I cry the day that Itake the tree down...

Just kidding. Our tree is totally still up :)

Things are going just grand-ly! We had a good Christmas, and although I have been so excited about presents, I would have rather had zero presents and been with my family, then have a million presents and be alone. Its okay though! Just didn't feel like Christmas. But Sister Durfee and I enjoyed the day together :)

I truly do love the Christmas season. For the past 2 weeks we have been sharing a "Christmas Thought" with people. Aka, I read them the classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, and Sister Durfee reads parts of the Christmas devotional talk by President Uchtdorf. We talk about how even though Christmas is so commercialized, we can still enjoy the season, by remember the true reason. Awww! Everyone loved it. Except some of the old people were probably thinking, "Huh? Kid story? I'm not a kid!?" Hahah.

On Christmas Eve, Sister Durfee and I went out to eat at this cutie little bistro downtown called "The Market Bistro." Yummy food!! I got sweet potato soup that was to die for!! And later that evening, we ate at a members house. They made this delicious kind of roast beef with sage au jus. Oh my! Spoiled with food this week.

We were able to volunteer at the Parish house, which is a place that people who are poor can go to get free groceries. It was really nice to be able to do that kind of service for those in need at this time of year. One lady said in gratitude, "Thank you so much! If it wasn't for this, we would have nothing this year" as we loaded about 10 bags of groceries into her trunk. It just makes you feel good to give (even though we didn't necessarily buy the food for her).

We have been visiting Cindy (an investigator) and her 2 kids a lot this past week. When we first met Cindy, she had pink hair. And Sister Durfee, being the amazing hairstylist she is, dyed and cut it this week. It looks SO cute and so much better. Baby steps :)

Judy is doing well. The last time we had a lesson, we read the story of Naaman in the Bible. Elisha tells Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan 7 times to be cleansed of his leprosy. Such a simple thing to do, the Lord just wanted Naaman to be obedient. Well, Judy is one quick witted lady and exclaims near the end of the story, "I know where you're going with this! Is this about coffee?!?!" Can I just say, HILARIOUS. I love Judy so much!! She told us that she has not been drinking as much as usual, and plans to quit when she runs out. She even bought some hibiscus tea to drink instead. Yay!! We tried to set a definite goal, and told her how great it would be to start the new year out coffee-free! So she's going to try to do that. Wahoo!!! Such a blessing! I crocheted her a pretty green scarf for Christmas and she loved it! She proceeded to tell us how we've made her life miserable! How since she met us "girls" that we've been telling her thing after thing she needs to change. Oh Judy! Of course she said it in a joking way and she really isn't miserable. We are just leading her on the path to find that eternal happiness! Her date is still set for Jan. 22.

We visited John this week. It's been a while because of the roads, but he has been reading every night since we saw him last! Hooray! We hope that things will clear up so we can see him more. But the roads have been awful! It snowed at least a foot last night and with the wind chill, its supposed to get to 4 degrees today. Hooray for scarfs and mittens!!

Spiritual insight: This morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 9 and found a paraphrased quote by Neal A. Maxwell that said, "We need to sacrifice our WILL to the Lord." Relate that to verse 20 when it talks about sacrificing a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given us EVERYTHING that we have. There is in no way that we can repay them. But, by using our agency, we are able to CHOOSE them and do what is right, sacrificing our will and making them happy by those choices we make. By doing this, we can find that true happiness.

The Church is True!!! I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell


Merry Christmas!

How did Christmas sneak up so fast this year?! I am excited for the big day,

A) I love presents. Sister Durfee makes fun of me for anxiously awaiting for the mailman everyday (he's been late because of the snow!)

B) I love food. We've been invited to every meal! But Sis. Durfee and I are going to make a delicious breakfast for ourselves :)

C) I love people. We are practically spending the entire day with non-members who have invited us for food and games. Of course we're teaching and sharing messages too.

D) I love my Savior. We have been reading Jesus the Christ together, and my testimony of Him has grown immensely over this Christmas season.

Wahoo!!! We have been SO blessed!! This week we have been working so hard to try and find people to teach, but have had little success. We have been somewhat discouraged, until the day of the Sabbath arrived!!!! Sunday = Miracles!!! Seriously, these things that happened at church are no lies:

-A member and his non-member girlfriend came up to us after Sacrament meeting and we were introduced. She is interested in learning more. Phone number exchange. BAM!

-A non-member and his non-member daughter who used to come to church more regularly, are starting to come again and would like to have us come over and teach them. BAM!

-A member and her non-member boyfriend come almost every week. He is interested in learning more and just got hurt so is on bedrest for a month. Will we come over and teach him? BAM!

-Went to the parking lot, and a member with all of her little kids (non-members) were there and said we could come and visit with them. BAM!

-Had a meeting with Jeff and he wanted to schedule is baptism for DECEMBER 31st! DOUBLE BAM!!!

Best day ever!!! After talking to Jeff, Sister Durfee and I both ran into the library of the church and fell on our knees all teary eyed and said a prayer of thanks to our Father in Heaven for all the blessings we had received that day. Is that not a miracle? We are SOO blessed. I am excited for this week and all of the things to come! Then later we went to Judy's, and her daughter and son-in-law were there. Fellowshiped! I think she will want to come and "study" with us. YES!!!

Two scriptures that I found this morning are great, and relate!

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life."

I cannot express the honor I feel to wear His name over my heart. This gospel brings so much happiness to me! I cannot describe the joy I feel, knowing that I can bring that happiness to others. I love my Savior and am humbled at the thought of him suffering for me. He knows us better than we know ourselves. If we turn to Him, we can find more peace and joy than anywhere else. The church is true! I love you! Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

PS Thank you so much to all those who have been sending Christmas cards and letters. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Sister Durfee thinks I am a mail addict :) JK.

Snow is falling all around, on the housetops on the ground.

SNOWING!!! Everywhere!! Love it!! This week we got totally stuck at the bottom of a driveway, and I had to slowly maneuver the car around and go up it, backwards. Scary, and hilarious and fun. (Fellowshiped with an investigator's sister as they helped pushed our car up the hill.) Wahahaha! We were scared after that, so the next day we parked at the bottom of a huge hill and walked up it. Totally slippery and scary at night, but we laughed the whole way up. Sister Durfee is the best. We continue to get along really well and have so much fun together! I truly feel blessed to have her, even though while doing an old ladies laundry for her, she swung a dirty pair of underwear at my face-when my mouth was open. How rude! I have not laughed so hard in a LONG time!! She is teaching me so much about missionary work, and I aspire to be as good of a missionary as she is :)

We had a Zone Confrence/Christmas party and played human fooseball. Our team won. And Sister Thornock (the mission president's wife) totally slipped on her nylons and fell on her back in front of everyone. It was pretty funny (no, she didn't get hurt-or I wouldn't have mentioned it :) At the end we got to read all of our Christmas Letters!! Seriously, I have the best support!! Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone who sent something!! I am so grateful, and will slowly be sending reply letters :)

The work is going well! We had a goal to find 15 new investigators in 10 days. We didn't meet our goal, but we did find 10! So that is pretty exciting! Hopefully they will continue to be interested with our follow-up visits :) We did learn a lesson, that setting such high goals can be very discouraging and stressful. Reasonable goals are better :) Its difficult with the bad weather, because we can't go out as much/as far as we'd like to. Plus people use it as an excuse to not come to church...

Judy is doing well! I grow to love her more and more each time we go over there! We extended her baptismal date to Jan. 22nd, and I think that will work better for her. She continues to slowly progress :)

We are working on setting up a more consistent schedule so we can see all of our investigators 1 or 2 times a week, more regularly.

I can't think of anything else exciting that has happened-besides these massive icicles linger high above our front door. Its a bit freaky. A 30 lb.(I'm guessing, it was huge) one hit our welcome mat and I totally heard it from inside. Don't worry, we've been smacking them off with a broom handle :)

I'll leave you with a poem that was sent to me in a Christmas letter that I truly loved so much!!

Only Begotten,

The Christ Child, The Lamb.

Beloved Shepherd, Eternal, I Am.

Born of the Father,

Celestial Being.

Firstborn in Spirit,

Anointed. The King.

Made in His Image.

Ordained Before Birth.

Holy, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Jesus, The Chosen,

The Way, and The Life.

Christ, The Almighty,

The Truth, and The Light.

Alpha, Omega,

The First and The Last.

God of Our Fathers,

The Lord of The Fast.

Prophet, Apostle,

The Father, The Son.

Rabbi, Rabboni,

Omnipotent One.

Savior, Redeemer,

Jehovah, The Lord.

Blessed, Messiah,

The Master. The Word.

Crucified, Advocate,

Honored of Men.

Beloved Savior,

The Risen,

Amen.

