Entry #10

Busy has been the word for us as we continue to grow the mission. With this next transfer of
missionaries – with 8 new missionaries coming in next week and 2 going home, we will be at 82
missionaries. We will be over 100 by the end of the year and will probably be around 140 by mid-year
next year. Keeps us hopping trying to keep up with everything.

We had a general authority do a tour of the mission a week ago (Elder LeGrand Curtis of the Seventy)
and it was nice to spend some time with him and his wife. We had the missionaries meet in three
different locations (approximately 2 zones per location) to be trained and taught by Elder Curtis and
the mission president. In addition to being spiritually fed the missionaries, of course, like the zone
conferences because the food is 10 times better than what that can get and prepare for themselves. It
is a major challenge to get all of the missionaries together, since they have to catch a taxi or a Tro-Tro
(small bus) from the far reaches of the mission – from some fairly remote villages. We continue to be
impressed with the faithfulness and strength of these young men and women.

Yesterday we traveled again to the village of Konongo where we have two branches of the church. We
attended two blocks of meetings and spoke in both Sacrament meetings. The leaders of each of the
branches are always so respectful of us and hang on every word we speak in their efforts to be sure
they are doing everything they need to do. We spend a little time going over the Church handbook of
instruction. They are more careful to follow every section of the handbook – more so than what we
have observed in America. Their handbooks are well used – marked up and well worn. Since many of
the speakers and participants speak Twi instead of English we still find it a challenge to know exactly
what is going on. The leaders will speak English to us, but the accent is so strong it is still a major
challenge with communication. In the Investigator class one of the full-time missionaries taught the
lesson, and even though the missionary is an African (from Nigeria) he does not speak Twi – which is
unique to this area of Africa – so the Branch President was interpreting the instruction in Twi – since
several of the Investigators did not speak English. He did a magnificent job –very smooth & prepared.

This evening we will have a Ghanaian family over for dinner . The husband is not a member of the
church. He has met with the missionaries, but has never joined the church, even though his wife is
a member. They have three small children that they will bring with them. We will also have two of
the full-time missionaries with us for dinner – so we will have a fairly sizeable group for our small
apartment. The husband has indicated a new interest in being taught the gospel so we will see how it
goes this evening. Last Sunday we went by this family’s home and visited with them and left a spiritual
message. We also pounded some Fu-Fu – a weekly ritual for many families here in Ghana. (As perhaps
mentioned before they cook Casava and Plantain and then pound it into a dough like mixture – which is
then put in a soup. Looks horrible to us, but many of the full-time missionaries here – elders and sisters
– have developed a taste for it. After watching the Fu-Fu being prepared and the unsanitary conditions
under which it is preparedwe are not about to partake. (Some pictures below)

We recently had three great missionaries return home after their 2 years of service here in Ghana. We
had a meal with them in the mission home and visited with them during the meal before their departure

to their respective homes (all three of these missionaries were from America and also were leaders in
the mission. We recorded in our journal some of the experiences that they related and have included a
couple of excerpts below

Elder Briggs – Qualifying to Drive as Assistant to Mission President

Elder Briggs was called to be an assistant to the mission president and with this calling it would be
required to obtain a Ghanaian driver’s license. Throughout his mission the anti-malaria pill Doxycycline
had created issues for contact lenses for him and accordingly the irritation had caused him to remove
his lenses. As an Assistant to the Mission President he would need the lenses to obtain the driver’s
license and be able to see. He prayed for help. His prayer was answered. He was able to re-insert his
contact lenses and was able to wear the lenses the remainder of his mission without any problem.

Elder Hair – Prayer for the Electric Power to Return

Power outage is a way of life in the Ghana Kumasi Mission. It is almost a daily occurrence – certainly
a couple of times a week. The power can be out for a few minutes, a few hours or in some cases days.
Due to the hot humid nights Elder Hair was unable to get any sleep for extended periods of time and
realized his health and missionary work would suffer if this condition continued. He realized that he had
not made it a matter of prayer. He begin to make it a matter of prayer and said that many times after
the power went out he would kneel in prayer and before completing his plea to his Father-in-Heaven he
would feel the air from his fan starting to cool his body as the power returned to their apartment.

