Fun Times

No, we haven’t jumped off a cliff or been captured by the natives. We are alive and well but just super busy. That is not an excuse, but it makes me feel better J.

So much has happened so I will try to catch you up on our lives without putting you to sleep.

Break out session at zone conference

I guess we need to start with Christmas. Wow! That seems like forever ago. Our Christmas zone conferences are always fun. We have instruction in the morning, have a nice dinner in the afternoon. After dinner we have skits, talents, and musical numbers by each zone, and then finish with scripture reading from Luke and a recorded talk by Elder Bednar. We had 3 zones together so it was a nice big group.  It is always fun when the missionaries get together.  Many wonderful moms of our missionaries and some of my children worked many hours to collect and assemble small kits for each missionary. They also sent Ghana Kumasi T-shirts for everyone, which was a big hit. It was a good time, and hopefully everyone felt the Christmas Spirit. (iIdon't know what happened but I can't get this underline and blue stuff to stop)!!!!!

Dichemso Zone Christmas caroling

We had banners made for our missionaries to hold and had them go Christmas caroling in their respective zones. Some went to a children’s hospital, some went to the town center, some to the market, and some went to a large department-type store where they were offered a large-screen TV on which to show the Christmas video. They all had a great time as they sang, greeted curious passers-by, and handed out the Christmas initiative cards. 

We attended a carols night on Christmas Eve at one of the wards. Christmas morning we went to Church where we witnessed the baptism of a young married couple and one other man. What a great way to celebrate Christmas! We love “white” Christmases. We then returned home had a quiet time together to open a few things sent by the kids. I think Santa made a visit as well. JWe then fixed dinner and had the Wardles over. That about catches you up on our December.

We joined Elder Morford for Sacrament meeting and baptism on Christmas day. (Photo bomb by Elder Lindley)

Santa gave me an mango in my stocking.

The President got soap!!  No hints.

Elder and Sister Wood, from New Zealand, are one of senior couples. They serve in a city about 21/2 hours north. (We really don’t figure places by kilometers-just time)They are wonderful and do a great service to the church in Techiman. They also serve the individual members who have special needs. They are truly Christlike people.  In December they had to go to London for surgery on his back. We really missed them, but the surgery went well and they were able to return to Techiman. Sister Wardle serves as our mission nurse and Elder Wardle helps with the apartments of which there are 50. They are real heroes as well as they travel the roads here there and everywhere and serve to keep our missionaries healthy.

The missionaries greeted Eler and Sister Wood with a "welcome home sign" when they returned from England

We drive many places and are constantly amazed at the color, the busy bustling, sights and sounds, and the humorous things we see. It never gets old. Although we are a little worried about what we are beginning to view as “normal”. It is often frustrating to see something and by the time I get my phone out to take a picture, it is too late. I love to see the wonderful people who work so hard, day in and day out. They are so picturesque. We love seeing the line of women carrying bowls of water, large wood poles, buckets, and anything you can imagine. 

They are simply amazing. Sometimes, they are walking along the road, sometimes they disappear into the bush, and sometimes they can be seen walking along beaten paths through fields to somewhere we cannot see. We love seeing the people laugh, smile, and converse with one another. They are very animated.

They will sit or lay down on anything at any time. I am so impressed with their ability to sleep anywhere.

This isn't anyone I know. I just love this picture.

The highlight of our new year was the visit of Candace and Ryan. We had so looked forward to their visit. It went so fast, but we had so much fun, and just basked in their presence.  They arrived on a Saturday in Tamale, which is a city in the north. We spent the day visiting with 3 different people. We visited Esther and Robert and their family who are members of the Church. We also visited Gabriel, who is one of the branch presidents there. We then went to visit Gladys who was being taught. She is a sweet, wonderful, and strong woman. (She was baptized last Saturday).

Afterwards we went to eat with the Renfroes, our senior couple serving in Tamale. They are also amazing. We cannot even explain all that they do. What a blessing our couples are to us, to the Mission, and to the Lord. On Sunday we went to church in Bolgatanga, a city 2 hours north of Tamale. It is a great and lively branch. After church we headed for Mole, a national game reserve about 2 hours south of Tamale. We went there mostly to see elephants, but we saw many beautiful birds, and deer, baboons and warthogs.

After an hour or so after seeing many tracks, we saw elephants coming out of the trees to get water from a large pond. It is always so exciting to see these amazing animals. They gave us a look and then went about their business to get drink from the pond. There were 5 of them-young bucks as the guide explained. We could have watched them for hours, but they had to go find some food so they wandered off into the trees. It is the dry season so food is harder to find because of the lack of foliage. We also saw a larger male elephant later that afternoon taking a bath in another pond below our cabin/tent where we stayed. He just rolled around in the water and after awhile emerged-black and shiny.

That doesn’t last long as they blow sand over themselves to keep the flies off. That gives them their gray appearance. It was awesome!

This was taken from our porch. If you look close you can see the elephant as he emerges from his bath

We stayed at the Zaina Lodge, which is as nice a place to stay as any you will find.  It is located right in the reserve.

walkway into the lodge

Our tent/cabin-this is the back the front has a patio that looks the ponds where the elephants and other animals come to drink

yummy breakfast

The rooms are separate cabins that are actually tents with a thatched roof over them. They are very nice-air conditioned and beautiful. The food was delicious, the pool refreshing; we just had a wonderful stay.








Then it was off to reality that afternoon. We headed south to a place called Kintempo. There are some water falls there. We got there kind of late but we ran to the falls and saw them as the sun was going down.

waterfall at night

 We had an interesting stay at a hotel there-the accommodations were fine, but the food was just typical. We ordered sandwiches-tuna and chicken. What we got was tuna-not mixed with mayonnaise with a pile of cabbage on it. As for the chicken, I think there was a small piece and once again piled high with cabbage.  It was good for a laugh if nothing else.
              The next morning we went early to drive to the monkey village. I think you have seen part of our experience on facebook. It was hilarious. We laughed so hard. Monkeys are monkeys-no question!

we survived the monkeys :)


Before heading back to Kumasi, we stopped in Techiman to meet Elder and Sister Wood. We went to visit Eric where he stays at the hospital there. When Eric was 10 years old he was hit by a drunk driver and has lost the use of his legs.

Elder and Sister Wood have cared for him, getting the care he needed. He is an amazing young man. He immediately fell in love with Candace and Ryan.

The four of us with Eric's sister, Eric, and his friend Razak

We headed to Kumasi, finally, and went to the market, the cultural center, the missionary broadcast, and just hung out while Mike caught up on some business. Veronica fixed us a meal with fufu and some other Ghanaian foods. Eating fufu for the first (and maybe the last) time is always fun!

We ended our time together with a trip to Accra where we did some souvenir shopping. We also went up to the Area office and met Elder Vinson, Africa West Area president and his counselor, Elder Nash. It was hard to say good by, but my favorite saying in theses times is, Don't be sad it's over; be happy it happened. We are happy.

            

Well, I will make the rest short before you fall asleep. We have mostly been busy traveling to different branches and having zone conferences. We have 9 zones and we have to have a zone conference every 6 weeks with each zone. We usually combine them, but Mike felt like we should start the year off with individual zones-which we did.   Mike is amazing as he is so loving and considerate with each of these wonderful missionaries. He interviews them at every zone conference. It takes a lot of time and energy, but he always has time for each one. There are so many incredible young men and women who serve. They come from so many different countries, from difficult personal experiences, cultural and language challenges, but it all works. There are, of course, some glitches, but you see the Lord’s hand in this work every day. We are sustained by your thoughts and prayers and by our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. How blessed we are!

THE END