Pig Picking

Conference weekend.  Good talks and teachings.  Transfers went out so there was movement this week on Tuesday and new missionaries came on Wednesday.  Monday was a highlight as we were “invited” (“Akwabaa”) to a pig roast in Asamankase Zone.  It was their P-day and President gave them extra money to buy a pig and have a big meal together.  It was a 2-hour drive to get there and Patrick drove Elder Kaaen, President Jacobsen, and myself.  The wives were invited…hard pass…I sent pictures back to them…they were glad not to be there, I was glad we came.

“Have fun on your man trip”

-SJ and SMB…they did not want to go.

Honor your neighbor:  I think when you show up to a person’s house you honor them and your friendship.  If they always go to one house and you don’t reciprocate, you wonder what is wrong.  After serving in Japan, I like to bring a gift if I can…usually Banana bread…they had never had that in Japan and I could make it easily in our apartment.  If a person brings a gift, they don’t throw you off the doorstep.  Sister Bertha made Banana muffins so we had something to bring.  Then my Samoan friend came out with lava lavas for each of us…a kind gesture and a well-raised boy.  They were waiting for us and the table had been well laid out for the feast…

Where is the hand sanitizer?

Where are the napkins?

-Crickets…got nothing…not available here

Serving utensils?  Ghana you eat with your right hand.  You “chop” fufu soup and eat with your fingers.  My rancher president was right at home when they said there were no serving utensils…it’s “Pig Picking” like in the south.  You literally grab what you want with your fingers…I like that because I like the meat less than the fat…some elders were all about the fat.  Sister Bertha said she knew all about pulled pork  “I had that in Pinehurst.”  President and I laughed at that because this was as far away from Pine Hurst as humanly possible.  No sanitary gloves, no clean dinnerware, and no utensils to use.  The Ghana experience.

Clean and Prepare:  They bought a live pig and had to slaughter and clean it before the BBQ.  I learned from the president who ran the largest pig farm west of the Mississippi in Milford, Utah that every part of the pig was used – blood, bones, guts, everything.  When a neighbor her in Ghana saw the Elders cleaning the guts out, he asked for them, and his family had a good meal also.  Nothing goes to waste, all is of value. 

“Your worth is always great in the sight of God”

-Sister Runia (D&C 18:10)

Patience to cook:  It took over 4 hours of spinning the pig to get it just right.  If the Earth did not spin every 24 hours, it would get some hot spots.  It is good to be patient in life and let things come to you at the proper time.  Better to let the inspiration come to you like a deer in a tree stand.  Need to be quiet for the deer to get close and also for inspiration to come to your mind.  Can you find a quiet time…can you let your thoughts simmer so they are good and absorb all the goodness?

Everything (Everyone) has value:  I learned that when a pig is slaughtered in LA, they use every spec of the pig, including the blood and the bones-everything!  There is so much good that comes from that pig.  First and foremost they make Dodger Dogs that you get at Chavez Ravine (Dodgers).  But nothing is wasted.  There is protein that is added to other animal feed and every part is used including a replacement heart valve for my MTC companion! We, God’s Children, have worth in every way.  He wants us to be happy and that does not always mean comfortable.   A “brightness of hope” is knowing that it all “works for our good.”  We will be rewarded for the endurance and service we do in this life.

Take your time:  …to get good at something, it takes time.  To cook a pig well it takes time.  To learn a language, it requires consistent time.  BUT remember that we all only get 24 hours.  How are you going to use your time?  On a mission is it really my time or the Lords time that I am using on His behalf?  Don’t let useless distractions take (or waste) your precious time.  You get to choose how to spend your time, but you do not get that time back.  How you invest your time will determine if you get anything of value back…like a language, knowledge, a testimony, a friendship, a relationship with your spouse.  What kind of return on your time do you want?  I am getting a great return on this Ghanaian mission investment.  We are receiving more than we knew was possible.  Faith works if you work and spend your time wisely.

