Week of 20250126 - Ghana Week 46: Tithing; Custom Dress; Notary; Granddaughter; Dead Generator; Dancing Washer; Departures; Arrivals; Transfers; Driver Training; Water from Dimmicks
= Sunday, talks reminded us because of Jesus' sacrifice, we can repent and keep sacred covenants with God. As we become more holy, our hearts can be knit together in love.
= We had a lesson on tithing. Tithing provides buildings to worship in and infrastructure to share the gospel and strengthen families. [We have no paid ministry.]
= Bishop Kobi and his wife, Rebecca, brought Steph a dress he had made; it's very nice. Steph had two sessions with a notary for the new virtual mailbox: nerve wracking.
= Lana (Michelle's daughter) reached out to us; she's doing really well. [big grin]
= Monday, Steph had multiple medical meetings. I posted feedback regarding apartment repairs. Home, I tested the generator and found that its battery was too dead to charge. I also found that the top-loading washer needs to be babysat or plunked squarely into the shower; it won't balance on the shower lip. We watched Don't Miss This [scripture discussion].
= Tuesday, departing missionaries gathered for out-processing and time together, including lunch and dinner, training, testimonies, and photos with us and the Morgans.
= Wednesday, the hired bus arrived an hour early with only five minutes' notice. So, we missed witnessing departure and arrival. We were introduced to the new missionaries. Steph briefed medical issues to the group and eventually inventoried ladies' suitcases. We had lunch and dinner with them at the Morgans. We hosted three lady missionaries overnight.
= Thursday, we dropped off our guests at the mission compound before 7. We made it to the 1100 transfer meeting (where new companionships are formed) at the Ola chapel. One Office Elder and one Assistant to the President get to go back to full-time proselyting. After the meeting, we helped the Dimmicks hand food to missionaries as their taxis and so forth left the chapel.
= At the office, I worked over the phone with a technician to try to get the laptops to talk to the mission printers again, but by 5:30, the only laptop that was able to talk to even one of the printers was mine.
= Home, Steph was asleep by 8. I joined her by 9:45.
= Friday, I went to the office without Steph and focused on the printer problem. The new Office Elder and Assistant to the President obtained international driving permits on line. Then I rode with them to provide confidence and a little advice as I had each one start with easy driving and finish with difficult driving. It was past 4:30 by the time we returned to the office.
= Home, Steph had worked on medical issues and had been able to rest. From KFC, I brought home dunked wings and a bucket of chicken. We watched The Sentinel (a movie; good) and then Star Trek Enterprise until midnight.
= Saturday, I got a late start on our pre-fast meal, and we had pancakes, fried shredded local spam, and eggs: way too much food. Before 4, the Dimmicks delivered six jugs of water from the good borehole to us. Nice, and unexpected.
Cautious
Football {soccer}
Fatherhood
On the other side of the street, headed the other way
The air catches her clothes.
Shoveling gravel off of the truck as fast as they can
Palm oil fruit bunches. (They grow that way.)
Bag of water sachets; suitcase; backpack
Flagman keeping everyone safe
I'm not sure what's happening here.
Nyame Ye {God is Good} Enterprise and Auto Parts
Unloading fiber cement roofing sheets. Made of cement, sand, and cellulose fiber, they can easily last 50 years.
Here's a view from a site that sells them.
Ready for hungry customers
Posing with plantain stalks
Bishop Kobi and his wife, Rebecca, delivering Steph's custom dress. Steph handed him fabric and said to make something. And he did..
..
..
One chicken, opened, flattened, and baked. Nice.
Happy Birthday - Elder Anagbo
He used a fan to blow out the candles.
He shared his wish: it was a testimony.
This is harder than it looks. The driveway slopes backwards; she could have lost her balance.
Half a jug, perhaps a little more
Wash water being added to ugly water from the mission compound borehole
I stopped balancing the unit on the edge of the shower and set it completely into the shower.
Wiping off the water meter does make it easier to read. The numbers haven't changed in weeks.
Departing missionaries have finished a puzzle at the Morgans.
Unwanted guest (a wolf spider)
Outgoing missionaries saw a reel of photos that featured them during their mission. Here are a few.
(from when we applied reflective tape to police barriers across the mission)
The incoming group being briefed by Steph. Thus, the cycle repeats.
Animation of the malaria parasite destroying liver cells and being released to destroy red blood cells. Most missionaries from other countries take Doxycycline daily to stop this in its tracks. Some from African countries take Malarone every three months, others from those countries rely on immunity built up from childhood.
Inside red blood cells, the parasite hides from the body's defenses and continues the attack cycle.
Blessedly, we see almost no mosquitoes - a contrast to Montgomery, Alabama where they are ubiquitous. But then again, we aren't out much at night here when the anopheles mosquito likes to feed. Missionaries are usually in their apartments by 6:30 PM (within a half hour of sunset).
Elder Dimmick, Elder Anagbo
Jesus Is Lord
The building on the left is a cooking school where we sometimes obtain chicken for group meals at the Morgans.
In this view across from the school, the hills are populated. The director of Cape Coast Stadium Clinic remembers when "this was all bush" (referring to all the suburbs of Cape Coast).
Now you have seen an avocado tree. This one is at the end of the driveway in front of the school.
The head of the cooking school and Steph
I don't know what plant this is by the school gate.
Across from the Dimmicks, drainage pipes are being put in. We're not sure why.
Dots on this map of the Ghana Cape Coast Mission represent clusters of members, but we won't open a teaching area until local priesthood leaders have authorized the creation of a place to worship: a group or a branch or a ward; see the bubbles showing such boundaries. Those boundaries typically encompass usable highways. Members need to have a place to meet together and a way to get there on their own. Baptizing people outside of these areas will hurt them more than help.
Our driver-side headlamp is out again.
Seen through plantain leaves, these trees are a reminder that the rain forest was here first.
Mattresses and furnishings to be queued in the "big house" for distribution to missionary apartments. Yes, a helper is riding with the load.
Incoming missionaries stating their name and country
Joining trainers with new companions. (Seasoned missionaries often change companions too, but some of them are on Zoom.)
And some become district or zone leaders and receive an imprest bag to assist those in their scope.
And sometimes a threesome is formed.
Vendors are unloading five-gallon jugs by tossing them. The noise from failing to catch one jug caused a commotion.
Some pairings get a reaction..
Notice the change up front. In this transfer, one of the Office Elders and one of the Assistants to the President get to return to proselyting full time. Thus Elder Bowen is taking the photos now alongside Elder Anagbo and Elder Atwater is being paired with Elder Soria.
Steph had to pull away from the action briefly, her portable keyboard helping her draft a reply.
A big group, but still only half of the mission. We don't pull them all in at once.
These birds are big. One grabbed a snack and flew to the roof to open and consume it.
The snack is all gone. (Other birds jumped in.)
Their transportation will take a while to show up. So, they have their food now instead of having to wait.
And so the food (and water) operation wraps up.
In front of the chapel closest to the mission compound, the ambulance/ hearse says: Life is not just one day. The large sign says: Gone too soon. The man memorialized on the smaller sign lived longer (age 92).
The driver-side lamp works (for now).
Plantains and bananas are complicated.
Pancakes, eggs, and shredded fried local spam
Activity
(The Campbells are in the center.)
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