Week of
20241222 - Ghana Week 41: Dresses; Caroling; Medical; Christmas Eve Dancing;
Christmas Day; Christmas Songs and Games at Conference; Country Photos; Steph's
Sunday Snippets; Singing Together!
= Sunday, we finished a study of the Book of Mormon, including topics such as coming unto Christ and having faith as a mustard seed.
= Before bed, I finished sending annual greetings, a process started yesterday.
= Monday after the weekly meeting, Elder Dimmick and I bought dresses our wives had shown an interest in on Saturday. Monday evening, we sang carols on the doorstep of a family that has physically supported the mission for many years.
= Home, Steph and I sang a verse a cappella of each of the Christmas songs in our repertoire. It felt right. That led to a discovery that we can hear each other better without the guitar.
= Past midnight, I picked up four missionaries from the hospital at a local university. Two stayed with us for the night; two stayed next door.
= Tuesday, we went to Elmina and dropped off two of the Elders who had stayed with us last night. We ran medical errands and finished our scavenger hunt for items that individual Office Elders liked and for candy to use as zone conference game prizes.
= Tuesday before 5, we arrived at the Ola chapel for a Christmas Eve activity for the Cape Coast Stake. Most members were in comfortable clothes as if at a “fall festival” or potluck minus the food; many wore red Santa hats, including the Stake President. Each ward or branch came up and sang a Christmas hymn. At one point, all missionaries present (including us) came up and sang. The Stake leaders present were also asked to sing.
= When Young Single Adults sang a song in Twi as a group, drums came out and many people in the congregation (mostly women) formed a line of dancers, one of whom appeared to be in her 80s at least. This was followed by a couple of testimonies of Jesus Christ and a serious talk by the Stake President and recorded remarks about Christmas by Dallin H Oaks.
= Christmas Day, Steph made cupcakes from scratch and we brought them to lunch at the Morgans with the Dimmicks, Campbells, and Office Elders. The Office Elders received their gifts, as did the rest of us. The same group gathered at the Dimmicks for supper at 7. We received a few more gifts: these from the Dimmicks. By 8:30, we were home and I was looking through today’s photos. Then Steph and I contacted people best reached on Facebook.
= Thursday, a third of the mission met for an abbreviated zone conference; a Christmas program; country photos; meal; games; and closing instruction.
= Once Steph and I realized that Sister Morgan wasn’t insisting that we use recorded accompaniment, it made the thought of singing less scary. I sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel near the beginning of the program. Then Steph and I went outside and rehearsed briefly to prove to ourselves we could sing Guard Him, Joseph. When the time came, the two of us went to the lectern and sang together a cappella. Singing together in public was a landmark for our 14 years together. We had done it only one other time, at a baptismal service.
= Friday, medical calls started at 0400 and continued through 0700. Today's conferences were a repeat of yesterday but for a different audience; we sang again. As on yesterday, I used my phone to take photos of missionaries posed in groups with the Morgans while holding a replica of their country flag. We currently have missionaries from 33 countries. [After Saturday’s conference, Office Elders shared my photos with the mission.]
= Home, Elders next door stopped by and mentioned water. I had brought two previously stored jugs to the door before I realized they had fetched water from a neighbor and were offering to fetch some for us! The Elders' overhead polytank was empty. Ours will be empty soon.
= Saturday, today's conferences were a repeat of yesterday but for a different audience; we sang again, our best yet together!
= Home, I fleshed out this week's journal. Steph found that the easiest way to display Steph’s Sunday Snippets from a tab at the home page for TheLadnerChronicles was to create a blog for those snippets and have the tab point to it. She has been creating her snippets for years; this gives them a new home.
To church
[Bethel is where the Lord appears to Jacob in a dream.]
Me3 caters to American expectations and tastes.
Life is good.
It's unusual to see passengers wearing helmets.
My Testimony - Yɛbedane Agya
If Yɛbɛdane Agya. then {We will become fathers}
If as written, {We we will become a father}
Either way, the intent isn't clear
To church?
Football {soccer}
Similar pattern
More football
Beautiful football pitch
Some of the members of our branch
Symbiosis: cattle and birds. The cattle stir up insects as they walk.
Another view of the nice football pitch
Heading home from services
The vehicle that passed us wasn't in a hurry to get back in the correct lane.
Centered on the back of this fuel truck...
United States of America: a rather angry eagle
Checking plantains and bananas
Working on our Christmas display
Sewing machines are always carried on the head, sometimes without the help of an arm to balance.
Turning left to the piece of Jukwa Road between here and the coast
Yet another pizza place. We haven't tried this one yet. The name is ironic in that the most common pizza is chicken pizza (sounds like checkin').
Furniture display
Men do carry, just not as readily.
Marty's fix for a dripping air conditioner at the office
We're ready for caroling, but we're early.
..
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Chicken patties in Heinz beans...
