Week of 13 November 2017

The drive on our computers that is issued through the church is not working.  All of my files are on that drive.  This is very frustrating.  And the one and only person who can help is in Benin this week.  So here I sit!!!

And needless to say - no pictures.

It has been a slow week with no computer.  Wayne and I left the office for a while to do apartment inspections again. 

On Wednesday, the missionaries that will be leaving in January and March came to the mission home for their "Finish Strong" meeting.  There's only 3 going home in January and 6 in March, so the president combined them. 

Also, the MTC informed us that they forgot to make copies of the non-citizen cards of the missionaries that arrived to our mission on November 7.  They use the non-citizen card at the immigration office to get a visa for a one year period.   So now we have to get a picture of each one of them.  Thank heaven the President and his wife are doing interviews, so they will be able to get the majority of them for me. 

We had another missionary go home on Thursday.  The Sorensen's were happy to drive him into Accra.  Another blessing.  We certainly did not want to go!

I guess that is it for this week.  We both wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  There are so many things to be thankful for, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 6 November 2017

Busy day on Monday (13th).  Didn't get to do anything I usually do.  So here I am a day late!

Last week was transfers.  We had 21 missionaries arrive in our mission and 10 go home.  Here are the "newbies" arriving.  There are some that are really excited, some scared and others that don't even care.  (or so it seems)

2 sisters and 19 elders

After we got everyone settled, the President started interviews.  Later that night, we had a spaghetti dinner fixed by Sister Hillam.

Here they are, ready to meet their new companions and start the best 2 years of their lives!

That same afternoon, the 10 missionaries going home arrived to begin their final interview with the President.  And we didn't have Fufu for dinner,  Everyone wanted chicken and rice!

This is Thursday morning, getting ready to leave the mission home for the last time for these ten.

In the back are Elders Udo, Edzeameh, Konan, Kazimoto, Quartey.  In the front are Sisters Johnny, Mofya and Ekarika.  And Elders Masendi and Mbarume.

We just got a small bus this time to take them to Accra.  They all fit in nicely.  We also took a Ghanaian that was beginning his mission to Accra.

Wayne and I didn't go to the temple this time.  We needed to get some shopping done because we are not spending the night, but coming right home.

And here they are in front of the temple.

So these are some things that went wrong this transfer:

1.  The Area Office couldn't find Elder Udo's passport

2.  I got a call on Friday morning that Elder Masendi didn't get off the plane in Uganda.  We put him on in Accra, so we didn't know what happen.  He finally made it to Kampala in the afternoon instead of the morning.

3.  The sister and elder that flew to Lagos and spent the night, missed their flight in the morning to their hometown in Nigeria.  And since there is only one flight a day, they had to spend another night in Lagos.

4.  We also had a missionary that was going home because of something he had not confessed prior to his coming.  So when we got him to the airport, President called and told us not to put him on the plane.  We brought him back to Cape Coast with us.

TRANSFERS ARE SO FUN!!!!!!!!

So Friday morning, we left with President and Sister Hillam and Elder Davis and his wife (Area Seventy).  We traveled to Axim, Tarkwa and Takoradi.  It took us 4 hours to get there.  We had District Conferences in each area.

When we arrived in Axim, we held the Adult Session from 4 to 6.  It was very well attended and very good. We then went to the place we were staying and ordered dinner.  There were 12 of us there.  It took 90 mins before our meal came.

This is where we stayed in Axim.  

I walked down to the ocean in the morning.

Quite the adventure.  The water we showered in was definitely brown and our air conditioner(?) didn't work.  At breakfast, I grabbed a glass of orange juice and ordered some scrambled eggs.  After drinking some of the orange juice and eating some pineapple and watermelon, my stomach started to feel very weird.  I ran to the bathroom just in time.  Everything came up!

Here we are just prior to me running:

Around the table is Sister Davis, Sister Nelson (wife of the 1st Counselor in the mission presidency), Sister Clements, and Sister Adjei (wife of the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency)

The six of us were together for most of the day.

