For a hot minute I owned a ram!!

 Good morning, friends and family.  In Ghana we have learned that greetings are very important.  You greet people with a good morning or good afternoon, and then you enquire about their spouse or their family.  With this being said I hope you and your families are well.

I want to highlight Ghanaian babies to start off my blog today.  I have always really loved babies and Ghanaian babies are so beautiful to me.  I am fascinated to see how they are mothered and how well behaved they are.  

I sat by this baby in relief society

I love this ones sweet little afro!

The Mother of these baby's were weaving Kenti and they were taking their morning nap.  Yes they are on the hard cement and are perfectly content and happy.

Here are the Kenti weavers we visited

And this is how it is done.  If I was Ghanaian I would have to be a Kenti weaver.  I love stuff like this so much.  It is stretched out like a giant friendship bracelet and they weave it on a loom.  The fabric is so beautiful.  I have bought plenty!  I hope to make some tote bags out of it when I return home. 

The big news is that we finally completed the teachers quarters in Kulpaliga that we have been talking about for the last 6 months.  We were very happy about how it turned out, but most importantly the community was happy and grateful.

It is by far one of the nicest buildings around this community.  It really shows how much The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints values teachers and education.

We traveled to Bolgatanga (9 hours north of where we live) and stayed at the Golden Horse Hotel with these great people.

From left to right Elder and Sister Hess (Africa West Human Rights Missionaries), Elder and Sister Jones (Member and Leader Support Missionaries), Elder and Sister Fuell (Humanitarian Missionaries), and Elder and Sister De Hoyo (Africa West Communication Specialist Missionaries)

The chiefs in their traditional Kenti attire.  They were so grateful! The Chief danced for us to show us the gift was very well received.

They gifted us this ram to show how grateful they are.  The gift of a ram means they are the most grateful that anybody could possibly be.  We were so honored.  The Mission President was a little concerned about what we could do with it.  We explained to the School's Head Master that we were very honored, but as missionaries we are too busy to properly take care of an animal.  The Head Master said no problem, he would see to the ram.  I was so worried I didn't want to offend anybody.  Elder Fuell and the young missionaries named the ram Fred.  For a hot minute I owned a ram named Fred.

Bolgatanga missionaries with Fred

They also gifted a smock to Elder Jones, President Boateng and Elder Fuell and they gave me this Kenti Fabric so I could sew me a dress!  

Elder Fuell was elated to receive a smock!!

Each teachers quarter has a small kitchen sink area.  No stove. They tend to cook outside over an open fire because it is to hot to cook inside.

A nice room with a bed to sleep.  The Church provided 10 rooms in this building.  

Three shared communal washrooms (bathrooms)

Three shared communal showers.

The Church's Humanitarian division also provided 60 two-seater desks (two students can share) for 120 students to use.  Some students were sitting on the ground all day.  They welded these desks out of metal.  They will last a very long time.  We also gave the school their own borehole which is piped to the teacher quarters, so they will not have to fetch water.  They were going to run a line over to a polytank for the students. They feel very loved.

There will be a large measurable impact for these students at this school that is literally in the middle of nowhere.

But this is what I think of at the Kulpaliga School.  I think of the one.  This little boy, barefoot and caring his tin to school to probably get the meal he will get for the day.  I was able to bare my testimony to the community about Jesus Christ.  He knew they were there.  He knows them all by name and He heard their prayers and their petitions to Him to relieve their suffering.  It was a life changing magnificent experience.  We wanted them to know that this gift was not from Elder and Sister Fuell.  We are Jesus Christ"s representatives.  This gift was from Him.   Our Savior moved them up on the list of projects to make it a priority.  When we drove out there we could not believe how obscure the village was.  They had not seen white people in that area if ever.  They started to recognize our missionary truck and they would stop and smile and wave and cheer us on as we served them.  

At the end of the Ceremony it is always interesting to see the missionaries pass out Books of Mormon.  A book is a valuable gift in these areas.  They love to receive a book.  Unfortunately we did not have one for everyone who wanted one.  Elder Fuell and I rummaged in our truck and found a lot of pamphlets.  There were pamphlets about The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The plan of Salvation (what happens after we die), Tithing, The Word of Wisdom (abstaining from drugs and alcohol) and The Law of Chastitiy(no sexual relations before marriage).  The Children loved these.  I told them that they could read them, look at the pictures and trade them around with each other, so those who did not get one could have a chance to get one.

To end my blog this month I would like to highlight some of our Junior missionaries.  They do all the hard work and heavy lifting out here and they are the best youth the world has to offer. 

I love this picture of a set of Tongan Elder's.  Islander's seem to do very well in Africa. They are great faithful saints.

They have powerful testimonies

When the meeting house doesn't have water, you can call the fire department to fill the baptismal font.

Also, these Yahoo's!

Elder Gunn, Elder Corales, Elder Antonio and Elder Rasmussan.

We were just helping out during transfers and these guys have my Mama's heart.  I gave them a Toffee (in America we just call it a sucker). They are so appreciative of any treats.  This was the day before Elder Antonio went home.  He is home now.  He served well and we watched him grow from a boy to a man.  He endured well and was a kind faithful soul.  God Speed Elder, until we meet again.

We are coming to the end of an amazing adventure/experience.  I'm not even sure how to describe it.  It has changed my heart forever.  We have been able to walk with the Savior through this strange mysterious land and see people the way he sees them.  Our humanitarian stuff is coming to an end, but we will be welcoming a new mission president in July and we want to make sure he can hit the road running.  He and his wife are from Orem.  The Lord's work continue's to roll forward.  Elder Fuell and I are glad we have hopped on because it will certainly pass us by if we don't.  The work has been hastened and we feel it.  I love the new hymn, "I Will Walk With Jesus".  I'm pretty sure he is running now.  This is the last time he will prune his vinyard before the 2nd coming.  I know that he lives and is real and is in charge of this work.  We feel him close around us.  What a privilege it is.