24-31 January 2016

Aba is the head cook.  She came by
the office in this beautiful Africa dress.

This is Aba in her work clothes.  She is really
accommodating and helpful.

                                                           

Patrick is the chief guy over the MTC
with his cute wife and baby.  

This is Cyril and his wife and baby.  He's
wonderful to work with - over the
building and maintenance.  These
two men are both bishops.

The Evergreen market is a small store that we can 
walk to if we choose, but the walk isn't real safe
 or pretty. The store itself is fine.

This is a street view of the MTC.

Just driving down the street - you see a lot of little
booths, trash, etc.

This little roadside stand is selling funeral balloons.

A soccer game we noticed driving by.  The dirt will
supposedly change to green when the rains start in
March

We went into Accra to see the temple one
day.  The Africa West area offices are 
in the same complex. We met a lot of the 
area office people while there.

I love these fan palms.

While in Accra, we went to Pinocchios, an Italian restaurant the other senior couples love.  This is Dr. Hill and his wife singing a farewell song to the Malmroses while there. He's a huge help to me in 
my medical responsibilities - too bad he leaves
in a week! His wife is an expert on things to do in Ghana. We will really miss them.  They do the health lectures for the incoming missionaries and the ones departing into the field.  They're very practical, efficient people. They have loved their mission and wouldn't have wanted to serve anywhere else.  He does the immunizations and examines any missionaries with health problems.  I record everything he tells me and put it into the eMED system here.

Our lunch at Pinocchios.  It was nice to have a little break 
from cafeteria food.

Great gelato after lunch at the same place.  We had
a lot of fun with 7 senior couples.

After lunch we walked around the corner to some
shops - this is what the streets look like.

This is how they repair the roads here - just stick
a tire in it.

The fabric stores are amazingly colorful and they
will make you anything you want. I feel very drab
here compared to everyone else's bright colors.

This is called The Pit - little booths with tons of stuff
for sale - I didn't like the way they would hound you 
to come in to their booth.  I was afraid to even make 
eye contact.

They carry everything on their heads.

Me playing nurse - bandaging a big flap of skin that
came off during a barefoot soccer game.  I call her 
Dr. Paula.

A new district that came in this week - two were from
the US, one from Canada, and 4 Africans.  They'll be
with us for 6 weeks learning French. The night we 
took this picture was the day they arrived and they 
were falling asleep on their feet.

This is how they carry their babies.

Our first trip to the pharmacy to buy more
supplies.  Vesse drove us to two of them.

Inside this little mall was a very nice grocery store.

A very typical African dish called
foo foo - a big doughy thing made out of
cassava root?  They grab pieces of it
with their fingers and dip it in the sauce
 and eat with their hands.  This was a
meal prepared for the kitchen staff,
not the missionaries.

This is where Loel has spent the majority of his time.
My desk is the one across from his.

Today we said goodbye to the Malmroses.
Now we're on our own!!

The three men.

The Obengs and the Acquayes - Pres Brubaker's
counselors and their wives, who are the RS
counselors.  They teach the RS lessons - one
teaches the French sisters and the other the
English sisters.


We're kind of in our own little world here in the MTC, but it feels very safe and secure, However, somewhat isolated. We have filtered water, AC, the cafeteria that we can eat at any time we want, wonderful staff members who help us with anything we need, drive us places, bring up food to us sometimes just to be nice, etc. Our apartment is on the third floor and our office on the first floor, so we're running up and down a lot - no elevators.  The missionaries have amazing testimonies, are so proud to wear their missionaries badges, love the MTC, love us, and each other.  They sing all the time. Anytime they don't have anything to do, they will gather around a piano and sing their rendition of hymns.  They come and go pretty quickly. They want pictures with us, they want us to sign their journals, they give us huge hugs and cry when they leave.  It's an incredible feeling.