Kumasi Kontinues

                                                   

We are trying to get his blog finished before Christmas. We will see how it goes. Before I begin, I would like to thank all of you who have contributed to our Foundation to help kids in our former mission pay their school fees. Last year we were able to help 9 children (12-21) go to school. This year we are helping 16 students. Two of our students will be completing senior High School this year because of your help. That is a major accomplishment for these kids. So thank you, thank you. We are continuing to accept donations. If you would like to help, please make a check out to Engage Now Africa and send it to my daughter, Candace Slater 5676 W. 10620 N Highland Utah 84003. There is a web site if you need to check out Engage Now Africa.

    

We were trying to be so organized and write sequential letters, but we are so slow and so busy, that is not working out so well. So we are just going to share some of our experiences and try to give you a little taste (not of fufu) of life here in Kumasi, Ghana.

In October we went to the Mission Presidents Seminar held in Accra for all the mission presidents in the Africa West Area. It was a week of wonderful instruction and mingling with the other presidents and their wives. The highlight was the last day of instruction with Elder Bednar and Elder Hallstrom. I must say we are getting quite spoiled having many opportunities to associate with Elder Bednar. It has been such a blessing for us. He has shown such love and concern for us in a very personal way. How blessed we are and how amazing he is.

Elder Bednar at the Mission Presidents's Seminar.

A new group of missionaries receiving training

We have a large family of about 125 young men and 30 young women. They have all come to Kumasi, Ghana from a call from the Lord to serve Him here for 18 months for the sisters and 2 years for the Elders. They come at their own expense and work 8-10 hours a day teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Forgoing dating, tv, social media, etc. and most all the desired activities typical of young men and women in their age group. We are so grateful for their love and devotion to their Heavenly Father and the joy they find in bringing others unto Christ. It has been a privilege to be among them and serve with them. We are finding that the longer we are with them, the harder and harder it is to say goodbye to them when it is time for them to go home. 

Elder Mathabe from South Africa (2nd from right) at goodbye dinner

We often have to say goodbye to senior couples
Sister Wilde, wife of the Africa West Area executive secretary

Elder Gibson one of our zone leaders from 

We also have the opportunity to meet members that live within the boundaries of our mission.  We have within our mission 2 stakes and 5 mission districts. There are 5 small branches over which we have direct stewardship. We train them on how to help and serve one another in their small congregations. They are wonderful,friendly, devoted and joyful people. Mike has the opportunity to interview many of the people for baptism. There are many wonderful people who are joining the church.

These beautiful sisters who are auxiliary leaders  received bags made in Highland by some other wonderful sisters.

The culture here is very much like our first experience in Ghana. The native language is twi (pronounced tchwee). Which is the most prevalent language in Ghana. Unfortunately, many of the women so not speak English because here in Ghana the women often do not attend school. Therefore they do not speak English. We are going to try to institute literacy classes to help them. 
People are often led to the church by dreams. In the late 1980’s there was an event called “the freeze”. This was a period of almost 2 years when the church was outlawed in Ghana. This was caused by a few powerful pastors who convinced government officials that the church was a subversive organization. Therefore, all church meetinghouses were ransacked and boarded up. Any meeting was illegal; so members had to meet secretly and guards were placed at all our churches to insure that no one entered to worship. One of the guards was a constable named Nicholas Opare Ofusu-Hene. As he was standing guard, he decided to check out the building to see just what was in there. He notice books had been scattered all over the floors. So he picked one up and started to read. It was one of our Sunday School manuals, P Gospel Principles. What he read interested him so much that the next day he looked for another book to read. He picked up The Book of Mormon. He started to read it, and as he read tears started streaming down his cheeks. He continued to read it in secret, but he finished the whole book. He knew it was true, but there was no one to teach him about the church. So when the freeze ended and missionaries returned to the country, he found them and he was taught and baptized. Eventually his wife and 5 children were also baptized. We first met Nicholas in Ho on our first mission. He was then the chief commander of the Ho Police District and when we left, he was the branch president in the Ho 2^nd Branch. He has since been transferred to Tamale, a large city in the far northern part of our mission, where he is the regional police commander there. That is another story in itself that I will tell some other time. There are stories after stories of people who are led to the gospel in so many ways. It is so inspiring and uplifting to be among people of such great faith.

      We have welcomed another couple into our mission, Elder and Sister Wardle from Washington. She will be our mission nurse and he will help with missionary apartments. So that brings our total senior couples to 3. Only one couple serves in the branches full-time so we are always begging for more couples to come help in these small branches of the church. The leaders are so willing, but they need training. We pray every day for other couples to come.

     We are looking forward to zone conferences and our Christmas activity with the missionaries. We will include those events next time. Until then we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It is certainly a joy and a privilege to be in the service of our Savior during this time of year. We miss our family so much, but we have a sweet assurance that they are well, and that we are doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do. He has blessed our family so much that it is in some small way how we can let Him know of our gratitude to Him who gave us His all. We pray for God’s choicest blessings to be yours this Christmas season.
Well, as you see, we didn't get this published before Christmas. I am now shooting for Valentines Day :)). I have had trouble downloading pictures. It is very frustrating being a computer dummy. But just for an update we had a very enjoyable Christmas. We spent it with two of the senior couples in our mission.  We played Christmas games and watched a Nativity video. On Christmas Day we went caroling and went out to dinner at a very nice hotel buffet. Our missionaries went Christmas caroling at various places from the markets to children's hospitals. It was a wonderful experience for them. People here don't know what caroling is so they were very curious. 
We are excited for the new year. We are always so sad to see missionaries leave. We  get to love them so much. It is always fun to get new ones, too. Joseph Smith made a great statement at the organization of the church that is applicable this time of year. He said, "Start right, stay right." So we are hoping to start right this year and have a great year. We pray it might be a great year for all of you. 

This friendly neighbor to some of our sisters keeps a watchful eye.