May!! oh my

Talking to Gwen today on Skype she ask if I was ever going to get out of the rain forrest.  I am ashamed of the amount of time that has passed since the last post.  I will attempted to bring you up to date but that can be a challenge with all of the things that are going on.

I think it was mentioned that all of the apartments needed to have the propane bottles moved to the outside of the buildings.  So we had cages built to store the bottles in.  It required some concrete work to insure they stay where we put them.

 This was the first of our apartments to make the propane change, so I had my cement mixer out, this is a newer mixer because most of the time the locals just mix it on the ground.  But you know me, I have to use the best available.

This is Amos Wallace, my very good friend and he went with me to install several of the cages.  It was one of his contacts that made the cages for us. Once we had the cage set in concrete and bolted to the wall we ran a new gas hose through the wall into the kitchen and connect it to the stove. Not a real big project until you added up the numbers of apartments that need to be done.  So far I have completed our two zones and helped Elder Schiffman complete the Praso zone apartments.

This weekend all of the Ladies are having a girls' shopping trip, and so to get out of  the way the Guys will be working on propane cages around the Cape Coast Area.  Then I will go to the west side of the mission and help Elder Julander install his in the next week or so after we get moved into our new apartment.


Presdient and Sister Shulz have had two of their son's come to visit in the last month. Nate brought two of his children with him so Sister Shulz could get a Grammy Fix.  We were with them as they visited one of the villages, and the orphanage.

Sister Ivie has been trying to catch a little goat or sheep for the longest time so she could feel how soft and fuzzy they are.  Well on the visit to the village one poor little sheep got cornered and could not get away, and you can see the smile on Sister Ivies face.

Here we are at the orphanage with the Shulz's, Maxwell and Abigail and their children, Nate and his kids.  Maxwell and Abigail knew the Shulz when they were in Ghana ten years ago on their first mission.  Both Maxwell and Abigail lived with the Shulz's right after they got married in the US.  So it was a family reunion when Nate came for them as well.

It is always very enjoyable to be with the children at the orphanage.  They want to hug you and be near you.  We always try to take a 100 lbs. bag of rice, or cooking oil. This time we took a case of tooth paste. The Shulz's took rice and oil.

We were invited to attend Amos Wallace's graduation where he received his B.A. degree in education.  His son Spencer Kimball and wife Grace are with Sister Ivie.  We love and appreciate this family so much.

It is amazing how fast six weeks goes by and its time for another transfer and to send some missionaries home. Elder Oodah, Sister Baah, Elder Dikane, Sister Mnisi, Elder Baird, Sister Udo, Elder Dinku. are the departing group this time.  Six of the seven have served with us in the Swedru area, and it was really tough saying good bye to these wonderful missionaries.  I love the tradition of the "jump" into the rest of life with the challenge to be Forever Strong. (The Mission Theme)

The two days leading up to the temple visit and leaving them at the airport is a very rewarding and enjoyable time.  We were able to have family names for each of them to be proxy for as they did the endowment session just prior  to leaving for the airport.

 Lots of sadness comes with knowing you may never greet them again.  We were able to be at the mission home for their "last supper" of fufu and light soup.  The best is the brownies and ice cream, and of course the testimonies that they share about their mission experience.

After the Temple it is off to do a little shopping, have supper and travel to the MTC to meet our new missionaries

It's up at 4:30am to be ready to depart the MTC by 6 am, so we can beat the traffic in Accra.  If you are later it adds at least one hour to the three hour trip to the mission home in Cape Coast.  When we get to the mission home they have an orientation, assignments to their areas, lunch and then off to the Tro-tro Station  to begin the greatest two years of their lives. (At this point they aren't so sure if that statement will be true or not)

We have mentioned we are working with the members on Family Search.  This is one of the Wards' mid- week work session preparing to go to the temple.  We encourage the new converts to submit at least one deceased family member's name  and attend temple with-in six weeks of their baptism to do that relative's baptism.

These are pictures of Swedru Second Ward

After submitting at least one name for temple work they receive the MY FAMILY Story book so they can continue recording their family history and their family stories.  It is rewarding to see the excitement that is building for family history.

We enjoy the blessing of living on the eastern side of the mission, which is about an hour drive from the Accra Temple, (up to three hours if traffic is bad.)  We have been able to go into Accra a couple of times a month for various reason.

Elder and Sister Schiffman living in Praso. They are from Hooper Utah

Elder and Sister Ivie just living it up

This is Elder Moffitt, and he thinks he "died and went to heaven".  He had an ingrown toenail removed at the Area Office by Elder Elmer, the Area medical advisor.  As a reward we took him to Kentucky Fried Chicken.  He told me the other day he thinks he may be getting the other toe to be ingrown.  We reminded him that Dr. Okoli in the Stake Presidency can take care of these kinds of problems at the Winneba government hospital.  He thinks he toe is already getting better.

As a result of the family history work in Swedru First and Second Wards, we had seventy people go to the temple.   We had new converts and youth doing baptisms for the dead,  The rest were doing Endowment, and Sealing's.

 Ruby, on the far right,  is the family history consultant in Swedru First Ward.  She is so excited and works hard. We worked several evenings getting all of the names ready, and she was so excited to see the results of efforts of the ward members.

This Brother and Sister Dazie from Swedru Second Ward.  Their son, (a recent returned missionary) is the new family history consultant for their ward.

 The bus left Swedru at 5am to be able to arrive at the Temple by 8am on Saturday.  They are waiting for the Temple Door to open and are just enjoying a nice cool morning on the Temple Grounds

I am not sure we have mentioned we were moving into a new home.  But because of difficult landlord problems , the Mission President decided we should relocate.   We have been working to get the house ready.  It had never been lived in and had all of the finish work needing to be completed.

