- Feb 17
I want to share Ghana from another view. Sister Karen came to visit and she saw more of Ghana than we have; she also stayed with us and shared our little world for a while. It was great seeing her; she went out with the sister missionaries with sister Bertha; she counseled with a dear friend of ours; and she lived in our little world for a time—GAMER! She makes every outing an amazing adventure and she wrote a letter home to the family about it…she is a great writer and she gave me permission to share it. Sometimes it’s good to see the world from different eyes. Thanks, Karen for coming and sharing this…
“…in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
-2 Corinthians 13:1
Dear Family,
I am on my flight home from Ghana. I wanted to share my takeaways since not everyone will be able to go to Africa to see Sandy and Al and experience the incredible people and the tragic and fascinating history of Ghana.
I just spent the last 9 days there, 11 days total for my trip. It was a different trip than I have ever taken. To go see my sister Sandy in a country she now loves and is so happy in with my brother Al.. so unreal. They are simply known as Sister and Elder Bertha there. I am just so touched by how they have found their place in Ghana. So happy, so content, so sweet with each other, and so in love with the people they are serving and meeting and teaching and supporting. To see the good they are doing and the joy they are finding in serving is beautiful. The country is not particularly beautiful. It is dry, hot and dirty. It is poor, crowded, and smelly and everyone is working so hard to simply feed their families, but they are not a God-forsaken country. It is quite the opposite. Ghana is a God-loving country. The Ghanaians are kind, generous with what they do have, and open-hearted. They have so little and yet they love and worship Christ, our Father in Heaven, and even Allah. They run to worship, they come clean to church, they have self-respect, and they work harder than any people I have seen, to simply survive. They have less than most countries I have been to, but they give the Lord thanks for all that they have.
I have never encountered such teachable people, they could look at God that he may have forsaken them, but they see He hasn’t, they see hope through Him, and somehow amongst the daily grind they remember Him and they feel His love. They walk miles to church, they pay their tithing, they serve and teach, they recognize and share truth. They are eager to learn, eager to get an education, and want to provide for their families. What they seem to have is a greater measure of happiness by knowing God and feeling His love for them, even in their hardships.
As I walked the streets in a small town outside Accra with Sandy yesterday and the Sisters, we spoke with many people, just simply saying hello to people, asking them if they knew of Jesus if they knew of the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ? They wanted to know what we knew of Christ, they wanted to come and learn and they aren’t just saying it, people are showing up at church, sometimes 30 visitors on Sunday. They don’t just accept the Book of Mormon they read it with an open heart and a desire to know more truth and learn more about Jesus Christ.
I attended church with Sandy and AI in an outdoor classroom last Sunday and heard testimonies so strong, people that spoke with clarity of their knowledge, a deep understanding of the truth always speaking with love. The women spoke with soft voices and spoke of truth and how the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses their lives and offers peace in a world that doesn’t offer much. They love their neighbors, member or not, Christian or not, and they all look after one another. Women and men come so clean and look their best as a way of showing respect for the place they attend and the God they have come to worship. This country in just 9 days has helped me see that we find God and Christ in the most unlikely places. That's when we humble ourselves and look for God, for peace and guidance, with a desire to do His will, we find Him and we feel love and peace amongst His people. Our lives whether they are complicated by so many options that we all have in our family, or so few options as these Africans have except for a need to survive and provide for themselves and their family, the Lord will bless us, guide each of us in our choices and decisions and we can find joy in serving others and Him, as we learn of Him and follow Him
The church we visited, is also an elementary school during the week. Sandy had invited to the church/school one of the members of a charity that works in Ghana for a nonprofit that serves these communities, Engage Now Africa, and they are going to help build a real school with plumbing and classrooms and a roof and walls for this man and their community. They have 50+ kids attending it. He simply has been providing the school as a service. It is where they have also been worshiping as a small group of Latter-day Saints. The church has built a new small church down the road and they are going to help this school be built and become sustainable through a well/borehole they are going to put on the school's ground that will be a source of water that the school principal can charge community members for, which funds will help sustain the school.
