17-23 October 2016

We were able to witness this sealing - I had met this Filipino girl last March in the temple who works in Dubai, and she was back to get married to her Ghanaian fiance.  Lots of our missionaries were also able to come in for it and see a live sealing, which they loved and had never seen.  She acted so happy to see me again and was giving me big hugs.  She had no family here for her wedding, so his Bishop had asked a senior couple to be her surrogate parents for the wedding.  It was really sweet and they loved doing it.

These ladies come to support a group called Ghana Make
A Difference - they brought us several suitcases of clothes
for our missionaries.  

The lady in charge is the blonde in black and white.  They loaded up our car with donations.  They do a wonderful work here.

The elder by Loel is from DR Congo and was sealed to his
parents this week, who had both passed away.  His companion
 is from Madagascar and has been a great help in translating for us.

This English speaking elder from Liberia, was sealed to his parents this week, too.  We were able to be proxy for his parents.  Loel spends hours and hours working with these missionaries on their family names and then organizes the temple days, making sure all the ordinances happen as we take 50 missionaries to the temple.  

Street hawkers walking in between the lanes of traffic - very
scary when motorcycles also speed in between the lanes, just
missing some of the street hawkers. This is typical afternoon
traffic leaving Accra.

This is the old sewing machine that is used at the Kente weavers in Tema.
We think of this as old, but that's the way of life here. Use everything as
long as possible and keep repairing it as long as possible. When it's
compared to the weaving looms, that are made from scrap metal and
tree branches, it looks modern.

This is our typical place we sit in the chapel for all the meetings -
off to the side and close to the front and by the
light switches so Loel can turn them on and off for
slide presentations.

The sister in red is from Kenya and she and I
bonded in the temple when she took out her
endowments.  I was able to help her.  

She came to me a few days after the temple and asked if she
could give me some fabric from Kenya.  I said maybe you
brought it so you could have some clothes made.  She said, "No
Sister Tibbitts, I brought it to give to someone I love."  I got
tears in my eyes and we gave each other hugs.

Elders unloading suitcases full of donations people have
sent for our missionaries.  It's wonderful.

The short elder shared his story with me as I
typed it at Pres Brubaker's request.  We were
both crying as he has had such a hard life.  But
he was so positive as he spoke of all of his
blessings and how he knows the Lord will
take care of him.  I love this part of my
calling as it's so fascinating to hear these
missionaries' stories.  

These four sisters came to me and told me that in a few days it
would be one of their birthdays and asked if I could bring
them something "sweet from the outside."  I brought them
some gummy bears and Swedish Fish  from home.  You would have thought I had
given them Sees candy or something!  One said, "We prayed
this morning that you would remember to bring us candy!
Our prayers were answered!"  I told them it had to be
our secret as I couldn't supply candy for the whole MTC.

Aba and I had a fun afternoon shopping at a
mall, getting frozen yogurt, and buying
tomatoes so I could make salsa for a tailgate
party we had one night with the Brubakers,
watching BYU lose, unfortunately.  Loel
made hummus and pita chips along with my
salsa, and I made banana cupcakes.  Sis.
Brubaker made yummy eggplant slices
fried in bread crumbs.  Fun night.

I gave this dress to the sister from Kenya
as she had given me the cloth.  She wore it the
next day and appeared very happy with it.

We spoke in Sacrament meeting again this week.
We can re-cycle our talks as there's always a
new group of missionaries here.  We spoke on
love and compassion; particularly with
companions and investigators.