Bruce H. Jensen

The composition utilizes only names, titles, and concepts of Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He did for each of us. He truly is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. The Church is True!!! I love you!!! Love, Sister Gunnell

It's Winter!!!!!

It snowed about 8 inches last night, and anyone who has been in humid weather during the winter knows, that it is very, very cold. Almost painfully cold. And it will probably get colder. Yay! The roads are pretty bad, but alas, I am from Utah and I know how to drive in the snow.

It was so much fun to be able to be in Charleston when all the new missionaries came in! I was able to greet them in the airport, and give them some "advice" I guess (because I'm such an experienced missionary :) It was a great testimony meeting that night, and so exciting to hear where everyone was heading off to!

I met Sister Durfee in the parking lot of the church in Charleston. Have you ever had instant mashed potatoes? Well, how about instant best friends?!? So crazy!!! We get along SO well and have so much fun together. And somehow we are so similar in EVERYTHING. Its so weird! Like we agree on everything, and our personalities/views/opinions are almost the same! (Except she is way funnier and outgoing than I am). But we are going to make a list of all the things we are the same about. I have never met someone that I instantly clicked liked this before. Its SUCH a blessings!! And we are working SO hard! We set some pretty lofty goals of getting 15 new investigators by next Sunday. We have 4 so far, and we are doing everything we can to find. I've been able to go tracting a ton this week! And my fears are gone, not even scary. It can actually be fun!!

Sister Durfee is from Eugene, OR and has been on her mission for 14 months (so Buckhannon will most likely be her last area.) She served for 9 months in Richlands, VA and 4 1/2 in Paintsville, KY. So this is her first time in WV. Wooo hooo! She is a very good teacher and an awesome people-person. And is really fun and hilarious. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love her and am so grateful that she is in Buckhannon with me!! Her mission blog is www.sisterhaileydurfee.blogspot.com .

I've been sick the past few days. First I just had a sore throat, and then it went away and took my voice too! It's the worst not having a voice and being a missionary! I sounded like a squeaky kitty=awful. Plus I got rebuked by the new Zone Leader-he told me I should not be making phone calls when I sounded like that and to have my companion do it. Wahahahaha. I thought that was ridiculous and funny.

Last night we went to Clarksburg for a Christmas devotional/fireside. There were a lot of musical numbers and it was so beautiful. There is something so special about the Christmas season. People really do open their hearts to Christ. We hope and pray that we will be able to find those who are truly seeking him. I heard a great quote the other day. I don't know who said it, or the exact wordage, but it goes something like this, "Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if we have room for Jesus." Profound. Truly, the greatest gift we can give someone is the gospel. I challenge you each to talk to someone who is lacking in spirit, and share your testimony with them about how Jesus Christ is our Savior and what that means to you. Your testimony is more powerful than you think. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time of year. I love each of you, and hope all is well.

Love, Sister Gunnell

Another transfer come and gone...

Wahoo!! It has been crazy past few days, but not super eventful. Thanksgiving was really great. We ate breakfast at one members, then had dinner at anothers, and dessert at anothers. Wahoo. My comp said goodbye to a lot of people, so that was the majority of the past days. Honestly, I can't even remember what we did, so sorry if this email is super lame and short.
One day we went to visit a referral, and lady (Kelly) who's mother is a member in Ohio (Carol). We knocked, and Carol answered the door. She thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We asked if she was a member, and she couldn't remember. "I think I might have been associated with your church at one point." It was a little funny, but I also felt bad, because apparently she has a bad memory as it is, but she had a stroke a few years back and really can't remember anything about her life. She has no idea how long ago she lived in Ohio, or when she moved back to WV, etc. She then said, "you don't believe in Christmas, right?" I assured her that those were the Jehovah's witnesses and we do celebrate Christmas. I just thought it was a bit funny.
We also helped a ward member move. They moved into an awesome old building that used to be a boarding house. The upstairs has like 10 bedrooms and it was so cool. So cool, that it is totally worth mentioning :)
Remember how I mentioned Sister Sandy? She passed away last week, and on Saturday we were given the privilege to help dress her in her temple clothes. It was a really neat experience for me. I have never been to a funeral or seen a dead person, but it wasn't even scary. Sunday night was her viewing, and yesterday was her funeral. It was really neat. The stake pres. wife spoke and pretty much taught the plan of salvation. (none of sis. sandy's family are members) and sis. Truex played the violin. Probably the coolest part of it all, was that the opening song was "I'll fly away" that country/blue-grassy song that I think is played in the movie Oh, Brother Where Art Though. Its been stuck in my head for 2 days now. Its was great, and now I want it at my funeral:)
Last night President picked sis. Truex and I up, and now I'm in Charleston for the next few days. S. Truex left this morning and now I am (in his own words) president's "youngest assistant ever!" (because i'm only 6 weeks out) wahoo! we get to go pick up all the new missionaries from the airport today, and tomorrow I'll meet my new companion. Her name is Sister Durfee and I hear she is great. I've never met her, but I am excited to get a fresh start on things.
I love you all!!! The Lords hand is really in all that we do. The church is true!!! Love, Sister Gunnell

Thanksgiving!

It feels like forever since the last time I wrote, but also that I don't have anything to say!! Well, that isn't true.

So we've been making little progress with Judy. She just doesn't understand why we shouldn't drink coffee, and she won't give it up! Yesterday, I tried to explain that it is a small sacrifice in the long run, and obedience is the important thing. So we'll see what happens; she is supposed to pray about it, but keeps putting it off. She is so hilarious and always has outlandish concerns. Last week she was frustrated that all Mormons have to buy their "underwear" from the same place! "That means one guy has a monopoly on all the bloomers!!" Okay, Judy.... It was truly hilarious though.

We taught Jeff again, and he is totally solid. He is such a great guy, and will be baptized sometime next month.

John is just great. Last week when we taught him, we asked him to say the closing prayer. It was a beautiful and simple prayer, and at the end, Pat was crying and said that in the 45 years they have been married, that she had never heard him pray out loud before! So exciting!

We had a 'mission confrence' type thingy in our Zone last week, and Elder Craig C. Christensen from the Seventy came and spoke with us. It was really great, and just the spiritual boost I needed. He and his wife spoke, along with

Pres. and Sister Thornock. For lunch, he and his wife sat by us sisters. Woohoo! Then later he had and "interview" with me (they just randomly chose missionaries, I think) and asked me about my impressions of the mission and if anything needed to change, etc. It was only like 2 minutes, and really uneventful, but he said I was great, so woo hoo! OH, also, I had to lead the music. Ya, I don't even know how. Embarrassing.

We visited an older lady member Sister Sandy in the hospital a few weeks ago, and then in her house 2 days ago. She was not doing well, and past away yesterday morning. Sadness, but at least she's in a better place.

This kid came up to me in sacrament meeting, who's family is in the ward (the Hursts), and he is usually away at college, he told me that he was companions with Jeff Rutledge for 3 months on his mission and Jeff had told him that I was serving in Buckhannon. So crazy how it is such a small world!

We had a district meeting with the zone leaders there, and I had to recite D&C 4 in front of everyone. Doubly embarrassing and totally stuttering all over the place. But we had some hilarious role-play situations.

So, my companion is going home. She has been sick, and we really aren't able to leave the apartment very much, which is really frustrating. But she will leave either this weekend, or at transfers next Wednesday. Depending on when she leaves, I will probably be shipped to Morgantown with the sisters there until I companion on Dec. 1st. Who knows what lies ahead! But I am really excited to have this shift and be able to get a lot done. My next P-day is Tuesday, so I'll update you all then. For some reason It was so much more difficult to have my p-day 3 days later than usual! I feel totally out of routine. Anyways, the church is still true, and Thomas S. Monson is our true and living prophet!! I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving, and remember how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. I love you all! Love, Sister Gunnell



Fabulous Sabbath!!!!!!!

Its been another crazy and fast moving week!! It started off terribly when we went for a lesson with Judy and her neighbor was there. I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but last week Judy's neighbor gave her a copy of "The Godmakers" yay. Every missionary's dream. NOT. Terrible. So Judy thinks the book is stupid and ridiculous, but her friend drilled us for 2 hours asking every crazy Mormon question we, as missionary's, never want to hear. Some of her questions included: Do you wear special underwear? Do you believe you will have babies after you're resurrected? What about blacks and the priesthood? It was not very fun because she was so closed minded and wouldn't hardly let us talk :( lame. But she really is a good person and we hugged her as we left. Judy said, "She is too closed up in her beliefs for me!" Wahoo! But every day I feel like my brain is exploding for all of the knowledge and experience I am gaining. Truly! There is an endless amount of things to learn and it drives me crazy!! But it is great!

On Thursday we taught Julia who is a devout Methodist, but really loves the Book of Mormon. Then she taught us to weave on her looms and it was so much fun! I felt like a pioneer woman.

