Area office/Temple Pictures

Here are some pictures of our office building we work in as well as the Stake Centre and the Accra Temple.  The temple picture was taken from the backside -- I will have to take a front facing one next time.    These buildings are all  in the same complex and as you can see it is very nice.    The Church owns some land beside this complex and will be building the MTC (missionary training centre) on it.  That will be nice.  Right now the MTC is about 20 km. away in Tema. 

All is well with us.  We picked up the humanitarian couples from Liberia and Sierra Leone today at the airport and we will be spending the next 3 days with them and sharing experiences and learning together.  We will do a video conference call with the head of Church Humanitarian (Sharon Eubank) from SLC on Tuesday afternoon.  We are looking forward to that. 

Love, Jim and Nancy/mom and dad

TOGO

The first Stake was formed in Togo this past weekend.  The Public Affairs couple were there and said it was wonderful. 

 

We will drive (with Bro. Buah) through Togo and into Benin approximately March (when we get our Ghana visa and then of course visas for Togo and Benin).  We have some projects to work on and check out and will also be looking for more projects to do in both of those countries.   It will be fun to see those places.   We hear the border crossings can be a challenge but should be easier having with Bro. Buah with us.

 

By the way....  Benin is pronounced 'Beneen'. 

 

All is well!

 

 

What makes missions so rewarding?

We recently received an email from our dear friend Mercy in Zimbabwe.  This is part of what she had to say to us:

 

Anyway ............ WOULD LOVE TO COME AND VISIT GHANA BEFORE YOU GO BACK!!

thank you for giving me the gospel.... thank you a million times over..... its the greatest thing for me...... love Sister Mercy

 

It is a great story how we met and taught Mercy the gospel.  She feels, and we feel, that we were meant to meet and that we knew each other before in the pre-existence.  She is such a special person to us.  Her sweet little daughter, Malaika, turned 8 in August and was baptized.  Mercy is in the Relief Socity presidency in her ward.   We are so proud of her and all she is doing.  We love you Mercy!!

Our first projects

#1 We have started writing up some projects.   One came from Church headquarters --  We have been told to write up one for Mali.  We do not have any church presence in Mali but we will give $2000 to a NGO (non-governmental organization) who is doing work there and they will use it to buy mosquito nets for children.

#2 The Church is giving a used vehicle to the military who patrol around the temple in Aba.   It is good to keep good relations with them.  Their vehicle is old and broken down (beyond repair). 

#3  We will run some water pipes from a water storage tank down to the showers at a boarding school.  There is a good downhill slope so it will be gravity fed to the taps.  We already did a water system for them at the school so this will just kind of finish it off for them to make life easier.

#4  A girl came in to the office with a request and we are writing that one up.  She works at a Chemical store (drug store).  The lady who owned the store died --- In the past she gave out free malaria medications and de-worming meds to children from 2 yrs. - 5 yrs. at Christmas time.   They came to us asking for help because they would like to continue doing this.   She dropped off an invoice on Friday with the cost of the medications (malaria, de-worming, and black tonic) for 1000 children.  We are looking at buying the medications for them to give out.   The black tonic (I think it was called that) helps to build up their blood as they are usually anemic after having worms and malaria.   We have someone in the Church who works for an NGO in the area and he will go check on things there and make sure that if we do this we are not duplicating someone else's efforts.

So ...  we are starting to get into the work. 

Friday was a holiday here - Farmer's Day.  The Area office was closed so I swam, Jim walked, and then we went shopping, did laundry and just relaxed a bit.  

Elder Curtis, the Area President, stopped by our office one day last week to visit with us for a few minutes.  I think he was just making sure that we are doing okay and feeling good about things. 

We are having a  couple's seminar from Dec. 16 - 18th.  The couples in Sierra Leone and Liberia are coming here.  It will be great to meet them and hear about all they are doing.

We are settling in and feeling a little more confident with the food, driving etc.   Sister Dube told me that the pork chops are good here so we tried some --- and yes, they are good, so we bought some more.  Nice to have something else beside chicken.  We have also used some ground beef (mince) and it is okay when we spice it up a bit.  We brought a Costco container of Taco seasoning.  We continue to eat a lot of pineapple (so yummy!).  

The gardener brought me three pots of dirt that are outside our door.  I planted some kale and cilantro seeds that I brought.  They are starting to grow.  We will see how they turn out. 

We are doing fine and all is well.   Thanks for your emails -- we love to hear from home. 

Love,  Jim & Nancy,  Mom & Dad

More about the 'Bats'

Remember the bats that I told you about that fly across the sky at dawn and dusk?  Well I have learned more....

When we were out with John Buah and Clarence Kobi, I ask, "where do the bats come from?" (thinking that there must be some cliffs or something   off in the distant).    Anyway, he answered my question with an exact address.  I thought he had not understood my question so I ask again and got the  same address - the military  hospital.    It seems they all go there and hang out in the trees; sometimes getting so heavy on the branches that the branches break.   These bats are big.  

Apparently some environmentalists (yes, even in Africa) has decided they need protecting.  They are not allowed to kill them on the military property.  People can kill them elsewhere but not there.   So, if you can imagine -- there are thousands if not millions of bats hanging on the trees there everyday and then they fly off at night to find food.  Apparently they like to eat fruit like apples and papayas.     It is just hard to imagine the filth that they must cause over on the hospital grounds.  Anyway.....that is the deal with the bats.  Yuck!!!!

View from our hotel at Cape Coast

The big building across the water is a Slave castle from days gone by.  There are 30 plus Slave castles in Ghana where they would put the people when they were captured while waiting to put them on the boats.   We will visit one and have a tour one day when we have time.

The many boats you can see are just going into shore in the morning.  They go out at night and cast their nets and bring in their catch first thing.  There were a lot of them.  Also many small boats on the ocean  fishing for their livelihood. 

Instructions on how to use this toilet!

The word on the left is 'Good'.   Women often stand here too I think.   Anyway, we thought this was rather interesting.  :0