November 2013 in Ghana

Another amazing month has flown by in Accra, Ghana.  So much has happened and in many ways it feels like we have been here for much longer than three months.

To begin with, we have an additional assignment in West Africa.  Elder Dube, from the Area Presidency, asked how we could take the "Come, Follow Me" training to the whole Africa West Area.  We recommended that since the other missionary couple was already traveling to other countries in West Africa to do training with young single adults, that we split the area and train in both the YSA and the YM/YW  "Come, Follow Me" programs.  Elder Call and I had already been doing both trainings in Ghana, so we knew it was possible.  Elder Dube consulted with the other members of the Area Presidency, we visited with the other missionary couple and the Africa West Area is now split between the two couples.  This means that we will not only be traveling throughout Ghana, but we will also be going to Sierra Leone and Nigeria.  Since Nigeria is not a safe place for "white" people to visit at this time, we will have to be picked up at the airport and escorted to our hotel.  We were told by the other missionary couple who have been going to Nigeria, that while we are there, we can not even go out and buy food; the Nigerian saints have to buy it and bring it to us.  I now more clearly understand why prayers are offered in temples throughout the world for the safety of  the missionaries.    I think we are going to need those prayers.  However, it also makes me realize the importance of the message on the trainings that we bring.  The brethren are concerned with ALL the youth of the Church. Inspired programs have been put into place, but there are areas where internet access is limited.  Thus, missionary couples are needed to train in these programs.  In fact, when Bro. Gibbons came to Ghana from Salt Lake he said, "There are three reasons why the Church was able to lower the missionary age for young men; they are 'Duty to God', 'For The Strength of Youth' and 'Come, Follow Me'".  Thus, Elder Call and I feel privileged to carry the training we have been doing even further than we had been before. 

Besides our training, we continue to have amazing experiences in Ghana.  The following picture is the son and family of the "Joseph Smith of Ghana" whose name was Billy Johnson.  Billy Johnson is the Ghanaian who was given a copy of the Book of Mormon from a friend, was converted by reading the book and then waited 14 years for the missionaries from the Church to come to Ghana.  He said that before the Mormon missionaries came he had many other people of other religions trying to get him to join their church.  They told him that our church would never accept blacks because they were not allowed to have the  priesthood.  However, Billy Johnson, though discouragaed at times, never waivered.  In fact, he tells how Joseph Smith himself came to him in a vision and told him to be patient, help would come.  Then in June of 1978, Spencer W. Kimball received the revelation that all worthy male members could receive the priesthood and shortly thereafter, missionaries were sent to Ghana.  The first person to be baptized was the friend, Dr. Mensah, who gave Billy Johnson the Book of Mormon to read, and then Billy Johnson was the second person in the whole country of Ghana to receive the ordinance of baptism.   The son in the picture, whose wife and children are also in the picture, is named Brigham Young Johnson.  He looks much like his father and was just a small boy when his father was baptized.  His father passed away about 1 year ago; I would have loved to have met him. 

This beautiful couple is Doris and Larry Kitson-Mills.  Doris joined the Church about 1 1/2 years ago.  After she joined, she met and fell in love with Larry.  They got married civily first because a temple marriage is not recognized in Ghana, so now they wanted to be sealed in the temple.  Elder Call and I had gotten to know Larry as we worked together on the multistake activity for the Accra West Area.  One day after negotiating a facility to hold our activity, Larry said, "Would you two be the witnesses at our sealing".  We said, "Of course, we would love to!"  Larry's parents live several hours away, so it would be difficult for them to come and Doris is the only member of the church in her family.  One day, after "work", we picked them up, since they don't have a car and came to the temple where they were sealed.  It was such a sweet experience.  Doris just glowed, she could not stop smiling.  After the sealing and as we were walking down the hall to the dressing room, she raised her fists in the air and quietly, but enthusiastically said, "Yes"!  After the sealing we took them out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and then drove them to their home.   We had a lovely conversation and a great time.  During the course of the evening Doris said, "This is like a second marriage, and the second one is better than the first." 

