Goodbye Winneba. We will miss you.

This week, we began the transition of the Winneba Stake from the Cape Coast Mission to the Accra West Mission.  A group of missionaries from Accra arrived to begin working with our missionaries for the week before transfers in order to learn the area and meet the people.

We misunderstood how many would be coming, so it took a little "new math" in the parking lot of the Winneba Stake Center to figure out where to put everyone. 

Some of the apartments will be overcrowded for the week, but we have checked in with them regularly and everyone seems to be dealing with it in a positive way.  We will move our missionaries out on Tuesday when the rest of the Accra West missionaries arrive.

After helping with the transition of the Accra West missionaries, I went to Mankessim to spend a day with our elders in Mando.  We just started holding meetings in Mando a few months ago and now have a set of missionaries assigned specifically there.  

Elder Ripplinger and Elder Konan are the Mando elders.

We don't have an apartment in Mando yet, so the missionaries live in the Mankessim apartment and travel each day.  

Elder Kangwa and Elder Tu'Akoi eating bread and avocado.  

Elder Adams and Elder Kalanga eating banku and fish stew.

My accommodations.

Confirming an appointment during companionship study.  Elder Konan is being trained and is learning English (he is from Ivory Coast).  As a result, they do three hours of companionship study.

So we got to wave goodbye to the other missionaries as they left to proselyte.

The work in the Mankessim area is really progressing well.  The two branches are growing and we now have a congregation in Mando of about 25 per week and hope to have a new congregation in Saltpond approved soon.  

This is Elder Tu'Akoi and Elder Kangwa with a group of the Saltpond members and the leadership of the Mankessim 1st Branch.

We had a nice day in Mando.

Unplanned Service.

 A member of the Church named Jeff spent the day with us and helped with teaching and translating.

This is the Mando Group Leader and his wife.  They fed us nice rice and chicken.

This is the shelter where the Church meets now.

We just rent some plastic chairs and we are set.

Unfortunately, the Baptists meet right next door in this shelter.  They are louder than we are.  So we are looking forward to moving into our own building as soon as the renovations are completed.

This is the new building.  It will be nice when the work is done.

We taught some great people.  I'm excited to see the Church growing there.

While I was on my Area Visit, Sister Stevenson spent Tuesday and Wednesday working with some of the missionaries around Cape Coast.

She spent Tuesday in Abura with Sister Thompson and Sister Ziqubu.

In addition to teaching several investigators and visiting members, she was able to join their Missionary Coordination Meeting with the Ward Mission Leader.

On Wednesday, Sister Stevenson worked with Sister Ben and Sister Smart in Ola.

Sister Munetsi joined them for part of the day while her companion was getting her non-citizen card.

This is a typical teaching setting for us in Ghana.

Sister Stevenson said she had two nice days with "powerful" missionaries.

Friday, we trained our new trainers.  Their new missionaries come next Tuesday.

On Saturday, the mission leadership in the Cape Coast area gathered for "Transfer Planning."  I give them the new assignments and they figure out how to get them there.  They did a dessert buffet this time.

I was at the hospital with a sick missionary, but they saved me a plate for later.

Finally, Sister Stevenson took this picture of a kitten for the cat lovers in our family who consistently remind us that "cats are friends, not food."

Great Expectations...

We had a couple of big meetings this week.  We gathered the new missionaries and their trainers together to review purpose and expectations.  We had over forty missionaries participating.  We filled the board with expectations.  My favorites were "exact obedience" and "being willing."  

  

We have to stop and look at the ocean on the way home.

We also had an expanded Mission Leadership Council.  Twice a year, we invite all of the district leaders to join the Council for specialized training.  

We covered how to hold effective district meetings...

meaningful baptismal interviews...

missionary exchanges...

and general leadership principles.

The mission presidency and our wives got together on Saturday for a nice lunch and presidency meeting.  I am so grateful for their service in the mission.  

On Mondays (Preparation Day) the missionaries are able to e-mail friends and family.  They generally use public "internet cafes" to do that.  Sometimes I get messages that say, "P esident, the e is no " " on this keyboa d."  

I went out to do a baptismal interview this week and the investigator was nice enough to prepare food for me and the missionaries.

