Entry #35

Dear Family and Friends

We once again sign in from Western Africa and hope all is going well for all of you – work, school, church callings, and all that is going on with your lives.  We wish David and Traci and their family the very best with their job change and move to Colorado.  We congratulate Trevor and Ashley on their expected new arrival next March.  We again congratulate Matt and Tana on their recent addition of their little guy and wish we were there to witness the blessing.  We continue to pray for Brooke as she continues to master the Spanish language as she serves in the Spanish speaking mission in California.  It is uplifting to know that the next generation is dedicated to serving the Lord.  We thrill to hear of your activities as you provide your monthly contributions to the family newsletters – The Dean Palmer Family Newsletter and the Rodney Palmer family newsletter.  We get a little jealous when we hear of some of your family outings and activities – wishing that we could share some of these times with you.

We travel each Sunday to Obuasi now.  We have been asked to help prepare this area for the formation of a new District.  There are two branches of the church in this area now and we anticipate forming two additional branches in the next few weeks and one group.  They will then be ready to be a District and in the not too distant future become a Stake.

We have made many friends as we have taken care of mission business.  We have a couple of people that we regularly see at a place where we shop for groceries that are so excited when we come to shop that they jump up and down and want to talk about our family and what we are doing.  Some of it is because they seldom see a white person and some of it is because of the large family that we have.  The one young lady, named Bernice, insisted on getting a picture of our family.  We provided her a large printed copy of our family with her name on it and she says she placed it in her bedroom so she sees it the very first thing when she gets up.  Almost embarrassed us, but she is so full of energy and so fun to be around we go along with her.  She almost embarrasses us, but she’s fun to be around.  A picture of her and the security guard is below.We continue to pray for the Lord’s greatest blessings to be upon each of you.

Love
Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, Mary Joyce



Over flow class – Outside at the Bibiani Branch (youth class)

Elders serving in the Bibiani Branch – with one of the little babies from the branch – Elder Ruske’s father sings in the TabernacleChoir.

We are intrigued by the religious references in their places of business – i.e. Sewing Shop above

Carefully stacked nuts (must take hours) on a street vendors plate

Bishop’s wife – Sister Ainewson – with Mom in her Ghananian dress (she furnished the material).

Sister Rockson – who made the Ghanaian dress for Mom

Mom, Berniece, Dad, Security Guard

It is no wonder that some of the mail doesn’t make it to its destination – Kumasi Post Officis he – she hand stamping and sorting into piles.

Heaven Sent Telephone Number in Ghana

(waiting on pictures)

 Edna Banaah, Elder Jakolby Sagers (Oakley, Idaho, USA) and Edna Banaah and Elder Aaron Stentzel (Murray, Utah, USA) – Ghana Kumasi Mission


While laboring in the city of Kumasi, located in the Ghana Kumasi Mission, Elder Sagers and Elder Stentzel met a woman named Edna who is from the Northern Region of Ghana.  Edna stays in a small room with two others.  One night as they were sleeping, Edna heard a voice calling her name. She woke up to find no one, but could still hear the voice. She woke the others up and asked if they could hear the voice, but they responded that they could hear nothing. The next night, while fast asleep, the same voice called her name and woke her up again. This time, the voice told her to call a certain number and repeated the number 3 times. She again awakened her roommates, but again, they heard nothing. The third night, while fast asleep, the voice woke her up again.  As she awakened, the room illuminated and the voice once again repeated the message 3 times, called her name and told her to call the number. This time she took it seriously. She knew she must call the number. She then slept, and as she woke to call the number, she could not remember the number. She prayed and prayed that the number would come back into her mind. As she prayed, the number that was spoken to her appeared in her mind. Edna then called the number which was given to her and was the telephone number for Elder Sagers and Elder Stentzel in Kumasi, Ghana.  Elder Sagers answered the phone and Edna asked him if he was a pastor.  Elder Sagers responded that he was not a pastor, but was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She told Elder Sagers that she had a dream that she needed to call this number.  She told Elder Sagers that she lived in the Northern Region of Ghana, but she was coming down to Kumasi after school concluded.  She told Elder Sagers thather father died, so she would be coming to Kumasi that very week, after school, so she can work to earn money for her school fees. When she arrived in Kumasi she called Elder Sagers and Elder Stentzel, and said that she wanted to meet with them.  The missionaries arranged for a meeting the following Sunday.  Elder Sagers said they felt a sweet spirit about her and were able to sit down with her at a member’s shop and teach her the first lesson. After the lesson Elder Sagers and Elder Stentzel gave her a pamphlet and a copy of the Book of Mormon. She promised she would read them and pray. The missionaries found that Edna lived about two hours away from Kumasi and made the trip just to meet with them - because of her dream. The church does not have a church unit where she stays, but Elder Sagers told her that the church will soon be in a location close to her, and that she needs to prepare for when the church comes by reading the Book of Mormon and praying. Elder Sagers told her that when she sees missionaries from the church, she needs to stop them and listen to the message they have to share. It was a faith promoting experience for Elder Sagers, Elder Stentzel and Edna.

