Shadach and being cast into the fire

Shadrach in all his glory.  His partners Meshach and Abednego have not shown up yet, at church, but we expect them someday as he assured me they would come.  The missionaries asked why does this young boy come to Church.  He is not a member but he loves the missionaries and he loves the feeling when he is at church. He comes to Sacrament meeting and sits between Sister Wall and myself.  He looks at the bible pictures and can tell you the story of each. I told the Elders he can feel where he is comfortable and some day he will want to become a member.   He is currently 10 years old, as near as we can understand.  Someone gave him a tie this week and he was in seventh heaven.  He wears a long sleeve yellow shirt and some sweat pants. He loves to play with the keys to the truck as it tweets when it is locked or unlocked with the key fob.  He is a sweet boy looking to belong and I can not think of a better place for him to belong than the Lords kingdom on earth, hearing the stories of Jesus found in the Bible and Book of Mormon.   

This week Heidi was called as the advisory to the primary while I was asked to serve as an adviser to the Young Men's presidency.  I would like to think that if I lived in Book of Mormon times I would have served with the Sons of Heleman.  Our goal is to create activities that allow the young men to have experiences that strengthen their testimonies increase their faith in the Messiah and build their conversion.

Today we had an experience we never want again.  We were driving back to the office from the local office supply store called Kingdom Books.  As we were traveling the mirror on the passenger side of the car slammed against the window and shattered. Heidi put her head down and said we just hit someone.  I was driving at a slow speed and being very careful as people are always on the street, walking or darting in front of us.  With that I stopped and a man came up to the side window and said I need to go to the hospital, let me in the truck, I of course did so.  But in preparing to leave a taxi pulled in front of me and motioned for me to stop, we thought we were in big trouble.  But the taxi driver got out of his cab and told the man to get out of our truck, stating that the man in the back seat hit our mirror.  About that time another pedestrian came along and told him to get out and us to leave.  They had seen the entire incident and were not going to allow him to get away with such shenanigans.  Thank heavens for the taxi driver and the other man.  I will now try to be more generous to the drivers as they make 3 lanes out of 1 and crowd in and block me and anyone else out, they can.  We are grateful to the Lord for his watching care and your prayers, I am sure we have been saved several times from unpleasant if not major problems by His tender mercies.  We did however miss Elder Bednar and Clayton's investigator devotional tonight as we waited for the mechanic to repair our side view mirror.  I did not dare drive the truck with a shell on it without a side mirror.  How grateful I am to our area fleet manager Kofi, and traveling mechanic for their quick response.  You see here you can not go to the Nissan dealer and get a new mirror, for if you do you have to buy the entire housing at a very high cost. So the mechanic went to a local shop, along side the road, and had a mirror made, mounted in the housing, then re-installed the entire housing on the truck. He carries all his tools in a back-pack, and travels by tro-tro.  It is amazing what these souls can do with very little resources.  Please know we are grateful for your prayers and the Lord's tender care.        

Bats and more Bats

Bats and more Bats

Whenever we drive down Independence Avenue , especially at dusk, there are just thousands of bats leaving these trees. They are very large, in the daytime, when they are hanging in the trees, it looks like each tree has hundreds of big pineapple size fruit hanging in it, yes it is a bat. They are fruit bats. I just hope they are not eating all of the mangoes. Mangoes have been out of season for about 3 months and they have just come back into season Yum!!

Our Internet service has not been good, our down stairs neighbors and friends left to go home, we miss them and their internet service. We are getting new family history missionaries that are coming next week, so here is hoping that my internet service will get better.

 This last week was the 10th anniversary of the Ghana Accra Temple, Our friend Ben who finds and takes care the missionary apartment and does lots of other things for our mission just got married this last week.
He met Pearl and she is a beautiful girl. This Wedding has been a very difficult process. At least once a week we would get an up date. First he is getting married much younger then the average Ghanaian. He is only about 24. Pearl she just finished her college and she has to do a year of service for the Government. They can get sent anywhere in the country to do that, luckily she got a company here in Accra. Then Ben had to do the knocking (ask for the Bride) and pay a Bride Price. After they got through with all of that they set the date and an Uncle died. You can't have a wedding unless everyone is buried and that process can take months. That was settled then they reserved the Church, and sent out the invitations and they got bumped because it was the 10th Anniversary of the Accra Temple Dedication. Pres. Hill  interceded for them. It was back on and the week before a great aunt died. You can see that this can get complicated!! Well to the chagrin of some family members they went ahead with it and first had the traditional Wedding last  Friday, then the Wedding and Reception at the Chapel (8 hours) on Saturday then the next Tuesday they got sealed in the Temple. These are a couple of pictures after the Temple.

They are a wonderful couple and are very excited, oh did I mention, Ben was also made 1st counselor in his ward Bishopric a couple of months ago while all this was going on, and he is still happy.


We had a very busy week, with going to all the weddings, Terry got a Ghanaian driver's license, a 3 day process, that produced a paper license.  I can go back in three months and pick up the plastic covered one.
We made a 8 1/2 hour trip to the bush with a record 6 police stops, all very pleasant and placing 3 copies of the Book of Mormon.  We decided we needed to take more cookies next time to share. Time is passing quickly, Mr. Potato from Shelly Idaho is our first AP and he has just gone to the bush to finish up his last 2 months of full time service. We love and miss him  in the office to brighten our days.    

Welcome to the World Baby Adelyn

This is little Adelyn,(parents, Kristi and Justin) she arrived 2 days before 2013 ended. She is the 3rd Grandchild to be born since we have been in Africa. All three of them are far away, but we couldn't love them anymore then if we were there holding them, and believe me we wish we could be there holding them. Unfortunately we can't  be two paces at once. Today Eli is being blessed,(parents, Emili and Brian) in Logan. This morning we had a cute baby blessed in our Nsawam Branch, I must admit that a tear came to my eye when I thought about Eli's blessing in just a few hours time. I must admit I am being a little prideful when I say that all 14 of our Grandchild were born into wonderful families. Families that will love, teach and care for them. Terry is going to write the rest of our blog, thank you all for your Christmas wishes.

We are in the middle of a season called Harmaton, not sure how it is spelled.  It comes in the dry season, between November and February and is the time when the Sahara gives up its sand into the air and fills the sky, so you can not see the sun or any blue.  Everything inside and out gets covered in dust.   The truck we drive may be washed in the morning but by evening it has collected a significant amount of dust. It can be so severe that ones lips crack and the skin drys.  We understand that in other parts of Africa, it is much worse.

This week was a week of miracles.  One I witnessed was the protection of our Mission President Hill. The pleading to our Father in heaven for that protection which answered ended up being our physical facilities representative and his gentle demeanor.  Ben Botwe is a counselor the local bishopric, was due have his traditional wedding Saturday but because his future Father in law's aunt died the wedding was postponed. Ben works very hard to bless the kingdom and those he serves.  He has worked many Saturdays and sometimes on Sunday not taking a day off for weeks trying to help the missionaries have the needs of water, electricity, etc.  Things that many of us take for advantage, but are often difficult part of a missionary apartment here in West Africa.  His testimony and goodness are exemplified in his service.  This next Saturday is their White Wedding significant of a wedding in the Church.  He will be married in the Christensborg Stake Center, there must be a civil wedding, prior to a temple sealing, and in February they can go to the temple to be sealed.  I can witness that because of his goodness and all of our pleading President Hill received Father's protection.  We see miracles daily and and know God lives and loves us, as he does all of his children.