January 2018
So glad to be back home in Awutu Breku for the New Year. This week we were back to business as unusual. I always say each day in Africa
is filled with something unusual. Firstly, we may have solved the water
problems. Elder and Sister Wood stayed with us. They are missionaries from
Kamase mission in Ghana. Elder Wood showed me how to fill the polytank with
water from the bore hole (well). It worked and now no more water tank truck!
Our Burduburam district meeting Wednesday got us back on
track for teaching and finding. There are 4 baptisms this Saturday at the Breku
branch. We also met with Linda and brought her food and clothes washing powder.
After the district meeting we took 4 missionaries out to
Ghana Make A Difference for Elder Nimly to interview 2 for baptism. While
there we learned Pres. Monson had passed on in an unusual way. During the
interview with a sister Elder Nimly (district leader) asked if she believed
that Pres. Monson was a living prophet and she said NO! He was surprised and
then she explained he was dead!
A note in regards to an incident at GMAD, Elder and Sister
Redlin from the welfare area office were on tour with the Hofmans. While they
were there a puff adder snake was discovered on the school grounds. It was
disposed of and I mentioned I knew Dr. Deberry, director of Hogle Zoo in the
60’s who died from a bite of a puff adder. Sister Redlin knew him. This was the
third puff adder seen by missionaries this week.
A lot of time was spent in the Kasoa market buying supplies
for the missionaries in the Winnaba stake. We also updated the apartment for
the Kasoa 2 apartment for Elder Egessa and Elder Fash. We picked up a white
board from them and today took it to Elders Zhoa and Lorilla in Brakwa some 200
K away. We stopped by to see Elder Briggs and Price in Asikuma and had lunch
with them before driving on to Brakwa and Odoben. In Odoben we picked up mail
for Elder Birtchell and replaced lights for Elder Davies.
The next stop was Aboso to repair a toilet and shower for
the sister missionaries, plus we brought them many kitchen items. Then we got
trapped in a “New Year’s” parade going to visit Swedru 2 missionaires, i.e.
Elders Bates and Carter. We picked up their bicycles and dropped off an iron.
The parade was most remarkable! There were hundreds if not a thousand marchers
dressed up in elaborate costumes. There was even two on stilts.
After a long wait in the crowded streets of Swedru we drove
to Winneba and stopped at Elder Beck and Keith’s to deliver dictionaries they
requested. It is always enjoyable to visit with the elders. Finally in Wenneba
1&3 we brought the elders a cook top which I installed, along with a case
of BofM and Restoration pamphlets. Elders McCrea, Afoso Hene, Akpan and Burnett were
doing well. Elder Burnett has been out 3 weeks and adjusting well. (Some
missionaries from the states have to get over the change in culture.)
The trip today took us from 7:30am to 5:00pm. We saw a
parade, many children and wanderers along the roadway, a major truck accident and
stopped at a roadside fruit stand to buy oranges, mangos and sweet potatoes.
This is our Africa!! We love the people, the fruit and the missionaries.
The second week of January has been busy. We still have very
hazy skies and now very dry. I had to water all the many flowers and plants
around the property. Richard, our neighbor, came over to let me know that he
put in all the plants on the property. He said the plants needed watering.
Fortunately, we have bore hole water and I was able to put water on all the
plants in and around the house as well as the sweet potatoes. The pump is
working on the bore hole so we have water without having to have it brought by
a truck.
We invited Gram and Gloria to dinner. He is the owner of a
grade school in our area. He is the brother of Constance (the RS president) who
died recently. He has a nice family of two children and a very nice home at the
school. We want to repair the paint on the walls of his school and decorate with children’s
art as a community project.
Our visit with Eric this week went well. He is learning to
read quite proficiently. On our way out to the orphanage we dropped the
missionaries off to teach the Alhaasn family in Ojobi near Awketsi near Breku
where we live. We like to stop at the junction of the Cape Cost highway and
Awketsi because we can get boiled corn and plantain bananas for lunch.
This week we made a couple of trips to Accra. We went down
on Wednesday. Pres. Simpson wanted me to assist in a decision making with
regards to an elder who was going home early. We stayed the night and came home
Thursday. Then on Friday morning we went back to go to the temple with Elders
Oldman and Kabeya.
We went to the church early Saturday morning to clean and
attend a baptism at 8:00am. The baptism was at 11:00 due to a delay in Kingsley
getting to the branch. Then a branch party was scheduled for 2:00pm. Basically
a dinner and church video and we ate at 5:30pm. Dawn and I provided rice with
veggies. I mean an entire wash tub of cooked rice. There were about 100 people
and most were children. We had rice, fufu and light soup (goat stew in very
spicy broth). One thing happened while Dawn and I were waiting for the
food,,she walked up the road to talk to a seamstress and there were a bunch of
boys along the road calling to me, “white man”. I went over and talked to them.
