Here Again, Still!!

We have had so much trouble with Google sign-in over the last 2 months. Wants to reject our sign-in from Ghana.  Working at this moment, so I will try again.
We rode in a leaky canoe up Volta River to visit project at Pediatorkope Island to where children generate their school's electricity with the playground equipment, merry-go-round and swing.  Some of these were set up in villages by BYU.  Elder Watson taught kids his finger snap.

Here are the 9 senior couple missionaries from our apt complex.  There are many others living in other part of the area.  We serve in such areas as Humanitarian, Self-Reliance, Member Support, Family History, Temple, Legal, Public Affairs, Medical, Youth and Young Single Adult Support, Office and Missionary Support, and any other capacity that is of help to the people of West Africa and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at all the BIG smiles!  Missions are GREAT!

Most recently arrived are our couples evacuated from Sierra Leone and Liberia.  They are great and are being reassigned here.  They call themselves the "refuges".  It was difficult for them to get all the missionaries evacuated, but they were able to get the last group out just hours before martial law was declared in Liberia.  It has been very hard to see what is happening to the people of those countries.  They are struggling greatly, but when we speak with them, they say, "We are trying."  Many miracles are happening there, and we know they are in God's care.  Please keep them in your prayers.  The Church is helping with food and medical supplies.

Monrovia, capital of Liberia

Leadership meeting in Bushrod Island, Liberia

This is the bishop's family from Odorkor Ward.  We were lost trying to find our destination (as usual) when they spotted us (we're not hard to pick out).  They drove up beside us, beeped their horn and had us follow them to the ward.  The bishop ran into his meeting, and his wife piled the family out of the car and welcomed us.  Reminded me so much of home!

This is the leadership of the Adenta Stake. They had a FH Stake Fair with about 360 adults and youth attending.  They are holding the stack of family charts turned in by the members to be prepared for their next temple trip.  We are helping with FH Fairs and with the Youth Conferences of "Get to Know Your Grandparents" in a number of areas.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.com.gh/article/church-in-ghana-develops-a-new-family-history-program-for-youth  Check this website for a number of pictures and an article on the Youth Conference we had in Tema Stake.  It is amazing fun.  They are so enthusiastic. 

We hear from home that our Richmond Stake is doing some of the same activities.  Way to go Richmond Youth!!!  You are engaged in a GREAT work that will be a wonderful blessing to you and to generations before you and yet to come.  Thank you.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.com.gh/article/generations-connect-through-personal-histories-and-life-stories  This website has an earlier article on our classes at the African Missionary Training Center in Ghana.  WE have come to love each new group of missionaries.  They are very knowledgeable, spiritual, and dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.

Can't help but include this one.  There is not a lot of TV or evening entertainment.  These 3 missionaries discovered a DVD of the Disney movie "Tangles".  'nough said ....

We love you all and are SO grateful for your love and support.  It is so fun to get all the updates from home.  We are VERY proud of our wonderful family.

I really would be posting more often, but we've had trouble getting into Google, and BlogSpot hangs up.  "Oh, bother."
Missionary work here is truly a blessing in our lives.

Look closely at the reflection in the car rearview mirror. We were going to Ho, a town on eastern side of Ghana, with 3 carloads of missionaries. The main bridge over the Volta River is out, so there is a long wait for a small ferry. One missionary knew of a small side road over an even smaller bridge. We were stopped by a police barricade and told that since we were foreigners we couldn't cross that bridge and would have to turn around. While some of the Elders "discussed" with the police why they should let us through, Elder Watson was at the back of the car discussing the Gospel with a policewoman. He gave her the pamphlet "Plan of Salvation" and a copy of Book of Mormon. I'm so proud of my companion!
I had to take the picture "covertly", because you're not allowed to photograph the police. We took the ferry and still got to the wonderful area of Ho, just took a while.

 

We found our own "Good Samaritan" in Ghana. We were totally lost trying to find a chapel. We stopped at a corner and asked a man standing there if he knew the Church. He said, "Latter-Day Saints, I am coming." (That's an expression for a lot of things, "Follow me", I'll be right back", "Wait a minute"). He jumped on his bike and waved for us to follow. He lead us about a mile thru winding streets and got us right to the chapel. He's not a member. He just did it because we needed help. Wonderful people here.

We are so thrilled to be serving our mission here at the same time as our wonderful grandson Garrett, Elder Watson, Jr, is serving his mission in Anaheim, CA, Spanish-speaking.  He's doing a fabulous job, and we're very proud of him.
One wonderful part of our mission that we had not expected is the opportunity to work with the younger, more energetic missionaries, like our Elder Garrett Watson.  We have found that a great help we can do on our mission is to be a support to them.  They are so capable and willing to serve.  They go out at their own expense, so willing to help, all over the world.  The Church has got to be true for Heavenly Father to send 18-24 year olds all over the world to share His Gospel (to say nothing of having the confidence to send "60 something" year olds) and have such wonderful results.  We are able to give them the love and support, counsel, and, sometimes, homemade cookies, to give them the boost they may need to be successful on their missions.  They are fun to be with them. 
We help with training the new missionaries at the Ghana MTC, Missionary Training Center every other Friday and Sunday and then get go to the Temple with them every other Tuesday & Wednesday.  They are mostly African Elders and Sisters with a few from the USA and, of all places, the South Pacific Islands.
Many of the African missionaries are the only member of their family in the Church, and many of them have lost one or both parents to accident, disease, or war.

The principle of serving or helping the ONE each day has become a fun goals.  We have seen many ONE experiences.  You never know when or where they'll turn up.  When you look for them they always turn up.  I know we are all changed because of these opportunities. Serving the Lord and loving our brothers and sisters in really all about seeking the ONE that we can help each day.  It's not the big things that count.  It's the little things we do for others that really make the difference to them and us.

Our experience with the ONE last week was in working with Elder and Sister Mbele from the Congo Democratic Republic.  They are only the 2nd African senior missionary couple to come through the MTC here.  They speak French so we did a lot a smiling and pantomiming and worked through a translator.  They have been trying to save for 8 years to come to the Temple in Ghana but have never been able to make it.  There are only 3 temples in Africa.  Now that they are going to serve a mission they found themselves right where they had wanted to be.  We went with them to the temple to help as they were sealed together for time and all eternity.  They were also able to be sealed to their 21 year old son who had died and their daughter who had died at age 4 months.  We stood as proxy for his parents as they were sealed and as was he sealed to them. 

Here are a few catch up pictures -
Pat's birthday-Elder Watson found a wonderful restaurant and gathered other missionary couples, from front - Stokers, Smiths, Eltons, Elmers, Bullocks. Best meal we've had!  See the African group behind us? During the meal they did a flash mob and sang part of an Italian opera., then they came and sang "Happy Birthday" to me!!  Turns out they are an African choir.  Good touch Elder Watson.

Driving through bush by Ghana gold mine digs for those who saw TV show.

Check words on back of truck. All trucks, bus, cabs have sayings, most are scriptural.

Visited people of fishing village

 

We love you & appreciate your prayers & support.    -   John 11:25-26

Every day I think, "Wow, this is all so amazing. It can't get any better."  Then I give the V-8 slap and remember we're on a mission in Africa.  Every day is a new adventure.

Had a wonderful weekend visiting the members in Central Ghana. We went to Swedru to help another missionary couple, Elder & Sister Ivie.  It's about 76 kilometers, about 50 miles. Took 3 hours, rough roads.

In small town of Asikuma Ed helped set up the water supply tank (look at those bulging muscles!). A dirt platform had been built, but we can only pray it holds.  The men lifted the tank up, connected it, and then paid a fire truck to come fill it. We also had the women of the village who usually go to the stream come and get water from the truck.

I got to play with the local children. Saw 3 boys playing soccer & asked about their ball.  They had made it themselves by stuffing a plastic bag with pieces of rubber.  Our kids should know to appreciate all we have and know we really don't need to "have" so much to be happy.

Sister Ivie and I taught them to play freeze tag. Within a few minutes more smiling barefoot children came running to join in. We ended up with over 10. They taught us a tribal dance, and we played London Bridge and sang the ABC song.  They were the happiest children I've ever met.  They asked where I was from, and I explained across the ocean (which is 15 miles from them). They know the USA, but one boy said, "What's an ocean?"  Most have never left the village.  They asked for stories and when would we come back to play again.  Their parents were a little suspicious of us at first. Their ministers told them missionaries are there to kidnap them, among other things.  But I think they know now that none of those things are true! 

Members of the Church have contributed to help fund a school for the deaf children of the village, about 15-20. Many go deaf if they get malaria from mosquito bites. They meet outside and have 2 levels of grades. The cook prepares a big lunch for them cooked over a fire.  From what I saw on the 2 chalkboards they are learning to read English and many of the same science lessons we teach in the USA.

Over the weekend we also taught a training meeting for the Winnaba Stake Family History Consultants, spoke in Sacrament Service Sunday meeting, and then were asked to teach the combined Priesthood/Relief Society  (Adult meeting).  At the end of the meeting the Bishop told all the members to come back on Wednesday for everyone to work together on gathering their family history information.  Most came back and we saw about 150 of them at the Ghana Temple Sat with many family names prepared to complete. They are a wonderfully faithful people with a love for their families.
When I get home I want to be the best Ghanaian I can possibly be!

We continue to have the wonderful opportunity of teaching at the Missionary Training Center in Tema, Ghana every other Friday and Sunday as new groups of about 70+ missionaries come through for their 11 days training before leaving for their mission fields in Africa.. We also go to the Temple with them on Tues and Wed to help with their family activities. So far they have completed over 400 family names. These are amazing groups of young people. They come from Burundi, Kenya, Sierra Leon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Congo, Cameron, Uganda, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and many other African nations. Many are the only members of the Church in their families and many have only one or no parents, because of war, disease or accidents. They've worked to earn the money to serve others in Africa during their 2 year missions. We've gotten very attached to them.

The people here work so hard and are always smiling.  This lady is on her way to set up her stand by the road to sell whatever she has for the day.  They carry everything on their heads.  Stands are everywhere along the road and sellers walk in between the traffic selling everything.  It's like a "drive-thru Walmart".    You have to buy things as you drive by rather than go to stores.  For 5 cedis (about $2) a smiling lady will throw 8 bananas into your car window while running beside the car.  Or you can buy fresh caught big snails to cook for dinner. 

The fishermen go out in the evening and come back in the morning in these big canoes.

We meet the cutest little guy, Joshua, who wanted to show us around. He took us through his small fishing village and up a lighthouse.  We talked to him about why we were in Africa and he was so excited when we gave him a Book of Mormon for his very own. We also got to visit his school and meet his teacher.

People here know of the Church and are very interested to talk about God and Jesus Christ.  We checked out of one hotel we'd stayed at in our travels and saw the clerk was reading the Bible. After talking with him we gave him one of our pamphlets about the Plan of Salvation. As we went to our car 2 other men came running to our car and asked for one. We found out from another couple who checked out after us that all 3 were sitting at the desk reading them 1/2 hour later.

Had an opportunity to visit the Ghana Archives.  I didn't even know they had one. They don't have the funds to preserve their records, so most are just sitting in piles. Sad to see the records and history of a country being lost.

We are loving the blessing of being here to serve and learn from such a wonderful group of people.  We're grateful that Heavenly Father blessed this world with some many diverse and beautiful individuals and cultures.
Everyday we are more thankful that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in its fullness. It is our testimony that the Bible and the Book of Mormon as true scriptures to guide and help us to know more of our Heavenly Father's love for us.  He knows us each by name and cares about every detail of our lives.  We have a sign in our apartment that says, "The way may be difficult at time, but I will always be there".  We'll never regret being too kind.
We love our family and are so very grateful for all their support.
Thanks for checking with us.  Want to share these 2 pictures we have in our office.

We are so behind in sharing, but we have been so busy. We may put a lot a pictures on to get a little caught up.
We were out grocery shopping.  Grocery shopping is actually one of our forms of entertainment.  Topics of conversations with the other missionaries are often about what we were able to find and where.  Of course, that doesn't mean it's still there.  When stores are out they say it's "finished", and you never know when they'll get more in. We go to about 4 different stores and fruit stands to find everything.  Here's a pic of the fruit stand and fruit we purchase.  All on our sink top for $5!! 

However, we found a little place about the size of our family room at home called Hacienda, Mi Casa, American Grocery Store (strange) that carries some Costco like brands and gets shipments every few months.  Unfortunately, I got a little slap-happy and bought a few things.  Just these things cost $175 US! 

 

We had our first 2 encounters with the Ghana police today, one scary and one amazing!  It happens to all the "obrunis" (whites) often.  We'd been warned, but it was still a little hair-raising.  They stop   you for anything.  They may see you and catch a cab to flag you down.  They say they're arresting you for things like expired fire extinguisher (you have to have one in your trunk) or the like. Usually if you offer them $$ or food they let you go. 

In the 1st situation, a policeman jumped in front of our car and started yelling that we were in the wrong lane. Kind Elder Watson apologized, and said he didn't know. That didn't help.  Said he wanted to get in our car and take us to police station.  We were to be arrested. I reached for my phone and told him we'd call our "supervisor." He seemed shocked and asked , "Who!?"  We said we were missionaries and would call our leader about this.  He huffed and told us just to go on!  Ed said take his picture but I wasn't going there!  We should have given him a Book of Mormon.  That satisifies them sometimes.

The 2nd encounter was totally different.  We got going east instead of west on the highway. The next exit was 15 miles down the road. At the toll booth we explained our problem. The policeman carrying an AK47, looked at Ed's name tags and said, "You are a man of God."  He opened the side gate and let us turn around. We gave him a Book of Mormon as thanks. He kissed it, stood at attention, clicked his heels and saluted Ed.  The people here are very kind and religious and respectful. Most are familiar with of our church.

 

We have been able to meet with different congregations each week. Newtown Ward meets in a rented building and is so crowded that they brought in another bench part way through the services. All the Ghanaians sing joyfully & beautifully. They all break into parts, especially the men's parts. They even sing along with the prelude music.  When they stand at the pulpit to speak they say, "Good morning Brothers and Sisters", the congregation responds back with a rousing, "Good Morning."

 

  

    We also visited Nsawam (say letter "N" and "swam") Ward.  Elder Watson made a new friend, Shadrack. He wandered into the church about 2 months ago in tattered clothes. He lives with his grandmother. The ward members, who really have little, chipped in and got him a shirt and tie to wear. He comes every week.  I also met a new friend, Helaman.  He's about 3. Sat on my lap during church then ran out of church down the road. I had to run to catch him and bring him back. He laughed all the way.

 

We visited the Trade Fair Ward meeting in another rented hall, but they are all very excited that their new church building will be ready soon. They meet near the beach on the Atlantic Ocean, but it's not like any beach you'd want to visit, lined with shacks and very unclean conditions.

 

Last Sunday as we arrived at the Tema 3rd Ward little Eliaham, about 3, got out of a cab with his mother. Most come in small "cabs", trotro vans, or walk to church. He probably doesn't see many white people, "obrunis" (the other missionaries are the only ones we see), but he immediately reached out his little hand to shake my hand and welcome (akwaaba) me.  Bishop asked us to share our testimonies in Sacrament meeting, and we helped in Sunday School. 

 

Traveling in the city is interesting.  Often at standstill with "hawkers" walking between the lanes selling everything.  It's like a "drive-thru Target"!  But that's the way you buy many things here, and it's considered a regular job.  This is a total cash society.  Most are self employed.

 

 

We were not able to be at the meeting shown below, but I thought it was amazing. People have little but regardless of geography the Lord has a way for everyone of His children to share in the fullness of His Gospel.  This family is learning about the importance of and how to strength their family. Here, as everywhere, families are important to the people of West Africa.

 

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.  This is a very special place to be.

Missions are GREAT!!

The Ghana Temple is so beautiful.  It's amazing to finally stand in front of it.  It's a dream come true to be close to such a  peaceful, spiritual place.  We just walk across the small parking lot to be at the Temple vs. driving 3-6 hours through D.C. traffic.  The inside has dark African wood columns and African motif stain glass windows.  The building in the background is the West Africa Area office where our offices are located.
We spend a few days here and rest of the days out in other areas of Ghana.  We are waiting for additional visas to begin traveling to visit the other 6 countries in our mission.

 

We attended church our first Sunday at the Newtown Ward.  The members all greeted us with smiles.  The Ghanaian people are happy and welcoming to everyone. You haven't heard a hymn sung until you've heard an African choir sing, wow!   They also all sing along with the prelude music.  They just love being together. 

There were over 15 people in the investigator class.  The questions are interesting.  One person asked if the Koran was scripture, Never heard that at home, but there's a large Muslim population here. They also had 3 priesthood ordinations and 5 baptisms after church. The pictures are the neighborhood around the building. 

Elder and Sister Elmer were with us. She teaches the Young Women class and English.  The men speak English, but many of the local women do not.  It's a concern, because it limits their ability to get a job or to interact outside their local areas.

 Our first training meeting with members from the southern Ghana area.  Many of the members traveled hours to come.  They were so grateful and excited to be there.  Can you find Elder Watson in the picture?

 

 Lunch after the meeting.  That's Pat's new friend, Rebecca.  She laughs all the time.  Believe it -- We ate cow feet and liked them!!  We also liked the fofo, fermented corn meal, but the fish soup with whole fish, heads, insides and all, wasn't our favorite.

 Have to wash all our dishes and food in Clorox water.  Takes a lot of time to prepare every day, because you have to eat breakfast so we can take malaria pills, need to pack lunches and have had to go back to cooking every night (only drawback of a mission!).

Elder David A Bednar, of the Quorum of 12 Apostles, visited us last week.  Over 2000 members attended on this night.  He had the first 4 rows reserved and after the hall filled, he told all those standing in the back to come fill those seats. We also had a meeting with him with 300 younger missionaries and about 20 other senior couples. 

He told us the Atonement of Christ is for everyone. We do all we can, but we can never do enough.  The Savior does all the rest for us.  When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on the water to Christ he first said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee.." As soon as Peter heard Christ say, "Come", he was out of that boat onto the water and into the storm.  Losing focus and confidence he began to sink.  The cool thing is that IMMEDIATELY Christ reached out and lifted him up.  That's also when He is there for us, immediately.

Better close, need to be up at ..., well, let's just say it's early!  Love to all, and most especially to our wonderful family.

We've ARRIVED!



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.

 

                                              Elder and Sister Watson at MTC World Map

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.

                                                             Bragging rights for Ted
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.

                                                               Love our Apartment

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.

                                                             Recognize anything?

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."