The Strong Family and Jim

We had a good time with Elder Strong and his family. We had a dinner of fufu and oboroni sauce. Notice almost all of us ate the proper way with our fingers.

We also invited a nice gentleman who has been staying next door at the school. He has been here for a month teaching the children physical education. A former missionary from Nigeria was hired by the Strongs to drive them around the country. He was our "Ambulance" driver in December. I'd recommend him to anyone. :-) He stayed at our house this weekend also.
The Strong family and their faithful driver.

Jim wanted us to come over to the school for a photo before he left. The teachers saw we had a camera and wanted to be part of the photo shoot. Seems a few children joined in also. We are getting quite well acquainted with the children. When we walk into the schoolyard they start to chant, "Oboroni, Oboroni!" Then they all run up and want to hold onto our hands. We have fun with them.

Our new friend, Jim. He volunteers somewhere in the world every year. He pays his own expenses and has had some wonderful experiences. We hope to stay in touch with him.

Just so you know we have plenty to do in the garden, this is the catch of snails for today. There will probably be that many more tomorrow. If we don't keep up with them they will eat everything in sight. Note how they were crawling out of the pan to head back to the garden.

The district leaders gave me this purse. It was made in one of the villages by handicapped people. It is all hand-made and very nice. I'm just trying to decide what I have that will match. My sister suggested I save it to wear with my purple dress and red hat when I get home and form a RED HAT SOCIETY group. Maybe I will do that. It also would work well to carry my bowling ball if I decide to take that up when I get home. It was very nice of them to want to give it to me. I'm sure I will use it often.

Visitors from America

We were happy to have two young visitors from America for a couple days this week. It was fun to have them around. We took them to the Koforidua bead market. They were great shoppers and even learned a bit about bartering for their prices.

These photos are for Brother Bill. He collects old beads. A man at the market told me many of these are old. I'm not sure Bill can tell from the pictures, but maybe. The bracelet on the lower left is supposed to be made of old beads.

I've heard the Africans are finally getting the best of the Europeans. Years ago the Europeans brought beads to trade for gold, diamonds and such. Now the Africans are selling those same old beads back to the Europeans at very expensive prices.

This tan colored necklace is supposed to be very old. Also the amber bead just inside the necklace. I didn't ask a price for this one, but it is probably quite a lot. I was told what the material is, but can't remember. Maybe Bill knows. You can click on the photo to see it much larger.

A close-up of the old beads of a bracelet. The man told me a necklace like this would be about $100. A bracelet is about 1/3 the size of a necklace, so about thirty three dollars for this........ Obroni prices.

Just one more close-up at the bead market. They also had many new beads made into necklaces, bracelets or whatever else you can imagine. A very fun place to spend an hour.


We also took the girls to Boti Falls. There was even more water than last time. We took a lot of photos, got wet in the spray and goofed off a little bit.

Then we drove to Umbrella rock. Their parents will think we took good care of them when they see them on this very big safe rock.

They may wonder when they see where they really are. The girls were brave enough to climb the ladder. In fact, they didn't think it was hard at all. The view is great from up there.

Last of all, we say good-bye to our mission president and his wife this week. We will miss them, but wish them all the best as they go home. We look forward to serving with President Smith and his wife.

