Week 17
The weeks seem to go by so fast! We are grateful to be here in Ghana. These are a happy people in spite of their circumstances and lack of all we enjoy in the US. Their life is simple. They make do with what they have, and they are extremely resilient. We have seen time and time again where their lives and properties are disrupted by road construction and other things, and they just reestablish their shops in a new location and continue on. The economy is fascinating to us. It is not controlled by big business and national chains. It is all about small individual shops or small family or individual businesses everywhere marketing to neighbors and those they come in contact with.
Monday was staff meeting in Accra at the mission office. President and Sister Jacobsen have staff meeting with the senior couples in the office, Patrick (supplies and vehicles), and Ebenezer (housing) every Monday afternoon. We go in once a month, and this was the Monday for us to go in. After staff meeting, we went and picked up another dress Sister Judd had made for her. We bought the material at the Butterfly Market about a month ago. The seamstress had her measurements from the other dresses she had made.
President Jacobsen changed the day for the missionaries to have their district council meetings from Monday to Tuesday. So, Tuesday we went to district council with the Adom Estate District in the Kasoa Zone.
Adom Estate District
We got to district council early and had a good visit with the missionaries that were also there early. One of those was Elder Goffi (standing in front of Elder Judd in the picture). He is from Central Africa Republic. According to the church website, there are a total of 278 members in 1 branch in Central Africa Republic which is about the size of Texas. He said there are no missionaries serving in his country, and he is the only missionary from Central Africa Republic that is serving a mission and is here in Ghana. His uncle works at the American Embassy in the capital city and was introduced to the gospel by an American woman at the embassy who is a member of the church. His uncle and all his uncle's family joined the church. He went to live with his uncle and aunt when he was 11 years old and joined the church. He is a dedicated and faithful young man.
On the way to district council and back from district council, we had to drive through one of the main markets in Kasoa. Here are some pictures that give you an idea of what the markets are like on market day.
It is impossible to adequately describe what it is like driving and our daily activities among the people.
Wednesday was our usual apartment inspection day. We inspected four apartments in the Kaneshie Zone which is located on the west and northwest side of the Accra metropolitan area. As usual we ended up with a truck full of decluttering from the apartments. The good thing is that we are now inspecting apartments where missionaries have experienced our inspection routine before being transferred to these apartments. These missionaries have bags of declutter ready and waiting for us! Sister Tuman actually had totally decluttered her apartment and had even gotten rid of the decluttered items before we got there!
Elders Musyoki and Van Woerkom at Gbawe Sisters Nipepe and Tuman at Weija
Sisters Mpakati and Tshiama at New Weija Elders Roldan and Erickson at Bortianor
Elder Roldan is our first missionary assigned to the Ghana Accra West Mission from Argentina. Bortianor is on the coast so we could see the ocean as we drove to their apartment.
Thursday was our day for unloading the truck for the trash man to come, sorting through abandoned clothes from apartments and picking out what was still useable, washing the useable clothes so it could be taken to Patrick, sorting through and organizing the expired and extra first aid supplies to take to Elder Divis (mission nurse), and otherwise recovering from Wednesday's inspections.
We continue to work on the history of the church in Buduburam as assigned by the Winneba Stake president. So, Thursday evening we met with Wede Kaffet to learn her story and experiences. Sister Kaffet was one of the early members of the church from Liberia that came as a refugee to Buduburam. She shared that it was a very hard life as a refugee in the Liberia Camp at Buduburam with not enough food, no work, poor living conditions, walking a long distance for water, etc. What was significant was how she shared that because of her faith in Jesus Christ and having the church that she could have hope for the future in spite of the situation.
A new generator was supposed to be delivered and installed on Friday. We worked on doing our house cleaning and laundry. We worked on the Buduburam history and other miscellaneous assignments. However, the generator did not come as it was supposed to. The generator finally came on Saturday. Ebenezer and Isaac were pretty irritated with the generator company. This was not just because the generator was not delivered when they said, but also because the company told Ebenezer earlier in the week that the new generator that was supposed to come had not been released from the docks yet and so they would deliver and install a used generator now and replace it with the new generator when it was released. Here are pictures of the generator installation.
A lot of company and business names are religious
Old generator (8.1 KVA) New generator (17.5 KVA)
The old generator was dying and needing to be replaced. We could only run one small A/C unit with it. With the new generator, we can run all three A/C units, which is very nice.
The farmer with the field of pineapple next to our compound was harvesting his field when we left for church this morning. We stopped and asked him if we could buy some pineapples tomorrow. He said he would be finished harvesting today. We decided to go ahead and get some. He gave us 15 pineapples for 60 Cedi (about $4.50). The young missionaries were with us. On the way home from church, we decided that we needed to repent for buying the pineapples on Sunday. So, Elder Judd suggested that the missionaries should share the gospel with him. When we got there, the missionaries shared the Restoration pamphlet and a short message and asked if they (two of them by then) would like to have the missionaries come to their homes and share more. The man wasn't interested, but the lady said she just "lives over there by the mango tree" and the missionaries could stop by some time. Then, she gave us 10 more pineapples for free. So, hopefully the opportunity to teach the lady will help offset our buying on Sunday! By the way, they are really delicious pineapples!
Farmers harvesting their pineapples
Worker carrying pineapples from the field to the pile
The talks in Sacrament Meeting today were on the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. As an intermediate song, all the priesthood holders were asked to go to the front and sing "Ye Elders of Israel."
After church meetings, we went with Elder Beresford and Elder Cheney to give the Sacrament to John and Helena Gamor. They are in their mid 50's and both have significant health issues and are not able to go to church. Brother Gamor had a stroke not long ago. They were also early pioneers in the church in Buduburam, so we asked Sister Gamor about her conversion and memories. She came to Awutu Breku from Accra in 2002 with part of her family. Sister Phyllis Tandoh, the current stake president's wife, befriended her as she was selling "food stuffs" at her little stand on the corner. Phyllis eventually invited her to church and introduced her to the gospel. Sister Gamor was baptized in 2004 and went to the Liberia Camp to attend the small branch there. The Tandoh's and Sister Gamor were the only Ghanaian members of the early Buduburam Branch. The rest of the members were Liberians living in the refugee camp. Sister Gamor only spoke Twi and had a hard time understanding the Liberian English but eventually took a Gospel Literacy class that helped her learn to speak and read English "small, small".
Sister Gamor with her daughter, grandson, and Elders Cheney and Beresford
She has a strong testimony and loves the Lord. She also loves the hymns. She sang for us her favorite hymn, "How Firm a Foundation." She also said another of her favorite hymns is hymn number 70, "Sing Praise to Him." We were not familiar with that hymn and so looked it up when we got home. The words echo the incredible faith of these amazing saints here in this part of the world.
Sing praise to him who reigns above,
The Lord of all creation,
The source of pow’r, the fount of love,
The rock of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul he fills
And ev’ry faithless murmur stills.
To him all praise and glory!
The Lord is never far away,
But, thru all grief distressing,
An ever-present help and stay,
Our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand,
He leads his own, his chosen band.
To him all praise and glory!
Thus, all my toilsome way along
I sing aloud thy praises,
That men may hear the grateful song
My voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart!
Both soul and body bear your part.
To him all praise and glory!
We pray that we can learn to be as grateful and joyful as these beautiful African saints and always give the Lord "all praise and glory!"
All our Love,
Elder and Sister Judd
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