Jealous Much?

As Rapunzel says to Fiona, so says Kelsey to her siblings..."Jealous much?" Looks like she is the only child to make it to Ghana for one reason or another. It sure has been a nice break for mom and dad. We wish all three could be here, but are happy Parker is doing well and now ENGAGED! Something like November 10, right after we get home. Brookie has been basking in the Florida sun and we hope to see them on our way home. This week has been a milestone on our mission, as we thought if we could make it this far, then we could have our batteries recharged and the rest would be down hill. We've done just that..now bring on the rest of the mission.

You know what they say...when in Africa, do as the Africans do. We took that to heart this week and now fell pretty well rested--like this man sleeping on his fishing nets in Cape Coast.

or this man, sleeping under the overpass in Tema...

or these men, sleeping in the castle at Cape Coast.

Well, we really haven't spent all of our time sleeping, it's just that Kelsey has a fascination with taking pictures of sleeping people, and there is plenty of them to see here in Ghana.

We drug her all across Ghana as we were so excited to share our country with her. We spent the majority of the first week in the car and had to take a few days just to let her catch her breath.

Here we are in the car somewhere in the middle of Africa with a little tro-tro wisdom to boot.

It didn't take long to figure out that Kelsey is a horrible back-seat driver. Gee whiz Miguel, I didn't realize how bad you actually had it with her. Did you want to give her back? Sorry, but no refunds, but while she has been here, I think I did fix the problem. After driving around Africa for the last 12 days, she is completely cured. She promises that she will never again complain about the way Miguel drives as she now knows how bad drivers can really be. Its kind of funny, she never actually drove, but she wore the horn completely out on our car. That's right...SHE wore out the horn. She kept reaching across and to 'give it' to some obnoxious taxi or tro-tro driver. Truth is, there wasn't one that didn't deserve it.

In the mean time we continue to be missionaries and we put her to work. It was fun having Kelsey here to help with all our little projects. She came to the MTC, helped with immunizations, and we put her to use doing dental screening on the missionaries. We saw a few sisters missionaries with concerns in Cape Coast.

At the beginning of the week the phones were somewhat quiet and we were allowed a little play time; but I don't think we had a busier day than this Friday, so at times I was a bit frustrated. First things really do have to come first. I had three missionaries in three missions needing to go home on Friday and it was quite hectic. Thankfully things got done that needed to get done and life in the mission field will go on.

After scooping her up from the airport, we whisked her away down to Cape Coast. We had dinner with the Shulz's and the Asays on the beach. We walked the canopy of the rain forest, and visited the slave castle. Momma was in heaven I think.

An evening on the Coast...

A day in the rain forest, swinging on a vine...

Same, only better...

Safari in Ghana? That is correct! We took President and Sister Graham out for a day away from the MTC on Wednesday. We had lots of fun and it really kinda did feel a little safari-ish. We saw gazelles...

 and some nice but not so friendly ostriches...

and baboons--and man they were friendly...

Please don't feed the baboons!

Lunch with the baboons...(I am talking about the ones without the clothes)

cool feet...

Really unnerving when the baboon does everything the same as you...

Random shots from along the road, selling kinkay...

and finally, the street hawkers...

...having fun in Africa with Kelsey

Elder and Sister Fife

Life in Sierra Leone

We had a wonderful stay in Sierra Leone these last couple of weeks. Michelle fell in love with Freetown. It is unlike any city we've ever been in. The city is built on the side of a mountain. Think of a steep logging road back home in Montana and build homes and huts and business all along these roads and you have a good picture of Freetown.

These are kids playing on the beach next to the airport which is located across the bay from Freetown. You have to take a water taxi or ferry to get to freetown--this takes about an hour. All the kids love to ham it up.

This photo shows one of the nicer areas in Freetown. This street is paved, but most are dirt. In town the primary means of transportation is a moto, but in Freetown there are poda-podas (like our tro-tro's in Ghana).

I love this photo. I took it in Kenema from the missionary apartment. We have six missionaries living in Kenema.

Typical Africa. Bananas everywhere.

How many people can you fit in the a tro-tro (poda-poda)? The answer is: one more. There is always room for one more no matter how crowded it is.

Street hawkers--the same in every country here in West Africa.

Most of the streets in Freetwon look like this. Packed with people, houses, and cars.

The cheapest and quickest form of transportation.

This photo typifies Africa. You will rarely see a picture like this of a man.

I love these little gardens. So green and orderly right in the middle of the city.

 Even the kids are busy on the streets.

The movie store. These movies are all hodgie-copies. Meaning they are pirated movies. People will go into a theatre with a video camera and tape the movie. Its real annoying to try to watch one of these as you see poeple walking up and down the isle, coughing, people chomping on popcorn etc. One redeeming quality is that they are cheap.

The following are a few random photos of life on the streets of Freetown.

We had the AP's as our guide for a couple of days. We brought them to the hotel for dinner--where you can look over the city and the sea.

We did health screenings on all of the missionaries in this mission.

Our mobile clinic was the mission van.

When in doubt, I have learned to ask Sister Fife--she always knows the answer. Elder and Sister Randall are the office couple and we joined them and the Roggias for a trip to the chimp sanctuary.

President and Sister Roggia (also grew up in Montana) seem custom fit to run this mission.

