Goodbye to Ghana (2)

I lied, this is the final post!! couldn't get all the photos in the last one....

George Darkwahene and wife Helina from Osiem
2 babies in front, one is theirs and one is a grandchild

Derek from Tafo, not baptised yet, but he hopes to be one day

Philomena Ofori's mum
(Philomena is serving a mission in Kumasi)

Our Tafo missionaries at the time of our leaving
Elder George and Elder Whiting

Our other 2 Tafo missionaries at time of leaving
Elder Bailey and Elder Lafo (our MTC buddy)

A welcome surprise to find Brother Gbalo in Accra
He served his mission with us but had returned to Cote D'Ivoire
and now is back doing the PEF program.
Our last chance to wish him all the best.

Although Ama couldn''t speak English (and we couldn't speak
Twi) we saw Ama often and took her to the temple.

John Katar from Tafo
(one of the first people we knew from the beginning)

Jacob Appiah (from Tafo)
...I'd walk a million miles for one of them smiles...
He had the best smile, he was our greeter!!!

Goodbye to Ghana

Well this is it! The last post on the Blog. This is more for me than anybody else. We left Ghana exactly 8 weeks ago today and life is starting to get busy in Australia again.

Elder Brown in his Ghanaian smock, the fugu,
a parting gift from the Asiamah family
(pictured here with Eric)

I wanted to post the pictures we took of some of our friends as we were saying our goodbyes. Since we have been home we have already had some connections with Africa. Rob's sister has some Ghanaian friends at church and they cooked us a Ghanaian meal, I met a Nigerian sister at the temple, who has married into a family we know and who has lived in Ghana also and worked at the temple. I get excited every time I meet someone from Africa. It has been such a great experience and blessing to have been able to serve there. We love the people. They are so friendly. We have had the opportunity to talk to them on the phone since our return home, and we hope we will be able to keep that contact up.

Veronica (with her Aussie thongs) and her daughter Mercy
and boys Louis, Julius Boateng and Dennis Asare

Eric Armstrong (cobbler) on left with
Frimpong Owusu in wheelchair

Maase member, Frempong

Peaseh Edusei, a member of the Maase Branch Presidency

Agnes and Israel Egbetor from Maase
our Family History consultant

Peaseh Junior (Isaac) no relation to the man above,
but named after him

Our little Luisa, just over 1yr old

Wisdom Narghe from Maase
a special little friend who used to call us a LOT...

Saying goodbye to Sisters Maduakolam and Kadima
(they served with us in Koforidua)

Osiem Branch President Grant Adusei and his wife Beatrice

With Onward Amegeshie, our former Group Leader at Osiem
(the Osiem women bought me the necklace and bracelet)

with Bannerman Buabeng, former Group Leader for Tafo

Agnes Tawiah and her 3 children, Maxford, Sandra and Selina
from Maase

Mammy! (mother in law of Agnes)

Sister Nazziwa, our MTC, the only one going home at the
same time as us.

Francis and his wife Evelyn and brand new baby Jhenelle.
We love Francis, he is the first person we met in Koforidua and
he did so much to help us. He was our 'go to' man'.

The beginning of the end

We have been home 6 weeks and I have decided to try and finish posting a few last photos that I would like to share. It was a bitter-sweet time, knowing that we hadn't got long left.

There was a Family Home Evening in which they said goodbye to 3 Senior Couples, Us, the office couple (the Crisps) they came from Arizona - we were both from the Accra Mission and also the Doctor for the whole of the West Africa Area. Dr Hill and his wife Susan?

Elder and Sister Brown with President Louis Heid and wife Delynn

Hills, Browns and Crisps

Elder Vinson (our Aussie representative) along with Kristen and Josh
Elder Vinson is the First Counselor in the West Africa Area Presidency.

Dorcas, our Tafo YW President who did the sewing.
She has made quite a few outfits for me...

Unbeknown to me, two of our church member friends had organised a parting gift of clothing for me. I was very happy with these outfits
and have worn them since returning back to the land of Oz. They organised another sister in the Branch to sew them for me.

Pretty in Pink???? (maybe or maybe not)
Beatrice Boafo and me in the outfit she had made for me.
I wore it for church the last Sunday in their Branch.

Charlotte with Jennifer her daughter and her mother Alice.
Me in the dress she had made for me.

We went for a visit to the Volta River and took a boat ride.
Me relaxing with a drink at a resort on the river.

Rob cornered a couple of guys and they took us for an
hours ride up the river.

Thought this photo deserved a mention.
This animal is actually a BUSH DOG...even though it looks more like a cat!
The boy is standing on the side of the road selling it to eat.

Josh & Kristen's visit to Ghana

In January Josh and Kristen came for a visit to Ghana for 10 days, so we had a whirlwind visit to take them around the countryside and try to also show them what we had been doing for the last 18months and where we had been serving, and meeting some of our new found friends.

With some of our Osiem friends

Buying a drum, we also bought a BIG one...
Check out the guys t-shirt... Aussie Aussie Aussie, oy oy oy!

Catching up with Faustina Mensah. a sister missionary serving in the
Cape Coast Mission who comes from Koforidua originally.

Cape Coast, a lot of fishing is done here

Another canopy walk, this time higher and 7 stretches...

As we drove up North to see elephants, the landscape changes and the
housing also. They live in round huts. The population becomes more Muslim
and less Christian.

US ON SAFARI

We spent a couple of days in Mole National Park. As soon as we arrived we
took a small safari tour and saw antelopes and 2 elephants on our first night!!

Our guide, with his gun, just in case the elephant charged us...

This elephant was quite close to us, it is very different seeing them in the wild,
crashing through the undergrowth and knocking down tree branches with their trunks.

Coming down to the water to drink and bathe
We saw 10 all up in the water by the time we left.

Elephant prints

These 3 elephants totally surprised us by crossing over the
main road close to the Mole Lodge, they were so close
and the one in the front was huge...scary! 

Mummy and baby 

Kris and I at Jamestown.
This is on the ocean, the people live on the beach and fish
for a living

Josh found a store with his name