Week of 20240929 - Ghana Week 29: Do It Now; Instagram; CrisisCleanup.org; Nuamakrom; Zone Leaders; MaryKay Restaurant; Road Repair; General Conference
= On this fifth Sunday, the Branch President chose the topic after Sacrament: an individual from the District led a great discussion on only a small part of an April 2022 conference talk by President Nelson. Yes, we should learn from the past, and yes, we should prepare for the future. But only now can we do. Now is the time we can learn. Now is the time we can repent. Now is the time we can bless others and “lift up the hands which hang down.”
= I'm not on Instagram. So, I didn't remember that Steph has been posting her Sunday Snippets for years through Instagram, which automatically duplicates them on Facebook. She shared blasts from the past with me, for example, our humorous reaction to the thought of Marty coming to Steph's Zumba Toning class at Fraser, years ago.
= I used a map of cleanup requests at CrisisCleanup.org to gauge where the worst storm damage in the States had occurred and shared it with our family. Steph and I have been part of the Crisis Cleanup phone bank; volunteer organizations select and work on orders submitted by those affected.
= Monday in the office, I did finance work; Steph did medical work.
= Tuesday, we drove in the rain to Nuamakrom and picked up unwanted bicycles for use in another area. The accountant for a clinic that we had mailed a check to sent a voice mail, astonished that we were paying a bill from Africa; he's likely the only one in the Steph's doctor's office who didn't know we were here.
= Wednesday, I funded subsistence cards. [Missionaries or their families pay the average cost of a mission worldwide; missionaries draw actual amounts needed in this mission from those cards.] One of our Office Elders creased a vehicle's passenger door with the truck he was driving. The bats on the wires across from our compound are indeed dead, touching two wires; electrocuted?
= Thursday, we attended a Zone Conference for half of the mission. Watching Zone leaders review and evaluate statistics and take questions from the floor reminded me of a college course where we proposed solutions to Harvard business cases: impressive. I’m fascinated that in almost every zone, people have approached the missionaries and have asked to be taught. Our measure of success is our obedience and dedication to our task. Takeaways I wasn't expecting: Ask your members to visit each week with the people you are teaching; youth are members of the Ward or Branch council that coordinates missionary efforts.
= Elder Barilleau and I picked up water and food for conference lunch. When Steph got her five minutes to speak on medical topics, she showed everyone through a balance exercise that they aren’t as fit as they think and issued the challenge to missionaries to undertake an exercise regime and stick with it for six weeks.
= Friday was a Zone Conference for the other half of the mission. Elder Barilleau and I again picked up water and food for conference lunch. A takeaway I need to take to heart: Don’t let perfection get in the way of success.
= We went to MaryKay (a restaurant) for date night: large salad (Steph) and noodles with egg, sausage, sardines, and vegetables (me). The pump for the Elders next door was fixed. (I had been bringing water next door daily since the pump’s failure on Sunday.)
= Saturday, an earthmover pushed dirt from above the "road" to our compound to level the "road". I cleared some from the drainage ditch below our compound.
= Starting at 4, we watched sessions of the Church’s General Conference on the American Sign Language (ASL) channel on YouTube. (There is less contention for bandwidth than with a regular channel, and we see the signers' emotion along with captions.)
We park above our meeting place now and walk down instead of parking by the paved road and walking up.
Goods being pushed to market
[I haven't figured this one out yet.]
God is Good Steel Bender Shop
God Is Good All the Time
I think this used for pulling engines.
Time No Dey - perhaps {Time is not available} or {There is no time} or {Time does not exist}
Bringing your wares to market
The chicken crossed the road to get out of our way. (Not really.)
People heading home after church
They use this hand-drawn tool to flatten asphalt.
Or perhaps you need a real steamroller.
Our reaction at my plan to come to Steph's Zumba Toning class at Fraser. (I continued for years afterward.)
I filled another jug for the Elders next door.
They gave us a couple of these
which we filled with mac and cheese with fake crab.
Tuna-egg salad. We grate pickles because we don't have relish.
This felt like a customized message.
Nyimpa na ɔma
It is given to man
Nyimpa yɛ bɔn
Human beings are sinful
The day you pick to travel makes a difference.
Bisa Nyame yɛ {Ask God to do}
I think this is processed for palm oil.
Some roads just need work. We were headed to Nuamakrom.
Business under construction
Recycling behind the school
When you see the sign "long vehicle", believe it.
Completely flat; an industrial park in the making?
The sawdust is being turned into charcoal.
Boafoɔ Yɛ Nyame {Helper Is God}
You don't need a shop, just a place to set out your wares.
Or maybe you don't even set them down.
We wonder how far he had to come with this wheelbarrow to get to this point.
KK with an enclosed front
Bisa Wadwene
{Ask Yourself}
Looking for the Praso chapel; see a church sign?
[I'm still trying to figure this one out.]
These might be dirt steps reinforced with wood. The goats do what goats do.
He's holding a stick in one hand and a machete in the other. He's not in mid-swing yet. Men lean on the stick as they bend over to use the machete.
