Kumasi and Beyond

Krazy Kumasi


The month of September was an eventful one. It started out actually the last few days of August when we were honored to have L.Whitney Clayton, one of the seven presidents of the Seventy, visit in our mission. It was a mission “first”.  For those not familiar with the structure of our church, he is one of the leaders of our church who presides over men who serve as special witnesses of Christ and serve just under the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. He arrived on Wednesday afternoon, spoke to the members that evening. About 900 attended. Then the next morning he met with all the missionaries in the mission. That was very exciting because it was the first time since 2012 that all the missionaries have been together. Our visit with him will definitely be one of the highlights of our mission. He was the one who set me apart for my mission so it was special for me.

Ghana Kumasi missionaries with ElderClayton and Elder Curtis. (The "angels" in the back are the Elders)

Are they waiting in line for tickets or are they just "tail-"gating
Tamale Stadium

The next week Elder and Sister Curtis, the West Africa Area president and wife, came for a mission tour. They came on Tuesday and met the zone leaders and then with the six zones near Kumasi in the afternoon. They stayed at our home that night. We headed for Techiman to meet with the Techiman and Sunyani zones. Afterwards we drove up to Tamale, the most northern city of our mission (about 6 hours from Kumasi). It is a large city, but it is unusual in the fact that there are very few taxis and a zillion motorcycles. (Not exaggerating). And the worst part is that they have no rules so they go every which way and sometimes have no headlights at night . To say the least, they make driving very interesting. 

We met with the missionaries in the Tamale zone up there on Thursday. This area in the north is a little different. It has a little hotter, drier climate. It seems like we have seen more pigs than other places, and more donkeys pulling little carts.

 The mud houses in the villages are round. (There was supposed to be a picture of the houses here but the photo would not load--so use your imagination )
Even when they are replaced with cement they make them round.

Friday was a “free “ day. We had to be in Sunyani on Saturday so we took the time to go to the Mole (pronounced Molay) animal reserve.

If I was a young wart hog...

Baboon makes himself at home

It is kind of on the way back to Techiman. So we arrived and got our guide and jeep which had benches on the top so you could view the animals. We saw many wart hogs and deer and baboons and monkeys, but the most fun and exciting of all was the elephants!

We drove on dirt roads back into the reserve and all of  a sudden the guide tells the driver to stop and low and behold up the other road was an elephant! So we took that road and drove within 40 feet of it and then realized there were 3 elephants just eating the grass and leaves and hardly noticed we were there. So we got down off the jeep and walked a few feet closer trying not to get too close. It was so amazing. So we just waited until they decided to move on, and we followed them up the road and then they went off into the trees. So cool!!

These elephants caused us to get a little behind in our travel

It was a fun day. We then started back on our way to Sunyani, but took a little side trip to see the oldest building in Ghana. It is a mosque that is suppose to have been built in the early 1400’s. It was pretty unusual. From there we returned to Techiman for the night.

Then we drove  with Elder and Sister Curtis on to Sunyani to their district conference. It was held in a big auditorium at a university there. We are sure spoiled with our beautiful facilities in America. It was a really nice meeting; they even had a district choir. I love to hear them sing. The conductor was trying to get them to sing softly in one part. I don’t think they have a clue on how to do that. We met a sweet boy, Elvis.

Elvis and friends

 He is not a member, but comes faithfully until his father gives permission to be baptized and the missionaries are sure that he understands everything. One of the most thrilling things was just after the meeting started some people started coming into the auditorium. They kept coming and coming.  Over 100 members from a small branch in a neighboring village had rented a bus and come to conference. It was pretty inspiring.

          

Our journey was almost over. We headed back to Kumasi; taking the Curtises to the airport before returning home.

The next week was zone conferences so we started the whole process all over again. This time we were in charge and had much more to do. So at the end of the week we were were “traveled out.” It was good to be home for awhile. But we could not take break for long as the next week we said goodbye to 14 missionaries and said hello to 19 new missionaries. It sure seems like that cycle repeats itself much too often. We love getting new missionaries, but hate to say goodbye to the others. We are now better acquainted with the departing missionaries having been here long enough to get to know most of them quite well.The new missionaries are on the most part so excited to get going to do missionary work. Some are a little nervous not knowing what to expect. We try to alleviate their fears as much as possible, but it will take a few days to do that completely. We feed all of them a couple of times before they hit the airport to go  home or the bus station to their new area. Veronica cooks some pretty yummy Ghanaian food, and I will fix some spaghetti. They are always happy when they get to eat! The most thrilling part of those days is when we get to hear the testimonies of those who are leaving and then those who have just arrived.  Their growth and conversion is pretty amazing, but the preparation of those coming is likewise amazing.

Our lives are very busy. Of course President (Mike) is always busy. He has enough to do he could work round the clock and still not get it done. But we have learned so much, and I am sure we will continue to learn more until we go home. We strive to support struggling branches and help missionaries be strong, devoted, obedient messengers of truth. The work of the Lord has brought miracles into the lives of those who are being taught, to those who teach, and to us. We are grateful to be a small part of this marvelous work.