December in Ghana 2014

Merry Christmas from Ghana

We hope everyone had a wonderful and Merry Christmas, and in addition, we wish you all a happy and blessed New Year!  We again missed being with family physically on Christmas, but our hearts were not far away.  Not only were our hearts and thoughts with family, but with the amazing progress in technology, we were again able to see and talk with family. Skype sure makes serving a mission a lot less painful.  There is also one advantage of being in Ghana for Christmas i.e. the simplicity of Christmas.  As you can see from the above picture, the plant on our kitchen table doubled as a Christmas tree with the manger scene and all the presents comfortably sitting beneath it.  Decorating for Christmas took less than five minutes.

 

December was another month filled with wonderful experiences and adventures.  Fortunately for you, I am only going to mention a few. 

 

Since the Self Reliance Centers in Ghana are closed during part of December, a couple of Self Reliance senior missionaries planned a trip to Mole National Park, which is an animal reserve.  Because our missionary assignment has great flexibility, we and some other senior missionaries went with them.  It was a long two day drive to northern Ghana, but a fun and worthwhile trip.

Entrance to Mole National Park

 

 

When you get to the Park, there is a Ranger that takes you around on foot and you basically search for wild "beasts".  All of us were particularly interested in locating some elephants.  I wasn't too nervous about any wildlife we might encounter until the Ranger excused himself and came back carrying a gun.  When we acted concerned, he told us it was for our protection...just in case.  By-the-way, though they claim to have lions, there have been no lions spotted in the Park for several years. 

 

 

Elder Wilde and  Elder Call looking at elephant tracks.

 

The first day we saw  "evidence" of elephants, including feces and tracks, but no actual elephants.

 

However, we did see several wart hogs, including one which had been tracked down and was being eaten by a hyena.  The hyena had killed it and then drug it across the road and under some trees to eat in seclusion.  As we approached, the hyena fled, I suppose living up to their portrayal on the "Lion King" as being sneaky and tricky.   

 

Later on we saw several other live warthogs,  I was surprised how close they would allow us to approach them.  We never did see a hyena.

 

The second day we were again anxious to find some elephants.  We had been walking in the bush, when one of the guides saw some trees moving in the distance.  He told us to be quiet and quickly follow him.  Sure enough, as we approached we spotted an elephant eating the leaves off the trees. They have a pretty ferocious appetite and  strip the leaves off the trees, including some branches.  After watching the elephant for a while, he turned and left.  Our guide told us he thought he was headed for a drink, so we scurried off to the watering hole.

 

When we got to the watering hole there was the large mama elephant with her "baby".  It was fascinating to watch them.  After they quenched their thirst, they took a swim where the water was a bit deeper. 

 

 Another interesting thing we saw as we drove further and further north, was the abundance of hut houses.  The northern part of Ghana has a dryer more desert climate, making it  hot during the day and cooler at night.  The mud huts are a perfect housing solution because they are cool during the day and provide warmth at night. 

 

Just outside of Mole National Park is one of the oldest functioning mosques in the world.  It was supposedly built in the 1500 by some Moslem's who migrated from Saudi Arabia.  For a small fee we were given the history of the mosque and a short tour of the village. 

 

 Our guide only allowed us to enter a home used as a "clinic" for birthing babies.  He told us that before the clinic was built, many babies died on route to the nearest hospital as the mothers rode on the back of a motor cycle to get there.  The "clinic", or room, was about 12 x 20 feet square.  The bowl in the cement floor is called a "birthing bowl".  As I tried to imagine giving birth in such conditions, I had a prayer of gratitude in my heart for the birth of each of my children and the conditions in which they were born.

This is a picture of the woman that sat outside the clinic.  I was fascinated by the "home" built for her chicken

The group of senior missionaries that went to Mole National Park in front of our hotel.  Elder and Sister Pack, Elder and Sister Call, Elder and Sister Watson, Elder and Sister Wilde, Elder and Sister Cannon and Elder and Sister Wade.

On Friday, the other missionaries left for Accra, but we stayed in northern Ghana for some Young Men/Young Women training we had previously scheduled.  We attended church at a branch in Obuasi City.  When we had previously visited with the branch president he told us they had no young women in their branch but were praying for some to come.  The Sunday we attended "just happened" to be the baptism of the first young woman in the branch.  As an added miracle, I "just happened" to have some young women information in the car.  I spoke with the soon to be baptized young women, explained a little about the young women's program, and then was able to train the sister who was going to be called as one of her Young Women leaders.  These "happen-chances" have been a regular occurrence on our mission.  This is truly the Lord's work...not ours.

 The picture is of Charity, the young woman who was getting baptized, and the two missionaries who taught her the Gospel.

The missionary entering the font.  Most baptismal fonts are outside because many of the buildings are rented homes that have been renovated to accommodate church services and classrooms.

 

 

On Christmas Day we went to the MTC to help the junior missionaries celebrate Christmas.    

Last year there were not many junior missionaries at the MTC, but this year there were many who had come from Madagascar, the Congo, and Cote d'Ivoire that were needing to learn English.  We sang songs, ate a delicious Christmas lunch and played Christmas games.  This is a picture of some of the missionaries playing Christmas Pictionary.

 

In front of the Christmas tree at the MTC with Sister Martins, a temple missionary from Nigeria.

