Well everyone Merry Christmas ya filthy

animals! HA!

Just kidding, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas no matter where you are and that you got to spend some time with your family and reflect on Christ this time of year. From his birth all the way to his atonement. As we think about the things he did for us we come to know more about him and love him more than we ever could.

This week there were plenty of hardships I have heard from the other missionaries experiencing in their families and I just want my spiritual focus of this letter to be on this life because we didn't have a lot going on this week with Christmas and everything. It was so great to see my family and talk to them on Christmas! I love them all very much! I thank them for their love and support and everyone that has given me love and encouragement through this time.

This life is such a big part of Heavenly Father's Plan for us. I'm going to make it a little personal so I hope none of you shed tears. The 4 months I have been in Ghana I have had plenty of hardships come my way and with all of them that have come I had a time where I honestly thought to myself, why do we have to live these lives? I thought if Heavenly Father knew that some of his children weren't going to make it back to his presence then why did he send us here, I also thought of how much stress life brings us...... I was going through a really rough time, probably one of the most challenging times in my life. During this time I had also received a confirmation through my many prayers that this life is for us to make choices, this life is so important to Heavenly Father. It's our chance to receive our spiritual body and show him that we truly want to follow him. I just want everyone of you to know that my testimony of the plan of salvation is so strong since I have come on my mission. There is life after this and we can be with our families forever! I know this to be very true! I love all you people and again Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Elder Paulson

P.S.  Here's a shout out and congrats to Shae Rasmussen and Harley Hurd for their mission calls!  

No pictures again, we had to send him a piece to his camera so he can download pictures and he hasn't received it yet! Really miss the pictures!

So incredible to see this smiling face again! 

Down, but not out!

Good Evening Friends and Fam,

So this has been another eventful week with the elections winding down and Christmas coming on, I'm excited to see how Christmas will be here in Ghana. Sorry if this letter is somehow short, today I'm sick and don't feel awesome and that's why my header is what it is haha.

Well this week we had three people set up for a baptism but they haven't been keeping commitments so we had to push it back. This new area is great, the members enjoy working with us and helping us. The ward is good, it's pretty big. The bishop is good to us, he's a police officer but to me he is some how small to be a police officer. There are good ward missionaries here that help us a lot!

I've been asking some of the members that were members when the temple was built about how the temple has impacted their life and some of their responses are that "they feel like they are in heaven when they are there", and also "it's an amazing blessing in their life" I'll try and get more detailed members responses next week.

This week went by somehow fast, so i guess that's good. Like I said I'm not feeling awesome so I don't really know what to say.

I know that at this Christmas season that as we focus on our Savior's birth and what Christmas is really about then we can see the true meaning of Christmas.   Being on a mission has made me think more about Christ this season. I love all you people with my whole heart and want to wish you a Merry Christmas.


Love Elder Paulson

Good Afternoon,

Hello Friends and Family,

This week has been a very good and happy week for me I could say, my spirit has been lifted and helped so much this week and I would first like to thank all of you for the prayers and fasting for me.

Well first off, if you don't know Ghana has had their elections this week and they have voted in a new president this year, they were pretty excited about it. It probably would have been worse if the other president won because most people don't like him. On a good note there wasn't really any riots, just a lot of happy dancing in the streets and fireworks. I'll send some pictures when i get the chance.

This week was good because it is somehow refreshing to get a new companion, new apartment, and new area. The members in this area are really awesome and love the missionaries. There is this one girl named Freda who is 18 and is preparing to serve a mission and is so awesome, she comes teaching with us and is amazing in the gospel and how much she knows. The area is awesome and they are preparing to have 3 baptisms on the 24th of this month which will be awesome to see!

I feel as though me and Elder Wiscombe are doing really well together as companions, he is from Brigham city Utah! A Utah boy!!!! He's awesome and really nice and he likes playing some bball and doing a bunch of fun stuff. He also had a rough time getting started on his mission so we will see what I can learn from him.

