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Hello from Cape Coast Mission!

So on Wednesday we left the MTC at 6 am and drove in these vans until 9:30 when we got to the mission home. The Shultz' made us a nice lunch of chicken and rice and gave us an orientation. Then they announced where everyone would be serving. I am living in a town called Nkroful(en-crow-ful) and we teach in two towns. One is Bokazo and is about a 20 minute walk from our apartment. The other is called Axim and is a 30 minute taxi ride away. It sits right on the beach and its beautiful! It is so humbling here! Our apartment is probably the size of the basement and is HUGE compared to everything else. People literally live in shacks! Our shed is luxurious. But yeah we have water and power, but the whole time I have been here the water has been out. So we have been collecting from a big tank behind the house and showering with a cup! Kinda crazy. We don't drink that water though, we drink out of little bags called sachets. They are pretty sweet.

So remember how my call said english speaking? That was a lie haha. There are four languages here counting english. Fante, twi, and enzima. They are pretty sweet though and i am learning dichi dichi(small small). The people here are all pretty darn happy. The weirdest thing is teaching though. Its like teaching primary kids, you talk slow and enunciate and you dont go very deep or else they get lost. Its been hard to adjust in that way. Oh, my companion is Elder Cardon from Seattle and he is pretty sweet. He has only been here 4 months, so we are learning together haha. We have had a couple of times where we were teaching and just looked at each other and shrugged. The first day we walked around Bokazo and he introduced me to some members and investigators. It was a pretty crazy experience. Then we went to a sketchy little chop bar. Chop means to eat so a chop bar is like a tiny restaurant. We had fufu and it was pretty good! You just swallow it whole which is weird, but it was surprisingly good! I have had it three times so far and so yeah, not bad. Luckily I have not gotten sick! I pray it will stay that way haha, but probably not.

So on Saturday we had a baptism! It was an 18 year old kid named Tony, and it was pretty sweet. The fonts are outside and when we went to fill it up, it was just trickling! There was only an hour til the baptism,  and the water was probably 4 inches high. So me and Elder Cardon tied a wire to a bucket and fetched water out of a big water tank. E. Cardon stood on top and fished it out and i would pour it into another bucket and run it down the hill and throw it into the font! It was awesome and by the time we baptized, the water was almost a foot. So E. Cardon had to do the baptism sitting. I took some pictures and will try to send them. But that baptism was in Axim and this week we have another in Bokazo. Its a 18 year old boy named Clever, and he is smart as his name would suggest. He just gets it when we teach.  We taught one lady the Plan of Salvation  3 days in a row and she didnt remember a thing. But yeah we have recently met a few people who are promising so we will pursue. In 5 weeks we will be moving to Axim so we will just teach there.

I am having a blast and am feeling really good! I have learned sooo much and am very excited to just keep going! Tell all the people back home I miss them, like in the ward.

I think one reason I was sent here was to learn gratitude. Mom, I am so sorry for all the times I didnt help you or took you for granted. You are an amazing woman and I love you so much. I will always do the dishes when i get home haha! Yeah so I have been cooking my meals and its not quite the same haha. I had spaghetti noodles with baked beans the other night, and it was actually not bad! I love you guys soooo much. I should get to email each monday, but if i dont it probably means the power is off, so dont think Im dead because I more than likely am not! Love you all! Have fun living in houses and stuff!

-Elder Hackmeister

Hi! Love hearing from you guys too! Yeah we are heading out first thing Wednesday. Should be a fun and interesting day! So we usually wake up around 6 and then go outside for an hour. Then we get ready which is always pretty crazy haha. So many elders, so few showers/toilets/sinks. We then go eat, which is usually a few pieces of bread, a hard-boiled egg, and some oatmeal-like substance hahaha! Its not too bad, the bread is waaay different though even though they give us sliced bread. Its way dense and kinda tastes funny. Its growing on me though. Then we usually go up to our classroom. Each district has a class and there is about 8 kids per district. We have two teachers that switch off. Brother Pole(pole-lay) and Brother Opuko. They usually teach us something about a different lesson. We have been teaching mock-investigators which has been kinda stressful and fun at the same time! Stressful to plan, fun afterwords. Its hard to really teach them though cuz they know whats up hah. Then we have lunch which is like rice and chicken or something. I'm having a hard time with the rice hahaha. But then more class and another opportunity to teach. We also have personal study before dinner, which is pretty much the same as lunch. After dinner we have another lesson which is usually out of Preach My Gospel. The best thing about the classes is finding stuff on your own. 2 Nephi Chapter 2 is pretty much the chapter to go to if you have a question i found haha. Then we get a snack at 9, last night was some pineapple. Yes its true, Ghana pineapple is like eating a shard of heaven! Its sooooo good. Then we go to bed.

 

Yeah I dont miss school shopping too bad haha. It would be fun to at least go somewhere though, this place is feeling more and more like a prison each day! Not really. But kinda. Yeah there is a lot of Nigerians here at the MTC. They are pretty crazy hahaha! I like them though. Everyone is super nice and stuff. We have a kid in our district from Namibia and he has a sweet accent. Its really easy to understand and their culture is really similar, like slang and stuff. He can speak 5 languages and one is a clicking language! Love you guys so much! I dont know when I'll be able to email again, but hopefully soon!!!! See you in 1 year and 57 weeks hahaha!!

Elder Hackmeister

Hi!!! Good to hear from you!!! No we haven't had Fufu yet and probably wont until Cape Coast. The food here is edible hahaha. Miss your cooking though. Im still eating the cookies so that's a plus. Its safe here but the MTC is like the best building in a 20 mile radius so they don't want anything getting stolen. Haha no giraffe sightings yet... My companion is lazy and hard to work with so.... but that's ok. He snores though hahaha.

