Transfers and Stuff.

Transfer Day Muffins

This Wednesday we helped with transfers.  

We were able to help move our neighbor - Elder Sharp - up to Asamankese (See if you can pronounce that!  It sounds kind of like - As a man can see.)  It's about a hour away from us on not so great roads.

L to R - Elders Hoskins, Legg, Chatterley, Fairwell, Tolar, Sharp

I can't tell you how many banana muffins I've made since coming on a mission.  It's kind of 'my thing' to do.  I like making them and the missionaries seem to like eating them.

Transfers meant we got a new neighbor - Elder Snyder

L to R - Elders Barnes and Snyder

I love seeing our missionaries walking down the road. That always makes for a great picture. 

As part of transfers, Elder Bianucci spent the day with the Zone Leaders till we brought him a branch missionary to be his new companion.

L to R - Elders Bigler, Draniikamate, Bianucci

On Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, our Branch holds a 'Literacy Class'.  

Gabriel comes about an hour early and Elder Berrett will read with him till the rest of the class comes.  Gabriel is 75 years old and had served in the army for 28 years.  When he started the class in July, he couldn't speak English.  Now, he speaks it AND reads it!!  He told Elder Berrett, "I just want to learn!"

Apple Ventures is the store of our Branch Clerk, Nana Akomea Welbeck.  It's like a little hardware store.  We stopped by to ask him where we could get pencils for the Literacy Class.  He said, "Come!" and jumped in our truck and took us to a small stationery shop that is right in front of his home.

Here we are at the stationery store buying pencils and a pencil sharpener for class.  

When the shop owner, Kofi, saw we were going to take a picture of him, he went and put a nice shirt on.

Elder Berrett was able to give Kofi a Joseph Smith pamphlet and Book of Mormon.  He agreed to have the missionaries come talk to him.   That's Nana watching.

This Sunday we were able to watch a DVD of the Sunday Morning Session of October General Conference.  We felt very blessed to be able to watch AND that the power was on so we could!

Here's some of my Primary children (and a couple of missionaries) doing the 'I love you' sign.  

I think I have a picture like this from every Branch we've served in.  

I want them to know that I DO love them and so does their Heavenly Father.  

(The Hook Em Horns sign is close--right?)

Also new in Adoagyiri since transfers is Elder Ridenour on the right.  He is now companions with Elder Bassey.  We were able to deliver his package from home.  The post office had sealed it in plastic since it seemed to have sprung a leak.  

Darn electricity!!

We never know from minute to minute IF we will have power or not.  Just when we start thinking how great it is to have power, "Bam!" it goes off.  Elder Berrett is getting quite good at starting up the old generator.

This week a baptismal font was assembled at the Adoagyiri Branch.  We thought this was a cleverly designed way to have fonts in more of the branches.  It will be so nice to be able to do the baptism right in our own branch.  Hey, I can even stand in my front room and watch through the window!!

We realized that after today we only have 4 Fast Sundays left in Ghana.  Hard to believe!!

Butler West Stake represented in Ghana 

by

Elder and Sister Berrett, President and Sister Curtis, and Elder and Sister Wilde

On Friday night we were able to go into Accra and attend a temple sealing session with President Curtis as the sealer.  After the session, a fun Halloween dinner was held at the Curtis'.  There were about 12 couples in attendance.  It was fun for us to look around the room and realize that we now know all of them.  

And this week ...

Tuesday we woke up to no water.  Our poly tank was empty.  That's not good!  So a quick call was made to have water delivered.

Our 500 gallon poly tank supplies water for our apartment, the Elders next door, and the Branch buildings in our compound.

After filling the tank, there was a little water left in the truck, so we gathered all our buckets to fill.

This week we met with the Adoagyiri missionaries for their District Meeting.  We had a box of Books of Mormon for Elder Leakehe.   He found that it's harder than it looks to balance things on your head.  

Once he took his hands off the box, we had to take the picture quickly - the box didn't stay on his head for very long. 

His companion, Elder Bassey was so good at balancing the box. that we wanted him to see if he could ride his bike at the same time.  He wasn't quite able to ride and balance - yet!

A fun trip to the Plastic Store. 