The transfer is half over, so that means its my turn to drive! not that exciting. The roads here are so tiny I am always feeling like I'm going to crash. Plus driving down tiny hollers at night when its rainy and all misty kind of gives me the creeps. But I'm getting used to it.

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind to write me letters or send a package (aka Shauna and Aunt Lesa). Truly, i love it so much! Letters really make my day!!

Speaking of which, Aunt Lesa sent me a bunch of candy and I was so excited!! I put all my candy in one of the big drawers in my desk. One morning I found a half nibbled Reece's peanut butter cup and thought, hmmm, my teeth are definitely not that tiny, and I would never only eat half a Reece's cup... So, I just thought it odd, but didn't think about it-until the next morning, I find green tinfoil wrappings scattered EVERYWHERE!! A little mouse ate ALL of my milk chocolate!!!!!! It didn't eat any dark chocolate, or anything else I had in there!! I was so angry I wished that It would get diarrhea. And then I made a plan. So I cleaned out my drawer and put only one thing back-a mouse cube (I had never seen one before, but its like a little square cup where the door closes when something goes inside) with a teeny Hershey milk chocolate square in the back. (Please note how brave I am). Then the next morning, lo and behold! A tiny field mouse was indeed trapped!! I should have bopped in on the head, but A) I was creeped out, and B) it was really kinda cute. So I picked the cube up with a hot pad and chucked it outside (dont worry, I made sure it got out of the cube). Whew!! Hopefully I wont run into any other of them, Yikes! Anyways, sorry that was not mission related at all!

We found a new investigator this week!! It's Shawn, the blind lady I talked about last time. She is so great!! We met with her on Friday, and taught a lesson. Then invited her to church on Sunday and she said she wanted to come!!! Wahoo!

Also, Judy is doing really well! We've taught her a couple of times this week, and helped her clean out her huge messy garage/workshop place (PS Judy is a major pack-rat and saves everything) so that was exciting... But she has progressed a lot! last week she said she didn't think Joseph Smith was a prophet, and this week she said out of the blue, "So, in order for me to be baptized, I have to say that I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet?" We said yes. Then she's like, "Well, I think I can say that now." WAhoo!!! So many miracles!!!! She won't stop drinking coffee though, so we're working on that one.

So Sunday rolls around, and we find a ride for Shawn to church. Its kind of awkward, but fun, because we have to lead her around everywhere we go, and introducing her to people is different, just because she's blind, but it was really good!! We were hoping and praying that Judy would come this week (she hasn't come to church once since Sis. Truex started teaching her 5 months ago and we invite her every time we see her). But 20 min into the meeting, no Judy, so we though it was a lost cause. Then!!!! SHE CAME!!!!!! Sis. Truex and I both looked at each other with huge smile and tears in our eyes!!! It was SOOO exciting!!!! She sat by her brother, and we just beamed!!! Then to Sunday school. Shawn and Judy both liked it, and Judy even commented. In Relief Society Shawn AND Judy commented!!! It was SUCH a great day!!! We were so excited! Judy really is excited and ready to be baptized, and we just cant wait!!!!! We are teaching Shawn again on Wednesday, and she said, "I've got a lot of questions for you ladies on Wednesday!" Not sure if that is a good or bad thing :) but I am excited to see her again! Also Jeff was there Sunday, so we had 3 investigators there!! Wahoo!!!

The day gets even better. We went and met with John (the gardener guy) and had a lesson on the plan of Salvation. It was funny because he talked about how when he reads the bible, that heaven sounds really boring and he doesn't want to go to heaven if all we do is sing and praise the Lord. (I couldn't help but giggle.) But he also doesn't want to go to hell because that doesn't sound fun either. So we talked about the plan of HAPPINESS and what heaven truly is going to be like. Then the incredible part was his wife, Pat bore a very strong and powerful testimony about how and why she knows the church is true (she's been a member 10 years, also John has been 'investigating' for 10 years). The spirit was SO strong and I think John really felt it. Pat said that he has made more progress talking to us than anyone else. Also that she has never really told him how/why she knows the church is true, so it was a REALLY big step for them both. SOOO HAPPY!!

Anyways, the church really is true! I love it! And I love this work!!! I hope everyone is doing well!!! Love, Sister Gunnell

November 8th

Wow this week has gone by really fast! A few exciting things have happened! We met with Jeff (who is engaged to a member of the ward) and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had a lot of questions, but we were able to answer all of them for him. We asked him if he had thought about a baptism date and he said, "Ohh sometime around Thanksgiving..." we were both shocked! He said, "unless you think I'm rushing it?" we laughed and said no, that he was ready and we were excited for him. So wooohoo!

I truly have been so blessed to see the Lord's hand everyday in the work. It grows more important to me everyday!

We met with Judy last week a few times also. One day, we were doing service with her (aka I was digging the meat out of hickory nuts) and we read Mosiah 5 and was talking about baptism. It was really great and spiritual! She asked us if we really did see a difference in our lives since being baptized. I was able to testify to her that I did! And that because I was baptized and confirmed, I am honestly able to feel the influence of my life every day. She looked at me and said, "I can see that you can. You really do have that glow about you." I was so touched! It truly made me tear up a bit! That is one of the best compliments I have ever received! I love Judy so much. She truly is probably my favorite person I've met so far. She is so hilarious and always get off on random tangents when we're talking about something spiritual. For example: (quick background, Sis. Truex has a lot of physical problems and is sick all the time), Sister Truex was about to extend the baptismal commitment (on that same day I was just talking about) when Judy kind of buts in and says to her, "so, what kind of other sicknesses to you got besides crazy?" I couldn't help my self but bust up laughing!! It was just too funny and too Judy!! Also, I guess when she was taught the law of chastity, she said, "what? so I can't go runnin' down the holler looking for a sugar daddy?" Oh boy! Did I mention she is like 60 something and a widow? I love her. She is too funny. But we did extend the commitment, and she decided on December 12th! We are truly so excited, and hope she can make the date! She needs to come to church every week until then, (because she didn't come Sunday, had to take her sister to the doctors.) But we are just thrilled that she is working towards that date!

Another hilarious old widow I met last week is named Sis. O'Connell. She is really old and has no teeth, and as much energy as the 5 year old autistic boy in our ward. No lie! She gave us huge hugs and kisses on the cheek and was practically squealing with joy the entire time we were at her apartment! She lives at the Buckhannon Manor, which is basically an apartment complex for old people. Everyone here calls it "the high rise" because it is the tallest building in Buckhannon. A whole 8 stories!!! Haha. Anyways, we talked with her and shared some scriptures/spiritual insights, and she told us that we had a "sparkle" like Jesus had in the bible! Again, what a sweet compliment. She also gave us some sparkly Avon body powder and huge three musketeers bars. Woohoo! That was just really funny also.

We have a few potential investigators. One is a lady named Shawn. We got a phone number for her from a dinner appointment one night. Apparently she was taught by the missionaries in North Carolina and was about to be baptized and then moved to Buckhannon. We had an appointment with her, but she wasn't home. Oh, I forgot to mention, she is blind, but from the sound of her voice, not really old. Anyways. We're hoping to meet her in person soon.

We have a lot of work to do this week. Sis. Truex has been sick alllll week, so we have not really done a lot. I feel lazy, but what can I do? I can't go out by myself! :)

I found two scriptures that correlate this week that I really love!! 1 Nephi 21:16 and Mosiah 5:12. I love how it talks about the atonement, and how our names are written on Christ's hands (also, Isaiah 49:16) and then tells us we should have his name written on our hearts! It was just so beautiful to me!

I just finished reading the 4 gospels, and 1st and 2nd Nephi. I've been reading the New Testament and Book of Mormon simultaneously. Can't wait for Acts and Jacob! I've also been reading the new temple ensign. I wish we could go to the temple! So sad! The DC temple is "our" temple, but because it's not in our area, we can't go :( oh well. This work I'm here for is for the living! (Well at least that's what they tell us :)

But things in Buckhannon truly are going really well. I do love it here! I just really hope my comp gets better soon so we can stay busy all the time :)

Also, I met a lady who is the personality doppelganger of Dena (Scoville), West Virginia style. I love her so much! She is hilarious. And there is a man in the ward who almost exactly fits the physical description of Lenny in Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

Well, I love you all. I hope everything is going well. I love reading the New Testament. Read the last verse in the book of St. John. It truly is amazing all of the things that Christ did for us. I know the Book of Mormon is true!! Read the Introduction again. It will amaze you! The church is true!! Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

Hi y'all! (I'm allowed, I'm in WV!)

Things are going really well with me!! I have a few things to tell you about West Virginia, then I'll update you on stuff.

