A Long Journey

Oh my word my life has become very strange indeed.  My travels went well and I was not as tired as one would have imagined.  I made lots of nice friends in the airport and gave a sweet old lady from South Africa the Book of Mormon you gave me Mom in the London airport:)  I wrote the story down in your letter so you'll have to wait.  It is kind of breaking my heart right now how sweet the people here are.  We have an hour on the computer today to write home which for me is far more than enough but I am sitting by the boys from Congo I met last night and they are having to type one button at a time using one finger:(  Last night in the Ghana airport was a trip I tell you.  THere seemed to be close to zero organization and all was chaos.  We got off of the plane and the heat and humidity smacked us in the face instantly, for which I was very happy:)  I took off my sweater smiling--how I love to be warm!  However, it is not as good to be warm in a room full of packed sweaty bodies, so the next two hours were not quite a paradise.  There was a long "line" leading up to were they took our passports which took about an hour and a half to get through.  A lady came through asking to see our WHO immunization cards but I don't know how official she was because she was missing tons of people as she went through the crowd--I showed her mine all the same.  On the walls were warnings about "miscreants" in the airport and about not falling prey to various con attempts.  I had to walk through a long hall filled with hundreds of people advertising hotels and cabs in your face, all the while looking for the senior couple they had told me would be there to welcome me.  I saw no one and kept walking.  Then we came to the luggage claim area--it was just as chaotic.  There was one huge conveyor belt snaking around the entire room and people with huge baggage carts miling everywhere.  I saw my suitcases--thank heavens they are bright blue--and ran/wiggled my way over to them.  I was very relieved not to have lost my luggage.  Everyone seemed to be filing through an area afterwards that claimed to be a place to "declare" anything we had, so I got in line.  Half the people I saw had blue pieces of paper which made me nervous because I did not have one and the piece of white paper I had been given on the plane had gotten taken by the lady who stamped my passport.  When I got up to be checked the man asked for my paper and I told him I hadn't been given one.  He paused for a moment, shrugged and let me go by without doing anything.  Still no sign of anyone to pick me up--luckily I felt prepared for abandonment because I knew that it had happened to the missionary in The Other Side of Heaven.  There was another hallway with men in different uniforms pulling people aside.  I got taken, and the man asked me what was in my suitcase.  I told him clothes and toiletries.  He asked me to see my passport, so I handed it to him.  He then asked to see my baggage receipt and I told him he couldn't have it because I needed it. (quick interjection: I just got mocked by the instructor in here for writing a novel, but I told him I still had time to write--how embarrassing;).  He said that he needed to see it to validate that they were my bags, so I handed it to him.  Then he told me that there was a $20.00 fee... I did not believe him but he wouldn't give my things back and I did not see anyone around in a real uniform so I just gave him the money, he gave my things back, and I went on my way.  Then I was in the last room of the airport and still I didn't see anyone.  A police-like looking man saw me looking lost and called me over.  He was just about to call the MTC for me (I had the numbers on a piece of paper) when I young man came up in a suit and said "you are an lds missionary right?" Yes.  He was an MTC worker and took me over to wait for some missionaries from Congo (the American missionaries had already left).  I didn't have to wait too long.  There were ten of them and all spoke only french:)  They were very friendly.  Emanuel (the MTC worker) kept calling back to me as we walked to the car "Soeur WIlson! Soeur Wilson!  Keep up, I don't want to lose you!"  He had the missionaries from Congo surround me as I walked which was a good idea because i was still getting harassed by cab workers.  I sat in the passenger seat and the boys all piled into the back.  People in Ghana are lawless drivers which was kind of exciting--there aren't any lines on the roads.  We got to the MTC at 10:30 had a snack and went to bed.  I was alone last night, but we have nice rooms and the girls ones have a shower inside.  My companion got here today.  She is from Nigeria:)  I was the only girl yesterday and the only white person. Today there is one white elder.  My straightener fried this morning which is unfortunate... I guess my adapter didn't work.  I feel happy though because in my interview with President he spoke only french with me and asked if my Mission President in Madagascar said yes if I would mind being changed into a french class and only being here two weeks instead of six.  I said that would be great!  Well, I hope all is going well.  I love you all:)  !!!!!!!

Love,

Soeur Wilson

Ps. All of the elders know my name and think that I am funny (in sort of a mocking way...).  But they are very nice.  Haha the teacher in here just said that french is the best language there ever was and that its the gift of tongues. Oh and they gave me malaria pills today which is kind of crazy:O