The pan I had bought had no lid [oops]; so, the foil is serving that role for this meal.
The result, with sliced cucumbers on the side
Elders, studying
Seagoing canoes
Entrance to a shared compound
We encountered the Dimmicks at a store that sells American items near Ola.
Items for resale
Kids are great
Pass Over
The Voice of God
In Jesus' Name
The Lord is my portion
Ceiling of Melcom - Cape Coast
On Christmas Eve, Christmas carols at high volume in the street outside Melcom..
..
Steph, getting closer to the action..
Carrying drinking water: 30 sachets (plastic bags) of a half-liter each. You tear a corner of a sachet to drink.
Oncoming traffic will have to wait.
Imagine unloading that van.
Adom no nti {For the sake of grace}
The bucket is to set your wares down on. Also, most of these containers have a side door that a skilled vendor can pull just one item through without removing the container.
Waiting at Salgyn Medical Center
Closer than Marty would have gotten
Christmas Eve Stake Activity, ready to start
A group performed for each unit of the Stake; here are several..
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(Missionaries were asked to sing..)
(A very short snippet to hear the drums; my camera doesn't like to do video)
Singing, and the beginning of general dancing...
..
Christmas Eve in Ghana
Remarks from Dallin H Oaks
Some of the cupcakes made by us to share
Christmas at the Morgans. Dimmicks in the background, Steph in the center
Someone else held the camera
President and Sister Morgan; Office Elders; Sister Dimmick; Steph; Sister Campbell (on the floor)
Elder Anagbo; the Dimmicks; Elder Campbell
Elders Soria, Tew, Hampton, and Anagbo
President and Sister Morgan; Elder Soria
The Dimmicks; Sister Morgan; Sister Ladner; Sister Campbell
Mugging for the camera, Sister Dimmick is holding a bottle of Diet Coke.
Dinner at the Dimmicks. More gifts were distributed.
It takes a lot of confidence to name your professional football club "Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs".
When we arrived for Zone Conference, there was a football game in the parking lot. Notice the miniature football goal used for such occasions.
The Campbells introduced themselves.
Tongans sang for the Christmas program
Tongans wear traditional garb from their country, even while they serve in this mission.
President Morgan's Counselor
For the Christmas season, Conference included games. This one was called "fill the font".
Blindfolded, follow your companion's instructions to drop toothpicks into a cup at your feet.
Some departing missionaries bearing testimony..
Phone audits help missionaries focus on the work.
Take your doxy (doxycycline)!
The Campbells (center) will live a couple of hours north of here.
When I did finance, I posted this copy of my favorite remote imprest note. GHC was spent for the purpose of "survival".
The Office Elders gave Elder Dimmicks and me "money" the size of Monopoly money in recognition of our financial role..
Coconuts being brought to the market area
The next day, a second zone conference served a different third of the missionaries. I won't repeat here events already shown previously.
Statistics are part of each zone conference. This set for one of the zones points out that often, individuals come to the missionaries and ask to be taught.
And zone leaders and sister training leaders specify what they have learned and what they'll do about it..
We baptize more people in a month than some missions baptize in a year. [Helping their fellow members keep them strong is important.]
Sister Missionaries sang. The zone conferences this week included a Christmas Program at which Steph and I sang a cappella! (No photos of us, sorry.) This program included the Savior's admonition that what you do for others, you do for Him. We all sang: Because I Have Been Given Much [I too must give].
I took a photo of every country represented at each of the three zone conferences. Here's just one.
An alternative to the usual rice and chicken
Yes, they just finished pushing that Aboboyaa up the hill. The motorcycle that powers it does fine on a flat surface but may have trouble drawing heavy loads uphill.
This repair shop at the end of the street the mission compound is always busy, often doing arc welding.
To the right of that, the faded sign says Eye adom {It is a grace}.
Anticipating the usual "wash me" graffiti, I wrote "save water" on our back window.
Steph did repair work on a dress; the puff sleeves have fishing line in them to puff them out.
No community water is coming into our compound; the "gear" isn't moving.
Our sachet water supplier was closed this Saturday, but fortunately I had seen the notice and bought double yesterday.
Some instruction and discussion for the third zone conference.
Pickup and delivery demand concentration.
The crowd gets into the games.
I was put in as a substitution and lost this for my team: picking up Cheerios using dry spaghetti in your mouth; I kept biting the spaghetti.
I think this is a funeral.
Someone added to my save water message: the earth is made up of 70% [water]
Burgers with cheese, thawed bread, and this bacon
I had left a dirty fork on the counter, which touches a window. As in the States, windowsills should be sprayed occasionally. I hadn't done it in nine months here. [oops]
Steph's Sunday Snippets can now be accessed from a button on this blog. [grin]
Missionary Activity
Preparation day was shifted to Christmas Day, but that still included three hours of proselyting and/or service...
Later in the week...
To church?
Football {soccer}
Similar pattern
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