A Phone Call From Ghana

The phone rang this morning about 8:50 am. It was an Elder Smith asking me how I was doing. Steve hadn't returned from the gym and so Elder Smith began asking all these questions. Turns out he did not know if we had received our call and whether we had accepted. He was trying to discover all of this through his questions without just saying it. Elder Smith was calling us from Ghana. He is the current Executive Secretary to President Snow of the Africa West Area. Elder Smith and his wife have served for one year in this calling and has been informed that he is going to be called as a Mission President. The First Presidency wanted him to return home and spend some time with his family before moving on to this new assignment..so he was pretty anxious to find out if indeed we were coming! (great to know that going home is a reality for him) I was just excited to be able to talk to someone in the field - I had a whole list of questions! A bit later his wife called, so by the time I had talked to both of them I had all my questions answered.

We will be living in the apartments next to the temple, The apartments have air conditioning, high speed internet, a television, and a king side bed!! Well the bed alone made my day - I was dreading trying to sleep in a queen size bed. All our sheets and towels are supplied --we are just steps away from the area offices and the temple. I just felt the blessings being poured upon us. I am so excited to go! We are assigned to wards outside our area on Sunday - and that will be good because that is where we will get to interact with the saints of Africa. I found that a dress can be made for about $20 (I just buy the material and have a dressmaker come to measure me and sew it up - they use a lot of cotton batiks and linens) - so I do not need to worry about clothes. All the sister missionaries wear sandals and NO nylons - HURRAY! The temperatures range from 85-100 with 90% humidity - but we live and work in air conditioning - so most of the time we live in comfort. We will have a car and they will issue us cell phones.

There are 8 missionary couples that work in the offices and temple and they regularly do things together - like get together for dinner and go to the temple. Steve and I will be in the office almost all of the time - he will not be traveling much and we will be working together reviewing missionary applications from the elders in Africa. I'm sure there are other duties - but that was specifically mentioned.

We just have to pinch ourselves (but not the left arm please! - I had 5 shots yesterday - Steve, 4) every now and then - we feel so blessed to have been called on such a wonderful assignment. We are working all day everyday to try to get everything ready. We were told by Elder Smith that we would need a visa - the question was more like: "Do you have your visas?" "Visas, what visas?" No one had mentioned a visa to us. After we hung up we called the Missionary Travel Office who told us they had mailed us our papers yesterday. So we spent all day getting those things which we needed for our visa - an international drivers license for both of us, 24 passport pictures each, our driving record from the DMV and tomorrow we will pick up our Police Record from the Police Department.

Each day seems to be like that! We knock off a few things off our list and we end up adding almost as many tasks as we completed. I have yet to put Christmas away or unpack my bags from when I returned from Utah. Soon things will calm down....at least I hope!

The Call: Accra, Ghana

The call arrived in our mailbox in Nevada about 2:30 pst on Thursday, January 17.
After failing at booking a flight to Salt Lake because of the Sundance Film Festival, Steve jumped into his little car, call in hand, and drove 6 hours, arriving at our daughter Heather's home about 10pm. We were gathered: Jon and Jess, Beckham and Ira, Heather and Steve and new baby Brooklyn (their older children were fast asleep), and Robyn and Matt (her new husband) and myself. Steve gave me a hug and handed me the envelope. I carefully tore it open and pulled out the packet - the call for Steve was on top - my eyes skipped down to the name of the mission and I covered my face with my hands in shock - then read Accra, Ghanna. Your assignment will be the Executive Secretary to the West Africa Area President. What an honor for Steve to be able to serve in such a position. I wondered what would I be doing? I quickly found my call which stated that I was called to the same place to work in the West Africa Area offices to support office staff. It was a sweet experience. I have read much on Africa and the church in the Church News, in one book I read many years ago and in Meridian Magazine. I have been enriched by the art from Africa that has come to the Museum of Church History and Art in the competitions and in other exhibits through the years. I have listened to the documentary history of the church in Africa on KBYU many times - it has always touched my heart to hear of these saint's stories, and their faith. I think deep inside I have longed to witness the church in Africa first hand, but never felt I would be able to because of the pacemaker which keeps my heart ticking. So I was thrilled with the call and feel very blessed when I think of the experiences that will come to us in the next year and a half. We called in as requested to find that what they wanted us to know was that they would like us to fly (at out expense) to Johannesburg, Germany, or England twice a year for my pacer checks. The phone call was not to explain more about our call and we are filled with so many questions that may never be answered until we experience life in Ghana first hand. We report to the MTC February 11th! There is a lot to do before then, but we are very excited to serve the Lord in Africa.

