A little homesick

So, with the crazy email schedule we've had, I was absolutely delighted to find a Monday morning email!  I had asked him if they just write when they can find and internet signal.  I also asked him about some of us putting money into his debit account for him to use to buy some much needed food and supplies for some of the families there for Christmas.  We figured that it would be a much better use of resources to just equip him with the means to take care of it on that end.  I wanted to find out about how they shop for their food, etc. He's getting so much better at answering my questions!  How I love this boy!

Dear Mom, 

We do write emails on days when we can. Today we found a new cafe so hopefully we can get back to Monday email. Life here is good. 

So what we do for food is we usually buy a bulk box of ramen or 5-6 loafs of bread and make it last. Food is a big money hole here. There are a bunch of individual shops. You walk around and barter for a deal, but there is definitely a market for produce on Tuesday. Tuesday is market day.  As for the money for Christmas, I would be honored to do that. Thank Julee and Dedi for me. 

I forgot to tell you last week, but last Saturday was the day my emotions came out. I finished a very intense workout, I walked inside and saw our family picture then out of nowhere I started to cry. I sat down and thought of you guys and how much I love and miss you. Elder Barfuss came right to my side and comforted me. Then Elder Lords, who I came out with, start to cry to and told me he knew what I was feeling. I feel better now. I'm thankful for the support these guys give me.

My next baptism might be on Sunday. I cant believe I'm almost 19. I'm dropping weight like crazy. I look like I did a month after our cruise and its still coming off!  Tell the kids I love them all so much. I love you all a ton and I miss you. I'll write you about my progress this week.

Love, Elder Keddington

I am so incredibly grateful for this wonderful trainer that he has!  He has been so great for Elder K.  I am just so happy that these wonderful young men and women are having these great experiences.  It's unlike anything that they could have dreamed of here and it's so good for them!  We are very very blessed!

Life in Kwabeng

I am learning patience.  It's something I desperately need to work on and always have.  Having to wait until Wednesday this week to hear from my boy gave me another opportunity to exercise that patience.  I imagine it is just about grabbing an internet signal when they can.  This is good for me! 

I asked him to send me some examples of the way the kids there lived so that I could share with my kids how blessed (ahem, spoiled) they are.  The wait was well worth it:

Dear mom,

I have seen some pretty jarring examples of poverty here. For example, showers consist of a big bowl of cold water that the kids sit in and wash themselves. Every kids shoe has a hole in it and they live in concrete shacks with tin roofs. But they are always so full of energy and excitement. For them a piece of bubble gum is like Christmas.

This week is a bit of a slow one, but on Sunday we hope to have another baptism. I confirmed Prince last Sunday, but I messed up on the prayer so they had me do it again after the meeting. I'm losing weight and my belly is almost gone again. I promised the Lord that I would stay humble this time and not gloat about my physique this time.

Tell Seth Happy Birthday for me.  I've got the kids some souvenirs already but I will keep getting them things. Hows everyone?  Tell Hayden Bush I miss him and I will see him in 3.

Mom I love you all soo much and I am doing alright out here.

With all my love, Elder Keddington 

I love how he says things are slow, but they should have another baptism on Sunday!  Sounds like the work is good.  And I love that he promises not to gloat about his physique.  He did tend to do that when he got so skinny before because it was rather unlike our family, but good for him!  Yay for a belt!

I've been wondering what to send him to give to people at Christmas.  I think I will just send a couple of packages stuffed with candy and treats.  I've heard many times that it's so hard to get there and they love it when they get it.  Done and done! 

I'm so proud of this kid!  He makes my heart happy!

Some Answers

I'm starting to wonder if P-day has been moved to Tuesday because 2 weeks in a row now, we've gotten Elder K's email on Tuesday instead of Monday.  Regardless of the day - we are always so glad to hear from him!  Here is today's letter:

Dear Mom, 

 

Life out here is very camping like. My diet consists of mostly ramen, bread, eggs, rice, and chicken. We cook on a gas lit stove because the electricity is unreliable. It goes in and out. Every day there is a thunderstorm. we do our laundry every Monday. A sister from our branch comes and hand-washes all our clothes for 10 cedis. 

