Week of 24 July 2017

Another one of those weeks.  Transfers seemed awfully long this week, because we had all of the new elders and sisters coming into our mission (20) for two whole days.  So I made cookies and bread.  Sister Hillam made some spaghetti and cut up fruit.  We did have chicken and rice on Tuesday for them, but it seemed like forever.  We had 5 sisters staying with us for the two nights.  It was fun.

Here's the sisters that stayed with us.


Dragging luggage to the mission home.  All the Americans come with two and a carry on.  The Africans come with one and a carry on.

All the Americans flew in from Salt Lake city this time.  They were dead tired!

Just before they left on Wednesday morning to start their mission.

So Wednesday afternoon the departing missionaries arrived at the mission home.  And for their final fufu dinner.

                       All waiting to load the bus and be on their way.  Awesome group!


               And here they are on the bus.  Accra here we come!!!

We ad the president follow the bus into Accra, hoping he wouldn't get lost.  The bus ran an almost red light and since the president didn't want to loose him, he did run the red light.  Of course the police were waiting on the other side.  The president tried to explain to the officer why he did it, but to no avail.  So our bus driver, Carl, came to the rescue.  He walked back to the policeman, paid him a little bit of money (bribe) and they were on their way.  That's what everyone does here - pays some money                                                            and gets to leave without a ticket!

The temple was wonderful.  We filled all of the seats on the men's side with our missionaries.

I think eating at KFC is one of their hi-lites.  They sure have fun and do some gospel conversations too.

So on to the airport!  We're just hanging out - waiting for time to pass.

Elder Taylor

Elder Adams and Sister Danga

Elders Sullivan and Walker

Elder Warner - using our phone to call some people for the final time.

Elders Smith, Jager, Taylor, Bornholdt and Simpson.

This is our final stop.  We are not allowed to go any further.

Even Sister Sorensen got into the picture.

After shopping in Accra for 3 hours, we finally got home and had a nice quiet dinner with the Sorensens, Clements and President and Sister Hillam.  We were going to watch a movie, but we were all tired.

Saturday morning, our ward had the neatest baptism.  It is Sister Sarah.  Her husband is the First Counselor in our ward and we have been waiting for the whole year we have been here for her to enter the water.  She finally did on Saturday.  Beautiful family.

She is loved by all.  Can't wait for them to go through the temple next year.  

Elder Mease and Jeppson joined in the picture.

Love it here!

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 17 July 2017

I am going to try and explain a typical teaching moment.


Elders Kiiza and Bakula are trying to teach.  Elder Bakula is sitting on a rock and everyone else on Benches or pans.  So we had chickens, goats, sheep just come walking through.  Motorcycles, cabs and tros were constantly passing by.  Elder Bakula almost got hit by a tro.  People were always walking by and would stop to say hi or shake hands.  Then to top it off, one of the huts close by started to play music and it was't soft.  Sister Sorensen and I just laughed.  We don't know how anyone learns anything.


It started to rain and kept raining for quite a while.  this is the road to Praso.  Just one big mud puddle









We've seen some pretty crazy genealogy while here in Ghana, but this takes the cake.  Written on living cactus trees.  There were about three of these.

Can't stop taking pictures of the primary children.  

So President had his first fufu.  The next day he told us he was up all night.  We know the feeling!

We have 20 new Elders and Sisters coming in next week.  We had the new trainers get together on Friday.

After all the missionaries left on Friday, a truck backed into the compound.  This is what President and Sister Hillam had shipped here to put inside the mission home.  Don't know where they are going to fit everything.  There were two more crates on the other side.


We had a baptism on Saturday.  Two girls who have been coming to Primary forever.  They finally asked their parents if they could get baptized.  It was a very sweet day.  Some of the primary children came to say Akwaaba to their dear friends.  And our wonderful Primary President, Sister Ewudzie.

Grace and Ingred

We so love being here.  Good people, good spirit, great missionaries and wonderful Mission President and his wife.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 10 July 2017

It was interview week for President Hillam.  So we hardly saw them this week.  The assistants are still with them helping them to negotiate the roads of Ghana.

Here's a couple of pictures from their travels.

This is one of the roads in Assin Foso that you have to take to get to the church.  The church is right around the end of the wall.

And this is the road to Praso.

When it rains, it is a mess!!!!

On Wednesday, we traveled with the Sorensens to Takoradi to renew our Non-citizen cards and spent the night with the Clements.  It was nice to get away.