Patience: The Saga of the Call Continues

Last week we got a phone call from the mission department wanting my pacemaker information - brand, model, etc. The brother who called is an acquaintance of Steve's from when we lived in Maryland. He leaked to me that they had a rather special calling in mind for us - but of course that was all he could say. So we've been anxiously awaiting the call. But instead of an envelope we got another phonecall - which we missed - so more accurately we received a voice mail. We were told the call had been made and would be mailed today; that we were not to delay opening it; and that we needed to call in to the missionary department when we opened it to get some more explanation regarding our call! So we continue to be in suspence, and very curious...we'll let you know the ending or maybe the beginning of this story as soon as we hear. Meanwhile we are "on pins and needles!

A Call From Salt Lake

Today was an interesting day. Steve and I woke at 4am to go to the airport to catch a flight to Utah. It was delayed because the de-icing chemicals had not arrived at the airport (Salt Lake had a massive snow storm on the 20th and morning of the 21st) and they did not want planes coming in that they might not be able to get out of the airport - so we waited and waited. Then we heard an announcement that Southwest was being lent de-icing chemicals from Delta. And immediately another announcement that it was snowing and the plane would be delayed for another hour.

Why do I mention all of this - well sometimes I think things happen for a reason. We finally gave up and decided we would not wait any longer to get on the plane. The decision was made to return home and drive up on Sunday (Steve has tickets to the BYU game on Saturday). So we called family and friends in Utah to let them know we would not arrive until Sunday.

We stopped on the way home for breakfast and then went home and fell into bed. Both of us were living on only 4 hours of sleep and were exhausted. I slept for 3 hours and felt much better when I woke. Steve woke at about the same time, but went back to try to sleep some more.

Then the phone rang. "Is this the Shipley home?" "Yes" "Are you Sr. Shipley?" "Yes" "The is the missionary department in Salt Lake" (I held my breath thinking maybe they wanted us to come to SL for an interview or something!!! Funny me!) Sr. Baty (that's a long a) informed me that they had received our papers and were reviewing the medical information. They asked me if Steve had had a Stress Test. Now way back to last June when we had our missionary physicals, Steve came home with his filled out - when I looked at them I noticed that his doctor had not required a stress test - nor any immunizations. (Steve and I took care of our immunizations at the health department here in Clark County last August and September.) He told me with a grin that his doctor thought maybe the missionary department wouldn't notice the stress test thing - after all he had one 5 years ago and it was fine......I thought that I would have been much more at peace knowing a current stress test was normal. Anyway the papers are now in "hold" mode until Steve's doctor faxes a letter saying he does not feel Steve needs a stress test OR that he has Steve take a new one. Sr. Baty did say that the only indication that one should be taken was Steve's age.

It was amazing to us that the Missionary Department not only received our papers but were already reviewing them!!! (even on the day of a massive snow storm) With Christmas next Tuesday we didn't expect they would be noticed till the end of next week or after the New Year.

The doctor did not return Steve's call today - so it may be a week or so before we get this little glitch solved. But had we left for Salt Lake this morning we would not have received the phone call. A Tender Mercy? Coincidence or Design?

The Step

Sunday, December 16
Today Steve and I had our interview with our Stake President. He submitted our mission papers electronically - its a new age! I feel much like the picture above - we are stepping into the unknown.

It is a step of faith. Faith that we will be able to handle whatever challenge is presented to us, faith that our children's families will be able to meet their trials without our presence, faith that financially we will be taken care of. Life is never stagnant - there are always changes. We know while we are away, changes will take place in our extended families. We trust that the Lord will bless our children and grandchildren for our service. We have had to step into the dark hoping for light other times in our lives: When we made the decision to have children even though we had lots of schooling ahead of us. When we accepted a position in Cody, Wyoming postponing graduate school. When we borrowed money one year so that we could say we were full tithe payers. When we decided not to buy a home in Virginia (where WE wanted to live) and lost $5000 because of that decision, trusting the Lord would guide us to where HE wanted us to live. When we moved to Utah, even though Dad was offered a job in California. When we choose not to accept a position in Beverly Hills, and trusted our instincts to stay in Utah. Over and over we have trusted the guidance given to us by the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father has never failed us. Our lives have been richly blessed in all of the years - we have never wanted for our needs, Dad's career took off in paths we never dreamed, and each of our moves brought blessings into our lives. We trust that this new step will again allow us to see the hand of the Lord.

We are excited. We are ready to work. I suppose by my birthday we shall know where and what we will be doing.