(Submitted by Elder Rodney D. Palmer – Elder Palmer and his wife Sister Mary Joyce Palmer presently serve as a senior couple in the Ghana Kumasi Mission)

Entry #34

Dear Family and Friends,

Hope all is going well for each of you at home.  We are enjoying unusually cool weather here in Ghana.  The natives wear coats and sweaters because it is in the 70’s and 80’s (Fahrenheit).  They are pleading for and hoping for warmer weather while we are enjoying a time when we are not pouring sweat.  We get plenty of rain this time of year also so all vegetation is lush and thick.  The trips outside of Kumasi are quite pleasant with the lush thick jungle growth – that is if you can dodge all of the potholes and gullies that are a part of every roadway. As mentioned in our last letter we traveled to Obuasi recently.  Below is a picture of the road, and our car (and Rodney) as seen from the chapel on the hill.  This is actually one of the nicest church buildings we have in this part of Ghana.  Most buildings are leased, but the church does have a few owned properties.  Ownership in this country is an interesting concept, a discussion for another day.

We once again had some missionaries over for breakfast on preparation day (Monday).  After breakfast Dad proceeded to give 4 of the Obruni (white) missionaries a haircut.  The breakfast picture below is an unusual concentration of white elders, since 70 percent of the missionaries are from Africa and obviously make up the majority of the missionary force.

Below is a picture of Sister Rockson, a member of the Atonsu Group of the church who is a professional seamstress - one of the nicest ladies you would ever meet and most talented in her dress making.  Mom had her make a dress for her which Sis. Rockson did without any pattern, just took a few measurements.  The seamstresses attend school for three years and are so professional.  They have pictures of many dresses and can sew them without a paper pattern – just draft them up themselves.  MJ would love to learn some of their methods to bring back home.   It was no small feat getting to the place where her little shop is located.  We barely made it through the rough terrain.

While visiting with Sister Rockson we became intrigued with the bread making process of the neighbors.  Below you see a couple of pictures we took of them by their brick and cement oven.  Once we indicated we wanted to take a couple of pictures they were highly animated and wanted to make sure we got everybody in the picture and that they were positioned in such a way that they looked their very best. The oven is interesting .They have a bunch of tin pans that have a slide in top that they place the dough in. They cook 60 loaves at a time and make over 200 loves 2 or 3 times a week.  They were tickled to get their picture taken, and believed that we were rich Americans and accordingly pleaded with us to buy them a big modern oven – of course to no avail.

When it comes to music during church meetings most congregations sing without any accompaniment.  The chorister will sing the beginning line or two of the song, accapella, and then the members sing with great gusto every verse of the song.  As I think we indicated before, they know the words to the church hymns far better than what we experience in the United States.  We have sung songs out of the hymn books that we have never sung before, and they know them all, generally without the use of a hymn book.  Church units usually have a keyboard, but many do not have somebody to play them.  Mom ends up accompanying when we visit the various branches and wards.  Below is a picture of two young men playing the keyboard for the Daban Group – setup rather crudely.  We have been amazed at how many of the African elders have taught themselves to play the piano or keyboard and are really good at it.  They seem to have a natural gift for music.  One elder, Elder Senda, is very gifted and knew how to play the piano before his mission, as well as guitar, and also is a talented vocalist also. 

