= Sunday, a dozen people were baptized from our little branch and five more from the ward we visited to use their font. I participated in confirming them members of the church and conferring the gift of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.
= We had the Barilleaus as dinner guests. In the same fashion that we were drafted into our positions, they were drafted to be the mission secretary and financial secretary. They made our stay here comfortable from day one. We will sorely miss them, not just because I'm filling in as financial secretary until replacements arrive but because now it falls on us to be the loving hosts that they have been. They made it look easy; we're sure now that it was not.
= Monday, I had been asked to hand off tasks that I can't do while spending each day in the office as financial secretary. Today, I temporarily handed back the task of keeping working bicycles available. I finished closing and reconciling the Working Fund by 4 PM, with Elder Barilleau riding shotgun. I learned a way to determine the data balance on phones and on the home router SIM card.
= We received a call from Sister Oryang. Elder Oryang had served as Branch President in Tuskegee many years ago when Steph was there. He and Sister Oryang are now leaders of the Nigeria Calabar Mission.
= Tuesday, I picked up the Working Fund cash at the bank with Steph present and the Barilleaus at my shoulder. I opened this new fund and queued payments. We stopped at the corner store for bread and 4-in-one gari. We bought KFC for us and our guests this evening and fueled the truck.
= Office Elders arrived with our guests: one Sister missionary who was going to Accra to witness the sealing of her parents and family members, and one Sister who needed her Ghana Card renewed so her residency sticker could be renewed on her passport before she completes her mission soon.
= Wednesday, the four of us left for Accra by 0645. With Steph driving, we were at the temple grounds by 1100. Steph and I witnessed another family being sealed, then the four of us witnessed the Sister's family being sealed. Leaving that Sister in the care of her family for a few hours, the rest of us went to get the Ghana card renewed. The Area office was not hopeful. The first person Steph spoke at the Government office said no; the passport would be needed, not just a copy. Her boss initially said no; but Steph was humbly persistent. Then a miracle: he relented. Success!
= The GPS-supported route out of Accra was blocked. I "winged" it, driving south to the ocean slower than we could have walked, then headed west and north to the construction jungle at the western side of Accra. The construction miles were all dirt, no lights, with objects jutting out of the road and poorly marked places to change from one set of "lanes" to the other. And our low-beam driver-side lights weren't working; we followed other vehicles to share their light. Eight hours and fifteen checkpoints later, we arrived home with our guests, who would be spending the night.
= Thursday, the main water pump for our house and the one next door blew a connection. We dropped off our guests at Pedu Junction, then I logged into the financial secretary's phone for the first time; the Barilleaus were on their way out of the country. I reconciled some imprest funds remotely. I tried to reconcile credit credit card receipts, but the interface to do that wasn't working.
= Home, I had filled several five-gallon (19-liter) jugs from the guest shower at various opportunities. Now I set one of the next to the sink and applied our mail-order battery-powered water pump to it. Then I plugged in a phone charger to top off this water pump’s charge.
= Friday, Steph and I delivered a check for pre-paid electric to a vendor who topped off the cards to load money into the meters. The main water pump was fixed. At the office, between correcting the number at Area of a check I had written for a lease and puzzling over how to clear a problem with two imprest funds, when President Morgan asked how I was doing, I blurted: "I'm under the jail!"
= After prayer and a lot of mental juggling, I worked through those issues. At a restaurant on the edge of town where we picked up our spaghetti meal to go (egg on top, vegetables throughout), we listened a couple of times to a song to the tune of “Invincible” that was sung not with lyrics but with cat meows. It was a hoot! Home, we watched episodes of Star Trek Enterprise until almost midnight. We relaxed.
= Saturday, I handled a MoMo payment request through the financial secretary's phone. I read “Walking in the Sand: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ghana." Portions of it reminded me of the struggles the Latter-day Saints went through in the 1800s.
One rear window says Nyhira Nka Nyame {Bless you God}
His awning helps.
But in the meantime, we watch for "diversion" signs.
Nkyira Nka Boafoɔ
{Blessed Be the Helper}
God Dey {God is There}
Holiness to the Lord - The House of the Lord
[Exodus 28:36: And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness To The Lord.
Steph and the Sister's companion
14.58 per liter works out a fraction over 55 cedis per gallon, or about $3.75 per gallon in Dec 2024. (It was $3.37 just before U.S. elections.)
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