Quinton's sister, Melinda, is on a mission too!!!

Texas McAllen Spanish speaking - See her blog at www.melindasmission.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Don't panic im still here!

Email sent Tuesday 27 April 2010

ha ya i so yesterday we had our interviews with President because he is having some big mission president convention thing in Accra. so yesterday we had the interviews and everything was cool. he told me that i should be really trying to help my companion learn English. so im pretty sure we'll be staying together for a while. but ya that was cool. and then after we went and got pizza! i love pizza and i actually still have a little left in the fridge. we are kind of enjoying ourselves this transfer lol but ya. oh and while we were there some tourists pulled up... they were probably the first good looking white people i have seen in Ghana :) lol

a sweet thing happened to me the other day, we were walking in our area and something caught my eye. It was a polka dotted biking jersey. i told people here about it but they didn't really understand and i think dad at least will. but it is a King of the MTn jersey from the tour de france. so i bought it! ha its probably fake but its nice so ill be able to have that when i bike when i get home!

This goal we are working on is seriously tough stuff. we are almost halfway done with the goal and our whole district doesnt really have any possiblities of finding a family that they will be able to teach and baptise. its hard but we are working and trying to fine. and when were doing that, im sure we will be able to find them.

We did a service project this week at our chapel. there is a big huge lawn that needed mowing, and it was way freaking long, so of course i was all over that! mowing made me feel like i was back home! ha it was sweet, the mower was somehow crappy but i made it work and did a huge part of the lawn. i was sweating so freaking bad though. it wasn't even hot, but Ghana you sweat even when you just sit outside!

Today for pday we headed over to the Bantama chapel and played sports again. but today was sweet because it started to rain the whole time we were there. so we were able to play some football in the rain and have fun. The field that we play on there is small though which stinks because i am better at a big field were i can run and kick hard, but i played well. im sure you wanted to know that. i wish there was soccer leagues back home for old people because i would seriously want to play if there was! maybe ill just join Real Salt Lake and win a championship with them instead!

I never got the letter you sent :(

I am indeed 1/3 done with my mission which is sweet! so im coming home soon! haha not really but sooner than i was eight months ago. Samoan is a sweet language. Elder Togagae talks in his sleep alot and he talks in Samoan so i get to hear some sometimes! ha but ya he says that they don't do the haka there.. only in tonga apparently. so we can't learn that.

ya so Mothers day is coming! ha sweet, it will be just like last time i think, ill buy a card and some units and be able to talk to you. i don't exactly know what we would be able to do about the time. We have stake conference in the morning and then after that we'll probably come back to the apartment. we will figure everything out this week and ill tell you next week when i email, cuz we will need ample time to talk. and guess what after this phone call it will be the longest time you will ever go without talking to me :) lol 7 months till December, but that will get here sooner than you know it i think. that is all!

Love ya
Quinton

ya i forgot to send a picture sorry. i forgot to bring my camera with me! but ya. Austen sounds like he is doing good! i don't know that Elder Darrows guy but i would say that is a pretty acurate interpretation of ghana. obviously there is more but that is good in a nut shell. if he is in sekondi i think he's being trained by Elder Bahme, that guys cool. I miss sekondi and Takoradi! but kumasi is cool to so im here now.

Email from Elder Joseph sent Monday 26 April 2010

Re:  Your positive attitude and influence

i am also happy to hear from you every week because it makes my day wonderful it really give the desire to do the work i am so grateful for that yes sometime i fill tired but with the desire to make the lord proud i keep to the best i can and there are blessing i have receive from the service and i know the Elder Petersen still have that testimony as a missionary and he will tell you when he return

one sweet thing about this week is that we will be viewing the conference report this with Elder Dickson a member of the west Africa presidency this coming Sunday so i am looking forward to that day i will be calling home soon i know that my family are expecting my call soon and i am still excited for that day

thank you for the prayer you have been praying for us as a missionaries i can feel it in my daily life as we go out to teach the gospel and may our heavenly father richly bless you the wonderful work done

the last time you told me about your daughter who has sent her mission form, how is she doing with her preparation to go on a mission sometime i think that is a big this to do but our mission president has once said that when we think that we don`t know many we should know that we know enough so tell her that

for our mission goal we are planing to baptize a part member family by 8 of may and that will be good if that happen

have a wonderful week

THANKS

Monday, April 19, 2010

Life with an inny belly button is hard work!!

Email sent Monday 19 April 2010

I have to be sure i wash in there otherwise i might get some residue or something left in there.... haha that was random, but true! That is way exciting about Melindas call! she is gonna be working with tons of Mexicans down there! she should start going to Mcdonalds more often... haha (Melinda, Quinton's sister, received her mission call on Wed., Apr. 14 to Texas McAllen Spanish speaking and goes to the MTC on May 26.)