“What’s your ‘staarch’” (Boston Accent). Sister Bertha and I were on a trip in Maine and we were eating at the hotel.  I think she ordered lobster (per usual) and I might have ordered a fish.  The waitress asked what we wanted for our “starch”. I had never heard that before. However, I was reminded of it when I was eating with these elders on Monday.  They had rice, Kasava, Yam, and Potato Salad.  They filled their plates with the starches and then pig was the special treat.  There was a lot of starch because that was the main food.  They can raise it and find it and live on it.

Trivia: For Christmas in Ghana, it is a treat to have chicken with fat with a bowl of rice. 

Tickets:  Elder Morrison asked if the 4 sisters that went home last month wanted to go to Conference and he got them all tickets.  Great to see them all together with him.  Thanks.

Picking:  I was able to pick the meat I wanted and I just took a little.  There were 17 of us for this feast.  I thought there would be a lot of leftover stuff, because who eats that stuff--I don’t even know what that is.  Food is food, and they all found value in different parts…bones are a good source of calcium, so eat them.  In one of the earlier pig roasts, one elder, who did the roasting, took the head all for himself…and cleaned it like it was a bag of Nerds in front of Sister Bertha.  Agency gives us the chance to choose what we do in life and to pick the better parts…

Good thought in the scriptures:  Change “Repent ye, Repent ye” to, “I love you, I Love you”

Pick your teeth:  I had an Elder ask for a toothpick to get something out of his teeth.  I went upstairs and got two of the flossing things and gave him one.  I also gave one to his companion, a Ghanaian, he said that this is of no use to him, “my teeth are spread out.”  He was right.  Think Michel Strahan.

Positive self-talk:  You will have the longest conversations in your life with yourself.  Sometimes the voice in my head is negative and I need to remember that sometimes that is not me, but the adversary keeps butting into what was otherwise a good conversation of how happy I have been with my wife on a mission in Africa. 

“…you are not the voices in your head”

-Sister Runia

Condiments:  Pepe or spicy pepper is used a lot in Ghana….BBQ sauce is more a USA thing. Tomato Ketchup on KFC chicken is good--I tried it and I like it.  We had no salt or pepper with the pig, just some BBQ and Ketchup.  The more hungry you are, the better the food tastes.  No complaints. 

“I get sick if there is not enough pepe on it…”

Bishop Patrick on needing spicy food

80/20:  Our assistant is leaving to go to the bush and train a new missionary.  We took him to our favorite burger place…better than Five Guys.  I get mine with an egg and Jalapeno Peppers.  I don’t see Jalapenos anywhere else in Ghana.  80 – 20 is the Parrado principle…you get 80% of your success from 20% of your efforts…you still need to put in the 100% effort to get the results though.  Quinten Cook (an Apostle) talked about the Handcart Pioneer trek from the Midwest to Salt Lake in 1847.  There were 10 large handcart companies….8 arrived successfully, and 2 of them, the Martin and Willie Companies found difficulties and tragedy along the way.  In our life, we often focus on the 20% bad that comes, but there is 80% good also that is worth our attention and reflection.  The 20% may take more time, but there is good all around us if we pay attention to it.

Know Where:  Can you get _____?  Whatever it is, it seems that Sandy knows where everything is.  She asked for me to get a cleaner and she said “It’s in the pantry in a bucket on the shelf labeled Vinegar and water.”  I find that amazing.  She knows where everything is.  I do the dishes and leave them on the counter for her to put them away...rather than risk putting them in the wrong place.  I put the keys in the same place and there seems to be a portal that takes them somewhere else.  Will Howard used to tease me about it “…at least I know where my stuff is”. That hurt, but true.

Miracles keep coming…We did a 40-day fast as a mission.  There were a lot of miracles that we paid attention to that we might not have been looking for had we not been expecting them.  There are many good things that happen in life that we think we are entitled to or we just think we earned it…we should 1) be grateful and 2) don’t be afraid to call it a miracle of God.  It’s OK to give all glory and give credit to God.  Sunday as we were listening to Conference with the mission president and his wife, his phone was buzzing with confirmations of baptisms that day.  In Ghana, Conference doesn’t start until late in the afternoon so we still have a day.  We did not really think that the miracles would continue, but when you plant a lot of seeds, you will keep harvesting…Parable of the Sower.