-There are tons of graveyards here. I mean tons!! like every tiny town has 3. Most of them are really old. I guess the civil war started here. Sis Truex and I are going to go out one P-day and look at them all. I love graveyards, so I'm excited.

-Everyone has dogs. Or Cats. My coat is fuzzy, and I get hair on it wherever I go. Thank heaven for lint rollers!

-Everyone gives you hugs. Even if you've never met them before, they hug you. Not the men, of course. But I am still getting used to it.

-The food is truly great! Ward members feed us every night. I've had a lot of mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and pasta. Its really yummy. I have been eating a lot...Plus tons of desserts. Totally worth it.

-The ward is really great! It truly amazes me how I am able to love EVERYONE I meet.

- I have already been out for 1 month! Can you believe that!? I can't. Feels like 5 years.

-The streets in WV have odd names. I noticed a trend, and found 4 streets with the word "lick" in it.

-Beech Lick Rd.

-Mud Lick Rd.

-Three Lick Run

-Gee Lick Rd.

What is the deal? I think it's hilarious!!! Especially Mud Lick Road...

-Also, when people pray, they don't say "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." They just say, "in Jesus' name, Amen." I found that to be interesting.

Things in Buckhannon are going really well! I discovered that our area is a lot bigger than I thought! We have to plan our day/ who we'll see according to what area of town we'll be in, so we don't use up lots of miles.

We met with John (he's like 70) this week who's wife has been a member for 10 years, and his son is a member, and grandson is on a mission somewhere in Europe. He is a Gardener (by occupation, but i cant think of the correct title...a herbalogist or horticulturist?) anyways, he has huge greenhouses in the backyard and he mostly grows cempravivian (sp?) but they are these awesome little plants that remind me of a mix between a cactus, aloe vera plant, and a water lily. They are mostly green, but have red in them and are in all different shapes! He gave me a little pot with 5 or 6 different kinds of them. I love them! So exciting. He has a lot of questions about the gospel, and usually they are kind of hard for me to answer, like, "do animals go to heaven?" He causes us to do a lot of gospel research, but it is good for us! I love him. He is really cool and talks nonstop. He showed me around his greenhouse for 2 hours straight. Quality time!

The lady I told you about last time, Beth, called us and said her beliefs are too strong and to not bother coming over again. Sad. It happens. I think she'll join the church someday.

We are going to start teaching a lady who's husband is a member, and she has an 8 year old boy. Hopefully they will be promising! Their whole extended family is in the ward (oh, they are Chapmans, I guess I could have mentioned that).

We went tracting on Saturday, and I gave away my first Book of Mormon. Go me! Hopefully she reads it and loves it :)

Judy is progressing well. We'll visit her tonight. I think she'll decide to be baptized this month or next. We are going to have a cooking day with her. She gave me her recipe for her bomb apple pie filling. It is so delicious! Last time we were there she prayed with us to know if the Book of Mormon was true. It was really powerful! We just need to help her recognize her answers!

We are also teaching this older lady named Julia. She is super cool! She's Methodist, but believes everything we teach her and loves the Book of Mormon. She has a ton of spinning wheels and looms in her house. She is going to teach us how to weave on a loom next Saturday! I'm so excited! Who knew I'd be learning all of these skills!

Last night, a less active girl in the ward named Chantell had us over and taught us water coloring techniques! So neat! We've been so glad to be able to spend time with her, because she really has been more open to the gospel.

We are also teaching an 8 year old boy, Ethan. I think I already talked about him. But last time we came over, he showed me his Ghostbuster's DVD and said, "in this movie, they talk about how all the people will come out of their graves and be alive again. Is that true?!" it was really funny, and I don't remember that part in the movie, but I told him about the Resurrection, and how Christ was Resurrected, so we all will be someday too. But I assured him that it wouldn't be all creepy and scary like the movie probably showed it. He is super cute.

Sis Truex and I spoke on Sunday. It wasn't that exciting. We just talked for about 7 min each. I talked on preparing our testimonies for trials. Helaman 5:12. I love it.

We had zone conference yesterday. I love my mission president. He taught us all about the Resurrection (imagine that!) and it was really neat!

We had a trunk-er-treat on Friday along with a huge ward Halloween party! We had about 140 people come, including 40 non-members!! It was so great!! We didn't get to stay very long, but at least all these non-members were able to come into the church house.

Anyways, West Virginia is great! It is going to snow soon, its freezing!! I love it here, I'm doing well, and I really love missionary work!! I love you all and hope things are going well at home. The church is true, and I love you!! Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

October 25 2010

Hi everyone!! I'm here!!! This is my new address! write me everyday!!!

Sister Kayla Gunnell

9 Shawnee Terrace

Buckhannon, WV 26201

Its been great so far, even though i feel like I've been here a lot longer than a week (actually it hasn't even been a week yet) But i have so many stories and crazy things that have happened so far!

So we got on the plane Tuesday morning and i was so tired, we had to wake up @ 3 AM. well, that was boring. the Charleston airport is the tiniest airport i've ever been in! only one dinky baggage claim ha! we met the mission president (Thornock) and his wife, and they are great! i truly love them so much!! and it's really funny cause he only calls his wife 'sweetie' (hahahah Trisha!!) we got to the mission office and had a driving safety training thing... the roads in WV are so tiny! there is no shoulder on either side. they are also super windy and 'country road'ish, just like you'd expect. they call them "hollers" - the tiny one lane dirt ones. the fall colors are BEAUTIFUL!! there are trees of red and orange and yellow everywhere!!! its just fabulous! and there are no real mountains, only millions of hills :) its really pretty though. then to the mission home where we ate dinner and then had a nice testimony meeting. there was tons of us there, 5 from my district, 6 from the other district (all elders) one sister who came home from her mission cause she broke her leg came back with us, and 2 sisters on visa waits to Brazil. plus the AP's, so it was a full house. President let us go to bed early cause we were so tired. so nice. then to bed. the next morning he let us know where we'd be serving and who with. I am in Buckhannon (you say it exactly how it looks) with Sister Truex. This is only her 4th transfer, and she's served in Buckhannon this whole time. She's from Logan, UT and super nice. we're still working on getting to know each other better. Buckhannon is 2 1/2 hours away from Charleston, so a member drove us to our apartment. West Virginia truly is the most beautiful place!! Our area covers two counties, Upshir and Louis counties. Its huge. We have to do a lot of driving because most of the members/investigators don't live in Buckhannon and its more like 20 min away. Our car is a Malibu, its nice. i don't drive, i have to stand behind the car to make sure Sis. Truex doesn't hit anything, including me :)

There has been so many people we've seen! I've learned that missionary work really is just doing service! its great. we've discovered that a lot of what we are going to be doing this transfer, is less active and recent convert work. which is really good! apparently, since I've been here, we've run into several people that Sis. Truex and her previous companion sis. Durham were looking for! so that's really great! we've already seen so many miracles! also, the other night, a lady called us from Pennsylvania and said that she and her sister had joined the church, and her mom lives in Buckhannon and has agreed to meet with the missionaries! Woohoo! when does that ever happen? we saw her yesterday (Beth) and she is really great! there's nothing really that we believe that she has a problem with, (so far) except that she smokes.... so we'll have to work on that. we're going to teach again on Wednesday.

we're also teaching Judy, who is so great! she is working on deciding what day to be baptized, but we just cant get her to come to church! she is really hilarious, and everyone talks different and has funny sayings. one particularly funny thing Judy said-she was talking about some guy and said, "he's got a tough row to hoe!" oh West Virginia.

Picture all of the things you've heard about West Virginia: farmers, toothless, hicks, obese, trailer parks, poor, uneducated, etc. well, you're right! they are all true! and i love them all! but seriously, i thought those things would be stuff people made up. they're not.

we're also teaching 2 other guys who i guess are progressing pretty well, but i haven't met them yet.

we also went and taught a lady named Elaine. we're guessing she weighs between 500-700 lbs. she just sits in her chair all day and reads Glenn Beck and has tons of cats. if anyone remembers the story about when i used to work at solutionstream, and there was this old guy that would come and fix the computer stuff, and he had some amino acid deficiency that made him smell so bad you literally couldn't breathe being in the same room as him? well, that's what her house smells like. really strongly of cat urine it burns your nostrils to breathe. its awful. we chewed gum. she believes everything we've taught her, she just is very set on being a 'non-denominational' Christian. but i dreamed the other night that she got baptized, so hopefully soon! we figured we'd have to have 4 people baptize her.... crazy.

The Sunday before i got here, three of the cutest, smartest kids got baptized: ages 11, 9, and 8. they are so cute! they are part of the Chapman family (ill explain below) so we go and visit them a few times a week. One hilarious thing the 8 year old boy (Grant) said to his 11 year old brother (Austin) at dinner the other night. He was like "Austin! You just received the Holy Ghost and now you're going to hit me?!?" it was way funny. they are precious. the 9 year old is a girl named Taylor.

