20-26 June 2016

We were on our way to a 2 day vacation and stopped at this bead shop on our way.  Loel took this picture right next to the shop - chickens, goats, washing in a bucket, laundry hanging out, and satellite dishes.

This is the new bead shop that we loved.  Course
we had to buy more necklaces.

The Queen Mother owns this shop - that means she's the chief's wife of this particular village.

This is looking at the front of the
resort.  We were told by the MTC
staff that we needed to leave as they
were going to be working on our AC
units - they fixed them!

On our two day break, we went to the
Royal Senchi, a very nice resort we've
eaten at and hung out at the pool before
but this time we spent the night.  

Our room was really nice.

Relaxing on our balcony.

View of the river from our balcony.

 

View of the pool.

These peacocks were wandering around the resort.

We kayaked over from the resort across
to this little island - 

And enjoyed a nature walk on the island.  I'm
in my swimming suit; not a mini skirt.

Crazy big giant African milipedes.

Pretty view.

We ran into this guy on the island, carrying his machete looking for medicine he was going to get from some of the trees or bushes.  He was showing us some berries he eats.  We didn't try them. Of course, when we left he wanted to know if we had some money we give him.

View of the Senchi from the island.

And on the other side of the river - this.  Truly a land of contrasts.

The Brubakers kayaking.  We were right behind.

We returned after two relaxing days at the Senchi pool, restaurant, and river to the MTC to greet 91 new missionaries.  Here are many of them in the chapel.  I gave my health speech 4 times to different groups, but the ones from Nigeria heard it three times.  They were good sports and kept smiling at me.

Loel helped give polio drops while Comfort gave shots, and I checked them in and made sure they received the correct immunizations.

Loel looks like he's comforting this elder,
probably telling him to just relax.

The two Doctor Tibbitts.

We have 32 sisters in this group - a third of our group are sisters this time.  Almost half are French speakers.  

13-19 June 2016

On Tuesday, Cyril, our Operations Supervisor,
took us to Kasoa to a bakery owned by his wife's
parents. This trash is being picked up by workers
and they pick up one basket at a time and
carry it to a dumpster. Pretty slow.  
The drive took us two hours as the roads were so bad since it had rained - many more potholes.  We feel like we're on a roller coaster or a bucking bronco as our car bounces us all over, sometimes bottoming out and making big crashing noises as we go.  It's no wonder these cars are often worn out at 35,000 miles.

We had a lot of rain last week and the drainage
was full and flowing very fast.  This is the middle
of town. During rain storms here, often have the
drains clog with trash - many people throw their
trash as the water is washing it away, but it
clogs the drains and then they have lots of
flooding.  

As we arrived at the bakery, this truck carrying
corn was mired in the mud. They had to unload
these 300 pound bags of corn first.

Eventually they got out.  All by hand. No tow truck
here.

Cyril's mother-in-law took us through the mixing
process. First two of these big mixers.

Then they weigh the dough and form these flat
pieces.

These are smashed and divided into equal pieces.

Broken apart and dropped in a machine...

That rolls them into loaves.

Then into the pans.

Cyril was great.

The bread goes onto proofing racks until about
3 am.

They have these racks that are placed
around the area for selling the bread.

The bake three different types of
bread.  Stella graciously gave us
each loaves of each type of bread.

The Brubakers, Cyril's in-law's with us. Cyril
is a bishop and his father-in-law is a bishop in
Kasoa.

This is what they use for carrying heavy loads.
There is essentially no mechanized lifting and
hauling for small loads.

I had an opportunity to go the market again.
These are just random pictures. I think you can
find literally anything at the market. Most of
these items would be used for "natural" healing.

Pickled pigs feet, before the pickling.

I bought some beets in the market
and asked if I could take a picture of
her baby. They all ride strapped to
their mothers back.

The merchants sometimes don't like their pictures
taken. I just walked and snapped pictures with the
 camera at my waist. They're random. 