 

I felt I wanted to share a couple of cultural things in Ghana.  The first picture is not exactly cultural, but just a typical picture of the markets in Ghana.  In front of many homes on the streets in Ghana are shops of some sort.  The white table in the background is used to display their wares.  However, as you  notice, there is nothing there currently.  The significance of this picture is that the shops are closed--it's the Sabbath Day.  The States could learn alot from the faithful people in Ghana. 

 

There are two small videos I wanted to include.  The Ghanaian people are famous for their hand painted beads.  We went to a "bead factory", where everything is done by hand.  Old bottles are collected, the glass is broken into small pieces, melted in small wood burning ovens and then poured into clay molds and formed into beads.  The beads are then hand painted and sold to customers throughout the world. 

 

 

 



 The second video shows the making of ancient and ceremonial shirts for men of Ghana.  These shirts used to be only worn for special occasions but now you see them more often.  (Watch in the video for a shot of Elder Call).  Sometimes they will embroider African symbols on the shirts.  Elder Call bought one with the symbol of the omniscience of God on the back.  We sometimes hear how someone has your back--Elder Call commented that his shirt represents that "God has his back".

 

 

 

Besides our training, one of the most enjoyable things we have been able to do is share the Gospel with some of the wonderful people we have met in Ghana, mostly as we have been shopping.  One of these people is a young man by the name of George Cudjoe.  He is the manager of a shop here that sells Ghanaian handicrafts.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and would drop back to his shop to see how he was doing.  Each time we went, he had read in the Book of Mormon and had questions for us.  After a few weeks, we decided it was time for the missionaries to take over.  George was very receptive to their message and has accepted to be baptized in January.  There is still much the missionaries need to teach him and George needs to come to church for at least 3 times.  He wants to come, but he has to open the shop on Sunday.  If the owner is there, he can leave, but if not, he can't.  We are praying that he will get to come to church soon.  I feel like the Spirit definitely did the converting, we played such a small part.  He has been looking for a church, but has not been baptized yet.  When the missionaries asked him if he wanted to be baptized I worried what George would say.  But he said, "I have been thinking about that, and yes, I want to be baptized". 

 Elder Coleman, Elder Call, and Elder Johnson--the missionaries teaching George Cudjoe.

 

With the holidays upon us, it's not quite the same as being "home".  However, I don't want you to think that we are suffering by any means.  For Thanksgiving we got together with the other missionaries and had a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner with ALL the trimmings.  The turkey cost quite a bit to purchase here in Ghana, and sweet potatoes were a challenge to find, but we had it all.  I found some canned pumpkin and had also been able to purchase some shortening, which is very difficult to find here.  So I volunteered to make two pumpkin pies.  Fortunately, there was even some left over that Elder Call and I took home and rationed out for several meals. 

For a Christmas Devotional, we had a lovely program with talks and congregational and choir singing.  Then afterwards we had a lovely dinner.  It was the first time, to my knowledge, that I have eaten goat meat and it wasn't too bad. 

 



 Since we will not be blogging until after Christmas, we will take this time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We joy in the opportunity to serve Him on a full-time basis whose birth we celebrate at this time of year.  Serving a mission has exceded any expectations we have had.  As I listened to the all African choir singing the songs of Christmas with such enthusiasm and zeal, I had the thought, "You are going to miss this when you leave Ghana".  We are grateful to be able to serve in Ghana, but more importantly we are grateful for the knowledge we share of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Christ indeed was born in a stable long ago and died that we might live.  To this we testify!!

MERRY CHIRSTMAS

 

Love,

Elder and Sister Call

 

October in Ghana

Fall has come to Ghana, but it is not the kind of fall weather we are accustomed to.  It actually gets hotter in the fall and winter for winds blow down from the northern deserts.  I've decided the weather here is hot or hotter.

So much has happened this month that it has been difficult to decide what to include in the blog.  However, the first thing I decided to include was a video of our apartment to put to rest any concerns that the Church doesn't take care of its senior missionaries. 

As you can see, Elder Call and I are living in a very safe and comfortabe enviroment.  Infact, I believe I mentioned in the video that Elder Call has nick-named our apartment, "the bungalow". 

