3-9 October 2016

This guy is carrying quite a few empty oil containers on his head.
These yellow five gallon containers are everywhere. The brand name is
Frytol and you see it everywhere.

I went on a tro tro ride this week.  These are the main form of transportation around Ghana.  I was the only white person on the crowded van,  It was kind of old, junky, and beat up - this is the seat in front of me.  

These two teachers were with me.  Brother Sahoui and Brother Amoah, who I call Solomon.  They explained everything and paid my ticket.  Our ride costs $.25 each.

Getting out of the tro tro at the market, where we
transferred to a taxi to get to their home.

Inside the taxi - they told me to sit in front, which I did, alongside the driver.  I immediately put on my seat belt and they all burst out laughing.  "Sister Tibbitts, no one puts on seat belts here!"  I noticed the driver then putting on his seat belt.  They told me it was only because I had put mine on.  

We got out and walked a ways to the
building where they live.  It was
partially finished, as are many buildings
here.  

They got the biggest kick out of me taking
so many pictures.  They were laughing
so hard.  I made Brother Sahoui sit next
to their little cooking stove, with their pans
next to him in the middle of their room,
maybe 10' by 10'.

This is their mattress on the floor with their bags
of rice next to it and the little cook stove.  Their
bathroom is down the hall.  No furniture.  They
pay about $20 a month, which they share, for this
room and they do their laundry by hand.  They work
long hours at the MTC, often double shifts, 6 days
a week and so don't spend much time in their room.
They're saving money for school.  We had the best
time together.  I told them I felt like a photo
journalist doing a story on the day in the life of an
MTC teacher.  They loved it. 

I give a health talk each intake, usually twice, along with Solomon, a teacher,
whose translating for me into French.  Most of our group is English this time, which makes it a lot easier for Loel and I.  In my talk I talk about the importance of drinking lots of water, getting exercise, when they can come see me for health issues, how they have to take their Doxy to prevent malaria,  how I need to see each one individually, check their immunization records, let them know which shots they need, how I need to measure them for garments (Loel does the elders, I do sisters), etc.  

Brother Adjai, one of our teachers, wanted a picture of with my Kente dress and Loel's Kente tie.  

These are the senior missionaries who often come to help us with family history on the day of intake.  They often have a captive audience with missionaries waiting to be interviewed.  The missionaries love it.  We also have Aba make us a lunch afterwards - she does such a good job; we love her!

Aba's husband surprised her with flowers and a
cake at the MTC during lunch.  She was so surprised
and started to cry.  She shared with ALL the missionaries
and us.  

I told James he made some nice points with this surprise.

This is Vesse, our administrative assistant
He does EVERYTHING needed at the MTC.
He's playing the happy birthday song here
for Aba.

These elders were out during sports time when it started to pour.  Many of them just kept on playing.  We love it when it rains as it cools everything down, but we don't like driving when it rains - too many accidents.

These are the nice zone leaders in the Ghana Accra Mission, who we shared a car with.  The African elder is from Burkina Faso.  In that whole country, which is north of Ghana, there were about 6 members when he got baptized, but they are ex-patriots.  He got baptized in Benin while in college.  He goes home in two weeks and hopes he can find some members there to attend church with.

This is Elder and Sister Steven Erastus Snow, the Church Historian, who came for a devotional here at the MTC along with two of the Area Presidency and their wives.  He's a relative of mine - we either share the same great grandfather or great great grandfather, Erastus Beman Snow.  He was very nice and we had fun figuring out our family connections.  We both used to visit Uncle Harold together when younger in St. George, which is where he was raised. He's 4 years older than me.  He gave a great talk to the missionaries on recording their stories, since they are the pioneers in the church in Africa.  We all had lunch together afterwards.
Loel was asked a lot of questions by the Area Presidency about his family history work with the missionaries and helping them do their temple work, etc.  He was able to tell some inspiring stories.  They both want to be a part of some of these sealings - in fact Pres Vinson put it on his calendar to be the sealer next week for two elders who can be sealed to their
deceased parents..

26 September-2 October 2016

Sisters Anderson and Spackman came to Tema to go to the market with us as they had never been.  Selasi took us, of course.  We borrowed these hats for the picture and of course, the lady wanted 5 cedis for the use of them!  We paid her the equivalent of $1.25.  We all bought fabric, mostly.  The other ladies loved it and bought a lot.  Loel and Brother Spackman dropped us off and picked us up - traffic was terrible as Monday is a big market day.

This week we were able to be a part of an exciting
sealing. The Senior Couple in the picture are
Elder and Sister Bingham and they are Member
Support missionaries in a small city 3 hours
away from Accra. They brought this sister to the
temple and were proxies.

Elder Frempong and his mother did the temple work for her parents and Elder Frempong did the work for his father. His grandparents were sealed, then his mother was sealed to her parents. 

Then Elder Frempong's mother was sealed to her
husband and then Elder Frempong was sealed
to his parents. There were five Senior Couples at
the sealings and a few tears.  We also had all of our
missionaries from that session witness the sealing.
Two sisters were touched with lots of tears.  Pres
Brubaker told Loel that orchestrating this big,
complicated task in the temple was like his 'Super
Bowl" of family history.  It was a beautiful day.

