Everyday, An Adventure in Africa

It has been quite a week. Monday we did our grocery shopping - it took about 4 hours to go to all the grocery stores: Koala, MaxMart and Shoprite. We decided we would eliminate Shoprite except for maybe once a month. It is at the new mall and it is just crazy getting in and out of there and very CROWDED. Saturday is NOT a day to go to the mall. Monday was a holiday and so also a mistake - but it was our P-day and our cupboards were getting bare. The first time we went to Shoprite by ourselves was on a Saturday and it took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot!!! There is one entrance to the parking lot and one exit. Ghanaian are in desperate need of a traffic engineer. Monday it took us about 15 minutes to get out of the lot - not too bad - but not to our liking. Monday we got an email from the MTC President inviting us to speak at the Missionary Devotional on Thursday of this week! Elder Cardon of the Area Presidency recommended us since all of the Area Presidency were out of town on their way to conference (all but 1 which I will explain later). I was a bit in panic mode - we were taking the place of a general authority on the speaking schedule at the MTC!! But I calmed down and thoughts began to pour into my head. Elder Shipley on the other hand said 5 minutes after we received the email he received strong confirmation from the spirit of what he was to say and that this was the Lord's will. Wednesday we made a dry run to the MTC which is not in Accra but in Tema - we wanted to make sure we knew the way before Thursday. Coming back we saw a big oil tanker truck broken down on the middle lane of Independence Avenue, the main highway into Accra. When a car breaks down they put branches on the road to let you know you are coming up to an obstacle. It remained there for 3 days. They repaired it in the road - it had dropped it's transmission. Friday it was gone.

Wednesday night we drove President Snow and his wife to the airport to catch their flight to Salt Lake. A few hours later we drove Elder Cardon and his wife to the airport to catch their flight - we arrived home about 10:30pm.

Thursday we went to Tema to the MTC. There were 24 missionaries in the MTC. When we arrived they formed a semicircle and we shook hands with each one of them. I made it a point to pronounce each name and asked each where they were from. I was amazed to find about 8 or more from Liberia. About the same number from Nigeria, a few from Ghana, about 4 from the US.They will go to one of nine missions in the West Africa Area: Sierra Leone Freetown Mission (includes Liberia), Ghana Cape Coast, Accra Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire Abigan, Nigeria Aba, Nigeria Enugu, Nigeria Lagos East, Nigeria Lagos West, Nigeria Port Harcourt, Nigeria Calabar. Elder Shipley noticed that two were from the same ward. He asked the second one if he knew the first. He said, "Yes, he's my brother." His companion said, "He'syour brother?!

Steve writing now: Most of the countenances of the missionaries shown brightly. There were one or two who were very quiet and one who wouldn't meet my eyes. I held his hand in a handshake until he had to look up. One of the U.S. missionaries was conducting for the day. Sister Harmon, the MTC mom played the piano. After the prayer, a trio sang a hymn--then Marian was on. She was scheduled for 15 minutes but only took 12. She did a great job, giving advice from our children to missionaries entering the field. She spoke of the type of men and women they could be if they put their lives in God's hand. It was their choice to become a Man of God or a Woman of God. She told them that following the gospel: faith, repentance, baptism (sacrament, temple), the Holy Ghost, and Enduring would bring them to becoming a Man (Woman of God) and that these principles had to be repeated every week of their lives. They were not learning Preach My Gospel just to teach others but to internalize it themselves.

My assignment was to speak on obedience and honesty. I had developed a powerpoint presentation for the Area Presidency on that subject. When it is polished, the intent is to present it to our Area Seventy, have them present it to the Stake Presidents, then to Bishops. On the other track, the Area Presidency will present it to the Mission Presidents and the MTC president, who will teach it to the missionaries. This was a trial run. I felt, however, that we had to discuss the reasons for obedience and honesty. I focused on Mosiah 18:26 which explains the rewards or payment for Church service--that being the grace of God. We then reviewed page 697 of the Bible Dictionary and agreed that grace meant "enabling power." We reviewed D&C 88:78 and how this enabling power is given. We agreed that God knows our thoughts and they must be clean to receive enabling power. I discussed how I had received progressed in receiving this power in my life, as a missionary, member, bishop, stake president etc. I said I had such a long way to go. Two days before I had been praying for the Spirit and for my children and grandchildren and that I would be able to magnify my calling. We agreed those were pretty good things to pray for. I stated that in the Area Presidency meeting later that same day one of our General Authorities gave the invocation and prayed for revelation and the spirit of prophecy. We then reviewed D&C 93:12-13 and agreed all of us had a long way to go and we needed to be obedient, honest and clean to receive all that Heavenly Father wants us to have. The powerpoint presentation was given next. We closed by talking bout D&C 84:33-38 then discussed Hynm #185.