They wanted a bicycle from me but I just showed them how to make bird calls
using my cupped hands and then a shrill whistle with a grass reed between my
thumbs. Then it got interesting when I asked them to catch a chicken, which
they did to my surprise. I then hypnotized the creature and they were
fascinated.
I took the chicken down to the branch and showed the elders
how to do the same with the chicken. When I took it back up the road and let it
go it shot out of sight.
Good news, Bill and Binki Hill are coming to Ghana Africa to
serve in the Accra West Mission. They will be staying with us for three weeks
while their apartment is being renovated.
This week we are enjoying all the activities of the mission.
Fresh pineapple, mangos, papaya, etc are the norm here. The food is basically
African fufu, banku and wakwe. We still
shop for American style meals. This week we fed the missionaries hot dogs and
potato salad. Pres. Simpson and his wife were here for district meetings and
interviews. Sister Simpson went with us to Ghana Make a Difference to meet with
Eric, Raymond and Devine whom we teach English. She also went shopping with us
to buy Rx for Linda who we care for each week.
This week something new happened at night at our home. The
outside alarm went off (siren and flashing red lights) indicating a break in the
electric protective fence. After I turned on the outside lights and looked
around not seeing anyone in the compound, I started to inspect the fence. A
flashing spark in one area indicated the reason for the alarm. It was a large
spider trapped between wires going up in smoke. After some time I was able to
stop the alarm by entering in code numbers until I hit the right one, thank
heavens for tender mercies in getting the right sequence.
Elder and Sister Wood stayed with us for the last time until
they go home in three weeks. They bought Eric at Ghana Make a Difference an ATV
to travel around while they are gone. We also had the Kasao zone for dinner on
Monday night. We had chicken BarBQ sandwiches with potato salad and pineapple.
Ice cream and apple crisp was for dessert. There were 14 of them here for
dinner.
This week we had a multi-zone conference at Kineshe stake
building. Pres. Simpson called the conference on account of contention among
the missionaries. Although the mission is baptizing almost 30 new members/week
there is much concern over the difficulties between companions. At the end of
this month we will have been in Africa for four months.
The days are getting longer but time is getting shorter. We
had a busy week doing apartment inspections before the transfer date. Every six
weeks we visit each facility and assist in the upkeep. This requires extensive
travel through distant communities. We feel like the Fuller Brush Man coming
with all kinds of supplies and products. Plus I am the Fix-It man as well. I
have rebuilt beds, caulked sinks, plumber work, replaced cook tops, replaced
propane regulators etc. and Dawn is really strict on apartment cleanliness.
Today we had scheduled a service project at Graham's School
in our community. However, the head master did not show up with the paint so we
scrapped off the old paint and went down and repaired the community bridge.
Later we gathered at our place and built a Bar-B-Q pit and cooked foil dinners
for 14 missionaries. I wanted to repay them because we did not have a chance to
paint.
My thoughts are with my mother as she is turning 90 years
old the end of January. I have great respect for her. She is such a wonderful
person and a good friend. I hope she will continue to do well.
We called and talked with Julia. She was recoving from G.I. problems but in good spirits.
The last week of January here in Africa, it is still warm
and dry, very dry. We have been busy as usual but in an unusual way. Four days
we saw a lady sitting on the curb of an adjacent street. Then while walking in
the morning on Tuesday she was sitting on a rock with three men nearby putting
out a fire she had started. They said she was troubled and could have started a
large fire and burn the crops. Dawn talked with her and then picked her up and
we brought her home. She was extremely dirty and un-kempt. Dawn showered with
her and washed her up. Her hair contained many grass awns and burrs. Here
clothes were so worn and dirty so I washed them a couple of times and disposed
of the rest of her belongings which were beyond repair or cleaning. Her name was
Martha. We called Dr. Blackwell for advice and she put us in contact with a
psychiatrist in Accra. Wednesday we took her to the mission home where she slept
at the foot of our bed and the next day Dawn admitted her in at the Accra Psychiatric
Hospital. The procedure started at 9:00am and ending at 3:00pm. Martha is a lost soul and deranged.
She will spend one month there and hope to locate a relative or she will be
back on the street. There were over 400 patients living at the institution.
Mental illness is here to stay here in Africa.
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| Foil dinner with Kasoa elders |
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| The Garden of Eden |
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| Black on White |
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| Saturday baptisms |
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| Our Linda breast cancer survivor |
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| Our RS president died of diabetes |
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| Martha |
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Vendor sleeping above the freeway
on top of the world! |
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| Famous coffin maker |
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| Creative coffins |
