Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Wisdom

One day we were busy working in the office when we had a visitor. Wisdom had traveled all the way from Accra to show us his work. He makes beautiful elephant book ends and other wood carvings. We became quick friends and promised him to come visit his shop when we were in Accra.
A few months later when we were in Accra we called Wisdom. He met us at the Area Office, jumped in our back seat and guided us to his shop, on the other side of Accra. We were able to meet his family and see the process of creating these beautiful carvings. We also bought two sets of book ends!

Elder Saunders with Wisdom, in the green shirt, and his brother. After we left his shop he asked us if he could come with us to guide us back. We told him no, we would be fine and off we went without "wisdom"! We have never been so lost! After about two hours of driving in circles and sitting in traffic jams, we finally hired a taxi driver to lead us back to the Area Office. We followed the taxi very closely until his back tire blew out, then once again we were on our own. Frustrated and exhausted we finally spotted a familiar street. We learned from this experience that without "wisdom" we lack direction and guidance and our journey becomes confusing, stressful, and very difficult!



Speaking of wisdom, here we are with two very wise young men in Abakrampa. Elder Strong and Elder Hill were our Zone Leaders in the Cape Coast Zone. Because of their "wise" choice to follow the prophet and go on a mission, they literally touched hundreds of lives in Ghana for good, including ours! Elder Strong has returned home and Elder Hill leaves in December. We will always love them! May we all use wisdom as we travel the difficult and challenging journey we call life!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A Day of Contrasts

On September 3, 2010 the "Fetu Afehye" or "Cape Coast Festival", was held. We went with President and Sister Sabey to get a "feel" of the culture and history of Cape Coast.


While waiting for the festival to begin we hiked up to a lighthouse to view Cape Coast.

The festival parade represented tribes from various villages dressed in their traditional dress.


The chiefs were carried on "thrones" while people dressed in the same color, danced and marched to very loud music.

The whole experience was noisy, hot, crowded, and exhausting. After we fought the crowds and walked back to our vehicle we found that it was blocked in by other vehicles. We had to leave our car and call the Assistants to come rescue us!


But the day had a very happy ending! We were able to witness Felicia Enchill from Abakrampa be baptized! Her husband, Charles is the first counselor in the branch presidency.


The Enchills with the "angels" who helped us teach Felicia the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister Afrani and Sister Odebia never gave up on Felicia even when she refused to come to church. They just kept loving her and teaching her and one Sunday she quietly walked into Sacrament meeting! Three of their six children have also been baptised. They are now preparing to enter the Temple in the near future, to be sealed as a family. We ended the day feeling the quiet peace of the Spirit!