The Spirit was very strong--much more than I deserved. Elder Golden later asked how our talks went. He wasn't surprised that they went well. He asked me who had assigned us to speak, I said a General Authority. He said, yes, that is correct and because we were on specific assignment, we had the right to the same blessings they would have. Makes sense to me. God can really use us for His purposes if we'll allow Him to do so.

After we made it back from Tema, at 5:30pm we picked up Elder Golden, his wife, and his daughter (he is also a member of the Area Presidency) to take to the airport. Now we were in charge of the Area Office...a strange feeling - any emergency and we would have to deal with it. At 1am Friday morning we received a call from Elder Golden - their plane had computer problems and did not take off. So at 1am we went to leave for the airport. We got to the gates of the compound and found them chained. So we buzzed security and they finally came and unchanged the gate then went back to the gatehouse to open the gate and off we went. We got to bed about 2am.

Friday we woke up to no air conditioning (not fun in 90% humidity). Our apartment was 27 degrees Celsius. I called Eric who came to fix it. He serviced the air conditioner and said nothing was wrong in our units, that it must be the outside unit. I got to work at 10:30. At noon Eric called needing the keys - I went over and let him in. He had about 5 men with him - he then explained that he called a professional company in to deal with the problem. Elder Shipley and I had an emergency to take care of so I left the keys with him. When I came back they had put two portable air conditioning units in our apartment - I believe they are like swamp coolers - we have to empty water out of them every 3 hours. It seems we will have these until Wednesday of next week until they can get the parts to fix our air conditioner. We had company for dinner at 4:30. At 6:15 everyone left for the temple except us.

After our friends left, we sat around waiting for the call to pick Elder Golden and his family up to go to the airport again. At 10pm we were told to come. We dropped them off, waited to make sure the plane was going to go then headed for home. At 2am we got a call that the plane was not going to leave AGAIN. I felt so bad for them. We waited until we got another call at 2:30am saying they had got their luggage off the plane. So off to the airport again to pick them up and take them home. When we walked out of our apartment building we found all the saints from Cote D'Ivore who had come to the temple this week. When we returned about 3:45am from taking the Golden's to their home these wonderful people with all their children were still outside. Some packed in the tros tros (pronounced Tro Tros- the people's bus transportaion) and some just sitting on the planters and steps on the outside of the temple. They would be looking at a good 8-10 hour journey home. Their love of the temple and their faith in the Lord is incredible. And we complain of a 45 minute drive in Las Vegas!

The Golden's were told thier plane would leave at noon .Elder Shipley and I were to go up to the lake here in Ghana with a group of missionary couples at 7;30am. We had to cancel out so we would be able to take the Golden's back to the airport at 9:30am. At 9am we received a call from Elder Golden. He had called travel in Salt Lake and they told him he could not go on the early flight as he would need to stay overnight in Frankfurt, and he had no visa for Germany (he is from S. Africa). Bottom line they are now leaving tonight and will travel on Sunday making connections to Salt Lake - not ideal, but a necessity.We hope we can get them to the airport and still make it to "Aniie" at the National Theater. One of our church employees has a daughter in the cast. It should be fun to see Annie with an African cast!

Like we say, Everyday is an adventure in Africa!

Literacy: The African Challenge

Learning English is the task of many of the African people. Those who went to school learned some, but so many of the older (35+) did not have the opportunity for school. Just recently the government here declared school would be free to the children. Previously many children were unable to pay for school. If there was any money for school, the boys were sent. Girls stayed home and learned homemaking skills and might have sold goods on the streets. The women in particular do not know how to read. There ability to read English and to attend school is their ticket out of poverty. It is also the key to growing strong faithful members in the church. A person who cannot read their scriptures has a difficult time learning how the Lord works in peoples lives and what the prophets have told their people of Christ.

Ghanians are religious at heart. They want to please and desire baptism. The problem is they would easily be baptised without knowing anything about the gospel. At one time that is what we did. But the missions recognized the need to teach the people about Christ, about faith, about repentence, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the end. The people need to be taught the plan of salvation to understand the committment they make to Christ when they are baptized.

A similar challenge arises when trying to nourish their faith. Dialects in Africa run in the hundreds, maybe thousands. It is too costly to try to translate the scriptures in all the dialects here and so to grow in faith, light and truth, the people need to be able to read and understand English.

The Literacy program was born out of these needs. It began about 6 months ago. It is taught on Sundays, during Sunday School and Relief Society, and generally it is taught 2 other days of the week. Those competent with the English language in the wards teach the others. The pictures you see were taken during a training session for the facilitators (teachers) in this stake. There were about 12 present. I came to observe. It was an interesting day. I learned a lot about teaching English as a second language.

