October, 2014 Malmrose MTC

We have settled in to our routine here in the MTC.  We are kept very busy with our responsibilities.  We have seen several groups of missionaries come, get trained, and then leave for the mission field.  Our 6 week missionaries are learning a language, either French or English, so we get to know them better because they are here longer.  We are coming up on the time when they will be done with their training and ready and anxious to get out and get to work.

Along with our multiple duties to keep our missionaries happy and healthy, we get to attend many of their devotionals.  It isn’t unusual to be asked to come up and share our testimonies with them.  Sometimes, we sing to them.  At one of the devotionals, we sang a duet in French and when we were done, they broke out in loud applause that filled the room.  Now that’s a first for us at a Sunday meeting.  They are very enthusiastic in many ways and sing with gusto always. 

We were at the temple with our missionaries the other day, and we were waiting outside in the garden area for the others to come out.  Some of our missionaries came out to wait too, so they came over and said Hi to us.  One Elder shook my hand and then held it and looked into my eyes and said, “All of the missionaries really, really love you Sister Malmrose.”  I thought that was sweet.  I think they like to have someone they can talk with when they don’t feel well or are a bit homesick.  And that’s part of my calling.  Sometimes I get a little impatient, but when things like that happen, it makes it all worthwhile.

We have not minded the weather so far.  It is warm and humid, but not too bad.  They tell us that it will be warming up and should be quite hot by Christmas.  It is a bit weird to have the sun come up every day at 6 AM and set at 6 PM regularly.

So far, we have had good food and probably too much of it.  The sweet lady who runs the cafeteria here, often sends us up leftovers during the day.  We either eat it as it comes, or I make it into something else.  The people here are very kind and generous.  We don’t eat out often and are careful where, but occasionally we do go out and have pizza or something like that.  Fortunately, they have very good ice cream at the restaurants, so that makes Gerald very happy.

Here are a couple of pictures of several of our groups on devotional days when an area authority comes and meets the missionaries and gives them encouragement for the challenges ahead.  They always do a great job.

This is a picture of what they call the “man dress” that many of the natives wear around here.  It is comfortable to wear around the house, but they don’t wear them out in public.  Pres. Robison and Gerald are really getting into the African theme.  Ghana does have a Muslim population, so we do see women dressed with the head scarves, etc., but not too often.  One of our Relief Society counselors is a convert from the Islamic faith.

Another wonderful trip to the temple in Accra.

The end of the day at the temple.
The black elder on my right is rather interesting.  I was surprised when I started talking with him and he didn’t have an accent.  I said, “Where are you from Elder?” and he answered “Provo, Utah.  Ever heard of it?”  We do a lot of mix and match of cultures here.

Time flies by quickly for those who are here less than two weeks.  Before very long, they are ready to say goodbye to us and be out in the mission field putting their training into practice.

We usually have about 20% sisters in our groups.  They are quite the ladies, and we come to love them.

This Sister Olivarius is from Martinique going to Madagascar. She has a sweet personality as you can see by her smile.  She is a good friend of Yva Jean-de-Dieu who we knew well on our earlier mission in the French West Indies. 

Our Elders aren’t too bad either, even though most of them are a little tall.  Sometimes I feel like I am in a forest of tall trees.  Nevertheless, they are super nice young men, and we enjoy them greatly, even they are white “ebrunies”.

On the property of the MTC, is a ward building, so we get to see members from the wards coming and going from time to time.  It is neat to see them all dressed up in their Sunday best and coming as families should, to attend their meetings. 

We also have missionaries from the Ghana mission, who serve in those wards and on “P” day they will come and borrow the basketballs or soccer balls and play some sports.  The other day I looked out the window while I was doing dishes and saw them sitting around on the little wall around the soccer field, playing a guitar and singing, just for fun.  Well, I couldn’t resist;  so I went and got Gerald, and we went over and sang with them.  They handed me the guitar and were surprised that I could play it.  So, we gave them a duet and had a lot of fun being with them.  They are from the U.S., Pacific Islands, and Africa.  It’s fun to see how they get along so well.

Soon, we are sending another group off into the real world.  We hope we have done our job to help them be prepared in every way.  They have many challenges ahead, but we have faith in them.