Real Miracle – Change in Peoples Lives

As Elder Smith was departing from the mission he responded to the question – “Have you seen any
miracles during your mission?” He replied the real miracle is the mighty change that I have witnessed in
the lives of people. Many were in the worst of conditions with their personal lives, but after embracing
the teachings of the Savior, they changed and were happy and productive as husbands and fathers and
as wives and mothers. He was amazed at how such changes could come about in a person’s life. – a real
miracle.

We had a challenging experience last Saturday in the mission home. The mission president and his wife
had just left for a branch conference when the guard to our compound informed us that water was
running out the front door of the mission home. As we investigated the situation, to our dismay a water
pipe had burst underneath the kitchen sink and a large portion of the mission home had 1 to 3 inches
of water on the floor. Rodney quickly got the water turned off, but the real work then began. With the
assistance of the guard, two assistants to the mission president and the two of us we mopped hundreds
of gallons of water out of the mission home. A plumber was called and the pipe was fixed. We turned
a bunch of fans on and after several more hours the mission home was back to normal. Since walls are
floors are concrete or tile, the damage was limited but it made for an eventful few hours.

As always we send our love and continue to pray for all of you.

Love,

Dad & Mom


Elder Crump and Elder Ramokgola – Two missionaries that live fairly close to us that we have over for breakfast most P-Days – Monday mornings. (Elder Crump is from Idaho – Elder Ramokgola is from South Africa – the only member of his family that is a member of the church. His father has died and his mother was opposed to him serving a mission, but he was determined to serve. 

 This is a scene along the highway to Konongo. Lots of produce – big tomatoes, oranges (green, pink inside), plantains, onions, cassava, etc.

 Elder Legrand Curtis of the Seventy and his wife, President and Sister Holmes and an Area Seventy and of course Elder and Sister Palmer – two of the Zones at this meeting – Bantama and Asuoyeboa Zones

They are excavating a lot next to the mission home to make place for a home to be built. The African kids are using it for a soccer.

Guess who is pounding Fu-Fu.

Close up of Fu-Fu in the making.

They really know how to use their heads.

 School kids before entering their school building. The schools are empty rooms without black/white boards. Very austere.

Another view along the street. This is at a toll booth on the way to Konongo. The hawkers love to sell when we are stopped.

Entry #9

Another great week in Ghana. We think we are finally making progress getting this new mission set up.
We have most of the systems in place and the banking and finances in fairly smooth working order. We
continue to work to arrange apartments and housing for the new missionaries coming in. We will have
over a hundred missionaries in our mission by the end of the year and expect another 30 or 40 early
next year. Substantially all of the new missionaries will be from African nations – a large percentage
of which come from Nigeria. There will be very few North American missionaries a year from now.
Included below are some everyday scenes for us.

We love all of you and pray daily for the Lord to send his guarding angels to be round about you.

Love
Mom and Dad


Our neighbors making Fu-Fu. The door behind this lady is the back door to our apartment. The girl standing lifts the pole up and then brings it down hard as her sister turns the food over. We hear this pounding almost every day where ever we go.

A close-up picture of the process. They pound the cooked plantain into a rubbery mass and then do the same for cooked Casava and mix the two into one dough looking substance. They then put it in a soup.

Another picture of Fu Fu preparation

This man – we call the carpenter is also our neighbor. He does not speak English, but we are able to communicate with him. He has this little wood shed next to our house and makes furniture. We asked him to shell our coconut that we bought at one of the stands. He took half-a-dozen swipes with his machete and the shell was completely removed (took all of 30 seconds), with the coconut completely intact. At home when I did this it took an hour and the coconut was in a hundred pieces when I finished.

Mom marvels at the hand-cranked sewing machines. These sewing machines scenes are directly across the street from the mission home where we spend most of our time. The little boy’s name is Samuel.
                                            Another view of the sewing machines – see the crank on the wheel?


Another scene across the street from the mission home. Every morning when we arrive this is the scene that greets us. They prepare the food to sell on the street Kenke and stew cooking on a charcoal fire.

Entry #8

This has been a very eventful week. Early Monday morning we drove, with another senior couple (the
Zolls from Sandy, UT going home at the end of October) to the capital city of Ghana – Accra (accent on
the last “a”). It took nearly 6 hours to go a distance of approximately 150 miles due to the poor roads,
wild drivers and congested traffic. There are points during the trip that the road almost disappears or
is under major construction. It was quite a trip. Along the way we went through many small villages.
Most of them were very primitive – adobe walls, no electricity, outdoor cooking, very little to live in and
they are selling produce along the highway. It sure makes us appreciate what we have at home. The
country up in the mountains is very beautiful and lush – no pine trees but other kinds of foliage.

