Moving out of the Mission Home

The apartment renovations were completed enough this week for us to move in Tuesday evening.  You wouldn’t think that hauling 2 suitcases and two carry-on bags would take any effort.  But, it is more tiring to move in the heat.  Plus we didn’t have much food.  We also learned that there was minimal bedding, towels, and kitchen supplies.  Nancy and Sister Heid spent nearly an entire afternoon this week just shopping for the “basics.”  Even then, we felt confident we could feed ourselves for only a few days.  We needed to return to the grocery stores at least two or three times to get ourselves “adequate” provisions.

Saturday morning we made our way to a local grocery store and "stocked up".  Imagine our surprise seeing canned Oregon fruit on the shelves!  The small can of mandarin oranges, next to the Dole pineapple was $3 (US) per can!

We feel very blessed to have an apartment that feels comfortable.  There are still a few things that need to be done including fixing our water filtration system in the kitchen and a leak in the main bathroom.  But overall, we think we can call this home.

As part of our blog this week, we are giving you a tour.

 This is our favorite picture in the apartment.

 The kitchen is quite adequate.  The brand new stove/oven is something Nancy is looking forward to using a lot, except that it is so large that it really heats up the kitchen.  Fortunately we have a fan plus AC if needed.

 This is the main bathroom.

 Master Bedroom

Master Bath

 Office with a treadmill

Guest Bedroom

 Living Room

 Dining Area

(Yes, that is a keyboard at the end of the dining room table.  We don't yet have a table to put it on!)

 This was our FIRST meal at the apartment.  It was Chicken and Rice.

We were also invited to our neighbors across the hall, the Sanders' apartment, to have

A & W Root Beer floats with a few of the missionaries one evening.

This week we helped send three missionaries home at the end of their mission and welcomed 8 new missionaries from the MTC.  By necessity, it became a large transfer requiring companions and trainers to come in from other locations, some staying at the Mission home bunkhouse.  Even though it was still very hot, the missionaries met their companions and had lunch outside under a canopy.  They seemed to be very happy and enjoyed their traditional “chicken and rice, rice and chicken” meal.  The office assistants also included us, but we chose to eat our Chicken and Rice in the air-conditioned Mission Home since we were still “residents” there.  Believe us, that was a good choice.

Enjoying their "Chicken and Rice" and "Rice and Chicken.

For those returning home, we try to make the transition a happy and relaxed one.  We make sure they have their necessary documents, travel tickets and travel money.  Most everything went well until the  airport employees would not allow a Samoan missionary to board his flight because he did not have a transit visa for New Zealand.  No one, not even the “travel experts” from the area office could convince them that such a visa is not necessary.  (He had only 3-hour layover and would never leave the international portion of the airport.)  Only 20 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave, they allowed him to check in and took his luggage.  He departed for home only because of mighty prayer and a miracle.  Such it is with the missionaries.

Transfers also bring the Senior couples into town. 

Elder and Sister Bodine from Lindon, UT who are in the same Ward as our friends, the Morses, who used to live in Hillsboro.  The Bodines are serving as support missionaries in the Ho District to the NORTH, about 4 hours from Accra.

 The Wades serve as Self Reliance missionaries, which also includes helping some missionaries and other residents become more proficient in English.  They are from Arizona.

We took President and Sister Heid out to dinner at a "swanky" restaurant not far from the Mission home.  It was very nice and the food was great!!!  It was the least we could do for them hosting us the past two weeks. Stan really enjoyed the steak from South Africa.

 Meet two of our new friends....  Julianna

...and Gilbert.  Julianna does housekeeping work for the Mission home.  Gilbert is supervisor over Mission apartments.

 Stan is standing next to our truck; a Nissan Navara.  It is a little big for squeezing into small spaces but great for "bullying" our way in traffic.  Driving is truly a "harrowing" experience.  But, we are getting better at it every day.

Nancy isn't that excited about driving in Accra.  This week challenged her resolve to feel more comfortable behind the wheel.  On Friday morning, as she was driving from our apartment to the Mission Home, the car alarm went off.  Every 10 seconds it would go off with horns blaring and the lights flashing.  This happened all the way to the office and she ended up passing a policeman on the way.  (Fortunately she was not stopped!!) Stan was off on an errand with our neighbor, Elder Sanders, so when she arrived at the mission office, all the office elders came running out to try to help.  They read the manual, etc., but thankfully the alarm stopped on its own after 15 minutes.  We determined that the spare key may power the truck but creates problems, so we are only going  to use one key from now on!

