Ghana Gazette

This is one of the two boats we took out on a little trip down at a resort known as Ada - while it looks like it should be poled or paddled, it has a little outboard motor on it and it took us on an hour tour of this area where the Volta River enters the Atlantic Ocean.









On the trip we passed a little family going from point A to point B - but you'll notice they have their pots and nets and most paticularly the little boy boy sitting on moma's lap waving for all he is worth, and the little baby firmly secured on moma's back - sleeping away as happy as a bug in a rug. Contrast their poverty withthe mansion in the background which is a week end home for some very rich people from Accra.
Here is an example of the fancy fishing boats that we found in the area - they actually use them and take them out on the large waves of the Atlantic ocean to fish
The main attraction there is a boat ridge which we took - boat looks like it should be paddled or poled, but it had a little outboard motor on it which took us around the inlet area - but not without a little in tour bailing that had to be done by one of the locals who came with us on the ride - although the bailing will limited and not an emergency, I still don't like being out on the water when it gets on the wrong side of the boards!!












Right next door to the hotel is a little fishing village with many extremely colorful boats which it appears are used daily for fishing ventures out onto the ocean. This picture shows a couple of boats and the grasshuts that the locals live in.

Elder and Sister Didier - he is one of the seven presidents of Seventy - comes originally from Belgium - and his wife - Soeur Lucy Lodome (now Didier) was a sister missionary in the French Mission at the same time I served my mission there. I knew of her - probably met her at the Versailles Conference which was a Mission Wide Conference, but the whole mission was buzzing about one of the Sister missionaries going home to marry one of the newest leaders in Belgium. I'm not sure she remembered me, but we had a pretty good visit about old times in France.
This is Elder Uchtdorf - one of the two newest apostles chosen and his wife Harriet- they are originally from Germany and a wonderful couple - so easy to visit with and be instructed by. He was a airline pilot for Luftansa Airlines (I believe) - and still looks like you would think and want a captain of 747 to be.
Elder Uchtdorf came out to the MTC for a quick tour Saturday afternoon before the seminar. He was able to shake hands with several of the missionaries again - we had already had that experience Friday when we drove into Accra to listen to him speak to the Accra Mission - Elder Didier didn't visit us - Monday was a leisure trip down to Ada and rather than wear shirt and tie, he wore a very casual outfit, and upon returning didn't feel he was appropriately dressed to visit either the MTC or the missionaries. All the mission Presidents stopped off on the way back and those receiving missionaries from this group were able to meet them and visit with them for a few minutes.
Of special note with these two brethern - we were taught Tuesday by Elder Uchtdorf with his german accent and Wednesday by Elder Didier with his french accent - very refreshing. Elder Didier has served many years as a general authority and Elder Uchtdorf (if my information is correct) is the first Apostle who was a convert to the church and not born into the church.

The picture is quite small - one of the public affairs people took it without focusing it a little closer - however, we are all in the picture and what a great break it was. Brother Engmann was willing to stay over at the MTC a couple nights so we could attend for two and a half of the days - we had to get back for the farewell devotional on Wednesday. We did keep this group of missionaries one extra day so they could go home with their mission presidents on Thursday. Anyway;, just for the sake of clarifying, here are the people in the picture: Backrow (L to R)- us (MTC), Evans (Lagos), Ounleus (Ivory Coast), Gays (Accra), Dyrings (Ibadan), Garfs (Enugu), Stones (Port Harcourt), Brockbanks (Uyo), and Dils (Cape Coast). Front Row:(L to R): Pres/Sister Cardon (Area Presidency), Elder/Sister Didier (one of the seven Presidents of Seventy), Elder/Sister Uchtdorf(Apostle), Pres/Sister Snow (Area Presidency), Pres/Sister Olikani (Area Presidency). It was a thrilling experience to be tutored by the leaders and to meet the new presidents that we hadn't met before - they are a very impressive and dedicated group of people.

This is Ransford...our CHIEF farmer...he has a cocoa farm...where he grows bananas, oranges and cocoa. He brought us some wonderful banans the other day and now a cocoa pod...which is very interesting...the cocoa beans(?)are covered with a white gooey membrane that you can suck off..and it is very sweet. The government buys the pods...drys and ginds the cocoa buds and markets the cocoa powder. Ransfords hobby is keeping the MTC super clean and orderly. His hobby provides the education fund for his children.... He is a good man.











This is our office board where we display our current missionaries photos...that is our hardest assignment to try and get a smile out of these great missionaries...it is definitely not a cool thing to do in Africa...smile for a photo. It seems that we just get everyone posted on our board...( which has recently had a face lift)and 16 days fly by and we take them down. We are looking to extend the time here from 16 days to 19 days...which is the program at every other international MTC.

Sister Sarah Minah - a missionary in the Congo from Sierra Leone - sister to Elder Minah - they were our second and third missionaries who came to the Congo to learn French and be missionaries - how exciting it was for us then (1999), but how much more exciting now to be able to see her again. She and her husband came to the Ghana temple to be sealed and we were able to meet them and visit with them Saturday before they went home. We would have made the effort to be at the sealing had we known, but as of now having family or visitors isn't really a high priority with the Africans - they just come and have the ordinances performed - many times just by themselves. Sarah is now a French teacher in Sierra Leone (Bo) - still has her welcome smile, and is now so happy that President Nielson didn't let her go back home rather than learn French. We didn't think we would ever have a chance to see some of these great missionaries again in this lifetime - how exciting it is.

Peace and quiet and attentive and just generally wonderful - this was our pre-Hallowed-Eve group that arrived the day before Hallow'een. The previous group were a fairly boistrous bunch - had several whose voices just carried like they would on a soccer field - so it was very nice to get this group that were a little more reserved and quiet. Of special note with this group was one Elder Fofannah who was scheduled to go to South Africa on his mission, but due to some sort of delay or overlook or unawareness - He did not have a visa - so he came to our MTC to have his training and will continue on to South Africa when the visa is available. Anyway, this group has 28 great missionaries in it - coming to us from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. We continue to see a good representation of Sisters coming to the MTC - they do add a bit of special spirit here and we appreciate them being willing to serve.