Entry #7

Dear Family and Friends,

We have been so busy that we didn’t send a letter last week. That did not stop us however including all
of you in our prayers every morning and evening.

Last Sunday we traveled to a church branch that was about 75 kilometers from where we live (35 or
40 miles) – a place called Konongo – a village or town that is between Kumasi, where we live, and the
capital of Ghana – the city of Accra. With roads and traffic conditions the trip took us a couple of hours
and was risky business – to say the least. We took a couple who are part of the mission presidency here
– President Amoako and his wife (picture below) – a wonderful black man and his wife that we worked
with to hold a leadership meeting with the leaders in two branches as well as the leadership in the district.
We went to two sacrament meetings and spoke in both meetings. These saints are really faithful and can
they ever sing – a lot more volume and enthusiasm that we generally see at home. Below are some of the
pictures taken on the road and at the church building.

We had our first group of missionaries arrive this past week – two sister missionaries and 6 young men
– Elders. Just to give you an idea of the names of the missionaries – all of which are from other African
nations – They are – Elder Appiah, Elder Ojok, Elder Noble, Elder Musasizi, Elder Cherekedzai, Elder
Chiweshe, Sister McGill and Sister Ngwenya. We have five mission zones – Asokwa, Asuoyeboa,
Bantama, Dichemso and Sunyani. The zone Asuoyeboa is the one that gave mom the hardest time.
It’s pronounced like “a(short)seeohbwa.” It took forever. Here are some of the names of the other
missionaries: Nkanyane, Nwokeka, Okechukwo, Ubokudom, Nwatu, Kkwo, Kumakech, Ejiobianu,
Tlathi, Udo-Bassey, etc. Boy, it’s interesting to get used to saying their names but to try to understand
them on the phone is something else. They are used to us asking for them to repeat many times. Then
they give up and say that they will just text it. That is a good thing. We also know that Akwaaba means
“ welcome here” and Majoya (mahoeya) means “fine, thank you”. Medasi means thank you.” The Book
of Mormon is written in Twii and many are given out. Sure can’t read it though. The language is spoken
lower in their throats and of course is quite fast. At church today we didn’t understand much again.

There is another funeral celebration in the road that the Mission Home is on. They close the street and
put up a large tarp. Inside are many chairs. And the music is very loud jazzy and we can feel the beat in
our office. It lasts for a day or two for 24 or 48 hours. People actually pay to go because there’s lots of
nice food. The families make money off this funeral. The ladies usually dress in black fabric wrapped
around them and their heads. Quite interesting. I’m afraid that we get quite tired of listening to it.

Speaking of food, when we get home at night we are quite tired (about 6pm). Making dinner isn’t easy
because we don’t have the convenience foods like at home – most is from scratch. Mom had learned
to make flour tortillas so we’ve had cheese crisps with salad one night and wraps with cheese, lettuce,
Kirkland chicken (yes, we’ve found it here), cucumber and tomato. It was pretty good. Another night
we had rice patties with ketchup and green salad. When she makes rice, it’s a large quantity. What isn’t
needed goes into the refrigerator. To make a rice patty you take 1 cup cold cooked rice and mix it with
a slightly beaten egg. Stir it together (add onion, green pepper, etc. is optional) and pour some into a hot

non-stick skillet and brown on both sides. Put cheese on top with ketchup. Pretty good. We’ve even
had pork & beans with rice mixed in and warmed. Pretty good. Even the pan cakes we have on P-day
are all by scratch. We have an excellent recipe for them – the Elders liked them too. Got to be creative.

We are driving to Accra with another senior couple, the Holmes following in their car. We will go to the
temple and come back on Wednesday evening. The Holmes need to be back earlier. In Accra we can
get better food – like the big jars of Skippy peanut butter which we love and stock up on. We are looking
forward to going to the distribution center and the Area Offices. We will be staying at the MTC which
rents out rooms for those who are out of town at a minimal rate. Will tell you about it next time.

Congratulation to Jeff & Alice – Bryndlee Heidi, a cute name for a cute little granddaughter. Please send
pictures that we can print out from email. Unfortunately the pictures on Facebook don’t come through to
us. They are filtered out. Everyone, please send pictures.

Mrs. Carson was in a care home when we left home and we were able to visit her before we left. She is
now in hospice care and is fading fast. Just thought you might like to know. We will miss her.

We are enjoying the work here – it keeps us very busy – especially Dad because everything here is cash
and we have to go to the bank quite often which can take an hour or two. When we get home at night the
other senior couple let us borrow the TV series “Mentalist” . Have you heard of it? Boy, we really enjoy
watching it – an hour show. It helps us to wind down and fills up the time before bed because we can’t go
out after about 6pm due to mosquitoes and safety.

We pray for you all and love you. We appreciate your prayers. It’s been fun to Skype with you.

 Love,

Mom and Dad


This is a picture of some of the way they load the trucks. This highway to Konongo Branches was a good road – just very poor drivers (dare devils) and large trucks – even bigger than these.

Pres. and Sis. Amoako who road with us to Konongo The church building is the white building behind Dad. That’s our silver car.

 Primary in the Konongo Branch 2. It was a very small room. They sure can sing!

The arrival of the first new elders and sisters to our mission. They are all African. Great young men and women!

We see big trucks like this hauling these humongus logs that they’re hauling in from their forests. I don’t think are many left. These truck travel on single lane roads all of the time.

This is the way they carry their luggage. This is looking down our apartment street. On the right there is a mechanic working on lots of cars parked along the street.

A carpenter who lives next to our apartment. He makes everything by hand. He doesn’t understand English but is so nice. The curls of wood from lots of planning are on the ground. Almost done with a kitchen closet.