We arrived around noon and immediately indulged ourselves in the only mall in all of Ghana. It was not
too different from some of the smaller malls in the United States – there was even a food court with
pizza and rides for the kids - and there are a fairly good number of American type products. We stocked
up on things like Peanut Butter, meat and a variety of other items. We actually stopped at a store on
the outskirts of Accra that is affectionately referred to by the Americans as Costco. While it is very small
it stocks some of the large sizes and quantities of products frequently seen in the United States. We also
visited a fast food place in Ghana that is familiar to Americans – KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken – believe
it or not (no McDonalds). Never thought we would be so enthralled with a fast food place, but it was a
treat to have something that was familiar and very tasty. But, it lacked the best drink ever, A&W Root
Beer – it was good anyway.

We stayed at the West African Missionary Training Center. It was very nice. There were about 100
young Elders and Sisters (19 to 21 years old) there preparing to go out to their missions. We really
enjoyed meeting them. They are from all over the world – the US, New Zealand, Australia, Nigeria,
South Africa, UK, etc. We also met Pres. & Sister Graham, the MTC president and his wife.

It was extremely helpful for us to visit the Area offices while we were in Accra. The Area office for all of
West Africa is located in Accra and we were able to accomplish a number of tasks with various finance
and supply people in the Area offices. Then of course we had the heroine experience of retracing our
steps back to Kumasi on Wednesday afternoon. Accra, while not anything like most American cities, is
so much more modernized and accommodating than what we daily experience in Kumasi.

On the spiritual side we had the special opportunity of attending a session at the Ghana Temple and
then sat in on a marriage or sealing ceremony for one of the African men who had recently returned
from our mission and married a beautiful young lady who was a recent convert to the church. This
young lady was of the Muslim faith, but inquired of this young elder via mail about the church and due
to her seeking for truth and due to a strong desire to know what our Heavenly Father’s plan for her
while on the earth lead to her joining the church and being endowed in the temple before this young
man even returned from his mission. To make a long story short they fell in love and were married. It
was great to be with them in the temple.

Another interesting story – not particularly significant, but gives you an idea of the humility and
goodness of the African people. One of the guards at the mission home complex took the missionary
discussions and was baptized and is so faithful in his church attendance and studying the gospel. One
evening he caught Rodney before he left the mission home and ask in a very kind way if he would help
him tie a tie so he would be able to have a tie with his shirt the next Sunday. Rodney tied the tie for him
and got it all ready for him so he could just slip it over his head and tighten it up and he would be ready
for church. He was so grateful for the help and was looking forward to being at church the next day with
his tie.

We had another experience that warmed our hearts – an experience with one of the African Elders we
were helping get some missionary supplies after a Zone Leader Council meeting. We noted that he was
struggling to read some of the information on one of the packages. Rodney asked him if he was having
trouble seeing. He initially did not want to admit that he was struggling to see. Mary Joyce offered
him her glasses and asked him to look through them. Initially he was reluctant, but when he saw how
clear things could be he had a new smile on his face. We told him that we would arrange for him to visit
an optometrist and get some glasses. He was so kind and so appreciative it made you want to reach
out and embrace him. In addition to the eye problems he had a slight speech impediment –stuttering,
which made us want to help him ever more. His name is Elder Nwatu, and we will be following up to
help him. These young elders are fantastic!

On Friday we spent nearly 5 hours in the bank and post office – hassling the sytem and getting banking
chores done and picking up packages for the missionaries – including going through customs with the
packages. One of the silver linings in the ordeal was one of the bank officials ended up providing us
with more cash (cedis) than we were entitled to – a fairly significant sum actually. Due to our very busy
schedule we had put the money in the office safe and had not even verified the count of the money.
Rodney received a desperate call from the young lady who had been assisting us in the mission banking
transactions. She was significantly short of cash and thought that she may have given us too much
money. We had her hold on the phone while we counted the money. Sure enough she had given us
too much money. It was after closing hours on a Friday evening and she asked if she could come by the
mission home and retrieve the money. Of course we said yes and a short time later she showed up at
the mission home. She was so kind and gracious and we had a short religious discussion and provided
her some information about the church. This situation was actually a blessing because we believe it will
pave the way for a smoother bank relationship after she witnessed our honesty and help.