On our way back to the Cape we did an apartment inspection in Essipon.  This sign was hanging on their wall and I thought it was cute.

Then Friday afternoon, about 28 missionaries came to the mission home for their meeting with the President.  This group comprised of trainers and trainees that became companions just 4 weeks ago.  

When they come, they all come into the mission office. It can get quite hectic.

Elder Malamala is having pronounce a Tongan word.  It was funny trying to mimic him.

Everyone wants supplies.

This is the finish strong group.  They will be going home in September.  They are signing the "Mission Shirt"

On Saturday, I sat down with Sister Hillam and went over all of the things we give to missionaries coming and going.  She got rid of a lot of things that I am sure the missionaries look at once and then throw away.  So it was good and will same me some time.  

So getting ready for transfers again.  

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 3 July 2017

We got back from Accra around 2:00 pm on Monday.  It was crazy driving as usual.  But we met with President Hillam and his wife that evening.  They still looked like the "deer in the headlights" thing.  But they are so awesome!
Tuesday they had their first meeting with missionaries.  It was MLC and you could tell after the meeting that every missionary could see a good change coming.  Sister Hillam even taught them also.
And they had their first taste of chicken and rice!
Wayne had to talk to the missionaries also.  We have had lots of lost/stolen money this past month and these "kids" need to take some responsibility with the Lord's money. Hopefully, it got through to them.

President Hillam kept calling his wife Mellanie instead of Sister.  Everyone would laugh.

Sister Hillam did a wonderful job.  She had them laughing a lot 

Wayne did some role playing with the missionaries.  Leaving a tro and not checking the seat to see if anything dropped out of their pocket.  Everyone got a big kick out of that.

This is MLC.  Sister Hillam towers over all of the sisters.

A lot of these elders will be going home the end of July.  Good bunch of missionaries.

On Wednesday they left with the Assistants to visit every zone and missionary.  It was a whirlwind of a tour.  Our zone met with them on Thursday.

On Saturday, we called the Assistants about 4 in the afternoon and asked them when they were going to be back in the Cape.  They said about 6:30 pm so we invited them all over for dinner.  It was good to have them over for dinner and we got to know the Hillams a little bit better.

It's been a fun week.  We didn't even remember that it was the 4th of July, until we saw some fireworks on Instagram from our granddaughter.  We have been on our mission for a year.  How time has flown by!  We have met some wonderful people and seen some beautiful sights.  This is a great country and the church is flourishing.  How lucky we are to be here.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 26 June 2017

We had some exciting things happen this week.  Since they were painting the mission home, President and Sister Stevenson moved over to the Ridge Royal Hotel.  Anyway, the assistants went over Monday to do their laundry in the mission home.  When they went back to change it to the dryer, the room was filled with suds and water.  They mopped up for about 45 mins.  The painters had moved the washing machines to paint behind them, but forgot to put the drain hose back in the drain pipe when they moved them back.  I should have taken a picture.  It was quite funny.

The last Zone Conference was held on Tuesday and all of the new trainers and new missionaries came in on Wednesday.  It was a busy week for the Stevensons.

Friday afternoon they left for Accra to pick up our new president - President Hillam and his wife.
Saturday, we went over to the mission home to meet the Hillams.  Awesome people.  They will do a wonderful job here.

We had a sign made for them so they would fill at home immediately.  

Old and new.


The Assistants thought it would be nice to have a painting done for the Stevensons.  Here's how it turned out.


We had to get in the picture, too.  Elders Young and Warner.

All 200 missionaries are accounted for.  Plus the senior couples and president and wife in front.  The Stevensons loved it.

We had lunch at the mission home on Sunday and then drove the Stevensons to the airport.  It was good to sit and talk with them.  They will be missed.

We got to the airport in plenty of time and stayed with them until about 7:00 pm,  then they went upstairs to wait for their flight.

Just chillin' at the airport.

We spent the night in Accra and headed for the Cape in the morning.  It's going to be interesting for a little while.  The Hillam's have so many questions.  But you can also fill the excitement in the air!

That's it for now.

Love and miss you all.

Week of 19 June 2017

They painted our office when we went to Accra.  And everything was a mess!!!!!  Get back to that in a minute.

Monday was a normal day at the office.  And our meeting with the President in the afternoon went well.  Wayne wasn't feeling 100% yet, but he could manage.

Monday night (early Tuesday morning) I heard the alarm on the office elders van like someone was opening the door.  And then I heard the car drive out of the gate.  Thought it was weird, but no one was screaming or anything.

