All In A Weeks Work (Or Play)

Starting the week, meaning on Monday, after some serious cleaning, we decided to take the rest of the day and go out to the village where we saw some Kente Cloth weavers earlier.  This cloth is the national cloth of Ghana, is very bright, traditional and the each color has a meaning.  It originally was made into robes and clothing for the tribal hierarchy.   Several pieces were sewn together, because the cloth is about 4" wide by about 8' long.  It is now made by a lot of weavers and sold to everyone.

 There was also a lady weaving baskets at the village, so we purchased one to use to put our muddy shoes in as we come in the front door.  There was a man asking for some money, so I asked him what he had to sell.  He said nothing, so I said that's what I'll give to you then.

 These are the names of the Elders from left to right.  Elder Anderson, from Idaho Falls, Elder Gagnon, from Salt Lake City, Elder Silika from somewhere in New Zealand and Elder Janson from Nampa.  Wednesday was transfer day so we took Elders Silika and Janson to the Mission Home in Accra and picked up two new Elders.  Elder Makandangwe (say that real fast 10 times) from Zimbabwe and Elder Imende from Kenya.

 Where's the cattle trailer?  This is how they transport their cattle here.  They just tie them up and put them in the back of a small pickup.  African ingenuity. 

 And of course we got to see baboons again, but the tro-tro driver behind me was not so happy to have me stop suddenly in front of him.  We were happy Elders Silika and Janson got to see them.  This was the first time they had seen baboons.  Some people thought it was a myth there were baboons along the road.  We have photo proof that it's true.  There have been other Elders and Sisters who have traveled that section of the highway many times and had never seen any baboons.  We have seen them twice now.  Lucky us.

 The beautiful Accra temple.

 On Thursday President Reck, the Branch President wanted us to go with him to take some provisions to Amelia (she has an easy name to remember) who lives way out in the bush.  We had gone to visit her a few weeks ago, so we started on our adventure.  When we went before, we had to cross a river twice, a small section, then a much larger section and had no problem, even though the water was high.  This time when we got to the smaller section, it was much larger.  So President Reck ventured out to see how deep the water was.  There are crocodiles here in Ghana, I just hope there aren't any in this river.  The photo shows him as he started, but when he got close to the bend in the river, it was up to his waist.  I wasn't about to take the pickup through this section of the river, because after this one, there was even a larger portion of the river where the water was moving through very fast.  We had to leave the provisions at a village that was close to the river with an alderman.  I hope he gets them to her.  So far the river has not gone down enough to cross.

 Saturday we had a baptism.  The young man named Frank was entering the waters of baptism to become the newest member of the Ho Branch.

 This is the font outside in the courtyard.  The men are holding a ladder down so the young men can get into the font.  It's a little bit different than the fonts at the stake centers in the U.S.

 This is Elder Gagnon, our district leader, next is Frank, then Franks brother and Elder Andersen .  At least the Elders look happy, the Africans don't like to smile for the camera.  You really have to work to get them to smile.  

MORE COWBELL!!!

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