Sunday, March 27, 2016

Our Home and Missionaries

Ok, we've finally got our apartment decorated with
all our African treasures so will post pictures of it.
These are just a few of the things we've collected.

Our living room with Kente cloth on the wall, the old Kente throw, and the African fabric for a tablecloth.

Our kitchen with the big window looking out to
the sports field and the stake center.  Also the
guard's little hut.  It's a gated compound with
a guard there 24 hours a day.

The other view of our living room with the
eliptical on the side.

Our little bathroom.
Our bedroom with our African quilt and pillows.
The quilt is a patchwork made of scraps of batik
fabric.


Lots of beads.
African baskets decorating our kitchen cabinets.


Another colorful basket where I keep
my fabric.
Basket, pottery, and African fan.

More individual beads.

Our intent was to buy some African nativities to add to our 
collection. We've seen some and they were nice, but a carver 
by the name of Wisdom visited the MTC and I was amazed 
at the quality.
This is Mary, Joseph and Jesus carved from ebony.  I first

 asked him carve the three pieces and I purchased a large set
carved from a different wood.  When he delivered these
 pieces 
I asked him to carve the other pieces to complete the set.

This is the first set we purchased.  The pieces are dressed in 
African clothes with the kings wearing the Kente cloth draped 
over their shoulder. The figure with the staff with a star shape
 on it is the king's spokesman, because the chief never speaks 
directly to the people.
Wisdom comes from northern Ghana and he is a second 
generation wood carver.  His father originally created these
 designs and Wisdom has carried them on.

Paula found this little nativity made from beads and raffia
in a small shop selling African crafts.  These are good luck
charms as raffia mixed with other material is thought to 
bring good luck.


















These are all other things Bernece
sells at her shop that she makes.
Bernece has a bag shop and she made
a Kente purse for me.  


One of the blue and white Kente ties is mine (Loel),  Bernese needed to shorten it a bit. She's making me another tie with Christmas colors. 


I (Loel) purchased the dark scripture cover on 
the left.  

Here's Bernece, holding one of the
dresses she makes.  She's very
involved with the "Days for Girls"
project, too, in addition to running
her store.
The following are lots of our missionaries.
They are beautiful.  This Sister is from Madagascar.

Two Sisters from Madagascar.

A Sister from Cote d'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast).

Both French speaking Sisters learning English.
One from DR Congo and one from Cote d'Ivoire.


Another Sister from DR Congo.
Two French speaking Elders, learning English.
One from Togo and the other from Cote d'Ivoire.

 

Two of our teachers. Both of these brothers are 
ordinance workers and help us in the temple.
Eric, the young man who works here and asked me to be his English speaking partner.  We
meet once a week and read and talk together.  I've learned a lot from him.

21-27 March 2016





A just a little afternoon "shower".

They hold a two-edged razor blade
against a comb and adjust the amount
they want to cut.  I didn't see any blood.
This is how the missionaries cut their hair.


Arriving at the temple.  The first of three vans.
We can carry a maximum of 39 to a session.

Just the guys (I mean Elders). We had another
successful group doing family names, in addition
to the temple names.  The temple really likes us
because we increase their numbers significantly.

Our Sisters.
They are very happy at the temple.

This Elder's sister was here in the last group and we loved her.  We love him, too.  He's from Camaroon and speaks both English and French.  This is in my office.
 (It's actually OUR office. That's my desk in 
the background.)

One day it rained and when it stopped, it was very cool and kind of windy.  Pres. Brubaker said, "let's go to the market!  It's not hot!"  Silassi went with us, of course, and we had a great time buying more fabric - we found batik fabric for $2.00 a yard.
The Ghanaians were wearing coats because it was too
cold.  Probably 75 degrees.  

Going to the shoe store. We bought some used athletic
 shoes for the sisters here.
The Tema market has tiny little alleys as shown above.  You can find anything in this market - watch batteries, clothes, dish soap, you name it, they've  got it.

Selling tomatoes.  This is right at a corner in one
of the little corridors.  We were here for probably
15 minutes or more and I didn't see them sell one
tomato.

You can buy vegetables, fresh fish, smoked fish,
live snails, dry beans, maize (corn), green and
very, very hot peppers - anything.

The market extends for blocks.

Piles of bananas.

This is how they fix tires here. This how we fixed
tire tubes back in the 50's.

We went back to the Kente weavers on our P-day.
I loved this pattern he was doing.  This weaver
was so fast, we could hardly believe it.  We'll try to post 

a video.

These looms are held together with sticks and
pipes - whatever works!

Loel loved this motorcycle attached to a truck.
You would be amazed at how much or how
many they can get in them.

Out in the country buying watermelons from a roadside stand.

Beautiful children at the watermelon stand.



We found this resort on a dirt road.  It's called
Aqua Safari and after you got through the junky
front part, it was pretty nice inside.

Restaurant area right by the Volta River. The river 
is dammed up stream and the lake stretches
about 300 miles to the north.

It was fun watching the boats go by

Watching this guy on the river.
We were going to eat out on the water, but our shade
went away, so we moved.  Had a mediocre meal.




















An old man we noticed weaving a fish trap.  
This hut is across the road from the old man  who was making
the fish trap.
Fishing boats.  This is where the river meets the ocean.
Colorful fishing boats.
We drove down to the river and watched these fishermen
fixing their nets. This is a spit of land between the river and

the ocean.
A walk on the ocean.





















The Brubakers walking on the beach at sunset.




A little village.
Sister Acquaye and her 12 year old
daughter, wearing one of the dresses
we brought.  Their whole ward choir
got dresses and now they dress alike
when they sing!

Dr. Kissi, a pioneer in the church here, giving a
quick physical exam to a sister who will be
serving in Ghana. He examined 28 missionaries
last Saturday and we also immunized 73 more.






Our favorite friends from the kitchen.








This elder had an abscessed tooth that
was killing him.  I had Loel look at it and he verified that's what it was.  I called Dr. Anderson and he said to poke
it and drain it.  I said no way, but Loel said he would do it.  I held the flashlight
and he poked.  We gave the elder heavy
painkillers plus antibiotics.  We were heroes the next morning as he was doing so well.  He loves us now.  I told him he was our first surgery.