Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Last E-mail from the MTC


Hello everyone!
 
 I hope you are all doing well! Its crazy how fast time flies; it seems like just yesterday that I got here and it's already nearly 6 weeks later and I'm about to leave for the mission field. I can't wait to be out in the field and doing missionary work!
 
The MTC is as good as it can be for right now. FYI, there is no Halloween in Africa, Mom:) I leave next week sometime and I do not know my address yet but I will try and find out. We still have chicken and rice everyday but by now we are all used to it and we don't really mind it! The French is coming very well. I've picked up my studying this past week and I am starting to understand more and speak more.  It is still very difficult, but I know the Lord will bless me as I do His work.
 
I must say that the Elders here are very good at soccer; however, they are not good at basketball at all:) We joke that Africa is the only place in the world that a white man can beat a black man at basketball:D Anything that has to do with their hands is very hard for them.  Also, all of our hair was getting long so we held a haircut night last night and we all cut our hair short, even me! I guess I have accepted the fact that I'm gonna have short hair for 2 years.
 
I do have a very interesting story for you all. President Robison told us a story during Sunday School. He always says that the church here in Africa is like it was during the Nauvoo period of time in America.  So the people that we teach and baptize will one day become the Bishops and Young Women's leaders of their areas. If any of you know about the Rwanda genocide, you have an advantage on most people. It was a war in Africa in 1994 between 2 tribes that killed approximately 1 million people, an estimated 20% of the country's population. After one shooting, a soldier was walking through the bodies and he noticed a young baby about 3 months old.  He picked it up and took it to an orphanage. 15 years later, a security guard for the US embassy went to that orphanage to play games with the children. There he taught the older boys and girls about his church. One young boy wanted to know more and was baptized by the missionaries. After his baptism, the missionaries found out that this young boy was the first member of the LDS church in his entire country.  And this young man has grown up and is here at the Ghana MTC!! His name is Elder Hakizimana Dady Paul.
 
Elder Theodore Nsengiyumva (left) and Elder Hakizimana Dady Paul (right)
Here at the MTC in Ghana we are so blessed to have people like this come through our doors.  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be here at the MTC. Even though it is very hard, I do love it. Every day brings its own challenges. I feel just like you, Mom; sometimes I wish I could go home, or I want to just take a nap:) I want to see my younger brother play football and my little sister play volleyball. I feel frustrated and upset and discouraged. But when I feel like this, I get down on my knees and pray. The Lord will strengthen me and He will strengthen all of us. I'm so glad to be doing His work. I must go though; someone go have some Cafe Rio for me:)
 
Much love,
Elder Legerski.
 
ps. We got a new American missionary and he is from Star Valley, Wyoming!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Mmmm.....Breakfast:)


Hello everyone!
 
I hope you are all doing well! The MTC keeps getting better and better the longer I am here! We all got to watch General Conference this Sunday for 4 hours and it was amazing. Never before have I been so excited and already I cannot wait for the next one.  This is a group picture that is on the slide show, and it is of our district.
 
 
Say "Cheese"!!
We are all in a class together and we all have become very close, but 3 of us are going to the Ivory Coast, Elder Larson and I are going to the Congo and the rest are going to Benin. My mission includes Cameroon, the Congo, Central African Republic, Gabon and Rio Muni. As Elder Larson and I did research, we found that the equater cuts our mission in half and goes through one of our cities directly, so its going to be very hot and humid there, much unlike Wyoming:)
 
Outlined in blue is the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Brazzaville Mission (Elder Legerski's mission)
The highlights of the week are few, but they were well worth it. Our lunch lady is very sweet and she takes pity on us white American elders so she made us cheese omletes one day and cheeseburgers and fries the next. You can say that we were just about in tears as we ate it. And we were in tears again as we went back to rice and chicken the next meal;)

Chicken...and rice....again:)
As you know, Elder Whitt got Oreos from his family so we all had one and I don't think I have savored anything as much as I savored that Oreo. It's funny, the longer I have been here, the more I look forward to breakfast and last night as my room and I were talking, we noticed that we are so excited for breakfast for one reason: a hunk of bread with butter on it! That is all. We love that bread and as the days fly by, I realize that I am starting to appreciate things much more.
 
OREOS!!!!!!
My French is coming along as fast as it can. We learn lots and lots everyday and as a challenge, my room decided to speak only French for a day. We lasted until 3:00 pm, when sports started, but it was very good for us and I was suprised to find out I knew how to say and understand a lot of French. 
 
Yes...I am studying. A lot:)
I thought now would be as good a time as ever to talk about my teachers. They are Brother Taki and Brother Djoussou.  Brother Taki is very nice and it was his birthday on Tuesday so we all sang to him; he is very driven and motivated and drives us to do our best. Brother Djoussou is very funny; we get distracted a lot with him. He says we wants to move to either Wyoming or Ohio and marry a cowgirl. We have no idea how he knows about Ohio, but he sure does love it.
 