I need to ask my brother-in-law what this is.
Here's more of it. It's parked across the street from Elders at Nuamakrom.
Nuamakrom Elders live here. We dropped them off from Praso and picked up bicycles.
Twifo / Atti - Morkwa District Hospital entrance, seen on this return trip
Is there any doubt that this person deals in tire?
We had thought KKs with a windshield were an old version. Then we spotted this dealership selling new KKs with this design. We think the other (open) design gives the driver better visibility than this closed design does. (From the front, this design looks like a Minion out of animated movies.)
Better roads, busier places...
Genesis Ventures
People drive where they need to.
The white van back window says: Psalm 23.
Yes, he's not completely in his own lane.
A better view of making charcoal from sawdust
Agape Love: Home of Quality Fashion
Drak and Daughters Pharmacy
Notice the stairway to nowhere beyond it.
Someone chose to hollow out this pile of dirt.
He's loaded with empty plastic jugs that held cooking oil.
[Just the truth]
Her funeral arrangements are low-key: only three days.
The road back hadn't been improved by the rain.
Past Aponsem Square, there was no sign of rain.
If there's grass, it must be for grazing.
Mixer, with the spout folded up; darker than for cement
A road roller; more mixers
being pushed by a man on the truck.
Approaching Pedu Junction; almost home. (But we didn't stay; I picked up laptops and continued to the office.)
Drying snacks. I had put cold bottles in this bag and condensation had soaked the contents. A fan opposite (not shown) was trained on this scene.
Office Elders had a minor altercation with another vehicle that darted in front and got the worst of it.
These bats across from our compound us are dead. We wonder whether touching two wires at once had something to do with that. (We've not seen any live ones.)
Long Vehicle: believe it
Zone Conference, held on successive days for multiple zones, with about half of the missionaries present each day.
Images of recent gatherings
President and Sister Morgan
These meetings involve more than just encouragement. We examine what is working in each Zone. In this Zone (and in others), a person sought out the church. Still, member referrals were the most effective route in finding people to teach.
Across the mission, 94 people were baptized in September. To be useful for comparison over time, only the zones retained by this mission after it split in July to form another mission are included here. The blue bars show activity by the Mission Leadership Council (Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders; assistants to the President; and the President and his wife)
Elder Barilleau at the wheel, this statue graces the University of Cape Coast. The figure is holding a book and wielding a staff.
We're picking up water and food for the conference.
Furniture building, of the kind that we use. You seldom buy quantities of furniture from a warehouse. You make a down payment and someone builds it for you.
On a primary school on the university grounds: Love what is good; hate what is bad.
When we had chickens, we fed them for eggs. Some people feed them to be eaten. (And some just let them find what they can.)
Steph preparing to brief those assembled about protecting and improving their health
Challenging them to stand on one leg
Sister Barilleau's farewell, Elder Barilleau looking on
Elder Barilleau's farewell, Sister Barilleau looking on
And they step into the next phase of their lives. They will depart before the next pair of Zone Conferences.
...the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
Seeing these quotes, we were being reminded that General Conference is this coming weekend, when we'll receive more instruction.
Sister Morgan and Steph discussing a medical issue with a missionary after Zone Conference
A stray, not far from his group (too small a group to be called a herd)
I missed a ramp while carrying an item too large to see over; this was the only casualty.
This object, small enough that a pencil eraser would fill it, is an O ring that helps keep propane from leaking from tanks. This one is worn and was replaced with a fresh one.
https://crisiscleanup.org/map lets you see the scope of the results of a disaster
Not much impact near Cocoa Beach...
But Gainesville was affected. Zooming in, you see the nature and status of problems reported.
Working to get the projector to behave.
This quote from a previous prophet says: "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates."
Leaders from each zone examine lessons learned and take questions from the floor. It reminds me of a class I took for my second Master's degree. These young people are being prepared for great things.
(Seen on the university grounds while picking up water and food for the second zone conference)
At the second zone conference, discussing fitness while standing on one leg
Getting an assist from President Morgan as she shows how to navigate to fitness exercises in the Gospel Library app
We haven't tried this place yet
But as almost the only patrons at MaryKay in the late afternoon..
I miss our minivan. This one was parked in front of the corner store.
An earthmover outside our compound
The "road" outside our compound was getting some needed attention.
Our neighbor uphill from us looks on; the "road" ends at his house.
We watch the captioned American Sign Language channel. Not only is it less-likely to freeze up - fewer watchers than the main channel...
But we get a second witness from the expressions of the people doing the signing.
Conference is the first weekend of every April and October. [hint, hint]
But the ditch at the bottom will still be a problem for the little red car in this picture.
The grate and cement don't provide a wide enough path.
And people cleaning out the ditch pile up dirt such that our running boards are pushed up by it. (The far grate in the photo is bent horribly and isn't used.)
It's good to see the prophet. When he became the president of the church 2018, he was still snow skiing for recreation. The responsibility has worn him down greatly as he passes his 100th birthday.
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