March 2014

In the States, they say that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  In Ghana, March comes in the same way as it goes out...hot and windy. 

March was a big traveling month for us, inside of  Ghana as well as Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
In the beginning of the month we drove to a city in central Ghana called Triwful Praso and stayed with another missionary couple, the Schiffmans. 
After our training, we stopped at a school called the "Forever Young International School".  It was built to help poor children get an education  who otherwise would not be able to attend school.  It was built with the help of money donated by the Steve Young Foundation.  I do not know how the Foundation learned of this far away area with no adequate schools for poor children, but I am glad they did.  As I walked around the school and noticed the nice facilities, it was one of the few times I have been grateful for money produced by professional football. 





 






A student at the "Forever Young International School".  Some of the classrooms are in the background.  There are also dormitories on the complex where the students live. 












On the school property is also the burial place of one of the famous African LDS pioneers, Joseph William Billy Johnson.   He is one of the faithful Africans that learned of the Church before missionaries were allowed to proselyte in Africa.  He died only just over a year ago.  I would have loved to have met him.

The next weekend we headed off to Sierra Leone to do training in the capital city of Freetown and in   the city of  Bo, a four hour drive north of Freetown.  Sierra Leone is a beautiful country that is just recovering from years of civil war.  Diamonds were discovered in the northern part of Sierra Leone and war broke out over the control of the diamonds, i.e. money.  Unlike Ghana and Nigeria, the coastline of Sierra Leone is very mountainous, so the airport was built on an island in the ocean.  One can reach the mainland by ferry or boats.  We opted for the faster mode of transportation, the speed boats.

    The wharf used to board the boats to travel to the mainland of Sierra Leone.



  The view of Freetown from our motel.

 

A "typical" street and landscape of Sierra Leone taken from the LDS church building.  Note the goats on the hillside.  Goats are also a very common sight in Ghana.  They have "free reign" of the streets and country side until their owners decide to make them a part of their supper. 

  Sunset over Freetown

 

 

Training in Sierra Leone.  As they say in West Africa, they "came in their numbers".  In fact, they charted a bus to come from a neighboring city to attend the training.  As mentioned before, we could learn alot from the faithful saints in West Africa.  We came with a member of the Area Seventy, Elder Koranteng.  He was kind enough to take some pictures of us while we trained, thus a picture of both of us.

 

 Often times, the electricity is not working here in Africa.  The Church buildings have a generator for such occasions, but in this instance the battery to start the generator had also died. When the power goes off, we not only lose our "air conditioning" i.e. fans, but we have no power to show the video clips we use in the training.  Thus, note  in the picture Elder Call's laptop computer propped up on a chair.  It seemed to work. We also bring speakers with us for just such emergencies.



When we were returning to the airport, the boat on which we were traveling came to some fishing nets and had to stop.  After floating over the nets so the motor would not get tangled, we again sped toward shore.  As we came to shore we noticed the fishermen whose nets we had just crossed.  (Note the two fishermen)  They were hard at work pulling their nets, full of fish, to shore.  They pull in rhythm as if someone is saying, "One, two, three, PULL".  We have been told by some fishermen that sometimes they sing songs to help with the pulling.

 

 

As I mentioned before,  March was a month of traveling.  After returning from Sierra Leone, we headed off to Aba, Nigeria for more training.  The city of Aba is where an LDS temple is built.  At one point when there was alot of  politcal unrest and kidnappings, I was told the Temple was closed for a time.  The government has now taken over security/police and the unrest has settled down, and thus the temple is opened and functioning..  Elder Call and I were hoping to go on a session  but it was closed for cleaning.  However, we did get to spend some time visiting with the president and matron of the temple, Pres. and Sister Ihenkoro.   When Elder Call was employed at BYU-I, he had Pres.and Sister Ihenkoro's son in two of his religion classes.  As we were walking around the temple grounds, we saw a lady who introduced herself as the matron of the temple.  When we told her we knew her son, she immediately invited us to their apartment to meet her husband.  We spent the next hour or more listening to the wonderful stories they told about their courtship and conversion to the Gospel. 

 

        President and Sister Ihenkoro

 

On the beautiful temple grounds with the Aba Temple in the background

 

Did I say something about March being a month of travel?  After returning from Nigeria, we made a four hour and very bumpy ride to the city of Abomosu in central Ghana.  (We were able to 'borrow' a truck and so glad we did).  It is not a particularly large city, but at one time was known as the Salt Lake City of Ghana because of the large number of latter-day saints that lived there.  The reason for the converts was due to a man by the name of Stephen Abu.  He was the brother of Dr. Kissi, one of the first African pioneers, who had joined the Church in the coastal region of Ghana.  The church house in Abomosu was one of the first built and the cornerstone was laid by Elder Nelson.  Since that time the church has not grown as they had hoped and they are still a district.  However, they are looking to be a stake in the near future and thus welcomed the training we were able to give them concerning their young men and young women's programs and also their young single adult program.

 

Stephen Abu took us on a tour of his "garden", it is more like an orchard.  He has pineapple, mango, coconut etc.  I told him I had never seen the fruit of the cocoa tree.  He picked one and opened it up.  He let us taste of it's sweetness.  However, he warned, "Do not bite it because it is bitter".  The cocoa nut has to be fermented in banana leaves, dried, and then crushed before it acquires the rich chocolate flavor we enjoy. 

I can't leave March without telling of one of the beautiful faithful young couples that we have been privileged to meet while being in Ghana.  Their names are Ernest Gyampoh and Sarah Eshun.  When we first arrived in Ghana, our office was close to the mail room where Ernest worked.  He would come to our office to visit.  We learned that when he was at the close of his mission, he heard a voice one night as he prayed telling him to get married within two years of returning home from his mission.  He wanted to dismisss it, bit the voice kept returning.  He told the Lord he would obey if God could let him know the young lady he was to  marry.  After his mission, he was asked to an Institute Class and  he noticed a girl on the back row.  As he got to know her, he prayed to know if she was "the one".  The answer came back in the affirmative.  They went forth with their plans and within a few months were married.  Now that may not seem so unusual for the States, but for Ghana it is very unusual.  Before a young man can marry, it is expected that he has to be finished with his schooling, have a good paying job, and a nice place to live.  As Ernest said to us before he even met Sarah, "I have none of those things".  However,  he went forth in faith believing God would provide.  One reason for those high expectations is the process couples must go through before they marry.  There are three "weddings" 1) the Traditional Marriage, in which a price is paid to the father for his daughter 2) the Civil Marriage, where they exchange rings, sign legal documents and have a reception and party, and 3) the Temple Sealing.  Of course, the Temple Sealing is not a financial problem, but the other two can be a huge expense for the groom.  Ernest and Sarah ignored the pressure to have a bride price and a big and elaborate reception.  They did all three weddings in the month of  March,  but in a very simple and inexpensive way.  We had the privilege of being part of each one.

 

The first picture is of their Traditional Marriage that took place at Sarah's home town.

 

 

   The Civil Marriage where I was asked to speak.  It took place at the church building.

The Temple Sealing where Elder Call was asked to be a witness.

 

As you can ascertain, the month of March was not only full of travel, but it was full of wonderful and swee experiences.  Elder Call and I thank the Lord daily for the blessings of serving a mission.