These missionaries are brother and sister from
DR Congo. The Elder  was in the MTC a few months
ago, learned English and is serving in Accra.
His Sister is in the MTC now and will be going to
Cote d'Voire. We couldn't believe how good his English
had become!  It was amazing.

We are just continually amazed at the
creative way the Ghanaians arrange
goods to be carried on their heads.

These sisters came into the office and showed
Paula their new hair styles. I whispered to Paula
that she needed to get pictures.  The sister on the
far right did all this.

I've never seen this style before.

Very creative.

We went by our Kente weaver and one of his weavers
was working on this design.

We liked it so much we bought some place mats.

 

This Sister Missionary is in Accra for some medical
evaluations. We met her at a market on Saturday.

 

This market is held once a month at a German
institute and is one of the nicer markets we've
seen. We run into most of the Senior missionaries
here.  We always buy bagels here as there's a man
who makes some really good ones.  

More beads.  Loel bought this amber necklace.

Snacking on a German bratwurst.  It's pretty close.
But the bun didn't come close to a brochen

We pass through a toll on the way
from Accra to Tema. This lane was blocked and I thought this truck
overloaded with bags of charcoal
was wedged against the toll booth.
When we got on the other side the
engine was open and it apparently
stalled.

Elder and Sister Stutz joined us for
Sacrament Meeting and Priesthood/
Relief Society.  The Stutz are our
family history couple who come out
to help us quite a bit.  We love them.
They're from Orem and return home
in December.  This is their 3rd mission
in about 5 or 6 years.  

They joined us for lunch, too, in the cafeteria.
We had chicken gizzards.  I didn't eat them but
the others did!  

When youth groups from Cote d'Voire come to
the temple, they like to stop by the MTC.

Our current group of Sisters.

We loved conference weekend as we were able to watch all 4 sessions live on Saturday and Sunday.  They were long days as the sessions started at 4 and 8 pm.  On Sunday we also had all 3 hours of regular church, plus presidency meetings, and a devotional.  I counted that we were in meetings for 9.5 hours.  I love how when the Tabernacle Choir sings a number, the missionaries like to hum and sing softly along with them.  Music just bubbles out of them.

I was amazed at the many references to missionary work!  It felt so nice to have these missionaries hear how important it is and to have them currently be involved with it.

In the Brubaker's devotional, they had me speak for about 5 minutes on the Self-Reliance program the church has set up.  Many of our missionaries are worried about what will happen to them when they return home as they don't have a lot of family support, money for school, etc.  I was able to reassure them that with this Self-Reliance program, they will have the resources they need, which could include the Perpetual Education Fund, etc.  We've had missionaries ask us if they can be a part of our family when they return home, ask us not to forget them and their situation, email us frequently, ask us to help the find wives when we return, etc.

We had Elder Koranteng, an Area Seventy, who is over the Self Reliance program for West Africa come and speak at a devotional here this week.  Sister Brubaker and I visited with him afterwards and were able to learn a lot about how the church can help them after their missions.  It was nice to be able to share this with them to try to give them more peace of mine for after their missions.  We stressed having faith and hope and knowing that the Lord will bless them and help them, but for now, serve valiantly, learn many life's lessons while serving and come home more prepared for life than ever before.

19-25 September 2016

French sisters (except me) at the temple waiting to go in for a session.  

A cute couple from Cote d'Ivoire who
had just gone through the temple.

Selasi in her African outfit and
headdress that she had made.

She's been working at the MTC for
14 years as the head housekeeper
and does an incredible job.  She
also takes us to the Tema market
as we would get lost there without
her.

French companionship teaching an
investigator outside the MTC.

These "investigators" are usually volunteers from
the wards for the missionaries to practice on.
The missionaries often tell me that this is the
most helpful part of their MTC experience.

Two teachers at the MTC.

Another companionship waiting to teach and a
teacher who jumped in the picture.  This is one of
the two Americans in the MTC in this group, with
his African companion, of course.  We feel bad
for the Americans who come directly to Africa
from the Provo MTC - they have a real
culture shock when they arrive in Africa.  Being
in the Ghana MTC gives these Americans time
to adjust to the African culture, food, people,
weather, etc, and they are really grateful for
this experience of being here for their training
before heading into the field.  

Our hallway, going into our apartment.
When it's really hot, I can't wait to get
inside the apt after climbing up two
flights of stairs with no AC. There's
no AC in any of the hallways or
stairwells.

Loel and George, a teacher who loves
Loel and the feeling is mutual.
They have totally bonded. (Loel) George
is my buddy.  He's one of the teachers who
is also a temple ordinance worker. He's
a great help in the temple as he speaks
both English and French

Visiting in my office with Sister Stutz
and Sister Spackman who came to
help with family history.  We were
discussing what was on our bucket
lists for the rest of our lives. (Loel)
Hmm. So that's where they were