I went to Tema, Ghana for a couple of days, about 45 minutes away from Accra. It is where the old MTC for Ghana used to be. It is now called The Gathering Place. On Sunday it holds two wards there and classrooms for Sunday lessons. The old MTC isn’t being used during the week and is no longer an MTC. It is a new concept to use these buildings during the week to lift the community, a place to gather called The Gathering Place. I hadn’t heard of The Gathering Place and they are rolling out over Ghana, and maybe other places too. It’s using church buildings as places for members and nonmembers to gather, to learn skills that can help them make a living, a place to study for students, a place to learn and be taught through Pathways, or simply a safe place to gather where all are welcome. They are forming a basketball league, and soccer teams, offering tutoring to secondary school students, a place for Pathway students to study. Pathways costs some, $4 a credit, but everything else is free.
The church is offering Pathways to many and that includes a few spiritual classes as well. I sat in one class that my friend from Park City Betsy Thornton, was teaching. She was helping kids begin their family tree on Family Tree Africa. Most kids have little information about their families and the generations before them. I helped one boy who is about 17 put in his info- Arty is his name. He was so smart and capable. He is an artist, a filmmaker, and a poet of the spoken word. He showed me some of his films and shared the most articulate description of what kind of artist he is. It was written with clarity and beautifully crafted- it blew my mind. I helped another young man who had put his family line into a family search and then I asked if he wanted to write something about himself. He titled it “My life’s journey". It was a 2 paragraph description of the challenges, heartache, and the hope he has and the love he has for his family despite their challenges. It was moving, powerful, and full of hope and desire for a life where he could grow and learn. These individuals all have such a desire to learn and they know that education, skills training, and commitment are the way to find some peace and to support themselves and their family. It gave me a testimony of Pathways honestly and seeing it in action.
The Gathering Place had a man named Eric who was volunteering for the past 5 months, with a small stipend that some of the missionaries had put together to cover his 1.5-hour drive to and from the GP so he could be there and teach and support the kids in this area. He is only paid for the classes he teaches- which are 2 one one-hour classes and waiting for the long process to clear him so that he can be paid a salary for running the GP which he does, He is there from 8 a.m. -8 p.m. and 1.5 hours before and after going to and from home in a TroTro which is a crammed van with no AC and tons of heat which makes for smelly people and their things and it’s how people get around. I am just amazed, he knows it is the best way to help his people, educate them, give them a safe place to be, and share the gospel message of love and peace.
We went to Cape Coast. I was traveling with a couple of friends. They included my friend from Park City, Betsy- my missionary friend serving in Tema and Ellie, my friend from Park City who is close friends with Betsy, and Melissa, a friend of Ellie’s and of Mary Alice’s. It was a brutal drive, 4.5 hours on the worst road I have ever been on in any country anywhere. It was mostly dirt roads and those roads along with the potholed and sparse asphalt roads were filled with people, traffic, and potholes. We went in a van that had no air-conditioning and the roads are so dirty crowded and polluted you can’t really roll the windows down. But the trip was worth it.
We went to a slave trade market, where captives were being traded by tribesmen to originally the Portuguese and then the Dutch. Their captives were traded for what the Portuguese were offering- tobacco, alcohol, gunpowder, weapons, and other commodities. The captives were then taken down to the waters for a first bath before they went to be bartered. There in the waters, chained to each other they would be washed, sometimes drowning because of the current of the river. Those that made it out were then covered in shea butter and then presented before those foreigners they were trading with. Those that were not wanted were killed and put in mass graves. From there, they remained shackled and then walked sometimes 100 miles to one of the slave castles where they were chained in dungeons. They remained there for sometimes 3 months and then were traded with other foreigners and taken to Europe, the Caribbean, and America- the irony is "the land of the free”. Slavery is the most shameful part of our world history. On the trip across the seas, they were stacked body to body on top of each other in ships with little food and little water. Those that survived were sold. It seems almost a miracle that any survived. They have African Americans, and others who are descendants of slaves around the world, although mostly from America, who come and do reconciliation ceremonies, coming to the land of their ancestors, taking a ceremonial bath in the river, writing their names on the tablets remembering their ancestors.
