GHANA OVER-RUN BY JULANDERS......Part One-A

Over a period of three weeks, four Julanders made the long and arduous trek from Utah to visit their grateful missionary parents. Justin and Logan arrived September 1st. The following pictures, taken by the two of them, chronicle half of week one of their adventures. (Between our three sons, they shot over 3,000 pictures......so we will most likely do at least 6 blogs!!!)

We went from the airport to the Ancillary on Temple Square where we stayed the first night. We did a temple session the next morning, then left Accra and took the following pictures on our way home to Takoradi.

Woman selling Plantain chips, Accra

                                             Strange, unusual, and colorful building we saw on our way to Takoradi

                                                                                                                            Pedestrian overpass

Interesting display of bikes and tricycles.

                                                                    JD wasn't here (yet) to see his fast food joint

                                                                                  Accra street-side market

One of hundreds of road-side 
fruit and veggie stands.

Old fort outside of Cape Coast, built to protect the slave castle.

Logan has never, in his entire life, had a "store-bought" haircut and hadn't had one since we left in December! So, he had been awaiting his "free" ($1,500.00 +) " haircut from his mom. 

Being a non-conventional child, he opted for a hideous "bowllet" - combination bowl cut and mullet - before the "real thing".

With a decent length of hair, he and Justin (who also got a mom-cut) were ready to go on splits with 2 of our beloved missionaries.

                                               Justin      Elder Odongo      Elder Shinasi      Logan

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 We went to Kakum Rainforest where we did the Canopy Walk and also the Forest Walk. From there we went back toward Cape Coast, stopping at the Crocodile Pond @ Hans Botel...
yes, you read that correctly, "Botel".

                                              

                                                                                                               

                                    

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Our next adventure took us to the Cape Coast Festival Parade where we loved watching the people as  much as the parade. Our boys were just as impressed by the children and babies here as we have been, especially the children on their mother's backs. 

                                                                                        Flag twirling dancer      
                                                       
                      From left: Tareasa, mission home cook & maid, Sis. Stevenson, Sister J, Elder J. and Logan

Just a few of the girls representing
the medical field. They ranged in
age from around 4 to 15 years, and were ALL wearing wigs!

                                                                                                        

             The parade was all about showing off the chiefs from local villages and towns, who were "literally" carried on the 
                                                                                       heads of their "underlings".

                                                                                                 Brass Band

                                                                                  Drummers for the Chief

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                 After the parade, we made our way back down the street toward the beach and the
                                                              Cape Coast Slave Castle.

5-chamber male slave dungeon, where up to 1,000 slaves were held, waiting for the ships to arrive.

    BUGS,

 BUTTERFLIES

 & BABIES 

       

      OR




     CREEPY     CRAWLERS,

     COCOON CREATORS

  & CURTAIN CLIMBERS
   










We hope you like our collection of small critters. The beetle above isn't very large, but it is one of the most beautiful bugs we've seen.



 The millipede to the right is 7" long. Pretty amazing creatures here in Ghana.

This is the most common spider here. They are flat and can hide in almost any location. They are also pretty good size, as you can see by the fork.

     These roaches are so fast, we had to photograph a dead one. We've seen many outside and sadly,     .....a few in our apartment. We sprayed, hopefully eradicated them for the time being.

The insects are similar but with some colorful differences to those at home.

                                                                               

This inchworm is tiny, but the elders had him performing for their camera. Several of the pictures of critters in this blog are compliments of the missionaries. We wish we had kept track, so we could give photo credit where it is due.


                                                                                                                                                                       

We have scorpions of varying sizes and types.

These little guys (about 3" long) look pretty, but can inflict a painful bite. One hid in a Sister's slipper and bit her on the foot. It was swollen for several days and hurt like crazy.

Some critters we have never seen before and look prehistoric

Lots of beetles of all descriptions

Dragonflies are favorites with us and quite unique here. Can you see the face below the head where the wings attach?
 

Katydid on our truck window


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There are hundreds of different butterfly and moth varieties in Ghana. Here are just a few........

This one was taken by Sister Robison, the MTC president's wife. It was so well camouflaged that she had a difficult time finding it in the viewfinder of her camera.

And yes, the appendages on the tail are part of this delicate creature.

The picture of this moth was taken by one of the missionaries. Thanks for the photo.

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                                            And now........a few of our favorite little people!

This little girl was in church and became Sister Julander's friend.

Children are the toughest subjects to photograph here because they are so active and change so quickly. I loved capturing the picture at right. He was so expressive and intense. This was taken in a small village built on stilts at the edge of a lake.

              This little guy was all alone, with open water all around
              him. My daughters would have had coronaries. This was
              also taken in the stilt village.

This little girl had a sister with
an actual toy. This is one of the
few toys we have seen children
play with. Most toys are home-
made and consist of 2 wheels on
the end of a long bamboo pole.
They cut the wheels out of
old sandals or flip flops.


                                                    

This is a rare thing to catch kids smiling. They are so happy and smile and laugh, but as soon as they see a camera, they get very serious and shy. This little one was crying one minute, and had a smile the next.

Most of the kids get excited when they see us. They light up and shout "obroni" at us.  As soon as we point a camera in their direction, this is the typical look we often get.

These are all kids at church. They were all smiling and happy until the camera came out.

Even with very little hair, it's easy to see this is a beautiful young girl. Occasionally, we've had to look for earrings or dresses on some kids to be
sure.

Now, this is more typical of the facial expressions we get. They are so happy and excited to see us. 

This is the granddaughter of the members we buy eggs from. She is two, and has more energy and spunk than we can keep up with. Kids here are very respectful of adults (normally), and call anyone older "daddy" and "mommie".

This little one was at church, and didn't really appreciate the photo op.

We took this after interrupting nap time in the preschool class. They were quite curious and excited to see these strange white people who
showed up in their room.

This little one caught me taking the picture of her as she went to work with momma. (I got the mother's permission first)

I'm hoping to get a pic of a child asleep on their momma's back with their head flopped back. It's pretty amazing how they can sleep in the positions they do back there.







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                                       We have included a few recent missionary pictures.                

These are the Elders and Sister we picked up from the airport last week. They had flown in from Liberia and Sierra Leone after they closed those missions down due to the Ebola virus. They left their missions after being quarantined in their apartments and were unable to say good bye to members, investigators or the other missionaries. They are doing well, though, and are a great asset to the Ghana Cape Coast Mission.

The departing missionaries come to the mission home the night before their flight for a final interview, testimony meeting, and a last meal of their favorite food - fufu !

  

We had a really difficult time saying goodbye to this group of missionaries. We were so close to so many of them. Sister Julander cried. Elder Julander was stoic.  We love them wish the very best life has to offer as they move forward in the next chapter of their lives. Kia Kaha!

The departing missionaries go to the mall in Accra before they hit the airport for the long ride home. Their favorite place to eat is, yup, KFC. There is nothing like it in our Cape Coast mission, so this is a real treat.

This is Elder & Sister J. with Frank Elselfie, a  missionary that is entering the MTC on his way to Nigeria. He stopped off at the mission home
to get set apart. He is from one of the branches we have responsibility for, and it has been fun
to interview him and help prepare him for this experience.





We hope you enjoy our blog.
Love, Elder & Sister J.