We left at 9:45 am and picked up our husbands after their priesthood session of conference in Axim.  Then we traveled for another 2 1/2 hours to Tarkwa.  Once again the roads were horrible.  So we held the Priesthood session and then the Adult session.  During the Priesthood session the 6 of us traveled all over Tarkwa.  It is a beautiful little town.  It's a mining community, so there are a lot of well to do people that live there.

After the conference, we left Tarkwa to travel to Takoradi.  Everyone from Axim and Tarkwa traveled also on Sunday so that we could hold the Main Conference Session in the Takoradi Stake Center.

On our way back to Takoradi that night we hit a pot hole that ripped our back tire apart.  So there we were in the dark of the night trying to change a tire with these huge mining trucks passing and they don't go slow.  Sisters Davis, Nelson and Adjei kept singing hymns and saying prayers.  After 90 mins, we finally got it changed.  So the hotel in Takoradi was very, very nice.  It was a welcome sight.  

This was our view from our room.

Sunday's meeting was awesome.  It was really hot, but everyone endured and was well rewarded.

We finally made it back to the Cape and slept in our own bed Sunday night.  

We are loving it here.  I know I keep saying this but the people are so nice and so willing to help.

We love you and miss you all.

Week of 30 October 2017

What an awesome week!!!  We held our Zone Conference with Elder Nash and his instruction was very inspiring.  We are hoping and praying that the missionaries took everything to heart.

First off, we started with the Follow-up trainers meeting.  This is where the president brings in the trainers and trainees who have been here for only 5 weeks. 

 

They all seemed to be doing very well.

Then we had the Central Region Zone Conference.

 Elder Nash spoke how being a faithful servant of God and Jesus Christ.

Sister Nash talked about Preach My Gospel.

And here we all are. Awesome!

Of course, we had to feed them lunch.

Chicken and rice anyone?!?!

And here's the Western Region.

After the Zone Conferences, Elder Nash conducted the MLC with our Zone Leaders and STLs.

On Friday, Sister Hillam called Elder Durrant and had us both drive up to Assin Foso to get an elder that just wanted to go home.  So up we went.  It took about an hour to get to them.  But on the way there, we were stopped by the police to check driver's license, fire extinguisher, road hazard signs, the tires and registration.  Everything was good.  About 5 miles down the road we were pulled over again - this time for speeding.

Now there were other cars that had passed us and behind us that they pulled over also.  The police officer said that he would be giving us a ticket. And we said okay.  Then he said again, I will be giving you a ticket.  And once again we said okay.  He was expecting us to pay him some money to get out of it.  All of the other cars that were pulled over did exactly that.  So he kept Wayne's driver license and gave him a ticket.

And told us we would have to appear on Monday at 7:00 am in Assin Foso for court.

When we got home, we called Samuel Laing, our FM guru, and asked him what we should do.  He said he would take care of it.  

But also on our way home, going the other way now,  at the same police stop, we were pulled over and asked for our driver's license and Wayne told them that he didn't have it because not less than 10 mins ago, an office on the other side took it.  The new policeman looked at the ticket and told Wayne to go resolve the issue with the office right now.  In other words, go give him some money.  We did not.  Then a little bit further down the road at the very first stop we were pulled over again to check on the same items as listed above.  But when he noticed our name tags, he called another officer over and this officer started to tell us of one of our Elders that was in a tro-tro riding up to Assin Foso, who was making fun of the police.  This policeman was not a happy camper.  In fact, he told us that he should have arrested him.  Needless to say, Friday was not the best day we have had.

On Saturday, it rained and was very hot and muggy.  I did some baking and the sweat was just dripping off of me.  

Sunday we went to Komenda.  When we arrived the kids were all sitting down singing some church songs.

Trying to decide what to sing next.

During Sacrament Meeting one of the Branch President's children came over and sat next to us.  He is what one would call a holy terror.  But so cute!

