22-28 August 2016

You know it's a slow news week when we post a
picture of me getting my hair cut.  The barber
 is about 1/4 mile from the MTC and it costs
 me $5.00.  I finally convinced him to use a guard
on the razor so it doesn't get cut so short. My
last haircut lasted 2 1/2 months.

So I thought I'd try Loel's barber for
my cut and color.  A friend told me of
a good place to get a haircut and took
me there, only to find out it was Loel's
barber, two blocks from the MTC!
But I tried him and he was great.
My cut and color (I brought the
color) was $7.50.  Can't beat that!

We took Sister Carter, in front, along
with Sister Stutz in back, to the antique
Kente guy on our free day, in Accra.
We bought another one and she
bought several and was thrilled.

We were at the market looking at Kente cloth and
I saw this strange looking couch sitting against a wall.
Then I realized it was a very large version of an
instrument we've seen much smaller. It's like a
 xylophone, but made with gourds as the sound
chambers. It would be cool to have if I could
figure out how to get it home.

Also on our two free days in Accra we met two of our favorite teachers there and took them to a museum, and then to lunch at a very nice beach resort.  Here we are after the lunch.  They loved it so much and thanked us many times.  We loved it, too and had such a good time together.  We got lost getting there and ended up in a very bad ghetto called Jamestown, but we made it out.  

We spent the night here at the Accra mission
president's house.  They have an extra
bedroom and bathroom and invited us to come stay
over whenever we needed a break from the MTC
so we did.  We had such a good time visiting
with them, I went walking with her, they gave
us a tour of their mission home, office, bunk
house, apt for their elders, etc.  It's all in it's
own gated compound with a guard.

These are the Paces, the office couple there in the
Accra mission.  We visited a little with them, too.
I actually stayed over a second night and got a
ride back on Thurs with some elders who were
bringing a missionary to the MTC.  Overall, it
was a great 2 day break in a different environment
with different friends.  We also went out to dinner
one night with another senior couple.
I need to give a shout out to the Heids, the mission
president and his wife (no picture) whose home
we stayed in.  They served a
senior mission here for 18 months, went home
and were called back for 3 years as the mission
presidents!  4.5 years in Ghana!  They are saints.

And here I am with one of the teachers getting ready to greet the
85 new missionaries in this new
group.  I have my tape measure
ready, my immunization cards,
etc, all ready to go.  This is
Richard, one of the teachers,
who left the next day to come
to BYU!  So we will see him
at home.

We got to attend an African wedding in Accra.  These are some of the teachers from the MTC who were also attending.  Some had left so it was fun to see them again.

More teachers at the wedding.

The bride and groom - he's also one of our teachers and the son of one of the counselors in our MTC Presidency.  It was really fun to see all the dancing they did after the wedding that their bishop performed in the chapel.  They will be sealed this coming Wednesday in the temple and we'll go to that, too.  

Their pretty wedding cake.  There
were tons of people there, and they
fed us all chicken and rice!

The parents of the groom are next to us, alongwith President and Sister Obeng (MTC Presidency) and  President and Sister Graham, the temple
president and his wife.  

Ghanaians stack everything, This is rice
in progressively smaller bags.

The MTC is dealing with the severe injury of our
missionaries in an auto accident in Sierra Leone. This truck is typical of the craziness on the highways. It is in a ditch, on its side, going the wrong way. So some how it got all the way \across the road and rolled in the ditch. Glad we weren't in its way.

We said good-bye to another group of missionaries last Monday.  The hardest for me was saying good-bye to the elder I had been working with each day to help him read and write.  We were both crying, but couldn't hug, but he wouldn't let go of my hand.  I told him I would never forget him and he said the same.  I taught him how to use email so I hope to hear from him.  

Pres Brubaker asked Loel to share his testimony in the farewell meeting, so he did.  It was very heartfelt and sweet.  He gets really close to the missionaries he helps with family history and temple work.  Pres Brubaker was laughing as he said that he wanted to hear from "President Tibbitts."  So many of them call him that and not Elder Tibbitts.  

Two members of the Area Presidency and their wives came to our Sacrament Meeting today and spoke about hard things happening, like this accident in Sierra Leone with 4 of our elders who had just left the MTC a few days ago.  They gave beautiful, inspired talks that were very comforting to all of us.  We are all praying for one elder who is still unconscious.