Hello from Kumasi

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Two unusual things happened during the night.  I slept through for the first time since we’ve been in Africa and the first since I’ve had this cough.  On the other hand, Jim was awake all night with traveler’s diarrhea.  He fell asleep towards morning.  We called Dever’s to tell them not to come for us today but they showed up anyway, having missed our call.  But as all couples here, they had plenty of other things to do, and happily went on their way.  As for missing this day, it is the best day to miss.  Today we will read, watch TV (pretty good for Africa—they actually have some movies to watch that aren’t too bad), and walk around the hotel and take pictures.  I also took this opportunity to wash more clothes—why do I love to do this so much?  I don’t know, but I love to hand wash them, hang them out and check for them as they dry.  A weird fetish of mine—perhaps a nostalgic look at my past when we hung our clothes on outside lines when I was growing up.  I was also taught how to scrub my clothes with a bar of soap like they do here in Africa—it really is quite effective.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

I slept through the night once again.  E/S Dever picked us up at 7:45 AM to attend one of the two Branches that they have been assigned to.  Neither are very close to where they live.  We arrived at the rented church, which was a former house that someone owns.  A man and his wife decided to let someone rent their larger home since their children were all gone.  It turned out that the church ended up being their renters.  Soon afterwards his wife joined the church, and a few months later he also joined and eventually their grown children.  They were already a terrific Christian couple, so they added a great deal to the Branch.  We learned that she is the R.S. President and he is now a counselor in the Elders’ Quorum, and that neither of them has been a member very long, just a few months!  They are such great and dedicated people.

This very old man is reported to be: 95, 115, 135 years old!  His grandson is 75 and the Branch President so you do the math.  He is missing most of his teeth.  When he got baptized recently they had to have the Elders carry him into the font.  He does not speak any English.  The Elder sitting with him is from Tonga.  Maybe we’ll see him again if we visit his Island sometime this year.

They speak a combination of English and Twi in their meetings since some of the members speak no English.  After church they had a baptism--the wife of one of the members and a girl. There were four Elders: they were from Tonga, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Idaho.  The Tongan Elder was being transferred to another Branch for his last 6 weeks.  Who knows, we might run into him in Tonga if we go there sometime later this year.  It was a very friendly Branch, that Elder Dever says associate with each other outside of church and are very good friends.  When the Branch was first formed the young Elders had to conduct meetings because there was hardly a Priesthood holder there.  Now they can take care of it all themselves.

Most Africans do not swim and are afraid of water.  This lady was really afraid, so you can imagine how upset she was when they had to baptize her twice.  The man in white next to her is her husband and the one that baptized her.  The girl was also baptized but didn't seem to be as concerned as the lady was.  The Tongan Elder is on the left and the Ethiopian Elder on the right, looking at the picture.  

They have to climb into the tank from a ladder.  It is kept under a tarp and they have benches so people can sit and watch.  This is held outside the home/chapel on the front patio area.

Jim is still having some trouble, but we hope to be able to travel tomorrow to check out the area where the projects are being worked on.

 

Love, from Kumasi