23-29 May 2016

You know that we will post pictures at the temple frequently.  I did baptisms for two grandmothers of the tall sister on the left.   She's from Camaroon and has been a great help in translating for us since she speaks great French and English.  I loved doing baptisms in the temple this week for 11 sisters - all missionaries' family members.

Elder Irie was endowed for his father and sealed to his
parents today.  We are blessed to be able to be a part
of this with almost every group of missionaries.
Paula did the baptism for his mother. President and
Sister Brubaker were proxy for his parents.

This is my new temple skirt and jacket that I had made here.  Sister Graham put the finishing touches on it after my tailor had done the basic work.  I love it.  It's out of a beautiful eyelet I bought at the Tema market.

After the temple we stopped at the "Arts and Crafts
Center".  You would understand the quotes if you
were to visit here.  This is with a seller of antique
Kente cloth.  He had a buyer from England in town
and had collected a huge assortment of cloths. We
estimated that he sold in excess of $40,000 worth of fabric.

This week we drove to the Volta River.  On the way
 we passed piles and piles of watermelons on the side
of the road. This area is obviously a major growing
area.  This is Paula now.  I had been given the name of a
guide who could show us around.  Once it was set up,
we invited other senior couples to join us and
 ended up with 11 of us.

We find it so unique that the produce vendors
stack everything - watermelons included.

We parked on the side of the main road in the
village of Big Ada.

Kids love to have their pictures taken.

They followed us everywhere.  They just wanted
 to see their picture on the camera.

These are large piles of clam shells.  They are everywhere.

And these are the clams drying in the sun.  This is
the main source of protein in this part of Ghana.

Clam shells are used as pavers.

Thirteen of us got in this little boat
for a ride to an island in the middle
of the river.  The river is huge. The
island we went to has about 2000
people living on it. No life jackets!  On
the way back they found some for us.

Photo opportunities everywhere.

This dog has found a comfortable shady spot.

We traveled to this island to see a power system
developed in collaboration with BYU, by Ben
Markham, a resident of Provo.  We didn't get
back to the merry-go-round so I didn't get any
 pictures.  The merry-go-round produces electricity
that is stored in a battery and charges lanterns
that the children use so they can do their homework
after dark. Here it gets dark at 6:30.  This gives
the children more time to do their studies.  This school
has an enrollment of over 500 students. 

Just wandering through the village.

A true mud house.

Paula and Sister Spackman.  She and her husband
just started their mission for two years, working
in the temple.  He's a former doctor and stake
president.  Wonderful people.

Everyone needs to dry their laundry.

This hut has seen better days.

This gentleman is making baskets from palm
fronds. It takes him about 20-30 minutes to make
 a basket and he sells them at market for $1.50

Stacks of baskets waiting for market.

A boy climbed this tree and knocked
down coconuts for us to drink.

It was as good as it looks.

We loved the kids.

Handsome young man.

We stopped at the clinic. There aren't
many places you will see an Ebola
alert.

This was our group - eating lunch in a maternity clinic on the island.  We could hardly believe the facilities in the clinic - I sure wouldn't want to give birth there!  Very primitive and not very clean.

This is Isaac, our guide.  He came to the
MTC and went with us for the entire day,
arranging for the boat and the tour, etc.  He was
so helpful and nice.  

We left the island and went down the river to the
mouth to see the ocean.

Another photo opportunity.

And another.

Five minutes down river from the mud hut are
several of these homes.  Leisure homes for residents of Accra.

A mother bathing her child in the river as we floated by.

I don't know if this is a resort or something, but I
liked how the coconut trees were painted pretty colors
at the bottom of each trunk.  

We took the boat ride a half hour to
where the river meets the Atlantic
Ocean and got out at the beach for
a bit.  

As we came into the boat landing at the end of the day
it was packed.  The bags are full of the clams that
are shelled for the meat we saw on the drying racks.

This is one of the MTC bikes.  When I asked this sister what one of her favorite things about the MTC was, she said, "I learned how to ride a bike in 2 days!"  Many have never ridden one.

Sister Mulenga (on left) and I got very close as I went through the temple with her for her first time and then she watched me get baptized in the temple.  She bore her testimony today and said that the most spiritual experience she had in the temple was seeing me getting baptized.  After our meeting, the sisters all come and hug us.  Many are crying as they hug us and they sob as they tell us how much they will miss us and how much they love us.  You can tell I've been crying in this picture - it's hard not to when these sweet sisters have made you their mothers away from home.  

16-22 May 2016

I'm not sure what this guy is carrying, but it's big.  We've since learned that many Africans end up with spinal problems because of the heavy loads they carry on their heads. This one of the larger loads we've seen.  Not necessarily the heaviest.

Here we are with Abby, one of our Belgium
missionaries who came to visit Ghana on a
BYU project.  She met us at the temple and I
loaned her my new temple dress so she could
quickly make the session.  Sis. Brubaker
let her take her place as an escort for some
of our new French sisters so she could get
in the session.  We had fun after with her
taking her to lunch and to Accra to buy some
souvenirs to take home.

I took this Elder over to see Dr. Anderson
while we were at the temple. He had a bike
wound on his ankle that happened  before the MTC.

Basket shopping with Abby and Sis. Brubaker.

This elder was religiously coming in
to see me for eye drops - I was told to
use these drops when they have blood
shot eyes.  Turns out these drops have
steroids in them (they're used for ears,
eyes, and nose!) and Dr. Anderson
said they shouldn't be used.  Woops. Don't
think I did any permanent damage.
I could tell he really liked coming
to see me twice a day.  

On our P-day we drove out to Koforidua, the town with
the cool bead market held only on Thursdays.  We loved our day as
it as kind of overcast so not too hot, and some of the way we saw
this kind of scenery - we could have been in Hawaii!  The traffic
was good, too, and it only took 2 hours to get there.

Loel couldn't believe how ugly this chicken was
so had to put it on the blog.

These are called waist beads as they
go around your waist!

Some of these are old antique beads and others
more recent ones. The light colored strand is valued at over $200 because of the age and quality 

We bought these because they looked
like old Dutch porcelain beads.

Just a pile or random beads.

Loel likes picking out cool beads
and putting them in an overflowing
jar we have at home.

We love these coconut cookies.

This is at the Aburi craft village where they do a
lot of wood carving - check out the size of this
giraffe!  It's carved from a single piece of wood. 

This is the tradition at devotionals - the general
authorities like to shake hands with all the
missionaries.  Elder Soares, one of the 7
Presidents of the Seventy, was our guest
speaker, along with two of the area
presidency and their wives.  We had a
very nice lunch afterwards with all of
them.

This is a video of one of the Kente weavers, working on a beautiful piece I have bought.

We took the Peines,  our mental health guy out to
see the Kente weavers.  They had lunch with us
first.  They loved watching the weavers and
buying some of their goods.  These are some
place mats they bought as we did earlier.

A cool table runner - we bought a similar one
to bring home.

This is the old sewing machine they use to sew the
long strips of fabric together.

The thread they dye and use for their weaving.

 
I walk on the stairs in the morning for exercise.  I looked out the window and saw these ladies at the wall filling water containers from the hose inside.  The security guard put the hose through the fence and turned on the water.  This is common in some of the cities and towns out in the bush, but I didn't realize that there are families within walking distance of the MTC without water.  Kind of a cultural reality check.  These buckets weigh between 30 and 50 pounds and many were carrying a bucket on their head and one in their hand. Look how smooth the water in the bucket is as she walks at a brisk pace.

Aba made this beautiful cake for all the
missionaries who had a May birthday.  She
made it from scratch - everything, even the
frosting.  It was so pretty and delicious.