This last week...

I have a couple of purposes in blogging: 1)To share with family and friends what in the world we are doing here,(not an odd question at all); and, 2)Memories. I don't want to forget the people we've met and the places we've seen. It is so easy to have days start to blur together, and if I don't record unique moments, they surely won't stick in my head.

A couple of nights ago, Jemima and her friend, Adeola, came up and visited with us for two hours. Jemima was a PEF student who has paid off her loan in full, and hopes to, one day, become a Clinical Psychologist. She is lovely. She has finished her four years of school, is a returned missionary, and is currently working. We think the world of her, and we have given our permission for Adeola to be interested in her. He is just as kind and genuine as she is. We enjoyed our conversation with them so much and learned more about Adeola's unique upbringing: his mother's Christian (LDS) influence with his father's Muslim traditions. Fascinating...we learned so much.

Daniel and the not-a-body-bag. Our training this week took us up the western coast to Takoradi, which is a large coastal city. We taught the PEF organization to 50+ people and had such a great experience meeting some very kind and knowledgeable people. Our stay was at a lovely hotel, which had the typical Ghanaian rock-hard beds. Our choice was to either be horribly embarrassed and carry in a foam bed-topper and have a good night's sleep; OR, not draw attention to ourselves and have a sleepless night. We opted to pay Daniel to carry in the bed topper and not care what anyone thought. However, the bed situation was now remedied, but the room did NOT have a/c -- just a fan. hmp

Here is an attempt at capitalizing on a name: Sizzler....pizza.

l'hotel

Breakfast the next morning was a small buffet on the upstairs patio. We so appreciated how hard the young staff was working to make it a delightful experience, which it was. We asked for some butter for the toast, to be told, "It is finished." (The standard reply when there is none). One must return to the buffet table for the one salt and pepper shaker - not a bad thing, as long as we know where to look. When David's toast was ready, the server let him know it was "completed." Too cute. They were just darling.

I really have to be fast with my camera. These two little brothers were walking along the roadside looking so cute, holding onto each other's hands. By the time I had my camera on and focused, the tender moment turned into a tussle. One moment was just as cute as the other, however, and at least I got one of the poses.

Sunday was a huge gathering of 6,000 LDS people at the International Conference Center in Accra. The building was gorgeous. The purpose of the conference was to make 6 stakes (geographical units) out of 4, so there was mass re-organization..and so well done. The best part was listening to the choir, which was sitting on the upper balcony. Inspiring. Just a moment to cherish.

People started arriving 2 hours early, because of limited parking and seating. We thought, "Nahh..., we don't need to do that." And, we were right. For some reason, people didn't really check the first several rows, so we were invited to sit on the vacant first row. Worked for us :) This is my friend, Helen Houssein (Ho-Zion), me, David. Helen, me, David