In this letter i would like to bear my testimony on the word "Agency" and how this word affects all of our lives. I have learned on my mission from the Ghanaian life style that agency is one of the biggest blessings in life. Even from the time before we came into this earth we made decisions, the biggest was to follow Jesus Christ's plan for us and to come to this earth and receive bodies and now we have decisions every day to either follow him or to go against him. You should read 2nd Nephi 2:27 if you have a chance. We have agency everyday whether to choose him or to choose away from him. I promise to you all (this is something i do everyday with investigators). that if you choose to always follow Christ and keep his commandments and to study the scriptures not just read them then he will never, EVER leave your side. Like my dad always says to me "Max, make good choices" Friends and family please make good choices and know that i love you all and that our Heavenly Father loves and knows each one of us personally. I leave my testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all, Elder Paulson

P.S sorry i dont have a device to send pictures but there will be pictures soon.

These pictures the mission secretary sent to me, she is really nice and knows how I love to see his smile.  First sunday in his new ward with his companion from Utah! 

Like Schy, I'm a Big Boy Now!


Good Afternoon from Ghana,


Well friends and family, I have finished my training and have been transferred from my "mission father" to be with Elder Wiscombe who is from Brigham City, Utah. My new area is called Ofankor. It's in the city which is noisy and doesn't smell the best either. ha. It was really actually hard to leave Kasoa. We have a Ward Missionary his name is Isaac and he loved us and when we told him both me and Elder Evans were leaving he cried and so did a lot of people actually. It was hard to leave the people i had grown so close to. The members there were awesome I am going to miss them. So i got here monday and monday was a regular proselyting day because of elections coming up they changed things around. Now I don't know if things are going to get nuts here in Ghana about this Election but its a pretty big thing. Tomorrow they will have there elections so if there are riots then we won't be going out at all even Thursday we are having a deep cleaning in all the apartment in the mission because Thursday is the day they find out who won the election and then things might get cra cra. Haha. So today isTuesday and we are having our P day. It was weird that I'm now just a normal missionary, no longer training and no longer a newbee. Wish I was still in Kasoa though. This area they ride bikes and I HATE riding bikes haha. They hurt my bum, haha but ill get skkkkiiiinnny real quick. We have a mall close by to us and today we went and got some pizza which I was real happy about. Also there is an American shop in our area that sells pizza and other American things so i might be enjoying that a little too much haha.


There's not much to write since i have been transferred but i love you guys.


Elder Paulson

Good Afternoon Friends and Family,

First off congrats to Bingham on takin State!

Well, this week was long but good! The whole week i was looking forward to Thanksgiving!

We have a dude who we were teaching and he is from Nigeria and a lot of them who stay in Ghana go back for Christmas so that sucks. On the good note, umm we have a lot of investigators who are progressing, it has been a long time since we have had a baptism in my area and our bishop would really like us to get some soon. He's an awesome guy! Also there is a new man we met whose name is Emmanuel and he has met with missionaries before but never got to finish the lessons with them so we went and started to teach him and he is a awesome guy as well! Also our brother Micheal, he is leaving for Saudi Arabia on like the 8th of December but we told him when he gets home he needs to get baptized and do some awesome work! He promised us he would! He would be an amazing convert if we were able to baptize him. It's ok though. In our area and how it is through out all of Ghana is a lot of contacting from like either people just on the street and people at there houses and from member referrals every once in a while. This week though we have been going around to all of our members and sharing the video of #lighttheworld to them and about giving service this Christmas Season. Honestly not having snow or cold doesn't even feel like it's getting to be Christmas but it is still of course.

As for my Dad's question about a cleaning/cooking/washing lady, we have a lady to wash our clothes every week for like 8 cedis but i haven't really thought about a cook lady. Not a lot of members live by us so that is hard. I will look into that this week and see.

The sun is getting hotter this time of year and the dust from the roads is very thick and it sometimes can be hard to see even walking down the roads. We had a broadcast from Elder Stevenson 2 Sundays ago and it was really good to see and hear from him about missionary work and how Africa is rapidly growing in the world today with the Gospel and how important this work is! My testimony for the month of December is that the message of light the world has been given us from not just the First Presidency but from Jesus Christ about what we need to really look at this time of year. Show our Light of Christ that we all have with someone this Christmas season. I love you people so much.

