Week of 21 November 2016

One more week of this transfer and we will be getting new missionaries and seeing a couple of our favorites leave us.  I guess we don't have favorites, just ones we gotten to know really well.

Well, it was an exciting week with Thanksgiving and getting together with the senior couples.  And we had another two baptisms.

Monday morning was normal except we had a guest in the house with us for breakfast.  Just a tiny newt.

When we got home on Tuesday after working at the office, I went inside and went right to the bedroom.  What I saw made me cry.  All of the drawers of our dresser were on the bed and everything was thrown everywhere.  Then I heard Wayne yell that our TV was gone.  Robbed again.  All they got as the TV though.  We had everything else with us.

So here is our bare wall.

They came in through the back door and really had to work at it.  At least they didn't destroy it.

We called Samuel and he came over the next day.  We now have "screaming" locks on all the windows and doors.  And they cut down all of the jungle growth in front of our home.  It looks so bare.  We told Samuel not to get us another TV.  

Before

After

And here is our Thanksgiving table.

We had corn, cucumber salad rolls, mashed potatoes and some soup, which we used for the gravy.

Here is the chicken, and frozen jello salad which was pretty good and some dressing.  All in all, we had a very nice dinner.

And I made a chocolate cream pie and apple pie.

Cutting the pie with ice cream.  Sister Sorensen, Sister Stevenson and President.

Elder and Sister Clements and me.

We watched a movie after wards and then went home.  Clements came with us to spend the night.

In the morning, we came back to the mission home for scrambled eggs, toast, fruit and cinnamon rolls, which Sister Clements had made.  Very enjoyable time.

Friday was crazy at the mission home.  We had all of the trainers and trainees that started their mission 4 weeks ago come for a meeting to see how everything was going.  But the office got busy, because they all want to buy things.  It really was fun though.  There were 36 elders and sisters in all.

Saturday, we had the baptism of two children.  The one little boy had to get permission from his father to be baptized and none of his family showed up.  It really is sad.  

Patrick and Belinda got baptized. 

Elder riding baptized Belinda.

And Jonah baptized Patrick.

It was a beautiful day.  Hopefully the children in the ward stay friends with Patrick and help him come to church.

Sunday morning, we had two visitors.  Boy these birds can wake the dead!

Anyway good and kind of bad week.  All the rest of the weeks through next year are going to be awesome!

We love you and miss you.

Week of 14 November 2016

It was a very, very slow week this past week.  The President and APs were gone most of the week to Zone Conferences in Tarkwa, Takoradi and Mpintsin.  So we had the whole place to ourselves and no one came to visit either.

Anyway, we did go down into the Cape to buy a few things.  There is always singing and political parades now where ever you go.  The election is on Dec 7th.  We have a political office down the street from our office.  They really liven things up some days.

Two of the sisters came in on Thursday to take the English Proficiency test.  They probably shouldn't have taken it.  They really didn't comprehend the questions or how to work the program.  Hopefully, they will get an ok grade.

Sunday we had a West Africa Area Conference.  Elder Stevenson spoke along with Sister Stephens from the General Relief Society and an Elder Dube from Africa.  We were all stuffed into the chapel at Yamoransa and boy was it hot!  Just fans blowing the hot and stinky air around.  There had to be over 300 people in the chapel part alone.  But the talks were excellent.  Here is a picture of the chapel and after the conference. The chapel area is the length of the four windows starting from the right.

So besides our car, there only 3 other cars in the parking lot.  All of the other cars were tros and cabs waiting to take people to their destinations.  The elders that live next to us came by tro and they said there were 33 people in the tro that only has 15 seats.  Think that's a little dangerous???

So we drove the elders home with us.

Well, have a Happy Thanksgiving this week.

We love you and miss you.

Week of 7 November 2016

The President and APs are starting Zone Conferences this week.  Tuesday was their first one in Assin Foso.  Wednesday we had MLC.  The President talked to them about some of the Zone activities that were going on.  Especially the ones that were being held be the ocean.  There were pictures on Facebook which he saw of one of the sisters sitting on the lap of one of the elders.  NO NO!!!!!  And how they got on facebook was kind of upsetting to the president also.  So he said NO MORE activities on the beach until after the new year and then he would re-evaluate everything.  And they also kill whole pigs and roast them for activities, so the president said no more of that either.  Silly things these kids do.

