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

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

Monday, June 28, 2010

I hate Ghana!

Email sent Monday 28 June 2010

seriously this week totally blew! first thing first. as you said Ghana played America in the world cup. Ghanaians are incredibly prideful about football and there country and they are really not even that good, yet somehow they still seem to squeeze out wins all the time. so me and elder lunt have been talking trash to all of our investigators and members saying that America will kill Ghana.....ya well that kinda back fired as you well know. America gets beat by a little country the size of Oregon. i was just sitting outside of our apartment saturday night while the game was going waiting to hear people in Ghana freak out or get really mad. i really thought that America was gonna beat them. but then 5 seconds after the game started everyone in Ghana went crazy...i looked at elder lunt and said. crap, we're finished. so ya then the next day at church we didn't here the end of it. so since im new in the ward i started to tell people i was from England because i didn't want them to brag to me about oh America cant play football! so that is frustrating.

next reason why i hate ghana. ive had a big headache for like 3 days now... that techinichally isnt Ghanas fault but i really want someone to blame so that is who.

I hurt my ankle today playing football i think it might be swollen tomorrow, oh well

This week has been kinda hard and i don't know why, my heart just really hasnt been in it. but on a good note i actually finished the book of mormon for the third time yesterday! thats sweet i guess. i really like reading it, the only problem is i actually fall asleep quite often when reading, waking up at six every day is hard. but to make that easier ive started working out. ive been doing alot of sets of stuff so i can make myself toned, but ill probably get lazy again in about a month or after i leave this apartment and all this work will be for nothing lol

Transfer day is today. we dont have the phone so president sabey could have already called, but we don't think that either of us are going anywhere.

This week we bought a super cool mouse trap. and we caught like 4 mice! we actually think that we killed all of them! so cross your fingers! this trap is sweet it totally crushed those guys and i just told those dead mice thats what you get for pooping on my stuff! haha we still have cats living in the ceiling, they get in fights sometimes and we here them its kinda annoying. one more great thing about my apt is that the kitchen sink is now clogged sweet huh! haha

i havent checked how many contacts i have left. i will this week so that i can tell you ok! but i think i should be needing some in the next maybe like three months. i wear them almost every day, and i only use them once. its so convenient just throwing it away i love one use contacts!

thats about all thats happening right now. we are going over to the Suame apartment with elder Jackson to have a birthday party kinda thing and make cakes so that should be fun. Me and elder Lunt are getting along fine. he's a cool guy i like him. hes really intense and has tons of energy all the time. he likes to walk fast i like to walk slow. he likes to spend money i try and save it. ha but everything is cool.

sorry again that i cant send a picture. these cafes arent allowing me to because the towers are inside wood boxes. so hopefully next week! ive got alot of seriously sweet pictures, also i need to burn my last SD card and send it home, ill get around to that soon hopefully ok! be excited! thanks for the package im excited to get it.

love ya

Quinton

Email from Elder Togagae (former companion)

According to tranfers thi week . i dont know i tranfers or not. i will wait for that. write know the man is ready for the baptism 2 more week. everything is going well in my area. thank you.

Email from Elder Joseph (former companion)

it has been a nice time here in Ghana and we are enjoying the world cup i mean in term of the goal we have as a mission normally from the look of things i went for USA but unfortunally Ghana won but for the world cup champion is still Brazil of Argentina

The mission goal has been in our mind so this is the time to fill our teaching pool with more people becos the match will soon end and if it does then the next thing will be baptizing those we contact so for now we just focus on baptizing those people so we have been teaching many lesson

Yes this is tranfer week for now i don`t know we will be recieve the news this evening we have been getting alone. and his name is Temesgen

thanks for your prayer for the lord has help us to has one with a Baptismal date which will be the day the world cup ends also have a nice week

Thursday, June 24, 2010

10 months! seriously...

Email sent Monday 21 June 2010

so ya i have been in Ghana for 10 months now... that is pretty cool im happy with myself it has been along time but it also feels like it really hasnt been that long. This week was good we have a ton of really good investigators and even some baptisms coming up. You were correct i did have my baptism for both Rebecca to complete the goal, and one other guy! unfortunately i wasnt able to go to the baptism. my companion had malaria yesterday and we were planning on going but he was totally out. he was throwing up and pooping tons so we just stayed inside all day. im happy they were able to get baptized though. we have another baptism coming up this week for my new ward in Bantama! we will be baptizing a 9 year old girl and then like a 18 year old girl. and we have some other ones coming up soon. Bantama is a sweet area.

