Primary, Dinner Guests, and PEF

On Sunday, November 14th, 2010, the Jamestown Branch Primary conducted the Sacrament Meeting Program. They did an excellent job of sitting reverently, speaking out clearly, and singing their hearts out. There was no music accompaniment but sweet, clear voices that you could tell had practiced with the music. The young girl on the left of the front bench stood and conducted each song with adult-like ease. We took this quick shot before the meeting began so you could see arms folded and children ready to perform. They were serious, funny, and right in character with children all over the world. Who doesn't love to see their children and grandchildren shine? Their testimonies and messages were felt by the Spirit which they shared.

The young couple below (Jacob and Kalli Hiller) have been attending the Jamestown Branch for a couple of months. In Relief Society I was impressed to ask Kalli if they would like to come to lunch. "That would be great," she said, and so we were able to hear a little of their story and why they were in Ghana. They call themselves 'nomadic entrepreneurs' and have an online business so they can work anyplace that has internet connections. They spend about two months in one place and then move on to 'see the world.' After lunch we offered to take them home because they were in a hostel by the beach in the Jamestown area which we wanted to see up close. They showed us where they had lived for two months and their beach front view was beautiful but their accommodations were right next to poverty row. They have a fascinating blog and she has documented their stay in Ghana which is a different perspective than we are having. (jacobandkalli.blogspot.com) They left on Wednesday and when I checked to see their last post--lo and behold, they posted two of the same photos we have posted. A few hours of conversation and a forever documented memory.

I guess you have to have a photo by the Gulf of Guinea if you have the opportunity to do so.

Here we are!

The next photos are of Gertrude Annan-Simons a PEF graduate, wife, mother and businesswoman. Elder Brown is creating an information pamphlet about PEF to pass out to the church units in Ghana. We felt a success story should be included and Gertrude was chosen. She is a PEF graduate who is paying back her loan from the business she started using the skills she learned in school. She makes fruit containers and takes orders each day to send to the area office and other locations. She also decorates and caters parties and weddings.

The Annan-Simons family: Samuel holding William, Andrew, and Gertrude. Samuel works in the area office in the finance department and is bishop of the Dansoman Ward. They are examples of the church leadership in Ghana.

We approach the Thanksgiving season with grateful hearts for all that we have been blessed to experience serving as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We give thanks each day for our Heavenly Father's tender mercies to His children everywhere.

Visiting the Volta Region

This blog is actually a preface to the video of feeding the monkeys. We spent a few days seeing some of the sites in the Volta Region. The playground where we are standing is the entrance to where the river boat trip we took on the Volta River begins. This trip was actually the third time we had been on this river tour but the other three couples we were traveling with had never been before. The boat in the foreground was about the size of the boat we took on this trip. It was a little scary; especially when it started pouring rain. We got very wet but what an adventure!

Elder Brown enjoys the opportunity of taking pictures with the school children that were across the road from the monkey sanctuary. The children love seeing themselves on the camera screen and are always ready to pose for the obrunis.

Signs are always good to document where you have visited. At least you know you have arrived at the right place when you see the billboard.

This monkey was about the largest one of the bunch we saw. He appeared to be their protector and though he allowed them to eat from our hands, he wouldn't do so himself. Visiting this sanctuary was our first up-close experience with the wildlife of Ghana.

The following video of me feeding the monkeys was a fun experience. I was afraid that they would claw as they landed or get so rambunctious getting at the bananas that they would bite but they were very gentle and focused on getting their banana treat. The guide kept saying, "Don't panic, stay calm, they won't hurt you." It was good advice and we had a fun day.

All African Service Day - 21 August, 2010

*Unless Kassie can rearrange this five-photo blog post you will have to start at the end and end at the beginning.

Part of our group was Sister and Elder Ounleu and their daughter. He is an area seventy from Ivory Coast and works as the West Africa Area S & I (Seminary and Institute) director in the area office. He speaks French and English and is helping to set up the PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) in his home country.

Our group consisted of about 50 people and we attracted quite a bit of attention on the journey. With many helping hands the cleanup was finished and loaded onto the garbage truck about two hours later.

'It's just around the corner' from the church (they say) and a 30 minute walk later we arrived at our appointed destination, the Osu Market.

Here I am with a handmade broom and my garbage bag ready to go to work.

This is the beginning of our service day as we gathered at the Christianborg Ward, donned our yellow vests and stylish yellow gloves, and then waited for an hour for everyone to arrive on African time.