On Thursday, Stan drove with President Heid to visit a missionary companionship in Ashalley Botwe District in the Adenta Zone in Greater Accra.  Stan went with Elder Kohler to see a family while the President met with his companion.  They visited "mama" Grace who the elders were teaching.  The title of "mama" is a term of endearment and respect.  They taught a short lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and prayed with her.  Stan was impressed with her loving and kind spirit.  These are truly humble people.

Every morning but Sunday, we try to get some exercise.  We have several routes we take.  The pictures below are what we saw on Saturday.

 It is still about 80-82 degrees when we start walking at 6 am.  Notice the hole very close to the roadway?  The cement "gutter cover" has collapsed.  Think of the problem you might have should you drive onto the shoulder.

 These murals are on the wall of a very nice hotel just down from our apartment.

 These deep drainage ditches are everywhere on both sides of the roadway.  Imagine the damage to your car if a wheel goes off into one of these?  Apparently, it is a common occurrence.

These people can carry most anything on their heads.

This Sunday we went with our neighbors, the Sanders across the hall, to church in Senchi.  It is about 1 ½-2 hours north of Accra.  The Sander’s assignment is to support and visit five church groups on an alternative basis.  President Heid wants us to know our way around the mission so we went with them to get an idea of where buildings are located.  Along the way we saw baboons (sorry no picture), smaller villages, a “mountain” and people dressed in their Sunday “Best” walking to their church.  The traffic on Sunday morning is less hectic since many businesses and small vendor shops are closed.

 On our way to Senchi, we stopped at the last church-owned chapel to the north of Accra.  All other building in this part of the mission are leased.

Also, on the way, we saw the Ensign College of Public Health campus.  It is the creation of a former Ghana Accra Mission President who established this school as a branch campus of the University of Utah.  (This is at least the plan).  The school is operating with it's first class.  This project looks to benefit young Latter-day Saints immensely in helping them gain quality education and good jobs in a field that will benefit the country as a whole.  It is very exciting. 

 We also were introduced to the Senchi Resort which is located not far from the church and was recommended as a nice weekend "get-a-way."  It was absolutely beautiful and was in stark contrast to more primitive conditions only a block or two away.

 We attended church at the Senchi Branch.  They meet in a leased building.  The "young" missionaries live on the second floor.  We are standing out front.  The structure to the left is actually a baptismal font.

There is actually a partial wall separating the meeting area.  There are more participants on the other side!

Stan and Elder Sanders were trying to find a flat screen tv to use for a short computer presentation after church.  After we arrived, we found out the Senchi building only had a tube tv.  During Sunday School time they decided to drive to a building about 10 minutes away to secure a tv, only to find out that building only had a tube tv also!  Elder Sanders said that first thing Monday he was making arrangements for flat screen tvs for those buildings.  Nancy volunteered to accompany them on this errand.  Even with ceiling fans the building was very hot and stifling and she wanted the opportunity to be in an AC vehicle and recuperate!!

 This is the look of the terrain travelling North of Accra.  We were expecting to see more rainforest, but we think it is more like a savanna.    We did see several baboons along the side of the road on our way up to Senchi.

This was a market scene in Ashaiman on the way back to Accra.  Notice those that they are balancing goods on their heads.  They do have a "support" on the top of their heads to help, but it is still amazing  what we see people carrying ....a flat of sunglasses, drinks, towels, containers of food, etc.

This is a Muslim mosque a few miles from our apartment.  It is still under construction. 

Week 2 in Africa-Gaining Confidence

This week was busy!  The former office couple, the Crisps, left for Arizona last Saturday night.  We were now on our own with no one to answer questions until the Crisps were able to arrive home and to reconnect to the internet.  There were a lot of “firsts” this week.  And for the most part, we were successful at them.  That boosted our confidence.

Here we are doing our "official" duties.   We occupy the same room.  The Board behind Nancy's computer has favorite Book of Mormon scriptures from the missionaries.

Stan is back in "Principal" role, but he is not in charge!! 

On Monday we had two opportunities to meet with senior missionaries in Accra.   Nancy attended sister scripture study and Sister Heid gave a lesson.  You could see the “teacher” in her coming out as she had us interacting in groups to study a few scriptures and discuss application for our personal lives.  That evening about 40 of us gathered at the Temple President’s large apartment to have a potluck social and Family Home evening.  There are some very experienced people here to learn from and enjoy fellowship.