Right now it is pouring rain outside...

so sometimes i forget that i am actually in Ghana, but this week was a reminder of that. we were at a members house and we were eating i had some fufu which was sweet. they told us they were serving us bush meat, which is called grass cutter, or a really big rat. so we were kinda like ok. Its supposed to be a big delicacy here. ive had it before and its not actually too bad but i was eating the thing. and was kinda preoccupied but then looked down at the meet and saw two big teeth........ Indeed i was eating a rat face! haha it first of all scared the crap out of me, but then i took a picture and everything was cool. i kinda didn't want to eat the rest of the rat face after i new what it was, but whatever. When in Ghana do as the Ghanaians. so i ate rat face...

The apartment in Bantama is kinda crappy, let me give you a list of reasons.

There are cats living in our ceilings

Rats/mice live somewhere in the apt...we find mice poop everywhere

Our rooms are small

the bathroom is puny

This is an ongoing list but its ok i don't care we have fun there.

Im sorry im not sending a picture again, the card reader that i have wont fit into the plug cuz its too big, so next week for sure well send some.

Elder Lunt has a washing machine in this apartment which is a lifesaver. im gonna die if i have to go back to handwashing, my hands are all soft and everything now. but hopefully i just get good luck and move into apartments with washers.

we were at the cafe on friday because Elder Lunt was just sent a camera that somehow got broken in shipping so he had to email his family to find out what to do.

I think i told you about football last week, after we came home i had a freaking sick sunburn line and i took a picture of it and was planning on sending it to you but it will have to wait. its funny, its a total distinct line between red and white. i guess that is the curse of being a Petersen. i hope i marry a tan person so my kids don't have those genes!

We heard America got robbed and should have won there game in the world cup which is really dissapointing. Ghana has gotten lucky with both of their goals being from penalty kicks, and the whole nation still goes crazy even though their just getting lucky. ha but ya. Ghanaians seriously think ghana will win the world cup, which definitely wont happen. i would love to see a Ghana vs USA match. the US would kill them!

i can't believe its already time for the country fest back home, thats so weird. the time is coming by, before you know it it will be December....!

love you

Quinton

Email from Elder Togagae (former companion)

Re: Baptism this week!

thank you the baptism is going well. I miss him in this baptism he call me on Saturday he told me him and his companion they come to the baptism. on sunday he text me they not come to the baptism because of his companion have sich. thank everything going well in this area. According to the new goal we have boy in the new goal he 28 year old he came to church two sunday and he want to be baptise we will still teach him.thank you hear about sister Petersen she doing well. the work is find if pray and fast that why we see more blessing. because of my time, wants again thank you very much.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I just played 90 minutes of legit soccer!

Email sent Monday 14 June 2010

So right now i seriously feel like i am on a runners high because we just had our zone versus zone football match on a full grass pitch. Because of the transfer i just switched zones so now i am in Bantama zone. i was playing mid fielder because they needed me to run a ton. i was playing both defense and striking so needless to say i ran a ton. i think i ran about 4 miles...seriously no joke. and im out of shape but it felt sweet! The unfortunate news is that our zone lost 3-1 :( dumb huh). Everyone gets to play... sometimes i get frustrated because im too competitive. oh well. I had some legit shots on goal but the other team had a good keeper so they didn't go, but i was really the only one who was shooting. oh ya and i bought some sweet football boots that i played in today it was way nice. There called Adidas Predetors and i got them for 35 citis, not bad for like 100 dollar shoes :)!

So yup i got transfered and now im in a new area. The area is actually really sweet and me and elder lunt get along really well. He was in the Army back home so he is kind of an intense guy but i like him and we get along and work together well. His last companion was a nigerian. Lunt is a good guy and a very hard working missionary so we'l enjoy for however long we're together. We ride bikes sometimes to get to our appointments and lunt got in a crash the other day. it was kinda funny he just went right over the handlebars. he had some scrapes but other than that he was totally fine lol. I am now in an apartment with the Bantama zone leaders as well which is Elder White from vernal, and Izekor from Nigeria. Lunt has been training elder White because he wants to get skinny before he goes home so i kinda joined this last week and my abs have never been so freaking sore! lol i don't really care about getting in shape right now but its a fun way to pass the time in the apartment! Our apartment is puny it kinda stinks. My room in the apartment is like 3x smaller than in the UST apartment, there is only enough room for both our beds and a dresser lol. but its still cool.