We went to Elmina Slave Castle, the oldest slave castle on the west coast of Africa. Here in the late 1400s, it was built, originally for trading spices and other goods traded for gold and other African commodities. In the 1500s the Portuguese realized that the slave trade was the most lucrative and old storage rooms became where they held humans that were divided by men and women and treated horrifically, branded, and then boarded on ships through an access below the castle to the sand. Those who were pregnant were left behind or if they were carrying melato babies were kept in another house outside the castle and raised as white children and many actually received an education. The first school in Ghana was in Elmina castle for the children who were the result of black slaves being raped by their white captors who had mulato babies. I asked why any Portuguese person would ever want to do this job back then, all the suffering and torture. Those that worked at the castle I was told were Portuguese prisoners that were sent to do this work. These wretched prisons called Slave Castles were truly a living hell. All were equipped with a church that was built in the center of the courtyard, next to the prisons where people who acted out died a slow and miserable death alone, in the dark with no food or water.
These castles are so important to be there, for us to remember what atrocities happened there and for others to come back to honor their family members to remember to show their respects and prove to their forefathers and mothers that their sacrifice is honored by the lives they live now. There were many funeral flowers brought by families honoring their ancestors there. We have to see places like this to be remembered, to not repeat the evil that ensued here. It is hard to hear, hard to see but we must remember the past so we don’t repeat it and understand the suffering of our African American neighbors suffered that came to our continent through the slave trade. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery, the treatment of African Americans with Jim Crow laws, discrimination, and fear of people of color was perpetuated because of the false paradigm that slave traders, and owners created to justify their enslavement of people. Being in Ghana it was wonderful to be around all our black brothers and sisters and honor them for their faith, their intelligence, and their ability to endure all they have endured.
We went into the art markets with Sandy and Al. They have mastered the basket market. Sandy has an incredible collection. They will have a crate thankfully to bring back some of their treasures. We went into the Art Market and saw people carving, painting, weaving, and sewing, the whole place was bustling with amazing craftsmen and women. We purchased lots more baskets. We went to DuBois Market and bought even more. We picked out beautiful batik fabrics and had them made into dresses pants and skirts at another shop, Gifty’s. We went to Global Mamas an awesome shop with lots of crafts and beautiful batiked fabrics that have been made into everything from placemats to dresses and beads into jewelry, We went to TK Beads where we saw and purchased glass beads that were being made there, and then strung on strands for sale and others that I had picked to put into a bowl. Sandy and Al took us all through these markets. It was amazing to see and so generous of their time to take us all around. Al’s driving skills were very Ghanaian and he could thread the needle as much as any Ghanaian.
I went out with Sandy to the bush where we went with one of the first white sister missionaries to be sent to Ghana who is just about to complete her mission, being one of the four first white American women that have served 18-month missions in Ghana. Mad respect for these pioneering women. Sister D from a farm town in Utah, is a javelin thrower for BYU. It was a privilege to be with her and Sister NaKoma, from Zambia - I met so many missionaries. They have lots of partnerships with a white sister and an African sister. They are all amazing! They know how to teach, to ask questions, and to wait for answers. They know how to invite people, Sister D knows how to love people, and you feel her love so strongly. When she gives you a hug, you know she loves you, it almost brings you to tears and actually it does. When I said goodbye to her at the temple, when we were all there together on Wed, she gave me such a big hug, I felt like I was hugging a pioneer, someone with royalty in her veins, someone who will be spoken about for generations, faithful, full of light and love and simply strong and loving. Who by inviting and loving has brought probably over 100 people to the gospel of Jesus Christ during her time in Ghana. But we went with these sisters and met with a young man who drives a motorcycle for a living. He had a dream that led him to a church. He didn’t know the church but he put on a white shirt and followed his dream which brought him to Sister D’s ward. He came and felt the spirit but got distracted. He came back a couple of months later and the sisters asked him why he came back. He said he had another dream that told him he needed to go back and learn more. He was getting taught this day. It was such a powerful lesson of the faith of people. He knows he will be made fun of because of his choices but he is more afraid of not listening to the spirit that is telling him in his dreams that he should follow. He had a bright light about him and they gave him a short lesson and then we went to teach another group of ladies. This brings us Ghanaians have dreams and they listen to their dreams. No wonder people can relate to Joseph Smith’s vision and dreams awoken by Moroni. They also have so many Christian churches all around them, that there is a question of which to join- much like the questions that Joseph Smith had.
