Note on Packages and Letters

Dear Parents,

 We have had challenges with the retrieval of large packages from the post office.  It has been both time-consuming and expensive.   Generally, all of the contents are removed and recorded. A large customs duty may be assessed on the contents at the discretion of customs officials, which ultimately comes from your missionary’s personal funds.  We kindly request that you do not send any large packages or boxes.

Just send padded envelopes or USP flat rate envelopes and make sure they are secured with PLENTY of clear packing tape.  We are unable to pick up boxes from the Kumasi Post Office so please send only the padded envelopes so your missionary will receive the goods you send.  Anything can be sent in these envelopes.

Please note the following additional points:

1.       Do not send any electronic equipment in parcels.  They can generally be purchased here at reasonable cost. 

2.       Sending packages as registered parcels is unnecessary.

3.       Sending temple garments is unnecessary as the Mission supplies these at a subsidized cost to missionaries. Sending them in packages often results in inappropriate handling by officials.

4.       Do not send an excessive number of parcels to your missionary, whether at Christmas or any time during the year.

The Ghana Kumasi Mission is part of the church pouch mail system. (But several of the missionary mothers say that normal mail takes 3 weeks, but pouch mail take 4-5 months!!! I am not including the pouch information for this reason.- Karie) 

                                                                                                                                                             

Regular Mail

Letters and packages can be sent to the missionary through the Postal Service using the following address:                                                                                                                                                                                

 GHANA KUMASI MISSION

               Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Elder/Sister (Missionary’s Name)

P.O. Box PMB KS 16333

Kumasi, GHANA

We thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Sister Cynthia Cosgrave

Wife of the Mission President

 He is in Kumasi for real! He is in the Bantama area with Elder Antwi.

In Kumasi

I'm alive and well in Kumasi. They were about an hour late picking us up from the airport, but other than that, nothing super exciting or dangerous happened. Besides driving. Driving is always a near-death experience. But I'm so excited and the mission home is really nice. We get to meet our trainers and move out tomorrow. And then I'll be able to email again next Monday.

Finally! Here it goes!

Love, 

Elder Nelson

Interact to edify

Prepare to Learn

Interact to Edify

Invite to Act

Temple Day at Ghana MTC Wednesday, Nov. 4

Where do the missionaries come from?

According to the Ghana MTC Blog-

Missionaries in the Ghana MTC come from various countries in Africa and a few countries out of Africa.    The top five origin countries for our 1441 missionaries this year are:

Nigeria        312 
Congo         298
Ghana         222
USA            205
Ivory Coast   112


Here are the 44 countries they came from:

AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM

BENIN

BOTSWANA

BURUNDI

COTEd'IVOIRE

CAMEROON

CANADA

CHINA

CONGO (DR)

CONGO (REP)

ETHIOPIA

FIJI

FRANCE

FR POLYNESIA

GHANA

INDIA

LESOTHO

KENYA

LIBERIA

MADAGASCAR

MALAYSIA

MALAWI

MOZAMBIQUE

NAMIBIA

NEWZEALAND

NIGERIA

PHILIPPINES

REUNION

RWANDA

SAMOA

SIERRA LEONE

SINGAPORE

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH SUDAN

TOGO

TONGA

UGANDA

UNITEDSTATES

ZAMBIA

ZIMBABWE

THAILAND

UNITEDKINGDOM

VANUATU

Dear America- Nov. 4, 2015

Dear America,

It's so fun to see all of the big changes at home! Sorry that I can't reply to every email that comes, but I had fun reading all of them. I laughed about leaving the mats at the dump. I arrived at the MTC after a day-long flight from SLC to NY and then to Accra. I only slept about two hours on the whole ride, but today was so exciting that I was able to keep going. Ghana is so green and red, with all of the tropical trees that I can't name and the red dirt. It's muggy here. Kind of like taking a hot, steamy shower. Except I don't take hot showers. The heat feels nice at first but you overheat after a while.

The native elders are so friendly and fun. They have it when I give them their snap handshake (it's a real thing). You shake and then slide off their middle fingers and snap as you go. The elders always greet you like an old friend, even when you've never met before. The portion sizes at meals here are huge. Little breakfast, HUGE lunch, and little dinner. Fruit is amazing in the extreme. So sweet and full of flavor.

My companion is Elder Peterson. He's nice and easy to get along with. He's also committed to keeping the rules, which is great. Traffic is crazy here. So crazy. Everyone is like Dad times ten but with no common sense and all in a hurry to get somewhere. If I die, it won't be from malaria. It'll be if I have to drive. The native elders are really good at soccer (football). Pdays are fun. Ghana is way less organized than the US. It'll definitely take some getting used to.

I got Elder Neville's letter in the MTC. I'm still looking for Elder Hepworth's. Dr. Bronner's mint soap is the best, when combined with a cold shower. The MTC here definitely isn't as structured as the one in Provo. It's more... basic. Everything is. The food is very good. They feed us so much food. Lots of rice, chicken, and bread. It's like white bread with some nutmeg in it. It's all very good. The rice is always flavored with a drumstick or something on the side. And there's a lot of it. It isn't too different than some of the flavored rice that mom makes, there's just more. Some of the Americans are having a hard time getting used to it, but I feel like I've been specially prepared to be here.

Elder Peterson and I are in charge of the music for the whole MTC because we're the only two who play the piano. It isn't too bad. But we sing like six times every day. It's actually fun because they sing so enthusiastically. Like yelling. And all down the halls, people will just burst into hymns. English and French are the only two languages taught here, but we also mix Twi, Fante, American slang, and movie references (the last two because the Americans felt left out without our own secret language). Being in charge of the music  also means that we are lead the "doxy song" at dinnertime. Doxycyclin is the pill we all have to take every day to prevent malaria. It goes to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it": "If you've taken your doxycyclin, clap your hands!..." and so on. Just so everyone remembers.

The temple in Accra is the most beautiful building I've ever seen. And I've been to a lot of temples. The inside is by far the most beautiful out of any temple I've ever been in. I'm coming back to Ghana, if only to visit the temple here.

I'm so happy to be here! I really am loving the MTC. A lot. I could stay here for two years. But I only have a week left! I'll tell you about all the crazy things in the outside world when I get there. I feel pretty sheltered here in the MTC. 

Love from Africa,

Elder Nelson