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

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

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

MTC: Week 2

Hello everyone!

It's true when they say that the MTC messes up your sense of time. I have only been gone for 5 days but it feels like a month! We have been very busy; the elders here usually get up around 5, so we are up very, very early and it is very annoying;)

 

My companion is Elder Larson and he is from Morgan.  We get along very well and he is a great guy and an amazing companion. The food here is very bad. For every meal we have chicken and rice so you can say I don't eat much anymore any more and I am losing quite a bit of weight. But we got pizza at the mall today and man was it good to taste greasy American like food!

 

 Elder Legerski in the "row" second from the top

Elder Larson, his companion, is right below him

This was the group of missionaries that arrived at the Ghana MTC on September 18

 

The Elders here are great and so friendly. However they need to go to bed at 10:30 and not at midnight because they are very, very loud! Everyone here loves to sing. We look like a bunch of babies back home because they love to sing as loud as they can. Most of them love us. They are always coming into our room at night and asking about our lives and what it is like in America. They all think I am a big and strong white man:)

 

 Elder Whitt, Elder Miller, Elder Larson and Elder Legerski

Visiting the Ghana Temple for the first time

 

 

 We got to go to the temple today and that was great. After being here for a week it was great being able to slow things down and relax and have a great spititual experience.

 

The language is going okay we have learned a lot for only 3 days of being taught. We have learned introductions, prayers, and also how to testify in French. We practice in our free time all of the time so we can learn the language as fast as we can.

 

The only bad thing is that we do not have much time to read the scriptures. I have come to love reading them and also to pray as that helps me get through the long days and it strengthens me so I may bear the burdens I have. The spirit here is just amazing! There is nothing like it, but it is very overwhelming the first few days. I was very homesick at first but the more I stay busy and the longer I am here, the less it gets because the Lord is helping me.

 

 Elder Legerski (in the blue) enjoying a little bball

at the Ghana MTC

 

I love activities because we play basketball against the French speaking Elders and they just love it! It is very humid outside, but most of the time we have air conditioning. The native Elders here all wash their clothes in the bathroom in tubs and it seems very strange but it is how they all do it. I am really enjoying it here and I hope to talk to you all soon! My p-day will usually be Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

I now only have 5 weeks left here so I am very happy I am that much closer to going out and teaching people. One thing we did not get was an outlet converter for here, but they may be different in my mission so I will wait to get one. The boundraies changed so next time I will tell you which countries my card needs to be opened for. I take my malaria pills every night so I am very safe:) I hope you are all doing well; I am sending prayers your way. I love you all so much!

 

Elder Legerski

I MADE IT!!

Hi Mom and Dad!

 

Its Elder Legerski!! I have my name tag now so I am all official. The flight over here stunk. On the plane ride to Denver it wasn't too bad. But then after that it got very boring. Sitting all alone in an airport was not fun at all. But luckily the time passed very fast and I was on the plane to London. Now talk about a crappy flight! It was so long and the guy behind me kept kicking the back of my chair so I couldn't sleep very well. But they gave me quite a bit of food (even though it was pretty crappy). I already miss Mc Donalds and Cafe Rio quite a bit.

 

After I got off the plane in London, I found my next gate pretty easily. Sorry I did not call, I only had about 40 minutes in between flights and I only had about 5 minutes of downtime while waiting for my plane. There I met up with several missionaries. They were nice and we hung out and talked. There were a few of us that were going to the MTC, but most of them were on their way to Ghana. 

 

I met Elder Larson there who is my companion. He is very nice and we get along well so that's all good. I sat next to him on the flight to accra and it was only he and I in a row of 3 so we had plenty of room. That flight was long as well. As you can tell, I'm already sick of flying. Even though it was 6 hours instead of 9, it seemed to be way longer.

 

When I got to Accra, the first thing we saw was a station like the one off of "I Am Legend" that I presume scanned for ebola, with guys in uniforms. It is so hot and humid here, I think I'll lose weight no problem. There are only 6 white guys in the whole MTC so you can say we stick out a bit. There are 6 people to a room. Last night I had my panic moment and I wanted to quit and go home right then, but I know that will pass. Downtime stinks because my mind wanders, but I can't wait to get to work. I'll be in the MTC for 6 weeks, so hopefully they fly by so I can start serving. I have my (malaria) pills so I'll be okay. Well, I gotta go so I'll email you as soon as I can. I can't wait! I love you all so much!

 

Elder Legerski

 

 
First selfie as Elder Legerski:)