We made it to Sunyani!!

 

It has been an eventful week that is for sure!  We flew to Ghanan which is about a 16 hour flight.  We flew to Amsterdam first and had a 6 hour lay over.  We met up with a very young missionary who was flying to the MTC in Accra from Paris France.  He will be serving in the Congo speaking French.  (Which he already speaks) He was nervous traveling alone so we were glad to help him along.  A very nice young man.  We arrived in Accra late at night and someone from the church picked us up and took us to a nice Hotel.  The next morning a guy from the church came and picked us up and took us to get our Ghana cards.  These are our ID cards while we will be living here.  We then got on a small plane and flew out to Kumasi.  In Kumasi we met up with Elder and Sister Miller and Elder and Sister Goodrich.  They brought us to the mission home where we met President and Sister Boateng.  We received a little bit of training from them and sat and had a visit and then they sent us off to Sunyani.  

We drove 3 hours to Sunyani with the Goodrich's.  We cannot say enough good things about the Goodrich's.  They are a quiet kind couple who fed us full of so much wisdom in one week about living deep into Ghana.  We will no way be able to replace them.  Probably by the time we get used to this place it will be time to go home.  Isn't that the way it ussually works?  We attended the Penkwase branch on Sunday and then we stopped over at the Odumase Branch.  For those of you who are not familiar with the LDS church a branch is a small congregation.

There were only about 5 people at the Penkwase Branch.  One of which was this really awesome Releif Society President (Women's leader) who drove in on a motorcycle with her two Grandsons behind her. 

In Odumase we attended a Gospel Literacy class.  I love these classes.  A portion of the people here are illiterate in both languages.  We teach them the ABC's using Gospel terms.  This week they learned about the letter C.  C is for Commandments and we talked about moses and the 10 commandments.  I'm sure they don't quite understand how far reading and writing can take them.  Part way through the class the power went out and we got very hot because no fans. We had about 5 middle age women in our class.  I went down to the Primary (children's church class) the last 10 minutes of class.  When I walked in they all came to hug me around my skirt.  They sang a song called "I feel my Savior's Love".  It was a moment I will not forget.  After Primary we supported a Self reliance class being taught by a member.  It was motly young adults interested in their future and how they can get more education or job opportunities.  

The rest of the week we drove around with the Goodrich's and they gave us some ideas of where to shop and where we can get the goods we need.  neither of that is easy.  Driving or getting goods.  Driving is a combination of dodging 2 foot deep pot holes, goats, people trying to cross the road and motocycles that buzz by you.  The roads are not well maintained and sometimes they are paved and sometimes they are dirt.  It is very hard to find some goods here in Sunyani.  Pretty much chicken is the only meat that American's are familiar with. So chicken and rice it is.  Eggs are good to find and oatmeal.  We can find loaves of bread that aren't sliced and produce we get at the roadside stands such as watermelon, oranges, banana's papaya's and pineapples.  There are some other roots and things that I'm just not quite sure what they are or how to cook them.  When we make it down to Kumasi we can find SOME American items such as peanut butter, prepared cereal and spaghetti sauce.  Sister Miller gave me a box of apples to take home.  I did not realize they are rare and hard to find.  An office Elder from Idaho asked me if he could take a couple and I was like sure!  When we dropped off a transferred Sister missionary I just gave her 4 or 5 apples for her and her companion and they were so excited and grateful.  One sister was from Ghana and the other from Kenya.  This mission has a 190 missionaries from 34 different countries.  Isn't that amazing

The District President asked us to teach an Institute Class every Saturday night at the church.  These are scripture classes for College age kids.  It's ussually a class and then a fun game or activity followed by a treat.  I was a little stressed about a treat because they are not easy to come by.  Then I remembered about my box of apples.  They will love this.  They are so grateful for what every we bring!  The Goodrich's said they would ussually bring oranges or banana's.  They don't tend to like sugary treats.

It was interesting to watch the Goodrich's say goodbye to Ghana.  They said it was very bitter sweet.  The people here really loved them and we can only hope to make friends and gain trust like they did.

Something kind of interesting.  Sister Goodrich taught piano lessons to a kid by the name of Kenfrei.  I was like "that's interesting."  My Dad has a cousin named Ken Frei.  I asked his older brother where they got his name.  He said that he was named after a great missionary that came to Ghana a few years back who baptized his father.  It was my Dad's cousin's grandson.  It was a testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows me and sent me hear for a reason.  Why else would I find a subtle hint of the impact of missionaries.  Some one that is in my family!  I don't believe in coincidens's.  I know Heavenly Father knows his children and has a plan for all of us.  

The Goodrich's were able to say their goodbye's and we traveled with them back to Kumasi (3 hours dodging pot holes and goats) sometimes paved, many times not roads).  We were able to stop at a store and pick up a few American items before we headed back north.  We went to a stake Center and hugged the Goodrich's goodbye.  It was a little scary to see them leave.  We've got this right?  We picked up 2 Elders and 1 sister and drove back to Sunyani.  We didn't want to get caught out after dark driving.  I don't really want to know what that is like.

Today we waded through the adventure of doing laundry.  We have a washer but no dryer, and organizing ourselves for the week.  We ventured out a little bit today to buy some laundry detergent and dish soap and an ATM.  We were so wrung out after that much that we came home and started organizing around the house.  

I'm sure it will start to get easier as we get used to things a little more.  I am having a little bit of culture shock, but I am happy!  It is the Ghanian way.  God bless you all.

Love the Fuell's