Just wouldn't close his mouth!

So Sunday night it rained also.  And our power went off at 9:00 pm.  Off all night long.  It was a very long night.

That's it for this past week.

We love you and miss you all!

Week of 23 October 2017

We did some more apartment checks this week.  We were able to do Elmina, Ntranoa, and Agona Abrim. 

This is a picture of the Ntranoa apartment.  There are two elders living in it and it is in the middle of nowhere.  But what a beautiful apartment.  Since they are so far out, they do have a bit of a mouse problem.  Or maybe it's rats, but I am glad they are there ant not us!

On the road to Ntranoa.

Ntranoa Apartment

Agona Abrim is the farthest north we go for our apartment inspections.  There are two elders living there also.  Their apartment is right on the main road and is just big enough for the two of them.

I didn't get very many pictures this week.  I forgot my phone. 

On Friday night after the President and Sister Hillam arrived home from their Mission President Seminar in Accra, they called us about 9:00 pm and asked if we could have 3 of the sisters come over and spend the night.  They were on their way to Mankessim to pick them up.  We understood that all of the sisters (5) in the apartment kind of got into a yelling match.  So the president removed 3 of them and we watched them for the night.  We got to bed about midnight that night. 

Sunday it was off to Komenda again.  We sure enjoy going to this tiny branch.  On our way, we saw this truck.  Loaded with the trees that make their fishing boats. 




At 8:00 pm we met with the Assistants and President and Sister Hillam to discuss this next week.  Elder Nash of the Area Presidency will be conducting a Mission Tour. Lots of planning and making sure everything will be ready. 

That's all for now.  Love you and miss you all.

Week of 16 October 2017

We had an exciting week this week.  Couple of baptisms and Branch Conference in Komenda.

We also inspected some more apartments.  We have 3 Sister apartments in our Zone so we did 2 of them this week.  Both of them were spotless and big, nice apartments.  And both of them were in locked compounds, so that is really nice.

President and Sister Hillam were busy interviewing this week as next week they will be in Accra at a Mission President Seminar. 

On our travels, many times we see overturned trucks because they load them way beyond their capacity.  Just had to show this one.  They are trying their hardest to have it stay upright.

                    

I think only in Ghana

On Friday, Sister Hillam and I went shopping with Sister Nelson and her daughter.  She is the wife of the 1st Counselor in the mission presidency.  So she took us right down to the heart of the shopping booths.  It is just crazy there.  

I know you can't see them very well, but it's a bowl of fresh snails.  And they were crawling out of the bowl.  The seller would just pick them up and put them back in.  GROSS!!!

On Saturday, we had a baptism in Nkanfoa.  It was for Brother Samson.

Sister Quartson had to get in the picture.  She is such a sweet lady.  Stalwart in the gospel.

Elder Mease, Samson and Elder Jeppson. (And of couse, Sister Quartson)

We had about 50 people for our Branch Conference in Komenda.  And we spent two hours listening to speakers.  All of them did an excellent job.  It was just hard sitting for that long in a very hot and stuffy classroom.

Afterward, we drove over to Kissi to check on the Elder's apartment over there.  We also had three people be baptized for the Komenda Branch.  

Here is what they used for their baptismal font.

The person on the right is Ebenezer.  He is leaving on a mission in November.  He will be going to Botswana.  He is very excited.

Here are the three that got baptized.

Daniel, Kweku and Kobinah.  And Elder Seba who did his first baptisms.  It was a beautiful day.

There were quite a few young women over in the Kissi Branch and I was talking to them about their "Personal Progress" and how they were doing.  they didn't have any idea of what I was talking about.  It is so sad here.  They don't even know of some of the church programs.  So I decided I was going to help out and see if I can get some books and show them what needs to be done.

The church is still in its infancy here.  There's a lot of growing that needs to be done.

On last picture.  these young girls are putting away the hymn books.  And they only know one way to carry them

Love you and miss you all!