 Look at all this stuff.  I was in heaven.  So much to look at.  I wanted everything.

I needed colored paper for my new calling in the Adoagyiri Primary Presidency.  So into Accra we went and with the help of some other Senior Sisters I was able to find what I needed at this very little stationery store.  I'm not sure from the picture that you can tell how really little it was.  But, it was so organized.  Whatever we asked for, the shop owner knew right where to find it.  You can't just go to any old store and get these things.  I was glad someone knew right where to take me to get what I needed.

This Sunday, I taught the 4 - 7 year olds.  I was able to teach them to do the 'I Love You' sign. Then they taught me how to say 'I Love You' in Twi - May doe.  (That's spelling it phonetically since no one could tell me how it should be spelled.)  I 'think' the class understood most of what I said.  You never know because most of them speak Twi.  When class was finished and it was time to go into Sharing Time, the kids all just put their chairs on their head and packed them into the Primary Room.  

The Adoagyiri Branch Primary.

You can see what I needed the colored paper for if you look closely at the picture one of the boys from my class is holding.  We made our own Temple pictures complete with an Angel Moroni on top. 

Sister Victoria Yempew, the Adoagyiri Primary President

Three of the Sisters from the Adoagyiri Branch.

L to R - Sister Charlotte Quansah who teaches the Literacy Class and is the Young Women's President.  Her husband is the Branch President.

Evelyn, the newest member of the branch who was just baptized last Wednesday, and Vera who always has a smile on her face.

L to R - Elder and Sister Berrett, Elder and Sister Watson, Elder and Sister Wall, Sister Terry - Elder Terry was in helping the Branch Clerk with computer problems.

This Sunday was Missionary Sunday in our Branch.  Elder and Sister Wall came and spoke in Sacrament Meeting about being member missionaries and teaching your families at FHE.  Elder and Sister Watson taught the combined Relief Society and Priesthood about Family History and helped them fill out their own pedigree sheets.  Sister Terry is helping with Literacy and attended the Literacy class.  Elder Terry is the West Africa computer specialist and once the power came on, was able to help with some computer problems the branch is having.

We were able to have everyone stay for lunch with us.  It was so fun to have visitors!

This is our bed.  Notice, it is two twin beds pushed together with a big foam pad on top.  It's huge!  The sheets barely fit.  We had brought a memory foam mattress pad with us when we came on our mission, but had to leave it in Liberia.  We were sad about that, but this bed is actually pretty comfortable.  You can also see our mosquito net that we sleep under every night. 

We still can't get over how beautiful the drive is as we come into Adoagyiri.  We love being in the 'bush' and away from all the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Elder Berrett earns his PHD….

On Saturday we were able to take Elder and Sister Wall, the office couple for the Ghana Accra West Mission, for a ride to our 'former' area in Kpong.  They leave to go home on November 25th and have been working so hard in the office that they have not had much time to see things around Ghana.  So, we volunteered to take them to one of our favorite areas - Kpong and the Volta River -  so they could see the beautiful scenery there.

Elder Berrett did all the driving that day, over some really bad roads, 

thus earning himself a PHD.  He is now officially a Pot Hole Dodger!

You can't go to Kpong without stopping by the beautiful Royal Senchi Hotel.  While there we decided to take a boat ride down the Volta River.

The weather was perfect - not too hot.  And it was so relaxing to float down the river.

All along the river were children bathing and mothers doing their laundry.

Our boat ride took us to this beautiful bridge that crosses the Volta River at Senchi to be able to travel to Ho.  Too bad it is being renovated and won't be ready for at least 2 more years.  It would save so much time to simply be able to drive over the river instead of waiting in line to take the ferry or having to take the 90 minute drive all the way around - on not so great roads.

Here is the ferry you can ride across the river while in sitting in your car.  Some times the line to ride the ferry can be hours long.

Some of the beautiful scenery along the river.  

This beautiful house, with it's own boat launch,  was located right on the river's edge.

We also saw many 'Fish Farms' where they raise Tilapia.

The boat ride was perfect and got us back just in time for the wonderful lunch buffet at the Royal Senchi Hotel.  It was a fun day.  We really have seen some beautiful places here in Ghana.  We hope Elder and Sister Wall enjoyed the day as much as we did.