Even though life here is very different for us, we just love the people. They love to smile and talk to
us. Those who we’ve met are very sincere and loving. They have a love for God and Jesus Christ. We
are enjoying being here to share with them what we have to help them be happy and have a more
meaningful life. There was another baptism today after our Sunday meetings. They are very receptive
and the work is going forth. It’s great to be part of this wonderful work.

We love you – please keep the emails coming – we love to hear from home.

Love,

Mom and Dad


At the Accra Temple

The Costco in Accra. Its official name is La Fiesta Hacienda – strange that it’s a Spanish name here but we were like kids in a candy store – Campbell cream soups, pickle relish, large Krustez pancake mix, tomato sauce, etc.!

At the temple. Some young ladies tending children – notice the babies on their backs and how their feet stick out forward. Sometimes there are shoes on their feet and sometimes all you see are 10 toes. Rodney and Sister Zoll.

The newly weds.

These Tro-tros are all over the place! They are little “busses” and are PACKED past the limit with people and will just stop in the road to let them off. Traffic is ALWAYS terrible. The slogan is, “the nose goes.” Very congested.

A street market – lots of venders with everything. Ghana is the king of small businesses! (Good looking tomatoes!)

More venders in the street market.

The West African MTC. We stayed upstairs in one of the general authority rooms with a nice soft bed. It was free for us. Nice!

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.

Entry #6

Dear Family and Friends,

The power just came back on after being out awhile, a frequent occurrence, so I can proceed with this
letter which I had anticipated doing earlier. It has been great to have skyping sessions with most of you
and we look forward to hooking up with the rest of you as we try to coordinate your schedules and deal
with the time difference (7 hours in Arizona and 6 hours in Utah). It was interesting to see beefy looking
Tyson and we are looking forward to getting a glimpse of McKenzie. We will miss being at the baby
blessings of both Tyson and McKenzie. It was fun to hear of Riley’s heartthrobs as she begins dating and
to get excited for Brooke as she prepares for BYU. It seems like yesterday that her parents were the
students at the “Y”. It was great to see and visit with each of you that we have Skyped with so far and
are looking forward to sessions with the rest. We are anxious and praying for Alice and her delivery.

The work here has not been without its challenges, not the least of which is battling the legal red tape
with banks, postal authorities and law enforcement personnel. We are finally learning what you can and
cannot do here, but you have to have a lot of patience. The systems here are so archaic and inefficient.
Most of the government and other officials expect some kind of pay, just to get their cooperation. We
try to tell them that we are missionaries and bring blessings not gifts or money. Most of the time we
are able to get what we need, but it takes hours, most of the time, for tasks that should only take 15
minutes.

With the large increase in missionaries that will be coming to this mission – substantially all from other
African nations versus North America – we are very busy getting housing and trainers, etc., etc. to get
them started in the missionary work. We will be doing much more traveling to the remote areas of
Ghana, which is frightening with the terrible traffic and road conditions, but we are confident that the
Lord will watch over us, as we are on His errand. I think we mentioned in an earlier letter that you have
to prepay the rent on apartments for the full term of the lease – so if you have a three year lease you
pay the full three years on the day you sign the lease. In addition, all the living quarters are seriously
deficient, so we have to arrange for considerable upgrades to make the conditions tolerable. Each living
quarters has to have a water tank, water pump, water filters, gas tanks and toilets installed. Most of the
housing here do not include these – leaving the improvements up to us before the missionaries move in.

The mission president and his wife have been journeying out to the various zones in the mission and
holding a brief conference and providing a meal for the missionaries. The meals are a great delight for
the missionaries. (The missionaries have a limited selection of food and typically such food includes
a lot of rice and bread.) We have attached a picture showing the one zone that was brought into
the mission home. The good news is they received a great meal and enjoyed briefly some nice living
quarters. The bad news is they return to much less favorable living arrangements.

