He does not want to share!!

I thought this picture was pretty cute.  This little boy had some soda and of course others around wanted a taste.  The look on his face is priceless. 

Fwd: FW: SSS Photo & Roster

This is our Sister Scripture Study group ---  Temple presidency, some mission President's wives, and senior sisters.  Great group.  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jim and Nancy Bullock <noflattires@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 2:06 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: SSS Photo & Roster
To: Jim & Nancy Bullock <noflattires@gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nancy Karen Bullock <nbullock@ldschurch.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 2:05 PM
Subject: FW: SSS Photo & Roster
To: "noflattires@gmail.com" <noflattires@gmail.com>

 

 

From: Jennifer Slater [mailto:jennifer@martinslater.com]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 2:00 PM
To: Afful, Victoria; Arlene Barrett; Bena, Angelina; Caroline Martins; Cynthia Call; Deanne Patch; Deanne Wilde; Delynn Heid; Diane Robison; Gloria Terry; Helen Parke; Jane & Lee Curtis; Janet Andam; Janet Louise Kirkham; Janice Pack; Jennifer Slater; Joan Smith; Kathryn Wade; Lynette Panter; Mensah, Cecilia; Nancy Karen Bullock; Naume Dube; Patricia Watson; Ruth Raelene Hill; Rebecca Stoker; Shelley Cannon; Ghana Accra Mission; Grant Hill; Vinson, Kay; Wall, Heidi & Terry
Subject: SSS Photo & Roster

 

Hi Sisters,

 

I've attached our most recent group photo.  Have a great day!

 

Love,

Jennifer

 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Fwd: Couples Meeting

This is an email from a missionary couple serving North of here in Techiman.  I thought it was interesting so I am forwarding it on to everyone.  I have been bad about emailing and getting pictures up so this is my easy way out. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christina Olson <coolson1@icloud.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Couples Meeting
To: Elder Olson <d.olson71@icloud.com>

Dear Family and Friends,
Another busy week, but we are grateful to have many things to do.  It makes life a lot more happy.  (And time goes faster.)  We had our Couples Meeting changed toThursday night so the Brink's would have time to travel down from Tamale and be able to get back for their Sunday meetings.  Elder Olson and I had many things to do to get ready and make sure the missionaries had what they needed while we were gone. 
While out we passed our neighborhood casket making shop.  I had to get a picture of this.  This is their latest creation.


Can you believe it!  It really was beautiful.

The four of us traveled together from Techiman to Kumasi.  Elder Brink was happy to have Dad in the front seat with him to help him navigate.  We traveled on Wednesday which is not a big market day like Thursday, however, we saw many people on the road heading towards towns for the market day on Thursday.

While in Kumasi it is a busy time getting supplies from the Mission Office for our areas.  It never seems like we have enough room to carry everything.  We also transport things for missionaries that have been transferred, like washing machines.  We are pretty full.
Our meeting was from 6-8 Thursday evening.  As you can see we were all pretty tired.  8pm is late for us old folks.  😳







Really, it was a good meeting and we all gained from it.
The Brink's decided to do some produce shopping in Techiman before they left.  Everything is more expensive in Tamale so we took them to our market earlySaturday morning on their way out.



This was the first time the Brink's had shopped like this in a market.  Believe me it is very hard getting used to shopping this way.  It still is hard for us.  I will love Walmart til the end of my days.  But when you can get huge cabbages and papaya for 1 Cedis (.30) each and huge pineapple for 2 Cedis (.60) it is worth it.
I had to get some things too.  The missionaries all came for dinner Sunday night.  

For Church they played a session of General Conference in Twi.  I am humbled when I think all the Church does to take the Gospel to all the world.  The adults all seemed to enjoy it.  



However, the children started to get restless and I thought I could take them into another room and give them a little lesson.  Bad idea.  There were 9 girls from 4-12.  They didn't speak English very well and they started fist fighting and biting each other and they completely ignored me.  It was truly a nightmare.  It reminded me of the time they called my mother to be a Primary Teacher and she was 80.  On her very first class she ended up with 13 and they met on the stage of the cultural hall.  One of the children threw up and the others ran away screaming.  At the end of that Primary she turned in her books to the president and said, "I quit".  I won't quit but I sure will do things differently next time. 😫😫

This was the first time the new missionaries had been to our place.  We had lots to eat and they love being together.  Now there are SISTERS!!  Dad and I have to do a little more chaperoning.



