HO HO for Now

Thanksgiving was a great success.  We spent it in Accra with the other couples from the Africa West Area. There are about 25 couples who serve here in many different capacities. We have had many occasions to meet with them at one time or another so it was good to see what seems like old friends. There are just some things that are impossible to get here so people were planning ahead, and if they knew anyone was coming this way, they were asked to bring cherished items such as pumpkin, cranberry, and even the turkey itself. We had all the fixins’ and ate more than we should have. In conjunction with this, our mission had a couples’ conference. There are just 4 of us couples including the mission president and his wife. So it was really a nice time to share with one another our life’s lessons and have President Judd and Sister Judd impart to us some of their great knowledge and wisdom. We met on Wednesday afternoon until evening; met again on Thursday morning; took a break for Thanksgiving dinner at the Accra West mission home and then back to finish up our conference. The Judds were gracious enough to let us call our kids from their home so we could use their internet. We didn’t talk very long to each one, but they were all in separate locations so it took quite a while. That is always the highlight of our day when we can talk to them. It was a very fun couple of days and a nice break.

On Friday we returned home to Ho. It is about a 3 hour drive and there are always surprises along the way. There is a roundabout as you leave Accra that is a mess. Every major road into Accra from almost anywhere goes through this round about. The police make it a bigger mess by trying to direct traffic. One time a miracle happened and we got through it in 10 minutes, but it mostly takes at least 30-45 minutes. There are cars , trucks, and trotros going everywhere off road cutting through parking lots,  barrow pits, you name it, to try to miss the mess. It is pretty crazy.

We had promised the Elders a Thanksgiving dinner, but seeing as we didn’t have any connections with people coming from the states, I fixed chicken breast, mashed potato, butternut squash, and string beans. Sister Judd gave me a can of pumpkin that her son brought her that she didn’t use so I fixed a pumpkin “pie” and banana cream “pie”. You can’t find pie plates here so I used my 9x13 cake pans. The missionaries didn’t care that they weren’t round!

We have been trying to help the church acquire some land for new church buildings. The church in our district only has one building that they built and own. All the other buildings are rented. So we are in the process of finding land, which around here is very tricky. Most of the land is owned by families-sometimes very extended families and so many people’s permission is required in order to make a sale. We have 2 very nice pieces that we are looking at, but it takes time. One piece is very near to where we live so we are hopeful that is one they choose.

 The society here is very interesting. (I think that is an understatement). Everyone is still closely tied to their home village. So they often “travel” as they say here back to their village for this or that. Or if they meet someone from their village they are very well acquainted with them or even some how related. I say this because one young man whom the missionaries met in the internet café and have been teaching and we have accompanied them on occasion came to church for the first time and lo and behold the Primary president was from his village! He was very excited. Two of her brothers work in the Area office. Hopefully, he will soon be baptized. And he will be a leader in the Church as it grows in this region.  Another young man also met the Elders in the Vodaphone internet café where they do their emailing. He is a student staying here and is from Togo. He is a big guy, but very soft-spoken. He has a testimony, but went to Togo to visit his mother to tell her about what he wants to do. She is very open to learning too, which surprised him because she is usually pretty critical of things. He brought us back some delicious croissants from Togo. Togo is French so they have great pastries. He loves American football and was fascinated with Ziggy Ansah’s story and looked him up on Wikipedia. We are hoping for a white Christmas. There will probably be at least 5 baptisms in our branch this month. (Anyone who can get Ziggy’s email address for this young man will earn a special reward like an extra ball of banku or fufu with okra stew!!)

We also are working with some families that have some members who are not coming to church for one reason or another. We have gone into their home or outside their home and given them a family home evening lesson. Of course I always take banana bread.  The last lesson we gave was at 7:00 at night.by the light of a flashlight. This family doesn’t have electricity and no room for us inside so we sat outside under a big tree and had a really good lesson on prophets. This sweet lady has no husband. She has a 21-year-old daughter who has a child, a 17 yr old son who is a very active priest and a 12 yr old. She has also taken in 4 of her sister’s children because her sister died a couple of months ago at age 38. None of those 4 children are members.  It is hard to explain what difficult circumstances these people live in. The 17 year old is very active and very smart (he scored in the very high percentiles on the examination to go from junior to senior high) but is selling used auto parts in a shop to earn money to go to senior high school and wants to serve a mission. One of the sister’s children is a 13-year-old boy. I asked him if he had gone to church on Sunday.

(We had to go to another branch so we were not there). He said he didn’t go because he didn’t have a white shirt to wear. L I said that he could wear his football shirt (soccer shirt that he was wearing) was ok if that was all he had. Well, he didn’t come that next Sunday. Then we met with the family again. We could tell he had tried to wear his best clothes- a yellow button down shirt with missing buttons and some brown pants and broken flip-flops. The missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so sweet as he answered their questions. The lesson was on prayer. Elders asked if he would give the closing prayer. He gave the sweetest prayer. He reminds us so much of Sean L. As we left we took his picture and I just got in the car and cried. There is something about him that just touches me. I can hardly think about him without tearing up. While I was in the truck trying to get my act together, I noticed that Mike and Eric were looking at something on the wall of the building where they live. So I got out to see and they were looking at a poster of Eric’s mom. When people die they make a poster of them with their picture, when they died, and information about their family. I didn’t know what to say. Again in the truck, I lost it. So we decided we would go to the market to find a white shirt. With the help of a member that we ran into we found a shop, found a shirt his size and a tie. 