One of the Ghanaian families that we have come to love is the Kwaku Dadzie-Cooper family.  We have mentioned them before.  Brother Cooper works with us regarding physical facilities – missionary apartments, etc.  He has a tremendous sense of humor and keeps us rolling in laughter when he is around.  His oldest son was baptized a couple of weeks ago so we were there with his family.  Mom, of course had to hold their recently born son and be a grandma – something she misses with her own grandchildren.

Yesterday we traveled again to attend meetings, do some training and assist the Bibiani Branch with some of their financial and computer needs. Since it was a fast Sunday we were most pleased to participate in their fast and testimony meeting.  They have such a great spirit and such a deep faith in the Savior.  They are so inspiring.  Much of the meeting was in Twi so it was more a feeling of the spirit than an understanding of what they were saying.  Most have a good command of English, they just prefer Twi – a part of their tradition in this part of Ghana – the Ashanti Region.

We continue to be thrilled to read the letters posted on Brooke’s missionary website and continue to pray for her success.  We wish we had some of her energy.  We are very pleased that family members are making use of the cabin and also pleased that the families – both in Utah and Arizona continue to get together to enjoy and support each other.  We hope all of the new little ones are doing well – the two born right before we left (Tyson and McKenzie) and the two born after we left (Brynlee and Samuel).  We pray for all of you and know, without a doubt that the Lord has showered down blessings on all of the family, wherever you may be.  It is always our prayer that the Lord will continue to watch over and bless each and every one of you.

Love

Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, Mary Joyce


View from the side of the Obuasi church building – Dad and car below on the road to the building

Dad, Elder Otagba, Elder Crump, Elder Stentzel, Elder Sagers and Elder White at Palmers for breakfast before their haircuts.

Dad – Giving Elder Sagers a haircut – the first of 4 elders to get haircuts on this Monday morning.

Two young men practicing the keyboard.  This is where MJ played the music for Sacrament Meeting.

Sis. Rockson with one of her machines – treadle because they lack power most of the time.  They also use the hand-crank.

Some of the many dress patterns to choose from that Sis. Rockson can make without a pattern.

The bread making crew – the man has one of the bread tins – in front of their oven

The oven filled with wood ready to heat up for next bread making session.

Comfort Dadzie-Cooper and Mom with their new arrival – a third son for them

Kweku Dadzie-Cooper Family on the day the oldest boy – Nana was baptized.

Entry #33

Dear Family and other loved ones,

Business is much as usual here in Ghana.  We continue to have missionaries arriving and missionaries departing for home.  Both the arriving and departing are excited – for obvious different reasons.  The reality of the somewhat harsh conditions here in Ghana almost immediately dampens the spirits of the new arrivals, but after a few weeks the spirit of this work penetrates their hearts and they blossom before our eyes.  It is amazing how quick the young missionaries, as well as us older folks develop a special love for these wonderful people.  We are impressed, over and over again with their deep faith and testimony of the Savior and His atoning sacrifice.  Many of them do not have much, but they are willing to give all they have, if necessary to build the Lord’s kingdom in this part of the world.  The Ghanaians continue to be most kind to us.  They go out of their way to open gates, haul packages, wash our car, and just be very friendly and courteous.

We traveled to Obuasi yesterday (Sunday July 21st) to work with some of the leaders in the two branches in this fairly large gold mining town.  This city is a couple of hours south of Kumasi. In the near future we will be dividing these branches and will then have three or four branches there.  We have a nice church building there and the people come from many kilometers away.  Dad helped them with their computer setup and helped them remedy some of their financial and membership reporting while Mom was loving the little children and attending some of their Sunday meetings.  We also delivered mail and other supplies to our 6 missionaries in Obuasi.  Since these missionaries are a couple of hours away from the mission home and don’t get regular deliveries.

A couple of weeks ago while out taking care of some business we took a break and visited the Botanical Gardens which are near the UST College Campus.  It was on a day when the Ghanaians celebrate their independence day (July 1st) which is the equivalent of our 4th  of July celebrations.  Since it was a holiday there were some very animated groups celebrating in a way that only the Africans can celebrate.  We will try to attach a little clip we recorded while there.  Also a few pictures are inserted below of a few of the interesting trees and items in the Garden.  It is unusual to see a relatively well manicured landscape area with no clutter.