Elder Paulson

He received his size 14 shoes that I sent in the mail this week. YAHOO! In this picture he is at a multi-zone conference and met up with his MTC companion Elder Hill and Elder Jones from the MTC. I received this note from Sister Munro, the mission office sister, "When Elder Paulson emails you - make sure he tells you what a FAAAAANTASTIC job he did leading the recitations at the commencement of the conference!!!!!!! He truly set a positive tone for the whole meeting!!!!!! 😄😄😄😄😄

Good Afternoon,

Hello friends and family back in America. I hope all is going well and i want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Well this week has been another good one, same as Elder Koch, though it seems as it has been really slow. Micheal, the man who was going to go to Saudi Arabia isnt going for like another 2 weeks so we get to teach him more and his desire to get baptized is crazy. He keeps asking us why he can't and we tell him because you won't be able to partake of the sacrament while you are there and go to church and do all those things. He understands but he just wishes it was different. Simon said he is wanting to wait to get baptized because his wife and his little girl are in Kumasi and he doesn't know how they will take it if he gets baptized, which of course is totally understandable but he is an awesome guy and he loves to learn with us. Also, we have been contacting a ton this week trying to find new people to teach. We met this lady and she is very interested and she always gives us oranges when we come. The thing in Ghana is you have to find people who really are prepared to hear the gospel in there life. We have been meeting with a man who is a pastor of another church and he told us the other day that he has been a pastor for a long time and has buried a lot of people in his life and told a lot of his members where their family members are. Then we came and visited and while we were there he told us that he had been sitting there thinking about where his daughter is and was concernd about her. So we taught him about of course the plan of salvation. It was an awesome lesson and we felt like his heart was softened.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Talk to you in a week!


I love you people.


Elder Paulson

Wow first off happy three months everybody! I hope you are all doing well!


Well this week went by really slow to me, but it was good. First off it's crazy to think i have been out for 3 months. It seems like yesterday i was in the MTC eating ice cream! HA! Well tuesday we went and did the usual, went out to teach people and this man Micheal we have been teaching is going to Saudi Arabia to live for 2 years and it sucks because he has been such an awesome investigator and amazing friend! He has started to love the gospel so much and I'm going to miss him. We have had a hard time getting members to come out with us because something has come up or they are going somewhere. So it's just been a lot of other lessons this week. On another topic I'm starting to enjoy some of the food more now not all the food but some, BUT THE FRUIT like my buddy Elder Shoemaker said is Amazing! They cut it up for you right in front of you so it's really fresh and nice. Well it's also amazingly hot here like i told you all before.  I'm just immune to sweat now which is weird but i weighed myself at Michale's house and i've lost like 20 pounds.  i feel and look a lot lighter. Sorry Elder Koch your going to be looking like me when you get home eating all those tamales and wonderful foods. I'll make some FUFU for you people in 21 months or some Banku and you will see. The people here call me bigge and i kind of like it, they all love me. Our bishop is a awesome guy and he always gives us some nice biscuits or drinks sometimes. There is also this guy named Simon and he is really doing well and he loves the gospel and he is wanting to get baptized soon!


Sorry this letter is all over the place, i just feel like i haven't been sharing a lot of information with you guys! Whenever i get the chance to play soccer with the kids in the street i do, even though im really bad haha but they love it. Me and my companion bought some kentai (African fabric)  this week and we are going to make ties out of it! Ill send you pictures of them when they are done! We are already into week 4 of this transfer and its flying by it seems like. Im excited to see what i will do this next transfer and what it  will bring. The little kids here always ask us for money and they all like to give hugs or shake our hands or give us knuckles. Ummmm anything else? The light goes out a ton and we haven't had water in our apartment for a week! haha! We go to church at the stake center so it is a really nice building! Well ill talk to you all next week! Have fun with TRUMP!!


Love Elder Paulson.

One of our investigators children. 

Is it hot yet???

Elder Evans cooking in the dark!  

