Life in Ghana

Life has been very busy for the past three weeks.  We have had many visitors from the church here in Ghana and we have moved again and we have been surprised at how fast the month has gone by.  I am hoping that this blog will bring you up to date on our activities.

We had a Doctor here from Alpine, Utah named David Scott.  They were asked to transfer to Burundi and so we have had a new doctor arrive.  We went to dinner with the Scott's and some of their friends to say goodbye.

This is the Sister Scripture Study Group, we meet each Monday morning at 10:00
We take turn teaching the lesson, this year we are doing the Old Testament.

Every Monday Morning the Sisters meet for a scripture study class
this is Sister Scott and Sister Sitati - wishing her goodbye!

Kent telling them a story before he presented them with their Kente Cloths
Every missionary is presented with a Kente Cloth before they leave the mission.
These are woven here in Ghana and considered important

The Kente Cloths have your name, the name of the Mission and the time you served.

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In Tema, which is about 35 Kilometers from Accra is the the Missionary Training Center
Kent and I went to church there and had dinner with the Missionaries

Above is President and Sister Stephen Graham.  They live in Provo and have worked at the MTC in Provo for many years.  We knew them when we served at the MTC - they were extremely gracious.  We had a wonderful lunch with them and the missionaries. 

Kent in front of the MTC - it is a wonderful facility.  However, they are building a new one on the
grounds of the temple.  They need a larger MTC because of the increase of missionaries.
They will also be teaching French.  Many of the missionaries are not endowed when they come to the MTC
so they have to plan a day to come to Accra so the missionaries can take out their endowments.

The people in Ghana are extremely religious.  On Sundays they put on their best clothes and go to church.  Many of the stores are closed and people respect the sabbath.  As you drive down the street, you can't help to notice the sayings on the back of the Tro-Tro's and the taxi's.

When the new doctor arrived, Kent and I picked them up from the airport and got them settled in their new apartment.  On the following Sunday, we picked them up for Church.  The ward we attended was celebrating the Relief Society Birthday.  They had the Relief Society President speak and they had a Women's choir.  They also asked all the Relief Society Sisters in attendance to sing.  One of the things that I noticed was that most of the were wearing white.  The explained that when you wear white, it means that you are happy.

They love to Sing - they put us to shame.

Check out the fabric that her dress is made from

After church they asked if we would take our picture with some of them.  The other white girl was from Holland, she spoke perfect English and was doing an internship at one of the hospitals here.

During the week, we had a visit from Matt Heiss and Scott Christensen.  They are from the History Department of the church and they are over Africa.  Since I write the area history for this area, I had some meetings with them.

Scott Christensen, Brother Sono-Koree and Matt Heiss ( I don't know the other ones name)

I though I would include a few pictures of the awesome trees and flowers that we see here in Ghana.

Amid all of the brown dirt, there are some really very beautiful flowers.

Every Monday Morning we have an employee devotional.  As we were sitting waiting for the devotional to begin, who walked in, but our friend and neighbor Paul Hansen.  He was visiting for the Church.  We loved seeing him.  We had a wonderful dinner with him at the Movenpick Hotel and we took some pictures in front of the temple.

This little girl is named Aba, she is seven years old and would love to have a pen-pal if any of you would
like to write to her.  She is the daughter of Awo.  Her mother is below.  We work with her.

This is Awo - we work quite closely with her when we are getting apartments ready for a new couple.

Pictures of the Apartment at Maxwell Court:   I decided you would like to see where we have been living.

This is what our building looked like.  We would drive through a gate to court.

This was the door that led to or apartment.

This was across the street, just outside our gate - it is a Nursery - it great flowers.

There was also two schools on the street.  They had great paintings on the walls.

This was our gate keeper - each time came home or left - he would open and close the gate.

This was looking down the street - check out how narrow it is.  People were always sitting outside.

This was the narrow way that led to the gate - I think the gate keeper slept inside the little place with the chair!!

Oh!  What a surprise we had - President Dickson called us into his office and asked if we would like to move into the new Condo that was just finished for the Presidency.  Now who could turn down an offer like that??   The condo has six apartments in it.  There are five large ones and one small one that was built for visiting authorities.  We got the small one, but it is awesome - clean!!!  Bright!!! and full of conveniences.

This is the outside of the building - it is just in back and to the side of the Temple complex - so we can
go through a back gate and walk to work.

This is the front door. - You should see the locks and security on the doors.
You turn and knob and about five locks secure the door.

This is the living room - we have not hung any pictures yet.  We used furniture that was left
from the Area President.  Their Condo's are not quite as large as the homes they were living in.

A very nice dining area and chairs that are actually comfortable to sit on.

This kitchen has that wonderful gas and electric stove, a dishwasher and a full size refrigerator and
a water filter and hot water, so you don't have to bleach your dishes.

The King Size Bed with a real mattress -- amazing what you miss, when you don't have it anymore.  It needs a quilt!

The bedroom has a dresser with a plug for a hair dryer and curling iron - real luxury.

Real built in closets!

This bathroom has both a shower and and bath tub.

The apartment also has a very nice study with a hook-up for two computers.  Two large windows & light.

At the other end of the room is a bookshelf  - it is lovely.

The Building has a gym - we haven't really exercised since we left.

Looking out of our window, we see the gate house or security that keeps the gate.

We also look onto the pool.  We went swimming before work today and it was awesome.
How lucky we feel.   I also have  a full size freezer.

Sister Dunn gave us this original Oil painting to hang.  I really loved it.  When everything is
finished, it will really be nice.  How blessed we feel.

We want to wish everyone a very Happy Easter - we have a four-day holiday here.  They go to church Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then have fun on Monday.  We hope you do the same.