The young Ghanaian sister who does cooking and domestic chores in the mission home had twins a few weeks back and Mom visited here in the hospital and took a couple of pictures and we have inserted one below.  This sister served a mission here in Ghana a few years ago and is a very faithful sister and one who has pampered us from time to time.

We continue to have a significant amount of rain and accordingly we are enjoying much cooler weather – a pleasant relief from the very hot and humid weather we experienced in the period December through May.  While the humidity is very high, the temperatures generally range between 23 and 31 Celsius (73 to 92) degrees Fahrenheit.  In the hotter part of the year the temperatures can reach 36 or 37 Celsius (which is nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit).




We think of all of you often and pray for you always.  We thrill of your goodness as you are doing a tremendous job raising your wonderful families.  We also want to send our congratulations to Matt & Tana for their new addition to their family- Samuel Nathan Clayton.  We’re glad that everything went well for you.  Can’t wait to meet our new little grandson.

  Love Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, MJ




One of many formations seen throughout Ghana – a termite nest.  On the right at the base of the tree you can see another  formation made by insects – looks like a toadstool – made from mud.  Interesting!

 Beauty and the beast (Interesting tree)

Another interesting tree in the garden

Truck that just turned over with its load - as we were traveling to the bank and post office

Veronica with her twins – She works at mission home with cooking and domestic chores

The young man (Elder Obasi) recently went home from our mission and returned to propose to this young lady.

Trucks line up in the morning to hire out for the day to do hauling jobs

Some more elders over for breakfast – Komubbi, Doolin, Ramo and Leishman

Elegant home among the much less elegant homes (above – side view - and below – front view).  The black  tanks on the top are Poly tanks for water storage.

The ever present street vendors – this one with shoes galore.

Catering service advertising their business on the street.

Entry #32

We saw the following sign on a wall in the West Africa Area offices when we visited the temple there a couple of weeks ago and thought we would include it here, since it rings very true in our ears.

Definition:

Mis-sion-ar-y (Noun) – someone who leaves their family for two years so that others can be with their family for eternity.

Time continues to fly by as the work steadily moves forward.  We just finished another round of zone conferences with the missionaries.  The doctor assigned to the West Area office was with us for the zone conferences this time and spoke to each conference on how the elders and sisters can avoid malaria and other sicknesses.  The key to staying well here is to drink plenty of water and never miss taking your daily anti-malaria pill – doxycycline.  He talked about how to avoid or deal with diarrhea or as they call it here – “runny tummy”.  Hopefully all of the missionaries took note of his counsel, since staying well is a big chore here with the mosquito population and the unclean food and water supply.  Staying on top of the missionaries’ health is one of the biggest concerns here in Ghana.

Speaking of health we just recently had to send a sister missionary home due to health issues.  (We referenced her in one of our letters home, a couple of weeks ago - along with a picture.)  She had only been in the mission a few weeks, but was experiencing a blood disorder.  She became very ill and spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital with the blood disorder that required several blood transfusions.  She is from Kenya and she was broken hearted that she could not finish her mission.  In contrast to this situation we had another missionary who likewise had only been here a few weeks, but he missed his friends and his good life in America and accordingly requested to return home.  He was not dissuaded in his desire to go home pre-maturely, even after parents and the mission president encouraged him to stay.  The two situations are a sharp contrast.  This sister would have given anything to have the health of the Elder and been able to serve her complete mission.

We mentioned before that we opened up two completely new cities in northern Ghana a few weeks ago.  One (Tamale) is progressing slowly, but has had 4 baptisms.  The other city – Techiman has just been opened to missionaries three or four weeks and there are 20 baptisms scheduled for next Saturday.  There were approximately 25 investigators there on the second Sunday there – only 6 or 8 members, and of course 8 missionaries and two adult couples.  The Ghanaian people are so ready for the preaching of the gospel and eager to have the plan of salvation explained to them.