Here is Elders Garry and Ameyaw teaching at MLC.

This is just milling around after lunch.

Here's our leadership in the mission.  All of them are excellent missionaries.  4 of them will be going home in December.

MLC is over.  Pictures of those going home are being taken.

On Thursday morning, we were eating breakfast when we heard on knock on our front door.  We thought it was the missionaries but no, here is what we found.

Beautiful little bird with a big beak and a bright red breast area.  It was really cute.

Saturday we had three more baptisms.  

Here is Patience, Elder Jager, Desmond and Joshua.

I was telling the kids what was happening.  Everyone just comes off the street to see what we are doing.

At four in the afternoon on Saturday we came back over to the office to skype with Tim and Tracy's family.  It as fun to see them and talk to them.  We don't get much of a chance to do that because of the internet or lack of.

Sunday was the Primary's program.  They had all the children sit on the one side of the room.  We have over 50 children in the primary and they did an awesome job.  Since they have no person to do music, one little girl gave them the note to start singing and another little girl led them.  They had 10 children say the ten commandments by heart and another 13 gave the articles of faith.  Everyone enjoyed the morning.

So we also learned on Sunday that there is Cholera spreading and multiple cases have been found in Cape Coast.  The Bishop read a letter from the area health department and told us what we needed to do with our food, water and especially shaking hands with people.

We will have to make sure that all the missionaries follow the rules.  This could become an epidemic real fast.

So that was our week,  We love and miss you all.

Week of 31 October 2016

Happy Halloween everyone.  Work was normal for us at the office but when we got home things livened up.  Wayne and I were reading in our living room when we heard some commotion on the porch.  And this is what we saw:

A mattress person

A ghost and Ninja person

And another Ninja.

The elders sure thought they were cute.  So we gave them some candy and said good night.  About 30 mins later this is what we got on our doorstep again.

They had carved out watermelons.  Really cute!

On Wednesday we met the other Senior Couples in a place called Kakum.  It is a rain forest with a tree canopy and wooden bridges that are way up in the sky.  It was very scary, but I traversed all seven bridges.

Elder and Sister Clements starting their climb upward.

Bamboo shoots

And then there were stairs.  And boy was it muggy and hot.

But it sure was beautiful.  Our guide told us that most of the ferocious animals hide during the day.  Good thing.  We didn't want to come face to face with a lion.

This is one of the trees the rope bridges was tied to.

Okay ready to start.   And I hung on for dear life.

We were hundreds of feet above the ground.  And the bridges would sway, too.

Can't describe how beautiful it was.

Elder Sorensen looking over things.

And Wayne had to show off.

Anyway it was a good day and we had a lot of fun.  Sweated like a stuck pig.  We had lunch after wards and then each departed to their own home.

When we got back to the office at about 2:00 in the afternoon, Wayne received a text from the President.  It said that we needed to take a missionary to Accra and meet the President and then babysit him until his plane left to take him home.  This missionary was one of the new ones that just arrived from the US last Wednesday.  We were so tired of driving to Accra.  4 hour trip on bumpy and dirt roads.  

President met us at the temple before they went in and then we had him until his plane left at 11:00 pm.  We went to some of the malls in Accra and had Pizza Hut pizza.  We finally took him to the airport at 8:00 pm and then stayed with him until 9:00 pm.  We then went to the hotel and spent the night.  Don't want to see Accra for another month!!!!

Saturday was spent in our house all day.  Cleaning, laundry and baking.  Our kitchen is so hot!  The sun shines in it all morning long.  And never cools off.  Even the floor is a real toasty warm.

Best news that we received this week was that the Cubbies won the World Series.  I was jumping up and down.  It is awesome!

We love and miss you all.

Week of 24 October 2016

Boy are we glad this week is over!  I think everything that could go wrong, went wrong!