The night before they leave the MTC, we always have a farewell get-together and just enjoy each other.  They often sing their favorite songs.  This missionary was great at playing the hymns, but he also could play honky-tonk and other fun piano tunes for us to sing along with.  What fun!

The stake that our MTC is in had a youth conference recently, and we were so glad to see such nice young folks attend in great numbers.  Boy, do they love to sing and dance too.  Must be part of the culture. I'm sure some of these are our future missionaries.

This is Dr. Kissi, who is an early pioneer in Africa for the Church.  He does the medical exams for those who serve in Ghana, so we get to see him regularly.  We were able to get a copy of the book that he wrote that gives the history of how the Church has developed and grown over the years.  We'll bring home a copy.  It is really interesting to see how much these people of faith went through in the early stages.  It must be gratifying for them to see the tremendous growth taking place now.

All in all, we work tirelessly, day in and day out, and never take a break.

Well,  almost never.

September at the Ghana MTC

It’s time for an update on our mission so far.  Our initial adjustment is pretty well done and we are getting into the life here quite comfortably.  The weather is still rather nice.  It occasionally rains, the sky is often overcast and the temperature isn’t too hot,.. yet.  We understand that will change with the dry season.  They tell us that it will be very warm around Christmas and January.  We’ll let you know when that happens.  We probably won’t have a white Christmas, in more ways than one J

We have been healthy, except for one week when we, along with others here, had a stomach virus of some sort.  It wasn’t too bad, and we got over it quickly.  We can’t really slow down much, because of the numbers of missionaries that need to be trained and into the mission field on time.  We are in the middle of the largest number of missionaries we have had here at one time.  We have over 90 missionaries.  Their intake day was wild with missionaries coming on and off all day and night.  But…we survived and they are all being trained now. Some are here for less than 2 weeks, while those learning a language are here for 6 weeks.  

Here are some interesting stats about MTCs around the world.

September departure preparation:
As the missionaries come to the end of their stay with us, they hold a going away party during their evening snack time.  We try to go down to say our goodbyes.  It is a casual but fun evening and includes a lot of hugging and singing.  This group includes missionaries from all over Africa, France and the United States.  But, we are all united in the family of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Malmrose and a few of his closest friends.  They are very shy, as you can see.

If we start to take a picture of a few of the missionaries, all of a sudden there are dozens more joining in.  Here is President Robison drowning in a sea of love.

These are pictures of a few of our “Elders”  at  the farewell just before they leave the next day or so.

September 9 Departure.  

This is the day their vans pulled out to take them to their mission fields all over Africa. Goodbye until we meet again.

September 24 temple trip:
 Preparation for a clean head before coming to the temple.

At the temple. 

   One of the joys of our mission is being able to go with these young folks to the temple in Accra.  This missionary was able to do some of the work for his family and he asked us to be proxy for his parents, so that he could be sealed to them.  After that, we called him “son”.

Now and again, we have to remind our friends, to get their long hair cut.

Gerald found a big bug on our office window:

The bug is not as beautiful as our flowers.

September 27 - Visit to Doctor

Our mission doctor Dr. Hill and his wife, come to the MTC regularly.  They give several lectures on health issues to encourage the missionaries to take good care of themselves.  These are some of the slides they show when they encourage them to take their meds.  They also give the immunizations that are required here.  They don’t much like to get their “shots”, but they all manage to get through it.  One of my main responsibilities is to set up those shot clinics ahead of time, so that it can be taken care of efficiently.

Elder Chibuisi eyelid injury:  On one occasion, after the doctor was done with his visit and had left the building, this Elder was injured playing “football”.  Fortunately, the doctor and his wife were only a few minutes from the MTC and he could come back and get the patient and take him back to his office, an hour away.  He was able to stitch up the cut and it turned out very well, much better than if we had to take him to a local hospital, I would guess.  There are no coincidences.

September 29 Departure.  
Preparing to “graduate” into the mission field. The three sisters in the front are from Madagascar and are super sweet gals.

They are all happy to be moving on and going to work for the Lord. What great experiences lie ahead for these young folks.

2nd Half of August, 2014

 Another Ghana Temple Trip.  

