Kent and Judy: February 2014

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned into quite the affair - first you should know that Turkey and traditional American food is very hard to come by in Accra. We did find a couple of turkey's at one grocery store - they weighed about 10 pounds and cost $65.00 American Dollars. We bought two of them. We were then blessed to have a member that works for the United States Embassy offer to take us to the PX store. We bought a 20 pound butterball turkey for about $60.00 US Dollars. So Thanksgiving was rather expensive.

President and Sister Hill from the Accra West Mission offered to let us use their home for the event. Sister Curtis and I went early to help set up. In total we had about 60 couples attend. This included all of the area missionaries and the senior missionaries from the Accra West Mission and the Accra Mission. It was a wonderful day.

President & Sister Stephen Graham - President of the MTC Ghana from Provo

Elder & Sister Edward Dube - 2nd Counselor & Daughter

President Daniel Judd - President of Accra Mission with Elder Cooper - Temple Missionary

Sister Vincent, Sister Slater and Sister Smith

Sister Judd & Sister Hill - The two Mission President's wives

Sister Taylor with Brother & Sister Slater - he is over the Legal Department in Accra

Yum!! Look at those pies!

Everyone loved the American Food the Sweet Potatoes, Stuffing and Turkey, it tasted so good.

Elder & Sister Scoville, from Colorado - they live in the Bush!!! Koforidua

Elder & Sister Taylor - We love them!

A Wonderful Saturday in December

Several of us decided to attend a festival. It was over in the Volta Region. We got up early and drove for two or three hours to reach the region - only to find that the festival had been the week before. However, we loved the scenery and we found a slave castle. It made the trip worth while.

We passed a large lagoon, where there were several people fishing.

It was a very interesting Lagoon, they had made several traps to catch the fish.

This man was taking the wood and twigs to make a trap.

If you look closely, you can see the net that this man is using.

Look how low the boat is - I am sure that it must take in water!

We saw these young men just wading out in the water, which was very shallow

This is a picture of the slave castle from the beach - it was about 100 feet from the ocean.

Sister Stoker having fun!

Brother & Sister Richard & Ann Smith just before they left the area.

You can tell from this photo how run down the fort is.

When the people saw us - they came and opened the Fort so that we could go inside.

Kent getting a good look from on high!

This is the name of the fort and when it was built.

Kent and I inside the Fort.

These places are sad reminders of our past and what we did to people!

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These sails are made of cloth and held up by poles of wood - they are very inventive.

Saying Goodbye to Friends!

During the month of December we had to say goodbye to some of our friends. Brother Richard Smith and his wife Ann were from England. they worked in finance for the church and he was reassigned to the office in Frankfurt, Germany. It was sad to see them leave.

Richard & Ann Smith with their Kente Cloths

We usually have a dinner for each couple leaving - this was held at the Bamboo Fusion, one of our favorite Chinese Restaurants. The Smiths with Elder & Sister Vinson and Elder and Sister Curtis

The Finance Department rewarded them with a beautiful African Painting!

We also said good-bye to Sister Basaw-Osai, she was a single sister that served in the temple
she is from Takaradi. We became good friends.

Also leaving the first part of January - President & Sister Graham and our good Friends Elder & Sister Taylor!

We celebrated their leaving with a dinner at the El Paso Grill the only Mexican Food in Ghana
It was also New Years Eve

Christmas

Christmas is always a day of celebration. We had a very special time this year. Elder and Sister Cannon asked if they could bring the path students to the MTC to do some Christmas Caroling. It was fun to see and hear them.

Caroling in the Office at Accra Area Office

We celebrated Christmas eve by going to the Alisa Hotel for their Buffet Dinner. There were about 22 of us and the food was very good.

We had several couples that had just arrived and it was fun for them.

Everyone looked happy and enjoyed the meal!

After the dinner, several of attended a midnight Mass and the largest Catholic Cathedral in Ghana. The Bishop of the Catholic church mentioned us by name and recognized us during the Mass.

This was part of our group.

The church was decorated with a Manger Scene and Christmas Trees

They place the Baby Jesus in the Manger during the Mass - this pictures was taken before it began.

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we took dinner to the MTC, which is located in Tema to celebrate with the missionaries that were in the MTC over Christmas. It was a very fun day. We ate food, played games, sang Christmas Carols and had a White Elephant exchange. Everyone enjoyed the day.

Sisters and Elders playing one of the games!

President & Sister Graham

President & Sister Afful from the Ghana Accra Temple also came with us to the MTC

Elder & Sister Cannon

Senior Missionaries singing Away in a Manger

Visiting General Authorities

Just in case you think that we only play, eat and visit places - we have had several visiting General Authorities that have come to our area.

In November we had a visit from

Brother & Sister McConkie, Elder & Sister Fitzgerald & Brother & Sister Gibson
Brother McConkie from the Sunday School Board and Brother Porter from the Young Men's Board

These Brothers & Sisters came to do training - Brother & Sister Gibson live in Highland

The Gibsons were good friends with the Cosgraves - we had them to our house so that they could visit.

Elder & Sister Bednar and Elder & Sister Clayton

During the month of January, we were exceedingly busy preparing for the Area Review. Elder Bednar and his wife, along with Elder Clayton, one of the seven presidents of Seventy, and his wife came to the Africa West Area. They were able to visit four different countries and held 21 different meetings. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of this. They spent considerable time in Nigeria, which has the largest portion of Saints in our Area. In our area, they did the Area Review, had a member devotional, met with the missionaries, and had a Leadership meeting. They also requested to speak with all of the Mission Presidents, so we had them all come to Accra for a Mission Presidents Seminar.

Elder Bednar & Elder Clayton for the Area Review

While the Area Review was going on Sister Bednar and Sister Clayton attended our Sister Scripture Study Group

Sister Bednar told the story of how Elder Bednar was called to be an apostle. It was very touching!

I was able to get my picture taken with Sister Bednar.

At the Mission Presidents Seminar they introduced Elder & Sister Robison, the new MTC President

They also asked all of those leaving before the next Seminar to bear their testimonies - that included Kent & I

The meetings were really awesome and we learned so much from Elder Bednar.

Accra Temple 10 year Celebration

In the Month of January they also celebrated the Accra Temple 10 year Anniversary. They asked all of the stakes and districts to do a special fireside and they awarded Medallions to those members that were baptized between 1978 & 1980. We attended the Tema Stake celebration and it was really fun!