Where's Jordan?

Where's Jordan?

Can you spot Jordan?  Check out the haircut!  He said they don't know how to cut "white boys" hair, but that he actually likes it this short and not to worry about sending anymore gel anytime soon! 

Obroni vs Obrofi vs Bebinni vs Ghanaian

  Akwaaba!! I hope everyone is well with in their lives! As for me, I'm doing great!! I can definitely say that this is one of the happiest times of my life! 

  Life in Odoben is pretty sweet. We walk, we ride a tro (which is simply a cargo van turned into a transport vehicle that is only supposed to hold 12 people tops and always gets 20 people stuffed in somehow), but most importantly, we talk to people. 

  All day my companion, Elder Lee, and I are followed by little Ghanaian children calling out "Obroni, Obroni" which means white person. Others, usually adults, sometimes call out Obrofi, which means "from abroad". We usually reply with the phrase "Meh Bebinni", which means I'm a black person, which always elicits a laugh out of whoever is present. But my goal is to pass through the Obroni stage, the Obrofi stage, and even the Bebinni stage, until I can call myself Ghanaian and people accept it. My skin color is a handicap, but I'm learning the language and hoping that I get good enough to persuade them of the truth(;

  If I could send pictures, they would consist of lush, green jungle, colorfully clad school kids, and the foods I've experienced (some good, others...not so good). I truly believe that anyone who wants to better themselves should move to Ghana (that is, if they don't want to try the gospel of Jesus Christ) because the people here teach more of perseverance and humility than any other. I love being here around them and am excited for the next 23 months!

  Anyways, I don't always know when I'll be able to post, so try and bear with me, and I'll do my best! Take care, and remember, Asari Nkwari (the church is true)!!

Elder Collins

Jordan's Letter to the Family

Hola Familia!!

  Sorry, I'm spanish deprived(; So I feel like soooo much has happened since I last got to write you guys!! I'll explain how it's been (we're at an internet cafe with SUPER slow internet and we have an appointment with an investigator in a couple hours who is about to get baptized, so I only have 40 minutes to write).

  Well, first off I am in the wonderful village, yes village, of Odeben! It's a smallish sized little place with lots of people, goats, and dogs...not like Chloe though (I miss her). My companion is Elder Lee and he's from Modesto!! yep, we're only a meager 2 hours away from where he lives! He's 19, has only been out 3 months and is already training! I like him a lot and have a lot to learn from him!

  A little more about Odeben. We're in the Odeben 1st Branch, which means we get 1/2 of the village while the other Elders get the other half *Elders Kirumira and Adair, awesome guys) Odeben, to be quite honest, stinks. We live right next to the dump, which might be one of the issues, but the main thing is that everywhere is everyone's bathroom. Yep, that means I see people going to the bathroom all day long...fun stuff for a missionary(; Also the people love to eat stinky fish, and a lot of it too! Children run around naked, women breastfeed or dont wear shirts in public, and guys take showers in semi enclosed areas. Now you may be thinking, "Why Elder Collins, that doesn't sound like a very nice place?" Ah, but you see, that is but the surface of Odeben, Underneath all of it, the people are gold!! They are the nicest and friendliest people I have met...besides you guys(; Even though the smells can get strong and the dirtiness of it all can feel overwhelming, what makes it worth it are the bright smiling faces of all these amazing people. Most of them live in a hut made of clay, rock, and aluminum, but they welcome you in and are proud of their home.

  Now, to tell you a little bit about MY home. I live in an apartment building with the other Elders, which consists of 2 rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a dining area, and another smaller room. We have a sink that has running water (when the electricity is working) and also has filtered water. The toilet and shower, however, are different matters. Neither of them have running water, so we have to draw water from a well (yes a well) and dump that in the toilet to "flush", and for the shower, we fill up a bucket, use a tesla coil to heat it up to desired temperature (again, when the power is on) and use a cup to pour the water over ourselves....we call it a "bucket shower"!!!! To be honest, it's a little fun...minus the toilet part(; I share my room with Elder Lee of course, and we both have a mattress with a mosquito net over it, as well as a fan at the foot of the bed to help battle the humidity and heat (which hasn't been too bad since arriving) All in all, our living arrangements are pretty nice compared to the people.