I bought a coconut from this lady
and asked to take a picture of her
baby. She turned him toward me
and he just burst into tears.
Sometimes "obrunis" (white people)
frighten children.  Some have never
seen a white person before.  The coconut
cost about 25 cents.  It was delicious.

When we arrived back at the MTC
Rebecca was preparing peanuts
for "ground nut" soup. Ground
nuts are peanuts. They buy the raw
 peanuts in the shell, shell them,
roast them, take them out into
the wind and shake them to loosen
the skins and let the wind blow the
skins away. Then they grind them
into ground nut paste (peanut butter)
and make the soup.

On Saturday we took a group of Senior
Missionaries to our friend Bob Dennis
to learn about Kente weaving. This is
the first time I'e heard him give a formal
presentation and it was very informative.
It just amazes me that with the very basic
tools he uses, in a somewhat primitive
environment he creates beautiful art (fabrics).

Our group.

Winding the bobbins.

Laying out the weft. Just wooden pegs and nails
in a board.

A next generation weaver.  This is the
current project they are working on.
It's for 3,578 pieces of fabric for a
company out of Australia.  When it
rains, they can't work so it puts them
behind schedule.  This fabric is a custom
made one with beautiful blues.

I was on my way back from the embassy and
saw this sheep in the back of this pickup.

There are pot holes every where. This is the middle
of the road on a main road. This hole is about
3 1/2 feet across. The rock in the bottom is a six
inch rock. We drive and say, "Our kids would
never believe this. How do you describe this to
someone,  You have to experience it to believe it."
And this is an isolated hole. Usually there are
multiple holes.

Two sisters who are very happy after
being given their sports clothes in the
hot laundry room.

Aba and I went shopping, errands, and to lunch one day.  She took me to the Accra Mall where I bought Loel his Father's Day present.  This picture is after our lunch at the Coco Lounge - a very nice restaurant.  It was a fun girls' afternoon out.

This nativity is from Kenya and carved from
soapstone; it was Loel's Father's Day present.  We were asked to speak in church today and so we both spoke about fathers, mentors, and good examples in our lives and men and women who can be good mentors and examples to the missionaries.

I bought this African doll complete
with the braids and beads in her
hair and her bright outfit.

And of course, she had her baby
tied on her back.

We had another girls afternoon out, this
time with Sis Brubaker and Aba, shopping
for Pres Brubaker's Father's Day gift.  We
stopped at this resort on the beach Aba
wanted to show us as she used to go to it
all the time.  It was nice.  

On Tuesday we attended the temple with these Elders.
Each of them was able to do ancestor names and
Elder Itwana, the Elder on the left, was able to be
sealed to his parents. Paula was proxy for Elder
Onyebuchukwu's aunt's sealing to his grand parents.

This is an elder who was sealed to his parents after completing all the work prior to that for his dad and the sisters did his mother's work.  We were proxy for his parents.  It was a wonderful day.
A different elder was crying quite a bit in the sealing room.  He had just finished the work for his father and said he felt his father's spirit and knew his father was pleased and happy that his work was done.  He was overcome with emotion.
We had one more elder sealed to his parents this week for a total of three in this group of
missionaries.
With the family history days being pretty long, we are always very hungry when we finish around 2:00 pm so we usually go out to lunch with the Brubakers.  We've found some really nice, yummy restaurants in Accra to go to.  We also went out to a nice one we love in Tema, with outdoor seating only.  Loel put lots of bug spray on and didn't get bitten!  That's a first for him; he's the one who gets all the mosquito bites.  They don't like me - I've never gotten one mosquito bite yet.
We had a devotional this week with Elder and Sister Stanfill of the Area presidency speaking.  They gave such inspiring talks, again reminding the missionaries that this is Africa's time for growth and they get to be a part of it.  We feel pretty lucky to be here at this time, too.
We've been told that June and July are the rainiest months - as a result, it has definitely cooled down and the temperature is often in the 70's and low 80's.  We're not complaining!  Especially since our AC unit in our apt main living area has quit for the last week.  Luckily, the one in our bedroom is still working and we have fans.