Institute class members in the Christianborg Stake

We continue to enjoy the training we do with the "Come Follow Me" program and the young single adults.  As mentioned before, we also teach an Institute Class entitled "Preparing For An Eternal Marriage".   I think Elder Call would have prefered teaching a more doctrinely based class, but he is enjoying these young single adults.  Last week we had them play basketball with a small hoop which hooks over the door.  They played without rules and then with rules, to compare living the rules in sports with living the rules of dating.I think Elder Call enjoyed it as much as the youth. 

Since we have been assigned to do training throughout the whole country of Ghana, we traveled 3 of the 4 weekends in  October.  It has been great meeting with more of the friendly and happy Ghanians while also having the opportunity to see some of the beautiful country side.  Once you leave the city, the country is green and fertile with many many small villages.  Some of the people in the villages walk great distances to obtain water.  Thus, the Church has been involved with drilling hundreds of wells,called bore holes, for the people here.   Also, since Ghana achieved independence in 1957, the railway system built by the British has gone into disrepair.  Therefore, most commodities are transported by truck and it is not an uncommon sight to see a truck  filled to the brim and overflowing. 

In doing some training we were able to go see the Volta Dam built on the Volta River in eastern Ghana in the 1960's with the help of some U.S. engineers.  Since that time they have done some updating in the 1970's.  The Dam provides most the electric power for Ghana and has the distinction of creating the largest man-made lake in the world.

A view of the Dam from our hotel.

 

 

Our travels also took us to the city of Cape Coast on the western ocean front of Ghana.  Cape Coast was the initial area where the Portugese built a fort and living quarters which they called a "Castle".  Initially it was used to  trade supplies in exchange for gold and other commodities found in West Africa.  After awhile, the largest commodity for trade became the African people themselves in the form of slaves.  The rooms built for the storage of supplies became converted to dungeons for holding slaves.  It is not known exactly how many slaves were "exported" around the world; our guide said somewhere between 4 and 8 million.  It was an interesting but sobering tour.  We did learn that many African chiefs also had slaves and sold them for supplies to the Portugese and later the Dutch who attacked and took over the Castle. 

The building in the middle was the church.  Many of the dungeons where the slaves were kept were underneath the floors of the church. 

The cannons used to defend the Castle are still  in place along with many of the cannon balls. 



The harbor where the slaves were transported from the dungeons to the waiting boats.  The water used to be closer to the Castle but has since receded.  Today the harbor is used for many fishing boats.  The fishermen go out at night, catch their fish and come into shore in the early morning.  Around breakfast time, you can see numerous boats coming in from their nightly excursion on the ocean.  The boats are of the same type used for many many generations in Ghana.  They are made by the fishermen themselves and are primarily "powered" by rowing with oars. 

While there, we saw a group of school children that had come on a field trip to the Castle. I began taking pictures of them on my iPad, and showing them their picture; which thrilled them.  They came around us and wanted more and more pictures.  As I was taking a picture of their teachers, they flocked around Elder Call.  He asked them questions about how old they were etc., but they were most fascinited with the hair on his arms.  It seems they don't have hair on their arms like we do.  When we returned home, I printed the pictures I took, including the one of Elder Call, and sent them to their school.






One Sunday we drove to downtown Accra to Independence Square.  This is the place the Ghanians built to celebrate their indepence from Great Britain.  It was also the place where President Hinckley announced the building of the Accra Temple which was recieved with much rejoicing among the saints in Ghana.  The 10 year dedication of the temple will take place this coming January 2014.

On the monument is the "Black Star of Africa" repensenting that although they are black, they shine.

On the other side of Indepence Square, is a local beach that we took the opportunity to also visit.  Elder Call refrained from taking off his shoes and stockings, but since I was wearing sandals,  I did take the opportunity to get my feet wet and I would like to report that the water was nice and warm.

The trip did have an additional advantage.  As we were overlooking another area of the beach, we met some young Ghanian men who were looking at the eclipse of the sun.  They shared their paper dark glasses so we could also have a look at the eclipse.  The conversation led to why we were in Ghana, which of course led to a discussion on religion.  I felt it fitting that they shared their dark glasses with us so we could see the eclipse, but we shared a Book of Mormon with them so they could have a chance to see the true Light.

