Week of 21 August 2017

It was a fun week, this week.  We did office work for Monday and Tuesday and the rest of the week was play. . . . . .

Tuesday was Cape Coast's Zone Conference.  They are one of the biggest zones right now.  The Mission President and Sister Hillam have started to change some things.  For the good, but we don't know how the missionaries will react. Things had gotten pretty relaxed around here.  He talked about being a "Consecrated Missionary".  And you can tell already who is going to be and who isn't.

Cape Coast Zone

Wednesday was our Zone Conference.  It's always good to get away from the office for awhile.

Yamoransa Zone

After our zone conference we held our first Senior Couple Conference.  And it was fun.

Thursday evening we ate a wonderful dinner at the mission home.  President and Sister Hillam brought a dutch oven so they made potatoes.  Oh, they tasted so good!  We also had chicken, a vegetable, rolls and cake.  

We were going to play some games, but everyone was tired so we just sat around and talked.  We met Friday morning about 8:30 am and all the couples took about 20 mins. each and reported on their areas and problems they may be having.  We then broke for breakfast (brunch).  After brunch we sat down and the president instructed and then an open discussion on some of the concerns for the mission.  

After we watched a movie and ate some popcorn.

Then we left for Elmina and the Elmina Beach Resort for dinner.  It, of course, was right on the ocean.  It was quite foggy.  But the ocean is always beautiful.

Elmina Castle

Everyone went home on Saturday.  It was a great time!

So here's some different birds that are attacking our front windows now.  I believe these are crows.

On Sunday we left with President and Sister Hillam at 6:00 am to travel to Praso.  The Nyinasi Branch was having Branch Conference.  This is where they meet.

The missionaries had baptized a 90 yr. old man on Saturday so he was confirmed on Sunday.  What a wonderful man.  He was beaming from ear to ear!  And the chapel was full.

We left after Sacrament meeting and headed over to Assin Foso.  Which was a 2 hour drive on a very rough road.  And of course it had rain, so it made it even worse.

It was bad.  They probably could use this road for a roller coaster ride.

We stopped at the Nuamakrom Chapel, which is a very new chapel, but here is what was outside.  They are all over.

And here is something we found in the bushes.

Yep, it's for real.

We finally made it to Assin Foso and stopped in on a couple of Sisters that weren't feeling well.  We had to walk up to their apartment.  There was no road.  President Hillam was quite concerned about these two sisters, so he talked along time with the Zone Leaders - Elder Allen and Elder Kazimoto.

Then on our way again back to the Cape.  And we had to make another stop in Achiasi and the Zone Leaders apartment in Cape.

This is the view from the apartment in the Cape.

It was a long day, but we had so much fun visiting and seeing some parts of the mission we hadn't seen.

August is almost over.  My goodness!

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 14 August 2017

President and sister Hillam left for Accra very early Monday morning for a "New Mission President Conference" which would last two days. They had Sister Anorue and her companion Sister Soda with them so that she could get her passport renewed and see an Ear specialist.  The passport thing didn't go too well and she needs to go back in two weeks for an operation.

On Wednesday, President called and said that we needed to go check on a couple of missionaries.  We had to travel to Saltpond and find them first.  We called the District Leader to help with that.  We spent a couple of hours with the two missionaries hoping to sort things out.  It was not a pleasant thing to do.

Later on that night, we got a call from Samuel Laing (FM Coordinator).  He told us that the guards at the mission home said there was water running inside the home. It came from the hose on back of one of the washing machines.  I didn't go down but Wayne took the Supply Elders and went down to a mess.  There was at least two - four inches of water in the laundry room, down the hall, into the President's office, a missionary bedroom, a bathroom, and the President bedroom and bathroom.  All the throw rugs were soaking wet.  They mopped for an hour or more.  And threw everything outside that was wet, including boxes of things from the president's bedroom.
It was a late night.

Thursday, before the Hillams got home from Accra, we went and mopped up the remaining water.  All of the curtains in the bedroom had to be taken down and dried.  They are floor length curtains.

Friday, we were sitting in the office when there sounded like a parade outside on the street in front of the mission home.  It was one of the schools around here and they were carrying signs that said - We promise to learn, we promise to study, etc.  It was kind of cute to see them marching down the street.

Also on Friday and Saturday, our lawn got mowed and every trimmed.  We are spoiled to have a gardener.  Don't know what we will do when we get home.  He does a wonderful job with just a machete.

Here is one of our Plantain trees we have in our compound.  They grow up!!!

Saturday was a Ghana Service Day for all of the wards and branches throughout Ghana.


These are some of our missionaries cleaning windows at one of the hospitals here.


These sisters were discussing what to do next.  There was lots of help.

Also on Saturday I got a picture of our monkey.  I was taking the picture through a window, which evidently needs to be washed.  Oh well, he's cute anyway.

He was sitting on our water tank framework.  That is his tail.  It was long.

I baked on Saturday, too.  It was bread day.  I made two loaves of zucchini, two loaves of banana and 2 loaves of regular white bread.  And most of it is gone already.

