Akwaaba to Africa!

Akwaaba means Welcome and we certainly have been welcomed to Africa. The missionaries have been very good to us while we have been living in a temporary apartment and have been learning about our jobs. We have been taken to villages 2 1/2 hours away from Accra, we have met many wonderful Africans, we have been fed, and we have been taken out to restaurants. We have learned to get around - good thing because now we have a car and must find our own way around - our mentors left this morning for America. We know how to get to 3 grocery stores and have found we can get just about anything here if you want to pay the price - food is expensive. We replaced the Smith's - Bonnie and Byron. Last Sunday we found that they were best friends to my brother Paul and his wife Marolynn when they lived in Oregon. They are the ones that got Paul into raising dogs! Small world!!! But let me tell you a few interesting things. I will illustrate with some pictures. I wish I could have taken many more - but I was always in the back seat of the car and we were usually driving very fast so pictures were hard to get - plus as you pass by people they look right at you and I just get this feeling that they are offended - like taking pictures of animals in a zoo. So I will try to get a little brave as time goes by. I've been told that if you give them a "dash" (a little coin or two) they are more than willing to let you take their picture. Well I will try to do better in the future.

The temple compound is on Independence Avenue. As we travel Independence toward the airport trees line the middle of the street. They are beautiful but they are just filled with bats. Every limb has thousands of bats hanging from it during the day. I took a picture at dusk and you can see the bats flying - it will give you a feeling for how many bats reside in the trees - these bats are out of only one tree!

We had the priveledge of going to Oda last weekend. It was interesting as we got out of Accra (prounounced Akraw with a short a at the beginning), we traveled through a lot of land with villages now and then. But almost always we saw people walking the side of the road, carrying water on their heads. The picture is of 3 little boys carrying water. The people do not have water in their homes. They must go to a well at least twice a day to get water. Some of the pails we see are very large, but placed on the head and not one drop is lost among the grown women. Women and children carry the water. Men don't do this.

Everything is carried on the people's heads: loaves of bread, eggs, water, crackers, cooked turkey gizzards, material, papayas, just about anything. Many people survive simply by selling whatever they can and they always carry it on their heads. Nothing is carried in their hands - even little children are tied onto the mothers back. It's an amazing thing - they wrap the babies on with 2 yards of material than are wrapped around the body and twisted - not one knot! I will try to get a picture of this soon. Anytime we go out we see these scenes repeatedly - they are part of everyday life.

Many of the villages produce a commodity. There is the drum village - where almost every home has a drum factory out in front - these are outdoors - the wood is piled up and men are chopping and carving to get the shape of a drum. There are bead villages - where the women make colorful beads. There is a bread village where everyone sells bread that is made in the bakery in town. It sort of reminded me of the co-ops that Brigham Young set up in the 1870's in Utah.

But most villages are just a gathering of small wooden homes and a few larger stucco or adobe brick homes many with storefronts along the street. On the edge of the street are deep gutters - maybe 2-3 feet deep and a foot wide. If you loose control of your car you will high center in the gutter. I am told when that happens men in the village come running and lift your car out of the gutter. Again whatever anyone can sell, they will try as this may be their only souce of income - the people in the villages are very poor. Most make less than $150 a year! Those who live in the city and are educated can do well.


We live and work in the temple compound. We will be assigned a ward in a village to attend on Sundays, but as yet they have not extended the assignment. We are 30 steps from work and about 30 steps from the temple. In the morning we walk around the borders of the compound. I am finding it a little hard on my knees as it is all cement - so I may just work on doing exercises in the apartment until I get courage to walk outside our area.

We have met many wonderful African people. We have heard great stories of how people came in contact with the church and the miracles and changes in their lives. The gospel is wonderful because it refines people; it causes them to act kinder, to put away habits that only caused difficulties in their earlier lives, and to look to others instead of to themselves. It just puts smiles on peoples faces. It was an emotional Sunday for me as we visited the Kpong (Pong) Branch. There were problems with language - many women cannot understand English and in the villages there are many African languages. I could not help but think how wonderful things will be when we all pass through the veil and can understand one another-it will be a beautiful thing. The people here are so humble and gentle. Brother Momet that blessed the food at a home I was in began Our dearest, kindest Heavenly Father. It was so heartfelt, so sweet. We have a lot to learn from the people here.