Sister Fife waiting for our driver at the missionary apartment. We had quite an experience with our driver. We hired a driver for two days to take us inland to Bo and Kenema. It was expensive--like 200 dollars a day. The second day was wasted as we had one flat tire that took about 2 hours to repair, and then promptly had a second flat tire. We filled up with gas (about a quarter of a tank) and started on the road--some 4 hours to Freetown. We were quite concerned about the gas situation because he only put in 1/4 of a tank. "No problem," he said. "I drive this all the time." Well, about two hours into our little trip, the gas light came on. "No problem," again. When he finally turned off the AC because the fuel was too low, we knew that we were in trouble. We ran out of gas and he managed to put in another 300,000 L (about 5 bucks) worth. Again, we expressed our concern that we didn't have enough to make it all the way to Freetown. We wound up running out of gas twice, but don't worry because it was "NO PROBLEM". Anyway, all of our scheduled visits for the day were cancelled, but we made it back to Freetwon--no problem.

This is the only mission (I think in the world) where riding on a moto is acceptable. In Bo, this is how the missionaries get around. I couldn't get Sister Fife to try it out.  Don't show the missionaries in the other missions as this is strictly forbidden.

I wandered this same street in Bo many times looking for a laboratory. Finally found it right where it was suppose to be.

Finally, Sister Fife feeds me by giving me nuts. I have finally figured out how to use my thumbs and a rock to get the job done.

...having fun in Sierra Leone

Elder and Sister Fife

Apostles with a Lower-Case 'a'

Elder Taylor (Monrovia) waiting to see Sister Snow and Sister Holland

There seem to be some perks that come with our mission. One such perk is that we occasionally get special assignments. We received one such assignment to stay close to Elder and Sister Holland & Elder and Sister Snow while they traveled this part of Africa. During this assignment, we became specialists in tagging along. We are now good at it if anyone needs a lesson.

While we didn't gain any special 'inside' information (like when is the second coming), we did enjoy working as missionaries fulfilling our special assignment. As Elder Holland put it--we were being missionaries--which are apostles, like him, only with a lower-case 'a' instead of a capital 'A'.

During the trip, there were no major health issues and we were happy to be of no use to anyone. There were a couple of minor stomach issues here and there, but who doesn't have those while visiting Africa?

The Hollands and the Snows were as warm and gracious as you might imagine them to be. If you haven't had a hug from Sister Holland, then you have missed out. I think we had one every morning. We enjoyed being with them and observing them during the down time as much as we enjoyed seeing them in front of the big congregations.

We learned a great many things during their stay. We've ridden a spiritual wave that is only now beginning to ebb. They spoke with power and inspiration where ever they went. Their message was always well received. I enjoyed listening to them speak to the missionaries perhaps the most, as this had particular application to us in our mission as well.

We tried in vain a couple of times to make it to Monrovia. Airplanes simply cannot land in the worst of the harmattan. We spent the entire first day in the airport, in the air, circling Monrovia, and then returning only to get up the next morning to do it all again. Meanwhile, the saints and missionaries in Monrovia patiently waited. We finally landed a day an a half late and they swooped us off to the district center that was packed with the still patiently waiting people. (When it was announced to the congregation that our plane had finally landed, the people stood and cheered.)  The missionaries waited from eight in the morning till about six that night for their turn. We took this photo during a leadership training where these three missionaries watched and listened through the slit in the overflow curtains.

They were so excited to get to hear 'Apostle Holland' speak--the enthusiasm of the night was infectious. We wound up staying in Monrovia just one night, but the time was packed full of training and meetings. Upon our return, Elder Holland commented about that weekend being the best two weeks he had ever spent in Africa.

Which one of these things is not like the other?
Hint: think marshmallow in a bowl of cocoa puffs
(this is what we've been told we look like here in Africa)
 Can you tell there is a 25 year age difference?

Elder Priddis (AP) doing some instructing

Essentially we were part of an entourage that followed the Apostle while here in West Africa. Elder Holland was always accompanied by two to four other general authority's--Elder Snow, and one to three of the area presidency as well as each of their wives, plus usually an area 70 or two. There was a camera crew of two with all of their equipment and a body guard. There was also usually one or two security officers from our area as well as a travel specialist who worked on all of the arrangements--lodging and food. We were schooled in proper etiquette when travelling with an Apostle. Some of these guidelines follow: if the Apostle is wearing his suit coat--you wear your suit coat (I didn't bring mine--how embarrassing); if he is in a long sleeve shirt--you are in a long sleeve shirt; the same goes for short sleeve; taking snapshots or photos is generally frowned upon unless there is a time specifically set out for photos--we didn't take many pictures out of respect, as we could tell the snaps were sometimes annoying; if an apostle invites you to sit down for dinner, you do it (don't even ask how we figured this one out); basically if an apostle invites you to do anything--you do it; and when the apostle stands up from the dinner table--dinner is finished, even if you arrived late because you were on an errand. Two more unspoken rules that I thought were the best (we learned these from the body guard so they are probably more rules for the body guards) are; never let yourself be in a photo with the apostle--that's bad form, and if an apostle comments on your tie (I like that tie!), then it should never be worn again as it is too flashy. Its been fun to see things from behind the scenes. 

With Elder Holland and Elder Snow

Check out the news story from the Holland's visit in this weeks church news:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62041/A-bright-future-for-members-in-African-nations.html

Its been a great few weeks and we intend on another blog soon about our little adventures in Freetown, Bo, and Kenema with the missionaries and hospitals. We had a great adventure.

...finally back home in Ghana

Elder and Sister Fife