NOW….FOR THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK...

On Friday, a beautiful new stove was delivered to our apartment.  I am so happy to have burners AND an oven that work.  You'll notice the lovely board that helps to hold us our sink.  :)

So….how many Elders does it take to put a stove together?  

I guess it's three!!

The electricity here in Adoagyiri is spotty - very spotty.  We never know when OR IF we are going to have power.  When the power's off, we have to start up the handy, dandy little generator.  When the generator's on, we have to decide - do we want lights or water?  Should we turn the air conditioner on and sit in the dark?  Should we unplug the fridge and make a piece of toast?  So many important decisions!!

Our first week in Adoagyiri

As promised in last week's blog post…Here is a picture of our 'Next-Door-Elders'.

Elder Sharp and Elder Barnes on Monday's P-Day.

Tuesday we attended a Zone Meeting for the Tantra Hill Zone.  The top two floors of this building are used for the Amassaman Branch.  Look closely on the third flood and you can see the sign that tells that this is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  You can also see some of the Elders waiting for the meeting to begin.  

It was a great meeting.  The new Zone Leader, Elder Bigler, taught us how to mark a new set of scriptures to give to an investigators so that they can easily find the scriptural answers to their frequently asked questions. 

 A small fabric shop in Nsawam Market.  I was able to buy some Ghanaian fabric.  Two yards for 15 Cedis.  That's just over $2 a yard.  You can never have too much fabric.  Right?

Inside the Adoagyiri Chapel - the one right next door to our apartment.  The one I look into from my kitchen window.  Notice there are ceiling fans and light bulbs but not always electricity to run them.  

On Friday, two of the Nsawam Elders - Elder Bowring and Elder Taylor - rode around with us to show us their area.  As we approached this mountain, they told us about a man named Phillip that they are teaching who lives on the other side.        

They asked if we'd like to stop and see if Phillip was home and help them teach a lesson. Sure we would!  We were so glad he was home.  He said to us, "I was supposed to go to work today but for some reason felt like I should stay home and rest.  Then you came.  I think God wants me to talk to you."  I know he does!

Elders Taylor, Bowring, and Berrett outside Phillip's home. 

Phillip with Elders Taylor and Bowring.  Such a sweet, humble man.  It was our first time to help teach a lesson to an investigator. We felt like 'real' missionaries!!   The Elders did a super job.  Elder Taylor's only been out 4 weeks and he did great.  I think his Trainer, Elder Bowring, has taught him well.

On Saturday, Oct. 11, the Adoagyiri and Nsawam Branches competed against each other in a game of Football (Soccer).  These Relief Society Sisters got up at 3am (That's AM!) to begin cooking food for the branch members and players to eat after the game.  

In the large pot on the charcoal burner, they are stirring banku.  It's a thick, thick dough that takes a lot of muscle to be able to stir.  To go along with the banku, they had also made a soup.

Here they are mashing up hot peppers - and I mean HOT! - that you could add to your soup if you didn't think it was spicy enough.

The Adoagyiri Team

The Nsawam Team.

Notice how each Branch's team has their own jerseys.  When the game was stopped because of rain, the score was Adoagyiri 1 and Nsawam 3.  

Justice, on the right, had lost his shoes.  

No problem.  His teammate shared with him.  They each wore one shoe. 

The long grass had just been mowed.  You can see the big clumps of grass still on the field.  Didn't slow them down at all.  I was surprised the ball could even roll along the ground with all that loose grass. 

The Relief Society Sisters were so excited for us to try their Ghanaian food.  They showed us how you make a ball out of the banku and dip it in the soup.  They told us to be sure to give the banku time to soak up some soup.  Then you put it in your mouth and swallow.  Don't chew it!  

I made 'little' balls of banku.  I didn't think I could swallow without chewing anything too big.  The soup was a little too spicy for me.  When I asked what was in the soup, I was told - fish, okra, and cow skin.  They asked, "you know cow skin?"  Yeah.  I know cow skin and I'm done with my soup.

Our first week living in Adoagyiri was a good one.  Met lots of new people and had many new experiences.  I think we are going to enjoy serving here.