Happy 19th Birthday

Happy Birthday Randall!

Your family loves and misses you dearly! Go take on the world!

Taken in La Jolla the weekend before his departure.

Ghana Temple

Randall and other missionaries from MTC at Ghana Temple.

http://ghanamtc.blogspot.com/2014/03/hurrah-for-israel.html?m=1

Love Ya

Well I only have a few moments in between classes. I have plenty of pictures and videos that I would like to send you but I can’t yet as SD card isn’t full and at this rate I will need all the space. I found all the Christmas pictures on the SD and I love looking at them at night!! All the silly faces that we are making plus thei is one with Greta in it! Well I’m still having fun nothing has really happened since yesterday’s email just a bunch of classes. They ship us out next week and I can’t wait! When I have the SD card reader I can send like one or two pictures with my emails. We got to clean the bathrooms today, I’ll admit not something I wanted to do in Africa. Can you guys start sending these e mails to Adam too or tell him to email me at randall.gebauer@myldsmail.net I would really love to talk to him too and know what he is up too. Cadence will be happy to know that all my friends here get my lord or the ring jokes and understand and enjoy quoting hotrod just as much as me! Though it’s not the same as doing it with you. When the boys and Kami start swimming I want to know all about it! And mom just remember theirs only 4 more general conferences till I come home such a short time to do so much.

Well it’s sad to say but I have to go, the mission president just told me to forget yourself and go to work haha. I will let you know when I get stuff from you guys and I’ll try to talk to you before I head out but if not I love you all. Please tell anyone who contributed to my mission thank you especially Mat and Nam, and brother wolf, and Ben and Lin and you guys. I'll reply to your two emails then I got to go:)

I love you all so much!!!!

Love your missionary Elder Gebauer

Speaking Krio and Wookie's

My lion bite is healing well.  I can almost walk again!

Well the last few days have been an experience to say the least! I have been preparing to teach my first investigator tomorrow, yeah tomorrowwwwww! It turns out that I will be speaking something called ''Krio'' so yeah there is that apparently.  It’s something like a weird form of English but I will pick it up in the field I hope.  Me and all the American elders are having lots of fun telling the African elders about America’s North American wildlife, especially about the Wookie and Ewoks that lives in Endor forest up next to Canada : ) ha ha as well as telling them about all the weird things in American culture like you close your right eye when you shake hands and you always put on your left sock first.  Today we took the hour long drive to the temple in a small van by cramming 15 elders in it.  It was not such a great drive but the temple was cool.  It was small about the size of the one in MN.  So we got to see lots of Ghana (I’m definitely not in America no more), holy crap what a culture shock.  All the natives kept looking in the van like we were weird fish in a fishbowl.  There was a part of the trip when we drove by the slums and we all could not believe what we saw.  We were all in shock and then we came to a market, everyone selling stuff to the people driving by.  The whole street was packed!  I also saw a group of puppies, not dogs, puppies digging through the trash.  I thought I was going to die, I wanted one!!!!!!!!!  They are big bats here everywhere, the ones the size of a small dog, yeah them.  The food is good, still eating rice, but you remember all the things you told me not to eat in Africa?  Yeah, I think I have eaten about all of them ha ha, I’m still alive :) The elders for Africa are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I have one as a companion and two more in my room.  I have replaced Adam with Adam ha ha, yes I found a friend from England whose name is Adam! Well I think I’m going to finish off here.  Me and my friends are going to go open the party bag because we have a P-day today.  Ummmmm if there is anything I would like to have it would be an SD card reader one that is an USB thing too.  Next week we get sent out and I may not have a chance to hop on the email so if I don’t get back to you for two weeks that may be why. I will try my best to talk to you before then but if not.......

Love you guys so much!!!!!!

Miss you all.

Love your son, brother, friend,

 Elder Gebauer

Arrival at Ghana MTC

Dear family,

 

The lion bite is healing well, I can almost walk again.

 

Well after 24 hours on that dang plane, I finally made it to Ghana and my gosh, it is hot here.  I spent most of last night sweating to death.  My travels went fine.  I met up with another elder in Dallas about an hour before the plane left.  After that we met up with about five other missionaries in London and all got on the plane together for Ghana.  We spent about an hour on the runway waiting for them to fix something and it got really hot in the plain.  There are about 15 other Americans here, most are from Utah, then there are some Tongan elders and one from the UK.  Upon arrival in the Ghana airport you step out onto the runway and are immediately greeted by the humidity!  After that we all sat around the baggage claim waiting for our bags to show up and thankfully they did.  We then proceeded through customs, and I was convinced that I was going to end up on an episode of Locked Up Abroad.  We got through no problem.  We then when out front and were greeted by a member that did not look totally convincing that he was the one we should be going with because he was not wearing a white shirt.  It wasn’t until I saw his garments out from under his shirt that I was convinced that this was an intelligent idea.  We went out to the parking lot (dirt lot) and all crammed into a van.  The locals were eager to help us get our bags into the van but after they asked for a tip we were told not to give them anything and so we just told them we had no money.  One of the boys traveling with us was especially singled out and we were convinced that he was going to get jumped but then we all got loaded into the van and he drove away fast!  We arrived at the MTC around 12:00 pm.  We were welcome by the missionaries who had been in for a month learning to speak French.  We were given a snack (leftover breakfast) and sent to our rooms for the night.  I wasn’t too fond of the snack like muffin thing they gave us and I didn’t finish it all.  You will be happy to know that there is indoor plumbing in the MTC and hot showers, but there is an electric fence around the compound.  There is no AC in the rooms but there is a small fan (it doesn’t help).  This morning we all got orientation and were given our pills for stuff?  Almost everyone in the MTC at the moment are going to Sierra Leone.  Today we should be getting all the African elders in and it looks like I have a local as a companion in the MTC.  Last night I was second guessing my decision to serve but come this morning I am fine with it.  Well we only get about 30 min to email and others are eagerly awaiting their turn, so I will write on Monday!!!!

 

Until then I LOVE you all and hope you aren’t too worried about me.  Get some sleep mom and dad, I will be fine and staying up isn’t going to help.

 

I love you all so much.

 

From your missionary,

Elder Gebauer