Besides the wonderful people in Ghana, we have enjoyed understanding and learning about some of their unique cultural customs.  I thought I would share a couple of videos.  (I am loving my iPad)

 

 

One of those customs is the way the women carry their children.  Using just one yard of any fabric, the women are able to carry their small children happily around with them where ever they go.  I have been intrigued with how they "tie" the fabric to support the child on the back.  Come to find out, they don't tie it at all; they simply roll and tuck the fabric.  One day in the Ancillary building where we live, a young girl gave a couple of us missionaries a demonstration.  The girl's name is Mavis, she is 14 years old and the baby used for the "demontration" is her little brother. 

Another fun custom in Ghana is the weaving of cloth named Kente cloth.  It is an ancient way of weaving that has been done for a very very long time.  While we were in the city of Ho, another missionary couple, the Cosgraves, took us to a "factory" where they make Kente cloth.  Each weaver makes his own loom.  Most of the weavers are men, but there are some women weavers. 

 

I could go on and on, but I am afraid most of you are already wondering when this  blog is going to end.  I won't do it, but...I could tell you of the three wonderful young people we have met that we have been able to share the Gospel with.  All of them are reading the Book of Mormon.  One of our contacts, Benedicta, had dinner with us last night.  We just "happened" to meet the missionary today who is responsible for teaching in the area where she lives.  He has already contacted her and will be teaching her the discussions.  Another one, George, has been reading the Book of Mormon.  He called today and wants us to come by to answer some of his questions.  It looks like we will be referring him to the missionaries soon.  The other contact, Christina, works at a favorite shop of mine in the Accra Mall.  She lives with her mother who does not read English.  However, she reads the Book of Mormon to her.  I could tell you about them and include pictures, but I won't.  Instead, I will include a picture of a billboard here close to the Accra Mall. 





The billboard is advertising wedding rings and the caption at the top says "Til Death Do Us Part". As I saw read it, I was reminded of plaque in one of the offices at the MTC in Provo. It read, "The definition of a Missionary: someone who leaves his/her family, so other families can be eternal." 

 

First Month in Accra, Ghana

Akwaaba!!  The Ghanaian word for "Welcome".  We have  been in Ghana for just over one month and we are falling in love with the place and the people.  To help you better understand where we live and our circumstances, we decided to include a video.  This is our first attempt, hopefully we will get better.  In the video you will see the "Crown Jewel" of Ghana.

http://youtu.be/VDeJrgyFsfo


With the many things we have been able to accomplish, it seems we  have been living here longer than a month.  As I mentioned before, we did not replace anyone, so we basically had to start from "scratch".  As a reminder, our assignment is with the Young Single Adults.  Included in that assignment is to train stake presidencies in stake YSA Committees and Activities and to train and ensure that Young Single Adult Mutistake Activities are occuring.  We are also over teaching the "Come Follow Me" program to all stakes/districts in Ghana.  At first this felt like a daunting task but we decided to follow the old adage: "How do you eat an elephant?...One bite at a time."  We began by visiting the youth Sunday School classes and YM/YW.  The youth in Ghana are delightful.  They are eager to learn and desirous of doing what is right. 

A picture of the beautiful young women in the McCarthy Hill Ward in Accra, Ghana.  I don't think you will have any trouble picking out where I am standing.

 

As we visit classes we have been able to assess where the most help is needed.  Ghana was under British rule until 1957.  Because of that the school system also followed the strict and authoritarian British style of teaching where the teacher did all the talking and the students sat and took notes.  That same form of teaching has carried over into  many of the classes in the church.  The YM/YW are expected to bring a notebook and pencil to class and are often reminded to take notes.  This form of teaching is quite contrary to the teaching recommended in the "Come Follow Me" program.  After making this observation, Elder Call and I came up with a plan for teaching leaders and teachers.  We then got it approved by the Area Seventy.  After receiving approval, we have been contacting and visiting many stake presidents, stake presidencies and district presidents to offer our services.  They have all been very excited to have us come.  We have done one training so far, which went very well, and have several others scheduled.  Since we have been given charge for the whole country of Ghana, we will be doing some traveling in the near future. 