 

No I don't know how money will work yet so we will see. Tell everyone at home i love them and miss them. Church was nice but it just isn't as good as the ward, we have a great ward. Sorry time is short but I love you so much, talk to you soon. Bye!!!

The temple was awesome! We just got back and they let us email again. It is pretty small, but it was beautiful.  Mom when you read this, know its all good. So far I don't think I need anything sent, but I bet when I leave the MTC I will want some things! They take pretty good care of us here. It's crazy that I have been gone that long, but at the same time it feels like I have been here a month. The second day was really tough, just because of jet lag and missing home, but now I fell MUCH better. I'm feeling good and excited to get out there and just work. Although we do get warm showers here! Yeah try not to kill yourself on the ladder! Haha that tree just needs to go. Or be downsized or something. Ok so I tried to send a bunch of pictures but the internet is too slow so I'm going to try and send them all separate. It hopefully will work. I'm gonna bombard you like that NY tour guy did with emails hahaha.

HI!!! Yeah I don't know why I didn't get it! I think I'll be fine without the sleeping bag so thats not too big of a deal. The bed is not too bad but the pillow they gave us was sooooo lumpy!!! Im glad I brought mine haha! Yeah I know both Elders Valdez and Cowan. Valdez is going to the Accra West mission and he is pretty cool and Elder Cowan is hilarious and going to mine. I miss you too. You and Tiki mostly ;). I am having as much fun as I can in a building surrounded by an electric fence hahaha. The elder next to me in the lab was just sending an email home to his family saying he was going back home and how nobody could stop him. I felt so bad for him because I know he is going to miss out on so many amazing opportunities and miss out on meeting so many amazing people. We have to sacrifice what we love most so others can understand what they love most. Well enjoy the pictures! Love you tons!

Hey! Hows home? Does Tiki miss me yet haha? Yeah the MTC is getting pretty old, but we are going to the temple in about an hour so I have been looking forward to that for the past few days. We have had some good times here. The other night one of our classes was canceled, so all the natives started singing and playing hymns on the piano. A bunch of people joined in, so by the end there were like 40 of us missionaries all crowded around the piano belting out hymns. It was awesome. Africans sing like champs regardless of if they can carry a tune or not haha!

So the food at the MTC is pretty bad, but I have a feeling its better than a lot of what I'll be eating. The other day I had an african candy, like hard candy, and it said it was honey and lemon flavor but it tasted exactly like a cough drop haha. Also had some hot chocolate for breakfast but it tasted exactly like toothpaste, so you can see that their definition of sweet is different than ours! Actually sweet means good here. So like, pizza is sweet. Well, i really dont know what else to write, I miss you guys very very much and hope everyone is good! Eat a calzone for me! I can't complain too much because everything here is really pretty good and nice, and there have been some very cool people here that I've met. I haven't taken many pictures yet but I will I promise! Its gonna be a good two years! Love you!!!!!!!!!!

Hello From Ghana :)

I was so happy to hear my missionary made it to Ghana safe and sound!  I wish he could have called me, but an email will have to do!!

HE MADE IT TO GHANA!!

 

Hey! I made it here safely! Sorry I couldnt call but there were no phones in the airport and everything was pretty crazy! All the workers try and make you tip them $20 for doing nothing so it was pretty funny. Accra is a pretty interesting city. It reminds me of a wasteland that people just started building on.

So we got there pretty late because the flight last night took forever to take off. I think we sat in the plane for an hour and a half before it left. I slept pretty good though. The humidity and heat aren't too bad. At least they werent today. But yeah we drove to the MTC in a little van and it was crazy! People just drive however they want. Luckily we made it haha. The MTC is TINY. Eveyone is pretty cool though. So far the Africans have been pretty quiet to us, so we will see how that goes. I haven't met my companion yet though! He is apparently from Singapore so he won't get here for another hour. I just met with President Graham and his wife and got the malaria pills. I got pulled out of my first class to do that. Now I am here writing!

I miss you guys, but I know that this is where I need to be. I can tell already that its going to be a big change and there will be lots of challenges, but this is the work I need to do! I am excited! I know I will be ok if I do what I need to. But yeah I am already tired of the MTC and ready to get out into Cape Coast haha!

I hope everyone is doing good! Hope Grandma and Grandpa don't feel too bad and I hope you're done crying! Haha. I think I will get to email while I am here, then I dont know what will happen. But the accents here are very diverse. Some are easy to understand and then others i feel stupid responding to haha. At customs the guy had a really thick accent and was talking really quiet so he was getting pretty upset with me haha. Oh well, I'll get used to it. Love you guys! Hope to hear from you soon. This place is pretty crazy haha!

 

Love you sooo much!

-Elder Hackmeister

And he's off to serve!! We are so PROUD!! We will fly the Ghana flag right under the American flag until he gets home!

He's ready to go into the amazing world of Ghana!

Well, its just about time for me to leave and head to Ghana. I will be getting set apart in a few hours so this will be my last post! If any of you would like to write to me, I would love to hear from you. My address at the Ghana MTC is:

Elder Kyle James Hackmeister
Ghana Cape Coast Mission
PMB CC 1385
Cape Coast
Ghana

You can also email me at kyle.hackmeister@myldsmail.net
Preferred method of mailing:

POUCH: this method is used in countries where the mail service is unreliable. It is sent to Salt Lake-they send it on to Africa. A pouch is 1 sheet of paper folded in third's (2 creases).

Write your letter on 1 side , fold it twice & tape the top. It should be the sized of an envelope (but don't use an envelope). Address 1 side of the paper & put 1 stamp on it...

POUCH ADDRESS:

Elder Kyle Hackmeister
Ghana Cape Coast Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150

Thanks to all of you who have made a difference in my life! I'll miss you guys! See you in two!