Baptisms, Transfers and Corn

The new baptismal fonts at Nkwabeng and Penkwase were finally finished just in time for five baptisms that were scheduled.  They are large, much larger than we had envisioned.  They look like above-ground swimming pools with a huge stairway leading up one side and then down into the font itself.  They are completely tiled with a blue and white motif and have two metal doors that cover the top when not in use.

Our baptismal candidates were quite unique:  a young 10 year-old boy and his little 8 year-old sister who attend church every Sunday and always during mid-week activities; a slight built young Ghanaian man; a very pretty young mother and an older gentleman who suffers from some disease that has enlarged his left leg to more than triple the normal size.  It truly looks like the foot of an elephant.  He attends Church also every week and rides a small motrocycle/scooter (because he can only hobble with his bad leg).  He always brings his three little children with him (we've never seen a wife or mother) but he places the little one between his legs in front and then the two other little kids just hang on for dear life off the back.  It's quite a sight to see.  For the baptism he had to cover his leg and foot with plastic taped tight just below the knee.  Two of our large strong Elders had to help him in and out of the font.  It was one of those incredible experiences when the hard times and the struggles all seem trivial and we know why we are here.  The ceremony was so simple and beautiful and the spirit was so strong. 

Right after the baptism program was over, the Elders got notice about upcoming transfers.  The new Mission President apparently wanted to shake things up and boy did he.  We will be losing half of our missionaries and bringing in five new ones as well as four sister missionaries.  (Sunyani has never had sister missionaries before.)  Now we will have none of the young men we started with--they've all been transferred or gone home.  Everyone who remained here in Sunyani has been moved to new apartments, and we are desperately trying to lease another building for the increase.  Some of the Elders were crying; some were angry; some were very quiet.  It seemed no one was happy about the changes.  We explained that this is the way missions are--there are always changes and new challenges  and that right now President Holmes is wearing the mantle of running the mission and that we all need to be positive and support his decisions and direction.

So on the next Monday morning bright and early on P-day, all of the Elders met at Fiapre for one last get-together.  Three months ago we had all met the same way art Estates and had planted corn.  Now that corn was ready and the Elders from Estates had gone out, picked and shucked a ton of it.  They brought it to Fiapre and cooked it.  We brought the butter and after we all literally stuffed ourselves with corn on the cob, the Elders had one last highly competitive game of volleyball.  They all laughed and reminisced and played with the little kids from the neighborhood that Elder Riddle and Elder Belnap had been teaching for months in Primary, knowing that Belnap would probably never see them again.  It was a great morning and then it was time to move forward:  email family, pack bags and get ready for the big transfer shakeup.

It was so hard to let them go.  We get so close to these missionaries.  They endure so much as this is not an easy mission or area, but we know that is why the Lord sends us such strong, remarkable young men.  Gary said when we came to Africa, that even more than spreading the Gospel to the African people, is the fact that we are training the future leaders of the Church in our missionaries.

They are truly amazing and we shall miss them, but they will continue to grow in the Gospel and we know we will come to love the new missonaries just as much, and then they too will be transferred and move on and we shall miss them too..........that's mission!

UPDATE:
We sent our missionaries off and picked up our new missionaries at the Metro Mass (bus station):
4 sister missionaries and 3 Elders.  Of the five brand new missonaries that were sent to the Kumasi Mission this month from the MTC, Sunyani received 4 of them.  I guess that shows that President Holmes has a lot of confidence in the way things are running here.  Everyone is settling in and moving forward........that's mission!