Ghana Gazette

Here they are - 29 of the finest young men and young women you will ever meet, from a vast and varying variety of countries and cultures - all brought together for sixteen wonderful days of learning, interaction, and preparation. In this group we have 15 from Nigeria, 3 from the United States, 3 from the Ivory Coast, 2 from Tonga, 2 from Ghana, 1 from Sierra Leone, 1 from Liberia, and 1 from Uganda and 1 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mix in wetwo Canadiens and we have a regular United Nations - with emphasis on the first word - United. I am not certain where else you could mix that many different backgrounds, traditions, and ideas and still have love and unity - except it be done under the influence of the Spirit - which we definitely feel here. As we study the backgrounds of these young people, we read of having lost a parent, or in one case, both parents while yet quite young and being raised by other family members. We hear of one of our missionaries who was invited to leave home and never return because of his acceptance of the gospel - luckily, the family position softened before he left to come to the MTC and while not yet members, they are partially supportive of his decision to go unto the world to preach the gospel. Several of these young people have put aside studies and jobs, and feel the Lord wants them here at this time to help spread the gospel to this one of the four corners of the earth. Speaking of the four corners of the earth, our two Tongans - Elder Funaki and Elder Me'afo'ou had twenty-four hours added to their already excessively extended trip from Tonga to Ghana with a late plane from Australia and a resulting missed connection. When they arrived at the MTC, they were wearing clothes they had already worn for four days and to top it off, their baggage had not arrived with them - so it was a hasty washing of clothes while tired Elders slept, but thanks to Sister Nielson and the "Maytag" people - the Elders looked presentable and refitted the next morning for classes. Elder Imlah, from Portland knows well the road between the MTC and the airport as one of his bags got waylaid somewhere - five days later it arrived, but Elder Imlah had to go to the airport each time they checked because only he and his passport can claim the baggage - We have four french speaking Elders with us in the group - three from the Ivory Coast and one from the D.R. Congo - it has been so refreshing to hear their french, and see their comportment - Probably our two years teaching the gospel in French has something to do with our joy of hearing that language again. Extremely well prepared young men - they are going to be great missionaries. Our American missionaries are doing very well - learning of the cultural differences, eating the food prepared by Ghanians and carefully listening as the pronounciation difference between Americans and Africans is slowly being absorbed and understood. I can't always say the sleeping is going 100% - but they are adapting and being blessed because of it.

A small miracle did take place yesterday as we took the entire group to the Ghana Temple. Of the 29 missionaries, only 8 had attended a temple before, and so for the 21 others, it was to be their first time. Well, there we 3 sisters and 18 elders, of which 15 spoke English and 3 spoke French - none with their own clothing except the white shirt (and five of them needed long sleeve variety which the temple provided) - well to handle that variety of needs in a two hour frame and have them all prepared and ready to attend the appointed session (10:30) - our hats are off to President Gunnell and his temple staff and workers - as the session advanced I could hear whispering in my ears the words of a temple Presidency elsewhere wondering about the wisdom in trying to restrict the number of new patrons in any one session to just one male and one female! - Oh the blessings of willing and worthy workers - the spirit was not in any way lost or jeopardized - A small miracle took place.