This area is right by the center of town so it is really really busy, but we also travel out to some smaller villages just oustide of town too so its really nice. We have some serious investigators and the ward is really helpful. The guy from West Jordan is named Elder Hernandez and this is his first transfer and he is probably one of the funniest people i have ever met! he is Elder Jackson's companion and they are in our district so thats sweet.

Its raining pretty much every day now, at one point it can be clear and sunny and then five minutes later it will be the biggest downpour you have ever seen its crazy. i really like the rainy season because its colder at night. i don't even use my fan anymore because i get cold lol. I take cold showers, we don't have water heaters here and i really don't care anymore i love the cold water it feels so freaking good after a long hot day proselyting.

The world cup is freaking crazy.. like seriously it is on everywhere it is so hard not too watch it. especially when USA was playing england. England is a very good team and everyone under estimates the US and they actually tied which is sweet! so cheer on the US for me, and Ghana. the country went crazy when they scored yesterday even though it was only a crappy penalty kick. we get updates from some members and investigators of the games so were not totally in the dark, but ya i wish i could watch... oh well.

Next sunday will be the baptism for Rebecca and well be going to UST for that so itll be cool to finally have the goal finished.. im excited. Interviews with President are tomorrow, i seriously cant believe this transfer is already over it really is going by fast now! and its almost my birthday :)

love you

Quinton

Email from Elder Togogae (former companion)

thank you for that, but for me when the time president call Elder Petersen to tranfer another area, i am so sad because me and Petersen doing well in our area and also this week to complete our goal as a missionary. A part from that dont worried about that we meet him every monday. to night our family home evening we invite him and his companion for this activity. in this ward they miss him because of his good work.

the weather in ghana is to hot for me i sent a letter to my family and sent to them last week i recive a email from USA my brother in Wasington my oldest brother is marriage the work is doing well thank you very much. i hope Sister Petersen doing well in her mission may God bless her to continue to do the good work.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

So alot actually happened

Email sent Monday 7 June 2010

Hey whats up! today i have the card reader back so i can start sending you pictures again the picture is just of me outside of my old apartment in UST...... so now you are probably thinking why is that your old apartment in ust. Well the answer is that i have been transfered! ha cool huh. ya so yesterday i was just sitting in church minding my own business and i look down at the phone, it says i have two missed calls. one was from the zone leaders and one was from President Sabey, i thought to myself hey maybe this is important so i went and called the zone leaders and they told me to call president. So i call President and he says …… ha so I have been transfered to a place called bantama. its still in Kumasi, but i am in a different zone. My new companion is named elder Lunt and he is from Kaysville utah. so me and another guy named elder uka just switched places. so i had to pack all of my things yesterday and bring them to the Pday activity so that we could switch. I was really surprised when this happened and it kinda made me sad because me and elder Togagae were just getting our area really going and doing well, but i guess all change comes about for a reason. Aparently President thought i was the right guy to be put here.

So ya that happened all yesterday and today. this week before that was really sweet though. We werent able to see Rebecca all week. we went to the market where she works every single day, and the other ladies just kept saying "o yare" which means shes sick. which stunk so we didn't get to see her and we dont know where her house is. but she came to church again this week. she really has been prepared for us because i don't feel like we really even did anything. we taught her while she was at church and she said that this is going to be the church that i die in! ha so we were already gonna give her a baptismal date but that was sweet. we were talking about baptism and just talking about what it was, it was funny she just interuppted us and said "da ben" which means when. ha so we gave her the baptismal date for two weeks from yesterday! shes excited and so am i! even though im in a new area ill be able to go to the baptism and that will complete the goal for me! also the rest of our district completed the goal last week so we really progressed, our mission will complete it! ha

We played ultimate frisbee today, i love frisbee! so that was cool, and we also played a ton of football, my new companion really loves football so we will enjoy together. im getting better though even today i scored like 3 goals! i know im legit....

i cant really think of anything that i despereately need right now. you should just surprise me! ha switch things up and add some other stuff. but i really do like skittles so that could be something you get me... or a can of Vault idk just a suggestion :)

Yes i wear my retainers

yes it will be hard not to watch the football matches. there are tv's everywhere here and really the only thing ever on them is football, and that is all people are gonna be doing for the next month, i will be happy after it is july 12 cuz it will finally be over and i don't have to worry about that.