Such clowns.
Again, we love you all and thank you for your love and support.
The Church is true.
Love, 
Elder and Sister Olson (Mom and Dad)
Sent from my iPad

Fwd: FW: Newsroom

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nancy Karen Bullock <nbullock@ldschurch.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 2:26 PM
Subject: FW: Newsroom
To: "noflattires@gmail.com" <noflattires@gmail.com>

 

 

From: Africa West Public Affairs
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 2:12 PM
To: Africa West Public Affairs
Subject: Newsroom

 

What is one of the ways LDS Charities reaches out to people with physical disabilities?

 

Find out on www.mormonnewsroom.com.gh. 

 

Share on social media! 

 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Cholera Project

We got another project approved today.  It is to help an organization that is working in a very poor area of Accra where Cholera is a problem the past several weeks.  They have some 3 volunteers from European countries and one person from their organization who have been going door to door teaching hygiene and telling people what they need to do to avoid getting cholera.   They will also organize some clean-up days in the communities.  We will supply shovels, gloves, boots, wheelbarrows, and dustbins for them to use.  

We went to the area and it is so filthy.  The gutters are full of standing water and garbage.  The gutters are used as toilet by many.  There are no toilets at most of their houses but there are public toilets and bath houses but they must pay to use them.  Most of them don't have the money so they use the gutters and the nearby ocean beach.   So sad!  

This organization also runs a small school (about 165 students) but they don't all come every day.  They are poor children who would not otherwise go to school.  Part of this project is to give them some exercise books for the school.  We were really impressed with what they are doing to help the children there.  

When we see these kinds of things we are so very grateful for where and how we were raised.  We just can't even begin to appreciate it enough. 

Last week we went to a Clinic where we did a hand over ceremony.  We gave the clinic solar panels.  They often have no electricity and many babies are delivered at night in the dark or with the night guard holding the torch (flashlight).  They are so thrilled with their new source of electricity.    The lady that is in charge at the clinic is doing a great job.  They presented Elder Bullock with an African shirt and gave me a kente scarf and we each got some glass bead bracelets.  These gifts were all very traditional things made in Ghana.  

We have had short term water specialists here in September and now have some water projects being developed.  E/S Panter and E/S Dever are pretty much doing those. 

We also had wheelchair specialists here in September doing training for those here that will fit the chairs to the individuals and those technicians that will assemble and make the chairs fit each person.  We gave about 325 wheelchairs (5 different styles) to the Ghana Health Authority.  They will distribute them and report back.  Different hospitals and clinics will get 15 chairs each to start with and when they give them out and return with good reports they can get more.   There is a huge need for wheelchairs here.   Polio and other diseases have left many crippled.  We see some terrible handicaps on a regular basis. 

Anyway........enough for now.  I am ready for bed and it is only 8:30.  We get up at about 5 a.m. each day and Jim walks and I swim for about an hour.  It is a good way to start the day but I do go to bed early or I don't want to get up.

Love to all.   Nancy

Ghana Life

You are probably wondering if we are still alive.  I have been neglecting writing emails for a while.  I suppose it is partly due to the fact that I am having a hard time feeling motivated these days or also because we have had some busy weeks and when we get home in the evenings I just want to veg.  

We generally leave the office about 5 - 5:30 and fight traffic for the 7 km. drive to the apartment.  Usually it takes at least 30 minutes but usually longer;  I think the longest was 2 1/2 hours.  We just never really know what to expect each morning and night as we head out into the traffic.  There is no rhyme or reason to it.   The drivers are 'crazy' - no manners, whatsoever.  If you leave an inch they will squeeze in and cut you off without any warning.   I refuse to drive here but Jim can get in there and fight for the space like the best of them here!!   We don't see road rage though -- everyone just drives like idiots and they all seem to accept that.  On top of the cars being driven this way, we then have the motorcycles, who have absolutely not rules.  They drive between the lanes, on the sidewalks, the wrong way, through red lights and pretty much any way they want.    AND then there are street vendors selling their wares between the lanes as you drive along.  You can buy almost anything you want.  

We do buy bananas regularly on the road.  An onery policeman decided Jim was under arrest one day for obstructing traffic while buying bananas.  We didn't obstruct any traffic.  He took Jim's license and so Jim pulled over and got out and had a discussion with him.  He finally relented and gave back the license and Jim didn't even pay him a bribe. 