Mission Tour Kasoa, Mission President is the one just off the center.  I am in the second row, my head is kind of hidden behind the guy in the light blue tie.  Good Luck finding me!  haha!

Hello Friends and Family,


My week went pretty well with doing the same old regular thing haha. This week we had 7 people come to church which was cool to see! Also this week I taught midweek, and it was really fun! Midweek we just do some small bible studies and talk about the things we have read. I enjoy studying the section we are teaching on and really learning it. 

There is a man, I have told you about him before, his name is Michael and he is really progressing in the gospel and loves learning about it. The other day I bore my testimony to him about Joseph Smith and how there are so many different things that we see that people say about him and what he did.   After I was finished he told me that it was really powerful to him, the sad thing is that he is leaving to Saudi Arabia on the 18th of this month, so it is sad that we won't be able to continue meeting with him. 

Also this week Elder Evans saved a little goat from drowning in this water storage thing, it was cool haha. 

This past Sunday we had fast Sunday of course and the members get up and bare there testimony's about how grateful they are for this church and the blessings it has brought to their lives. I enjoy hearing them, it's more like a thankfulmony instead of testimony. 

I have also lost 20 pounds since I have been out here and i'm loving that part. I ate my first full ball of banku and almost put it back up like three times but i finished it which was the good part. 

Here it's getting very hot and not raining as much, it's getting into the dry season of the year and I still sweat a ton.  Here's some pics of area around where I live.  :)   Love you people! (the one picture of the tree has a monkey if you look hard)

Elder Paulson

Thank Mom and Joanna for the packages!

Good Afternoon People,


HAPPY HALOWEEN!! How is everyone doing? First off congrats to my buddy Elder Brown on making it to Ghana right when it's getting hot. Have fun in Cape Coast buddy! Eat plenty of banku! 

Well this week seems like it has flown by it seems! Well let's see this week has been all sorts of different, I'll start off with the spiritual. SO this week we had 6 investigators come to sacrament, which was so good to see! We have a man named Simon and he is awesome! He is wanting to be baptized and he wants his family to be baptized, but his wife and kid stay somehow far away but we will see what happens! Then there is another man his name is Micheal I think I talked about him last week and he is doing good! He hasn't come to church yet but he told us he is planning on coming this week to come! I also saw the cutest little black girl, I bet my sister would love to take her home with her! She always says hello to us when we pass and gives us the biggest smile, we are going to teach her family this week! Also we continue to find and teach more people everyday! Transfers just happened and we had 4 of us in an apartment and now it's just me and my companion! It's somehow lonely now but we are doing good and continuing to do the work, haha! We also go out with this guy and his name is Isaacc and he is 16 and he is a recent convert but he loves to hang out with us and he translates for us when the people we teach can't speak english. 

Saturday there was a stake activity we went to and they had a bunch of things outside like set up and it started to pour outside and we got all soaked helping people bring there stuff inside! It was actully a lot of fun haha! 

Umm let's see since the other missionarys in our apartment moved out we got their beds and stacked two and two and so now I sleep on a double matress bed and it's amazing! I suggest you try it sometime! Also I almost ate my first full bowl of banku this week and I actully enjoyed it! My companion helps me with a lot of the weird foods because he likes them and I kinda don't haha! Umm this week was somehow busy. Since the missonarys who were with us left our area got a lot bigger so we have to walk a lot now and neither of us want to ride bikes so we walk and I'im glad! Ok well love you guys kiss a pumpkin and eat lots of candy for me today!


Elder Paulson

WOW 2 months!

Hello my friends and family!

Well Happy Monday! I hope all of you had a week has been good! First I have a question of who is winning the election back home? Let me know!

First off, Congrats to Dallin Martin on returning and that's the sickest thing ive ever seen someone wear to a homecoming haha! Also congrats to Kendyl Moss on her call to Ecuador! 3rd world country life is where its at.

