Happy Birthday Mom!

Hope you had a wonderful and unique birthday in Ghana! We love you and miss you!

Patricia squared

We met the Duah family in Kumasi when we were here the first time. Their youngest child was named Patricia so we became friends right away. She was only nine then, and we had a picture taken of us together. I’ve written to her off and on ever since. It was good to see Sister Duah again. She is one of my role models in Ghana. Her husband died when Patricia was only three months old, and Sister Duah has raised a wonderful family of six children – three returned missionaries. She runs a nursery of about 40 young children to earn a living for herself and her family. Once a month she comes to Accra to serve in the temple for three days. Patricia came with her Mother to see me and to look after the two little granddaughters that Sister Duah is tending while their mother is in the U.S.
Now Patricia is a tall young woman! She towers over me. Her mother is also tall. She is 17 and quite a lovely young woman. She is attending a boarding school about an hour and a half away from Kumasi, and she is very lonely. It’s run by a Pentecostal Church, and she’s not able to attend Church or seminary at all. She says one of the teachers is a member of the Church, but he isn’t well grounded in the gospel. She is a good student and hopes to attend the university and major in marketing. She likes her economics class. She can’t get e-mail at school so I told her I would write to her.

Tonight I invited Patricia to come and watch part of the General Young Women’s Conference on our laptop. She seemed to soak it all in. We watched the opening, including Liz’s prayer again, and Sister Dibb and Sister Cook and then the video. Patricia was impressed that it was our granddaughter giving the prayer. She said, “I would be shaking!” I think maybe Liz was also shaking. It was fairly late then so we turned it off. I had made brownies and gave Patricia some with a scoop of ice cream. She said, “This is very sweet!” I said, “I know that African people don’t like sweets.” She said, “Oh, I like it!” I sent her off with two “New Eras” that we had brought with us and told her I would send her a subscription.

(click on collage to enlarge)

Saturday, May 16 we went with the Shipleys and Binghams to Aburi. It’s a small mountain village about an hour away from Accra. It has two major attractions – the Botannical Gardens started by the British in 1890 and the woodcarvers shops all along the main road. We stopped first at the wood carvers and enjoyed watching some of them at work. See the photo of the lovely carving we bought representing unity in marriage. We don’t have anything decorative in our apartment and thought we could enjoy it here, and it’s not too large to fit in a suitcase when we go home. Then we headed to the Botannical Gardens where we hired a guide to show us around. The Royal Palms along the entrance were planted in 1890! They are magnificent! Because it was Saturday there were a number of school children enjoying the beautiful day and the lovely plants and trees. We had a good time sharing our picnic lunch and arrived home by early afternoon where we promptly took a good nap.

Yesterday was our all Ghana Family History Seminar. We had planned on about 35 attending, and there were 49! . Every area in Ghana was represented. We were thrilled!
The youngest in attendance was a young woman named Joyce, who just a week ago was sustained as a Branch Consultant in Koforidua. She bore a sweet testimony, telling how humble she felt and how overwhelmed by the responsibility. She had felt a special spirit in the meeting, and it was confirming to her as to the truth of the doctrine of Family History.

The most experienced was Brother Afrifa who started working in Family History in 1996! We took a picture of them together.

One of the most popular activities was a quiz where we had them work together with their Stake or District – about four – to come up with the right answers. It was a good teaching tool, and some important things were brought out.

We had a refreshment break and a very good lunch which all enjoyed. We noticed that the men were very quiet when they were eating. The women seemed more willing to visit. Brother Afrifa was our official photographer, and he took many pictures.

We closed with testimonies, and many special ones were shared. We felt that there was a good feeling, and many expressed appreciation. Now Brother Bonsu thinks we should do the same thing in Lagos, Nigeria and in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Ghana Temple

Ghana Temple

We went on our first endowment session in the temple this week. We were the only white folks on the session and were chosen to be the witness couple. We had a wonderful experience with so many memories of our last mission here. This temple is so uniquely beautiful, and we love it. We have been to Friday evening sealing sessions with other missionary couples. We did a whole hour’s worth of Bevan family sealings. That was very special. So many of the people we helped to train are still serving as ordinance workers and doing such a great job!

A lesson in humility

A Lesson in Humility – April 24, 2009

I guess we were feeling pretty cocky! We felt good about living in our old apartment. We had very little jet lag. We seemed to have adjusted so well to everything African again. Then we got a brand new car! Wow! It is a silver Toyota Corolla. That was more than we ever expected. It even has automatic transmission, which is wonderful in the heavy Accra traffic. We visited the Adenta Stake Family History Center and had a meeting with their consultant, high councilor, director and assistant – a great get acquainted meeting. On the way home, we decided to take an old familiar shortcut through the university and past the golf course to the motorway. Well, we must have turned the wrong way on the motorway, and we got lost. By the time we started to find our way back, it was dark, and we were in the Tesano area which we knew well from our first mission here. We stopped at a busy intersection for a red light. The car behind us stopped also. The car behind them didn’t stop and plowed into the car behind us which pushed him into our rear end. Our brand new, week old car got creamed! Boo hoo! We were not hurt. The drivers of the other two cars were honorable, and we all drove to the Tesano police station, and we knew right where it was. The police don’t come to you here – you have to go to them. The police woman who took the accident report was so sympathetic – “Oh, it is a new car – so sorry!” After we filled out the accident report, she let us go.
Kofi Bolley is the employee at the Area Office who handles all vehicles. This was Saturday night, and we hated to have to call him. He told us to just drive home and wait till Monday and he would take care of things. Everyone has been so kind and understanding. We have been given a loaner car to drive until ours is fixed which could take a long time. The process may take a while – we have to get two estimates and then take them and another accident report back to the police station. Kofi is on top of the situation, and we’re not worried. Brother Bonsu was so worried about us and was surprised that we were calm and not too upset about it. It could have been so much worse. We are fine. We feel that we have been so blessed and protected.