We leased the home for one year and paid the money for the full year, which is the standard practice when renting.  Problem is the amount of money paid did not cover all of the work necessary to make the home livable.  Now what do you do?  You do the only thing possible. You take over the completion of the project and divide the amount it cost to finish by the about of the monthly  rent and that is how long the contract will be extended.  It looks like the mission will have the apartment for at least three years.  Hopefully a couple will be called to replace us when we leave.  If not the hot water heaters and air conditioners will be removed, and up to six missionary will be able to live in the apartment. I know its a rotten deal that missionaries do not get air conditioning.  I do not know how they do it.

 This is the front porch of our new house and more pictures will follow in the next posting.  It will be a very nice place.  Any of you couples out there wondering about serving in West Africa might give some serious consideration to replacing us.  I have to assure you it is not like you might perceive in your minds.  The people are wonderful, the Church is growing, the Temple is near, and the wonderful experiences are plentiful.

One of the interesting experience of being in Ghana is everyone is very creative in solving problems.  You never throw anything away, and you can always repair and re-use.  This is one of the main fues in our meter panel.  Notice the small copper wire along the outside of the fuse.  The fuse is blown and this was the fix I discovered in the panel.  It worked, but I won't comment on the safety or wisdom of the fix.    I have found all three fuse with the same jumper.  It's no wonder we have been experiencing some electrical challenges, needless to say I replaced the fuses with new ones.  All three cost about $3.00 dollars US.

Several have inquired about the Deaf School at Asikuma.  Well this is was one of the last service projects to  repair the holes in the roof.  Remember I mentioned you never throw anything away, well this roof metal had been on another roof and the holes did not match the framing structure.  We are using a glazing putty to fill the holes and it appears to have worked very well.

The Lybbert family was here helping to repair the roof.  This was their last visit to the school before they leave Ghana to return to the US.  They have been wonderful friends and very helpful in keeping the teachers paid and the repairs made.

 Their kids, as well as the students, loved helping with the project, they climbed up on stacks of desks and up the outside boards to reach the roof.  These kids are very smart and want to help with every project or game we do at their school.

The Deaf School with the Lybberts

Sister Ivie with her first piano student, Ebenezer Yeboah.  He is now playing in Sacrament Meeting and has received his  keyboard from the Hartman Fund.

One of the projects we have been working on is getting a new meeting facility in Asikuma.  The Church has finally been given the buildings from the Abeca's and have begin the process of making it an acceptable church facility.

We had a special pioneer celebration on the Monday after Easter.  We showed the film about the Church coming to West Africa.  Remember this Branch was only three weeks old when we arrived, and had only twenty one members.  There was over eighty people at the fireside.  With four missionaries living in Asikuma now and the excitement of the members, lots of good things are happening.  This is the Branch that sent the first new converts to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead with in six weeks of their baptism.  We love these people in this Branch

We used one of the new classrooms for our fireside

Our last zone activity day.  Finally a basket ball game

Notice the ski hat.  It is at least 90 degrees and 80% humidity

 We have had an on going challenge at the missionary apartment in Asikuma with water.  We are at the high point of the city water system and the landlord ran too small of water line for about a mile and the result is we can not fill our poly tank.  The town water system has been being repaired for the last couple of months and no one in this area has had water.  So you buy water in small sachet for drinking and bathing or you get the fire department to fill your tank.

Fireman climbing on top of tank to hold the fire hose

 Only problem is after we filled the tanks with the fire truck the neighbors decided to help themselves to the water.  The police from the next door apartments were the last ones to help themselves.  We have since made it difficult to get to the water. This week we installed a pump in the line to help draw water to fill the tanks.  Do hope it works. A valve got closed without the knowledge of the Elders and cooked the pump.  It is now being repaired and a special cage built to cover it.

The final exterior painting on out new house.

When you need a ladder you make it on site and then leave.  If is too short you just add on another section.  You can add a nail any where on the sides to hold you paint bucket.  Very handy.  This is my kind of guy, look at that stretch

Right next door to our house is a large house that has been empty for a while and looks like we will be able to get it for a Branch building.  We have been wanting to start a group in this area of town, and just as soon as we rented our apartment and decided to hold the group in our living room, enough members were identified in the area to actually start a Branch.  So the paper work has began and soon we should have a great deal of missionary work happening right around our house.  It is very interesting how things work out even when it was not the original plan.

This house has a very large hall (living room,) with severn other rooms that can be used for classrooms and office area.

Pretty flowers covering up a large communication tower next to our currant home.

It was nice to be able to watch conference live.  Our internet was working good for those two days and we were able to stream it ok.  We down loaded the sessions and have shown the priesthood session in a district meeting, and then on conference Sunday when they played the CD's of conference we were able to show the same session in English.

It always nice to get pictures of activities going on at  home.  Edie,Holly and Jennifer are good to send video clips of the baby's and that gives Grammy a good fix every time

Kennedie Herman

Ellie Rose Ivie

Our tulips at home

Grace and Ellie Ivie

Well lots of things have been going on over these last few weeks, and I hope to have covered many of them.  I will strive to do better at keeping the pictures of the things Sister Ivie writes in her family letters.

We are going to Accra on Monday to buy a good bed, and hope it helps with the back ache.  We will stay with the Watson's (they are the Area Family History Senior Couple) and attend a farewell party for the Fitzgearald's.  He has been the Area Executive Secretary.

So until next time