We took the shirt and tie to Eric. He was so excited. His big eyes lit up, he held up the shirt and said, “I really like it”. This was on Saturday. And on Sunday, who should be there 15 minutes early, but Eric! That is certainly one of the best things that has happened on our mission. I know he will want to be baptized. We feel he is a very special young man.

Every Saturday, the youth gather to help clean the church. There is a large mango tree in the front of the building and it drops leaves like crazy. 

The church has rented this building for a long time, but they are trying to buy a piece of property to build our own building in town.

Dad thought that when we came to Ghana he would have a rest from Christmas lights. Well, not so. We bought some lights for our little tree that we thought were white. When we turned them on, surprise, they were blue! I didn’t want to put blue lights on the tree so we decided to put them up outside. Rebecca, (Faith’s sister) helped with the job. NOBODY has Christmas lights. So the little boys “next door” (who usually run around naked by the way) came and stood and watched with glee the twinkling lights. It was pretty cute. The job of putting the lights up was a piece of cake compared to the monster job at home. 

We hope we have brought a little Christmas joy to all those who see them. Our little tree doesn’t have any lights, but it is beautiful anyway. We have downloaded some Christmas music on the computer so we do have a little Christmas cheer. We can’t find the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas, which I think is the only Oak Ridge Boys cd not available…go figure.

The branch is having a Christmas program on Christmas Eve. I am helping with the youth presentation. I got this crazy idea from the Ensign article that every family should have a nativity I their home. So I am trying to make a Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus out of toilet paper rolls for each family in the branch.

 I hopefully can find enough rolls. I am covering them with some scraps of Kente that I have.  They look pretty cute. Who knows if the Ghanaians will like them!!

Ghana is a beautiful place. You kind of have to look beyond the trash and things that accumulate in the fields, gutters and roadside. Their private homes and spaces are really clean and neat, but the public areas are not so nice. Our travels take us along some beautiful country roads. We also cross the Volta River when we go to Kpong. The view from the bridge is quite spectacular. 

We are sad that the bridge we cross will be closed for repairs and so we are not quite sure how we are going to get to Accra. The word is that they will bring in ferries to transport cars across. That doesn’t sound too efficient so we may have to take another road. So we are not sure what we will do.  We also go over the mountains when we go to Kpando. The pictures of it don’t do it justice because the roads are so narrow we can’t stop and get a good picture. But it is beautiful as well.  But the roads are always filled with the unexpected such as these goats on the motorcycle (and Stockton thought goats on a truck were funny)

We are excited to have Mango season start up again. The mangos and pineapple are our favorites. But we did venture into the Ghana food world. We decided to have Faith show me how to make banku. On Friday we went to the market with Faith. It was market day, which means it is crazier than usual.  We bought cassava dough, corn flour dough, pepe, okra, palm oil, and Maggie (a spice). So on Saturday they came over and we (mostly Faith) started the banku. I had no idea what it would take and all I know now is that I don’t think I could have pulled it off by myself. She had her sister bring over the pot, which looks like a witches caldron, large wooden spoon, charcoal and little stove. I thought I could use one of my big pans, but that would not have worked. I will try to explain how it is done. First you mix the cassava dough and the corn flour dough and mix with your hands adding water so as to make a very thick, gooey paste-like batter. They set up this little burner in the hallway, put 2 ½ foot rods through the little holes on each side of the pot, sit on a little stool, hold the rods in place with your feet so the pot doesn’t slide around as you stir, and stir this dough mixture with a 3 foot wooden spoon and stir for about 30 minutes until it gets thick. Then they make it into little balls about the size of a softball and put them in a small bag. The okra stew is okra, chicken (or whatever meat of fish you want), pepe, and onion that is cooked on the stove for about 30 minutes. Then they put the stew in a large bowl. You break off a bite-sized piece of banku and dip it into the stew and plop it into your mouth!. I was surprised that the okra was ok; slimey, but ok.

Dad can eat a whole ball of banku, but I can only handle about ½ a ball. The banku really has very little flavor itself, but you always eat it with some kind of stew or soup. So there you have it….bring on the fufu!

(You can see them pounding the Fufu getting ready to eat it with okra stew or light soup or maybe even a little grass cutter if someone special is coming to eat.)

As we head into the Christmas season, we feel so very blessed to be serving here among some of Heavenly Father’s most choice children.  We surely miss our family at this time of year because of so many traditions, but this blessing of sharing the message of the Savior, His birth, His life and His Atonement will make this a most sacred and memorable Christmas for us.  We hope yours will be as well.