August is Gone 1 year down

Well tonight is the close of August, and in two days we will have our 1 year anniversary.  It has been a fun and very busy time.

At the close of the last post we were with President and Sister Shulz waiting to go to the airport. Here is a picture we took at the Area Office completing the traditions of departing missionary's

They have been waiting for three years to show us how to do the jump into the rest of life.

Just a few days later we were asked to take Elder Molifie to the airport.  He was leaving a few weeks ahead of his group to be able to get into school.

With having a couple of South Pacific Elders in the district it is only natural to have a pig roasting.  It worked so well they decided to have both zones get together on the beach and have barbecue and good time on the beach

They rounded up a large pot to be able to dip the pigs in boiling water to prepare them for hair removal.  It really worked slick

After removing the hair and gutting them they put them on a plantain leaf and loaded them into my truck to take to the beach.

They had cut three long poles and they had an interesting process to mount the pig so they could be roasted over an open fire.

The cooking took about an hour and half.

Again they were placed on a plantain leaf and cut up with a machete.  I told them they needed to learn how to use a knife and make the meat a little more presentable. 

The real prize was one of the heads.

sorry about the duplicate, but when I delate it everything below also deletes.

This is Yaw.  This was one of the first times Sister Ivie picked him up out of the road and brought him home for a bath, supper and clean clothes.  Some of you have heard about his story already but he was a little boy (5 years old) that was very neglected and left alone all to his own devices.  Over the next three weeks he stayed with us until we were able to get him placed in a children's home.

He has become very attached to Sister Ivie and responded very well to regular meals and a regular bath and clean clothes.  He doesn't talk and has a very hard time walking but he has improved so much it is hard to decribe.

Our good friends the Wallace's have a nursery school near our home and they let Yaw come to school everyday while he was with us.  This allow us to try to carry on our missionary activities at least durning the day.  Sister Ivie would carry him down to the school each morning true to his culture.  It also provided some inter action with other children and he could be observed by his teachers and helpers.

These two boys show up most every morning to wash our truck.  They get one cedi each, about 30 cents US.

Our grass is growing and we are getting flowers in the pots.  We have even had a couple of red tomatoes off of the plants we planted 

This was a special early morning baptismal service in Swedru First Ward.  President and Sister Stevenson brought the missionary back to the area so he could perform the baptisms. Very unusual but very special.

We check in on Yaw at least once a week to see how he is doing.  He was in the cafeteria eating his supper on this visit.

Shoe style are fun here in Ghana, the longer the shoe and toe the cooler it is.

And then add a cool color and a little gold and you have special go to Church shoes.

Swedru participated in the All African Service Day by doing some serious cleaning over in our neighborhood.  We will be starting a branch in this area very soon and it was a very nice project.

A Downtown garbage truck

Its alway nice to have the Elders in our home, and they don't mind the special treats Sister Ivie always fixes when they come over.

This is a bread baking shop just down the street from our home.  They were having to repair some of the equipment, but this sister still wanted her picture taken.

One year ago on our very first Sunday we visited the Asikuma Branch.  It was two weeks old and there were twenty one members.

One year later we had four missionary's serving in Asikuma, they were meeting in their newly rented chapel, membership has grown to sixty plus and there were ninety five people to Church on this Sunday.  This Branch is very special to us and we have some wonderful friends here.  This is also the location next to the deaf school that we have been helping with.

We had a large transfer coming up just as the fuel suppliers made a point with the government about paying the fuel bill. (1.8 Billion dollars) and so in an instant all of the station were finished with the fuel supply.  This is a hand pump station, (not on the approved list for fuel) but he had enough to fill both Elder Julanders and My trucks.  He hand pumps the fuel into one bottle, and then lets it gravity flow into the truck while he is pumping the other side.  He charged for the number of glass filled.  In our case it was about 150.00 cedi's each. We were happy and relieved.  We have since purchased extra jerry cans for the next time reminders are given to the government.

This is the missionary's meal of choice their last night at the mission home.  It fufu in soup with rice and chicken.  You make a spoon with the fufu and dip out the soup and swallow it all in one motion.  Of course your fingers are the utinsiles.

This was a wonderful group of missionary's, Everyone was a leader in the mission, district leaders, zone leaders,  a sister trainer leader, and an assistant to the president.  It made for a very interesting transfer for the rest of the mission.

The President at the MTC (missionary training center) had a guest visit he and his wife named Heidi Johnson,  (Heidi's father served in the Florida Mission the same time I was in the Florida Mission) they ask us if we could show her some of the cool things in the Cape Coast Mission like the tree walk and the Castle were the slave traders operated.  They also just received a full time Senior Couple to help at the MTC, and they wanted to come also, so after we dropped off our missionary's at the airport we picked up the three of them and brought them to our home in Swedru.  We stopped by the beach in Winneba on the way home and these are a few of the pictures we took.

Great fishing boat

The Ivies and The Mallarose from Washington State.

It is always fascinating to see the women with a baby wrapped on their backs and carrying a load on her head.  You seldom see anything ever dropped or spilled.

Another stop by the Children's Home to check on Yaw

Funerals in Africa are a major production.  It is one hugh family and friend gathering.  It usually takes three or four months to plan after the relative has died.  The house next to ours get rented off often to provide a place to sleep and fix meals.  Last weekend this is what greeted us for three long weekend days.  The party goes on around the clock.  We were fortunate to be in Cape Coast on Saturday Night and missed the loudest evening of the party.  These women were preparing fufu, soup and bonko.  Check out the video on my Facebook page. 

Along with the food a lot of beverage is consumed and really loosens up some of the participants.

We are back at the Children's Home, this time with dress's made by Elder McGuire's family

This is Elder Tembedza and Elder McGuire with some of the girls modeling their new dress's

Coming up in the next blog post will be pictures of Sister Ivie's visit to the hospital when she was ill.  Sorry to be so far behind but this will catch us up to the middle of September.