The woman we came to teach wasn’t there so we taught others who were there doing chores and had a desire to listen, they all were challenged to come to church on Sunday, come and see for themselves and 4 of them committed to come. We went to teach a group of others and a man came and joined too, they all wanted to know more and made a commitment to come to church. It was amazing. They said they have 10 appointments a day. They simply ask the people they are teaching do they have other friends who also want to know more about Christ and the Book of Mormon and Christ’s restored church. They invite their friends, they listen, they recount what they had learned last time, they keep their commitments to reach and they share their hearts. It is so wild, people want to know their Savior. Nearly every car or truck in the country has some saying and most of them recognize Christ. This is the most Christian country I have ever met. They have remarkable faith and they have dreams, and they respond to their dreams. Missionaries are teaching like 10 lessons a day and have to make a goal to go out seeking 1.5 hours a week because they are so busy just teaching.
Sandy and I and Sister Jacobsen, the mission president’s wife- who is so much like Sandy it is wild- and her niece visiting Anika went out with another set of missionaries. One reminded me of Monica and another sister from the Congo. We went with these sisters on the hottest day, in the dirt walking around where the church was tracking after we had taught lessons to two people who had asked for a Book of Mormon. One young man’s name was Rauf. He is Muslim but he wants to know more about this Book of Mormon. It is crazy how we were able to find him since there are no addresses in most of the country, everything is just near this bus stop, by this road crossing… He wanted to know who Christ is and why this book is of value. Another was a woman in a dress shop. Her Pentecostal friend - I am sure she was- was there to get in a bit of a bible bash, and wondering what this God we are talking about is He going to take away our hunger or their hard lives? These were fair questions honestly. Sister J said he may not provide us food but He will provide a measure of happiness we do not know now. He will bring us greater peace and he will support us in our trials. The sister we were there to teach you could see still felt a desire to know the truth and be taught. She accepted a Book of Mormon and read from it and wanted to come to church. She committed to reading, had read the pamphlet before, and had questions. She was undeterred and listened so intently. It was so humbling. We then went searching for others who wanted to know what we were sharing, we met a seamstress, a shopkeeper, and a couple of Muslim women who were making porridge and washing clothes who were lovely and said they would be interested in coming to our church and learn more, we invited a dozen people to come to church on Sunday come and see, come learn more about Christ. I bet 8 of them will be there. It was amazing their open hearts.
Sandy it seems has acclimated to the heat because I felt like I was the only one sweating to death. Air conditioning and water are the two essentials Luckily Sandy and Al’s mission office they live in has great AC and Sandy has ensured it is spick and span clean! But these sister missionaries are living without AC, out tracking and teaching in the dirt each day, but they are being rewarded with the most open hearts and minds and I don’t know what they eat honestly or where in the world they are going to the bathroom out there, and how they can carry enough Book of Mormons, but they are doing it and they are filled with the spirit. I don’t know if I could do it. But Sandy and Al are, and they are so happy. SO SO SO proud of them and all those who are serving there. It is a harsh country, with so much poverty, so much struggle, so much unfairness, and not enough opportunity, but the church is growing by a ward a month in their mission- 150 baptisms. It is unbelievable. The people are good, and intelligent, with the greatest desire to learn of anyone. I remember when I was in Africa last time for a few months with Sam, Africans know that education is their way out of poverty. They know knowledge is power and in Ghana they know that knowing God, understanding who we really are and the power that we have when we harness the knowledge and faith will bring us a greater measure of joy.
