What's Wrong With This Picture?

When I was teaching about developing a culture of obedience at the last zone conferences, I mentioned in a few of the meetings that when I was a missionary in Sweden we had a rule that you didn't put your hands in your pockets.  If a missionary forgot, his companion would simply say, "Your hands are in your pockets, Elder."  We helped each other remember to be obedient.  

I recently received this picture from the (smart-alecky) Praso District.  Very funny. 

Monday is our Preparation Day.  We typically do our grocery shopping then I read the weekly (on-line) missionary letters as they come in.  With 200 to read, it's easier to break it up throughout the day.  This week, Sister Stevenson got some grilled Talapia in the market and brought it home and we had a nice feast.  It wasn't quite finished cooking when she bought it, so she put on the final touches at home. 

We brought them home and warmed them up!

  Mmmmmm.

Grocery shopping is a bit of a process, but we have it down to a science.  First we hit the fruit stand across from the bank, then we go to the vegetable stand across from Melcom's.  We avoid Melcom's (a small department store chain) if we can because it's no fun.  Then we drive left past the crab statue to the "European Store" for canned chicken and other rare items.  Then we finish up at Andy's Trading Establishment in Bakano for all the good stuff including frozen chicken breasts, cheese and butter!  We always take the long way to town along the beach to let the waves calm us down.  Just before we get home, we stop at the Take A Rest Spot for eggs and dark chocolate.  Sister Stevenson washes the fruit, vegetables and eggs in a soap / bleach solution to kill any nasties, and we are set for the week.

This week we had our first Mission Leadership Council of 2015.  We invited all of the District Leaders to join us, so we had a big group.

We had training in fundamental leadership principles, effective district meetings, companionship exchanges and baptismal qualification interviews.  It was a nice experience and good to see these wonderful leaders together.

We had training / missionary interviews over four days in Winneba, Takoradi, Sekondi and Dunkwa-On-Offin.

  

I'm sorry we didn't get a group picture of everyone in Dunkwa.  We have eight missionaries there now and the branch is doing great.  We had almost 70 in attendance at Church yesterday.  Not bad for a congregation that only started a few months ago.  

The trip to Dunkwa is always an adventure.  We left Saturday night and stayed in Praso with Elder and Sister Hanlon.

Then we left at 5:30 a.m. to make the 9 a.m. Sacrament meeting.  The drive to Dunkwa is absolutely beautiful.  It is not as much of an adventure during the dry season because there are no significant water crossings (except the scary bridge over the Pra).

This was the first Sunday the branch met in their new building, not because the building was ready, but because there was no alternative.  So, there were a few distractions requiring our patience and flexibility:

The landlord, who is not a member of the Church, contracted to have the water well drilled on Sunday.  The hole is about 30 meters from the chapel. They said they couldn't stop drilling until they were finished or they would have to start over again, but once they hit water, the noise would be reduced.  So, we delayed the meeting for about a half hour until they hit the gusher!

The members passed the time by singing hymns above the chaos.  Eventually, it was quiet enough to start and we got through the meeting until about 15 minutes into my concluding remarks and they fired up the drill again.  That was my signal to conclude and move on!

No water, no power, no paint...

...and very limited facilities.  Only a few more weeks and all will be completed and this will be a wonderful, peaceful place to worship in a city that will be a center of strength for the Church and the members.  Luckily, the Ghanaian people are very patient.

Each week, I have the opportunity to interview a few of the people preparing for baptism.  Most of these interviews are done by the missionary leadership, but I enjoy doing some each week.  This sister was baptized yesterday.  I always ask them how they came to find the Church.

She said she has a friend who is a member of the Church and whom she has always admired.  From time to time they have talked about faith and one Sunday morning, she decided to just go to the church and see for herself.  She arrived at about 8 a.m., but meetings didn't start until 9.  There were a few leaders there who welcomed her and invited her to wait for the meetings to begin.  As she sat in the chapel and people started arriving, one after one the members came to her and introduced themselves and welcomed her.  Then the bishop introduced himself and invited her to his office.  He told her she was very welcome and hoped she would meet with the missionaries to learn the doctrines of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  She agreed and over the course of four weeks, came to her own knowledge of the truth.  She was very excited and will be a strong member. 

DATE NIGHT:

Tropical fruit smoothies, Harry Potter and Skyping with Evans...

CREATURES AND TREE OF THE WEEK:

Palm Tree laden with Weaver nests (Driving to Dunkwa in the early morning mist).

