President And Sister Stevenson in Ghana

We are gearing up again for transfers. This was a quick cycle, only four weeks, because of the Mission President Seminar scheduled for the end of October. The next transfer won't be until December.

We called and trained 20 missionaries to be our trainers for the next group. When that group arrives, about 70 of our 200 missionaries will have been in the field for less than 12 weeks. It is nice to have that energy!

The Trainers - October 2015 Transfers

We also had our Mission Leadership Council this week. We discussed possible ways that we could use the Book of Mormon more effectively in our teaching and how to make it more available, even to those who cannot read.

We also counseled together on how we might reduce the administrative burden on our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders so that they would have more time to proselyte in their own areas and minister to the missionaries in their stewardship. We developed a good list of the administrative things that take up their time, then a smaller group met the next day to find ways to accomplish those tasks more effectively. I'm pretty excited about what we are planning. I think it will greatly improve the ability to focus on our missionary purpose for these leaders.

Mission Leadership Council - October 2015

Saturday and Sunday, Sister Stevenson and I were invited to participate in the Winneba Stake Conference. Elder Curtis, our Area President, was presiding. There was a great turnout at all of the meetings. We have about 30 missionaries serving in that stake and it was good to see each of them.

I spoke in all three sessions of the conference and Sister Stevenson spoke in the general session on Sunday. I was also able to conduct two baptismal interviews after the meetings. It was a nice conference and very well attended. It was also great to be with Elder and Sister Curtis again.

Saturday night, we joined the Cape Coast area zone leaders for dinner before they made the transfer announcements and planned the transportation of the missionaries who will change areas on Wednesday. They grilled chicken and tried to duplicate Sister Stevenson's chicken pasta salad. We brought sliced tomatoes with melted cheese and store-bought cookies (crumbs). It was a nice dinner.

I was especially impressed with the grilling skills. Chicken can be tricky.

DATE NIGHT:

Dinner at the Elmina Bay Resort.

CREATURE OF THE WEEK:

This may be the creature that keeps us up at night with his croaking!

Or, he may be the great grandson of the very first creature of the week:

Some things you just don't see every day.

This week, we welcomed three new missionaries from the MTC. They are native French speaking and have been learning English for the last six weeks.

It is usually pretty quiet around the dinner table when the missionaries from the DRC and Ivory Coast come. My French is limited to the name of a restaurant that we used to go to in Paris when I traveled there on business. Roughly translated, I can say, "The Cow on the Roof." It doesn't come in handy very often.

However, the ice was broken when our office missionaries borrowed their French - English dictionaries and started communicating.

We had a nice day together, then sent them out to meet their companions.

I took a day and drove out to Sekondi and Shama to conduct some baptismal interviews.

From Sekondi, I joined the missionaries in Shama. I had one interview in Shama and then a second interview in a little village across the river.

It is a fairly reasonable commute from the village to Shama in these "water taxis" and the members in the village use them to attend Church. However, I don't let the missionaries ride in the boats. The future lawyers have argued that because they charge a fare, these are not "personal boats" which are not allowed in the Missionary Handbook. I say they look like personal boats to me, so the missionaries have to take a 45 minute tro ride over the nearest bridge and then on a dirt road that cuts back toward Shama on the opposite side of the river. There are several members of the Church there, so it is worth the trip once a week.

It is a pretty drive.

The man we met is a school teacher and is well known throughout the village. He will be a great member of the Church.

We also brought in all of the brand new missionaries and their trainers for some additional instruction (54 missionaries). The new missionaries have been in the field about three weeks.

We had a nice lunch and let them visit a bit. Then we reviewed the importance of their work, discussed the training process and reinforced expectations for both the new missionaries and for the trainers.

Saturday and Sunday we were in Praso to reorganize the District Presidency. The former district president has started graduate school and will be gone for a year. On Saturday, I did about 15 temple recommend interviews and extended calls to the new counselors in the presidency.

We spent the evening with Elder and Sister Hanlon, where we finally (after months of anticipation) were able to try her famous southern fried chicken.

It was worth the wait.

We were also able to watch the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference (8 pm to 10 pm, our time). Last April, we were only able to hear conference over the KSL Radio website, but this time Elder Hanlon was able to stream it off of LDS.org. Since so few of the members of the Church here have access to the internet, we have to wait a month for the Church to send DVDs. Once the discs arrive, we choose a Sunday and watch it during the regular worship services. Not quite as nice as watching it on TV in your jammies.

On Sunday, I was able to release a missionary from Praso who had just completed his service in Nigeria. I was starting to get worried about him because I had expected him in Cape Coast on Wednesday, but didn't hear from him and didn't have a way to contact him. Luckily, I knew I would be near his home on the weekend.

The Praso Ghana District Presidency

Missionaries from Praso.

We arrived home from Praso with 15 minutes to shovel down a few bites of dinner and walk over the the chapel down the street where I had been asked to speak at a fireside.

After the fireside, we Skyped as many of our non-missionary children that we could (sorry we missed you Joseph and Shannon) and listened to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference.

It was a nice week.

DATE NIGHT:

Snickerdoodles!