Merry Christmas 2013
I thought I would begin the December blog the same way I ended the November blog, with a picture of a us and a Christmas tree.
Christmas day we went to the MTC in Tema, Ghana to celebrate with the MTC Presidency and the other senior missisonaries in Ghana. There were 5 younger missionaries who hadn't yet left on their missions (three Elders and two Sisters) who also celebrated with us. We ate, played games, opened "white elephant" presents, and generally had a great time. Elder Call and I didn't exchange gifts. We decided this year that the "gift of Christ" would be a sufficient.
We did receive some "after Christmas" cards from the Primary children in our ward in Meridian, Idaho. It was so fun to get them that I decided to decorate some of our bare walls with them. The children were told that Ghana was so far away that the cards may not get here until Valentines Day so some of them wished us a Happy Valentines Day.
December was highlighted with many trainings and a couple of excursions, just for fun. However, the people in Ghana continue to be the biggest highlight of our mission. A special "couple" that we have met is Ernest and Sarah. Ernest is a young single adult that we met because he works in the mail room on the same floor as our office. He would come in and talk and began telling us about a special young lady he had met. Well, they are now engaged to be married on Saturday, March 29, 2014. They will be married civily first because the government does not recognize a temple marriage and then be sealed in the temple a few days later. The weddings in Ghana generally last a couple of hours with singing and talks. Ernest and Sarah want a short wedding and small reception. I have especially been honored by being asked to give a short talk at their wedding. We have had Ernest and Sarah over for dinner a couple of times. They have fixed Ghanian food for us and we have fixed American food for them.
Ghanaian food called "Red Red"
"American" spaghetti
There is another missionary couple here, Elder and Sister Pack, who came shortly after we came that we went on a couple of excursions with during the month of December. The first place we visited is called the Aburi Botanical Gardens established by the British when they occupied Ghana. One of the trees brought to Ghana by the British was the Ceiba tree which is native to Central America. In Guatemala it is known as the "Tree of Life". As we were walking back to our car to leave, a couple of young men walked up to Elder Call and one said, "I had a feeling I was supposed to be your friend". The conversation eventually led to the Church and we ended up giving them both a Book of Mormon. One of them called a couple of times afterward and Elder Call did call the missionaries, but we have not heard any more from them.
Standing at the base of a Ceiba tree.
The two young men at Aburi Botanical Gardens
The other excursion we went to is called The Shai National Reserve. Our guide, Daniel, came in the car with us and we rode around seeing the wild life and took a couple of short hikes. One of the interesting things was the Baboons. Daniel said they live in "families" and there is one group of Baboons that live around the entrance to the resserve. Elder Call decided to feed some bananas to them, so I couldn't help taking a video.
We took a short hike up this rock that I renamed "Pride Rock" after the movie The Lion King. As we looked out at the scenary all one could see was a typical African savanah for as far as the eye could behold; it was beautiful. There are no longer any elephants, but one could imagine when elephants once roamed the area. I couldn't help taking another video.
By the time we left the reserve, Daniel our guide had a Book of Mormon and promised he would read it. He lives on the reserve and works on Sundays so we felt the missionaries would not be able to teach him at this time, but he said he would "look up" the Church one day. I hope he does.
After the reserve, we went to lunch at a nearby hotel and noticed they had a Ceiba Tree and a Baobab Tree. I already mentioned that in Central America the Ceiba Tree is known as the "Tree of Life", well in Ghana the Baobab Tree is known as the "Tree of Life". When we were in Turkey I bought a plate with a depiction of the "Tree of Life". Interesting that many countries would have trees with the same name. I think Elder Maxwell would call it "gospel debris". Anyway, the Baobab Tree loses its leaves in the hot winter months and then in the spring new leaves appear.
"Tree of Life" for Ghana in the background and "Tree of Life" for Central America
So you don't think that all we do is tour around Ghana, I thought I would include a couple of pictures of the training that we did in December. The people here are so receptive to us and our message and it is such a joy to be with them. When we train we engage them in the training and always model the prinicples we are teaching. At one point in our training I do a role play of two different classroom situations, Classroom 1 and Classroom 2. They are such good sports as I role play a "poor" teacher and exagerate some of the "not so good" teaching situations we have seen here and then show some positive teaching tools. They pick it up quickly and we have received several comments about the positive effect the training is having in the classrooms. 
Elder Call greeting the saints as they come for training in Kpong, Ghana
Sister Call doing training in the "Come, Follow Me" program in Takoradi, Ghana
Another month seemed to fly by and we are enjoying our mission more and more every day. We have some training set up in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and hope our visas arrive soon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and is rolling forth as "a stone cut out of a mountain" as Daniel prophesied so long ago; and no where is that stone rolling forth more rapidly than here in West Africa.