We go every other week with our new missionaries.  Some of them have been endowed before, but for many this is their first time.

   

Early Germany visit:

When we visited Duisburg, Germany, in the summer of 1986 on a work assignment, we attended the Duisburg ward sacrament meeting there.  It was testimony day, and a brother stood up and said goodbye to the ward.  At that time he was serving as a member of the Stake High Council.  He said that he felt inspired by the Lord that he needed to take his family to the Ivory Coast to bring the Gospel to them.  His wife then said her goodbyes and so did their two children.  This good brother was instrumental in Africa to help the church get established there.  He eventually became the first branch president, first district president and first stake president.  Now, many years later, he and his wife are serving in the Accra, Ghana Temple.  We were able to visit with them and tell them that we had heard their farewell talks back when they first thought of moving to Africa.  The church has grown a great deal in that time, and they were some of the very first pioneers. They are Phillipe and Annalies Assard.  

You can read their story in the following church history Ensign article at the following web site:   
Pioneers in the Ivory Coast

Missionaries Arrive: 

Our missionary arrivals come in waves as the different groups enter the MTC.  We have a very busy intake day when they arrive on and off during the day and evening hours according to their flight schedules.  They are checked in and then they are photographed and interviewed by president Robison and come to us for a medical review, measurements for temple clothes and other orientation materials.  It is a very tiring day for us but it gives us a chance to meet one to one with each of them.

It’s a busy but fun time to get acquainted.

Some of my brothers and me.

  

They come in all shapes and sizes.  

 He calls me grandma:

As the weeks progress, we do get a few lighter days and on those we try to get out to see the country.  The traffic is horrific and it amazes us that there aren’t more accidents.  Everyone just does their own thing with little regard for rules of the road.  The rule of the road here is survival of the fittest.  The society is a very polite and nice one except when driving, when it is push your way through or you’ll never get in.  So far, Elder M. hasn’t had to drive and hopefully he won’t have to.  We try to ride with our friends on their outings and shopping trips.

There are many “hawkers” that go between the cars selling all sorts of things.  Seems very dangerous to us, but we haven’t seen anyone hurt…..yet.  They have a thriving business of what they call, “Tro-tros”, which are mini buses that they pack a bunch of people into.  They are cheap and many people use them.  There are also cheap taxis that many people use too.

Ghana Site-Seeing Visits: 

Here are some of the places we have been able to visit so far.

We met a full time missionary couple, the Iveys from Cape Coast, and they invited us to come visit them and they would take us around that area south of us.  Heidi and we decided to do just that and we were able to spend a couple of days sigh seeing. It is a seaport town where fishing is still a big part of their life.  Years ago it was a shipping port for gold, honey and alas, slaves.  The slave traders were Africans, Arabs, and whites at different times.  We toured a castle that was used to hold the slaves before being shipped off across the world.  Although it was a bit unpleasant to visit there and think of the awful things that transpired, we need to remember and learn from history and fight for freedom.  The Gospel brings freedom where ever it is excepted and lived and we can see that happening in this wonderful place.  These people are hungry for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is time for them to hear it.  These young missionaries are the army that will carry the truth far and wide, so that more and more people will have the chance to accept the Savior of the World.  That is where lasting peace will be found. Until then, the world will be in upheaval.

Slave castle:

It is now a very busy fishing village.

There is a place called the Canopy.  It is high up a mountain in the jungle and it has seven rope suspended bridges at the top of the jungle.  Our friends the Iveys, took us there.  On the way there, we saw some vendors selling what they call, “grass cutters.”  These are rodents that some people eat.  We stopped to get some pictures.

An interesting thing happened while we were stopped at this roadside vendor’s place.  Almost everyone in the car got out to go see the place.  Gerald was with them but decided to come back to the car and as he came across the road, I saw him leap quickly toward our car and immediately a car went speeding by and almost hit him.  He sprained his leg, but at least he was alive.  The driver didn’t even touch his brake and if Gerald hadn’t jumped out of the way, he would have been hit and probably killed.  My guess is that the driver didn’t even see him.  Another blessing of protection.

   

  Grass Cutters, what a bite?

The flat one is smoked and stretched.  Nice huh?

