Kum to Kumasi

                                           

It was fun to hear from some of you from our first blog. We are still trying to come up with a clever title that goes with Kumasi. “Ho” was easy and fun to think of new titles, but Kumasi is a challenge!

We have had a lot of questions about Kumasi. It is the second largest city in Ghana and is the regional capital of the Ashanti region. However, our mission includes the Ashanti Region, the Brong-Ahafo Region, the Northern Region, the Upper East Region, and the Upper West Region. To get from the most southern part of our mission to the most northern part would probably take about 12 hours. Fortunately,we have not done that nor will we even try. Ghana is Ghana so life is pretty much the same wherever you go. The drivers are crazy, the scenery is pretty beautiful, the people are friendly, the food is the same-banku, fufu,kenke, rice, rice, and more rice.It is very green, but the farther north you go the drier it gets.

Typical scene along the highway. A truck overload tips over. Bags are full of charcoal.

Rusty roof tops.

The only reason it is not on his head is because it would touch the ground.

What we see everyday As we drive. It is hard to capture the noise and the madness.

Typical view along the road as we leave the city.

Ghanaian wedding seen from the roadside.

Kumasi apartments.

A market along the roadside. Mango anyone?

Fascinating nature. These little balls of grass and leaves are bird nests. They hang on trees like ornaments. 

The local language is Twi (pronounced chree). Of course many people speak English, but many do not. Kumasi is a big city and there are many nice roads and even divided highways However, there are few markings on the roads such as lane dividers. Some times the signal lights work and sometimes they do not. People are always selling everything from mentos to plastic baskets; grilled corn to grilled chicken (no, don’t picture your backyard bar-b-q. It doesn’t even come close).

 You may buy used auto parts-and I mean used and used anything from shoes to underwear on the street.

The people are friendly and always willing to help. There is no right-of- way so driving is quite the experience. There are also a couple of very nice hotels and many fairly nice places to eat. That maybe gives you a little idea of the city.

Downtown Kumasi

We live in a section of the city called Daban (Dah bine). It is a very nice section of the city and there are some huge amazing homes. I would love to go insideJ Our home is fairly large and very comfortable with air conditioning, hot water, washer, dryer, and all the comforts we could ask for.

Our living room

View of Kumasi from our front deck.

Our dining room

Our kitchen

There are 2 Stakes in the city and 5 districts and 5 branches under the mission. We have, like all missions, some very strong units, and some very small branches that need a lot of training and support. There are some branches in the stakes and they are doing quite well. All the others are at least 1 hour away from the mission home. The furthest area is Tamale (Tom a lay). It is 6 hours from Kumasi and has 4 branches. We have a senior couple up there. It is a big city as well. There are no senior couples in any of the other areas so we are praying hard for some to come and help in these small branches. The people are so ready and willing to learn. We just sustained a new branch president in the Agonah(A go nah) branch. He has been a member for 8 months.

This is a map of our mission. The circles indicate the districts. The black circle is stakes.

Mpraeso chapel.

                                 Elder Lawson and Elder Nuamah (Mpraeso missionaries)  their investigator.

                                                                            She is in the white dress.

The children are of course beautiful and cause us to say “Oh so cute” many times in a day. We just have fleeting visits with them seeing as we don’t stay in one place very long. They always love toffee (candy) when we have some to give.

We gave a presentation at the mission YSA Summit. The subject was social interaction-a subject that would be pertinent for any group of young single adults. There were over 300 in attendance. We had a lot of fun with them. Of course, Mike was in his element of entertaining, teaching, and teasing. Hopefully, they learned something along the way. It was held at the university here in Kumasi.

YSA Summit

Mike has had the opportunity to do many interviews.

Some are for going to the temple and some for baptism, and of course many missionaries.

Francis, a local member, works outside to take care of the grounds around the house. He is always sweeping, cleaning weeding, and anything that needs to be done.

 Veronica is here to help with housework and cooking. She is the mother of twins, a girl and a boy. She is always willing to do anything I ask. Then there are security workers who take shifts 24/7. They also treat us like royalty and do whatever we ask. It is very humbling to receive such respect from so many people. We are certainly blessed in so many ways.

We have very busy weeks ahead that I will share next time. Love you all. Thanks for your prayers and love.