Koforidua Deaf School and Sankubenase Branch Conference

On Saturday we finally went to the Deaf and Mentally Handicapped School in Koforidua to deliver hygiene kits. They were donated by the Humanitarian arm of the church and given by the Koforidua District Relief Society. Here we are getting organized. The headmaster is the man on the right.
I think when I get home I will encourage all the women in my Relief Society to get matching dresses and shirts. :-) It is very important to these dear sisters.
Setting up the kits in the assembly room. The children were excited. There are about 500 students during the week. About 110 are boarding students who live too far away to come from home. Those are the students we came to see.
These are some of the girls. I asked a teacher if they used American Sign Language. They use something similar but tied it into their native language of Twi.
Some of the boys. The headmaster told us some of the children became deaf after learning to talk. They can speak but are also learning to sign.
Everyone gave a big cheer when Sister Ofori finished her short lesson on keeping themselves clean. We all clapped together.
Sister Ofori handing out the first hygiene kits.
The students were happy to have visitors and excited to have something given to them.
One girl noticed everyone else had a bar of soap in their bag and she did not. She tugged on my shirt until she got my attention and we went to get her a different bag. That showed me how important it is to put the kits together carefully.
A handshake for each student as they left the assembly.
Of course we had to have a group photo with most of the children and the Relief Society leaders. Today was a special day where we met precious children of our Heavenly Father who have even more challenges than those faced by most everyone in this country.
Early on Sunday morning we drove about two hours to Sankubenase for their branch conference.
This is a small village but they have a beautiful new chapel. The area is one of the early places where the church started in Ghana.
They had seventy-five children in Primary that day....in two classes. Here are a few of them outside the building after the meeting.
Very few speak any English, but we all understand the same language when it comes to cameras. Stand in lines. Look at the camera. Hurry over to the tree where it is shady right after the shot. Wait in line so you can see yourself on the camera screen.
The Nkawkaw District Relief Society Presidency.
More children wanting to see themselves in a photo.
Babysitting Aaronic Priesthood holders and a very cute little girl.
This is the Asunafo chapel where we also traveled on Sunday for interviews. It is in a small village as well.
The grounds are very large and well kept. The have plenty of room to grow here.
I took this photo out the window the other day when it was raining. It would have been better taken outside, but I would have been soaked. The rainy season is here. This downpour lasted about four hours and it rained very hard the whole time. Our backyard was looking like a lake, but everything soaked in quickly when the rain stopped. The vegetables don't like all that water. Our squash and watermelons soak up the moisture and then split open. Oh well. At least we aren't depending on them to survive.
In my letter I described the story of the lawn mower. Here it is working just fine. It will be nice to have one at our house and not have to be bringing one here to use. Happy Father's Day, Elder Max. (Grandpa.)

Boti Falls and Umbrella Rock

What could make a day start better than a sunrise like this one. Just one of many I see here.
This "misplaced" picture was taken on the lawn of the Oyoko chapel. I thought you might like to see a Ghanaian turkey. They cost about $80 to buy. I think we will stick to chicken.

This transfer we will lose our zone leader and a district leader. They have completed their missions and while they were here they were a great blessing to our zone. We/they planned a super P-day to enjoy together. They chose to go to Boti Falls which is just about thirty minutes from where we live. I won't write much about what we did. The photos speak for themselves.

The sound of the water pounding down was as impressive as the view. The mist from the falls kept us cool.



Of course some of the elders had to prove they could walk behind the falls.

The colors of green in this area were so varied and impressive.


Rounding up the group for a photo.

I WAS in the group photo until the little man who volunteered to take pictures with all our cameras was taking forever to figure it out. I stepped over and started taking photos also.
Our Koforidua zone plus the AP's and office elders at Boti Falls.
Elder Max thought this little guy just might catch a fish. Not on my hook.
Then we traveled a short way to Umbrella Rock. This was a fun place for climbing and taking photos. We just kept saying, "If our cameras could only capture what our eyes can see."

The scenery all around the area was beautiful.
The ladder was owned by some locals who charged about 20 cents to climb up their ladder to the top of the rock. Most of the elders went up. One sister was brave enough to go.
More frightening than it looks, even at this camera angle.

Elder Ross was the first to reach the top.
Elders thought they were pretty cool up on top...
But as usual, the sisters rule! They love to ham it up for the camera.
Back to our house for chicken, rice, salad and cookies. They all got their fill and then just enjoyed spending time together.
We watched a new Family Search instruction DVD made here in West Africa. The elders and sisters recognized some of those members in the DVD and enjoyed watching them.


Until next time.......