It’s hard to believe that we are coming upon our 6th
month here in Ghana. The time does go
very fast when we are so busy.
Nevertheless, we are still enjoying serving here and being with such
great people. It thrills us to hear the
sweet testimonies of these wonderful young missionaries from all over the world. Most of them are from Africa, but we do get a
few from other places too.
The weather continues much the same and the days are
warm, but the skies are cloudy due to the dust clouds that blow from up north
in the continent. This will continue
until the rains come and clean out the skies.
It is warm, but not too hot. It
helps to have air conditioning. All in
all, it isn’t too uncomfortable, and we try to get out and walk every day to
enjoy the fresh air.
January
2015 MTC Update
The sun rises everyday at the same time, 6AM and sets
at 6PM. I took these pictures out of our
apartment window, a few minutes to 6 in the morning. After a few minutes, voila, up comes the
sun.
We also have some
interesting creatures. Can you see this
one?
We did have an enjoyable holiday with our missionaries
and other senior missionaries. This is
one of our last groups of the year, just prior to them leaving for their
mission fields.
The Robison’s friend
Heidi, who visited us once before, came again.
She is a delightful person and has her own business, so she can schedule
her trips when she wants to. She is lots
of fun and the instructors love her too.
She held a New Year’s Party in her apartment, and boy did they have a great time. We also were able
to do a little sightseeing with her, and that is always nice.
We have a devotional with an area authority, on a
regular basis and really enjoy hearing their words of wisdom.
One more devotional and they were
ready to graduate from the MTC and get to work.
One of
our challenges is learning to pronounce some of their names. This is especially true of those from
Madagascar. Try to pronounce this one.
Who says that we work them hard? But it pays off in the end.
A final farwell party the night
before they are off to their mission destinations all over Africa. This is our Oreo picture.
We grow to love them big or small. They are special!!
While Heidi was here, we took her out
to see the sights. We always enjoy the
names on the little market booths. This
is a Christian country and that is nice.
Occasionally, we go out to eat at a local restaurant,
with other senior couples, who are always fun to be with. This is one of the best restaurants for
pizza.
Of course, with Heidi visiting, we have a good excuse
to eat at the Robison’s apartment. Dr.
Hill and Sister Hill joined us. What
wonderful people!
One of the excursions with Heidi, was the local bead
making factory. They take old bottles
and recycle them by pounding them by hand, into powder. Then they put them into forms for beads, and
bake them in special handmade, mud ovens.
Next they paint them by hand.
They turn out surprisingly pretty.
Can you imagine, how tedious it is to paint all these
by hand? They do turn out beautiful.
Just so you don’t think that
the Africans aren’t techy, look at the age that they start their kids to learn
to use a cell phone.
During January, the temple is closed for several
weeks, so we have less missionaries arriving for that short time. The interesting thing about this incoming
group is that almost half of them are sisters.
What a blessing!
It doesn’t take long before we come to love them and
they come to love each other, no matter where they are from or where they are
going. That is what this is all about,
to spread the love of Jesus Christ and His Gospel to others, but it has to
start with ourselves. We see a lot of
growth among the missionaries while they are here. Some are learning a language, and that is a
challenge in and of itself, and learning to get along together in harmony is
important. Some are the only members in
their family. Others have lost dear ones
just before coming into the field.
Before long, they are dear friends with each other. What a blessing to
get to know them.