Oh ya im not district leader anymore over here because there is already a district leader in the district. which is totally cool with me! ha Elder Jackson will be in my district which is sweet! we just seem to always be put close together on mission. his companion is cool too its a guy from west jordan.

so ya thats pretty much how the week went! im enjoying my time here im wondering how the rest of this transfer will go but im sure it will be cool. we get along well.

sorry about the fish hook that kinda stinks...one more thing, last night was the biggest rainstorm i think ive ever seen! it was so loud inside our apartment i couldnt hear anything it was crazy! the rainy season is really starting now though so its cooling down a bit, but not enough that i don't get sunburned on Pday lol..im so white

love,

Quinton
Quinton outside UST apartment

Email from Elder Joseph (former companion)

Re: It is getting hot here

For us it has been a raining days for us because for almost all of African from the month of march through the month of September it is normally know as the raining season where we experience much rain and now we are also experiencing rain but no snow

That is really an interesting goal for us as missionaries most especially we the African but we are praying for strength to be able to fulfill the goal. like i said ghana love football and there even place where the football we be show on the street and we have to be careful

i will somehow say yes but we can`t becos we have enter into a covenant not to watch

most Nigerian (Elder Joseph is from Nigeria) love football and i think i am one of them but that would be a problem my favorite sport has been football and volleyball and i hope that our heavenly father will give us the strength to accomplish this great task ahead of us

have a wonderful week like for us we have been bless and we hope to receive more

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

So much happening!

Email sent Monday 31 May 2010

I remember those last couple of days before i left for the MTc it was crazy! we had to do so much stuff, and i am sure that this week was the same way for you guys it sounded pretty hectic, but im glad that you guys got through it ok! sorry i havent sent pictures for a couple weeks. the card reader i have been using I let elder Jackson borrow so he could use it becuase his broke or something, but hopefully by next week ill have it back and ill be able to send you some pictures.

We had zone conference this last week, where both Kumasi zones came together and got to hear from President and Sister Sabey and the Ap's. it was a good zone conference so i enjoyed it! they also told us that on the 14 th of june we will be playing a full football match on a full pitch zone versus zone in Kumasi and President sabey will be the ref! im freaking pumped for that because i havent played on a legit field for quite a while, because the chapels fields here are small. but ya, im also thinking about buying some soccer boots (cleats) because ive always wanted some since i got here, so next week im gonna go to one missionaries recent convert and buy some legit boots for like 30 citis! so i am excited for that. i think that our zone will win the football match.

Over here in the UST area we have just had the college students leave from school, so our proselyting area is alot more empty. its kinda sad seeing it so deserted right now, it reminds me of when i was leaving from college like a year ago. i seriously didn't want to come back home. no offense to you guys but i seriously loved college! ha but ya so our ward has reduced in size a little bit cuz most of the college students are gone but its still going good. our district is making some really good strives to complete the goal. because as of now we only have 5 weeks left to do it which is not much at all. but we should have two companionships finished next week and then two very soon after! Rebecca (the lady we are teaching whos husband is a member) is way sweet, we werent even able to see her this week because she traveled but she still came to mid week and church! we are planning to have a baptism with her and a few other people on the 20th of June, so be excited for that cuz im pumped!

Ive noticed something, whenever people write me they always talk about the little kids here in Ghana, they say oh their so adorable and all this sort of stuff. but i have come to a conclusion, there are only two types of kids in Ghana the ones that are adorable and you want to put in your suitcase and take home with you (with an oxygen mask of course) and then there are the ones you want to dropkick off a bridge. haha some of them are seriously annoying and the constant yelling of oburoni kinda gets to you sometimes. but i love the kids most of the time, its just those few instances that is like ahhh!

The Elders in my district right now are Elder Jeppsesen from idaho, isagara from uganda, togagae fro Samoa, Harrison from Sandy, Clements from idaho, Matheson from West jordan, and ekaette from Nigeria. i like our district, its fun. for district meeting last week we played scum! ha it was awesome.

Thats all i really got for now, but enjoy these days relaxing! oh and you should send me that ensign soon! because i wanna read it! ....and look at the pictures

love you

Quinton

Email from Elder Joseph (former companion)

Re: Melinda is Off to the MTC

That really is a large group of mission at a time in the mtc (note: We dropped Melinda off at the Provo MTC on Wednesday and they said there were 500 missionaries coming in that day) in our we were only 38 missionaries and we think that it is too plenty for one mtc president to train all of us i think she will wonderful experience will the missionaries

i hope your other daughter will still go on a mission that will be a wonderful family i pray that mine will one day be like that. that has been my plan from the time i started my mission because i have seen many blessing that come from serving the lord on a mission

the lord has been helping us as the day goes by and mission is gradually becoming interesting and my prayer is that the people i teach should people that will remain as our president will always tell us

have a wonderful week