Monday was a day for getting everything ready for the people that were going to stay behind in Cape Coast and to do our job while Wayne and I went to Accra.  Elder and Sister Clements drove in on Monday and spent the night with us.  We got up and 4:00 am and was on the road by 5:00 am with Elder Hasiata to get him to the airport by 9:00 am.  Traffic was horrendous and we had to go to the area office first to pick up his passport and travel money.  We got to the airport by 9:15 am.  Not bad.
Wayne dropped us off at the gate and then he went to park.  I couldn't go up to the check-in counter with him so I just stayed in the main foyer.  Soon Elder Hasiata was waving at me to join him and the airline person checking him told me to come also.  When I got to the counter, the airline told me that he was not listed on the flight roster.  I told her that we have a ticket right here, pointing to Elder Hasiata's ticket.  They even tried to look it up using all 4 of his names.  So I had to call the church travel and ask them for their help.  About 20 minutes later, we got a text from Kobina (area travel person) with the confirmation number.  We went back up to the counter and they finally let him through.  Praying that he would make his flight.  He would be traveling for 36 hours.  He would arrive in Tonga on Friday.

Wayne and I then left to go back to the area office to get the other 16 passports and money.  We were going to go to the temple, but the Clements were too tired.  And we had to go to the MTC to get some books which was in the city of Tema, at least 45 minutes away.  And of course we got lost!!!!
Finally found the MTC, got the books and headed back to Accra to spend the night.  We had to pick up the 6 missionaries coming in from Provo Wednesday morning at 8:00 am.   On our way back from Tema, we were in the right lane coming up to a 3 wheeled small truck.  When Wayne went to pass, a car in the left lane sped up and almost hit us.  Wayne had to stop really hard in order to not hit the 3 wheeler in front of us.  I don't know how he managed to stop.  It was inches between us and the 3 wheeler.  There must have been angels watching over us because if we had hit him, he would have flipped and surely been killed.

Okay, Wednesday morning, we got up and had a little bite to eat and headed for the airport.  We got a text from the Mission President telling us the flight had been postponed and wouldn't be in until 9:30 am.  So we went shopping.  Got to the airport at 9:15 am and found out that they now wouldn't be in until 1:45 in the afternoon.  What a bummer, especially for the missionaries.  Elder Clements got a text message from another missionary in Takoradi and told him that one of the Elders from the Ghana MTC left a package there.  Well, we didn't have anything else to do.  So back out to Tema.  We ate lunch at KFC and then went to the airport.  Two missionaries that were leaving to go to Nigeria came up to us and asked if we couldn't give them 10 Cidis so that they could wrap their suitcase in like Saran wrap.  We only had a 20 so told them to buy a sandwich or something.  Finally, we saw some missionaries coming our of the terminal, but it was not our group.  These nine missionaries were going to Kumasi and of course, they had missed their flight and NO ONE was there to meet them.  After about 45 minutes, someone came up and said he would take care of them.  But they were all hungry, so we gave them 380 Cidis so they could buy some food.  While our six missionaries got nothing.  (Can you tell I was a little upset)
Well, we started on our way back to Cape Coast about 3:30 pm.  And arrived at 7:30 pm.  Everyone was exhausted.

Thursday morning, we got up at 4:30 am to get ready to go back to Accra with the 16 other missionaries leaving.  This time we had Elder and Sister Sorensen with us.  They had a temple time of 12:30, so we had to hurry.  And 4 of those missionaries had to be at the airport by 3:00 pm to make sure they got their flights.  Here's the missionaries that were leaving.  Good bunch of elders and sisters.

Elders Biney, Bobobi, Antwi, Lagaiti, Tohouri, Mabibi, Machingamidze and Reyes.

And here is everyone

And of course we had to get a picture of our wonderful Office elders and AP.

Here I am with Elder Sorensen trying to tell him everything he would need to do, because we would be at the airport with missionaries.

We didn't leave the office with the bus and Sorensen's.  We had a few things to do before we left.

We did get to Accra in time to see the missionaries before they went into the temple.  And here they are on the temple steps.