 

The church is very nice here. It is actually a very nice building with open hallways and class rooms. The talks are all in Twi, so I can't understand them. Oh well, I still feel the spirit. Sunday was our district conference and President and Sister Hill came. All us elders sang Press forward Saints then a verse in Twi.

 

The confirmation is this Sunday and I will do it. Besides that not much else is going on. 

No one got transferred so I'm with everyone for at least 8 more weeks.

 

Love you Mom soo much and I will find a way to send pictures.

 

Love, Elder Keddington

 

It's nice to finally get more information from him about the way he is living.  I need to figure out how much 10 cedis is in American currency.  My kids are getting off way too easy!  ;)  We sure love this boy!

It came!!

It was a day late, but I was oh so happy to get my email today!  Sounds like he's starting to figure out this whole missionary work thing...

...Last week was a slow start but it ended beautifully. We didn't teach that much. Teaching in the bush is super slow and appointments fall through all the time, but we keep trying. I'm continuing to lose weight, but the big thing that happened this week was my first baptism! His name is Prince.  He plays futbol and is 20 years old. He is really shy, but last Sunday he was baptized by Elder Barfuss. Next week I will confer the Gift of the Holy Ghost. After the baptism itself, he got up and gave a 10 minute testimony about how as soon as he came out of the water, he felt the spirit so strongly. It was an amazing testimony builder.  Our focus now is on a man named Kojo. He is a 50 year old man from Anyinem.

Me and the elders are wonder if there will be changes. Transfers are next Tuesday, but besides that, pretty much the same.  We won't see conference for 3 weeks.

...I love you all So freaking much. Tell all the kids I love them a ton

Love with all my heart,

Elder Keddington

 p.s.  Just be sure you use small parcels and plenty of tape with the package. Elder Barfuss is from Oregon and when we go again he wants to be there

My heart is so happy!  A fun little coincidence - Elder Barfuss is in Jeff and Janet's stake in Oregon.  After getting today's letter and seeing that he is from Oregon, Janet looked up their stake missionaries out of curiosity and sure enough - he was there!  What a small world!  Grateful for the friendship these two have started!

**Still no pictures, so I'm putting up some of the village he's in, Kwabeng:

Kwabeng Chapel

Kwabeng School

The Kwabeng Health Center

 

Dream Big

Yay for Monday!  It's quickly becoming my favorite day of the week!  Elder K's email came quite a bit earlier in the day this time and I was pretty surprised when I looked and saw that it was there:

Dear Mom, 

... Hey, I have a big proposal for you and dad and Connor. So my mission doesn't have any wildlife reserves or exotic animals. I was rather down about it then Elder Barfuss told me that when he gets released, his family is going to come here and stay for a week and go to one of the preserves and see his mission. So I was thinking, if you and dad could save up and do the same it would be amazing. The exchange rate for money here is way in our favor. $1=$3.5 Ghana Cedis. I know it seems a ton, but I'm over here already and you wouldn't have to pay for me. Even just a day safari would be incredible beyond all belief. I'll save money here and you can pull from my US bank account. would you talk to dad and seriously consider?

So last Tuesday the Elders and I went on a hike to Tini Falls. It was breathtaking! Then we climbed up the waterfall to the cave behind the water. I wept a little because it was a major confidence boost.  The Elders take me to the soccer field every morning to run laps and play to help me lose weight.  I'm starting to get back into shape.

I'm also feeling right at home here. No one in Kwabeng believes me when I say I'm 18.

Anyway, I love you all so much. 

With all my love,

Elder Keddington

I got done reading and went back to my email inbox and noticed a little P.S. regarding the package I'm sending had just come in from him, so I sent a quick message asking him if he was still online.  He responded right back and we were able to "chat" for a bit.  Not surprisingly to ANYONE who knows Sean, the "chat" conversation consisted of me trying to get more info out of him about missionary life, when he'll get to watch conference, etc. with him responding with info about the wildlife preserves that he would love to go visit and begging us to try our hardest to make it work.  I'm going to go ahead and call this a bit of a "SQUIRREL" for Sean.  He is very easily distracted and tends to get a one-track mind about that distraction.  I checked to see what flights are to Ghana, and let's just say it's going to take A LOT of praying for it to happen!  It's one of those tough things.  I would hate for him to leave Africa without the experience of visiting one of the places he has always dreamed about and he can't go to without us coming to take him, but it's financially in the clouds for us, so I guess we'll see what happens.  I figure we have some time.  ;)   Hopefully by next week, he will be back to telling us about the work.  Silly guy!   