Learnin' lots!!
Also, on Sundays our Sunday School teacher and priesthood teacher is President Robison. He is great; he comes in and talks to us and asks for feed back and also leads and guides us. I feel lucky to be in the Ghana MTC because we get to be so close with everyone and even our President knows us personally.
 
Our mission President and his wife, the Robisons
During sports time this week, we all decided that we would play soccer. It is very hard and some of the Elders here are very good and they think it is very funny to make us white boys look stupid. It is very fun but I would much rather play basketball.
Defending the goal
Elder Larson using his head:) As Elder Legerski looks on
 
Look at that footwork!!
 

I hope all is going well back home. I am learning so much about the gospel and the French language here it is crazy! One piece of advice I have for everyone is to read your scriptures; never before have I wanted to read them so badly and now I find I never have enough time. So feast upon the words of Christ and find comfort in them. Our Father in Heaven loves us and wants us to do all that we can. We are all children of God. The time here flies and I cannot believe that it has been nearly 4 weeks! I hope all is good back home. Someone please go have a 20 piece McNugget for me.!!!
 
Much love,
Elder Legerski

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

My New Experiences!


Hello everyone!
 
I hope you are doing amazing! Sorry for everyone that I do not get to write to... I do not have very good internet and I have very limited time.
 
The French language is coming, but very slowly! We're learning about tenses and it is becoming very confusing but it is coming along.  At night, we play card games with our districts so that we can practice our verbs, as well as our numbers.
 
The MTC is still the same! But something I left out is that we are in a little compound and there are walls all around, with an electric fence at the top! And the church building has bars on every window so it is very different from the US.

Ghana MTC
 
The cafateria was very interesting this week. I learned that after you cook a chicken, you can eat the bone.  So one by one, we ate the bone and it tastes gross, as you can imagine, but at least I'm getting to try new things! Also, we got ice cream and brownies one night, along with beef, so we Americans felt like it was heaven!
 
We got to go to the temple this week as well and it was amazing! For mom, the session is in English, as well as with French translators! We got to do baptisms for the dead as a district and I got to be baptized by Elder Boatang. Other than that there is not much that has gone on. We did not get to watch conference on Sunday, but we get to watch some of it next Sunday, so we have to wait, but it is with patience:)

Elder Legerski and Elder Boatang
 

Also, I'm so glad that I brought so many ties. The African elders here love the American ties and we Americans love the African ties. I have been able to trade many ties with elders that I have come to love and care for.

Ghana MTC Group picture
 (and I think I see a few African elders sporting Elder Legerski's ties:)

Sending pictures takes forever, but I'll do my best to send them as often as I can! I have to go though, so I wish you all the best and have fun with your lives in America and go eat some Mc Donalds for me!                
 
Much love!
Elder Legerski

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Laundry, African style:)


Hi all of you!!

Sorry if my email isn't great this week.   All I have really been doing is language study!  We get up early each day and we go into a class room until about 9 at night; we are learning lots but it is still very, very hard! So far I have learned how to introduce myself in French, how to say a prayer, as well as testify and kind of have a 10 to 15 minute lesson! It gets very, very frustrating at times but we all have a good time together and it is a lot of fun.

District d'Abinadi

The food here is not good and it seems to be getting worse. We have rice and chicken without fail for every meal but breakfast. One day we had bean and fish soup that smelled like pig slop, but I had some to keep my strength up. But for the most part, it was gross and Koltin would have puked if he had smelled it:D

Sorry if I'm not super detailed; I have a limited time to email and my pday will be on Wednesday or Tuesday every week depending on the schedule. This week all of the 2 week Elders left and it was very hard for some reason. Even though they were here for only 2 weeks, we have come to grow and love them. I will attach a few pictures of some. They taught us how to wash clothes in buckets like they do.
 
Laundry Day
Although we do have laundry once a week, you run out of exercise clothes fast because you sweat so much when you play. The washing was not that bad, even though all the African Elders laughed at us white boys; they helped us and it actually washed your clothes a ton.
 
 Elder Legerski and one of his favorite African brothers,
Elder Addey Williams
 
The days seem to drag on and we live for Sundays and pdays, but we are surviving well enough. Every night we have lots of people in our room because the black Elders love to talk with the big white boys. If I say "we" all the time, I'm sorry. I am always with Elder Whitt, Elder Miller and Elder Larson and we do everything together.
 
Elder Legerski and another of his favorite African elders,
Elder Edeh 

The new Elders that are coming in are all French speaking, so we are going to quote "get thrown in the deep end". All meetings will be held in French so hopefully we learn fast so we can survive! Even though I only have 4 weeks left here, I cannot wait to be out in the field and teaching people. I love you all so much and I hope all is going well. I send my best wishes from Ghana!

Elder Legerski