The meat in the middle is giant snail. My first.  It was good.  The crab (also my first) is eaten by just chomping everything.  I tried, but the best I could do was crunch through the legs.  The shell was too hard to bite through, so I called upon my missionary companions to help me out.  

We attended church services in Abura today.  We have six sister missionaries serving in the two Abura Wards.

Fear Not, I Am With Thee...

I was asked in a letter from a missionary parent if I had ever been in a situation where I felt fearful for our safety in Ghana.  I can honestly say that we have never been uneasy around the people (the drivers are a different matter).  Today, on the way to Nkroful, we were surrounded by a large group of youth who were dancing down the center of the road.  I'm not sure what they were celebrating at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in the middle of nowhere, but several of them were dressed in the "chicken" costumes of the holiday season.  They surrounded the car and were pounding on the hood, but it all seemed in good fun.  We drove slowly through them and continued on our way.

We kept the windows up, though.

We have had a nice week.  We didn't have a lot scheduled, so we were able to catch our breath a bit and catch up with some of the administrative things that have been a little behind.

It was a nice week for our assistants too.  One of their investigators was baptized.

Sister Stevenson and I were able to watch some new training for mission presidents and their wives from the Missionary Department.

Both of us were also asked to speak at a fireside for all of the members of the Assin Foso Stake who had been to the temple and received the Endowment.

As is his custom, the stake president, President Fokou, invited us to enjoy a meal with him prior to the meeting.

This time, we had fufu in groundnut soup with "cow meat."

Mmmmmm.

We were also invited to attend a ward activity in Cape Coast.  They let us sit at the "High Table" for the dinner.  Some of the children danced for us.  

We were very happy to see one of our oldest friends in Ghana at the activity.  She has a little fabric store in Cape Coast and we met her when we first arrived.  Just before Christmas (when I was doing my last minute gift shopping), she told us that she had attended church and met the missionaries.  It turns out, her mother is a member of the Church.  We are hoping she will continue to investigate the Gospel.  She is such a lovely person.

I went out to Abura Dunkwa to do a baptismal interview.  Afterwards, the Elders showed me the new chapel.  The branch had been meeting in a school, but just moved into our own building a few weeks ago.  It is very nice and will give the Church a real presence in the city.

Date night was a banana bread baking activity.  

And it was time to change the water filters...

Good as new.

As you already know, we drove to the far west outpost of the mission (Nkroful) on Sunday. 

Sister Stevenson left her mark on the Primary. 

I was able to interview four men to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  I also did a baptismal interview for a woman who will be baptized next weekend and called a new financial clerk for the branch.

  

As I was visiting with one of the men, he shared with me how he was introduced to the Church.  His mother rented out rooms in their home.  He had to clean out a room after a boarder had left and found a discarded copy of the Book of Mormon.  He looked at it with some curiosity and was particularly impressed that it claimed to be "another testament of Jesus Christ."  It sat on his shelf for some time until he met another man who had one of our "Restoration" pamphlets.  He saw the picture on the front and asked to see it.  On the back, he read the information on the Book of Mormon.  He decided to start reading the book to see what it was all about.  As he was reading, he happened to ask his grandfather if he had ever come across the Book of Mormon.  The grandfather said he had a copy a long time ago, but the pages were spoiled and he could not read it.  The grandfather was able to show his grandson where the Church meets and the young man walked in one day and introduced himself to the missionaries.   I really like that because I am always after the missionaries to not be stingy with the Book of Mormon.  Even if the person that receives it doesn't appreciate it, the Book finds a way into someone's heart.  

We attended the baptism of this young man.  His father performed the baptism and was one of the men who was ordained an Elder today.  It was a big day for their family.

It was Elder Peterson's birthday, but we didn't realize that until we got home and Sister Stevenson checked her list.  So, he got "Happy Birthday" sung to him over the phone like everyone else.

On the way home, we stopped in Kissi, where I interviewed two young men who are ready to serve full-time missions.  They were both very sharp and have been a big help to the Elders working there.

I used to think that my dad was the best at packing a car, but it is a whole different league here.  Welcome to the show.

And finally, to our friends in the Lake Oswego Ward, thank you for the wonderful Christmas card and your good wishes.  We love you!