Elder Togagaes first name is Alapati. sometimes he speaks in Samoan in his sleep and its a cool sounding language! This week has been really cool. i have learned alot of things out here on mission and one thing is to not judge people based on first impressions. my first impression of my companion was that i really didn't like him, but now that we are working together and really getting to know each other he is a way cool guy. he is a typical Samoan just a happy guy that always speaks what is on his mind and he is usually loud. We have started playing a card game at night when we get back to the apartment called stupid and he is way good. i'd say he beats us 80 percent of the time.

So this last week i was kinda sick...with what you may ask, well it was a cold! how can i get a cold in Ghana. i don't even remember what it feels like to be cold! ha but i got a cold with a stuffy runny nose and the works! but im mostly better now! im actually feeling a little dizzy. today at Pday we played football and then volleyball again. i continue to exert myself like i am in shape. my mind hasnt quite grasped yet that my body can't do the things that it used to! ha so after i exert myself on p days i usually have a huge headache the rest of the night because im not in shape enough to play sports! lol

I got letters from both Connor and Andrew Unker this week which was sweet! it takes a long time for mail to get from here all the way to Argentina which stinks. but Andrew says that he is doing really good. And Connor says that West Virginia is hill billy and he has eaten sqiurell haha! im glad they are doing good and its good to hear from them.

Something about Ghana...girls don't shave there legs here. so you can be walking down the road and see some hairy mammoth girl with legs hairier than mine! ha random bit of information but i thought that you guys would like to know that!

We are still working hard trying to find a husband and wife family to baptise for this goal. right now our teaching pool is still to small but we just got a sweet referall from a member and he is the only member in his family and he wants us to teach his wife and kids! so there is potential there for something good to happen! i contacted a guy at this house this week and he was from Delaware! he answered the door and i said to myself this guy isnt from ghana, and i was right. so just like alot of Americans do he politely said im busy and i don't want to hear your message lol.

Kyle Van Wagenen is Travis's cousins so ive hung out with him a little bit. He got back from his mission right before i left. The 6'5 guy i blocked is named Elder Vanchiere or something like that he's from Timpanogas.

Im really blessed to be here and even though sometimes its hard i am greatful for this experience! i am learning a lot and hopefully growing a little :)

love

Quinton

ps this computer doesnt have a usb port that i can get to so youll have to wait for pictures till next week kthxbye :)

2nd email received

We did have zone conference last week and it was really really good! plus the food was pretty good so that made it even sweeter.

We just came from a place called On The Run. its like a Gas Station/Restaraunt like in the US! i had a pizza and it was really sweet. i think im gonna get fat when i get home cuz im just gonna eat all of these foods that i haven't had for so long and just keep eating them! haha we will see

Quinton

Email from Elder Joseph

That is wonderful for her i have come to admire sister who serve mission for they will be powerful people in the future i will like you to tell her to continue the great work she has begin for the lord will bless her

for us this week has been a wonderful one because we have our zone conference and our mission president was telling us our current goal and from the look of thing we really have to work extra hard for the mission to accomplish the mission goal and we are still behind so we have been having a serious lesson with family but no baptism yet

thanks for the wonderful things

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I have a serious headache

Email sent Monday 12 April 2010

My letters might be getting smaller, but i think that is because we email after we go to pday and so i am really tired, so sorry if there getting smaller. but ya right now i have a huge lactic acid headache. we played football for pday today and then we actually played a legit game of volleyball so it was fun. Volleyball really brings out the worst in me because if i am playing with people that don't know how to play i might kinda get angry sometimes! ha im working on not freaking out at people cuz there not good. but luckily almost everyone we played with today was good so i was only a little bit frustrated! oh and PS i blocked a 6'5" guy's spike. so that was kinda cool

This week has been super long, we got transfer calls on monday and then just packed and waited until wednesday night were we got our new companions. Elder Togagae is actually a pretty cool guy. when he came on mission he didn't know any english at all so sometimes he struggles a little bit but he is doing sweet and we are having a good time. Elder Jeppesen is training a guy from Uganda. His name is Elder Isagara.