This is the large apartment for the Ghana Accra Temple President.  The couple on the couch is Dr. and Sister Anderson.  He is the new West Africa Area medical director and was a family physician in Alaska.  They were in our original group at the Provo MTC.

On Tuesday, we helped send two of our top sister missionaries to Sierra Leone Freetown Mission.  They recently reopened that mission after the Ebola scare and had no missionaries.  Each of the missions in the Africa West Area agreed to send two missionaries now and 4 more in March.  For some, this means that they will not complete their missionary service in the mission they were called to originally.   This could be a problem for some, but the missionaries going to Sierra Leone are committed to serve no matter where they are assigned.

President and Sister Heid had a mission tour this week with a church General Authority responsible for West Africa.  They had meetings with him and all the missionaries over a three-day period in three different locations.  However, they were able to come home at night and sleep in their own bed.  We were invited to attend, but felt that we were so new in our assignment that we ought to put our “shoulder to the wheel”.  We know we missed out on testimonies, instruction and musical numbers.  Hopefully we will have the opportunity to interact with the wonderful missionaries at another time.

Driving and learning the roads was a priority this week.  Most of our travels were first-time experiences (And “hair-raising”). Nancy, however, drove the truck early Saturday morning to yoga with Sister Heid and decided that that is the only time of the day she is going to drive!!  President and Sister Heid did take us to Tema, (a city east of Accra), to see the Missionary Training Center and to check out one of the sisters’ apartments that was damaged by a fire on Wednesday.   Finding the apartment is really something because, for the most part, there are no addresses in Ghana.  President Heid had already been there a few times and he luckily found it.  We were amazed.  The actual damage to the apartment was minimal, but the firefighters had to break down the door and go through the ceiling to fight the fire in the neighboring home, which burned to the foundation.  Most of the sisters’ personal items were safe and unharmed.  They were not at the apartment at the time of the fire.  Because of security issues, the sisters stayed with some other sisters in a neighboring area and the Elders stayed in their place to keep watch.  It is anticipated that they will return to their apartment this week.   We were amazed at the variety of issues the Mission President has to handle every day. 

 Riding in the car coming back from Tema.

This is the Gulf of Guinea, our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean.  It looks presentable in the picture, but we understand the sewer empties into it and there is a lot of trash.

On Saturday we drove to Tema ourselves.   We were supposed to meet with an African doctor there so he could “certify” our health for permanent visa status.  (All he did was listen to our heart and take our BP, so we passed!!)   During this “adventure”, we missed the turnoff to the motorway since signs are not really noticeable.  After a few times turning around, we were on way.  On the way home we stopped at a grocery store that had been recommended to us by senior missionaries. Saturday afternoon is not the time to go grocery shopping.  The parking lots were jammed and the store did not appear to have air conditioning.  We got a few items and got out of there!  After leaving the store, we took the wrong turnoff and made a few other errors, including ending up in a part of town that our Mission President says he never goes!  Google maps finally got us in the right direction and we made it back to our home base.

We are still staying at the mission home while our apartment is being updated and cleaned.  Another missionary couple lives in the apartment across from us and led the way to get our apartment ready.  The mission wanted to invest in and update the apartment so couples from the mission or area office could comfortably live there.  They decided to replace almost all the furniture so we spent time at the furniture store picking out a bedroom set, living room set, and dining set.  We tried to choose reasonably priced items.  The style we chose was pretty conservative, but we think  it will be durable.  Everything was delivered on Saturday and put into place.  We hope to move in a few days after the new stove is hooked up so we can cook!

This is Carol and Larry Sanders, the couple who live across the hall from us.  She is a nurse and he is a fireman.  They have been also "inspecting" apartments of the missionaries as part of their mission assignment and were a great help in our "remodel".  They are trying out the furniture we purchased. There is quite a selection at this store. 

 Across from a nice store called "Palace" with groceries, linens, appliances, etc. is this scene of unpaved roads, quite typical even in the city.

 Stan outside our apartment door.

Our apartment building.  Our apartment has the painting cloths on the dirt!

Friday evening a few senior missionary couples came to the mission office for gelato.  Sister Heid purchased about six flavors….yum!!  One of the couples came from the bush for a temple marriage of someone they knew in their area.  Whenever a senior missionary couple comes from outside Accra to visit, they stay with one of the other senior couples here for R & R.  We are sure we will be asked to host in the future.