One of the biggest challenges, which I believe we dwelled on a bit in previous communications, relates
to obtaining food to eat for the week. It literally takes us 4 or 5 hours to obtain the food needed for the

coming week - something that would take 30 or 45 minutes in the United States. We still only are able
to obtain a fraction of that which we would be accustomed to at home. Each store has this but is out
of that so we travel to the next one to see what that one has or hasn’t. We have to go to about three
different stores and then we get our vegetables (which are washed in Clorox water at home) at a stand.

As I am sure we mentioned before the families and individuals we live around are so helpful and
friendly – which contrasts greatly with the experience you have with various regulatory and government
authorities. When we go on our walks the children just love “high fives” and don’t want us to leave. It’s
the same way at our church meetings. The people are generally spiritual in nature and are receptive
to the teachings of the Savior. They are so eager to help you when you have a need. The African
missionaries are a great joy to be around. They have such strong testimonies and convictions of the
restored gospel. Most of the African missionaries are the only members of their families that are
members of the church and in many cases their families are not supportive of the missions. With the
knowledge that they have little or no family support they still serve and serve faithfully. One of the
missionaries we had over for the evening meal last Monday evening has been substantially disowned
by his mother, because he elected to serve a mission for the church and put his education on hold. He
is from South Africa, but he is one of the most cheerful missionaries we have. He has only been on
his mission for a couple of months, but we anticipate that he will be one of the leaders in the mission
before his two years are up.

Love,

Mom and Dad


View outside our kitchen window – our neighbors in the same four-plex we live in are cooking a tomato based soup on charcoal early in the morning.

Another view just outside our kitchen window – a young African girl sweeping the area – which she and other women do faithfully, each morning. Notice the short broom. They all have them – no handle. They even clean up the outside of their shops with these brooms. Our poly tank back there which is our 1 st water filter.

Veronica – a young lady who served as a missionary in our mission a couple of years ago, who now helps with meals at the mission home when a zone is at the mission home for a conference. She’s been to culinary school and makes some great meals!

Missionaries in the mission van heading back to their mission area – mail on their laps. It’s packed full - the AP’s are driving.

An interesting shot of some typical transportation along a busy street here in Kumasi.

Another picture taking of shops along the road as we travel the streets of the city.

 

Lunch for the missionaries at the mission home. They loved it! Great guys. Sorry it’s so blury.

Entry #5

Another week has flown by. Since we have been so busy the time seems to fly by and with the blink
of an eye another week has passed. We have enjoyed our skyping sessions. We still have not hooked
up with everybody, but try to arrange two or three skyping sessions each weekend. It is really great to
see your faces and hear of all that is happening in your lives. We also enjoyed the little video of Tyson
cooing and interacting with Ashley. It is another reminder of how fast the little ones are growing in our
absence. There may be some items in our weekly update that we have shared in our skyping sessions,
so hope you will forgive the redundancy.

The work here is at a very fast pace. After the formation of this mission – from the other two Ghana
missions - the church is quickly trying to boost the number of missionaries up to a full contingency.
Between now and the end of the year we will be receiving another 35 missionaries – which increases
the amount of work we need to accomplish before they arrive. (There are only a half a dozen going
home before the end of the year.) Because of the poor conditions here in Ghana every task is ten times
harder than it would be in the United States. We will have to get places for all of the new missionaries
to live – at least 7 new apartments (usually put 4 to an apartment, sometimes 6 when it comes to the
sister missionaries). When we say apartments – it is concrete walls and floors and basic necessities – no
washing machines and dryers and unreliable water and electrical supply. When we enter a contract for
an apartment you have to pay the full rent for the duration of the lease. In other words if the rent is 500
cedis (approximately 250 USD) and the lease is three years, we have to pay the full 18,000 cedis at the
beginning of the lease. Interesting! And almost everything is done in cash too.

Apartments are only a part of the workload when it comes to new missionaries of course. Getting them
into the country and oriented and assigned is no small chore. All of the missionaries go through the
Ghana MTC, located in Accra, for 3 weeks before coming to Kumasi. Substantially all of the missionaries
that will be coming to our mission are from African nations. Of the 35 new missionaries, none are from
North America, two are from the UK and one from Australia – the rest are from other African countries.
Fifteen of the 35 new missionaries are sisters.