Sean's dream!

 

First - The Jungle

The new missionaries of the Ghana Accra West Mission

You hear your whole life how hard it is to have a missionary gone.  Even though there is NO other place you would have them, you definitely feel the void (even though your grocery bill drastically decreases!)  I have missed Elder K so much this week.  I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that he when we last heard from him he was just heading into the field.  We've spent the week wondering, imagining, hoping and praying.  He did so well in the MTC - would it translate to the field?

It took until late afternoon for us to get his email today and I was going a bit crazy wondering if we would really get one.  Internet access can be sketchy in several parts of Ghana.  I'm not too proud to admit that the tears flowed freely as I read today's letter...

Hi Mom! 
My mission is incredible. I'm in the small village of Kwabeng. It is 3 hours Northwest of Accra. I'm in the mountain jungle region. Unfortunately I cant send pictures because the cord doesn't work with the tiny internet cafe so when I get home I will put together a slide show. 

The people her are so nice, they welcomed me with open arms. They call me "abruni abollo" which means big white man. My companion is Elder Barfuss.  He has the size and look of dad in his youth - red hair, freckles, the works. He is super awesome and chill. He is teaching me Twi language. I use a lot of Twi here. I live in a small spider infested apartment and I sleep in a Mosquito net. but it's awesome. I'm learning how to make money and food last. It is so amazing here I love it. 

MY FIRST BAPTISM IS ON OCTOBER 11TH!  It is for a man named Prince. I cant wait. I've given 2 Books of Mormon away. I'll keep you updated on everything i love you all so much! 

With all my love
Elder Keddington

I told him in my email that I would be putting together a small package to send soon (anything larger than a USPS Priority envelope usually won't make it) and asked him if there was anything he was in need of.  This was the reply:
 
ps: In the package(s) send a couple copies of the card game BANG!, send FARKLE, Send HI-Chews, gummy vitamins, caramel chews, SEND RIPS!, Cowtails, and Big Hunks, and skittles some of these requests from the senior missionaries. Send as much as you can
THANK YOU SO MUCH

Yep- there's my boy!  And while I was reading his email, I received emails from his companion and the two other Elders that share their apartment.  These guys crack me up.  Some of the great info I got was...
From Elder Barfuss:
 Dear Sister Keddington,
 Over this short time I have been with your son, I have grown to love him like a pet gerbil. I'm just playing. (There was more, but this made me laugh!)

From Elder Lords:
HI!!! I am Elder Lords!!! I am in the same apartment as your son!!! I love your son!!! He is such a happy dude, and all his Disney quotes and songs are amazing! He is seriously an example to me for how happy he is!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! \

From Elder Kaelin:
Your son is a wonderful man and missionary... He is a lot of fun to have around and always makes missionary work a blast. He mentioned a package being sent... It helps sooo much having things sent from home and gives us some comfort while being here.

Good news travels fast - haha!  I already love these sweet boys so much!  I'm so grateful for them and that they have taken Sean in and are helping him.  My heart was put at ease.


**It must be noted that help has been given to all the Elders regarding their punctuation and capitalization.  Haha!
 

We got a wonderful email from the MTC President on Elder K's last night in the MTC:

Dear Keddington Family,

Your missionary is bigger than life.  He single handedly won the hearts of the teachers, all the missionaries, and the administrators.  All referred to him as the “Big Show” – from a wrestler he supposedly looks like.  He was so loving and embraced the culture quicker than anyone I have seen.  Sister Robison and I were out walking during their sports time yesterday and one minute he was dunking a basketball, then on his knees so the smaller missionaries could use his back so they could dunk and then he was out on the soccer field with an African being carried on his back.  They love him here!

Last night he gave the closing prayer in our farewell devotional and it was a tender moment for him because he loves the people so much.

Warm regards,

President Robison

We are so proud of that boy and pray that he maintains this great spirit throughout his mission!