Jim got the cast taken off his arm last night.  It's been 4 weeks but Dr. Hill figured it should be okay.  He may still put a support on it if needed and if he can find one here.  It is nice to have it off.   Everyone he ran into here, whether we know them or not, would ask what happened to his arm and then they would say, "Oh, sorry, sorry".    People here always want to carry our things for us and with his broken arm it was even more so. 

Ebola has not come to Ghana yet and hopefully won't.  We do hear all the news about it.  We get a Podcast on our I-pads for NBC Nightly News from NYC and usually get BBC on the TV here.  It is a terrible disease.  We are glad that the world has gotten involved and are trying to help put a stop to it.    The Church has given bleach, buckets, rice and oil to members in Liberia and Sierra Leone and will likely be doing more of the same shortly.  Things are not good there.   We also have a project request  to supply some hygiene kit and newborn baby kit items for a clinic in S. Leone. 

Later.....   I am excited because we got a project approved this afternoon.  It is for a group who have a mobile clinic that go out into the rural areas to help women and girls.  They will do some cancer screening and other things.  They have 4 doctors who are volunteering their days to go out with them and also the nurses from the District clinics will help out.  We will supply some needed medications and supplies and food for the volunteers.    The first day out will be Thursday and we are going with them.     When I called to tell them that the project was approved they were SO excited and grateful.   Then I ask if Bernice could come with us on Thursday and bring some of the 'Days For Girls' kits to give out.  They were thrilled about that.   Bernice is in charge of the Days For Girls here in Ghana and is doing a wonderful job.   If you want, you can look up the organization on-line.  They make washable sanitary pads for girls.  Many girls here do not go to school or leave their house when they are having their periods each month because they don't have any supplies.    If you live in Utah Valley area, many women and girls are helping to make these to send to different parts of the world. 

All is well here.  We are coming up to our 1 year mark in a couple of weeks.  The time is going faster now.  It seems like that happens each time as we get busy and know more about what we are doing here.

We have used up our 2014 budget for area initiatives so now we just need to get them all done and have hand-over ceremonies.    Our budget was $550,000 for the West Africa area.  Next year it is $750,000.  We will be busy looking at more projects for next year. 

We'd love to hear from you. 

Jim and Nancy

 

Bad weekend all around!

Sunday Jim was helping haul some wheelchairs and training supplies into the church where the training will take place this week.    In Africa very few sidewalk, stairways or any surface as far as that goes, are even.  We have to be  careful and watch where we are walking all the time.    Anyway, Jim had his hands full and he stepped on an uneven surface and down he went.  He hurt his knees and broke his arm - just above the wrist.

He got a cast on today.  Dr. Hill went with him last evening to get it x-rayed.  Luckily the little hospital had an X-ray that worked.  He had to go back this morning to get the cast put on as no one was there that could do it.  Dr. Hill isn't allowed to do any procedures here.  The break didn't need adjusting and will heal just fine.

Some already know this but this past Friday we were in a vehicle (Jim was not driving) and as we pulled out into a roadway (it did seem safe) but a motorcycle that was going extremely fast came around a bend in the road and crashed into the side/front of us.  The cyclist was killed instantly.  If he wasn't already dead they would have likely finished him off the way they picked him up and moved him off the road!  Yikes!!   A crowd gathered but everyone stayed peaceful and assured us that it was not our faults.  We were with the Gov't people for that District and they saw it all and I am sure that helped.   The Honorable District head arranged for his vehicle to give us a ride back to Kumasi and our hotel (we were 1 1/2 hrs. out).  We then rented a vehicle to drive back to Accra on Saturday.  Not a fun thing to be a part of but thankfully no one in the vehicle was hurt at all.  It could have been even worse than it was.

Today is a holiday so I have been cleaning house and doing laundry after our week away.  The couple who have been staying here with us for the past 5 or 6 weeks have now gone to their new assignment.  They were serving in Sierra Leone but got evacuated due to Ebola. 

The Ebola is not getting any better in Liberia and Sierra Leone.  It has not come to Ghana yet though so that is a blessing.  The mission does have an evacuation plan if it is needed.

September is a really busy month for us and then things should slow down a bit. 

Love to all,  Elder and Sister Bullock (Jim and Nancy)