We are back to weather that we experienced here in Ghana approximately a year ago – cooler temperatures and lots and lots of rain.  While we still have frequent power outages and lack of water, this time of year the outages do not last quite as long – maybe 4 to 8 hours instead of 12 hours and maybe 2 or 3 times a week instead of 4 or 5.  We look for a silver lining, wherever we can find it.Brooke may be interested to know that when the African missionaries speak Twi to us (and we cannot understand it), we respond in Spanish, to let them know how it feels to not understand what is being said.  Unfortunately our Spanish is not as good as Brooke’s.

We missed the 4th of July celebrations that we are used to in America, but it was interesting to us that their independence day was celebrated here on the 1st of July – they call it the “Republic Day”.  We guess that is when they established their independence as a republic – we think around 1960.

As mentioned in separate emails we have made a reservation at Rockin R’ Ranch in Southern Utah for a June 2014 Palmer Family Reunion.  A long ways away, but it secures us a reservation – June 2th-June 5.  In the months ahead we will do the planning.  There are tons of things available to do at this location, so finding things to do will not be a problem.

We love all of you and our prayers continue to be with each one of you.

Love Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, Mary Joyce.



Ghana Accra Temple President and his wife (President and Sister Afful) with Elder and Sister Palmer

 African landscape outside the entrance to the Ghana Accra Temple 

Picking up postal packages for the missionaries – The African man in the picture has been very helpful to us and is the one that named is recently born son “Palmer”.  He calls is new born son our “Grandson”

Elder Sagers and Elder Stentzel with two young men baptized last week

Almost every car has a religious slogan on the back window or back bumper

When you see the temple gardens you forget that you are in Ghana – absolutely unbelievable

Entry #31

The work continues to go forward here in Ghana and we continue to be amazed at the faith and devotion of these wonderful people.  The missionaries are working hard.  One of the elders today was disappointed that he and his companion only taught 6 discussions yesterday – they had 10 scheduled.  He and his companion taught and baptized a family who were a Muslim family last week and have several more baptisms scheduled for the next couple of weeks – probably a total of 10 in a 4 week period. 

A Muslim family that was baptized.  See picture below.  They changed their names from a Muslim name to a Christian name.  Since the Muslim way allows and promotes multiple wives and female relationships, it was a major change for the family, but they are so happy now they understand the eternal relationship of marriage and of the family.  We were in the Daban Group (a meeting group that is part of the Asokwa Ward) today to witness the confirmations of this family and some other confirmations.  There are only a half a dozen of the members of this group of 80 or so that have been members over a year. 

The young man that referred the Muslin family to the missionaries is one of the security guards that works at the mission home.  He took the missionary discussions while working as a security guard (He goes to school at night).  His name is Teddy. He is very polished and has made miraculous changes in his life.  He has only been a member of the church a few months, but taught the Sunday School class today and it was a first class presentation.  You may remember the picture and story we sent about him several months ago.

One of the missionaries that taught the Muslin family – Elder Sagers, lost his football scholarship when he elected to go on a mission.  The football coach was very critical of him when he left, part way through his college program, but after Elder Sagers had been on his mission for a few months he received a letter from the coach apologizing for his inappropriate treatment of Elder Sagers and offered him a new scholarship upon his return home – which is just a couple of months away.  He has had other offers as well.  The Lord is blessing him for his choice to serve him on a mission.  Elder Sagers has lost over 50 pounds since he left the football program and entered the mission field.  He said it was not fat either – it was muscle mass.  He said he is going to have to work hard to get back in shape and regain the muscle and strength. As noted in the picture below, he is still a large young man.

The activity and retention rate here is an enviable record.  I took all of the converts for 6 months in the Asokwa Ward and had the Ward Mission Leader help me check their activity in the church.  There were 40 names on the list.  Of the 40 – 37 are active and fully participate.  Three we were unable to locate, so may have moved or possibly are not active.  We are still trying to locate those 3.  It will not surprise me that they are active, but are living elsewhere.  Another branch in the mission with about 300 members– the Bibiani Branch, when ask for a list of less active members, could only think of 1 name.