Saturday morning Stan was invited by President Heid to attend a special meeting at the Area Office.  He didn’t know who was going to attend and what the topic was.  He learned quickly that this was a council meeting where all invitees were to discuss some matters brought by the Temple President, President Graham.  Those attending were all ten of the stake presidents of two coordinating councils, two mission presidents and two general authorities; Elder Curtis, President of the Africa West Area and his counselor, Elder Stanfill.  To be in the presence of these powerful and humble leaders was truly a privilege.  Stan learned a lot about these men and the types of issues facing the saints in Africa.

Sunday we drove to church at a town about a half hour from Accra called Madina.  It is not appropriate to take pictures at a worship service, but the women wore very colorful outfits and the children all wanted to come up and shake your hand.  Again we were impressed with the talks.  One young man talked about friendship and welcoming others.  A young lady spoke about following the example of Christ and being baptized. Nancy also attended Relief Society, the women’s meeting.  A young adult spoke about making a choice to follow the church teachings and be chaste when many of her high school peers where getting pregnant in order to have more children than their mother!  Now she said she was respected because she is getting her education and bettering herself. 

 Adenta Stake Center, Madina 1st Ward.  It is a very nice building in the midst of dirt roads and substandard housing.

 This was a scene on the way back from church.  The blue sign says Preset Pacesetters Senior High School.  Our name is famous in Africa!

 The larger sign says, "Only God Can Save Carpet Center".

Traffic circles are common and can become gridlock.  At least everyone is driving slowly, but it takes some maneuvering to get in the correct lane to exit.

On the way home we noticed some young men at intersections waving green palm leaves as they directed traffic.  We realized there was no electricity so the stoplights were not working and the young adults were being good citizens.  We did not have electricity at the mission home either, but we are fortunate that it has a back-up generator.  That is a very good thing since it is so hot.  Some areas of the city have a 12 hour on 12 hour off schedule for power, but Sister Heid said that it has not gone out very much this past year so perhaps the grid is improving.

This week three missionaries are being released and heading home from their mission.  We will receive 7 elders from the Ghana Missionary Training Center and one sister from the South Africa MTC.  President Heid met with the assistants and office elders this week to make sure all the trainees will have companions to teach them and also to make sure apartments were assigned.  Our job is to review their paperwork when they arrive and make sure they have a debit card to obtain money.

Arrival in Accra

After a long “restless” night on the plane, we arrived in Ghana at 8am on Monday morning.  It is a sparse airport with just the basics.  We were immediately asked about our immunization cards which were fortunately in Stan’s information packet.  The foreign couple ahead of us had to pay $50 as a ‘bribe” to be let into the country!!  They had been to Ghana three times and knew it was required, but they just forgot their documentation.

Here we are at the Salt Lake airport anticipating our long flight to Ghana!

On the plane for our flight from Salt Lake City to JFK.  We thought we would have to find the international terminal for our flight to Ghana but it was only two gates away!

As we exited the Accra airport, we noted it was cooler than we anticipated, but the sky was quite hazy.  It is the season of the Harmattan, a dry trade wind that carries dust from the Sahara Desert across West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.

President David and Sister Delynn Heid of the Ghana Accra Mission greeted us with a big smiles and hugs as we loaded our luggage into the Nissan crew cab they drive.  They kept saying that they were so glad that we were here.   It has been seven months since the time  they first proposed the idea.  We went for a quick tour of the immediate area, including a stop at an ATM in a small but nice mall and checked out a few items at a local grocery store, which was a small version of a Walmart.  Delynn was so excited that this store now carries imported beef which is expensive but tastes great.  Many products on the shelves were products we recognized and the store layout reminded us of China.  We are confident that we won’t starve here as there are many US products if you want to pay the price.  We are not sure who really shops in the grocery stores as the prices for everything seem quite high… (Ex.  $3 US for a kg (about 2.2 lb), of brown rice;  apples are about 50 cents each and cottage cheese was $10!  However, a loaf of bread is $1.) Wish there was a Winco here!  We are sure that as we get more familiar with the shopping we will find what we need.  There are at least four major grocery stores within a few miles, if you don’t go at peak traffic times.