 

 On Saturday, December 27, 2014, I was asked to speak at the Young Women In Excellence Program in Tema Stake. They had a lovely program and the girls displayed many of the things they had made.                                   

  

 

The Stake Young Women's presidency.

Left to right: Sister Nam, the 1st Counselor, Me, and Sister Walker, the 2nd Counselor.  The Stake YW's president was unable to attend.   

 

 

 

After the program, I went around to the display tables and  took several pictures.  I wanted to share some of them.  The African young women are so beautiful. 

  Decorated flip-flops

 

 

 

There were pictures drawn and poems written. 












After visiting the display tables, the young women were given time to perform.  There was a group of young women that sang the 2014 YM/YW theme.  I will end our blog with that song since the message is a great one for Christmas and for the coming year.  "Goodbye" from Ghana until next month. 

 





November 2014 in Ghana

Since the days in December are quickly ticking by, I thought it best to get November's blog written.

November began with a Ghanaian tradition that we had not been aware of.  They do not have missionary "farewells" per se in Ghana, but in many wards they have a "Devotional" where the departing missionaries are honored.  Talks are given and testimonies are born by members of the ward and the departing missionaries.  They occur on a Sunday afternoon and attendance mostly comes from members of the ward.  However, the missionary can invite others if he chooses. They end with some light refreshments,which I am sure is why many of the youth attend.

The picture is of two departing missionaries.  We were acquainted with Nii Martey, the young man standing next to Elder Call.

We met Nii in Kumasi, Ghana when we were helping organize the YSA mulstistake activity.  Nii was one of the young single adult leaders and also going to school in Kumasi though had his home in Accra.    His story, like many in Africa, is one of faith and perseverance.  When he told his mother he wanted to join the church she told him she would disown him and not help pay for his schooling.  He felt so strongly about the truthfulness of the church that he joined without his mother's permission.  His problem now was, how to tell his mom.  When he came home for the Christmas break, he was watching TV with his mom when the Tabernacle Choir came on.  His mom was impressed with the choir and Nii said,"That's my church choir."  His mother became very angry but Nii remained active and said, "His mind was made up and there was no turning back."  After awhile he decided to serve a mission.  His mother again became angry and felt he was throwing his life away.  However, he submitted his papers and when he showed his mother his call letter a miracle happened. Nii's mother asked him how she could help so he would be adequately prepared to serve a mission.

Nii, is now serving a mission in Nigeria.  We received an e-mail from him today informing us that his mother passed away Nov. 21, 2014.  He is sad, but still feels he made the right decision to serve a mission.

With our mission assignment we meet many young single adults from all over Ghana.  We tell them that when they get married, to invite us to their temple sealing.  One such couple e-mailed us in November to let us know of their temple sealing date.  They traveled all alone for three hours on a bus to Accra with no family support.  We were privileged to "fill-in" as family members and witness their sealing as husband and wife.  After the sealing, we took them out to lunch  and then dropped them off at the bus station where they rode another three hours home.  I'm not certain we understood what sacrifice was until we came to Africa.








 November was spent doing a few FSY training meetings in Ghana and Nigeria.

These are actually quite enjoyable meetings which are presided over by an Area Seventy.  The above is a picture of the FSY Committee in Ghana.  The committee consists of an Area Seventy who is Elder John Koranteng sitting at the end of the table, a Session Directing Couple, a couple who serve as Logistical Administrators, two Coordinators who are young single adults, and an In-Area Advisory Couple (us).

The Coordinating Council that is doing an FSY in Nigeria decided to divide into three FSY's.  Two FSY's will be held in Uyo, on one side of the Cross River, and one FSY will be held in Calabar on the other side of the river.  The distance between the two areas is not far, but there is only one very bad road that connects the two areas and when it rains the road can become impassable. 


In Calabar we trained their leaders after an Africa Area Conference which was broadcast from Salt Lake.  It was wonderful and addressed many specific problems that the people in Africa face.  The stake center was packed and overflowing with chairs and canopies set up in the parking lot.  After the meeting the stake presidency wanted our pictures. They treat us like royalty when actually we are only senior missionaries with less authority than many members. 


The next weekend that we did FSY training also happened to be Thanksgiving weekend.  Since there are not many connecting flights in Nigeria, we actually had to leave Accra to catch our plane on Thanksgiving afternoon to be at the training by Saturday.  Fortunately,we were able to eat a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at one of the Mission President's home, before we headed off to the airport.

                                        Thanksgiving Day at the Accra airport

 

While we are in Nigeria, we are required to have a driver which doesn't allow us much freedom or flexibility.  After church our driver, Pres. Woke who was a member of the stake presidency, had another meeting so Elder Call and I decided to find a room and wait.  The room we found available also happened to be being used by several children waiting for their parents.  Elder Call and I quickly reverted to past Family Home Evening  activities and began playing  Sunday pictionary and other games to entertain the children. After a while I became exhausted ( I am not as young as I used to be) and asked them to entertain ME by singing songs.  The African people love to sing and appears to begin when they are very young.  They sing out with confidence and assurance.  However, because they often do not have accompaniment, some familiar church songs take on a different "twist" in the melody. 


I would like to end my blog by including one of the songs the children sang.  The song reflects one of the messenges we have learned from these loving and forgiving African people.