Yesterday I (Elder Palmer) was chastened by the spirit.  In this area of Kumasi there has been no water for several days.  Because of the unreliability of the water supply the church installs poly tanks with water pumps for the missionaries so there is a greater likelihood that we will have water.  It works most of the time.  The other tenants in the four-plex we live in do not have a poly tank for extra water, so after several days one of the tenants came to us with their buckets asking for some water.  We provided them with water, but were a bit concerned that we would not have water for showers or washing our clothes because we were depleting our supply .  Then a little 12 year old girl from one of the other apartments – a young girl named Rebecca was coming over just as we were leaving.  She had a bucket, and we assume that she was also going to ask for water.  She lingered at the entrance to our place, so we proceeded to leave.  The truth is that we selfishly were concerned about having enough water for ourselves and really knew deep down what the young girl wanted.  I could not find sleep that night, as the words of the Savior echoed in my mind, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  There was no excuse for not postponing our departure and getting the water she apparently needed.  It was a selfish act which I would love to undo and make things right.  Hopefully a bitter lesson has been learned.

In the morning we will be traveling the Capital city of Accra to take care of mission business, do some shopping and most importantly attend a session in the temple.  It has been 4 months since we have been to Accra and attended a session at the temple, so needless to say we are looking forward to going to the temple.  The trip on the Ghanaian roads is no picnic and it is a four hour plus trip, but it is worth the sacrifice.

As always we love and appreciate you. – Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, Mary Joyce




Sister Palmer training 5 wonderful Relief Society Presidents from branches in the mission – Bibiani, Agona-Asamong, Mampong, Obasi 1 and Obasi 2.  Sister Darko is the mission counselor’s wife.   (In our office.)

The Sister Missionaries in the Asokwa Ward – Ngwenya, Zeahn, Ogbonna, Omatayo

A family recently baptized in the Asokwa Ward – Taught by Sister Ngwenya and Sister Zeahn

A picture of the missionaries and others after the baptismal service

Elders Otagba, Stenzel, Sagers and Crump at the Palmers for Monday morning breakfast – pancakes, scrambled eggs, sliced pineapple and orange juice.

We love the school children – always in their uniforms.  Here they are crossing a major street.

Empty plastic containers apparently ready to be reused or recycled.  This load isn’t too heavy.

The family mentioned above who were previously Muslims –  Elder Sager and Stenzel

Francis Appiah and his two children – The daughter was baptized last week – the father a year ago.  Like the tie?

Elders Crump and Otagba (AP’s) and Elders Sagers and Stenzel.  We love working with them.

Entry #30

It seems like the longer we are in Africa, the more the pace picks up and the greater the need to hasten the work.  This coming week promises to be no exception in our busy schedule.  We have 6 missionaries returning home (1 from the United States, 1 from Australia, 1 from New Zealand and 3 from African Nations).  We also have 12 arriving this week from the Ghana Missionary Training Center (5 from the United States, 4 from Nigeria, 1 from South Africa, 1 from Fiji and 1 from Tonga).  We always are saddened when the missionaries go home, since we have grown very close to them.  On the other hand we are thrilled and uplifted by the exuberance and dedication of the new arrivals.  As we have mentioned before, culture shock is almost immediate for the North American missionaries, as well as for missionaries from many other nations.  Some of the African nations are much better off than Ghana.  Missionaries coming from these African nations have equal or greater culture shock in their first few weeks here.

Speaking of the challenges for new missionaries we have had some unhappy situations.  One of our sister missionaries looks like she may have to return home due to illness - she has only been here 6 weeks.  Below we have a couple of hospital pictures taken when we visited this sister.  As noted in the pictures some of her fellow missionaries were in to visit her at the same time we were there.  We had to travel some distance to another hospital to get some blood for her – since she was very low on blood.  The medical care here in Ghana leaves a lot to be desired.  It actually would blow your mind if you were to witness it.  (Notice the basic hospital conditions.  No air conditioning and the fan by her wasn’t working.  It was very hot & humid in there too.  Her temperature became too high so they just told her to go take a shower to cool down.)  They don’t even provide food – we had to bring it to her.

We also had another young missionary from the United States that had a hard time coping with the conditions here in Ghana, so only a few weeks after arriving here he ask to be released.  His desire and commitment was lacking from the beginning so it made it hard for him to adjust to the conditions and the rigors of missionary life in this African nation.  Several of the missionaries, in the first few weeks of their arrival are challenged and have to make some sizeable adjustments to be equal to the challenge of the work.