Ok, so I will start off with last monday we went to the biggest mall in west Africa! Something funny about that though is that its about the same size as the mall in south jordan haha! Maybe even smaller! On the other hand though they have really nice things there! I saw some white people there and its about as weird for me now as it is for other people when they see us! Then that night we went to this family the Frimpongs for family home evening and the dad of the family is our stake president and they have a really nice house here! They made us some jollaif and chicken and i enjoyed throughly! Then we went home for the night haha!

Tuesday I went on a exchange with elder Jolley and that was a fun time! His area is really big and we talked to a muslim man and his name is Jesus and he prayed for us in some really freaky way that i had no clue what was going on! We met some awesome people other then that! Ummmmm i cant really remember what we did the rest of the day other then walking around in the hot sun and me being suuupppeerr sweaty like always haha! The weather is getting to be super hot this time of year they call it homaton. Where it doesn't rain like at all and its just super dusty and ive heard you can barely see in front of you which sounds so awesome (not) haha!

Wednesday I was back with Elder Evans again and we went and taught some people that i really like, one man his name is micheal and he has a loottt of questions about the gospel and he really enjoys learning and is really progressing! His dad is pretty sick and he had been living in america for some time and hes been back here for like 2 months and they are going to have him go back because of the better hospitals and things in america. There's another man his name is simon and Elder Evans has been teaching him since before i came here and he has not been really progressing but this last week he told us of how he is having some financial trouble in his business and he has been praying for things to be better and he feels nothing is happening, he told us he hates these feelings he is having so i shared with him how my feelings and struggles have made the better things in life that much better! I think he really was happy i shared those things with him!

Thursday we had a mission tour with our area president Elder Vincent Which was good to hear from him! He had a lot of good things and one thing he talked about was being fully converted to the gospel and how being on a mission is the best way to convert yourself. He also said going on a mission isn't just to bring other people closer to the gospel but to bring yourself. He had a really good talk! His wife also talked and her talk was about her conversion story and how when she was just 8 years old the missionaries came and taught her and her mom the gospel and two weeks later they were baptized, and how to this day she still stays in touch with that missionary! How she is eternally grateful for him! It was an awesome story to hear about how much an impact missionary work has on people! It almost made me cry! I enjoyed that meeting very much!

Friday I went on an exchange with Elder Mantz and we went to my area this time and went and taught some of the serious people we are looking at to baptize soon! We walked a ton because i somehow got lost because im still learning the area some how haha! In my area there is a chop bar (small restaurant on side of road) and we went to it and they play really nice american music and i just sit there and enjoy my thing of fried rice and chicken and pure water haha! Pure water is water that is purified and they put in bags haha! Kinda wierd but really handy! This week we bought some firecrackers haha and as me and my companion for the day Elder Mantz were walking to our apartment we hear a loud bang right in front of us then one behind us and just a rain of firecrackers flew from the sky like raining on our day! Literally! The other two missionaries in our apartment got home early and were lighting them and throwing them at us! IT was a great time! It was the hardest i have laughed since ive been on mission hahaahaha!

Saturday so we are going through our normal routine back with Elder Evans and we are going to a house of a man who is fairly interested in the church and his name is denchi! He is about 64 years old and is very funny! So as we get to his house and sit down and pray and start to begin teaching with him a car pulls up and out come three men wearing nice shirts and pants and all have briefcases and if you have met these men before you know who they are! Jehovah witnesses! Asymo (big problem in twi) They come over and interrupt our lesson and ask what we are teaching and long story short i punched one of them and they didn't come back.... just kidding that would be bad! We just debated with them and they didn't listen and we decided we would just leave! But i realized that Jdubs ( what we call them) are plain out dumb! Good way to start the day. Then we went and saw this family named the Grace family they aren't that serious but we continue to have faith! The work in Ghana is getting serious people to teach and meet because a lot of people will talk with us, one cause we're white, or two because they don't want to be rude! So we have to go and find the serious people! Lots of walking and the sun is like utah except everything is wet! I enjoy humidity and understand why my bro spencer loved the humidity! Your elbows get super soft! haha.

Sunday is always the best/hardest day because its the day before p day and you just are ready for a new week and the best because you get to go to church and see the ward! I have grown to love our ward! The kids are always asking me for bracelets or CTR rings or the other things i brought for small children but that's the reason i brought them! so just a regular Sunday!

