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.