 months ago lol.

I was also wondering if that shirt i sent to dad fit? i hope it did cuz i thought it was a cool shirt and i just had to guess what size would fit him because in those shirts they don't really have sizes. i believe they are hand made and however big you make them that is what you get. So definitely tell me if that fit you!

This week has really gone by so fast, and they say that as mission goes on the weeks go by faster each time and i really do see that coming true in my life. Me and Elder Joseph are getting along really well and getting some full days of proselyting in and it really does make the days fly by! We are having a baptism this weekend which we are really excited for. we were supposed to be baptising 4 people, but we are thinking that 2 of them might fall through :( we have been teaching this one girl named Felecia for ever since i came to Kojokrom and she has finally decided to be baptised and we gave her the date and everything was cool until we came to her house on friday, she said she will be going to school in Kumasi tomorrow (which is like 6 hours away) so she won be able to make it to her baptism, we were sad about that, but it is still looking like we will be having two or three people that we are going to be able to baptize which is sweet! I feel so blessed to be over here in Ghana were people actually want to listen to our message and are so open to it. This transfer is already half over which is crazy to me. we are getting 14 new missionaries i think at the end of this transfer which will be cool to see all of the new greenies and wonder if i was that weird when i first came out...i probably was, but i have really gotten into the swing of things now and we are just doing some great missionary work here!

One thing about Ghana is that people drink...ALOT! and it is not uncommon, and by not uncommon i mean this happens like 3 times a week, that a totally drunk guy will come up to us on the road and say.. White man, Preach me! ha its so funny to see them and try and talk with them because they really have no concept of what they are doing. Just the other day me and Elder Joseph were walking down the street and this guy with a scraggly beard and a cigarrette in his mouth stopped us and said he wanted to show us something, he then began to take of his shirt. We were thinking what the heck is this guy doing. LOL it turned out he had some carving of jesus that he kept on a necklace thing. ha we just laughed because the guy couldnt even walk straight and as he was smoking he is showing us that he thinks he's religious! Funny funny people!

Brandy, so your turning into a college girl? lol i remember when we went down to stay with Melinda like 2 years ago! that was fun, live it up in high school! because once its gone it will never come back :) lol

Are you going to be sending me the SD card back with the pictures on it? because you should, because it is cool to look back on the things that we did, so don't delete the pictures on the card ok! That might mean youll eventually have to send me more memory cards, but for right now i am fine! One more thing i have really been debating is for you guys to get me a new nice camera and send it to me... I know its not the most practical thing, but since being out here i have realized that i want a camera that i can carry in my scripture bag, and my camera is way to huge to do that :( Also those rechargable AA batteries that i have been using have the shortest battery life ever which is really annoying if i ever want to do something with it. It wouldnt have to be a super nice camera, just like a $150 or less one. One of the thin ones that people have, i have been told you can get a really good deal on camera's like that at Costco, or Sams club. I would be willing to buy it if you guys wanted to send it to me and you can use my money. You could send a new SD card full of pictures of our family and our house and just things that are happening while ive been gone... just a suggestion :)

Well sorry that was so long lol, me and Austen (Austen is in Brazil) are just writing letters to each other, it takes about a month for our letters to get to each other though so that is kinda annoying, but its just good to hear from my friends when the letters come! We might have to try the HELP (Re-enactment of HELP album, like they did the re-enactment picture of the Beatle's Abbey Road album, see picture in previous blog) idea, so we will see. Im glad you guys realized it was an abbey road picture! haha and i even used my little tri-pod to take that one! Hopefully your ebay selling goes good! you can start a little business on there!

Well thats all for now, i love you and am praying for you :)

LOVE Your son/brother

The following are the emails sent back and forth:

Sent 2:08 AM
Hi , we ended up being awake and Dad checked. Your email is here!!!  We are still reading the email, but sent this now.  What did you do last Monday and what are you doing today?

Received 2:20 AM
Hey! we played football last monday and we are going to play football again today in like 45 minutes! i have really gotten alot better at it and i would say i am probably one of the best white Elders in our zone!

Sent 2:21 AM
We went to bed so late, that Dad was still awake so he came to check and found your email after a few minutes. We are hoping you will receive these. As for the shirt it fits. Not sure if it will shrink any when we wash it. We will be careful drying it, too.

Sent 2:32 AM
Oh, this is fun. You guys really get to the internet cafe early. I am sure that is because you want to be done so you can play. Go team. Speaking of football - SUU is 4 and 5. BYU and Utah destroyed their teams this week, Wyoming and New Mexico this week. Is the shirt one that a lot of people wear in Ghana? How many play? Do locals ever play with you? Is there anywhere to play basketball? Do any of the elders in your area ride bikes. One of the missionary moms said her son does in Accra. Dad says maybe he will go for a ride on your bike since his back feels better and the weather is good this week for a few days before a storm wed. or thurs

Received 2:39 AM
The cameras here are super expensive, for like a 150$ camera in the US its like 600 citis, which is rediculously alot, i know my camera takes good pictures but i really want to be able to carry it with me proselyting, and it is much to big for that, which is really annoying, like a 150 dollar camera now would be much nicer then what i have here and it would be able to take a little nicer pictures, and the main point would be so that i could carry it with me wherever, whereas now i am only bringing it along when i have my backpack, which is like never because it stinks to carry my backpack around because it is so hot! I don't exactly know what the good deals are, but all of my MTC mates are saying i could get a really nice one for under 150 and the batter life would be really good as well which is another problem im having :( sorry these are just some suggestions!

Im glad that the shirt fits you dad! you hopefully it doesnt shrink or anything!

Sent 2:50 AM
We'll check and see. I can't remember. Does it have a case that you could carry on your belt? What about batteries and charging? What is your suggestion? Or what kind is better? Do you charge your batteries right before you use them. The batteries for our camera last quite a while if I charge them the night before I go to use the camera. This is kind of like IM - in slow motion!!! I guess you are not supposed to do that.

Received 2:52 AM
ya this is fun! ha we like to get to the cafe early so we get the emailing done before football and don't have to worry about it after so we can just go and buy our things in town and not waste any time! We are really efficient :) Our zone is huge so we usually have enough for a full football (soccer) game which is 11 on 11 and we get to play that so its way fun, it is usually just us missionaries that play because we do it at the stake center! There is also a basketball court at the stake center but we have never played a full game yet, we have kinda shot around but haven't played a game, most of the Africans really really stink at basketball! LOL we have bikes in our apartment, but we never ride them because it is to big of a hassle and makes us really sweaty, we just walk everywhere i would say we walk an average of about 3-5 miles a day! so my legs are getting fit! my quads have seriously decreased in size though, so that is kinda funny, when i get home i might actually look like a distance runner for once in my life :)

Dad be nice to my bike! that thing is precious! lol but seriously go for i bike ride, that is one of the things i really miss is having a nice bike with no problems!

So we are about to leave so i probably wont be able to write you back again but thanks for being up and having this little conversation with me!!

I love you guys and i will talk to you next week!

PS keep me updated on the camera thing, or at least look and see if you can find any good ones for cheap :)

love Quinton

Sent 2:55 AM
OK, no more from us today. We were thinking you were playing football as in America, then this email let us know it is soccer!!! Americans first think of football as football, not soccer.
By, love you!!!! lots!!!!