Earlier today we returned from Obuasi, an African City located an hour and a half Southwest of Kumasi.  We were there for a branch conference and some training for one of the branches. (See some pictures below of some of the kids which we love to be around.)  The church members are definitely in need of training, but they are ever so eager to learn.  The road to Obuasi is so treacherous that you are taking your life in your hands when you travel there – lots and lots of pot holes all across the road and very, very deep.  We have to avoid them and the other cars and trucks who are trying to go around them too. We are always glad that we are back safe after that trip. 

It is interesting to see the growth of the church and witness the humility of these wonderful people.  We were approached several times today by leaders and members of the branch pleading for us to establish a church unit in their area so they do not have to travel so far to church and pay the cost of the transportation.  One brother today told us that his family of 7 have to travel about 40 kilometers (maybe 25 miles) to church and the cost to make the trip is about 30 cedis (15 US dollars) each week – which is a lot of money for these people that don’t make much more than that each week.  This brother told me that he had many family members and friends which would accept the missionaries and church membership if we could establish a group or branch near where he lives.  Another brother, who has only been a member for 6 weeks and was in fact going to baptize his wife today, asked  if there was a way that the church could establish a unit near where he lives.  He said he knew he could have at least 30 members of his family and friends who would be interested in accepting the missionaries.

The church wants to ensure we have the leadership and resources to support church units in each location where we establish a branch and church facility, so many of the requests for  new church units get delayed, or sometimes denied.  We have a group in a village called Bekwai, which is fairly small. There has been some reluctance to form a unit here, but the acceptance of the church by the people in this location has been phenomenal.  Last week the mission president interviewed 20 members of this group to go to the temple for the first time.  It will be at a great sacrifice for them to get to the temple – transportation, housing and meals for their days near the temple in Accra, etc.  They are undaunted in their desire to go to the temple, so even though most of them have been members of the church a little more than a year, they are determined to make the sacrifice.

Once again we send our wishes for the best for each of you.  We continually plead for the Lord’s kindest blessings to be showered upon you.  We pray for Brooke in the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  We pray for Tana and her unborn child.  We pray for all of you that you will be watched over and blessed in all of your righteous endeavors.  Words cannot express how much we love and appreciate all of you.

Love,

Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Rodney, Mary Joyce



This lady is carrying several mellons which are cut to sell.  That is a very heavy load – so heavy that she needed help to get it up onto her head.

Sister Ngwenya (S. Africa) and Sister Zeahn (Zimbabwe) and their investigators just before their baptisms which we attended.

Levi, Morrison, Senda and Doolin and Sisters Okoro, Kioko and Kotobane.  Unfortunately, Sister Kioko may have to return home because of her illness.  She really is hoping to recover so she can stay.  We hope so too.

Here is the hospital room.  There are very few conveniences or comforts.  And the service is very poor.  We are praying to stay healthy!

At a very busy intersection we passed a very ancient and well used big truck.  Notice the hood is up?  Yes, it’s stopped and they are repairing it right there.  It was there for a couple of days and then  disappeared.  It’s on the road again!  Unbelievable.  They use and reuse everything until it doesn’t work and then they rebuild it and reuse it again.

A camel!  That’s the first one we’ve seen here.  Up north in Tamale they actually have nomads go through the city with their nomad gear and saddled on their camels.

On a main street there has been a huge hole in the middle of the street at a busy intersection.  It’s a ripped up gutter.  Well, this poor tro tro driver ran right into it and just messed up his van.  We can’t believe that it hasn’t been fixed yet after months and months of being open and dangerous.  And there are very few warning markings – just have to know it’s there.

Some cute little children after our church meeting in Obuasi.  Most of the girls have short hair as required by the public schools.  Sometimes the only way you can tell between a boy or girl is the pierced ears – the earrings.  They are really cute and have so much energy.  They all love to have their picture taken.

Another little cutie.

This is Elder Obasi who returned home to Nigeria on 30 April.  He is living here now and working.  It was great to see him again.  Looks different out of his white shirt, tie and dark pants.  He was a great elder and speaks 6 different languages!