Week of 23 January 2017

Started off again this week with Zone Conferences.  It seems like they come much faster now.  So the President and his wife and the Assistants were gone all week.
Each apartment has a medical supply kit which the mission supplies for them.  So I had to get some stomach medicine, some diarrhea medicine, some Ibuprofen and some Malaria pills so that Sister Stevenson could replenish their jars.  Oh yeah, and some cough drops.  There is a member of the church that owns a "pharmacy", so we just went to him.  He did get us everything we need.

So it was kind of boring in the office.  On Wednesday night we stayed in the office to see a Worldwide Missionary Training live stream.  Elders Oaks, Bednar, Andersen conducted the training.  They also introduced a new missionary daily schedule.  So the mission president can be flexible in when the missionaries rise in the morning and what their schedule is like during the day.  It's not so regimented anymore.  And there is a system in place called Key Indicators that the missionaries have to report every week.  There was like 8 things they had to report - how many hours proselyting, gospel conversations, members with them during discussions, etc.  Now there are only 4 things they report and it has to do with baptisms and confirmations, investigators attending church, etc.  Things that the missionaries should be focused on.  And on Mondays, they only have to proselyte for 3 hours sometime during the day.  I'm sure all of the missionaries like that.

On Saturday, we had another baptism.

This is Sister Saba.  She gave a talk on baptism.

This is Brother Victor (can't spell his last name).  He gave a talk on the Holy Ghost

This is Brother Walker.  Ward Missionary Leader.  Just returned from a mission to Nigeria.

The Bishop bore his testimony also.  He has been a member for 44 years.  I believe he was the 10th person baptized in Ghana.

And this is what the elders do during the program.  If you can't see, he has a small Rubik's cube.

Elders Garry and Warner found Fred but since he didn't live in their area -

Elders Smith and Hepworth taught him.  He was crying when he came out of the water.  

So Sunday was the 5th Sunday and the RS was waiting for the men to come down and join us.  

We all look so enthusiastic - don't we.

And this little boy has stolen my heart!

This is Zachary.

He wouldn't be quiet so his mother wrapped him up on her back.

When we sat down for breakfast this morning this little lizard was on the floor near the table.  It is only an inch long.  They come in all sizes.  Down the toilet he went!

So another week and January is almost over.  

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 16 January 2017

Hello from hot and humid Ghana.  Right about now I would like to see some of that snow Utah is having.  We asked Samuel (FM Manager) if he could imagine what snow was like.  And he said that he thought it was like the frost that accumulates on the inside of his freezer.  And we didn't know how to explain it, so we told him yes, that is what it is like.  Close enough.

There was a wonderful thunderstorm last night.  The lightning lit up the sky and dumped a lot of rain.  It really cleared up the air.  Maybe Harmattan is almost over.

On Monday (16th), I sent a welcome letter to the missionaries that will be arriving on March 1st.  One of them is the daughter of the Stake President.  He immediately wrote me back and told me that he was grateful for the information, but his daughter had not received her mission call yet.  She will be entering the MTC in Ghana on the 9th of February.  I told him I would try to find out what happened to it and get back with him.  I talked to President Stevenson who in turned called a brother in the Area Office over mission calls.  He said he would have to contact SLC which of course wouldn't be in the office for another 9 hours.  President Stevenson brought over a copy of the book that is sent to all missionaries.  I scanned that and sent it to Sister Willie, so that she could at least start buying some things and getting her shots.The mail system really stinks here.

So our new Elders and Sisters arrived Tuesday morning about 11:00 am.  It was good to see everyone and to meet them face to face.  Beautiful young ladies and handsome young men.  We have a Tongan in this group and he is really big.  Not fat big, just big.

A few pictures of them settling in at the mission home for dinner and interviews.

We had the Elders spend Tuesday night with us.  And they were all up and ready to go by 7:00 am. the next morning.  We didn't need them back to the mission home until 8:00 am for breakfast.  So we just sat and talked for a couple of minutes.  They are all ready to go out and teach.  Finally they were ready to go meet their trainers.

