Dec. 12 & 19, 2016

Hey everyone! How are all of you? I hope that you all have had a good 2 weeks. We already had our Christmas program here in the mission. We had a multi-zone get together in Kpong. Pres. and Sis. Heid both spoke, along with the AP's. Then we did a bunch of fun activities like soccer and basketball and had lots of good food to eat. 

We have had some good success since my last letter. We have two investigators that will hopefully be baptized in January. I am hoping to see it happen before I leave Suhum. Pres. Heid already told me that I will be getting transferred in January, so that will be a little sad. I really love and enjoy being in Suhum, and I don't want to leave even though I know it is just part of being a missionary. 

Ghana also had their national election as well. Pres. Heid had us stay in and deep clean the apartments that day. He did it just to be safe, but fortunately there weren't any problems. I am going to keep it short and just bear my testimony. I know that the church is true and that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he was born of an earthly mother and Heavenly Father to come and die for us. I know that He loves us more than we can possibly ever understand so as we go through this Christmas season, let us remember that. I love all of you! I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

-- 

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

                                                   Me and my companion, Elder Ignatius

Nov 28 & Dec 5, 2016

Hey everyone!!

How are you? I hope that you are doing well! I am doing good. It is just weird for me because we are already in December. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed being with family. So many things have happened, the United States even has a new president! Things here in the mission are going great. The week that Rose got baptized the mission had 40 baptisms and over 400 new investigators. The work here in Ghana is moving forward quickly and I am really glad I get to be a part of it.

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of another year. I can remember last year when I was not quite a month old on my mission and was still trying to get used to everything. Now we are already a year into it and next year at this time I will be home! It really is hard to believe! I'm not really sure where the time goes. I am now a district leader (DL), so that is definitely more responsibility. I also know that I will be leaving Suhum in January, so I am sad about that. Just got to work my hardest for these last few weeks here. These have been a good couple weeks. We have had good success seeing the people we have been teaching. We haven't had any luck with Frank, but we are praying that he keeps making progress. None of the rest of our investigators are ready for baptism yet, but we are working with them. I just love Suhum so much and am not yet ready to leave it. 

This coming Thursday are the elections here in Ghana. Pres. Heid has asked us to stay in and deep clean our apartments just to be safe. Things are usually pretty calm, but Pres. Heid just wants to make sure that everyone is OK. I ended up getting a small infection in my ear and had to spend a day going to and from Accra to have the mission doctor look at it. He cleaned it out, gave me some antibiotics and its healing nicely, so all is well. Also, 1 YEAR BABY!!!!!! I forgot to do that a couple weeks ago so I had to do it now. I love all of you so much and I hope that all of you are able to have a memorable Christmas season. Always try to remember the real reason of Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior. I love you so much!! Have a good week!

Love,

--

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

Nov 21, 2016

Hey everyone!!!

How are all of you? I hope that you all had a good 2 weeks! I know I did! A couple weeks ago we had our quarterly multi zone conference! It was really good. I was able to see a couple of my buddies there, so that was nice. We heard from President Heid, Sister Heid, The AP's and zone leaders, everyone gave really good talks. Then all the districts performed skits, some of them were pretty good. Then Sunday we had our district conference. We heard form Vern P. Stanfill of the 70. He is a really funny guy. His wife is also from Orange County and gave me a high five while we missionaries greeted them. It was pretty cool. Then yesterday we had the all Africa broadcast from Salt Lake. Elder Stevenson, Elder Dube, Sister Stevenson and someone else spoke, it was a great broadcast and the Spirit was really strong. Then after the service we had our baptism, so we were super excited! Our whole district did them together...we had 6 baptisms in total! It was really cool! We baptized Rose, so we are really pumped about that! We also have so many referrals to go through, it's a great time to be in Suhum! I also found a really good new food. It is called a PB&B sandwich. A Peanut Butter and Barbecue  sauce sandwich! It might not sound appetizing, but it tastes good to me. I'm out of time, so I'll sign off for now. The gospel is true and I'm so glad to be serving here in Ghana. I love you all so much!

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

Nov 7, 2016

Hello everyone!!

