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.