There is a lot of work with the various branches of the church in the Ghana Kumasi Mission – getting
buildings and identifying leadership, etc. etc. There is only one stake in our mission – a stake with a
dozen or so units. There are a dozen branches that fall under the mission. The biggest challenge is
getting branches close enough to the members. You need to have a large enough group to provide
a reasonable portion of the church programs - so a branch can make things work. The instructions
given to missionaries is to not teach anybody that will have more than half an hour travel time to a
church building. Otherwise you are baptizing them into inactivity. There are dozens we could teach
and baptize right now that are not close enough to a building to allow them to participate in church
programs, but we do not teach them because of the inability to nurture them. Keep in mind that very
few have access to a vehicle so travel to a church is by foot or Tro Tro (bus) or a taxi. That’s money!

We are happy to hear that Tyson and McKenzie are being blessed, but sad to know that we will not
be there to join in the event and enjoy your association. The summer is quickly coming to an end and
school will soon be the order of the day. We know you all are very busy and we pray for all of you, at
least twice a day. We understand that Scott is recovering from his hiking mishap and a scorpion bite,
but understand he is too tough to keep down.

We had another baptismal service today. They always schedule the baptismal services following the
block of meetings and most all members stay to participate. We may have mentioned before that the
baptismal font is located in an outside courtyard. The water is sort of brown when the font is filled,
but the spirit is strong. (Pictures below) An interesting note regarding their baptismal service – they
introduce those being baptized and then they mention who is going to be doing the baptizing. They
always say – “This is the brother who will be John the Baptist today “ – reference I guess to John the
Baptist who baptized the Savior.

We attended a sub-group of the Asokwa Ward today known as the Daban Group (pronounced Da-
bine). Since the Asokwa Ward covers such a large geographic area and because members have limited
transportation – there are separate small church buildings to accommodate portions of the ward closer
to their homes. There were about 35 to 40 in attendance and their meetings were a 2 hour block. After
their sacrament meeting we attended a group that constituted their primary and youth – with about
12 or 14 in attendance. You would be proud of these young people. They have a good understanding
of the gospel and are fun to be around. I certainly would not recommend anything but a 4 wheel drive
truck to get to this building – we finally made it in our Toyota Corolla, but there were some questionable
moments because of all of the deep ruts in the dirt road caused by the rain when it runs so fast.

Love,

Mom and Dad


We find their reference to a gas tanker humorous i.e. “highly inflammable”

A couple getting baptized with the missionary “John the Baptist” in the middle.

This is on a street that we travel between our place and the mission home. We regularly see this scene.

Dad and a few of the young people

Another baptismal shot.

Some of the kids playing after church – waiting for the baptismal service to begin. They LOVE football – soccor.

The church where we met for meetings today. Elder Agbor (front left) plays the keyboard – he taught himself how to play.

 

Dad at mission home – a lot nicer place than where and how we live. It’s the nicest mission home in West Africa.

 

The AP’s with one of the young men that was baptized today – we work with Elder Wheeler and Elder Briggs (going home ).

Entry #4

Another very busy week here in Ghana – and we appreciate more and more the everyday conveniences
that we took for granted in the great United States of America. The power goes out almost every day
and sometimes will be out for 8 hours – even this evening we had to turn off the air conditioning unit
because we were running the clothes dryer. The fluorescent lights wouldn’t start up because there
wasn’t a sufficient power available. So, we choose our battles.

Food is always a challenge – finding something that approximates what you may be used to in the
United States – and when you do it is generally pretty expensive. Water is always an issue - requiring a
separate pump to get enough pressure to shower or flush a toilet, since the water lines have limited and
inconsistent pressure – then any water to be used for drinking or consumption has to be run through
triple filters. You also have a special Poly tank to pump water into so that you have a supply of water to
be used.

There is no TV or radio in English. To avoid the mosquitoes and resulting Malaria you are advised to not
be outside after dark and of course we have to take daily pills to fight off the Malaria potential. We,
along with the mission president met with the church Area doctor this week and he indicated that each
mission runs about 15 Malaria cases a month – so it is not a casual matter and we are stocked with
medications in the mission home to prevent and treat Malaria. The inadequate hospital and medical
professionals is a story in itself. If you can get treated it will probably take 12 hours of waiting. Since
most medicines are over-the-counter here in Ghana the Senior Couples end up being extensions of
the Area doctor (who covers 10 African Missions). Under this doctor’s direction medicines are freely
dispensed by the senior couples - and amazingly the Elders and Sisters survive and the work goes
forward. The Lord is very definitely protecting them if they are obediently taking their medications.