So we are basically opening a new area now, and we have like 4 investigators so it really stinks. things are kinda hard but we are working together to kinda get to know the area and figure out where to go. Our area is huge now! and if we wanted to we could travel every day but i think we are gonna stay pretty close to the chapel, thats my executive senior companion decision. lol

An interesting thing happened on Tuesday we were gonna have district meeting and everything was cool. The Elders from Asokwa came to our apartment because they got there really early and we ended up having the district meeting at our apartment which was actually a huge blessing we came to find out! halfway through the meeting Elder Harris, one of the Asokwa elders comes out of the bathroom and is shaking and sweating profusely. he asks for a blessing so we give it to him and he says he is in extreme pain. so we call sister sabey and she said to take him straight to a hospital so we all grab as much money as we can and hurry and get a car and take him to the hospital. it was a crazy little experience but they ended up keeping him overnight and they actually found a cist or something of some sort in his kidney... he is going to a eurologist on wednesday for some more tests. It is partially kidney stones but they don't know what the cist thing is so hopefully theyll be able to find out. that was a crazy day.. so we were at the hospital pretty much all day!

The bags are 8 Citis each so there not too expensive so that will definitely be enough. i don't really have a story for this week but next week ill be sure to have one to tell you ok! im angry melindas call didn't come! thats what i was looking forward to today, but i guess ill have to wait just like all of you.

Guess what this transfer i get to call you guys again! sweet huh im excited, im gonna start writing down things that i will remember to talk about!

i love you guys (and girls, gotta be gender neutral)

Quinton

Monday, April 5, 2010

transfers

Email sent Monday 5 April 2010

wow there is a lot of stuff that happened this week and even just like an hour we got transfer calls, and do you want to know what is happening im sure that you do because it surpised all of us... Me and Elder Jeppesen will no longer be companions, but we will be still living in the same apartment. Elder Jeppesen will be training a new missionary and i will be getting a Samoan missionary named Elder Togogae or something like that. i knew the guy in takoradi. So i will still be in UST but i will have a new companion...weird, i don't know if i like this but whatever. Elder Adjei just left we took him to the STC station to ride a bus to cape coast and he will be going home tomorrow which is crazy. Sometimes it feels like i will never go home, but im sure that one day that time will eventually come.

Im sad that me and jeppesen aren't going to be companions anymore :( i thought we were gonna be that way for a while, but i guess not. we were just starting to get along really welll and had finally figured each other out and now he throws this on us. oh well you gotta roll with the punches because its what the lord wants and not what i want that is the real important thing here.

im not in the best mood right now, because we just went to this resteraunt called queens gate and ordered pizza, we were really excited to eat there and the last time we went everything was cool. but seriously this time we were there for 3 hours and they didn't bring out our food! we were pretty chapped to put it lightly, so eventually they put out some of the food and some people ate, but they didn't bring all of it, then we asked them when the rest would be finished and they said in like 15-20 minutes. so they kept saying that and eventually we just got up and left and seriously chastised them for making us sit there for like 3 and a half hours. obviously we payed for the food that they brought us but we had four more pizzas coming and we just left because they took to long. well they just missed out on 40 dollars worth of food so there gonna not be too happy tonight! ah so ya i was a little bit angry about that, and i wasn't able to eat any pizza :(

So up here in Kumasi is this guy that makes Kente scripture bags and he sells them for 8 citis and i was wondering if you guys wanted any! they are normal bags, but there is kente stuff on both sides so its kinda cool, and if you had them you would be the only ones in our ward that had them so you could have it be a cool fashion thing! ha ya so you should tell me if you want them and maybe add some money to my account so i can buy them or whatever. and how many you want!

i don't have a really lot to say this week. we were pretty lazy this week because elder adjei was leaving and he was incredibly tired, but now he is gone and we are ready to start kicking some butt out here and teaching tons of lessons. New companions can be hard, if we don't have alot in common that means that we will just work that much harder to try and fill all of the silence with lessons!

Im sending a picture here today that is just of the four of us in our apartment. Elder Holmes is the other small guy and he is the one that we are related to through marriage of some sort. Elder Adjei is from Ghana and he is going home right now! and Elder Jeppesen is that tall guy from Idaho! ha so ya that is just at the front door of the apt.

im glad i was able to fool you all with my camera joke thing. i thought it was funny though you probably didn't think it was too funny! My duke blue devils are gonna take it all the way the one year im gone. ha i hope they win. but who knows knowing them they may choke like they always do.

I weighed myself a couple days ago i weigh 58 kilgrams which is 127 pounds, im remaining pretty normal. i need to start working out again im a flabby guy lol. i don't know why elder Joseph does that things with the email. but hes pretyy smart with computers stuff so maybe it is just a glitch or something like that.

this email is boring i think but whatever you are just gonna have to deal with that this week so there!

im excited to hear conference 2 months from now ;)

love

Quinton

Elders Quinton Petersen, Timothy Holmes, Kirk Jeppesen, Adjei in apartment in UST Kumasi