Grandma's Eggs

My grandchildren have been dying Easter eggs. I thought they would like to see my eggs. They are always brown. Grandpa and I buy eggs at the grocery store or at the fruit and vegetable stand. They are never refrigerated. We bring them home and wash them in a solution of water with a small bit of Clorox and let them sit in that water for 2 minutes. We then take them out and dry them and put them in a container in the fridge. When I use them in cakes or cookies I cannot lick the bowl - anything with raw eggs can make us very sick - so I reluctantly (because I love uncooked batter!) keep my fingers out! Once the eggs or egg batter is cooked it is all right to eat. The heat kills any bacteria.

Today is Easter. The people in Ghana do not celebrate with Easter eggs and baskets like we do, though I did see some candy eggs in one of the grocery stores - Western civilization is trying to take hold here in Accra.(prounouced a-Kraw with a short a at the beginning and emphasis on Kraw)) Most people cannot afford to celebrate lavishly with their children. Each day is a day of survival for many - how do I find food, will I earn enough to feed my family. Many others are more well to do and could do these things if they choose.

Easter is about the Savior here. Our Sacrament Meeting centered on talks about Jesus: His resurrection and His atonement for mankind. It was in a way refreshing...and yet I love watching the smiles and the laughter of my grandchildren hunting for eggs in the grass and the bushes. That mind picture will have to wait 2 years for reality!

The Chicken Coup School, a welfare project

Sometimes we wonder where our dollars go that are contributed to the humanitarian fund listed on church donation slips. Many good and great things are done with that money to bless peoples lives. The beautiful thing is that all the money goes to help people. The personnel who administer the funds are all missionaries doing volunteer service. Our friends the Knudsens and the Binghams are some of those missionaries.

In West Africa one of the projects was to help a school in the small village of Kusi. The village of Kusi has no running water or electricity and the dwellings are very basic. ( however not the mud huts seen in many villages during the 3 hour drive from Accra to Kusi)

The only place available for a school in the village of Kusi was a large chicken coup. David Awuku wanted to teach school and a local farmer wanted his children to attend school, so the farmer donated his chicken coup for a school in 2005. The outside of the building is cement and there is a cement floor inside the coup and windows were added to the outside walls and the inside is divided into 6 areas which are used now as classrooms. The rooms are divided by, what else, chicken wire. Therefore, the lessons in one classroom can easily be heard in the others. One section at the back of the school is used as a kitchen with a coal fire pit and a large black pot for cooking lunch for the children. ( you can see the bonku which is like a heavy dumpling made of corn flour and plantains.)

There are 275 students and 14 of them are orphans which live on the premises. You can imagine the noise with all those open classrooms. The teachers each held a switch in their hand and we saw one student get his hand hit with the switch. ( is that why the students are well behaved?) The teachers are inovative. Bottle caps are used to teach math. No calculators here!

LDS Charitites donated the school desks and recently a mill for the community. The community members can bring their corn and beans to the mill and for 20 cents have it milled into flour. The flour is used to make food for their family and food to sell. The earnings from their sales comprise their income. The miller gets one dollar a day and any extra money goes to the school teachers who before were working only for room and board.

The school children noticed that they could see their reflections in the car door of the LDS Charities missionary couple, so they entertained themselves making faces and posing in front of the car. (Girls and Boys look alike - all with shaved heads. The girls can be identified by their pierced ears). Then they discovered if they wiped off the red dirt ( caused by the dirt roads) they could see themselves even better. Many handprints were left on the car along with some names written in the lingering dirt.

Community members expressed their appreciation for the mill and the ability to support their families with the flour milled for them.

Sunday's Adventure

Sunday we went to church with Elder and Sr. Bingham. This is in a ward where they are doing some experimentation under the authority of the Brethern.

Sunday School was divided into two classes, as well as the investigator class and the Literacy class (learning English). The ward has been divided into "pods" (I think they have another name for it) - these are neighborhood groups. At home it would be like organizing groups by the street you live on. These groups have a leader - a ward mission leader who works with the people in his area. He visits them regularly, gets to know them well, helps them with any needs, invites them to FHE, encourages them to do their family history work, and become worthy to attend the temple. So in Sunday School, one group of "pods" was sent to the RS Room and the other stayed in the chapel. We elected to watch this process and stayed in the chapel. The class consisted of families and was taught by the Bishop. I'm assuming the other class was taught by his counselor (his only counselor).

