Africa West Area Mission

Cute little boys in our ward. They actually have two more brothers also. I love how every boy of every age wears their white shirts to church. All the young boys and girls desire to serve missions.

This group of young single adults performed one Sunday evening in a wonderful program they titled 'Music and the Spoken Word from Ghana'. They performed religious and secular African music using brass instruments, two keyboards and recorded music. They truly were amazing and loving every moment to share their testimonies. They performed music from 'Lion King' and sounded like Alex Boye (an African singer who was in the Tab Choir).

 

Walking to the area offices has been on my bucket list. It's only 3 1/2 miles but we needed a Saturday to do it. New neighbors, Shauna and Jon Duke joined us. The beautiful, overcast morning and breeze made for a delightful walk. We passed by this casket making business below. Funerals are a BIG, EXPENSIVE rite of passage here.

We decided to ride on a tro- tro on the way home from our walk. Being a Saturday morning we missed the work commuters. When we finally flagged down the tro-tro there were about 6 passengers, by the time we got off we had 20 of us packed in. Quite the adventure.

This is Bernice the former receptionist in the Area offices. All students have to give a year of free internship after graduation. 

This 'big' sister kept her little sister on her back the whole time they were at the library. It's sad to think what their life is like. Are they orphans? Is mom out selling on the streets? More siblings? Is there a dad?

Cute mama and baby at the Temple. This was the day we walked to the temple/area offices. The weather might have been 75 degrees but the Africans think it's very cold and bundle their babies.

If you look closely you can see the bench this lady is carrying on her head.

The local taxi car wash joint.

A flat neighbor was sitting outside having her hair braided one evening. This fellow was quite the pro. What a great idea to braid hair at your patron's home at their convenience. She had short African hair that he braided into the long, blond hair extensions. Many women here are just as vain as we are at home. Women everywhere want their hair to look great. 

This is Randal Gibb from Utah. He is the Africa West Area Medical Advisor. His specialty is ENT but he knows everything about everything now. He also does most of his consulting on the phone with missionaries throughout the 17 missions. He does have a small clinic in the area offices where the occasional young local missionary or senior missionary will see him. Steve and Randal meet by Zoom once a month with each mission president and wife about their missionaries' physical and mental health.

Our missionary hiking buddies. Steve and I are in the blue shirts. Our waterfall destination. Ryan hiked in his white shirt and tie:) His mission president said he should dress like a missionary whenever he steps out his door. So he does.

About 10 missionary couples went on a long weekend excursion to the Volta Region to hike and learn about the regional African tribal people. This village had the right idea about charging and giving tours of their village. This sadly is a mud hut for sleeping with one dirty thin mattress inside. Each family seemed to have a different purpose to make food to trade or sell. One home dried maize (corn), scraped the dried kernels and ground it into flour. One home processed cocoa beans, one home processed red bean oil. The picture below is their kitchen. Corn cobs are hanging over the fire.

                                                                                Kitchen

                                                                                   Housing 

These local school girls danced and chanted for us to the beat of the drum. A European couple run a little B&B and prepared a lunch for us. We had a tomato/vegetable and pumpkin soup with homemade bread, and fruit. It was quite good. The hiking guide, village tour and lunch was about $20US for each of us. The village did have some electricity. There were a few satellite dishes on the primitive homes.

This family was cutting trees and somewhere in this jungle there was a saw mill to make boards. They have a 3-wheel scooter.

This little fellow was so stoic and never moved or made a sound. His mother said he'd never seen while people before.

Sunday morning we found this small branch to join for sacrament meeting. There were probably 25 people there. The branch president drove up on his scooter, and we met the missionaries assigned here.

This is Donene and Ryan Jones from the Logan, Utah area. They live in our complex and she serves as a mission nurse and he is an all around guy for the mission office.

Mexican food in Africa? It was really pretty good. The Africans love their food spicy which works for me. I think they had some soccer game on TV.

This is the Civil wedding ceremony of Borngreat and Naomi in the Chapel. Her father walks her in. They must be first married civilly and then married in the Temple. Getting married in Africa can be tricky. Young people don't date, they just meet in groups and finally declare an interest in each other, followed by a quick engagement. I don't think they even kiss before marriage. Everyone was hootin' and hollering for them to kiss. Then there is the traditional bride price that is determined by the bride's father. Many can't afford the bride price so they just start living together and starting a family. A little girl sat next to Steve and she put her hands on his arm. They just have to touch that white skin.

This silly flower stand actually had a person inside spooking everyone.

These are my keyboard students, Liberty, Ruth, Dennis, Joshua, Victor, Sylvester, Randsford, and James. Dennis and Joshua are playing all the music in our church meetings. I think they're having fun and still learning during our class. Learning a music skill will make a big difference in their lives.

                                                                            Our lovely Accra, Ghana Temple.

Tidbits:

Africa is the fastest growing location of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church has only been organized in West Africa since 1978.The majority of people here are Christian and they have a great love and belief in God and Jesus Christ. Even though they are Christians, they still have their tribal kings and traditions. The kings carry on their traditions but they don't interfere with their religious beliefs. There are more Muslims in the northern regions. 

The children at the NGO library still like to touch my white skin, rub my arm, push the veins on my hands:) and touch my polished toenails. Some of the same children come often but there are always new faces. Sometimes I think we are the first white folks some children have seen. 

Steve has had children in his conducting class touch his hair. We really are an anomaly. 

I'm so glad I started driving soon after arriving. It's even kind of fun. Most folks are very polite though it may look chaotic. We've learned in the round-a-bouts that 'nose goes'. You just have to be assertive and stick your car front-end into the flow of traffic.

Sadly there are many crippled people begging on the streets, mostly men. The worst we have seen are the men sitting on skate boards with no legs. I can only imagine they were in motorcycle accidents. They use their hands to propel along the street. As we were turning into our gate there were three men on the street in that exact condition, scooting along. We keep new flip flops in the car and I grabbed them and ran out to give them away. Two of the men were using ratty flip flops on their hands and one man had nothing. He gave me the biggest smile and thank you when I handed them to him.

We have 'apartments' in the USA, we have 'flats' in Africa and we had 'hales' in Hawaii.

We love having our Alexa with us. She can come up with any genre of music we want. We also enjoy conference talks, scriptures, etc.

It appears that Steve is the only French-speaking therapist in this part of the world! He was asked to counsel with two French-speaking missionaries, one serving in France and one in Spain. The senior missionary that will replace him in December does not speak French either. Four of our missions are French-speaking only. And what about all the missionaries in France that only speak French? Apparently no senior French-speaking therapists are in the pipeline for these opportunities. So they use the mission president's wife or a missionary companion as their translator. A little inconvenient.

Is anyone interested in a Russian river cruise. We have signed up for one in August 2022. This was advertised in the online Meridian Magazine with Scott and Maurine Procter. We have been on three tours with them and love their adventures. Check it our here,  heartofrussiacruises.com. 

Our mission time is winding down. We will fly home on Dec. 21. I have already made doctor, dentist and hair appointments for the new year.

Accra doesn't have a lot of beautiful scenery. It's the ordinary life that is so interesting.

Matt Ford (Kathy's son) is the newest Bishop called in Jenks, Oklahoma where they live.