This the mission home complex.  The office is on the left, the main house in the center, the office elders and assistant to the president's apartment and storage are on the right.  The picture was taken with our back to the gate and guard house.   You can see the hazy sky from the Harmattan.

The front door of the mission office.  We had just arrived from the Ghana airport so we had been up for 24 hours.

We also stopped at the church complex which is near the mission home and has area church offices, a temple, apartment housing and a Stake Center (larger church meeting place). 

Accra Ghana LDS temple

We arrived at the mission home where we will stay with Dave and Delynn for a couple of weeks.  The current office mission couple left for the USA on Saturday and we will occupy their apartment after it is cleaned and remodeled.  We have our own private bedroom and bathroom and are eating with the Heids.  Delynn is counting on Nancy to help with meal planning and preparation!  (It is like we are college roommates again, but the husbands are here!!)

After settling in and grabbing a quick lunch we spent about three hours starting to learn our office duties.  We obtained our government issued non-citizen card.  That office was a very small room with two computers that looked like they came out of the 1970’s!

It wasn't long before “jet lag” overcame us and we decided to call it a day!  However, Heids insisted that we have a mission welcome dinner at a local restaurant.  It was good food, at reasonable price and comfortable surroundings.  We know there are more hidden gems to explore and are grateful that there are many missionary couples here to share their “finds”!

Our welcome dinner with Dave and Delynn Heid

We had a wonderful night’s sleep and then Delynn and Nancy walked 3 miles in the morning before we resumed office training.  (The mission office and mission home are connected which is convenient right now.)  We are trying to take a lot of notes to remember all the procedures.  Stan will handle the mission finances and Nancy is the mission secretary.  While we had office training at the MTC, every mission does adapt to the area and what is needed, so some of what we learned is not used here.  Everyone has been patient and kind, but we are meeting so many new people it is hard to put names and faces together.  The two office elders are fun and are tech savvy so that helps.

Elder Morris provides some comic relief in the office. 

Most of the missionaries speak English, but this week there were three new missionaries who arrived.  They are from the Congo and Ivory Coast, so they speak French and have only had six weeks of English at the Ghana Missionary Training Center.  They looked nervous as they tried to understand the President’s welcome talk and reviewed the paperwork that was necessary.  Fortunately, President Heid had three missionaries available who also speak French, so they will translate and “train” them in the next few weeks.

Sister Nazziwa is from Uganda and left for home this week after serving 18 months in Ghana. We had a farewell devotional for her and picture with the mission president and his wife.  Sister Nazziwa was given the traditional scarf that has her name and mission dates.

We have not had much time to take photos this week as we wanted to concentrate on learning office responsibilities.  We have found there is a stark contrast here in Accra.  One street will be well-paved streets with modern buildings, (some built by China), and the next  will have large potholes, vendor “shacks” and dilapidated housing.  There are modern hotels and restaurants, but the one large park in the area is secured by fencing and only available for ‘rent” by corporations!! 

This lady was on the street braiding a client's hair.

 This was the building across the street from the hair salon.  The restaurant is the cream colored building next to this building.

David and Stan had a church meeting Friday night so Delynn and Nancy had an evening out.  The tropical salad was delicious as well as the pasta and gelato.  We did bring home dinner to the "guys"....hamburgers and fries from the same restaurant.

This picture is representative of an area called Tema.  There are no paved streets.  Can you imagine what this might look like during the rainy season?  No wonder we drive 4-wheel drive trucks.

Most housing areas have guards.  The Heids generally feel safe walking and driving around the city, although you have to be aggressive and cautious during busy traffic periods.  Nancy won’t be jogging since the streets have a lot of hazards and you would have to have your eyes focused on the ground all the time.  Delynn Heid has introduced Nancy to kick boxing and they also took a yoga class together at a local international hotel.  When we get into our own apartment we will have to see what works in that area and what our schedule permits.

Today we attended church in La, a community about 15 minutes away from the mission home and a few blocks from the ocean.  The church recently constructed a building there and it certainly is very nice compared to the surroundings; narrow roads, vendor stands and homes that barely have walls.   It was their annual ward conference, so the Bishop and a member of the Stake Presidency shared a message about sharing the gospel, helping others, doing family history and attending the temple.  The congregation numbered about 150 people and we are sure that we were the oldest in attendance!! The women were wearing bright colorful clothing and the men were all in white shirts and ties.   We were so impressed with the teachers, their communication skills and dedication to the Savior.  One young adult is attending the University of Utah and working on her Master’s degree! The biggest challenge for us was that sometimes the teachers lapse into tribal languages since not everyone speaks English as their first language.    Plus, we are still getting used to the muggy climate and the power went on and off during our meeting so the ceiling fans would not work.  Still, we enjoyed our first African church meeting.

