7-13 March 2016

Another farewell night with each district singing a number.  We got really close to this group as they came in right after we did and were here for 6 weeks learning French.

These two were some of our favorites, too!  The
one on the left is from Belgium so we had an
immediate connection with him, and the one on
the right left Africa when he was 6 and returned
for the first time to enter the MTC.  He hadn't
seen his mother since then and she was able to
travel quite far to come and see him.  He said
it was the happiest day of his life.

Aba, the head cook here, and I after
a shopping spree!  She took us around
to two different malls and helped us find everything on or list.  She is such
 a good friend and a great cook.

Driving in the country on a P-day, we see this
unusual rock formation on a hill.  We have this
one day in between the departing missionaries leaving
and before the new group comes in.

And here comes a ton of baboons!  We got the
biggest kick out of them.

We called him grandpa.

This guy just sat right by our car staring
at us.

Mother and nursing baby.

We saw whole families of baboons
swinging through the trees, running
around, etc.  We hear that this part of
the country has lots of them and they
seemed quite tame.  Who needs a zoo?

This nice policeman flagged us down
only to tell us he just wanted to share
that his wife had given birth to a baby
boy that morning!  We got a good
chuckle out of him just wanting to
share some good news.  

In one little town we saw this unique kind of
pottery so stopped to buy one.

We stopped at a huge market since they are
known for having lots of beads.

This is a charcoal iron.  Prosper, our batik fabric
maker still uses this kind of iron today.

Chickens for sale at the market.  

Everything is so colorful - it's an amazing adventure
into a different world of smells, colors, and sounds.

A variety of beans for sale.

Can anyone tell that I'm just a little hot?  We
would buy these cold things of water, just to
put them on or faces and necks and arms to
cool us off.  They're unsafe to drink, but they
make great coolers, Look at these beads!

Aren't they beautiful?  I couldn't get
enough of them. Loel asked me if I
was going into the bead business.
(Loel) The truth is, I like them as
much as Paula, but not to wear.

These cute girls were managing the public
restroom at the market.  While I was
waiting for Sis Brubaker, they had me
sit down and wanted to fan me.  Then they
wanted their pictures taken.

This woman is carrying her baby on her back as
they all do, but also carrying brooms on her head.
Even though I had sweat dripping everywhere, I
still loved the experience.  I think I'm getting
used to the heat and humidity - sort of.  We always
have the nice air conditioned car to get into that is our
oasis from the heat.

This was a beautiful, expensive, resort we stopped
at on our way - nicest we've seen in Ghana.

Front of the resort.

Peacocks walking around outside the hotel lobby.

This was taken right on the Volta River at the
resort.  

We happened upon this beautiful Ensign College
of Public Health on or travels.  It was built by
a previous Ghana mission president.

One day a primary group of kids came to tour
the MTC.  This is right outside our office. 

It's intake time again!  We had the biggest group
in a long time enter - this was the first Ghana
family bringing their son in to the MTC today. He's a child
of record, been a member all his life.  This is really
something to be proud of here.

This is the second family to bring TWO kids
to the MTC, entering the same day!  A sister and
an elder.  What an example for their younger
sister, shown here in the picture.  This mother has already sent 3 older
boys on missions. They are so proud to take
pictures of their children with their missionary
tags on.

This is Taki, one of our favorite teachers, on his
last day of work at the MTC.  He's been here
almost 5 years and has been so wonderful.  We
 will miss him so much.

I had this blouse made at Prosper's
across from the MTC.  I bought the
fabric at a market and brought it
to their amazing tailor and he made
  it in one day and charged me $5
for his labor.

Sisters Obeng and Acquay, the counselors' wives,
helping Sis Brubaker and I sort our clothes that
have been donated for the MTC.  It took us
many hours but we've almost got them done.  Many
of these were the clothes our wards had donated that
the Brubakers brought in their container.

Look at this sister's name from
Madagascar.  We just got a second
sister from there and we call them
Madagascar #1 and #2.

 

Our very large Relief Society here now.  About
29 sisters.  These last few days have been crazy busy getting all 104 of these missionaries checked in, measuring them for garments, gathering their information like passports, temple recommends, priesthood ordinations, giving them health talks, and their immunizations, taking care of all their health problems, most of which aren't too serious, etc.
I ask each one how their health is and if they're allergic to anything.  One elder said, "yes, I am allergic to crocodile meat."  I laughed and said, "well, so far we have never been served crocodile meat in the MTC, so just avoid it in the mission field."

I have seen big blisters, sore teeth, lots of constipation, sore muscles, athletes' foot, sore throats, headaches, colds, ear problems, ingrown toenails, cuts, bruises, swollen ankles. indigestion, diarrhea, and today a missionary got sick to her stomach in my office (luckily the garbage can was near).  The cool thing was that an hour later, she was back in church, saying the closing prayer (she had taken her malaria medication on an empty stomach).  After the meeting I asked her how she was doing and she said, "Good, but I missed the Sacrament.  Could I take it now?"  This was arranged and she was happy.  I saw her a few minutes later, finishing her breakfast in the cafeteria.   I wondered how many kids would get sick, go home and come back in time to finish Sacrament meeting, say the closing prayer and ask to take the Sacrament.  These African's priorities are in the right place.