A Potpourri of Pictures

We know that a picture is worth a thousand words so this is an experiment of telling a story like it is--or appears to be.

The signs that guide us to our Sunday destinations.

Elder and Sister Bevan with us on our first trip to the Ghana MTC . We helped the missionaries fill out family pedigree charts so they could do ordinances in the temple for their own families.

Beautiful bougainvillea vines adorn the sides of the roads. Too bad they don't hide the potholes.

Vultures roosting on dead tree branches outside our apartment window. They soar around like kites and are fascinating to watch.

PEF students in the Dansoman Ward with their Bishop on the left. They are all current with their loan payments--they should get a star sticker or something.

This beautiful creation is the product of a cake decorating class. We felt honored to be its recipient because we allowed Diana to help us call PEF students while she was interning in the area office. That's the extra mile of volunteerism.

The cake as it was presented with a sweet note. After taking several photos of the artwork I was able to cut into it and we shared it with everyone on our floor which made it all the sweeter.

We are in the Nungua 1st Ward's bishop's office meeting with PEF students. It's what we do every Sunday in some ward or branch in Ghana.

That's all folks................til next time!

A New Discovery

What would you think if you saw these at the market? I was curious enough to ask and thought you would like a demonstration of what I learned. Enjoy the video.

Lechee Fruit

From the Homefront

Spring is officially here because the calendar says so . . . Mother Nature is not yet convinced. None-the-less the brothers came down to the Gunnison house to do the required projects so the yard would be spring ready. PLUS because this happened . . .

The boys had to do a little re-landscaping, by moving the rain gutter drain away from the house so it wouldn't leak into that room anymore. The boys were up at the crack of dawn to start pounding away the cement piece that had to go . . . (and because I got up at the crack of 11 - I didn't get pictures of what I'm sure were impressive skills with the sledge hammer. I can sleep through anything :))

Sprinklers were set (a few repaired . . . oops!) The bees were watered (yummy sugar water) and the lawns mowed.

Done. You cannot even tell where they dug up the lawn.

Grandma couldn't be more pleased with the group that she had at her beck and call. She was thrilled with the progress made, and was so excited to finally have her lawn mowed! She made lunch for the whole crew (I just thought that Laura/Andree were so cute)

(we attempted to get a picture of grandma cooking, but we didn't want to be disinherited)

2nd Trip to Kumasi

Our first trip to Kumasi was when we had been in Africa only a couple of weeks. We had an excellent Ghanaian driver and tour guide in Bishop Clarence Kofi; this time, however, we were driving. On the way to Kumasi we followed the Mission President who had taken the Temple President and Matron with him. We stuck pretty close and Elder Brown did a great job of driving like the Ghanaians. On the way home we were on our own--could we get to Accra safely? was the big question. As a distraction, I, as the 'nagivator' decided to keep a tally of all the villages between Kumasi and Accra. We discovered why the 260 km (156 mi) takes 4-6 hours driving time. There are 66 villages with speed bumps and 30 mph speed limit signs along the way; to say nothing of the random road construction and other traffic delays. Of course, Sunday is a light traffic day and there are a couple of short stretches where you can actually drive about 60 mph. Leaving and entering Accra are the biggest challenges because of the road construction. It took an hour for us to arrive at the temple complex once we had reached the outskirts of Accra. The village names are posted on our blog -- more for my travel documentary than that I think it will be an interesting adventure for you. Hopefully, it will be for some. 

1. Kumasi--spent the night at the Golden Tulip|Apr 10, 2010
2. Oduom
3. Besease
4. Manhyia
5. New Ampabame
6. Boankra
7. Hwereso
8. Kubease
9. Adamwomanse
10. Duampongo
11. New Koforidua
12. Nobewam
13. EjisuJuaben
14. Ohene Kuwantra
15. Konongo Odumasi
16. Konongo--where district meetings were held
17. Yawkwei
18. Juaso
19. Atwidie
20. Asankare
21. Breku
22. Dadieso
23. Kwahu Fodoa
24. Adansua
25. Kwahuttwidiem
26. Awenade
27. Nkawkaw
28. Ofromanse
29. Amanfrom
30. Nkawanda
31. Abe___
32. Jejeti Junction
33. Asuoso
34. New Jejeti
35. Sekyere
36. Enyrisi
37. Anyinam
38. Kabeng
39. Asamanga Tamfoe
40. Atiwa
41. Osino
42. Asiakwia
43. Nsutam Linda Dor (halfway stop timewise)
44. Aboabo -- good restrooms
45. Awtemawha
46. Akoko
47. Apedwa--Junction where good road ends
48. Obretema--road construction begins
49. Suhum
50. Okorase
51. Mankrong
52. Asuboe
53. Kyekyewere
54. Teachermante
55. Bethsada
56. Ntaoso
57. Adougyiri
58. Nsawam
59. Doboro -- toll booth
60. Hebron
61. Medie
62. Kutunse
63. Pobi Asaawa
64. Agbon #1
65. Pokuase
66. Sonnidom
67. Achimoto
68. Accra