The Bishop was a great teacher. In school the ghanian people I was told after church are taught to learn by rote - so when he or someone else said something important the Bishop had everyone repeat it. I have seen this on TV with some ministers (so I kind of chuckled inside - not knowing at the time that this was how the people learn over here). Our lesson was on 2nd Nephi 26-29. The Bishop told of getting a wedding invitation and how honored he was. He then compared it to the Book of Mormon which he said was an invitation given to us to Come Unto Christ. We used 2nd Nephi 26:24-33. The twenty-fifth verse reads: "Behold doth he cry unto any saying Depart from me? Behold I say unto you Nay; but he saith Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.....He hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance. ...all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden." They felt they were literally a fulfillment of this scripture. He then talked about laboring for Zion and not for money. He pulled out some tithing envelopes from his pocket that he had received that day. He said, "Do I labor for these?" "No these are not for me." "These are for Zion...I labor for Zion not for money." The Bishop in our church (in fact no one who labors in the ward) receives any wages or compensation --only spiritual blessings. All have regular jobs that support their family.

Some of the youth participated, but most of the children just listened - I did notice many of the children marking their scriptures as points were made. I asked several of the youth afterward if they liked having SS class with their family or if they wished they could have it with their friends who were their same age. Everyone of them said "We like it with our family best."
I think its interesting because they get to hear the opinions of their parents and others in the class. How often do we talk in depth about our feelings of the gospel to our children. I remember when I was old enough to attend gospel doctrine with my parents and I discovered my father was a great scriptorian and loved to talk about the scriptures. He never talked to us at home about them. Hopefully we have scripture reading with our children daily and talk a little about how we feel.

After SS I attended Young Women. All of girls 12-17 are combined for class. They are beautiful girls. They radiate the Spirit of the Lord. I told my grandsons the other night on Skype that it is hard to tell the girls from the boys when they are little as their hair is very short and they look alike except the girls have pierced earings. Usually when the girls graduate from school they grow their hair out. You can see in the picture that some of them have elected to grow it out before graduation. The second picture is of two in class (I think there was another girl) who were in Ghanian dress.

In class we talked about the fact that they were choice Children of God and we spoke of how we need to live for Christ by obeying His commandemnts. They were asked what is hard for them. Not unlike the youth in US, what was hard was dressing modestly when invited to parties and keeping the word of wisdom when all their friends and some of their relatives drink and do not understand why they do not. It again re-affirmed to me that we are not that different.

The Accra Ghanna Batik Factory

One of the charms of Ghanian women is their brightly colored clothing - usually made of batik prints. I love watching the women in their dress. They are over-whelmingly modest - long skirts and tops that have sleeves. The women are very beautifully dressed.

I recently went to the Batik Factory here in Ghana. The process is done the same as it has been done for hundreds of years. White fabric is marked with wax and then died with dies made of plants (but I think today they use commercial dyes). Then more wax is applied and then more dyes. The results are beautifully color fabrics that are made into dresses, skirts with matching tops, and housecoats or mumu type dresses to wear in the house - I don't know what they call them here. Skirts for little girls here are called skits (they cannot or do not pronounce the "r's". The batik material is also used to make men's shirts. I love the Ghanian clothes, yet I watch the youth and they are more and more adopting the "American or Western" style of clothing. It's sad because they are loosing their Ghanian identity by doing this.

The first picture you see here is of the men laying the finished fabric on the rocks to dry. Next you will see a plain piece of white fabric that is stamped with it's first wax impression. The next picture is a lady preparing the dyes. Another is of a man stirring the fabric in the dye and then stirring the fabric in very hot water to melt the wax. Next a man who is stamping the next wax pattern on a piece of material that has already been dyed once.

It is amazing to see this done and realize the process and the materials have not changed for a very long time. I love looking at fabric and have bought several pieces, and hopefully soon I will become an adopted Ghanian!

The Cake

The first day we moved into our apartment, Steve moved everything up and I unpacked. He went back to work while I continued to put things in their place. He came home for a small break and said, "I was just hoping it would be like the movies, and I would come home, everything would be in it's place and a hot meal would be on the table waiting for me when I got home."

Well how could I not try to please my "prince charming". I had no way or time to prepare a hot meal, but I thought, I will at least bake a cake. After he left, I mixed up a cake mix and went to set the oven temperature. To my amazement and puzzelment the degrees on the dial started at 70 and went to 240. Eek! What do I do? I turned the dial all the way up, put the cake in the oven, ran down to the laundry room to put a load in the washer, came back to smell something burning in our apartment. I quickly opened the oven door to find a black topped flat cake and smoke pouring out of the oven. It was then that I finally put on my thinking cap and realized the degrees were probably celcius. Well I knew that the speed limits are 120km/hr - meaning about 60 miles an hour so I decided celcius must be about the same ratio. I stuck a knife in the cake to find the batter under the char broiled top was still wet, so I closed the oven door and turned the temperature down to just over 150 degrees. It baked for 40 minutes, rose up and was just fine for eating except for the top. That night we had lemon cake, ice cream on top with berries! YUM!! Lessons were learned! It was another adventure in Africa.