We got Elders Lagaiti and Tohouri to the airport at about 3:30 pm.  Wayne dropped me off with those two and then went back to pick up two more Elders.  I left E. Tohouri at his airline and told him hat I would be back in a minute.  Then took E. Lagaiti to his check in and waited to make sure he got through.  Soon he was waving me over to the check-in.  The person was telling me that he needed a Visa to fly to Fiji.  Well, I guess I was really tired, because I told her that our church travel people do thousands of tickets everyday and they would have told us if we needed a Visa.  She said she would go check and be right back.  She took his passport and we lost site of her.  I ran back over to E. Tohouri and he was just getting done.  I told him to stay with me and we went back over to  E. Lagaiti.  Finally she came back and said that he could go through to weigh his luggage.  No Visa needed.  When all was said and done, they had about 30 mins. to get up to their gates.  I told them to run.  About 5:00, Wayne showed up with the next two missionaries.  He dropped them off and went to park the car.  They were both flying to Kumasi.  E. Akudago got through with no problem, but E. Antwi waved me over to him.  The airline person was telling us there was no such flight.  We had to go over to the sales counter.  I didn't understand how our travel people could get a ticket for a flight that didn't exist!!!!  Anyway, we got him on the same flight with E. Akudago, but had to pay 330.00 cidis.  Wayne and I had to use our personal credit card for that one, because we were all out of cash.  So now we had to wait for the other missionaries that had gone to get KFC.  They arrived about 6:30.  All 5 missionaries leaving at 8:45 got through with no problem except Sister Namutebi.  Her luggage was over weight.  They made her rearrange the clothing and she ended up carrying about 5 dresses on the plane with her.  So we had 3 more to get through for the night.  Elder Reyes and Magopolo got through, but Sister Ziqubu had a lot of trouble.  Her ticket from the church said she flew out on the 27th of October, but in the computer at the airlines it said the 27th of September.  I was on the phone again with Kobina.  I tried 3 times to get him.  He told us to sit tight and he would see what happened.  We would have paid for her flight, but it would have cost us 800 cidis.  After an hour or more, Kobina finally texted us a confirmation number.  We got up to weigh her bags and both of them were over-weight.  They made us go buy her a plastic bag and then wrap it after she had packed it.  There was another 20 cidis.  I couldn't believe how many shoes and purses she had in her bag.  So we finally left the airport at 10:15 and I was starved.  We went and got a bite to eat and then went to the hotel.  On Friday, we were just getting ready to leave when Sister Ruskin called and said her flight had been cancelled that morning.  I again called Kobina and he told me to have her stay at the airport for the next flight, which was at 2:30 pm.  and if she didn't get on that one, he would take care of her and her arrangements.  We started home and got to Cape Coast about 2:00 in the afternoon.  When we came into the office, I logged on to finish up a few things and my computer didn't work.  I just started to cry.  I was tired and didn't need to have one more thing go wrong.  I called the are office IT guy and connected him remotely.  I think everyone got home okay.  

Because the sisters had stayed at our apartment on Wednesday night, I had to wash all of the sheet on Saturday.  It took 12 batches of wash.  All day. 

We left sometime in the afternoon to get some fruit and vegetables and this is what we found on the steps of our house.

Yep, it'a a scorpion.  It's about 7 - 8 inches long.

We love and miss you all.

Week of 17 October 2016

It's going to be a beautiful day today!  No rain clouds in the sky and a beautiful blue.

It rained on the the 17th, 20th and 21st.  And when it rains here, it really comes down!

Our new office Elder is Elder Hepworth.  Of course they always try to goof off, also.

When wee came to the office on Tuesday, as we drove out of our drive way, there was a line of army ants making their way across the road.  This are the ants that form a line of defense for the smaller ants to crawl through.  It was very interesting to watch.  And of course we ran over quite a few, but they just went back to the original line filling in the holes where the dead ants laid.

We have been working like crazy to make sure everything is ready for the President and transfers.

On Friday the President has all the new trainers come into the Mission home and trains them for their new assignments.  So all of the sisters in our mission are now trainers.  These missionaries are doing a wonderful work.

Saturday was our transfer party.  Somehow they talked me into making dinner for them.  But I really didn't mind.  We had a chicken casserole, some rolls and cinnamon pull-a-parts.  Elders get really crazy when they all get together.  We just keep reminded ourselves that they are kids.

The zone leaders make the transfer calls after they ate.

So Wayne got to teach on Sunday.  All the men and women met together and of course, we talked about marriage again.  Our young Elder's quorum president did some translating.  It went well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it because there was a lot of discussion and laughing going on.  We didn't know what they were laughing at, but it was good.  

So we start our busy week on Monday.

Love and miss you all.