Wednesday afternoon, Elder Blay and Sister Anthony arrived at the mission home for their last interview with the president and traditional dinner and testimony meeting.  Since they are the only one going home it was a quiet night.  After dinner and testimonies, we watched the movie called Freetown.  It was very good.  And the very last scene was taken at the Alma House, here in Accra.

I don't think I like fish anymore.

Passing the limes around to get the fish smell off.

This is Theresa, the mission home cook and she also cleans the home every Monday.  She is making Banku.  It just looks like raw bread dough and they eat it.  I just couldn't try it.

Elder Blay was one of the first missionaries we met in Cape Coast.  He will surely be missed.

Our current Assistants and one past assistant. Elders Garry, Blay and Warner.

The President and Sister Stevenson took Elder Blay and Sister Newton to Accra.  But it was very low key also.  The temple is closed for their two week cleaning and so is the distribution center.  So they just went and had KFC, got Elder Blay released by his Stake President and sent him home in a cab.  Then they went to the airport for Sister Anthony.  President called about 10:30 pm that night and said that Sister Anthony was stuck in Lagos, Nigeria and there was no one from the church travel to meet her.  She had missed her connecting flight.  I tried to call my travel people and of course no one answered their phone.  Very frustrating!!!!!  So Sister Anthony found a cab to take her to a hotel where she spent the night.  Got to the airport to catch another flight in the morning and she was there most of the day. At least the church travel guy was there with her.  Nigeria is really getting to be a pain in the neck.. Too much going on in that country.  But she did finally get home Friday evening.

Saturday we had another baptism.  Brother Joshua, who just got baptized four months ago, baptized Joseph Mensah.  It was neat to see both of them in the water together.  It took a few minutes for them to figure out the hand positioning, but all went well.

Joseph and Joshua

Elders Riding and Chavengwa with Joseph and Joshua.

Beautiful day!

We got to talk with Tracy and Sean for a little while on Sunday.  James emailed us and told us all about his thoughts on Sara's wedding and having to share her with another family. 

We are waiting on Joshua and Linzy and the arrival of their little daughter - Ellisya in February.  

And Alex's wedding to Jessica in February.  Cassius is going to college now.  Desi is staying with Teri for a while.  Her husband has been deployed.  We get pictures from Rob and Michelle about what Maui and Keo are up to.  Maui was out helping Rob shovel the snow.   Doug and Emily send us pictures also.  Instagram is great!  We saw Ben kick a board in two (Karate??) and Claire skiing and Anna playing in the snow.   Megan sends us pictures on Instagram all the time.  We got one long email from Derek, Wayde, Kaylee and Ryland.  Everyone is doing great!  We love our family.  Thank you for your love and support and just being who you are.

We love and miss you all.

Week of 9 January 2017

Another hazy and sand blowing in the air kind of week  It sure is yuck! The sun is always orange.

Monday was subsistence payment day for the missionaries.  And Wayne always has a lot of calls from the missionaries because of troubles with the ATMs.  This week we had 3 elders call because the ATM gave them a receipt showing they received their money, but they got no money.  Wayne had to call SLC each time so that they could communicate with the bank.  And put money back into their accounts.  It all works out, but it sure is frustrating for the missionaries.  It takes two more days for the new money to get into their account.  

On Tuesday, we received a call from Elder and Sister Sorensen.  They happened to be traveling on a lonely dirt road and had pulled off to the side when around the corner comes a motorcycle and it ran right into the front of their truck.  Both passengers landed on the hood of the truck.  Wayne had them write up a report and take some pictures.  Not a lot of damage, but it was scary for them.  And the two boys wanted them to pay for the hospital.  Elder Sorensen told them no, it was their fault.

