Progress

This is the new chapel at Daboase.  We expect to be able to begin worshiping there in July.  It will be a wonderful blessing for that branch.  They have met in a schoolroom for many years, sitting in children sized desks and trying to focus over the sounds of nearby churches.  It will begin a new era for the Church in that area.  

I also stopped by to check the progress of the building in Asebu.  (I was on my way to Abakrampa to interview a young woman for her full-time mission.  I am told by the branch president that she will be the first missionary to serve from that branch.  I should have taken a picture of her.  I will when I see her again for the temple recommend.)  The Asebu building should be ready in the next few weeks.  It also will eliminate meetings in a school room.

The Chapel area in the Asebu building.

The view from the building. It is a great location near a prominent junction and will increase the visibility of the Church. 

We also got word this week that leases in Saltpond and Tarkwa have been finalized for meetinghouses in each of those cities and that the building in Mando will be ready for worship services later this month.  Awesome.

This was transfer week.

Saying Goodbye in Axim.

It was a little different than normal because we had the new missionaries and the returning missionaries come to the mission home on the same day.  Airline schedules required that the three returning elders leave for Accra on Wednesday morning instead of our normal Thursday departure.  

The five new missionaries arrived first.  They come from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and South Africa.

  

They are a sweet group.  It will be fun to work with them.

Later in the afternoon, we were joined by our three elders who are completing their service.

Dinner was interesting.  We always serve fufu for the returning missionaries, so that meant the new ones had to give it a try on their first day.

Theresa said the dead chickens at the market didn't look very good, so she got some "fresh" (alive) ones.

They turned out nice.

The Adventure Begins

The new missionaries did pretty well with the fufu.

The returning missionaries finished strong!

Off to the temple and the airport at the crack of dawn on Wednesday.  Sister Stevenson and I did not get to accompany them so that we could finish up with the new missionaries before sending them out into the world.

Welcome!

I went out to Elmina to do a baptismal interview.

Every time I drive in Elmina, there is some drama.  So, now I park here and walk there.  It is a pretty walk, so I don't mind.

This is the weekend of the General Conference of the Church.  We finally have enough bandwidth to stream it live, so we have enjoyed very much joining the rest of the Church in receiving counsel from our leaders.  We have some wonderful family traditions associated with General Conference.  We aren't able to duplicate all of them here...

...but we managed the breakfast burritos!