Drakuman:  Sandy has been going out with sisters and I have been going out with elders.  Saturday she and I were able to do our first exchange together with Sister Appia (Cote d’Ivoire) and Chigwinya (Zimbabwe).  We were able to go to two teaching appointments.  Marilyn just lost her husband (age 49) and we taught her that through the restored priesthood keys, families can be sealed together forever in the temple. We also told her about life after death and where we go while awaiting Christ’s 2nd coming.  She is a school teacher so she had good questions.  She nicely swept the dirt under the laundry hanging out to dry (very Saturday thing to do—we do it also).  Lidia was a woman we taught in the shade of their house in a compound that Sister Bertha said was the cleanest compound she had ever seen in Ghana! There wasn’t a piece of trash anywhere.  Cute kids, a hardworking husband, and she is just trying to figure things out.  The sisters did a good job and it was good to be with them…left and came back just in time for conference.

Crash!  On the way back from the departure dinner, a motorcycle was hit by a car in front of us.  The car was pretty damaged in the front.  There was a policeman at the other intersection that might have come, but Patrick explained that if you get hit, you try to arrange something with the person you crash with and keep the police out.  If there is one police, they will call another and another and they will have 5 police analyzing everything and then telling you how much it will cost you to pay them for all they did.  They really don’t care about the accident.  

New Missionaries:  One is an Olympic runner, best in Tonga; one has never been out of Utah (the family wanted the mission call changed for their child; Ghana is too far away—there will be growth with this new one), A US elder who has been a member 14 months and the only member in his family--love the faith that they all have to set life aside and come do this.   One that has such a cool man’s name, Gunnar Dirk…More Islanders “Talofa Lava”. I gave them a week’s worth of money…they quickly figured out that it was equal to only $30 USD…ya, that’s your subsistence.  Fufu can cost 75 cents.  Cannot compare…

“Comparison is the thief of Joy”

-Elder Kiernan

“…Maybe comparisons are not the thief of joy…?”

-card player, when she found out my score, was worse than hers, HAHA

“I love our members, I wish I could take them with us…”

-A happy Elder getting transferred

Pizza was ordered for leadership training and…order was messed up

“No cheese on the pizza and no chicken pizza?”-SJ

“She said she did not hear ‘Spicy Chicken’

she said she heard ‘Mozzarella Cheese’” -Patrick

-hardly seems plausible

“The network is down, pay cash”

-Why I carry a lot of cash in Ghana, cannot trust the infrastructure

“Never exercise an option early…”

DJ on making the best choice at the last moment

“Love can change the world in a moment…

…But what do I know?

…Remember life is more than fittin’ in your jeans…

…Love and understanding, positivity “

-Ed Sheeran song What Do I Know?

“Pops, I an expert Smoor-er now”

-Glo Girl

Shoe Shine man:  I was waiting for Sandy and I had an hour…there are people selling everything on the street.  The shoe-shine man walks and hits his box with a stick it’s a distinctive sound.  I had time so I stopped him and let him shine my shoes 4 GH (30 cents).  Of course, I talked to him about my church.  His box said (God is King).  He taught me to say “gname own shawe” which I sure is misspelled, but means God Bless You.  He works from 7 am to 7 pm walking the streets looking for dirty shoes (“plenty!”).  He does 35 to 40 shoes a day…that is $10-$15 a day maybe.  The hustle with a smile…I love that he had slippers for me to wear when he was doing my shoes…

“I am coming”

-Ghanaian phrase that is not literal. 

They are working on it, thinking about it, hold on a second, coming back to you in who knows when.  Ghana time is fluid, but they will get there eventually. It is like the word becoming in English…we get better when we strive to get closer to Jesus Christ.  Jesus knows we are coming and has his arms outstretched.  He does not give us attitude and say, you are late and your shoes are dirty.  He takes us how we are.  He is in relentless pursuit of our souls and He loves us.  What a great gift and the message we are spreading… Come unto Christ…I am coming…

Pick wisely…

Elder Bertha

Ghana April 2025