Two hours later, Elder and Sister Clements called and said that a taxi had not stopped in time and ran into the back of them.  There was a policeman there on the corner helping with traffic and he just waved the taxi on.  Elder Clements said he just looked at the policeman.  Another report to be turned into the area office.  Not a lot of damage on their car either. 

On Tuesday the President was in Mankessim for interviews and Wednesday in Assin Foso.  They spent the night in Assin Foso and then had interviews in Telecom.  On Friday it was the meeting for the new trainers that have been called for the arrival of new missionaries next week.  

Everyone seems to be really excited this time.  I think that the trainers make or break the new missionaries. 

In the office on Wednesday, the Supply Elders got kind of crazy.  They didn't want anybody to enter their supply room, so they built a wall.  Elder Hepworth had to get out, so he crawled through a small window that they made in the center.  Sometimes these "kids" get wild.

Yep, he crawled through that little space.

On Saturday, the man who owns the house across the road from us started early in the morning clearing the jungle by the side of his house.  He got most of the growth cut down and then started burning.  As he worked his way around, we were astonished to see this:

 It's another foundation for a house.  The jungle was so thick you couldn't even see it.  

And this house amazes me.  I think people just live on the first floor.  But it is huge!

So that was our week.  We are getting ready for next week and transfers.  

And just thought I would add some other pictures.  I made a carrot cake and apple crisp on Saturday for the transfer party.  And while I was baking, our propane cylinder ran out of gas.  Here is Wayne changing them over.  

And here is our water tank.  

We fill it every week and more when we have missionaries stay with us.

We are both really happy to be here and are enjoying our mission.  They made the announcement last Friday for 123 new mission presidents.  Ours should have been one of them, but it said TBA.  We won't be able to learn who it is until May.  Oh well.  We are still excited.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 2 January 2017

We came into work on Monday.  We didn't want to go to the city because of all the people that would be down there.  And it could have been very scary!

When we got to the office, there were two extra elders with the APs.  Elder Nelson and Elder Owens.  Elder Owens had gone to the doctors office because of an in-grown toenail.  And what they did to him was awful.  Part of his toe was dug away and it was very infected.  I'm sure there were some sort of parasites in his toe also.  So Sister Stevenson took matters into her own hands and is keeping them here to make sure it gets healed.  So we had them in the office with us almost every day.  We did put them to work and that was a big help.  By Saturday, his toe was looking pretty good, but still couldn't walk on it.

President had interviews this week. So they were gone on Tuesday.  Back on Wednesday for MLC.  And gone again on Thursday.  Back on  Friday for a meeting with the trainers and their trainees that arrived in December.  The President holds a meeting after four weeks just to see how things are going and if they are doing the training correctly.  They always have fun when they get together.

Our APs taking pictures.  Elder Garry and Ameyaw.

We didn't attend MLC this time.  Had too much to do in the Office.  We have 12 missionaries coming in on the 17th but only 2 leaving.  Wayne and I will not be going to Accra this month.  YEAH!!!

On Saturday, we had a baptism scheduled at noon.  So we waited and waited and waited.  We finally left at 1:30, Wayne and I left.  They re-scheduled for Sunday after church.

Me and Elder Chavengwa  He was reading the Liahona.

Elder Hepworth!?!?

Elder Smith !?!?

So Sunday was interesting.  Not only did we have our rooster, but also goats bleating.  It was kind of funny to see the ward members try to shoo these animals away.  They just kept coming back.  And of course, it had to be during testimonies.

Also, right after church a tro pulls up and all these funny dressed people get out.  The new president of Ghana was sworn in on Saturday and these people looked like they were going to have a parade, which they did.  And we were trying to have  baptism.  Loud music and shouting.  We waited for about 5 minutes for them to leave so that we could all hear the baptismal prayer.

So they finally we got to baptize Josef.  What a great young man!  Hopefully, he stays strong and dedicated to the gospel.

All the deacons had to get in the picture also.  Josef is the one in the very middle.

Beautiful day!

We love you and miss you all.