Because Gerald had injured his leg on the way over to the Canopy, he sat in the little café and took care of more important things such as eating an ice cream bar, while we hiked up the mountain (likely excuse).

A view from up above the forest canopy

This is one of the seven rope bridges.  One can choose to do the full seven bridges, or just three.  I did the three and that was plenty!

Heidi was more brave and I waited at one of the little shacks for her to complete the full 7.  The bridges do sway and swing as people cross them.  Ugh, I’m glad my brothers weren’t there or they would have been jumping up and down just to tease me.  My advice. if you ever go there, hang on and don’t look down!

Here is one of the little stopping off places along the way.

Boy, were we glad to go back to the Ivey’s beautiful house and have dinner.  They are serving a full time mission in Cape Coast.  What wonderful people these folks are and we were glad to get to know them.

When we had another break the next week, the Robison’s took us for a drive along the beach.  It was beautiful but with very rough surf.  Not a safe place to swim, but a nice place to walk along the beach and view the natives.

Even the young girls carry things on their heads.

There isn’t much that Heidi won’t try.  Better her than meJ

We also went to visit an orphanage that houses unwanted children.  It is supported by charitable funds mostly from Holland.  Some of the Dutch young adults come over and help out from time to time and we enjoyed talking with them. The lady holding the baby is Sister Ivey, who found this little unwanted starving baby boy and brought him to live in this compound.  She goes by periodically to check up on him and bring some needed items to donate to them.  She says that the little boy is doing very well.  As we got out of the car, the little kids came running over and touched our clothes and reached up to be held.  It was heart breaking.

Some volunteers building a new building for the orphanage.

The older boys performed for us.

Another fun place the Robison’s took us was to a Batik.  It is a place where they dye different fabrics to make into things.  They heat up wax and then dip sponges into the wax and press it onto the fabric.  Then, when the fabric is hand dyed, those areas stand out in the design.  Here we each got a chance to use the sponges on the pattern that we chose and then we took the fabric home to dry.  I made a table cloth that I will bring home with me.  What an interesting craft.

Sister Robison sponging her tablecloth.

The dyeing process.

Finished product.

Their colors are so bright and vibrant, like these two sisters.

I plan to have a dress and skirt made here out of these fabrics.  They are very inexpensive to have made.

They are also well known for their hand carving of wood.  We hope to get some samples of these kinds of crafts.  It is interesting to see the old world craft shops lining the street on our way to a very modern mall.  The old and the new side by side.

Another example of the hand crafts here is the bead factory.  They take recycled bottles and crush the glass and then heat it into beads and hand paint the finished product.  It was fascinating to watch the procedure.

The “kiln” oven for heating the glass.

The painter.

The cooling process

The finished beads.

We went on a boat on the Volta River to visit an authentic African Village.  We felt as if we had gone back in time as we watched these people cooking over open fires, washing their clothes in the river and hanging it on trees to dry, etc.  Then, as I was walking behind the guide, I looked down on there on the ground was an ear bud with a wire attached.  I also saw some of the “natives’ using their cell phones.  They do have some electricity at their community school and a few people in the village have some electricity.  They have batteries that they rent and can use to have a couple of light bulbs and a few outlets.  When it runs down, they bring it back and pay to have it recharged.  They are remodeling their community school, so we were able to tour that area because the kids are on break.  It was interesting.

A short ride on the boat.

Typical ancient living accommodations.  They are fisherman and we saw lots of oyster shells around.  Here you see the shells and the drying of the palms that they use for many things such as roofs and making baskets.

A different world in many ways, but they are beginning to modernize slowly but surely.

It was a rainy, but warm day.  It didn’t stop us from having a good time.

Heidi and a dignified missionary sitting on the school merry-go-round.

At the end of the tour, they sat us down and cut open some coconuts and gave us a refreshing drink of coconut milk.

This is a picture of how they recharge the villager’s batteries.  Can you imagine how great it is to have even one electric light bulb in your house when you have been in total darkness or with only a candle to light the house?   How much we take for granted.

To finish our little day trip, we stopped off at a crocodile preserve.  We decided not to pet the animals, but here is a picture of one of them.  They are not behind any kind of fence, so we didn’t stay long just in case they got hungry.