The rest of January

Like I said on the last post I am way behind in what has been happening.  So here is the rest of January in no particular order

This is the Wallace's Primary School.  We mentioned that we had helped get the new building ready for the kids to return in early January.  This was the first day back, and it took a week before all of the kids had returned.  It appears lots of parents and kids believe they always need a little more vacation time.  It also saves them money because they pay on a daily basis.

The kids are checking out the new class room.  There will be twenty to thirty kids in this classroom

With the school they have to send a bus around to pick up and deliver kids.

Sister Ivie restocking on eggs at a local store just down the street from our house.

This casket represents the scriptures

This a coco pod for a local farmer, and as you can see they also have the regular caskets.  There are wood shops everywhere that build caskets.  I saw a regular casket with windows in the sides, I wonder what that was meant for.  The funerals are one of the biggest events that take place in a village.  Sometimes they wait for up to six months after the person has past away.  This is necessary to have time to earn or borrow enough money .  The family pays for the celebration and provides all of the food and drink for all that attend.(and everyone comes out of the woodworks)  They put up big awning tents, truck loads of plastic chairs, and sleeping mats are brought in.  They have a massive sounds system to play music and have speeches given.  This goes on from two to three days 24-7.

This is the new washroom being built for the church buildings at Asikuma.

Down by the Castle you cross over a waterway where all of the fishing boat come and go.  They are very colorful and wide variety of sizes and styles

We had a try zone conference, and these Elders and Sisters were getting their birthday treats from President Shulz.

President Shulz and his Assistants Elder Brown and Elder Dekane

Happy Missionaries

We were able to use the seminary building for the conference.  It is air conditioned and makes for a much nicer meeting.

Sister Ivie doing a little window shopping at a roadside market.

The Julanders are the couple that replaced the Bybee's.  They are from Hooper, Utah and have been friends with President and Sister Shulz before coming on their mission.  We were together getting ready to go to Prozo to prepare the living quarters for another new couple coming to the Cape Coast Mission. We went for two days to clean and put away all of the kitchen items, check and make sure the A/C, the generator, and the water pump were in working order.  Good thing we did because we were busy fixing them.  We had to trim several doors that were dragging on the floor.  The wood here is very hard and when you put a screw in for a hinge it typically will not come back out.  So we had to trim the doors hanging in their frames.  Even with all that we did, the Schiffman's still had a few challenges once they arrived

Sister Ivie shopping for some vegetables 

This is the Schiffman's house in Prozo.  It is very nice and very quiet area of town.  Elder Schiffman also has a storage shed which I covet.

 

While we were in Prozo, President and Sister Shulz went to Accra to pick up the new couple.  They are on the right side top.  They are also from Hooper, Utah.  Elder Schiffman was the Shulz's bishop when they left for this mission.  All of the couple in the mission were there to share in their first dinner in Ghana.

On Monday Elder Lelea The Winneba District Leader arranged to do a tie dying activity with one of the member of the branch, Sister Sam

Elder Jensen 

Sister Sam's daughter leaving with a box of spring rolls she will be selling at their stand out on the street.  She has made spring rolls for several of the district activities and they are goods.

Sister Sam showing the group how to fold up your fabric before the dying is done

Here she is mixing the dye and explaining how to dip the fabric

Very interesting designs appear

This was my attempt, In the next blog I will show you the shirt I had made out of this fabric.  Really quiet cool

After the dying you stretch the material out on the ground and let it dry.  You then rinse it and let it dry again.

Sister Ivie could not resist taking this lady's picture.  These people just love President Obama  We suggested we would be happy to loan him to Africa permanently

This is my first  Ghanian shirt.  The Winneba Branch President is a taylor.  He made this shirt for me, and is making another shirt for my out of the material I dyed. 

This is the day we arrived with some of the materials many of you sent to us for the different schools we are working with.  These are a very special  kids and they are so into any new experience. This is the deaf school at Asikuma

They love to have their picture taken.  In the background is our missionary apartment in Asikuma.

There were toys, puzzles, books, and games for these kids to have a good time learning. Almost all of the items were a new experience for them.

This is sister Atata.  She is the cook for the deaf kids breakfast and lunch.  We will be getting her a propane stove this next trip out to the school.  She thinks it will be a really cool thing, and not have to put up with the wood smoke and mess.

Sister Ivie practicing her sign language skills much to the enjoyment of the kids and the teachers.

Well it is back to work

After the New Year celebrating was finished it was back to being very busy. And in as much as all of January has passed and I have not posted, I apologize.  I had some trouble with my pictures which I lost all of them and then they are not in correct order this time.  I will just ramble with the pictures to get caught up and then repent.

We had a zone activity day where we all traveled to Cape Coast and toured the Elmina castle.  This is one of the castles that was used to hold slaves before they were sold and shipped around the globe.  It was a sobering experience to see and hear of the stories of those dark days in history.

This is a picture of one of the class at the Deaf School we are working with.  This is one of the puzzles that was sent to California and then brought to Ghana in Brother Lybberts suitcase.  Neither the teachers or the students had ever seen anything like a puzzle.  It took a little while to put it back together and were so excited to see the picture when they did.  As you can see they were very involved in solving the challenge.  We will have more on this school in the next blog.

In Africa funerals are a very important event.  You can have your casket made in any kind of shape that you would like, usually something that represented your life's work.  This is an outboard motor.  I have seen it finish and I need to stop and take another picture/

This is a small taxi car at the same shop

This is Elder Adams,  Elder Collins, and Elder Lodder returning to the trotro area after leaving the Castle

Elder and Sister Ivie at the entrance to the Castle

I liked this casket, he must have been a builder or was trying to send a message of the kinda of mansions he wanted in heaven.  Can you imagine the size of the hole some of these require to be buried

This is a Bic pen

A nice flip flop, which is the standard shoe worn by most everyone doing what ever kind of job you can imagine.  I am collecting picture of the different styles we see as we drive around the area.  I still need a picture of the ship, the scriptures, the CoCo Bean to name a few that we have seen and need to take pictures of

This is the Swedru Zone,  there are six Sisters and sixteen Elders.  We are sitting on one of the stair cases inside the Castle.  They are so enjoyable to be around, whether it is playing or doing serious missionary activities.

This is in center court yard.  The barred doors on the right were two cells.  One no one left alive, and the other no one died while in the cell.  If you were a leader or rebellious you got the cell that no left alive.  They simply put you in, and gave no water or food until you died.

We have been very busy getting a new apartment ready for missionaries in a new area.  This is Elder Harris,(going home next transfer), Elder Brown who has had two transfers, and Elder Ivie painting the floor.  Just can't get away from some kind of floor covering.

I have mentioned before that there are very few car lifts in the out lying areas.  So when you need to work on the underside of the car, you just roll it up on its side and do your repairs.  It only causes minor damage to the body, but sure makes working on the bottom easier.

We do enjoy traveling through out our area, because everyday is an adventure.