This brother was teaching priesthood lesson, a separate meeting for the men after our general worship service.

MTC-Week Two

Our second week at the MTC was a bit different than the first.  Our training was focused on office responsibilities like housing, transportation, finance, transfers, correspondence, etc.  Our group consisted of only 5 couples.  They were assigned missions in Arkansas, Nebraska, Mexico, Italy and of course, Ghana.  Instead of practicing teaching the gospel, we spent our time starring at computer screens.  Believe it or not, there were still times when we felt the spirit and began to see how  temporal things are also spiritual.  It helps to constantly think of our purpose, to “Invite others to Come unto Christ.”  Once again our teachers were mere “children,” matured by full-time missionary service and superb computer skills.  All of them spent considerable time serving in the office of their respective missions.

Our young and awesome teachers

Our little Office Training class

During our training, a member of the church Global Fleet(vehicles) team, shared his expertise and experiences.  Our mission only has about 10 vehicles, mostly assigned to seniors.  A couple in our training will be responsible to oversee the maintenance of 100+ cars in Omaha, Nebraska.  With inexperienced drivers who are 18-21 years old, you can imagine the challenges and the need to be very specific about tasks like oil changes, filling the car with gas and how to drive in winter weather.  

This was the scene in the cafeteria the last two weeks.  It was amazing!

The Tuesday evening devotional speaker was Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Quorum of Seventy.  He was encouraging and helped us keep our focus.  He spoke to all the missionaries, but spent considerable time looking at us seniors and made many comments specific to us.  One thing he said was our mission will be the hardest thing that we will ever do but will be the most rewarding.  Also, he encouraged us to make the decision what kind of missionary you will be and to serve the Lord because we love Him.

Since our MTC experience was flexible in the evenings, we were able to catch up with some of our friends in Utah as they “sprang” us from the missionary complex.   We forgot to take pictures of some of those we met, so we asked them to send us photos so we can remember them.  We are still waiting for some people to respond.

Pat and Roy Ottley are good friends from Hillsboro.  They recently moved to American Fork, Utah.

Kay and Julee Anderson from Provo, Utah.  We met them on a Middle East tour and since then have also been to Central America and Antarctica.

David and Zina Cox, from Lehi, Utah, also taught English at Shandong University in China with us. 

At the University Mall we met Carsons, Yowells and Rasmussens who were friends from Hillsboro and now they all live in Utah.

Steven and Judi Morse (absent in the picture) were friends from our senior year at BYU and we spent several years together in Hillsboro.  They now live in Lindon, Utah.

Marla, Stan's sister and her husband, Jamon Scott, enjoying a favorite family pastime.

Stan's mom, Verla

Wednesday night a senior couple organized a game night in the lounge area of our housing complex.  We enjoyed visiting and sharing experiences as well as participating in a group game that pitted the women against the men.  The men won the first round and the second time we called a draw since we reached a stalemate.  A few other couples came in at that point, including two who were born in the Philippines and are returning as senior missionaries.  It is amazing that from 4 missionaries arriving in that land in the 60’s that now the church membership there is nearly 1 million and 21 missions.

We were finished with training on Thursday afternoon but our flight out of the US was not until Sunday.  We were fortunate to obtain tickets to the Provo City Center Temple open house, prior to its dedication in March.  This building was built in the 1800’s and used as a church and community center.  A few years ago there was an electrical fire and it burned to the ground except for the exterior walls.  The church decided to restore it and convert it to a temple.  All the décor is historic to that period.  An original piece of woodwork was saved from the fire and incorporated into the pulpit in the chapel.

We really didn’t want to leave the MTC.  It was like living in the Temple.   Everyone on that campus qualified to have a temple recommend, which means trying to live a righteous life and endeavoring to keep all the commandments of God to the best of their abilities.  In addition, we were all there to learn and to support each other.   Plus we were praying that we might meet the challenge of our callings and be an instrument in the hand of God in the effort to invite others to come unto Christ.  We loved it and felt the Spirit bearing testimony to our spirits, that this Work is true.  What an honor it is to represent the Savior to the people of Ghana.