New Wheels

The long awaited replacement for our old mission van arrived on Monday.  It is pretty nice.  Automatic transmission (the old one had a standard transmission that was a mystery to most of our young missionaries), captain's chairs, black paint (not yellow).

Everyone was pretty excited.

Goodbye yellow van.  It was nice knowing you. You have been through many adventures and now it is time to rest.

Monday was also the scheduled day to change the water filter.  I really only needed to change one of the three filters, but I wasn't paying attention and opened the housing for the wrong filter and ended up having to change all three.  Never been much of a handyman.

We continued our progress in interviewing missionaries this week:

MANKESSIM

SALTPOND

KISSI

MOREE

YAMORANSA

We also had our Mission Leadership Council meeting.

We began planing for our next zone conference which will emphasize improving our teaching skills.

We spent a portion of the council meeting reviewing dress and grooming standards.  Sister Stevenson took the Sister Training Leaders separately and I met with the Zone Leaders.  We want them to meet with their missionaries and review the standards with them before the end of the transfer.

We also had an interesting discussion regarding this powerful quote from the Missionary Handbook:  "A leader should never tolerate or participate in inappropriate activities."

We attended church at the Ola University Ward today.  

The sister missionaries with some of the investigators who attended church today.  These are all students at Cape Coast University.

The Primary children were practicing for their Sacrament Meeting presentation.

Date Night at Biriwa Beach.

PINEAPPLE!

Cape Coast pineapple is so sweet you can eat the core.

Sister Stevenson has had a bad influence on Ghana.

I Stand All Amazed

Interviews with the mission president always have a sweet ending.

Sister Stevenson and I set out for the Western Region on Tuesday morning and we didn't return until Saturday evening.  We met with all of the sixty-eight missionaries serving on that side of the mission. They come in groups of four to six and Sister Stevenson meets with the group while I interview each missionary.  She always brings a treat for them and sweet instruction.

SHAMA CHAPEL:

It's a tough hike to church in Shama.

TAKORADI STAKE CENTER:

SEKONDI CHAPEL:

TANOKROM CHAPEL:

MPINTSIN STAKE CENTER:

TARKWA CHAPEL:

AGONA CHAPEL:

AXIM CHAPEL:

NKROFUL CHAPEL:

As we were driving home from Nkroful late Saturday afternoon, we were able to listen to the Saturday morning session of General Conference on my cell phone while it was being broadcast from Salt Lake City. We tuned in about the time President Uchtdorf was commenting about how we sometimes become so accustomed to the benefits of technology that we no longer are in awe of the amazing things that we have at our fingertips.  (His point was that we should never let our awe or gratitude for the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ diminish.)  As I drove through Western Africa listening to General Conference on my cell phone while it was happening seven time zones away, I decided that both my appreciation for technology and for the Gospel has increased during my experience here. 

  

We watched the other sessions of Conference on Saturday night and Sunday from the Mission Home. The technology was slightly less astonishing, but the messages were awesome.  The time zone messes up our breakfast burrito tradition, but that's OK.

Date night walk along Busua Beach.