We had 6 elders over for dinner on Sunday.  I made a big pot of chili and baking powder biscuits.  Everything was gone!  Elder Masame is from Australia and he said this was his first experience having chili.  He said he liked it and I hope he did.  They didn't leave until 9:15 pm.  They all just like to talk and tell us of their teaching experiences.  It's awesome!

So that's all for this week.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 7 August 2017

Tuesday morning we were preparing for the day when I heard a horrendous noise on our roof.  So I thought it might be the squirrels had come back and were in the attic again.  I started pounded the ceiling with a broom so that they would leave.  When I came into the kitchen again, there on the cement wall of the little porch we have was a monkey.  Just sitting there and staring at me.  It was about 18 in. tall, black with a white face.  Cute little thing.  I didn't have my phone, so no picture was taken.

The President and Sister Hillam are in Praso and Assin Foso for Zone Conference and interviews.  So I played "hooky" on Thursday.  Went into the office in the morning and went home at lunch.  I cleaned and mopped the floors.  Did some wash and made bread and rolls.  Wayne stayed at the office and came home at 5:30 pm.  Just needed to do some thing else besides office work.

Friday was "Finish Strong" for the November group of missionaries.  3 sisters and 8 elders.


They all sign a white shirt for posterity.



Can't believe these elders and sisters will be going home soon.

Saturday at the fish market.  Very busy place.  This is right down from the castle.  One day, Wayne and I are going to have to go through the castle and take some pictures.  It's called a castle, but really was the place they housed the slaves that were being sold to various countries.

On Sunday we were being attacked by these two birds.  Their beaks scare me so we waited inside until they were gone.  We also saw a ferret in our yard that day.  Once again, neither one of us had a camera.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 31 July 2017

Cannot believe that July is over.  And neither can our grandkids.  It's back to school again.

We had an exciting and very spiritual week.  I was able to spend a lot of time with Sister Hillam and learn some things about her.  She is a wonderful person.  You can see why the Lord has chosen these two people to lead this Cape Coast mission.

They were gone this week to Assin Foso for interviews.  And she said she loved every minute of it and got to know 16 of our Sisters very well.

So on Wednesday it was MLC.  They taught about being a "consecrated" missionary and what that means.  Everyone participated and we all hope they listened and learned.

MLC Council

So about a month ago, we learned that Elder Renlund would be coming to our mission to speak to the missionaries.  It was wonderful news.  And Sister Hillam was a wreck.  She had to feed them on Sunday before the meeting with all the missionaries.  And they said they just wanted something light.

I suggested to her that she make a quiche and I would make some cinnamon pull-aparts for her.  So we had a trail run on Wednesday night.  The quiche was great and they said they loved the pull-aparts.  So we were set.  

On Saturday, I helped her all day baking cookies for the missionaries.  She decided she wanted to give them a cookie during their interviews.  So we baked a lot.  Sugar, oatmeal/chocolate chip, peanut butter and snickerdoodles.  It was fun.

Also Saturday, we ran over to the chapel for two more baptisms.  The missionaries are doing awesome!

Brother Patrick with Elders Nelson and Stephens.

And Sister Abigail with Elders Mease and Jeppson.

Back to the mission home.

Problem with the meal was that we didn't know exactly what time the Renlunds would be there.

So early Sunday morning, I got up and started making the dough.  It hit me then that I was baking for an apostle.  Can't tell you how hard I prayed that all would turn out well.  At 7:30 am, Sister Hillam called me and told me that they were on their way from Takoradi.  It takes about 90 mins. to get to the Cape from there.  She said she would be feeding them about 10:00 am.  

The pull aparts looked okay and I hoped they were cooked all the way through.

Anyway, all went well with the meal and we were all waiting patiently at the Ola chapel for Elder Renlund, his wife, Elder Vincent (West Africa Area President) and his wife, and President and Sister Hillam. 

We went outside to practice for the picture. 

So this is before they came and . . . . 

This is after they arrived.

The meeting was wonderful.  The Vincents talked about their conversion story and how grateful they were for the missionaries that found them.  And how from those two missionaries, it has affected their lived and hundreds of others.

Sister Renlund talked about the talks that our missionaries were assigned to read prior to Sunday.  One of those talks was Pres. Uchdorf's "Fourth Floor, Last Door".  She had them answer questions and then discussed.

Elder Renlund talked about what it means to be a dedicated missionary through "effort and attitude".

He talked about his brother who went to Sweden and was a so-so missionary most of his mission.  The mission that he was in baptized about 50 people a year.  Two months before his brother came home he decided to change and become a dedicated missionary.  During those two months, there were 16 baptisms and his brother did 15 of them.   "ATTITUDE AND EFFORT"  Elder Renlund reminded us that it not only applies to missionaries, but to every member of the church.

We tried to get a picture while we were in the chapel.

This was while he was speaking.

And just getting ready to leave.

This was all of us crammed into the chapel.

And this was the chaos outside.  Everyone just wanted to linger and talk.

It was a beautiful day.  One we will never forget!

That was our week.

We love you and miss you all.