We went to the Accra Temple last Wednesday with Sandy and Al and the first 4 sister missionaries from America to serve in Ghana. We went with Ellie and Melissa too. Ellie had served for decades on the temple art committee. Her goal was to have more real art in the temples and to have temples reflect the area they are in, not just a standardized temple with the same posters, etc. She hasn’t been to so many of the temples she helped with. Most of them have now been remodeled but for her to go into her first temple in Africa, and see commissioned art that reflected the local area and culture and see carvings of chairs in the sealing rooms that reflected local artists' work as well as stained glass that reflected the Kente style of weaving of Ghana, just made her so happy to see the fruition of her many efforts and honestly battles in the church to bring about beauty that elevated the people of their regions. She was happy to see murals on the walls that also reflected their area. It was also so wonderful to be in a room filled with people of color. God loves all his children and He does not see color, He sees us all as His children.
Lastly, we also visited a Botanical Garden that was so interesting and had an amazing tree of life carved into a dead Cyprus. We met a branch president who is a wood carver in an art market by the Botanical Garden and I purchased a carving of a black hand holding a Book of Mormon which I just loved and also bought a nativity that he had carved. We walked on rope bridges across a jungle area, stayed at a hotel on the beach by the slave castle, and spent a day and a half at the Gathering Place. Went to some tasty dinners with Elder and Sister Bertha and was fed and cared for by them. It was a little slice of heaven staying with them.
If anyone finishes this, I am wowed by your ability to endure my long tale of my short time in Ghana. I am so glad I visited. I am so glad I got to be with Sandy and Al. I am so glad I got to meet the generous and open-hearted people I met. Grateful to take home some great treasures to remember the country by but also to have strengthened my testimony by coming to know fellow followers of Christ. Whatever our challenges are, we can know that there are people with equal and greater challenges who have not forsaken their belief and relationship with Christ. it is the thing that sustains them. Their faith has increased my faith.
Thank you for letting me share. Karen
Editors Notes: A lot of Girl Power here over the last couple of weeks.
Anchors away! All the older Sister Missionaries (Jacobsen, Bertha, Judd, Kaaen, Karen & Anika) gathered all the younger sister missionaries for a “Sisters Conference.” The theme was Anchoring your faith. All the women did different presentations and the sisters said it was like getting a dose of the holy spirit from a fire hose. The young Sisters have some very good women to look up to. What a blessing it is for us to have these strong women in our mission (both the older and the younger sisters). A lot of work went into this event and it will be long remembered.
Melissa: This is an undercover baller who is always looking to start a new business or learn a new thing… the perfect travel companion for Karen Ghana and fun to be with on the trip. Always a smile and interested in everything…easy people to be around.
“Did you say farm equipment?” we had a nice Sunday dinner and there was talk about Melissa’s family that helped with farming in Mozambique. President Jacobsen is usually quiet, but he’s a rancher with an Animal Science degree and loves talking about tractors the way Nathan will talk about skiing. He started asking a few more questions when the conversation got into his wheelhouse. “how big is that farm, what do you raise, is that a John Deere?” --Inspired Questions from the Mission President…Fun to see…
Ellie: This is an undercover cool lady. She served a mission to England many years ago when they did not have as many sister missionaries out. She has been the force to have good original art in the temples. A woman’s knowledgeable touch in a man’s world. Thank you Ellie for your patience with the men—grateful for better looking interiors in the temple. She and Becky seemed to match up like Sister B. and Sister J.
…The Berthas In Ghana
February 2025
