We had an amazing 2 weeks in Utah. Our 1st week was at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT and was one of the most memorable weeks of our lives. It was intense with much studying and learning, but also full of excitement and joy. You can't help but enjoy being with over 2000 smiling young missionaries along with our 100 senior couples, who are preparing to go all over the world to serve. Can't deny that the "all you can eat at every meal, didn't have to cook or clean up" dining hall was also memorable. The younger missionaries even let us cut in line and carried our trays, can't beat that.
We are so grateful to our dear friends, Kerry and Teresa Adams, for housing us for our 2nd week of training in SLC. They took care of us and filled us full of our "last" favorite foods.
We had a great surprise when our son Ted was able to fit in a business trip to SLC to visit with us one more time. It was wonderful to be with him. Ted now holds the bragging rights as the first child to visit us on our mission.
We left SLC at 11:00 am, Monday, Jan 20 and arrived in Accra, Ghana at 11:30 am, Tuesday, Jan 21. We feel like we lost a day in our lives, but we'll get it back in July 2015. We walked off the air conditioned plane into our new climate. We were worried about the heat, but turns out it's just like VA in July, but for 12 months. We'll have 2 seasons, dry and wet, with a little dust season in between.
After 1.5 hours in customs we were picked up by the Fitzgeralds, a missionary couple. They took us to our apartment, which is in a small, very safe complex about 3 miles from the Ghana Temple and our offices. There are 5 other couples in our complex, and they all have made us feel so welcomed. They had dinner waiting for us when we arrived.
.JPG)
The Elmers took us grocery shopping on our 2nd day. We went to 4 different stores, because you can't get everything at one store, and you can't even find the same things at the same store the next day. The food looks familiar just in different languages. Some food is very expensive, Ed won't be eating Ben & Jerry's for a while at $21 per pint. Fruit is plentiful, delicious, and sold in stands along the roads. Pineapples are only 50 cents.
The other couples drove us around for the first 3 days to get acquainted with the area. On Friday we ventured out in our own car. The city traffic is like NYC times 100. Plus there are street sellers walking between the lanes of traffic at every intersection. Ed thinks it's fun, but I just grip tight to the map and navigate. I'm glad he's enjoying himself!
We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary on Jan 31st. We went to dinner at Pinocchio's (fun place because we could get real milkshakes!) with the Elmers, Bullocks, Smiths, and Walls. The Stokers were visiting Nigeria.
One special thing this week was a visit from Elder David Bednar of the Quorum of 12 Apostles. We were able to attend 2 meetings with him, one with 2000 members and the other with 300 missionaries. What an amazing time.
The people of Ghana are just as wonderful as we'd imagined they'd be. They are very poor but are happy and welcoming and always smiling.
We are having a wonderful time and are so thrilled to have this privilege and blessing in our lives. As the scriptures say in Mark 9:5, "It is good for us to be here."
Lots of memories of standing in front of the world map and in front of groceries my first area ward primary gave us
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary Pat & Ed! On 1/31, I remembered you shared your anniversary with Teddy & my birthday. Wayne & I think of you often & know you will do amazing work in Ghana.
ReplyDeleteLove to you both, Teresa