Mission Tour - 2017

We were pleased to have Elder and Sister Stanfill join us this week for our annual tour of the mission.  Elder Stanfill is a General Authority Seventy and a member of our Africa West Area Presidency.

They stayed with us in the mission home.  We had a very nice visit and enjoyed getting to know them better.

We started out the mission tour with a meeting of the Mission Leadership Council.

In the Mission Leadership Council meeting, Elder Stanfill asked the missionaries to share some things they had seen Sister Stevenson and me do that they wanted to follow throughout their lives. The Elders and Sisters were very kind. It made us both very happy.

We held two combined zone conferences so that each of the missionaries would have an opportunity to meet and learn from Elder and Sister Stanfill.

There is always a lot of excitement when the missionaries get to see each other.  It is no wonder that part of our mission culture is, "We love each other and the people we serve."

Bomber!

Elder and Sister Davis (Area Seventy), President and Sister Coleman (Cape Coast Stake President) and President and Sister Nelson (Mission Presidency) joined us for dinner prior to a Young Single Adult devotional.

We had a very nice meeting with the YSA from the Cape Coast and Yamoransa Stakes on Wednesday evening.  They filled the chapel and enjoyed the message from Elder Stanfill. Afterwards, the Stanfills greeted each of them one by one.

On Friday morning, we said goodbye to the Stanfills, then welcomed 43 missionaries who were gathering for their "Finish Strong" training.

About half of these missionaries will be completing their service at the end of May.  The other half will finish three weeks later in June.  We had a great discussion about how they can make these last several weeks the most productive and joyous of their missions.

"...continue in the vineyard until the mouth of the Lord shall call..."

I was able to spend several hours at a hospital this week where dozens of American surgeons from several specialties were helping people who had come from all over Ghana with their health issues. The surgeons are generally LDS doctors and were here for the week with LDS World Travel-Humanitarion Expeditions at the invitation of Ghana Make a Difference.  They brought nurses and other volunteers with them and the surgeries and other hospital services were provided without cost. 

It was very emotional for me to see the great need of the people who came, most of them having suffered with their afflictions for their whole lives.  They came with great hope and gratitude because they would never have the medical resources that these men and women were offering them.  Elder and Sister Durrant spent most of the week assisting at the hospital (missing the mission tour).  The world really is a pretty great place. 

Another reason it was an awesome week:

Our Christmas package arrived!

We attended church services in Yamoransa on Sunday.  

The Elders and their investigators.

Sweet.