On the more spiritual side we attended a baptism at the chapel where we meet for meetings. The
baptismal font is outside in the courtyard area of the church. The baptismal service followed our block
of meetings and was a very uplifting experience. (Pictures below). These African brothers and sisters
are so faithful and so converted. We love being around them and they love to be around us. They are
so willing to help with any need that we have. In the mornings some of the young boys run to open and
the big gates to our compound area when we are ready to drive out and close them for us. When we
thank them they walk away with a big smile knowing they have helped somebody.

We presented a program at the ward building on Wednesday evening. The bishop asked us to help the
ward members catch a new vision of home teaching and visiting teaching. They are eager to do better
and we had a great attendance come to a mid-week program. The power was off so we wondered how
it would go, but we were the only ones that worried. They are used to no power and had their battery
powered lamps ready to go. They always have games (interesting) at the beginning of their programs,
so we played the game similar to the one played at our family reunion with the little kids – like musical
chairs and where the one in the middle is trying to get one of the chairs when a statement is made
identifying those that have to change chairs. We probably had 50 or 60 adults, youth and kids at the

program and they had tons of fun before we presented a program. We believe it went pretty well.
Mom made some popcorn balls which they gobbled up after the program we presented.

Saturday afternoon, while working at the mission home Dad was notified by the guard to the mission
home compound that some people outside the gate wanted to talk to him. He went out and was
introduced to four or five African teenagers who wanted to talk about the church. The conversation
ended with them asking if they could come to church this Sunday. Of course the invitation was offered
and they said they would be there and they knew where the church was. By the time he parted there
were approximately a dozen young people participating in the conversation. These young people are
so polite and very spiritually oriented. They absolutely melt when you smile at them and engage in
conversation. The young ones always want to give you a “high five”.

There also had a funeral “Party” outside the mission home on Saturday. Funerals are big social event
and are generally, if not always, on Saturday. There is music, food and festivities that last for 12 or more
hours. There is a good chance you will get a headache from the music before the day is over – since it is
very loud and it is non-stop. We had headaches at the end of the day. Everybody is dressed up for the
funerals and it is one of the major social outlets for the Africans – both in and out of the church. So, you
know that when you die there will be a large celebration. I think people look forward to your death.

We think of all the members of the family and our friends often. We have posted on the wall of our
apartment all of the pictures of the family members that were taken at the reunion held before we left.
We printed the pictures off and laminated them with a laminator that we have at the mission office and
filled one side of our apartment with pictures. When somebody comes by – for social or other reasons
they are overwhelmed with all of the family represented by the pictures.

We had one of the sets of full-time elders over for a meal on Monday night (planning the program
mentioned above). The elders loved Mom’s meal that probably surpassed anything they have had since
they left home. One of the elders was from South Africa and the other from Malad, Idaho. We ended
the evening playing “Uno” – the culture here is to always play some games when you get together.

There is an elder who really needs our help. Elder Tlathi had to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa to
have eye surgery. Today the mission president told us that the situation is so bad that he may even
loose his vision. He really wants to return to his mission. So here is where we need your help. He is
having his surgery on Thursday. Would you please remember him in your prayers that the surgery will
be successful and that he can return to finish his mission? We will tell him that our family prayed for
him if he is able to return and hopefully we can send a picture of him to you. Thank you so much.

We sure love you and miss you. However, we are here to help the people and are ready to serve them.
We are praying for you and we need your prayers too. Stay strong and happy - - -

Love,

Mom and Dad



Missionaries and those being baptized. The AP’s are from America - Briggs & Wheeler.

 Missionaries and family members recently taught

Program before baptism – notice the lady in the back with her son on her back just sitting there – no AC just fans & open windows

Cute little guy in the traditional back pack

Another cute little guy in the traditional back pack. Notice the shoes. These babies just love this position and go to sleep here.

And another – just love those little babies. Just glad they aren’t ours – we’re just in the admiring stage. The mothers just wrap a blanket around the baby then tuck it in the front. Smart way to keep their hands free and not chase after the child. Some mothers even carry things on their heads with their baby on their back. Result– great posture – try carrying something on your head.

And another at P.O.

 And another – all cute