The Chapman family is basically the entire ward. I'm not kidding. There is Grandma Chapman who has 13 children, 79 grandchildren, 88 great grandchildren, and 9 great-great-grandchildren. This is not a lie. only about half of them are members/active. but almost every single family in the ward is somehow related to the Chapmans. Fun fact: their oldest son, is the youngest sons father-in-law. West Virgina. Ya. The oldest son and youngest son married a mother and daughter. weird. we went to their family reunion last night. I wish i could have take pictures. at the reunion, i was talking to this boy named Ethan, who is 8 and really wants to be baptized! a lot of parents want their children to take the missionary discussions before getting baptized, so we are going to start teaching him this week. he was so cute and told us "its my lucky day! I'm 8 so i can be baptized" hahahah. so cute.

Also I'm scared for my name here, I'm worried they are going to start calling me Sister Gun. they keep making jokes about how i carry a gun where ever i go. i think it is not hilarious....

we are also starting this thing where we teach families every night. its for us to practice teaching, but also for families to feel more comfortable doing missionary work. they make a new goal every week (pray as a family, read scriptures together, pray for missionary experiences, invite others to come to church, etc) and we visit them once a week for 8 weeks (i think) i really like it! and we're already seeing good results of them inviting nonmembers to church or other activities. its so great! we do 7 at a time, one a night. so we're pretty busy. we don't do a lot of tracting, just a lot of teaching (to be honest, we've only knocked on 5 doors this whole time-fine by me :)

also, they really do eat road kill. a ward member was butchering a rabbit for his friend when we went to their house. sick.

There is this other family in the ward, named the Hinckle's. The dad is a glass blower for a living and his stuff is really cool!! look it up online (its probably there) Ron Hinckle Glass in Buckhannon. Christmas presents anyone?

There is this other old old city in our area called Weston. We drove through it, and there is this super awesome huge old castle looking building that was a hospital during the Civil war. then it was an insane asylum after that! now they do tours and use it for a haunted house. seriously, the coolest place I've ever seen. i want to do a tour, but its like $50 and I'd probably be too scared.

i hope this email doesn't sound negative! i truly do love it here! the work is great!! its so fun and i love being a missionary.

my testimony has truly grown, and i know that our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, that He truly is mindful of each of us! And that He will always listen and answer our prayers. The church is true! I love you!!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

PS sorry I'm not the best at captializing everything...

it's insane i know, we only have like....4 days left. i leave super early on tuesday to west virginia!!! our whole district is super excited.i may call home at the airport, depending on how i feel-cause it might make me too sad. but i might.

time has gone by way faster this week than the whole time we've been here. i printed off some pictures and i'll be mailing them today for you. woooo! we've had some really goood devotionals, yesterday was richard edgely of the presiding bishopric. his talk was really great, about missionary work. he quoted a little quote by pres. faust and said:

Faith is the Power.

Obedience is the Price.

Love is the Motive.

Christ is the Reason.

-Pres Faust

I thought it was pretty profound and beautiful.

we sang in the chior "lead, kindly light' it was really fun! i dont think i've ever sung in such a big chior. sis denison and i sang alto, and sis lowe sat by us and lipsynced (because she thinks she can't sing :) ahahah and just wanted a seat for devotional)

I also heard these two quotes: "simplicity if the ultimate sophistication"-uchtdorf and "complexity is of the devil"-ballard. Ha!

On sunday we had the 1st councelor in the general primary presidency sis Jean Stevens talk about trrue conversion, it was great. and there is a sister in the MTC right now who is going to temple square. she is the 1st sis missionary ever from the country of Jordan. she shared her conversion story and it was pretty great. then at the end we sang that precious new primary song (the one we sang in the program before i left) called " i know that my savior loves me" and it made me cry. i love it. and i miss my primary kids, tell them so. Later that night we got to watch the joseph smith movie and i bauled my brains out. i love that movie!!

i've been learning so much i feel like my head is exploding.

yesterday we got to be host missionary's for the new ones coming in. so fun. i first hosted 3 international sisters from denmark, honduras, and london. that was fun. they are going to CA-san fran/oakland, temple square, and SLC. then one sister from oregon, sis garlock (i think?) but she knows the foster family in our stake, and her and mindy used to be roomates. so cool. it was really fun though, and it feels like i came to the mtc 3 years ago.

its been really great to do roleplays lately, because i'm discovering even though the investigator isn't 'real' you truly can have the spirit there and help the real person anyways. its great.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISHA!!! yesterday. did you get what i sent you? not much, more funny, but i hope you got it and loved and. and i hope you love being 16.

PS, when the basement flooded, did any of my books get ruined? specifically my history of the church set? i'm so scared.

i've been doing super well! nothing crazy going on. sis denison and i are getting along great, as usual. we are going to hang out when we get home. i'm going to miss her! i really wish she was coming to my mission... :( the other sisters are great too. and our district is finally becoming more unified and 'hanging out' more. we are going to the temple as a district. im really excited to go to the temple today!

cherie-i saw your cousin kim and her husband in the celestial room when i went last week. crazy. i told her to tell you hi from me.

thanks everyone for all of your letters! i love you all! you are great!! next time you hear from me, (besides letters i'm writing today) will be from WV!!! or, wherever the Lord sends me :)

i'm so happy that we have this gospel! it blesses my life in every aspect. God is our loving Heavenly Father, and He loves YOU!!!

I love you too!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnelll

Kayla wanted me to let you know she leaves the MTC on October 19th. So I am guessing she really wants us to send her special letters and packages filled with cookies and hot dogs....

Hello everyone! thanks so much for your letters and emails! but i want more!! seriously, each day here feels like an eternity! shauna, i also feel like i have been here 3 months! no lie! so send me letters and dear elders all the time because it truly makes time go by faster and don't worry, doesn't make me homesick. so send me a letter every day!!! well, things have been going really well! this week has gone by so slow and fast at the same time (makes sense? i dont know) every day is SOOOOOO long and the weeks are short. i knew we'd be working hard, but i didn't realize we'd have 16 HOUR DAYS!!! ya... so tired. all the time.

it was really great to see conference in the MTC all of us missionaries watched it in the gym on really uncomfortable seats, but it was great! i'm totally in missionary mode, every single talk i was figuring out how i could apply it to missionary work; teaching, or being a missionary, etc. it was really great! I really liked elder holland and elder gong's talks. mostly, i liked everyones.

the food here is surprisingly good. nothing to complain about. me and my companion sis. denison usually eat really healthy :) except late at night when we're stariving and eat snickers ice cream bars from the vending machines :) sis denison and i get along really well! we have so much fun together! we have similar personalities and have awesome teaching skills. we love teaching together and wish we were going to the same mission to be companions the whole time. the other girls in our room are fun too. we really all do get along, and 'hang out' all day.

i'm so happy its p-day! i'll be writing tons of letters today, and i'll prob send pictures next week (they have a thing you can print them off) but i dont really have any exciting ones yet.

one day at lunch i was sitting by these elders and waiting for sis denision, and one elder sat next to me, next to his group. then i was just eating, and a different elder said "hey! elder gun-nell, and sister gunn-ell" we were like "huh?" ya! he was a gunnell (millionaire rich way to say it) and i am gunnell! soooo crazy! he is from maine, and a convert. from our family line? no idea. well, we took a picture together cause we thought it was super weird and random. he left to the phillipines on monday though. wierd!

the mtc is really busy and crazy all the time. every minute is scheduled. sis denision and i have taught our 1st investigator at the TRC (Where daniel and i used to volunteer) it went really well! we like teaching together. every time i get stuck, she backs me up and i do the same for her. we have also practiced teaching to our district and random missionaries outside, and teachers a lot too. we're awesome!

we had a big fireside all about hymns and it was so great! we sang a lot. did you know i love to sing? well, i do :) and there is always a hymn or primary song stuck in my head. always. wooo!!!

I am doing really well, and truly loving it here. i feel like the next 2 weeks will go by a lot faster. i havn't been homesick at all, so that's been truly a blessing. also, what about that package your going to send me? i truly hate wearing nylons :) we get to go to the temple today. and do laundry! so excited, but more for the former. feels like i haven't been to the temple in years!!!

i'm really grateful to all of you, for your love and support and everything. keep writing me!!

The church is true! You are a child of God and He loves you!!! and I love you too!!!!!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

Hi Everyone!! We get to write home, just for today, to let our family know we are safe.... well, I am :) It's been a crazy 24 hours (that's only as long as I've been here. weird). anyways. Its been going well so far, I feel 20X better after exercising today and taking a shower.