Be it known that these names are not on any map I have seen; just road signs entering the village as a caution that there will be speed bumps (or tables, in some cases)

Secret Sisters' Scripture Study

This is one of the special events that occurs on Monday morning at 10 am in the Area Presidency's board room. The brethren tease us about it being a 'secret' sister meeting but it's just good to study and discuss the scriptures as women. We have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year and will soon be finished. I will list the mission assignments by the names listed below so you get an idea of another phase of my missionary experience.

SISTER SCRIPTURE STUDY PHOTO ID

Members listed starting in the front and then clockwise:

Bonnie Smith -- Mission President's wife

Mikayla Clarkson (w/baby Corbin)-- Husband works for US embassy

.

Pam Eppel--DTA's wife (Director of Temporal Affairs)
.

Anita Thompson -- Legal counsel's wife

Marilyn Hale--Mission office missionary

Sister Uduma--Temple missionary from Nigeria

Kathy Brown--Welfare missionary (PEF)

Delores Dickson--Area Pres. 2nd Counselor's wife

Diane Golden-- Area Pres. 1st Counselor's wife

Gaye Briellatt--Temple matron

Pat Bevan--Family History missionary

Debbie Cardon--Area President's wife

Linda Petersen--Assistant Executive Secretary

LaDawn Empey--Temple Pres 1st Coun's wife

Joyce Wall--Temple missionary

Marsha Maughan--Medical Missionary's wife

Jill Johnson--our PEF trainer and had many other mission assignments

Absent: Jo Bingham--Public Affairs missionary

Janet Andam--Temple Pres. 2nd Coun's wife

Kathy Froerer--Africa West MTC Pres.'s wife

The Fabric of Africa

We have been fascinated with the different fabrics worn by the African people. They are bright, artistic, and the majority are hand dyed or woven as shown below in Elder Brown's photo post. We've taken a lot of pictures of the women in their dresses because they are all so unique. The cloth featured here is Kente cloth with this description taken from a book by the man, Ahiagble Bob Dennis, whose factory we visited. "Kente cloth is a traditional Ghanaian textile produced by Ewe and Ashanti weavers. It is worn on special occasions by both men and women to display the wearer's social status, wealth and dignity. Bright colours, elaborate weft designs and intricate borders distinguish kente from other narrow loom textiles produced in West Africa." Mr. Dennis is a master weaver and learned the trade from his father. His fascination with weaving began at a young age and he has learned that, just as in life, one thread is weak, while threads woven together are strong. Sounds like a pretty good philosophy; many things can be learned about life while we do our daily tasks. As the Sr. Missionary Couples leave Ghana, they are given a Kente banner with their name, mission, and date of service woven into the cloth. It is a treasured keepsake.

Kente Cloth

Rex displaying bright Kente cloth, hand woven in strips and sewn together

Bright Kente cloth ready to be sold

More Kente Cloth

Weaving Loom

Worker weaving Kente Cloth, note narrow strips that are later sown together, a lot of work is done with the feet to move the loom as the bobbin is moved back and forth

on Hiatus

There has been a lull in the African Adventure Blogging World, so I felt as though an explaination was required. This is an email mom sent about 2 weeks ago . . .

 This is to inform you that I am being treated for malaria. Yesterday after church, I started feeling nauseous and had a headache. By evening I had the chills and a 'runny tummy'; classic symptoms of malaria. They have a medicine that I started, then threw up but after taking the second dose, I feel much better. It's like a bad flu so if the medicine works, it is malaria. I'm here to report that all complaints are much improved after sleeping the day away. I caught it early enough that I'm hopeful there will be no lasting side effects. When Rex told our boss, Daniel Yirenya-Tawiah, why I wasn't at work, he said, "Welcome to Africa". It is fairly common among the African people but some can have very bad effects because they don't have or can't afford the medicine to combat the disease. I remember that my dad had malaria while serving in Italy or north Africa but it must have been pretty severe because the whites of his eyes would be yellow whenever he was fighting an infection. The quinine that he took wasn't as effective as the antibiotics are today.