Then it started raining in the morning and really came down for a while and of course, the electricity went off.  We found out later that the sisters in Mankessim had a fire in their apartment and the Assistants had to go get them and bring them back to Abura to spend the night.  They were soaking wet and cold when they finally got to Abura.

They fixed everything up in the apartment and they actually got to go back to their
apartment that night.  No one hurt and nothing lost.

The President and Assistants left Tuesday morning for the western region for Zone Conferences.  Needless to say the assistants were very tired.  Before the President left, he came over to the office and told us they would be painting our office along with the mission home.  He also told us that we would have to take Elder Oforikumah to Winneba again and then take him to the Area Doctor in Accra.  We were really excited!?!

Tuesday night we got everything ready in case we had to spend the night in Accra.  I always walk around the house bare footed and when I went into the bedroom, I did not see the big fire ant and sure enough, it bit me on the toe.  Wow, did that hurt!  And it ached most of the night.

Anyway, Wednesday we left about 8:30 am and got to Winneba hospital to wait to see the doctor.  After 2 1/2 hrs. I asked Elder O. if he wanted to wait any longer and he said no.  So we left for Accra.  We went straight to the Accra Mission home.  We called Elder Anderson (area doctor) and he told us he would pick Elder O. up at 9:00 am on Thursday.  We just left Elder O at the mission home.  It was a sad day for us.

We're hoping he will be able to complete his mission at a later date.

So we spent the night in Accra and came home Thursday morning to the mess.  And they used a green color on part of the wall that looked like pea green soup.  Awful.

Thursday night, I started feeling pretty punk and had a terrible headache.  I thought it might be from smelling the paint all day.  But things got worse Thursday night.  I didn't go into the office on Friday.  Spent most of the day Saturday in bed and didn't go to church.  Whatever it was, it knocked me for a loop.

That's about it for this week.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 12 June 2017

I'm late again.  The internet just came on at the office.  It sure has been happening a lot lately.

This week has been fun. We had 14 Elders and Sisters arrive on Tuesday.

President Stevenson greeting and learning names.

Sister Stevenson greeting and learning names

This is the packet I prepare for the incoming missionaries.  And then I try to explain what everything is.

Everyone eating dinner.  They are so hungry when they arrive

This is all of them before they leave to their assignment.

And here's our fantastic office elders loading all the luggage.

Elder Wilhelm and Stephens

So with Tuesday over, we got ready for the 21 Elders and 1 Sister that will be coming to leave the mission.  Elder Plumb's parents came and totally surprised him.

When Elder Plumb began asking why all of his TCs had their travel itineraries and he didn't, we stretched the truth a bit by saying that his father had called and wanted him to stay completely focused on his mission and asked us not to give him his travel details. Elder Plumb said, "That sounds like my father."  So the surprise was complete.

So, in the afternoon on Wednesday, we pass out a packet to the departing missionaries also.  And once again, I talk to them about their travels plans and what is in their packet.

And of course, the famous fufu dinner.

And then there's breakfast time in the morning before loading the bus.

The President and Sister Stevenson didn't come to Accra with us this time.  The temple was closed for cleaning.  So here they all are with their President and his wife.  This is the last group for President and Sister Stevenson also.

Packing them in the bus.

And here they are at the temple.  We had to get a picture there for them.


Next stop - KFC.
This is what was left.

Some of the elders posed for us in the mall.

And finally at the airport.  Wayne and I took care of Sister Udom.  She was anxious to go.

Everything went well at the airport this time.  But I did receive a call at midnight from someone at the airport saying that there was a missionary there waiting for us to pick him up.  I called our travel department and hopefully they took care of it.  The missionary was arriving from Benin and I think the MTC forgot to pick him up.

When we got home on Friday to the office, it was all a mess. There were painters there painting.  So we just left.

Both Senior couples stayed at our apartment Friday night.  After a wonderful eggs and bacon breakfast, we said goodbye and they both left.  Later on in the afternoon, Wayne got very, very sick.  First thought was malaria, but he didn't have a fever.  Whatever it was, just knocked him out.  He didn't come to church on Sunday either.  Later on in the afternoon, Sister Clements called me and said that both her and Elder Clements were very sick also.  So it must have been food poisoning and something just the three of them ate.  

Sunday was Father's Day and the Bishop asked me right before Sacrament Meeting to do a tribute to fathers, especially about Wayne.  So I did, but I spoke about my father more than about Wayne.  And it was short and sweet.

So all is well.  

We love and miss you all.