We got here and they just made us drop off all of our stuff and go directly to class. Our district has 6 elders and 6 sisters. Everyone is either going to Everett, WA or Charleston, WV. We have 2 teachers, a lady and a guy. Sister Boulter and Bro. Galaway, I think. They are good, we haven't really had a big lesson yet. My comp is named Sister Denison and she's from Fort Worth, TX and is going to Washington. She's really nice and we get along. We're both pretty quiet but laugh and have fun together. The other four sisters in our room, are Sis. Badger and Sis. Lowe going to WV; and Sis Christensen and Sis Richey waiting for visas to go to the Preston, England MTC. So they'll probably leave any day now.

We had a big welcome meeting for the newby missionaries with the MTC presidents. That was really good. Then we did this huge training session about teaching people and it was so long I was falling asleep. Our rooms are fine, nothing too exciting... and even though i was soooo tired last night, I couldn't even sleep! this is all just so new. Oh, me and Sis Denison both got sick yesterday! (told you mom!) i had a sore throat and achy muscles and she was feeling sick too. But this morning i feel better.

First to class this morning and we did study by ourselves in class. Then to breakfast, I had fruit and oatmeal that was slimy (sorry mtc cafe, gross). then we had individual study again- i just read the white handbook because we have to before Sunday. Then to the immunization place and apparently I had to update my tetanus and mmr shots. eh. Feel worse now. and my arm hurts :( Then the 4 of us sisters speed walked around the temple. twice. for our exercise of the day. it was nice outside, and I'm glad i didn't see anyone i know from Provo outside because that would = heart attack :). then we all came back and showered and re-got ready for the day. It was great. Then to lunch. I had a wrap and a banana. delish. Okay our P-Day's are on Thursdays. Today it is not a p-day. it gets skipped the first week. So i just get to write this first letter today, then not another one until next week, and I'll prob mail some too. Also, apparently they changed the dress standards for sister. You don't have to wear nylons or blazers, and colored skirts are okay and skirts only have to be long enough to cover your knees when you sit. Wish they would have told us that before we bought all our stuff. oh well. But, family, if you love me, you could send me some of those little socky things so i don't have to wear full nylons when its hot. Thanks, you are the greatest. also, a sports bra, because i didn't even think of bringing one and it might be good. Sorry this isn't super spiritual, this is all just so overwhelming, but I'm sure as things progress, so will i. I am doing good, and even though it's already been hard, it will get better. Ummm... not sure what else to say. If you have any questions for me, just ask and I'll reply...

The MTC truly does have a different spirit about it, and everyone looks really happy. The elders are always really nice to the sisters, opening doors, etc. Today two of them even took Sis. Denison and my's lunch trays to put them away. Awww. Yesterday was even better cause we had the bright orange dork dot on our tags so everyone was "Welcome sisters" or "Hola Hermanas!" After this Sis. Denison and I are going to have companionship study. We already got the name of our investigator and his situation, so we are going to talk about what we might teach him. nervous!! It's in the TRC just like where we've volunteered before, scary. Then we have class tonight, and meeting the branch president or something? Not really sure. I'll have to check my handy missionary planner! woo! Anyways, I still love this church, and I'm still happy I decided to come on a mission. The church is true!! I love you all, and I hope you are doing well. Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

MTC Address!!

I can't figure out how to post it on the side, but here is my MTC Address. Woooo!! 4 days and counting. I can just say this: scared.

Sister Kayla Ann Gunnell

MTC Mailbox # 149

WV-CHAR 1019

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Write me and I'll love you forever.

Mission Call!

I haven't blogged in a while, sorry... But I did receive my mission call! I am leaving in 2 1/2 weeks (on Sept 29th) to the West Virginia, Charleston Mission!! I'm super excited, and just trying to tie all the loose ends before I go. And find some more outfits, and shoes.... Anyways. I will probably re-organize my blog to look more missionary-ish and have some helpers post my emails while i'm away. Wooo!!

Sun Also Rises; Almost Always

My mission papers are taking so long, I am ready to explode.

Please hope I get my call by September. And leave by the end of the year.

Half sarcastic, half serious.

Good thing I got a new phone to keep my occupied.

With a new ring tone....

"waiting for the sun, waiting for the sun, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting...."

10 things I've learned this year thus far

(In no particular order)

1. I love Glee.

2. Always set your alarm to the time you want to wake up, when taking a nap during your lunch break at work. Otherwise, you will over sleep an hour, and everyone will think it's hilarious.

3. Don't tell anyone your life plans, unless you are for sure that they will work out. Or else, you'll have to re-explain again, and again, and again, to everyone you know-your new life plan when things don't work.

4. I can't stop buying books, no matter what happens - even though I don't have time to read them, I will always buy more. And then more bookcases. And you can never have too many biographies of Jim Morrison.

(I even have two of this one :)

5. War makes me sad.

6. I have grooood people in my life.

And the rest of you. You know. Ya, you.

7. There is a time and a season, and a reason for all things.

8. Don't clench your jaw too much. It's not good for your body, or your soul.

9. I may talk on the phone a lot (you know who you are) but that's okay. Tis always uplifting.

10. Primary is THE best.

The end

What is on my mind?

Mmmmmmm.

More to come, soon.

Ghana Paper

Yes, I know this might be kind of boring to some, but I decided to post my final paper from Ghana. It was really fun to wright and read over. I'm so happy I was able to go to Ghana, and especially to meet the people I did. No offense taken if you don't want to read it :) (PS don't mind any spelling or grammatical errors. I'm not that awesome.)

To put together in words, ‘my experience in Ghana’ is quite a difficult thing for me to do; taken that I was there a total of three months, and had numerous encounters in learning in observation, volunteering, interviews, and just spending time with people. The Ghanaian culture has become a fascinating thing to me. Many of the dynamics cannot be learned except through observation and actual experience. What I mean by that is, you can read all you want in a book, but can never even try to understand without actually being there.

Speaking of this, I felt as though I was not able to ever get an actual realistic account of how the native Ghanaian lives. Yes, though interviews and observing, but as a Caucasian American female, there is absolutely no way for me to be able to experience life as a Ghanaian would. I could never blend in. I could never casually observe or take notes without being watched. That was something I learned right off the back, I cannot have a raw traditional Ghanaian experience, because that is exactly what I am not. So, instead of saying, “this is what I learned while living in Ghana” I must specify in saying, “this is what I learned while living as an Obruni (white person) in Ghana.”

Different Cities:

There was quite a difference in living in Wiamoase, verses traveling in Kumasi or Cape Coast. In Wiamoase, we were recognized as ‘the American students living with Madam Baffour. Everyone was very welcoming and accepting to us. They always would wave, ask us how we were doing and offer a certain level of protection. In cases of nighttime and darkness someone would always be willing to walk us home, to make sure we were safe. If ever we were to run into strange and dangerous animals, someone would come to our air and reassure us that we would be fine, and help us get to where we need to be. Or in some cases, we were protected from the ‘crazy people’ in the village who would follow us around and persistently ask for money or other materials. We had a lady let us hide in her home until the 'crazy person' passed. People living in Wiamoase, would always smile at us and try to help in any way that they could. There was also always a lot of attention on us. People were always watching what we did, and especially what we bought. We would always have to conceal things in our purses, so it didn't look like we were buying loads of things from the small markets. We didn't want to seem very rich, so as no one would come begging us for money. The people were always inviting us to different events like weddings, funerals, parties, futbol games, etc. We really felt loved and appreciated and part of the community.

Kumasi was a very different story, especially being that there were many other foreigners in town. Also, that it is an extremely big and busy city. No one paid any attention to us, unless they wanted us to buy whatever they were selling, which was often. Without them knowing us, the street hockers just assumed we were very rich Americans, and tried to get us to buy everything they had for sale. Despite this fact, it was almost easier to be there, in knowing that nobody really cared or took big notice that you were there. We could walk around and shop without feeling like we were standing out or out of place. It was also nice to be able to take taxis, if needed, and enjoy that small luxury. We also delighted in occasionally going out to eat, and being able to shop at the cultural center.

In Cape Coast, it was more difficult. Even though there were many other foreigners, most were tourists and the street vendors harassed you to buy everything even more so than in Kumasi. Food and other amenities were way overpriced and at least for me, I hated being a tourist. I felt so materialistic and just like I was trying to be 'cool' being in Ghana. Being in Cape Cost was not helping me have a 'real' Ghanaian experience, although I am grateful to have the contrast to the other cities, and being there, really helped me appreciate living in Wiamoase.

The Project:

Back in Wiamoase, my project was a very interesting one to do. I worked on doing oral histories, and only interviewing 3 women about their pregnancy and childbirth experiences. It was, I felt, a very ambiguous project, in meaning there was so much, and so little I could do to finish it. I ended up with 7 interviews, two for two ladies, and three for the third. Looking back, I really wish I had done more interviews, and with more women, but scheduling is something nonexistent in Ghana. I had multiple times where interviews were set up and not able to be followed through with either because of my interviewee, translator, or myself. Other things were always getting in the way such as sickness, vacation, weather, funerals, time of day, holidays, church, other activities, etc.

