Gatherings…

Winneba Stake Conference: A great time to gather, come together, and see people. 4 wards+ come together and listen to the Stake President and the Mission President speak.  The missionaries love it because they get to see other missionaries and we love it for the same reason.  The members are from all over and they rent TroTro buses to travel for it.  They are packed and everyone is dressed nicely.  What will it be like in the really hot season?  I came to Africa with no suit; grateful for that. It would never be used.  I dress up for Sunday by wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

High Notes: The Stake choir is like what we in the US do for Christmas.  They all have matching outfits (someone made all the matching dresses).  They looked good but sounded better.  They really belt out the hymns and bring a spirit into the meeting and they also can take artistic license and mash two hymns together.  I would go back just for the music!  #Ghanachoir.

“I’d rather be homesick than home.”

-You are here, enjoy it.

Monday: It is the last night having Elder Lusk with us.  I think he was getting too comfortable anyway.  We brought him over to the President’s house and he was right at home in the recliner chair.  Sister Bertha fed him very well and I think that helped in his blood numbers improving.  He made it home safely.  He will need a few more months for his body to fully recover from Malaria.  We will miss him, but he served his mission in full and took back the parasites to prove it.

“Maybe Elder Bertha should lay off the cookies…”

-The Elder comfortable enough to tease me…

“The finest thought runs the risk of being forgotten if it is not written down.”

-I have forgotten more fun and interesting things on this mission than I have written down. 

Feed me:  It is hard to feed big groups.  At our Zone Conferences, we have a vendor that brings the Jolof Rice and vegetables and we add KFC fried chicken.  At our training and the luncheons with the missionaries, it is easier to order pizza.  Then before the departing missionaries leave, we take them to a nice Italian restaurant (Not Ghana Food, they have had enough of it).  We get them gelato to help them readjust to what home might be like.  Sister Bertha is the queen of breakfast and rather than have baked goods around for me, the guards and the service people in the neighborhood are eating more homemade muffins than they may have ever had.  They think our treats are too sweet.  There is less sugar in a Ghana recipe.

“Hello Mango, (giving it a squeeze) …you need another day”

-Sister Bertha getting fresh with her fruit and learning to read the ripeness

Gathering: The fun thing about Stake conferences, Zone conferences, random training sessions, transfers, and even distribution of new missionaries, is that we get to gather.  An important emphasis in our church is the literal gathering of Israel.  (not really an original idea, it’s in the Bible)  There were 12 tribes of Israel that the Lord scattered around the earth and he promised he would “gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks.”  I like the gathering we do when we bring someone into our church through baptism.  They bring themselves in by accepting the invitation to follow Jesus Christ.  It is the Church of Jesus Christ and on Sunday we gather again to partake of the sacrament and remember our baptismal covenants.  Remember Him, Keep His commandments---simple stuff.  We gather to show each other that we are still a family in Christ and we care about our family.  Missionary work is long-term planning and advance work for the literal gathering of Israel.  We are all tribes that will come together under one King: Jesus Christ.  Everyone I meet is in one of those 12 tribes and we are going to have a great family reunion in time.  Kakra kakra…small small.  Little by little.

Transfer Tuesday:  You kind of just clean off your desk and know that for the next 3 hours, you will get nothing done at the office, but the important stuff is the relationship with the missionaries. They use my desk as another table for the pancake breakfast delivered by Sandy Bertha.  She loves to cook.  They have almost perfected the Hub and Spoke system with missionaries gathering at central areas in three parts of the mission, then they rent a TroTro that packs all their bags on top or out the back doors.  The Elders or Sisters being transferred and switched come to the mission home, reconfigure in new companionships, move the bags to the corresponding van, and away they go.  In and out in three hours with a lot of smiles and laughter.