  You wanna hear about the food mom? Ok, well, for starters, I've already had snail. Oh yeah, and it was about 4 inches big....ya know, because I'm a growing boy, right? It was in a bowl of fufu that some investigators made for us. Elder Lee and I actually had no problem with the snail, or the fish with all their organs still in them, no, it was the fufu that was enough for 4 people that we couldn't handle. We both went to the point where we were gagging from the amount of fufu we had eaten, which wasn't even half, and we both said we couldn't eat anymore. But, the Lord provides for His servants when they've done their best. So Elder Lee looks to his right, sees a dog, and starts dropping the fufu on the ground by the table we were eating at....we quickly finished off the rest of the fufu haha!! We were sly though, so don't worry, no hurt feelings anywhere...in fact, the dog and us Elders had a little connection after that(;

  As you can expect, I'm taller than EVERYONE, no surprise there, right? Mom, you would absolutely love the kids here! They are the happiest, cutest, and most energetic kids I have ever met. Everywhere we go we hear their high pitched voices yelling "Obruni, obruni, ete sen?" which is Fante for "White guy(person), how are you? To which we reply "Eh yeh" which means I'm fine. Yes, I am in fact learning a language haha. Tomorrow will be a week for me, and I've already learned enough Fante to somewhat communicate with someone. I love their language, and if I work hard at it, I could become somewhat fluent before my training is done!

 Oh, and my p-days are Mondays, but we can't access computers till district meetings on Tuesdays, so this is when I'll email.

  I'm glad Taylor and Tyler are doing well, and that Adam is getting taller haha, I miss them all!! I'm running out of time, but I love you all and can't wait to be able to send you pics of me and Odoben (these computers have viruses on them so we can't send pics while I'm here...Anyways though, if you want to send letters to me, I would have more time for that! I love you all, and I'll email again in a small time!

Love Elder Collins 

Pictures from Ghana

Elder Collins with his MTC companion

Jordan in the MTC (Mission Training Center) in Accra, Ghana

Looks like he is having a good time!

Ghana is Great!

What's up everyone!? 

Did you miss me? 

Don't worry, if you did I won't tell anyone...well, other than my African brotha's.

 Oh yeah, in case you forgot, I'm kinda living in Ghana right now, specifically Accra.

  I got here 12 days ago and have loved every single little bit of it! From the 2 lane roads that really can be squeezed into 5 if you try REALLY hard, to the African elders who sing American songs better than us Americans, to the spicy food and never-ending rice that the Ghanians love....yep, all of that!

  Let me tell you about my first encounter with the people real quick though. So we got off the plane at the Accra airport and went through customs and baggage claim and all that fun stuff, and then made it out into the main lobby area. I could literally read people's minds as they saw a group of 24 white American 18/19 year olds huddled together into a group, not unlike cattle. Most of them had that look like, "Jeez, poor school kids got on the wrong plane". 

We all just smiled back, at least those of us that weren't scared out of our minds

 (I was too hungry to focus on fears at that time)

  Our rides showed up finally...three 15 seater vans that are the same size as our suburbans pretty much, 

just a little longer and skinnier. If you've never been to Six Flags, don't go! 

Just hop on a plane to Africa and take a quick ride through town and In guarantee that you'll experience more fear and thoughts of death than the Medusa and Superman combined...easily! 

The rules to driving here are:

 1)If a car in front of you is going too slow, honk till they move. If they don't, then drive around them, even if it means going off the road (which is most of the time)

 2) When driving, use the road ONLY as a last resort. The dirt roads and shoulders are way more popular, not to mention more fun(;

 and 3) If a car only seats 15 legally, don't worry, you can fit at least 8 more before considering to stop letting people in.

  I've been in the MTC this whole time, but as of tomorrow I'll be leaving and heading to another part of Ghana to begin my missionary work! I can't wait, and hopefully then I'll be able to provide pictures(: 

Anyways, stay cool my friends and family in the states, and keep enjoying that peanut butter!!

Funny moment of the stay: My companion from Ghana singing Demi Lovato from Camp Rock, and then getting confused when I couldn't breathe from laughing so hard.

Love,

Elder Collins