Baptism in Kumasi

When we first arrived in Ghana and began attending the Abakrampa Branch we met a very special young man. Maxwell attended the youth class faithfully. One Sunday Elder Saunders asked him to teach the class when the teacher didn't show up. He did an amazing job. After church Elder Saunders asked him if he had ever thought about serving a mission. Maxwell said Yes, he would like to do that. So he asked "how long have you been a member of the Church?" He replied "Oh, I've never been baptized". That weekend he moved to Kumasi (4-5 hour drive from Cape Coast). We called the missionaries in Kumasi and gave them Maxwell's name. We have visited with him over the phone and encouraged him to continue to meet with the missionaries. We also promised him that when he was baptized we would travel to Kumasi to witness his baptism. Here we are with our dear friend, Maxwell and the missionaries who never gave up on him, Elder Kamara and Elder Thompson.

After a year of having the discussions Maxwell learned for himself that the gospel is true. What a privilege it was to watch our dear friend enter the waters of baptism.

Opening Sunyani

Our mission has expanded! We have sent missionaries to the city of Sunyani, which is about a 6-7 hour journey from Cape Coast. The first 4 missionaries arrived in town on a Thursday and on Sunday they had 27 people at their apartment for sacrament meeting!

Elder Lamb, Elder Tadeo, Elder Marimira, Sister Saunders, Elder Bahme, and Elder and Sister Bennett are in front of one of the Sunyani apartments. We opened 3 apartments that are large enough to hold meetings. The people are so receptive to the gospel here. By the fourth week we had over 70 people attending the 3 groups.

Before the missionaries arrived the apartments were repaired and painted to be ready for church meetings. This one is bright yellow with pink trim. The inside is a beautiful shade of lime green! Makes our churches at home seem a little drab, don't ya think?!

We soon had plenty of people wanting to be baptized and no where to baptize them. Elder Saunders got on the phone and ordered a portable baptismal font. Here the men show us how it works. Elder Lamb, Elder Bahme, Elder Kiffer, Elder Bennett, and Elder Saunders are in front of one of the more conservative apartments! Even though we travelled on some of the worse roads in Ghana to visit Sunyani it was well worth it! The church continues to grow and we love being a part of helping make that happen here in Ghana!

Always Room for One More

Elder and Sister Saunders with Philomena and her 3 month old son, Gideon. She was baptised by her father and joins the rest of her family as faithful members of the Abakrampa Branch.

Elder Saunders took the mission van to Abakrampa to pick up Philomena and her family for the drive to Yamoransa for the baptism. We were surprised when all these branch members were waiting to join us. They all piled into the van for the 15 minute drive! In Ghana, when one asks how many people can fit into a tro-tro (van) the answer is always "One more!" We have learned quickly that in a tro-tro and in the Church, there is always room for one more!

Elder Saunders loading the van back up with missionaries to head back to Cape Coast. It was a very good day!

"With God All Things Are Possible"

We have been driving the sister missionaries out to Apaakrom to teach Philomena Aggry-Fynn, twice a week. We love this family. The sisters' teach in Fante and I hold Philomena's son, Gideon. Right before we were ready to leave I noticed some writing above their front door so I wanted to take a picture of it and invited Florence and Philomena to be in the picture. "With God all things are possible". This represents the faith of this family. It is no wonder they readily embraced the true gospel when it was presented to them.

Sister Saunders doing her favorite missionary work...cuddling a baby! We rode out to a village from Apaakrom to visit Paul's family members. Since car seats are not an option here, I hold Gideon as we travel from one village to another. As soon as we hit the bumpy dirt roads he falls asleep in my arms. I guess he is used to movement since he usually travels on his mother's back.

Every time we would come to teach Philomena, her mother Florence would have prepared some snacks for us to munch on. She is so sweet! In this picture is Sister Anyango (holding Gideon), Paul, Elder Wright, Florence, and Elder Saunders (holding Moria). Elder Wright's companion and Sister Odebia were interviewing Philomena for baptism as we relaxed and visited in the "kitchen". This is truly what we missionaries call a "golden" family!

Teaching a Special Family

Elder Saunders is entertaining the youngest two children of the Aquah family, while the sister missionaries are teaching the two oldest children. The father John Aquah was baptized on the 2nd of October. He asked to be baptized before his family so that he could baptize them after receiving the priesthood.

Evening of John Aquah's baptism. His wife Veronica is standing to his left. She will be baptized with the two oldest children the end of October. Felicia Enchill was recently baptized and was instrumental in fellowshipping the Aquah family.

Felicia Enchill, Sister Anyango (Uganda), John and Veronica Aquah and Sister Odeibea (Ghana) after John's baptism.

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!

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!