 

 



 

 

 

   Since we visit a new ward every week, Elder Call has been busy with the GPS on his I-pad locating all the meeting houses in Ghana.  Generally the meeting houses have gates around them and they are locked.  However, we found a meeting house in the city of Teshie, just outside of Accra, where the gate was unlocked and a basketball game was being played by the local youth.  Elder Call watched the boys for about as long as he could stand it.  Then he asked for the ball, lined up where the 3 pt. line would be, threw up the ball and it fell through the hoop.  The youth were then very willing to let "the old bald man" with a white shirt and tie play basketball with them.

 

 

 Ghana is considered to be the most religious country in the world.  More people in Ghana consider themselves religious than any other nation in the world.  They have a belief in God and they don't mind letting people know it.  On many of the public buses of transportation and also private cars, there are signs with reference to deity. 





 A bus called a "tro-tro" with a picture of Jesus and "Halleluyah" written on the back.

Ghana is quite a poor country but the people are happy and industrious.  To make a little extra money, many people will go to a wholesale market to buy different kinds of items from food to fabric, and take them around the streets to try and sell them for a profit.  They will carry many of them on their heads, especially the girls. When the buses or cars stop, the people will come up to the windows to ask those inside to buy what ever they are selling.  Most of the time we shake our heads and say "No, thankyou."  We do keep some money in the car to give people who are handicapped in some way for the government has no programs to help them.  One day a "cute" young came up to the car window.  I shook my head "No", but he didn't leave.  He smiled this cute little smile and kept asking me to buy.  I finally rolled down the window and said, "If you let me take your picture, I will give you some money". 



The picture of the young man who wounldn't leave.  I can't even remember what he was selling.








Our office is really taking shape.  We finally got some filling cabinets, cork boards and white boards.  We also went to the small Church Distribution Center they have here and bought a picture of the First Presidency and the Ghana Accra Temple.  I mentioned at the last posting that the Director of Temporal Affairs said that we needed a window in our office.  I decided he was right...so now we have a window in our office complete with potted plants and flowers. 



We had a milestone here in Ghana on September 24, 2013.   Elder Call had a Birthday.  We did not have the usual roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravey because the roasts here are very expensive here.  I also was unable to bake the normal dessert of a cherry pie because we had not been able to find shortening.  (Since his birthday we have found some shortening so I will be prepared for his next birthday.)  However, I made a cake and was able to find a Snicker's Bar.

 

 

 

 

We truly are loving our mission in Ghana.  In the coming weeks we will be fulfilling more of the assignment we have been given and thus traveling throughout Ghana more.  AND we have been asked to team teach an Institute Class with the Stake President and another priesthood leader.  We are both excited to teach and is something I was hoping to be able to do when we received our call to Ghana.   The class is Religion 324 "Preparing For An Eternal Marriage" and will be taught on Friday evenings at 6:00pm and when we are in town, we will be  scheduled to teach. 

We also have been able to have some "real" missionary experiences tesitifying of the truth of the Gospel with others and sharing the Book of Mormon.  We hope to be able to share some of those experiences on our next Blog. 

MTC and Arriving in Ghana

We arrived at the MTC in Provo, Utah on the August 5, 2013.  Because we took our car, we stayed at the Marriot Hotel a few blocks away.  We spent a marvelous 10 days in training and getting to know the other senior missionaries.  We broke the record of the number of senior missionaries to enter the MTC with 128 of us.  I felt like it was a little bit of heaven, but we were also anxious to get out on our mission.


In front of the building at the MTC named in honor of my great, great, grandfather Heber C. Kimball



 



From the MTC we went home to Boise for a couple of days to unpack from the MTC and repack for Ghana.  Then early Monday morning on August 20th we left Boise airport for New York City and then a 10 hour flight to Ghana.   

 

We arrived in Ghana to find our accomodations for the next 2 years to be very adequate.  We live in a one bedroom apartment in a complex owned by the Church where there is also the Temple, a stake center and the office building where we "work". 

The kitchen of our apartment in the Ancillary Building

Our home for the next two years which is great.  However, at times we have no electricity and other times no hot water.  The biggest problem is when there is no water at all. 

 

 

 The apartment complex is on the left where we live and the office building is on the right where we work.

