Finishing Strong!

We have just over a month before our mission is over and we head back to our home in the states. Our mission has been a life-changing experience, so it's with mixed emotions that we prepare to say goodbye to the amazing people of Ghana. Here's some of what we've been doing lately:

After our early-morning run to beat the heat, we try and do a few chores around our house before we head out for the day. Here Sarah is sweeping our dirt. None of the homes here have grass and the Ghanaians like keeping their living areas neat and clean and one way to do that is by sweeping the dirt each morning.

Most of our days are spent working in the villages with the local members. This is Elias Kotoku, President of the Kpando Branch. He's a professional fire fighter, one of my best buddies and one of the kindest men we've ever met. He also knows all the street vendors by name, so we always get the best prices and an extra scoop of beans when we order red/red.

Most of the villages around Ho have their own hand-drawn water pump that families can use for cooking and bathing. When it's too dry and the water isn't flowing, even the wells have a hard time storing water. As the villagers wait for water to be available, each family queues-up by setting their container around the pump.

Both the Sierra Leone and the Liberia Missions were without missionaries for the past year due to Ebola. As those areas recently opened back up, we had to say goodbye to four wonderful elders who were reassigned to Sierra Leone.

Sadly, we attended a funeral for a 13-year old girl who died of meningitis. One of the Ghanaian traditions is to remove the body from the casket and place it in a chair so that family and friends can pay their last respects. John was asked to speak and was able to share a message of hope that we'll all be together again as families, thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ.

President and Sister Heid were full-time educators before they were called to the Ghana Accra Mission. One of their mission goals is to have all the missionaries improve their English-language skills. Here, Sarah is working on the computer with one of our Nigerian elders to record and play back his voice as he reads through a selection of stories. They also practice their typing skills. The elders love and embrace the chance to work on the computer and improve their skills.

Thanks to a tri-zone conference, all the senior couples from our mission were able to get together for lunch. We love working with these amazing, talented and inspirational people. From L to R - Sanders, Bodine, Heid, Pace, and Taylors.

We woke up one morning to no running water. That's not new for us, but as we tracked down the problem, we found that the main pipe between our poly tank (our main water storage) and the house was broken. Believe it or not, we think one of the many passing goats ran into the pipe, breaking it, allowing all the water to drain out during the night.

One of our favorite activities lately has been taking the elders to teach in a small village outside of Kpando. Each week, as these valiant investigators hear or see our truck enter their village, they grab their scriptures and head to the one-room schoolhouse where the elders teach the doctrine of Jesus Christ. A truly spiritual place and opportunity.

We participated in and were judges for (well, at least John was) a stew cook-off in the Ho 1 Branch.
Stew is used in most meals and usually contains tomatoes, onions, fish and peppers. The men gave their
wives the night off and cooked their best stew for the competition. As you can see, the winners were
extremely proud of their achievements! Our stew included goat meat...