In the interviews where we talked about birth, there were some really great things I learned, and one of them being, that birth is (obviously) universal. I don’t know what I expected in the beginning, but I was just so amazed to hear that some of the things I already knew about pregnancy were also known to the women I interviewed. Maybe they didn’t use the same vocabulary as I would have, but our bodies are all the same. For example, when I asked how she knew she was in labor, Deborah said it was because she saw a little blood and then she started having “whispings” which I learned later were contractions. Constance said she knew she was in labor when “water was spilled” aka her water broke. It was also comforting to hear that women there also had the same types of emotions felt, the same thoughts, and were conflicted with the same choices as we, women in America are. They felt fear, and pain, and joy, and happiness. It was truly a wonder to me, to hear the stories from these women.

Constance:

Constance was born in the village of Domeabra, and she had 9 siblings. She is 32 years old, and is not married. She has two daughters, Ophelia who is six, and Adwoa Boatema who was 9 months at the time. She looked like a very strong and powerful woman. She was extremely beautiful and a very confident, with a shining countenance. Although somewhat intimidating, Constance became very warm and kind quickly. She always was very open and honest when I questioned her about her pregnancies and birth, and stretched to give me even more information than I asked for. She also said some very beautiful things about birth and motherhood.

When Constance became pregnant with her first child, she was very happy. She was excited to give birth, and especially because, “that person is going to grow up that she can help the person.” What a wonderful way to describe motherhood. Her entire family was excited, and she prepared by buying all of the things the clinic asked her too. She said that no matter what you do, there is no way to prepare for the pain. Previous to giving birth, she had fears, one of them being that she would die.

I learned that in Ghanaian culture, it is not appropriate to show pain. You are to be strong, and silent, and not let anyone know what you are physically going through. Constance had a different approach. She said when she was in labor, she ate ‘severely,’ so she could have her strength, but even then, the pain was so great and she could not control herself, she had to scream. We all laughed when she told us this, it was very funny to see how uncaring she was about not following ‘cultural norms.’

Comparing her two pregnancies, Constance said the second one was easier. At the first birth, the nurses said she was too small, and had to cut her (an epesiotomy) to help the baby out. They also had to attach her to ‘the drip’ (an IV) the first time. The second went by more smoothly.

Constance was able to give birth to two healthy little girls. Although she feels like giving birth is dangerous, she said, “birth is a treasure” and will give birth again.

Ama:

Ama was the most quiet and least talkative of the three ladies. Her hair stood up all over her head, and was pretty long to do this, and very straight. She is short and tiny and about 23 years old. She also had the most children. She was pregnant as a teenager when she was very young, had another child, was married just two years ago and shortly has given birth to her third. The youngest, Yaa Mary was less than 2 months old when I interviewed Ama. She always wanted me to hold her baby, and I never argued about that one. Yaa Mary was so precious and had long curly afro air that was so soft. She was always sleeping when I held her.

Ama’s interviews were always the shortest, because she usually gave one-word answers and didn’t expound much, even if I asked her to. She was born in Mampong, a larger city north of Wiamoase. When she first discovered she was pregnant, she was not happy because she was still very young, around 15 years old. Her family did not react badly, and they told her to keep the baby.

Ama had her first two babies at home, with a reverend minister there to help her, and the third at the clinic. She reacted to birth as something very normal and to be expected. She was never really surprised or nervous about her pregnancies and births, just very calm about everything.

I learned from Ama, that I sometimes needed to rephrase my questions a little, because some of the answers did not come out like I was expecting. For example, I asked her how she felt after giving birth. I was meaning emotionally, and her answer surprised me. She said she felt ‘very light, because she was talking about how she physically felt. After reading over the interviews, I felt they were sometimes pretty humorous.

Deborah:

Deborah is a very eccentric lady; I didn’t know this until our third interview. She is 25, about 5’6” and very beautiful. Her hair was plaited with these little black, short, dreadlock looking things all over her head. At first, she was very quiet, always spoke in Twi and seemed sort of intimidated by me. Eventually I learned that she had completed college and speaks English very well. She is very educated for being a woman and coming from a small town. After our interviews, she was always helping me with things, and we would hang out sometimes. She helped me take out my plaited hair, find a seamstress to make a dress for me, took me to her church, taught me how to cook, etc. She has a very crude sense of humor and was always trying to embarrass me or make me feel uncomfortable. I’ll just say that she was very good at it.

Deborah was born and raised in Wiamoase. When I asked what her mother told her about pregnancy and birth she said that, “during the pregnancy, that when the baby is still in your womb, is much painful than the actual time that you’re delivering.” Deborah had given birth once, and was pregnant with her second child. She said she agreed with her mother’s words, and seemed to have a mildly difficult time being pregnant. She always was chewing on this particular type of stick. She said, whatever kind it was, that it helped her so she didn’t ‘spat’ (spit or vomit) as much, although she did spit quite frequently.

Deborah talked about how in Ghanaian society, that if you don’t get pregnant within the first year of being married, you are maybe mocked or looked down on, because people will think you are barren. Being barren is a very bad thing in Ghana because you must have something to show for your life, and that is, producing another life to keep on living your legacy. Also, the lines of family inheritance go from uncle to nieces/nephews, not father to child. So to feel like they will eventually inherit something, they must have children.

She taught me a lot about baby naming ceremonies. She said that when a baby is born, the father would consult the family members that the wife has given birth by bringing cloth with blood on it (as proof a child has been born) and money. He will decide the name of the baby, not the mother. She said that her family did not do a baby naming ceremony, because it wastes too much money and is not really necessary.

I learned about bathing a baby from Deborah. She gave step by step instructions, too. She told me you use a pan like this (she pointed to a big metal bowl about 30” across). You use hot water and cold water. You sit in the pan and put the baby in your lap. You use a little towel, and you soak the towel with the hot water, and use that on the forehead of the baby. After that, you bathe the baby and you use some of the hot water and the cold water. Then you wash the private parts and the stomach. She told me about the umbilical chord stub, and said, “when a baby is given birth to, the stomach, they have this very long thing and with hot water, it takes time, it will go away - so that you can get it perfectly smooth.” She has a great way of describing things.

She taught me about the dangers of pregnancy and birth. I asked her if she considered birth to be dangerous. She said yes, because lots of women bleed before they give birth, and they can die from that. Also some women can be in labor for a week, and it is so painful. For others, the baby will be so big in the womb, it will be so hard for the mother to get the baby out, that after she gives birth, she will die because she was just so tired.

She told me about Malaria when you are pregnant and how it is a very scary thing, and usually much worse. If you have malaria when you are pregnant, you are more likely to give birth early when the baby is not ready. This will affect the skin color of the child, so they have to put the baby in the sun that is rising in the morning so the baby can receive vitamin D. She did get malaria with her first pregnancy, but not with the second.

Deborah gave birth in the Asamang Hospital. She was transferred there after a difficult labor, and they had to perform an emergency cesarean section. Even though she had this struggle, and her baby was born a few weeks early, she gave birth to Perpetual, who was very healthy, and very fat.

I definitely grew closest with Deborah. She was about 6 1/2 months along in her second pregnancy when we met. She was always so kind and generous to me. Our three interviews were spaced apart by quite some time, during which I only spoke to her with my translator Grace. It wasn’t until we were done doing interviews, when I learned she had very good English, and we were able to communicate without a translator. After that, and for the last 2 weeks in Ghana, I went over to her home almost every day to spend time with her. I learned she was a graduate of secondary school (quite a rare thing) and emphasized in culinary arts, thus making her a very good cook. One day we had a feast day and bought many ingredients to make tons of different kinds of foods. She taught me to speak Twi better and also has given me quite the honor of naming her new baby girl Kayla, who was born on September 24th 2009. We have spoken since then, and she misses me a lot, as I miss her. I truly think I would go back to Ghana, just to hang out with her all day. Meeting and spending time with her definitely made my experience worthwhile.

Articles:

I read dozen’s of articles and book chapters to help me learn and think more about my study. I found great things in them all that helped me become curious and ask more questions, and also learn more about Ghana through an academic perspective. There were many that I really enjoyed and that really helped me that I wanted to touch on.

One was called Men, Women and the Fertility Question in Sub-Sahara Africa: An Example from Ghana by F. Nii-Amoo Dodoo and Poem Van Landemjk. This article talked about contraception and family planning in Ghana. It was something that I ran into not only in my interviews, but also at the clinic. I saw the population there, and know that it has grown immensely than what it used to be. I would see hundreds of children every day. There were at least 6 elementary to Jr. High School aged kids just in our small town. The article stated that women have an average of 6.5 children, which is an extremely large number compared to other places around the world. A lot of times I would also see a mother bringing in two children; a newborn and one about a year old. It was easy to see that many times they did not do much family planning. I was able to attend two family planning meetings with women at the clinic. The nurses taught the women how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and prepare for wanted ones. The article gave me a lot of information that it might have been more difficult to ask women.