Monday this is when things get fun! SO today there is a town here called budabrum and there is a big hill/mountain there and today we climbed it. It was literally like climbing through the African jungle. I have many pictures so i will send them to do them justice!

Well thanks to all you guys who support me and love me through this time im thankful for all of you and hope you enjoy this nice LONG letter haha!

Love, Elder Paulson





New tie!



View from above!



Jungle P Day hike! OMG!











Internet cafe!


The famous water in a bag!

Dear People of the promised land,


Well another week here is Africa, things have been going well, the tro-tro rides are getting better, the language is getting easier to understand and the food..... well the food still sucks haha. Ghana is fun and this week has been pretty good. Its been the same and we always talk to crazy drunk guys or to Jehovah witnesses who are nuts.  It's all exciting and it is becoming mango season here and I have never been more excited for something in my life haha! We have an old guy who we are teaching and his name is Denchi and he is a funny old guy and the other day when we were teaching a lesson and they always dry things outside and they were drying this one weird vegetable or something and this bird starts to eat it and he throws a rock at it and says a very naughty word and me and my comp just start laughing haha. It was great, there is also a guy whose name is Micheal and he is great and has so many questions about the gospel and has been to our church before but he's a great guy and he is becoming one of our good friends. 

Me and my companion shoot lizards with our sling shots for fun which I enjoy and sometime you should try washing your clothes by hand its a great time (not). There are so many cool things going on here! I bought this cool back pack at the beach on the last p day and its the best purchase I have made in a while haha. The ocean is cool and there are guys there that sell bracelets and a bunch of hand made things there which is cool and they are all smoking weed haha! which is pretty funny i guess! 

Well not the biggest or greatest this week but I love you people.  More next week!! 

Elder Paulson

I found this picture on Facebook a couple of days after his P day!  

Good Morning Folks,


Well another week in Africa down. I am enjoying Ghana!!!! . You know the best thing about Africa is that you can almost do anything and no one cares. Like this week I caught two goats and it was the best time I've had here!


On a spiritual note, we taught some amazing people and I BAPTIZED two people! My very first baptisms! Very exciting! During the week we taught many people as usual. A lot of new people and a lot of un-serious people. Also a man we invited to come to church this week came and he said he has a lot of questions but he enjoyed it he said and so that's really good!


Also some more funny things is my companion fell in the market and everyone called him o'bruni which was super funny! Today we went to the beach and I bought a cool back pack and saw some white people, which is exciting haha! Also in Ghana the worst thing you can do is steal and we were in a market, and the markets in Ghana are huge like you would think an African market would be like, anyways, one guy grabs another guy and starts yelling "Police! Police!" then he starts punching and choking the guy and in Ghana if you steal everyone beats you so everyone started coming in and hitting him, it was a little nerve racking but at least I will never steal! In Ghana there is always something crazy happening but it's a very safe place. No one is here to hurt you.


Last week we were in the market and a crazy guy came up to us and started yelling "I'm racist" and it was really funny! It's fun to see how many people ask me to marry them or take them to America. A lot of people look at us like we're celebrities and the thought goes through my mind that they have probably never seen a white person before, so I try to be as friendly as possible to them to make their first experience with a white person as best as possible and they laugh and joke a lot too.


Well other then all that other stuff nothing too interesting really! Haha!  Love all you homies and sorry if I can't write back to you in the email you sent me but know that I love you and you're all in my prayers.


Elder Paulson

My kitchen, looks pretty normal!

Missionary antics!

Yeah, a beach!!

Anywhere there is a beach it can't be too bad!

Kasoa Market

GHANA IS NUTS!


