The Ladner Archives: Week of 20240317 - Our First Full Week in Ghana

Week of 20240317 - Our First Full Week in Ghana

= Being here is both easier and harder than we anticipated. We have a comfortable place to live, with air conditioning, and a good vehicle to drive. However, we will have a rhythm that is largely set by others and tasks that have to happen daily. And shopping is way more complex than in the States. But the people here are great, and the work is important. We are blessed.

= Sunday, the Mission President and his wife brought us to a Stake Conference. The chapel had overhead fans. The choir sang. Except that talks were delivered in a mixture of Twi and English, it was like a conference in the States. Later on Sunday, Steph watched the General Womens Conference with Sister Morgan and Sister Barilleau.

= On the way, we had passed cocoa and rubber trees. We came through four police checkpoints; friendly encounters. Funerals are advertised for weeks - posters are everywhere - and the family hires a caterer and a DJ. Businesses often include names of the Savior in their business names and on their vehicles. Although most of the trip was on a main highway, much of it was at slow speeds to dodge or ride over breaks in the pavement.

= Monday, we brought an Elder to the doctor and Sister Morgan came with us to help Steph see how to deal with the clinic. The weekly planning meeting had been bumped from 0900 to 1 PM due to schedule conflicts. We picked up KFC to eat before the meeting.

= At the 1 PM meeting, a wide range of issues was discussed. The things that stand out to me are the President's schedule for the week and care for housing. The Morgans counseled together with four elders, the full-time facility manager, us, and the Barrileaus. Steph meets separately on medical issues with the Morgans. President Morgan meets with me briefly about my tasks.

= Home, I configured the modem/router, renaming the connection, changing the password, and setting it to use better encryption. We have a tiny bit of WiFi now. (Internet in general here is impacted by an undersea cable cut.) Power outages are frequent, but our generator won't start, and charging its battery hasn't helped. I set my camera to Ghana time.

= Through the week, the Barilleaus showed us places to pay mission bills and places to shop. Shopping is better in Takoradi, but that's two hours away. We got to the point that we could find a restaurant or two and a few variety stores. Some have a cashier, a bagger, and a person at the entrance who stamps your receipt. And then some insist on carrying your purchases to your vehicle. (Even KFC does that if you're not at the drive through.)

= Ghana non-citizen cards must be renewed annually. Because it takes transportation, assistance, and a meal or two to do this, we only schedule these trips a few times a year. That's my job now. I'm getting involved in housing safety and clothing purchases and bicycle and vehicle inspections. Steph laminated items for Sister Barilleau to train with this weekend.

= We can't just borrow phones the mission has for young missionaries. Management software restricts the phone to a very few apps when we use our (senior) missionary email to try to set up an account, and our personal Wal-Mart phones are not compatible with the SIM cards provided by the mission. The mission uses WhatsApp to communicate; we need that. People are still coming to Sister Morgan for medical help because our phones aren’t set up properly yet.

= Stephanie and I hung out clothes to dry for the first time in our married life. As is usual for those assigned to this mission, we hung them indoors to keep tumbu flies from laying eggs on them. I replaced the two incoming water filters (like twine wound in cylinders a foot long and two inches across; the flow through them is in series).

= Friday evening, we played soprano recorders for a short while. We tried to study Twi but couldn't open the audio files. We managed to call our former Bishop. He emphasized how blessed we are to have this opportunity to serve and that we have a responsibility to share our testimony with the ones we have left behind.

= Saturday, Steph’s temporary phone rang at 0900. An Elder had a medical issue. Steph reached the area doctor, obtained advice, and called the Elder back to seek feedback and provide counsel. We eventually hung three loads of laundry. We study scriptures, Steph with them in hand, me by looking up scriptures for my full copy of the journal.

Islam has a strong presence in Northern Ghana, and Mosques are common here also. Pork is not marketed except to foreigners. Spam substitutes have beef, chicken, and turkey. Hot dogs are chicken hot dogs.

These aren’t flavorful, but they're handy. If you take Doxycycline on an empty stomach, the immediate nausea will make you wish you had eaten something first.

Stephanie, on the steps of the mission office, taking a photo of the mission sign

The mission sign: "We can do hard things". What we recite with the missionaries is "We can do hard things cheerfully!"

KFC is the only fast food; everything else needs prep time; instead of a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, KFC here sells a rice bowl with fried chicken and some vegetables; we often saved leftovers to repurpose at home

Guards and Office Elders play soccer; these tiny goals are common here for fun

Here's the truck we get to use. Its size is a mixed blessing. Having a big vehicle is helpful for bottom-lifting traffic bumps and potholes, but small vehicles are more nimble.

Growing on our compound, these are smaller than the picture makes them seem. We have plantain trees and banana trees; bananas here are much smaller than the ones marketed in the States, but we have plantain chips in Ghana: a delicacy.

Our living room; the louvered windows to the right face a hallway leading to the spare bedroom and to what we call the "drying" room.

Our water filters before I changed them; they are spools of what was once white twine, now packed with mud

After; the thing that looks like a magnifying glass is the plastic wrench to open the filter enclosure.

We're near the Atlantic Ocean.

Good advice

We had this, cut up, in rice. Despite the marketing logo, this is produced in China.

The rainy season has begun. Rainstorms are windy (just air at first, then rain), but short.

This is Me3's version of an African salad. It includes baked beans! It tasted good and was filling. Me3 also makes slush drinks.

This deliberately blurred photo is here to remind me that I'm already tracking bicycle care, Ghana card expiration, housing visit suspense, and vehicle maintenance.

The "flat" portion of the "road" to our house

Sometimes, a car is parked in the gap and we have to squeeze between it and the wall to the right; there's a little shop on the left and other things are sold in the house on the right.

Downhill from the shop, this photo doesn't emphasize the grated gully at the low point; where you see cement in the center of the photo is the entrance, through a gate to the compound we share with missionaries.

Our drying room