Africa West Area Mission

This is my plarn (crocheted yarn made from plastic bags) sleeping mat. The Muslim folks at home asked us to make them for the homeless. So I brought my large size 'P' crochet hook from Walmart to use on this project. I think I showed this mat in the previous blog post. I gave it to the folks from Jamestown who bring the orphan children to the NGO library. I figured they could fit a few little ones on the mat. It would be to difficult for a homeless person to tote it around since they never stay in one place. The dirt and rain can be shaken off this and I'd rather give it to the needy children. This has taken thousands of specially cut plastic grocery bags that hook together and then double crochet into any size. I gather the bags from my neighbors. The yellow ones are from a certain store and very sturdy.  I ran out of them along the white strip.

We live within the Accra, Ghana mission boundaries. A group of senior sisters were asked to pull together a farewell breakfast for about 25 missionaries that were going home after their mission service. As you can see, many are American elders and three African sisters. We had an assembly line to make breakfast burritos and good old American pancakes

Below Elaine Youngberg, 3 sister missionaries, me and Jerilee Hymas. It was fun to visit with the missionaries and feel their excitement to go home that evening. I just hope they all passed their Covid test later that  morning. Sadly another missionary didn't pass the test the previous week and had to quarantine for 10 days.

This fellow was right next to us at a red light. Broken down cars are such a nuisance in traffic. There are no car emissions nor does anyone keep their cars in good repair. You just keep going until a bald tire blows or the car won't run. Then you block traffic while you try to fix things. The tro-tros are especially in bad shape and always slowing the traffic.

If you don't have money for barbed wire along the top of your wall, you cement broken glass bottles as a deterrent to trespassers.

Just a fun picture of ward members and Steve relaxing on the steps to the chapel after church.

This is 10-year-old Adam. He is part of Steve's Sunday class to teach children how lead music. He always sits with us and he leaned over to say he wanted to conduct the music in church. We quickly asked the Bishop and he agreed. Adam was so excited and did a great job. Two of the 14-year-old young men in the keyboard class play most of the songs we sing in sacrament meeting. 

A group of us toured the new local mosque after it's 'installment' recently. Maybe that's like a dedication. It was built by the country of Turkey. The inside is open and covered with a lovely carpet to be used for prayers. Only the men pray on the ground floor, the women go up in the balcony. The ceilings and walls are painted, not ceramic. The windows were all nice stained glass.

You take off your shoes before going in to pray.

Of course the women wore scarves.

On Saturday we went to a wedding at the church. I played all the music on the organ. Weddings are very interesting. First you have a wedding in your home with traditional tribal customs. Then you are married in the Church (the Stake President officiated) and then you can be sealed in the Temple. Ghana does not legally recognize a temple sealing, thus the church wedding. Below is the official signing of the paperwork. The parents are dressed in traditional colors and robes of their tribe. The 'Bride Price' is still a very strong tradition. The bride's father gives a list of things he wants for the price of his daughter. Another young man was telling us that list might include cows, goats, chickens, wedding clothing for the bride's parents, as below, refreshments, decorations, etc. It seems the groom pays for most everything. The boys knows from a very early age to save for the 'bride price'. The couple can go ahead and get married but all the promised items must still be bought and paid for.

If the grass at the side of the road gets too long, just call in a herd of goats.

This local power linesman just climbed up the electric pole with his bare feet. Where's a cherry picker when you need it?

This is Sylvanus, the West Africa area head of security. He gave a family home evening on driving safety for us seniors. It was most interesting. Most every time a policeman stops you (luckily we have not been stopped) he will demand money, which is illegal. Most missionaries have been paying it just to get on their way. He said never, never, never pay the bribe and don't call it a bribe. Stay very calm and offer them something from you car and they will likely let you go. They stop you because you are the 'rich, white people.' If you have a fender bender just drive on because no one has insurance. Some pedestrians run into your car so they can claim you hit them. If someone is hurt in an accident put them in a taxi or take them in your car to the hospital. There are no ambulance services to call. If you are ever in a traffic predicament, call this fellow and he will clear things up. 

The young children like to pile in our car after church. They all take conducting lessons from Steve. Of course we can't drive them anywhere. They like to turn the electric windows down and then back up to cool the car with AC. After Steve backs out of the parking spot they all climb out. I bet most children have never been in a car, nor felt AC. They all walk to church.

We went to the Accra Botanical garden. Lots of different trees and birds. The canopy walk was the best part. There were four of these swinging bridges above the trees, and a lake with canoes to paddle. Nearby was a Kentucky Fried Chicken where we enjoyed lunch afterwards. 

This is a playground attached to the temple housing where out of town temple patrons can stay while going through the temple with their families.

Our electricity is 240 volt. All our appliances and electronics devices have to conform with that. So anything from home has to be converted, which is a pain with everything from our electric toothbrushes to phones, computers, etc. The wall plugs have to be turned on and off before you can use them and they are all three-pronged.

At church we had our primary singing program. These are the young children ages 3-11 who are taught the Gospel. One song was led by the young man on the front row with the tie.

Tidbits:

In our ward there is a man with the first name of Borngreat. I love the way they give names of characteristics. Another name I saw recently is Endurance.

Within a 48 hour period, Steve had 4 African missionaries who lost mothers and 1 lost a sister. These are so sad because often their mothers are their only living parent. The one missionary who lost his sister had already lost both parents. Steve does a lot of grief counselling. The life expectancy for men in Africa is 57. 

On our morning walk one day, Steve and Nick (75 years old) helped to push a tro-tro that had broken down. 75 is only a number, all the senior missionaries have plenty of energy and get-up-and-go.

Two days in a row I got to give loaves of bread away to the needy and probably homeless. I don't share this to boast but only to remember the sweet feeling of service. I was on my way to the local store to buy a loaf of French bread for dinner and saw this mama and baby on the side of the road with the baby asleep on the dirt. So I bought an extra loaf hoping she might still be there. The baby was still asleep and she was so grateful. She didn't speak English but kept saying thank you with a big smile. The very next day a toothless woman was sitting on the steps of another store so I went in and bought her a loaf of bread also.

Occasionally on a Saturday afternoon we will find a free movie on our computer. We recently saw Quigley Down Under;. You probably remember it starring Tom Selleck. He's a favorite of ours. It was a good old fashioned western with him shooting all the bad guys and he got the girl in the end.

Just this week on our evening walk, we gave away 3 pairs of flip-flops to shoeless folks. They were all so grateful. they ask 'how much?' and we say they are free. 

As a French-speaking counselor, Steve was asked to help a missionary from Paris that is serving in Spain. 

We have a new non-member neighbor who is walking with us in the morning. She's from Takoradi, 5 hours away.

We have two new senior missionary couples in our apartment complex. Ryan and Donene Jones from Logan, she is a mission nurse and he is serving as a mission handyman. Shawna and Jon Duke from Bountiful will be working with the Africa West Area Pathway program, an on-line educational program through BYU Idaho.

I just read another wonderful book, I'd like to pass along. The book is 'Where the Wind Leads'. This is the true story of a large Vietnamese family that escaped their homeland after the Communists took over. They became part of the infamous 'boat people' escaping across the South China Sea in a dilapidated boat. They experienced one miracle after another in their journey. I won't give up the ending. It sure makes one grateful the our many blessings and freedoms we enjoy

From the above book, many Chinese proverbs are shared: when asking for forgiveness, you say, "Let's drop it in the ocean", or another, "When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree."