The life of a missionary in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission:

Our focus as a senior couple includes taking care of the missionaries. We thought you'd like to see a small sample of missionary life.

Elder Mocke, Sister Adu-Twum, & Elder Uata - 1st day!

First they come as new missionaries straight
from the MTC in Accra. They are anxious to serve, and have that "new missionary" look about them. Most have no idea of the cultural shock they are about to experience.

Elder Julander & Elder LeBaron Saying goodbye.

They come on "Transfer Day" when missionaries are moved around. We hate to see the Elders and Sisters leave our area. New ones come and take a place in our hearts, but we still miss the ones who have gone elsewhere in the mission.

Elder Sakala & Elder Shinasi during personal study

Each day begins with rising at 6:30 AM. They exercise, get ready, and do individual and companion study. 

Elders Adams, Wasden, Richards & Gillies

After a late breakfast they go out to work. And they walk............... often getting a chance to teach. The people here are very religious, and many are receptive to the gospel message.

Sisters Ramekgoe & Adu-Twum

......And they walk......


The sun is usually out, and the temperature extremely hot. The humidity is very high, so they perspire profusely. They have been well trained to hydrate like crazy  during the day.

Elders Hintse & Kirumire

 

Elders D.Larson & Halterman

Everywhere they go, they talk to people about what they are doing. Sometimes this leads to gospel conversations. Sometimes they just make friends.









These missionaries come from such varied backgrounds, and have such diverse experiences. They have a common goal - to invite others to come to Christ.

Elders Wright & Ajok

And did we mention that they walk a lot?

This is a very nice tro tro. Many are damaged & go down the road sideways

But sometimes they have to go long distances, so they take a tro tro, pictured here. This is a nicer one, but is loaded to the max, as they tend to be. They put in as many people as possible, and our poor missionaries are often cramped like sardines.

Elders Jensen & Ntlhaakgossi

But most of the time, yup, they walk..............
and walk.............
and walk...............

Elders Hartman, Wright, Holmgren, Brown, Malatji, & Ajok

Usually, the missionaries eat twice a day... once before they go out (between 10:00-12:00) and at night when they get home. But sometimes they will stop to eat at a "chop bar", the Ghanaian version of fast food. You can get fufu, rice, etc., served with your choice of soup. We like the light soup or groundnut (peanut) soup. And if you have the money you can get a piece of chicken or fish with it.

Elder Wright is excited about this meal for 4 cedi's (around $1.60US)

This is one of their favorite chop bars in Kweikuma    

Elders Uata, D.Larsen & Mthalane. Where's the silverware?

     

Elder Mocke preparing a gourmet dish

After working hard all day, the missionaries go home to their apartments and fix dinner. This is commonly as late as 9:30 PM if they are teaching at that hour. The most common food cooked is rice with some type of stew.    s                                                               

Elders Moore, C.Larsen, Ma'afu, Doggett, Mocke  Mmmmm.

Elders Halterman, D.Larsen, Gqweta, & Moleme

Sisters Fani, Arach, Zaccheaus, & Ndenga

Elder Halterman (right) & Roy the Rat (unknown comp.)

This rodent showed up for dinner. The missionaries said he tasted like chicken.....it's all
in the sauce!

 Elder Egbert, 80 lbs.               Elder Adams, 30 lbs.

But...with the amount of walking and hard work they do, many experience varying degrees of weight loss ~ between 10 to 90 lbs.!

Elder Brown, 50 lbs.

Sekondi District Meeting

Mpintsin District Meeting

Every Tuesday each District holds a meeting to talk about goals and be instructed. On occasion they combine 2 or more of the districts in the zone. We love attending these meetings, rotating so we can catch all of them.

Sister J. with the Shama Elders & others of Sekondi Zone

Elders of the West Tanokrom District in Takoradi

Takoradi Zone reading their mail. Wahoo!!!

Letters are scarce because of the internet, but they are very valuable and treasured. When letters arrive from the Mission Home (the only place that has a post office box) there is great rejoicing.....unless, of coarse, you get a "Dear John".

AP's James & Brown hand out mail from home.

The Assistant's to the President come periodically to instruct or visit, and their arrival is always met with excitement because they bring the mail - and if you receive a package, then you (and sometimes your companion) are very blessed.

Sisters Ramekgoe, Nyera, Julander, Ravudra, & Nansamba

 We love visiting the missionaries apartments (when we do our inspections). We also love to attend baptisms and service projects, and are often invited to go to activities on the rare occasion they have one.

Elder Halterman, Sister J., Elders Moleme, Gqweta & D.Larsen

Each Monday the missionaries have a Preparation Day to take care of cleaning their apartment, washing their clothes in buckets, ironing (if the power is on), writing letters, shopping and cooking for the week and hopefully making it to an internet cafe to email home. 

Here is a Ghanaian broom being expertly used by a missionary on preparation day to sweep the front walk. Not many missionaries are experts in cleaning when they come, but they (hopefully) learn quickly.

Elder Jensen subjects himself to a haircut

Many Ghanaian's believe the missionaries (especially the white ones) are very rich. Little do they know how poor they are. They take every opportunity to save a cedi. One way is by having Sister Julander cut their hair.

Elder Andrews is excited to get an "American" haircut

Getting their hair cut also keeps them cooler in the heat. They walk a fine line between cutting their  hair too short and getting a sunburn... and having longer hair and being too hot.

Kweikuma Elders go shoot some hoops

Our missionaries take part in many service projects. Many people won't let the missionaries do any service for them, so they serve members, like this Sister doing wash for a sick member whose husband is away at school...

Various Elders & Sisters with others repair the road

....or look for community projects, like repairing potholes in the road. Mmmmm, maybe we could get them to repair the great chasm the rain has washed out down the middle of our road??? Mmmm....

Elders Chishingji & Iwuchukwu with member

Missionaries run into many opportunities to serve, such as assisting this member with a new wheelchair. He has been faithfully coming for months using two sticks to hobble to church.

 

       

           

Sisters Fani & Adu-Twum received their blessings from Patriarch Mensah

                                                                   
                                                                       

Elders Hackmeister & Cavaness cleaning the font

The favorite thing missionaries do is baptize investigators. Sometimes this takes a little work. Most of the fonts in the branches are outside and built above ground. They have covers, but still get dirty and need cleaning.

Elder Moleme hauling water with other Elders & branch members

Sometimes the water fails. It just isn't in the pipes, and so they have to haul water from another source. In Axim, the chapel is on a hill, so the trip was long and difficult for the missionaries and members.

The favorite pictures of the missionaries are those taken at the baptisms of the investigators they have taught.

Elders Wamono, Ord, Cavaness, & Govathson & four converts
 

Sometimes there is only one, and often there are several. The Church is growing rapidly in Ghana, and so many of the members are faithful.

Elders Ma'afu & Doggett with converts

In some areas there are husbands who join the Church, but their wives stay with their old religion. They are usually very happy their husbands are members because they give up drinking and other bad habits.

Elder Hardy welcoming a new convert

In Tarkwa, membership has grown from 15 when the branch began 18 months ago, to over 60 today. Here is a new member being welcomed by missionaries and members after his baptism.

Elder Hintze

At the end of the day missionaries are very tired. Some come home so exhausted they just collapse under their mosquito net until morning.

Elder Kirumire

Each missionary sleeps under a net with a fan to keep the air circulating so they don't die of the heat at night.

Elders Ike & Malatji

 This works great until the power goes out, which happens frequently of late.

Elder Doggett waiting patiently for Elder J. to pack up his stuff

The end of a long, hard day. "Think I'll go home and go to bed."

Welcome new MTC President & Sister Robison

Our mission president invited the Robison's, the new MTC President and his wife as well as the other senior missionary couples, down to experience some of the sights in this area. First, we went to the  Elmina Slave Castle.
                                                                                                                                   

President & Sister Robison

The center courtyard of the fort

The Elmina Castle is a fort originally built by the Portuguese in 1471 for the protection of their trading interests in West Africa. Soon after, trading came to include slaves.

School children on the ramparts of the fort

 

Years passed and the fort was captured by the Dutch. It was later sold to the English. For over 400 years slaves were captured and sent off to the America's, England or elsewhere. The chiefs sold non-compliant villagers, or sent warriors out to abduct members of warring tribes, selling to the traders for Western goods.

 

Original bricks, worn smooth by the bare feet of innumerable slaves, are still visible in some of the rooms. There were no sleeping or toilet facilities. When asked about why they didn't take better care, and protect their "assets" we were told they wanted only the strongest
ones .... those that survived the "castle" and the voyage.

Areas where powerful events take place have a spirit about them. There is a very tangible spirit in the Tabernacle or Conference Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. A contrasting spirit exists at the WWII concentration camps and other locations where horrible events took place. The "castle" had such an oppressive feeling, evidence that terrible atrocities took place here.

















There were separate quarters for male and female slaves. Food was scarce, and fresh water was in short supply. We listened gravely as our guide gave a description of the  deplorable living conditions in the dungeon.

Room of no return

The captives that were not compliant and caused problems were put in this small room, where they
were left to die. No one ever got out alive.
















Bars and doors were everywhere. Except, of course, in the governors section, the soldiers quarters, and the two churches that were eventually built within the fort.









When the ships arrived,  slaves were directed through this door, never to see their homes and families again. More people died in the castle than those exiting the door, and often, more people died during the voyage than those who arrived. The death toll over the four centuries in West African slave castles and on the ships they left in, was higher than WWII concentration camps and the Russian Gulags combined.













This would have been the view as they departed the exit door. Today, this picture shows African fishing boats and not a slave ship, but the views is the same.


The saddest thought is that "slave castles" such as this were all along the coast of Western Africa. Just to the West and within sight of this fort is the Cape Coast Castle, which is of comparable size.

This memorial plaque  speaks for itself.










                                                                                                                                                                                     






Next, on a much happier and adventurous note, the couples went to the Canopy Walkway, part of the Kakum protected Rain Forest. 

The senior couples (we still cringe at being referred to as a "senior" couple) get together every few months for an activity, although not all of them are as extensive as this one. So don't get the impression that we are here on vacation.

This is the traditional "picture by the sign" that everyone was taking, although our pose was a little different .... imagine that.

When we got there we discovered it was a holiday, and many school children were on the path with us.The little ones would yell "obroni" at us and get all excited. The older ones would pass in teenage coolness.

  

Sister J. spent a whole lot of time looking down. Sister Schiffman was definitely not looking down. She kept asking Sister J. to sing something calming to her. Elder J. suggested "Nearer My God to Thee", and was met with definite disapproval! Sister Shulz didn't come on the walk
because of acrophobia, but later came with her son and grandkids. We are so proud of her for
     facing her fear of heights.

Looking down!

Elder & Sister Schiffman and Sister Julander walking through the canopy

Just to give you a perspective, the little trees that look like shrubs down below are the size of the largest trees in our neighborhood in Hooper, Utah.














Sister J. swinging on a vine swing. She hit the root below as she let go. Ouch!








                        
                              And now for some random pictures we thought you would enjoy.

This is one of our alarm clocks.... usually going off around 4:30 AM. There are many chickens, roosters and baby chicks of all sizes roaming the streets. Some are quite beautiful.

 Sister J. loves the little goats here. This is a young one, (goat and boy) just about the size of a cat. When we were taking this picture, a woman, wanting to get in on the picture taking event, came over with a cat that was not very happy! Many people here like getting their pictures taken. Then they want to see themselves on the camera.

I'm not sure who was acting crazier, the cat or the woman holding it. She thought we were nuts to take a picture of a goat. Many of the Ghanaian's have a great sense of humor. I know that they like to laugh at us a lot. Sorry I missed her head in the picture but the cat was out of control and she had me laughing so hard....





    



Couldn't help taking a picture of this little girl....the kids here are so dang cute. Most usually smile these huge, heart melting smiles until you get out the camera. Then they hide and peek out from behind their parents, like this little one. Those that are older love to mug the camera.









 This is a main window in the Accra Ghana LDS Temple. We love the windows at night. Inside, there are marvelous doors, trim and panels from the native mahogany wood.























The Temple is small, but so very beautiful. We get to go there when we visit Accra for transfers (or the occasional truck repair).

This man in the Nkroful branch just returned to Church, and his 4 children are being taught by these wonderful missionaries - Elders Chishinji and Iwuchukwu. Yup, they're difficult for us to pronounce too. We ordained this man an Elder in the last Mission Conference.

This brother has been a member for about 6 months now. He has come to Church faithfully using two sticks to hold himself upright while walking. Two Sunday's ago, we delivered this wheelchair, which we picked up in Accra (another miracle on how that happened). The Church sends the wheelchairs to the Ghana Health Services and they distribute them. If a member is in need of one, they are available for the cost of assembly.

And finally, here is Sister Julander, trying to keep our awesome, Axim  missionaries in line. The missionaries here in Cape Coast are so good ... and strong ... and faithful ... and rule abiding ... etc., etc., etc.  We love them!!!