PEOPLE

 Brother Safo's brother.
 We hope to be able to teach him and his family.

People we know...

Kingsley and Hannah and children
members of the church

Elder Brown with Gifty

Insisting he help chop the wood

Our 'local'children that love to bang on our gate.
L - R Kwame, Godfred and Prince, holding their Christmas gifts.

Thomas (recently baptised) pounding Fufu for us...

Johnson got baptised on Sun 21 Dec

We are teaching Abigail, far left. and family
They really live out in the bush, up a very long dirt road

More Baptisms. one from Maase, one from Tafo
 and one from Osiem  (Johnson, right)

Christopher and I, waiting for Mum to finish getting ready for church

Patricia and sisters

Janet (left) a new member, her daughter
and 2 step daughters. We are teaching
her husband Moses

Boys at Osiem, my Primary Class, 7 of them.
Ages range from 3 - 13, sometimes we have 13...

So sweet...Patricia,
with her baby on her back.

Same boys!

MORE Cape Coast

Chapel we attended in Cape Coast

Chapel Grounds, the Ocean is just over the road

Pineapples!!

Collecting Coconuts.
Spot the Monkey!

Church signs are the same everywhere.
(very close to Castle)

Housing is a little different.

This Fishing Boat is being made on the beach

As we were driving along the waterfront, we stopped to see the Fishermen pulling in their nets. It takes them hours, I have enclosed a short video, you cannot see the 'loop'in the ocean, but it is pretty big. The nets must be very heavy. It's really hard work. The fish are pretty small, I think they dry or barbecue them whole, and eat all of it. Either that or they grind them for some of their local dishes...

Men bringing in their catch.

Elmina Castle, CAPE COAST

At the end of November,we needed to drive a new Missionary to the MTC in Tema, and as we didn't have too much else we had to do that weekend and to maximise our 2 hour drive to Accra, we went on to Cape Coast. This is where the Portugese built Elmina Castle in 1482. In the early 16th Century, the importation of slaves began in exchange for Gold, Ivory etc. Cape Coast used to be known as the Gold Coast.

THE DOOR OF NO RETURN
The Slaves  got shipped out to waiting boats here.
It's pretty skinny, but so were they.

Approaching Elmina Castle

This Ball weighs 24kg? and the slavs
had one on each leg!
Not much chance of escaping.

One of the Slave Dungeons
This housed hundreds of Slaves
Not many came out alive...

Main courtyard
In the middle, upstairs was a church.
Whilst Slaves were being tortured below, Church was being held upstairs.
They said, Heaven above and Hell below!!

View from inside the Courtyard

View from the Govenor's Residence

ho ho ho and a bottle of rum...(maybe forget the rum)

We went for a visit to the Volta Region and visited the Capital HO. It is about 3 hours from Koforidua. It is less busy than Koforidua and the roads are better.We visited with a missionary couple named Cosgrave. They have since left Ho and returned to the USA. I liked Ho, it has a more laid back feel.



A former Mission President, President Gay has built this University. He is now a General Authority. I think is has only just opened. It is on the road to HO.

 A broken down truck, a common sight. It gets left where it dies! Not even pushed off the road. (right outside of the University)

Another common sight, people riding in the back of trucks and
traffic coming at you.

Laying cloth out to dry.

We visited a BATIK Factory.

Buckets of Dye

Workers with finished product on head.

I bought this piece for 12 Cedi's,  about $4.
I'll get a skirt made from it.

The Cosgrave's showed us around and took us to visit Holy. He does a lot of weaving for the LDS and he makes the bandalos when we farewell missionaries. (see photo below)

This is Holy, weaving the Kente Cloth.

Some we bought. We wlll have
ties made out of it.

Check out the string...
this is how long the strip of cloth will be.

closer inspection.

The fnished product.

Missionaries departing for home after their 2 years of service to the Lord.
Wearing the Kente cloth that Holy has made.

Two of these missionaries were in the Koforidua Zone. Elder Pouniu (far right) is from New Zealand and Elder Hutchison (middle) is from Idaho. Elder Izekor is from Nigeria. We worked a lot with Elder Pouniu.

A few of the Best!

Elders Charles (left) and Oguche (right)
and Newman in middle.
He comes out with us and interprets

Elder Oguche interviewing an
Investigator for Baptism

Half of these children are members.
These 4 pictures are all taken in the
same compound.

They will fetch water in these containers.
Check out the shoes!!

Meet the BROWN family.
Brother Brown on the right, his niece in the middle
and his Sister on the left. Only Bro Brown is a member of our church,
we are teaching his sister at the moment.

Sister Naziwaa who we met up  with at
a Sisters Conference.
(We were in the MTC together)

Isn't she just the cutest?
This is Jennifer

Jennifer with her mother, Charlotte.
Taken after District Conference today.

Not the heaviest load we've seen, as it is pillows.
But possibly the highest!

Relief Society President from Koforidua Branch.
Look closely at the dress she is wearng!!
Cool, hey!

Suzanna wanted us to meet her boss, and then the BIG BOSS
(middle) drove up, so we met him also .Check out the different
 stripes on their uniforms.

Suzanna is a member of the church
and a member of the Police Force.
How smart does she look, and yes the
gun is loaded....