”This is better than bailing hay”

-Elder CH

“Gokurosama” (Japanese for a person that does something good).  Elder CH who is a “real farmer” and a hard worker was a “Gokurosama” that unloaded and loaded the TroTro Buses with big bags we had for the missionaries.  The Sisters had big bags and we should have helped them, but strong Elders were standing around. Elder CH just worked it and WAS really good at the Tetris of packing.  I recently found only two Dr. Pepper sodas at Fairway and was saving them for another Elder.  I gave one to Elder Chapman, he deserved it and loved it.  When the other Elder received the remaining DP, he was happy too.

Departing missionary devotional:  This is only the second time we have seen this.  After the dinner, they gather at the mission home with the Mission Leaders (Jacobsen’s) and receive their certificate of completion and the hand-woven banner.  The banner is an African tradition that they love and happily wear home.  It’s like graduation.  The missionaries say and few words and share their testimony of the Gospel and the experience they have just completed.  Love seeing the growth of these young people.  Did I grow that much?  What an accomplishment.

Departure tax:  We said goodbye to two American elders Tuesday night. Sister Bertha has the system down.  She goes into the Airport with a copy of their ticket and owns the place.  They usually have an expired Ghana card of a few days or more and there is a penalty.  She has to pay the fine and they try to make the fine a little more.  She pushes back with the reality of the law and the rules.  I found a vacant lot 3 minutes away rather than wait an hour to get into the Airport parking lot.  We are getting the system down.  We will be experts when we leave.

“I have only 1800 Cedi.  It is 6 months not seven, it’s church money, here you go!”

-SMB

“Oh, Ok…”

-Airport Clerk acquiescing and getting to know Sandy

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you just might find, you get what you need…”

-Rolling Stones on Parenting skills

Wednesday:  New Missionaries arrive!  So exciting to see who you get.  I met a crew of these young elders at the Accra Temple last month.  They were learning English at the MTC on the same property.  8 of the 11 are from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo-French. There is also a Republic of the Congo just north).  I think when they first met me they did not know what I was saying…they know just a little bit more.  I do my finance presentation in English, but I also hand it out to them in translated French.  We have a French-speaking AP that translates the really important stuff that the President doesn’t want to be missed in the orientation.

Trainers:  After the President meets and interviews all the new incoming elders and sisters, we send over the Training missionaries and they get to meet each other.  The Trainer is a very important person in the life of the missionary.  The Trainer should set a standard of habits and be an example to teach the new missionary. At times it is hard to wake your new missionary up and get them to work, other times you have a person eager to learn and serve (more often).  The enthusiasm and spirit of the trainer can set the foundation for a great mission.  It’s like a parent and they even call it being “born” with that elder.  You raise them up in the mission work.

Bright lights.  My eyes are getting a little worse with age and I use readers like many of my friends.  My glasses used to be more for fashion, but now they are definitely more for function with a nod to fashion.  I also look for good lighting when I read.  I like bright lights.  I also like bright lights in people.  I like it when a person smiles.  (Sandy smiles a lot; a good thing)  When these new missionaries smile, it is like turning on a light, especially when the African missionaries smile.  They are blacker than black people in the USA, and when they smile they seem to all have good teeth (thank goodness the British did not bring their teeth to Africa).  When they smile, the big white teeth on a happy African black face make me smile even more.  It’s white and bright.  On the street in Ghana when I am walking, if I smile and wave at a person, they may be closed mouth, but then they see me smile and wave.  They smile and light up. I love that. Good people in Ghana.

Wrestling with Comparisons  

By J.B. Hawes BYU Speeches

“…your contest is not with others, but with yourself” 

“The race is against sin not each other.”

“…we will only be comparing our old self with our new self…work for YOUR improvement”

“..when you leave for the day, go out the door, forget yourself, and think about others”

Favorites:  I don’t have favorites (that’s a lie). I don’t share my favorites.  I love the Elders and Sisters that have a smile and are happy to be here today.  It’s a great day every day and it’s a new experience every day.  Even in hard times, they show strength, endurance, optimism, and faith.  One Elder on my “good list” came in as a trainer.  He was so happy to be away from his last companion.  There was an intimidation situation that he was dealing with.  You would not have known.  “I’m glad that is over but it was good, it was good…I was glad that it was me and not someone else...I can deal with it”.  What a great attitude; he is not praying for an easy road, but rather the strength to make it down the bumpy road we will all hit at some time.  My favorites are the ones that are faced with a challenge, meet it head-on, and deal with it as well as they can.