Another very helpful article was from the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women’s Issues Worldwide, Sub-Saharan Africa: GHANA by Kathleen Maria Fallon. The author gave an incredible background and basic history of Ghana and the many issues women face. She covered all areas including education, employment, family and sexuality, health, politics and law, religion and violence. Again, these were all great things for me to know, without having to ask people. The area that was most helpful for my study, was the section on family and sexuality. I learned a lot about marriage rites and rituals, reproduction, sex education, contraception, abortions, teen pregnancy, etc. The article mentioned several times about the low birth control use, the emphasis to have many children, and the high birth rate. I definitely noticed many of those things as I stated in the paragraph above. It also talked about spousal rape, and plural marriages, which helped me to be more aware if I ran into anything of that kind, but fortunately I did not directly.

A different article was from the book called A World Full of Women by Martha Ward, Chapter 3 entitled Blood and Milk. It covered a wide variety of subjects that were very applicable to my project, and some of the things that I had already discussed with Deborah in my interviewing process. Again, it talked about birth control and family planning, which when I asked the women if they planned their next child, they always said no. It also mentioned abortions, where in Ghana, it is very looked down upon, but legal. We heard a story of the head nurse trying to talk a woman out of getting an abortion. Luckily, the clinic does not do surgeries, so she would have had to go to another hospital anyways. It talked about social births, which I discussed with Deborah, specifically baby naming ceremonies. It also talked about breastfeeding. Deborah once asked me if women in American breastfed and for how long. I told her yes, and said usually until about 6 to 18 months is when they stop. She told me that I should breastfeed my children until they are two years old. Most women breastfeed, especially because formula is expensive. But Constance said her children would not breastfeed and they would only take formula.

This is just a small sample of the different articles I read, but they were truly all very helpful in every part of my project. I was always excited when I found something and realized I had just already learned that from someone, or found something new I could ask a question about.

Proofs:

There were many different activities I did to also help me with my project, and learn about Ghanaian culture. I will note some of them below.

The Clinic:

Many, many hours we spent volunteering at the clinic. There, I was able to do lots of observations and try to understand the people better. One vital and very interesting part of the day was prayer meetings. The clinic was owned and run by the Salvation Army and each morning, they had prayers, songs, scriptures and thoughts. It was very insightful each day and helped us get better acquainted with the employees there. You could really see how much care and concern they put in for their patients and what sort of treatment plans they carry out.

Most of the time I spent volunteering the in the Antenatal clinic. In this area, the women would come in on designated days according to their age (i.e. Tuesdays: ages 16-30 Wednesdays: 30+) to make them feel more comfortable with others around them. We would sit at the desk and record their information in a large staff book that asked for weight and blood pressure (which we would measure there). We would also collect their fees for coming into the clinic (I believe it was 1 Ghana cedi) and give out their vitamins. It was also interesting to see from their personal chart, how many children they had. It would say whether they gave birth to a boy or girl, and whether the baby lived or died. It was sometimes very sad.

When there were no more women left, we would usually sort vitamins or sweep and clean the area.

On other days, we could help in the postnatal clinic, where women would bring in their children ages newborn to about 3 or 4, to get them weighed. They have a scale hanging from a rope from the rafters, where the baby will sit in a canvas bag with holes cut out for the legs, and we check and measure their weights. It’s charted on a growth chart and if a baby isn’t growing at a regular pace, they are sent to one of the nurses to teach them about proper nutrition. The tiny kids were so precious and cute. Some of them were terrified of us because we were white, some just hated that scale, so they would scream and wail, and it was quite a riot. Others would just happily sit there and smile at us.

Every time a baby was getting very fat, very fast, the mother would cheer and be so happy that they were growing healthy. If a woman’s child was not growing three check-ups in row, they were to stay at the malnutrition area of the clinic until the baby became healthy again. In this area of the clinic, they also did immunizations for the children.

Malaria:

Another vital experience I had, was when I got malaria. It was something I will never forget. I got it at the end of June. I thought I had it for a while, but it wasn’t too terrible, just like a small flu bug. I went to the clinic anyways and they gave me the medication I needed to help me feel better. I was pretty stagnant for a few days, until one day after exerting myself more than I should have, I nearly collapsed and passed out. I felt like I had no control over my body, and I was going to pass out, throw, and wet myself all at the same time. Luckily, I was already at the clinic where they took good care of me. They wheeled me off into some back room, where I was given some medication through and IV (I don't even know what it was), and then slept for about 48 hours. Something they gave me made me have an awful twitch in my legs while I was trying to sleep.

I came home after about 12 hours, ate some, and then threw up everything, and really thought I was going to die again. I went back to sleep for a long time. When I got up, I was feeling all right, I just couldn’t use any of my muscles, especially my leg ones, for maybe a week or so. It was interesting to me, that everyone in my group who got malaria, had a different form of illness that came with it. Someone had severe migraines, another was constantly vomiting, and other was severe diarrhea. I was lucky that I just couldn’t walk, but truly felt fine.

Because of this experience, I was able to get a better understanding to how the Ghanaians feel when them get malaria. Most of them get it at least once a year, and it is pretty much unpreventable. I am grateful to have had that experience, even though I truly hated it.

Hair Plaited:

Another interesting thing I went through twice was getting my hair plaited. African people have very different hair than Americans. Their hair is usually very rough and thick, kinky, and sometimes unmanageable. That is why the men cut their hair very short, and the women get their hair plaited or weaved. Weaved is when they braid your hair to your head (it looks like a basket) then actually sew on fake hair to the braids. Plaiting is when they take the fake hair, and braid it into the hair you already have. A few of us girls decided to do it, for fun and for the experience. The first time, I had some ladies named Jenna and Comfort do it. They used fake blond hair, which is pretty much just plastic hair (like a Barbie dolls) and they took sections of hair from my scalp and tied the fake hair in a small knot at the top, and then braided with the rest of my hair. It was about mid-back length and very heavy. It took about 2 hours to finish because the braids were pretty thick. When they finished, they took a flame and burned all the spare ends sticking out everywhere, then dipped the ends in boiling water to keep them from unraveling. My head felt huge and heavy, but surprisingly very cool because the wind was able to reach my scalp. I kept those braids in for about a month.

The second time I did this, I had my friend Grace do it. This time, I used fire engine red, and blond that she mixed together. This time, she did tiny braids and the roots, and then did a sort of twisted style for the rest, so they looked like little ropes. It took about 10 hours to finish my entire head because the braids were so tiny. Again, they were about mid-back length and I absolutely loved it. Grace didn’t use a flame, she just went with scissors and individually cut all the spare ends from each strand. I liked the second do better, and was happy I was able to feel what it was like to get my hair done like the women in Ghana do.
Although times were sometimes fun, sweaty, rough, hilarious, educational, terrifying and emotional, I really am glad that I was able to go to Ghana and experience the things that I did. It definitely was not what I ever would have expected, but it was truly worth it. Any advice I would be giving to future students would be to honestly not have any expectations. You will truly be surprised.

And that's a wrap!

Out with the old... :(

So, my car. Remember? GJ?

Well, s/he passed away mid-January. My father randomly decided to buy a new car.


Because of his green attire, we decided to name him John Bob (you have to say it with a French accent though.)

Yes, just like the frog on swan princess. Apparently, the car is not for me, but for my 15 year old sister, who doesn't even have her license yet. But I am allowed to drive it. Great.

Here are the pro's and con's of GJ verses JB.

GJ PROS

• I love her/him
• Super soft blue interior
• Always smells really good inside
• Can use my nifty tape adapter to listen to my Ipod
• Ah, the memories
• Pretty reliable being
• Sun roof
• Spacious backseat
• Big trunk

GJ CONS

• Power steering fluid always would leak
• Door lock wouldn't work on drivers side
• Passenger side window wouldn't roll down
• One back door wouldn't open
• Always having to take it into the shop
• Would 'pretend' to catch on fire and the radiator would shoot out billowing white smoke

-overall, I think the pro's weigh out the con's but who am I to speak.

JB PROS

• He works and is drivable
• Looks pretty
• Nice heating/ac
• A good size
• All doors and buttons work
• Smells like bubblegum

JB CONS

• Is a manual. You may get mild whiplash if either Tree or I drive you.
• Only has a radio. No tape player, no CD player :(
• The windsheild wipers don't work very well.
• The trunk leaks water into it when it rains.
• It is a manual.

Kind of wish GJ was still alive. But i'll deal...