When we got to Ghana we met with Elder Dube, a native of South Africa, who is the 2nd Counselor in the Area Presidency.  He told us that we would be working with the Young Single Adults in Ghana in training leaders and making sure that stake and multi-stake activities were happening.  He also wanted us to work with the Young Men and Young Women in the "Come Follow Me" program throughout all of Ghana.  I must admit it is a little overwelming, but with the great companion I have, I know we can make a difference with the youth here in Ghana.

 

 

Since we were not replacing anyone, a new office had to be found.  We were located on the ground floor in the corner of the building.  The office has no window and when the Director of Temporal Affairs came to see it he remarked that it was unacceptable because it lacked a window and if we lived in his country (Switzerland) it would be illegal.  We told him it was fine and we were OK with it.  During this conversation with the DTA a Ghanian young man, Charles, was installing a computer for us and heard the whole exchange.  After the DTA left the young man bowed his head and in a quiet and sincere voice said, "Elder and Sister Call, thank you for coming to Africa".  I replied, "Charles, it is our privilege!!" 

 

Since we will be working with the leaders on improving the "Come Follow Me" program, the last two Sundays we have visited the YM/YW classes.  The first week we asked where the young men and women met for Sunday School and found out they had no teacher.  I told them, no problem, we will be the teachers.  Elder Call and I enjoyed teaching that week.  The next week we went to two different wards to observe.  The Ghanian youth are wonderful with strong testimonies of the Church and the Book of Mormon.   They seem to hunger for the truths of the Gospel.  However, the traditional way of teaching here has followed the old British style of copy and memorize.  The students are "reverent" but not often engaged in the lesson.  There is much work for Elder Call and I to do. 

A class of beautiful Ghanian young women. t                                                                          

 

Mission Preparations

GREETINGS FROM ELDER AND SISTER CALL

 With the common use of technology, Terry and I decided to try and communicate our mission experiences to family and friends through  blogging.  We hope you enjoy reading them.

To start with a bit of history, Terry and I decided years ago that we would serve a mission when he retired in January of 2012.  However, since he was called as the Stake President of the Rexburg Married Student 3rd Stake in August 2008, we knew our plans would be somewhat delayed since it was a 5 year calling.

In October 2012 we took a retreat to West Yellowstone to plan our future.  At that time we decided to serve a 23 month mission which posed a dilemma ...what do we do with our home in Rexburg?  After some pondering we decided to sell our home and move back to Boise, Idaho where two of our children lived.  Rather than listing the home with a real estate agent, in December we decided to see what would happen if we just put a sign up in the yard to "test the water".  The home sold almost before we got the sign in the ground.  Fortunately, the new owner said we could stay in the home until summer.  Terry told Elder Chambers, our area seventy, that our home sold.  He contacted the "powers that be" and Terry was released as Stake President in March 3, 2013 and I was released as the Stake Relief Society president a few weeks later.

After being released as stake president, we immediately began submitting our papers to serve a mission.  Within 4 weeks after submitting our papers we were called to the Accra, Ghana Mission working with the Young Single Adults.  However, we received a letter some weeks later reassigning us to the Africa West Area, still working with the Young Single Adults


We thought we might build a home in Boise but worried about leaving a new home for our children to look after.  With some looking, and we also believe help from heaven, we found a beautiful town-home which we moved into May 2013.

Here is a picture of the town-home and three of the reasons we chose to move to Boise, i.e. our daughter-in-law, Josie Call and two of our grandchildren.  The town-home also has a pool and park which provides an additional draw for visitors.

With the sale of our home in Rexburg, we also bought a town-home in American Fork which our son Anson and  his wife Shauna and baby will be living while we serve our mission.


This town-home also has a pool and in addition, has a club house for when the family visits.  Thus, we are a family of town-homes where we can lock the door and serve a mission or missions as we see fit.

Since moving to Boise, Terry and I have spent time getting ready to leave for Ghana and also spending time with family.  We had a Terry Call Family Reunion in Utah this year in which all were able to attend.  Jeremy was in charge of the reunion this year so there was a lot of fun and games.

  

With the the reunion over, final preparations are underway and we will be headed to the MTC in Provo, Utah August 5, 2013 and then leave for Accra, Ghana on August 19th.  We hope to keep you posted on our "adventure".