“I never said it would be easy, I only said that it would worth it” 

-God and/or Jesus - paraphrased

Thursday: After the storm.  Travel reimbursements, Cards not showing up so I have to give cash to the new missionaries, Pizza, KFC, and Bike repairs, all these things take cash and I had not been able to balance the last fund. (mobile money issue)  I can’t ask for the check until it is balanced.  I had to fund the mission with my own money from my fanny pack (Tomoo style!).  I also asked for help.  My boss is the guy in the Area Office and he came down and we figured it out.  It was frustrating that with an MBA, I could not figure it out, but what fixed it was just doing it differently and accepting the African way.  I looked back at the reporting that the other Financial Secretaries had done and they kind of ignored the part I was trying to fix. I went back to the fall of '23 and made it balance and found all the crap (proper terms for some equations) that was tripping me up.  All good now.  Endured a few days…. But I will leave it in better shape when I leave next year.

“Now I pick the most dented Pragia (three-wheeled taxi).  They have more experience and have less chance of a new crash.”

-Elder after getting cut up in a crash in a NEW Pragia

Nigeria:  Not a place that is a good place to travel “…for me.”  But if I did go, I would go to see a missionary who just finished his mission and went home.  Elder Nwigwe is from Nigeria.  His name means – Son of a king.  Who is meeting you at the airport?  “We have a family airport driver, I think he will come.”  Well, that did not happen as scheduled.  He flew out of Ghana on time, but when he landed in Nigeria, the connecting flight just left an hour early and did not take our Elder.  He did not have a phone with a SIM card so he had to use Facebook Messenger to contact Sister Bertha to get a new flight…only one flight a day…the next day they cancelled the flight instead of leaving early.  He had two nights in the hotel, but Sister Bertha was waking people up and making sure he had people to take care of him and take him to the airport.  He was a really good elder and I am sure he just took it in stride… Africa things…

“Trials can drive us to distraction rather than driving us to our knees”

Home by Taxi:  One of our really good missionaries was from Ghana and only had to travel about 2 hours from home.  We gave him money for a taxi rather than a TroTro and his uncle came to pick him up.  He was a good missionary and will be a leader in the church and sister Jacobsen thinks he may become the president of Ghana; I would not wish something like that to destroy his peaceful spirit.  There are about 6 people running for president in Ghana right now.  They have billboards and parades and the rallies I have seen look like they are running for student body president of the high school.  Hard to tell who will win.  We will lay low in December when the election happens.  We will avoid the news in the USA in November.  I have tried to get my ballot via email, but I may be out of luck.  Even using the Pouch system to Ghana, if a ballot is too big to send…then it might not make it.  Hopeful….grateful for the USA…NO MATTER WHO LEADS the country.

Friday: Train the leaders to be better leaders. At the transfers, there are missionaries called to be leaders: District Leaders, Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and one new AP.  Our mission likes to have diversity in the AP role with one white and one black.  Is it a quota or diversity? No such rule, but it seems like a good idea to set an example of working together from the top.  These young missionaries will be leaders in the church in so many African countries.  It’s amazing the growth of the church and the people here.  President takes time to teach these young missionaries how to lead with love, example, and honest corrections.  These are talents they will use the rest of their lives.

“…it takes strength to be kind…”

Saturday:  Sandy finally got a full night's sleep.  The girl stays up late and gets up early and goes until she drops.  That usually happens if she is forced to sit down which she does not do often.  She is amazing at keeping all the details.  She said she always wanted to be a secretary and have a desk and an office.  Now she has it and she is excelling in her role. 

