= Sunday, we enjoyed services at Mfuom branch. People aren’t timid about singing here; we just sing. The space we have in this rented house is like a “U” shape with one of the legs of the U cut halfway and joined at the far end to the other leg so if all the rooms were filled, people in one of the rooms would not see the Sacrament table at the bend of the U.
= I completed getting GPS coordinates for every housing unit that has missionaries in it. The coordinates will help in suggesting which senior missionaries will inspect those units, knowing travel time will help them plan, and having the coordinates will help them find the units. You can't just plug in an address here. (You could use the Ghana Post GPS code if it was specified for your building.)
= Tuesday, Steph and I listened to the replay of a worldwide medical conference for individuals who help missionaries stay healthy; it included an emphasis on how to keep them spiritually healthy when physical setbacks cause them to leave the mission field for a time. They had found that having them assigned to a [part-time] service mission during treatment kept them involved and increased the likelihood that they would remain involved in church activity long-term, whether or not they were able to return to a full-time mission.
= Pennsylvania doubled the taxes assessed for my father's estate because it said they were missing information. I pointed out that they already had the information they thought they lacked - and - they hadn’t cashed a check I sent long ago and followed up with them about long ago.
= Wednesday, I adjusted and printed the letter to Pennsylvania and an attachment. Steph brought me to the post office without any hiccups, but we got lost trying to get out of that maze. In the process, we found the local Melcom store on our own and took advantage of it, buying snacks and sodas.
= At the office, I obtained the last bit of information I needed for an incident report and submitted it. Steph alternated between working medical issues and preparing to teach Primary leaders his weekend. I looked again at my task to reach Sunday School leaders and found and printed additional references. I also followed her advice: assemble packets rather than waste time during the meeting handing out paper after paper.
= I realized that I had not transcribed some important points from last week’s training for missionaries:
- Instead of busing people to church, we create a Group close to where they live. They come together, sing, and take the Sacrament.
- [I later realized that the Savior gave instruction that supports this method in Matthew 10:11, “And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.”]
- In your initial contact with people, be prepared to provide short, powerful statements of truth; use the scriptures, teaching a short lesson on the spot.
- It’s OK to agree on a baptismal date before you have finished teaching, as long as the necessary things are taught before the baptism takes place. Conversion is a life-long process.
- You cannot manage a very large teaching pool - 30 is a practical limit - so, you must drop individuals who are not progressing. Perhaps they will be ready later.
= Thursday, a missionary was brought to a hospital about two hours away from us. The doctor ran test after test, claiming there wasn't time to talk with the doctor who supports our mission (and others). We ate with two incoming missionaries who had finally gotten their visas to Ghana (after 14 months in one case). They had been serving in a French-speaking mission and will complete their service here in Ghana. Past midnight, I wrestled past a bug in Excel's 3D Maps tool to create interactive maps of the mission based on the coordinates I had obtained.
= Friday, we packed; we dropped off paperwork to help someone else teach the classes we had been scheduled to teach tomorrow; and we drove to the hospital to support the ailing missionary and see what we could find out. The ailing Elder was asleep. We loaned Elder Bingham, who stayed with him in the room, two of our portable phone batteries and fed him. The hospital provides two meals a day to the patient; Elder Bingham uses his cup and bowl (!) to then get food for himself or buys it from vendors in the parking lot. The ailing Elder was on oxygen and receiving what we learned later was an antibiotic. He had had a seizure and then sudden loss of ability to breathe. We learned no other details that night. We found a room in Best Western Plus downtown.
= Saturday, we arrived at the beginning of morning visiting hours: 0500 to 0600. Elder Bingham was asleep on the cement floor by the bed. The ailing Elder had his head at the foot of the bed. The intravenous line had been disconnected (finished). They were both asleep. This is basically a cement block building, not air conditioned, with oxygen tanks and other equipment brought in to create a hospital. Vincent will remember medical resupply and deploying entire hospitals; it felt like that, as if a school had been repurposed (not so, but it felt that way.) They eventually stirred on their own about 0545 and we spoke with them while we could.
= After breakfast, we stalled until check-in time (3 PM) by studying Twi in the Shoprite mall parking lot, wandering the mall when Shoprite opened (at noon), shopping, and grabbing lunch. We signed up at the hotel for two nights this time.
= At our 4-5 PM visit (the evening visiting hours), the ailing Elder looked stronger, only had oxygen via his nostrils instead of a full mask with bag, and wasn’t hooked up to a drip. Steph took photos of the X-rays and scanty records left with Elder Bingham and sent them to the mission doctor. We made our way through construction to find a KFC and brought back rice bowls for them to have for supper.
= As Elder Bingham picked up the food from us, he had come from the pharmacy downstairs - patients or their representatives buy the drugs and bring them to the ward - and had met someone who needed his help finding the medical ward. So my physical and mental picture of him is leading a lady uphill around the outside of the hospital toward the treatment wards. He had slept on a cement floor for two nights, had eaten at best two meals a day, and had watched over an ailing companion. Yet he had enough compassion left in his tank to help someone he didn’t know.
Goats cross when they feel like it.
We're going to church...
Where we meet.
On the path to our house, the only topsoil I have seen in Ghana is being spread next to a new building.
Our go-to brunch: Fried egg sandwiches
Steph served pork medallions with "coleslaw", white pineapple, and bread.
With what I did through Excel, adding mission locations to a spreadsheet displays them here without storing them elsewhere. Everything west of Kissi, generally speaking, will go to the new mission when ours splits. Daboase (as Dab...se, obscured by a pin) may be easier to see; it goes, too. This does not include the many branches and smaller groups that meet in homes.
We support missionaries so they can do this. (Shared on Facebook by mission)
I experimented with palm oil. Unfortunately, it stains and doesn't look good on a white shirt. I didn't use palm oil again.
One night outside our gate, we saw bats resting on power lines.
More activity this week...
Barely a half-dozen companionships use bicycles. The roads are just too rough.
Speaking of roads, here's the "road" to our house; click to enlarge...
people would have been
in the shot.)
I generally refrained from taking photos of the hospital, but I couldn't resist this description of the room to donate blood, directly accessed from outdoors. See the tiny sign where the double doors meet.
Breakfast was included at the hotel; we couldn't complain.
Parting shots...
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