Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Arrived in Kumasi!

  Hi :) We just arrived at the Mission Home today! I got to meet Brother and Sister Cosgrave today and they are awesome! He even approached me during dinner because I said I was a percussionist and asked what kind of percussion I did! He is a really nice and spiritual guy! And Shannon was right when she said he was funny! He's very good at slipping good little jokes into any conversation or discussion he is having with us! All is well here! I really like Elder Morford by the way. He is a great guy, very nice, very funny, and definitely full of the spirit! Love you!!!

Love,
Elder Brandt

Leaving the Ghana MTC...




I have had an amazing week! I continued to meet lots of amazing people and made a friend at the beginning of the week who I now consider a beloved friend! His name is Tahiry Ranaivoarisoa! He is an amazing young man from Madagascar. As a token of our friendship he gave me a Malagasy scarf with a Malagasy totem embroidered on it. In return I gave him one of my favorite ties! A sky blue tie with white Hawaiian flowers on it. 
      
Today I am leaving the Missionary Training Center and going out into the actual mission field! I am very excited to meet my trainer! I'm most excited to go and serve the Lord and to teach people his word! I absolutely love the work i'm doing here and I most definitely love and people and I love the Lord!I will try to take lots of pictures! I love you all and wish the best for you! Godspeed!                                                                                                                                                                                 
Exodus 15:2
With Love, 
Elder Taylor Brandt

 Americans singing America the Beautiful

 The Amulek District singing Farewell 

 Goodbye Missionary Training Center... 
Kumasi, Here we come!

One well packed van

Food in the MTC



Yams and egg noodles with sauce

Fufu! Actually pretty good!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

1 week in Ghana - a few funny stories...

Wednesday September 23, 2015

That's awesome that dad is recovering so quickly! I also certainly hope that Lauren has fun with homecoming week! I will continue to try and send you more pictures. Tell Connor that getting Class Representative is Awesome and he is doing great things! I'm very happy that you guys are also making an effort of reading the Book of Mormon!  Elder Burdge is from Provo, Utah.  The thing that has surprised me the most was at how bonkers and silly the African Elders are! They love to constantly make jokes, laugh, and make more jokes! Although they definitely know when to focus and feel the spirit! I think the thing I love most about being here is the singing! Someone is always singing! Just walking into the bathroom I'll hear 3 or 4 Elders belting "Called to Serve" or "Spirit of God".  And It's absolutely amazing to hear the French speaking Elders when they all sing because they are very very good and it is very easy to feel the spirit! The food here is still pretty good -we pretty much for every meal just eat rice, meat, and fruit. Plain and simple, nothing very exciting.  I would love to receive pictures from you guys! Someone just said we will be able to print when we are out in the mission field! I love you guys so much and I'm including you in my prayers.  Hugs and Kisses with lots of love in between!!!!
Stories: 
I packed a good amount of candy in my bags. Occasionally I would share with a non-american elder just to see what they thought of american candy because most of them have never had it before.  There is one very large Samoan Elder here and at one point I had given him some chocolate covered peanuts.  A couple nights ago I was in the bathroom and he approached me and asked me if he could have some more while he had a $5 bill between his fingers.  I told him that he was not allowed to pay me and had him follow me. When I gave him the rest of the bag (because I didn't want it) his eyes got bigger than a deer in headlights. He asked if I was being serious and when I said yes he yelled thank you, gave me a big hug, and ran away giggling.

A couple nights ago we were hanging out in our room and talking about how many girls we've each kissed.  All of the elders in our room are american except for one from Nigeria and his name is Elder Akharia.  When we asked Akharia how many girls and he said one.  When we asked Elder Longman and he said three, Elder Akharia gasped and literally just fell to the floor and pretended he was passed out from shock.

The other night we watched a devotional video on Joseph Smith.  Watching the video reminded me of the game stick pull.  So that night in our room I took out the wooden handle from my clothes washer and we started playing stick pull in our room. This game spread and eventually we had the whole upstairs with all of the elders playing stick pull in the middle of the hallway with the wooden handle from my clothes washer. I only lost to one elder and it was an elder from Nigeria who was about my own size. (The Zone Leader got in a little bit of trouble.)

Lots of Love,

Elder Taylor Brandt

P.S. In my next package can you send me either a pair of drumsticks or a pocket sized Preach My Gospel? Drumsticks are allowed by the way and I think i'm slowly dying on the inside without them. hahaha.
Also some  family pictures would be great!! :)

<3 LOVE YOU!

Elder Brandt

The Amulek District
English Speaking going to Kumasi

Learning!

This is the group photo of the September 17, 2015 MTC group totaling 78 missionaries. 
Today they gathered to hear Elder John Koranteng, an Area Seventy.
These shoes will walk MANY Miles!!!
Taylor is bottom center-A mom knows her shoes!  : )

Trip to the Accra Ghana Temple



Sunday, September 20, 2015

Ghana Missionary Training Center...The Wifi camera works!

When he takes a picture and has wifi... the pictures automatically upload to my email!  Now I really love modern technology!

JFK to Ghana 

 New Friends







Saturday, September 19, 2015

FIRST DAY!

I'm here!
It has been great and I officially have my tag and my companion! My companion is Elder Burdge from Utah. 
The food is actually really good! This morning we had two slices of bread, watermelon, egg with spices inside, and porridge.  And we just finished lunch and we had lettuce and carrots, a roll with peanut butter, pineapple, a chicken leg, and lots of rice and kind of a tomato type paste on top.  
I'm actually kind of impressed with myself I have been able to keep track of all of my documents and it came in handy when entering the country!  It was nice because as soon as we left the airport and went outside, (and got smacked with the crazy humidity), the MTC trainers were right there to guide us to the cars. They actually had to stress a lot about not giving attention to anyone who offers to help us. We had three vans. One of the vans was just for luggage and they had me load it because I had "the muscles of a big man". He actually called me John Cena as I was loading the van. Also as we were loading the van there were two gentlemen just standing right next to us the whole time trying to get our attention.  One of them was just kinda saying, "What bag do you want me to grab?" or "How can I help?".  The other gentleman was mentally challenged and kept walking up to different elders saying how he liked their watch. When they would say thank you, he would point to himself and say, "You give it to me?" "Please?"  Then the MTC trainers would tell him to leave us alone. 
Later this afternoon we will go outside to either run, play volleyball, or futbol! 
I'll let you know how that goes later! Hope all is well!!
Love You!! :)