“Someone took my Nerds, I am not happy about it”

-Sandy when her bag from America came up short…

“How do you teach in the bush where they don’t speak English?”

“We have to have a member to help.  Most people over 40 can’t read or speak English.”

-New Trainer taking a USA Elder out to the country…adventure awaits!

“…Why do you always wear that watch?”

“It’s a constant reminder to take a breath, don’t rush”

“This watch reminds me that when I’m here, I am 100% with you.  And when I am gone it reminds me to get back to you as soon as I can; it reminds me to focus on what I can control and not what I can’t control.”

-Tom Reese to James Reese as a boy.  (Rolex Steel Sub)

Book Club: I am my own focus group of one.  I am now listening to The Comfort Crisis.  Embracing Discomfort because it is healthy for you.  I am looking for books that are good for me now and that teach me things that are complementary to our mission and not distractions. Obviously, the scriptures are read first, but I want to learn more while I can.

Walking:  I got out of the comfort of the gated community to walk in a different direction.  There have been warnings about the traffic today.  It was something to do with protests.  As I came up to our intersection the road was shut down so you could walk down the middle of the road.  At the other intersection, I found a noisy group of people protesting but could not figure out why,  It had something to do with the “Ghana Police” and there were a lot of the them there.  The Police were taking photos of every protestor and the riot crew was ready to go.  I thought it was better to get behind the Police barricade on another deserted road they had blocked off.   With no traffic, I was able to get close to the trees in the middle of the normally busy road to see where all the bats live hanging out in the big trees.

Game night:  We did a big dinner with President Beeson and his wife (East Accra) and the Galland’s with the Jacobsen’s (West Accra) and the Berthas.  After dinner, we introduced them to the game we like Tap4.   They play something similar called “Swoop”.  It’s my P-day and I was casual. The other men were still in white shirts and ties, hmmm?  I was being heckled for wearing a blue shirt.  West side story: Blood v Crips, Accra West and Accra East.  Choose your weapons!  Cards at sunset.  Bring it!  There was a lot of laughter with 8 people around the table.  It was a competitive Tap4, but tonight I wrote in my Journal:  “I am a winner today!”  I feel good.

“Do you have any white shirts?”

-Adam G. flexing on my casual attire…haha

“I like to savor my cookies”

Sister Beeson makes great cookies and freezes them.  I finished mine before the game even started. ”I savor quickly”.  Adam puts them in his pocket so they warm up.  He eats them little by little and takes the whole evening to finish.  It reminded me of the warm gummy bear offered to Principal Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 

“Bet you never smelled the inside of real school bus…Gummy Bear?  They’ve been in my pocket, they’re real warm and soft.”

-Girl in the thick glasses

Busy Busy:  The G’s have about 10 hours of work a week and then also do a Temple session.  They really don’t have enough to do. They have driven everywhere and seen everything in Ghana.  (They are here with family so I’m sure it is great in other ways). Sandy and I have not seen everything.  Game night or Poldark we look forward to.  Tonight, on Saturday, I am calling HSBC to unlock a Missionary cash card that was not used correctly.  Fraud alerts are my department.  We are really busy and very grateful for the work and challenge we have been given here.  It really is the perfect calling for the Berthas.  Far enough away that we can’t go home and enough to do (plus) so we don’t get bored.  We also have our own individual projects.  I disliked group projects in school anyway.  There is much to do and plenty of service to be done.  Being anxiously engaged in the work of the Lord is a sure way to happiness and Joy.  Grateful for another week here.

Max In: Next week, there is a special girl getting married.  Uncle Al and Aunt Sandy love her.

Wish we were there, but also happy to be here.  Marriage is a great thing with a good and kind partner to enjoy it with.  They will be sealed by the Holy Promise of Nathan.  Love my family and friends gathering in PC.  Love God. Love my church. Love my wife (and kids and kid’s kids). 

The Berthas

Accra Ghana September 2024