Everything is great now, and mom is feeling much better . . . perhaps we'll get an update from them soon :)

Cattle Farm Video

Cattle Farm

Visit to the cattle farm

The fellow on the left owns the cattle, he is a vet trained in Russia, next to him is the manager, an Ethiopian, You see us in the picture, Sister Bevan is on the right, the Bevans arranged the trip

Holidays & Trips

As we walk into the area office each morning, this picture by Greg Olsen greets us and reminds us that we are laboring in the Lord's vineyard among His children on the African continent. We know that learning about their culture helps us to love and serve them better. Our experiences traveling around Ghana broaden our view and appreciation of the people and their traditions.

The following photos are documenting a few of our holiday activities:

The Christmas tree in our apartment livened up the wall.

Sisters Jorgensen, Brown, Bingham, and Breillatt helping to serve a Christmas dinner to the young Elder and Sister Missionaries of the Accra Ghana Mission.

It takes a lot of food to feed 150 missionaries; there was a mix of Ghanaian and American food to please every palate.

This group photo just gives you an idea of how many missionaries are in the Ghana Accra Mission. I hope someone got closer than we did.

There was no mistletoe so we just stood in front of the Christmas tree at President and Sister Cardon's home. We had our Family Home Evening there the Monday before Christmas.

We had a Christmas eve party in the ancillary housing where we live and then a Christmas brunch at the mission home on Christmas day. We took lots of pictures of the events but couldn't choose which ones to add so we just decided to put President Smith's African gray parrot on display. He has taught him some missionary phrases. The parrot says, 'The Book of Mormon is true.' and 'Will you go to church?'

The day after Christmas we took a trip a couple of hours northeast of Accra to see the Volta Dam which backs up the Volta River to create Lake Volta, the largest man-made reservoir in the world. On the way we passed the Shai Hills Reserve, and though we didn't go in, the baboons were on the roadside so we could take their pictures. We decided we need a camera with more zoom capacity than 3x so we can get closer pictures without getting any closer.

The trip included a boat ride on the Volta River. The 'Sinchee Scenic Boat Ride' is a popular tourist site that has a rest area with picnic huts (above), a playground, and the boat harbor or should I say platform (below).

There were four couples that were on this excursion--Brown, Empey, Stubbs, and Wall. This is our touring craft and though I look like I'm the bravest, we are waiting for the young boatman to invite us aboard. While we are waiting for our husbands, a frog in the shallow water has our attention.

We are off! This is an island on the Volta River that we will circle around to sites beyond.

(We tried adding a video clip of a native canoeing from this island to the mainland. It is at the end of this post because we aren't sure how to mesh the video and photo images together.)

This arch bridge over the Volta River was built by the Italians in 1956. It is the main road to Ho and makes an awesome reflection in the water.

These huts along the riverbank had a lot of activity going on. It was bath day and many were taking the opportunity to clean up in the river.

We are back at the Sinchee Park and these children are anxious to see the strange white people getting off the boat. They also love to see their images on the camera viewer.

We finally arrive at the Volta dam. This earthen dam was built by the Italians as was the bridge.

As the Volta Reservoir is channeled to pass through six generators, this creates the power for most of Ghana. This is a bird's eye view of the power plant from the top of the dam.

It was a hot tour of the dam and so we are ready to enjoy our lunch in this air-conditioned hotel. Christmas decorations are still up and there is a live band to entertain us with Christmas songs (with an African beat) while we make our choices from the buffet.

Elder Brown took this photo of the dam from the patio of the hotel where we ate lunch.

Our last stop on our way home was at the Cedi Bead Factory. It was a return trip for a few of us but those who had not been there enjoyed the bead making process. These beads are the most expensive and are displayed in a glass case.

The owner, named Cedi, and his family live on the premises and they were preparing their fufu and ground nut soup for the evening meal. This is our first experience of actually watching the fufu-making process. It's rather long but we hope you find it as interesting as we did.

The video below is of the man canoeing across the Volta River.

This last video clip was at the missionary Christmas party program. It was supposed to be before the group picture of missionaries. We are learning that we need to be more frequent bloggers if we want to share all of our adventures. We visited a cattle farm (we'd say ranch) during the holidays but that will have to be on another post. We will end by wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. I'm sure 2010 will be a continuing adventure. May you all be blessed throughout the year. Love Elder and Sister Brown