I really think I need to change what I say for a greeting, but I am not sure, what do you all think? I hope that you all had a good week. Our week was actually really good. It was a normal week until Sunday. Yesterday we got 42 referrals in total! The branch president challenged everyone at church to give at least one referral. The members really came through for us. The missionaries in our apartment split the referrals, so we got 21, but still, it was crazy!! Our other investigators, Rose and Frank, are doing good still. Both are on track to be baptized this month, so that will be exciting. 

I have a multi-zone conference coming up this week. It takes us away from teaching, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone and hearing from Pres. Heid. We tried to make some fufu for lunch today at the apartment. It was edible, but it was mostly plantain. Plantain is not my favorite so I didn't eat any. Fortunately we are going to get pizza after we finish emailing, so its all good. It is hard to believe that at the end of the week I will have been out for one year. I have come so far and still have plenty to go. I dont have much time so I will keep it short for today. I love you all and hope you have a good week!!

Love,

--

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

Oct 31, 2016

Hey everyone, happy Halloween!! How are all of you? I hope that you had a good week! Our week was pretty good. It has been a very busy week with lots of teaching. We are still waiting for Frank to get back from Accra. He is down there visiting his uncle, but he is in contact with the missionaries there, so all is good. We are also working with a sister named Rose and another investigator named Phil. 

I will say that the weather has been ridiculously hot lately. I forgot how bad Harmattan can be (the hot wind that blows from the east-northeast in the winter). It is a real scorcher, and with the humidity it makes it a thousand times worse,so yeah. We did get a new missionary in the apartment, his name is Elder Joseph. He is from Nigeria and he is a really good guy. 

Besides Frank another of our investigators will be ready for baptism this month. Her name is Rose, I mentioned her earlier in the letter. She is related to the branch president, but her parents aren't members. She said that she wanted to be baptized, so we are teaching her. Its really exciting to have the potential for two baptisms in November. I cannot believe that October is already over. It flew by so fast! I love missionary work and seeing the changes it can bring to peoples lives. I hope that all of you have a good Halloween and get lots of good candy, since I won't get the chance to get any here! Eat a Kit-Kat bar for me if you get a chance.

Love,

--

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

Oct 24, 2016

Hey everyone!!

How are all of you? I hope that you had a good week! I had a pretty good week. We did a lot of teaching with all of our investigators. I enjoy teaching with my companion. We work well with one another, and we like to approach each teaching opportunity as a new challenge. Also, our investigator named Frank has accepted the invitation to be baptized! He will be baptized next month. He had traveled to Accra for the month so the Elders down there have been teaching him, but he is coming back to Suhum so it is super exciting!. 

I forgot to mention last week that my second package arrived, and I am so thankful to all who wrote me. I love you all so much! I also have forgotten to mention this, but I finished Jesus The Christ about a month ago. It truly is one of the most amazing and spiritual books ever. It is really one of the best ways to learn the gospel more in depth. Another great book for these last days is the Old Testament. It truly gives us the guidance we need for these Latter days. If we remember, the Book of Mormon was in Old Testament times, except for the visitation of Christ and onward. Also if you want to learn more about the Church it is wonderful for that as well. I am actually reading in Ezekial right now in my own challenge to read all the scriptures. I have seen all of the things that pertain to our time and it is amazing. 

All is well over here. I am loving Africa. I can't believe that I am almost 1 year into my mission! I love you all so much!! I know the church is true!

--

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

Oct 10 & 17, 2016

Hello everyone!!

I hope that you all had a good two weeks and that all of you are doing well. I have had a good couple of weeks myself. We have been able to teach a lot of people and have added some new investigators that have a lot of promise. But the definite highlight of the last two weeks was going to the temple, twice! I got to go on Thursday night and Friday morning. It was so wonderful to go and do temple work. I felt like I was right at home and that my batteries were recharged. 

While I was in Accra I got to see Pres. Heid briefly, and I also saw a lot of my buddies, so that was super cool. Also, while I was down in Accra I got my second Ghanian non citizen id card, which means this is my last one since they are good for a year! I am so thrilled! Its hard to believe I already hit my eleven month mark, it almost doesn't seem possible I have been out that long. We had to switch internet cafes, so I dont have much time which is why this is kind of short. I hope everyone has a great week, feel free to shoot me an email if you get a chance.

Love you all!!

-- 

Elder Travis J. Roberts

Ghana Accra Mission

This is a picture of my district - Effiduse District