Week of 9 October 2017

It rained almost everyday this week.  Our road to our apartment was a literal lake.  We had one car get stuck and the elders helped to get him out.  There was mud all over them.

We did get to do a little traveling this week while President and Sister Hillam were off doing interviews.


This guy was hauling car parts in his cart.  Probably how he makes his living.


Just amazed at how they can carry things on their head and act like there's nothing to it.  Plantain chips and peanuts.

The president held some interviews at the mission home one day and of course it was raining very hard.  Our Ola Sisters had an early appointment and this is how they came.  How clever!

Sisters Aqwuoke, Brou-baah, Isaac and Nagbe.  Beautiful!

So I requested our flight home for January.  When I brought up the program and clicked on our names, my stomach started to hurt and I got kind of teary-eyed.  It's like - this is it.  There's no turning back now.  You have got to go home.  We did have to extend a few weeks however.  There is a new couple coming to take our place and we will have to train them.

So today, I thought I would bring up some pictures of our missionaries.

Elders Andreasen, Zakuani, Savage, Nelson and Mease.

Elders Nwichi, Etukudo, Assan and Chipapla.  Yamoransa Zone.

Elders Etim and Howard.  Elder Etim smiled!!!! Yeah!

Elders Apelu and Kallay.  Zone Leaders.

Sisters Anorue and Soda.  Elders Riboldi and King.

As Senior Couples, you really get to love these young men and women.  They all work so hard to brings others unto Christ and help them to receive the restored gospel.  

Gotta go.

Love you and miss you all.

Have a great week!

Week of 2 October 2017

This week has seen rain everyday.  So much for the hot season!  All of the dirt roads are muddy and very bumpy.

President and Sister Hillam spent most of the week in the Western Region doing interviews.  During this month (October) we had been told of a Mission Tour by Elder Nash (member of the Area Presidency).  However, he had to postpone the tour and different arrangements are being made for the week he should have been here.

Wayne and I went and inspected the Abura Sisters apartment.  Should have taken pictures.  It was a beautiful apartment according to Ghanian standards.  The apartment is big enough to hold 8 sisters or elders.  It was very clean, also.

Wednesday was MLC.  We had all the new Zone Leaders, STLs and District Leaders at this meeting.  They were taught how to be and what is expected of them in these leadership positions.  It was a very good meeting.



This is our Elders in Tarkwa.  It takes about 5 hours from the mission home.  But they are all doing well.  Eating in a "chop bar".

Elders Konan, Wilhelm, Bingham, Bills, Wendel and Abara.

Elder Solia thinking about where he is going to go to have his next GC. (gospel conversation)

Saturday night in Takoradi, our Zone Leaders were attacked by a "crazy" man.  He was naked and started screaming at them.  He came from around the back of one of  Elder riding and hit him with his fist in the eye.  When Elder Riding turned around to stop him from hitting him again, the man bite him on the finger.  Really hard because it ripped the skin from his finger.  Funny thing, this all took place right across from the police station and they did nothing to try and stop it.  But when the villagers saw what was happening they came and started beating on the man.  The police said they couldn't do anything because the man was crazy.  Well it makes for a good story for the zone leaders.

Sunday, during a rain storm, we headed out to Komenda for church.  This is just a cute thing we saw.  Big rigs carry anything they can.  One lonely goat!  Thank heaven it was tied to the flatbed.

When we arrived at Komenda, it was about 8:50 am and we were the only ones there.  We waited for 30 minutes and finally the 4 Elders in the area showed up.  Because of the rain, people don't come out of their homes unless they have to.  The Branch President didn't even show up.  So finally about 9:40,  some other people showed up and we had church.  We had 16 people there.  Six of us were missionaries, 5 children and the rest adults.  We had to go buy some bread for the sacrament.  So while we were waiting, mama pig and her piglets come around the side of the building.

Always an adventure here.

I'll have to post some more pictures next week.  Wayne and I are getting ready to run to Accra and the airport.  

We love you and miss you all.