To whom this may concern,


Hello people of the USA, what a great county you live in. Enjoy it, live it up haha. Well this week was a pretty good one I say. I have tried many new things this week, the first thing I tried was fufu with some type of stew, and you can look all these up if you really want to know, but the fufu was not nice. It's like slimy and hard to get down. I also had some Banku and Okru stew which was also rough to get down and is not very nice but my companion loves it. I LOVE jollaif rice. Its about the only thing so far that I have enjoyed besides the fruit which is fantastic and so fresh! The mango season is coming and I'm pretty excited about it. For anyone wondering, I do all my proselyting walking, which is nice.  I don't think there has been a day here where I have not sweated but on the bright side of that I think I have lost like 8 pounds haha. I have handwashed my first pair of clothes and it was pretty fun, makes you appreciate washers and dryers haha. I have learned many new Twi words and it's fun to use them to talk to people. They get so surprised when we know how to talk a little bit of the language haha. Tuesday-Friday have been about normal, just going out trying to find people to teach. There's not a ton that has happened this week. We have only had water 2 days this week so i have been taking showers out of water in a bag and that's something you don't do everyday. Also it has rained a ton here the past couple of days and everything floods.  With some members we made toffee popcorn and watched Book of Mormon stories movie and that was fun. Well sorry it's not the longest, I don't have much this week.  I love all you peeps and just keep being great people and I'll talk to you in a week.


Elder Paulson

Hello everyone,

Happy one MONTH! 23 left that is crazy to think. Well my first week in Ghana. So Monday we went to the temple site and around it they have a bunch of other buildings and in one of them they have a full basketball court so I got to play basketball my first p day in the field which was awesome.

Tuesday we went to teach some investigators which was awesome, finally teaching REAL people. I got to bear my testimony, which felt really good! I got my full Ghana name, which is Kofia Abussia-penny which means in Twi, "head of house". Also here you hear the word "o'bruni" a lot if your white because it means white man ha! ha! and the word Obollo which means big person ha! ha! It was cute, now its just kind of annoying.

Wednesday - another long day of contacting and meeting investigators, which is fun learning how to teach more, I tried my FIRST Ghana dish which is abeenqwine and amotuo which is stew with rice ball and its VERY fishy, I have also tried Fufu which is nice. 

Thursday was mostly the same and if your wondering we do small talk or Twi to people, it's really fun to learn! Madassa means thank you and there are others like etesan which is like how are you. Very cool to learn and also if I write like small small or its nice in my emails it is because it is how they talk. When they describe if you are learning something small or a short amount of time they will say small small ha! ha!, 

Friday I saw my first.................................................MONKEY! It was a baboon in the city where I am and some man caught it and has it tied to a tree outside his house and it was pretty cool ha! ha!

Saturday we went on a temple trip with our ward and I rode in my first Tro tro which are just big vans that they cram like 23 people in.  I hated it, being honest!  I think I'm now clastraphobic or however your spell it ha! ha!  I got to go through the temple and see the baptismal font! Awesome expirence! 

Sundays are always good, it feels more normal to go and take the sacrament and hear people speak ( even though it is hard to understand some people's english) But it was nice! Oh I forgot the place where my area is is called Kasoa. Its about an hour outside or Accra! I'm like a big magnet for little kids because I'm white and large ha! ha!, but it's fun and I love them. The Area I'm in is kind of at a low point with getting people baptized and finding new people to teach. 

Stuff out here is so cheap, like I can buy a Basketball Jersey for like 50 cedis which is like 15 dollars in america, I am also having a guy make me a scripture case that is done in a way called kenta, it's really cool. I'll send a picture of it when it's done. 

Well that's my week, it's not the most exciting but it's awesome here, Oh and Ghana smells AWFUL........ like because to Ghanians everywhere is their toilet. Worst smelling thing ever!! Mission is fun but it has challenges like we haven't had water this whole week, and we get our water from like filtered bags of water, I'll send a picture of that too! Many crazy things in Africa, the elections are going on here and it's about to be hit with election campaigns ha! ha!. Ok love all your peoples back home. Just be thankful to be living in THE USA because honestly it's the best!  If anyone knows some good country music with a good meaning to it, let my mother know.  I miss country music so bad.  Ha! Ha!   Love ya guys!  Elder Paulson

 Elder Vandehei and Elder Paulson

This is Amanda, she wants to play with Elder Paulson all the time.  Her family are members.