Lost in the Bush...

It's always a little nice to have the holidays over and get back to a normal schedule, but I couldn't let it go without showing off the very long shirt (I don't know what they are called) that I received.  Sister Stevenson hired a tailor to make it for me.  I have been commenting when I see the men wear them that they look so comfortable, so she got me one.  I will never have the guts to wear it outside, but it is fun to sleep in!

Here is what I got for her:

Last week, I dropped in on the Yamoransa District Meeting.  After the meeting, they wanted to take pictures in their matching ties (the Zone Leaders gave them as Christmas gifts) before transfers scattered them.  

They let me be an honorary member.








This was transfer week.  We received three new sister missionaries and one elder.

We had a nice Talapia Stew dinner with them on Tuesday evening.

I had three Assistants for the day.  Elder Omokoh is being transferred to Swedru and Elder Gqweta will be the new Assistant.  You say Gqweta by clicking your tongue off the roof of your mouth and saying "GWETA".  I can't do it yet, but he is being patient.

We will get two more native French speaking elders on the 20th who are now finishing their MTC training in English.

On Wednesday, we sent the new missionaries out to their first areas and welcomed our seven returning missionaries to the mission home.  

I had received a screening copy of "Meet The Mormons" earlier in the week from the Missionary Department, so we watched that before the fufu feast.

On the way to the Temple on Thursday morning, we stopped in Winneba for a stretch and got a salute from the Winneba District.  (They always seem to know when we are coming.)

We spent an enjoyable day in the Temple with these wonderful leaders and then had to say our goodbyes.

Coming home from Accra turned out to be more of an adventure than we planned.  Just as we were entering the mission boundary, but still about two hours from home, the highway was blocked and all traffic was at a stand-still.  At first we thought is was some kind of trucker protest because we could only see parked trucks in the lane for as far as the eye could see.  The cars behind us started to come around, so we did what you do here and went with the flow.  When we got as far as we could go, a police officer directed us onto a dirt road leading into the bush.  We followed other equally lost souls around in the dark for a while until everything came to a halt as cars were trying to go both directions on what was little more than a goat path.  The villagers were doing their best to untangle everyone and after a while we were moving again, but in the direction of Accra.

So we made a u-turn and before we knew it we were all alone in the middle of nowhere on jeep-track roads.  Totally dark.  Amazingly, our Google Maps still had a fix on us and even had the trail we were on.  (I am amazed at how much the Google Maps app has improved just since we got here.  We couldn't get it to navigate within Cape Coast a few months ago.  Now we get help on goat paths!  It's still not perfect, but it has saved my bacon a few times.)

After about two hours of wandering, we made our way back to the highway on the other side of whatever it was.  (A police officer at one of the checkpoints told us it was an overturned tanker, but that is doubtful based on our other drivers' experience.)  At first we were the only ones on the highway, but after a few minutes, cars and trucks were zooming past us again, as usual.  Other mission drivers that came through later that night and the next day said there was no indication that anything unusual had happened on that stretch of road.  So, we might have been better off just parking behind the other trucks and waiting -- but what is the fun of that?

With a new transfer cycle, the interviewing of all the missionaries begins.  We started with the Cape Coast District on Friday.  We are having the missionaries in the three zones nearest the Mission Home come to us for interviews.  It's a treat for them (air conditioning and food) and convenient for us.

 While I am interviewing, the District holds its weekly meeting. Training is given by the District Leader, the Assistants and Sister Stevenson.  This time, Sister Stevenson is focusing on health and safety.  We have discovered that the missionaries are not changing their water filters as scheduled.  So she had Elder Hackmeister and Elder Odongo demonstrate.  It was fun.

Sister Stevenson cleans her plate.  Before you get too impressed, the head was not included with the meal.

We've been having trouble with the battery on our car, so I had to drive the "yellow bomber" this weekend.  Really cramps my style.

On Sunday, we drove to Daboase for church services.  It is one of my mission branches.  They currently meet in a school, but, hopefully, we will begin work on a new chapel there this year.

This is the restroom for the school / church.  It has a peaceful view as long as you don't think about the fact that everybody knows what you are doing in there.

Elder Cardon and Elder Okehi and Sister Julander were able to teach a discussion to an investigator after the services.

Sister Stevenson entertains her posse while Elder Julander and I were in a meeting.

CREATURE OF THE WEEK:

This beautiful Kingfisher has been visiting our backyard for the last few days.

TREE OF THE WEEK: