Update on Progress

1.  The chapels and Meeting Houses are looking better.  Penkwase has been painted inside and out.  After five months of waiting for a lawn mower to cut down the weeds and mow the yards, Gary finally stormed in one day and said he was sick of waiting for Area to supply us with a mower and that he was going to just go out and buy one himself.  As he was getting ready to leave, Prosper called and said to wait about ten minutes.  He and Kweku drove into our complex and proceded to unload a brand new Snapper mower.  I think Christmas came early for President Thayne.

2.  Nkwabeng and Penkwase both have brand new baptismal fonts.  They are quite large, tiled with huge staircases leading up and back down into the fonts.  Now we only have to transport "Big Blue", the portable font, between Faipre and Estates.

3.  The District Office still has no furniture and we were told the computers would be coming on August 4th.  Typical Africa--they postponed again.  The building is working out pretty good.  We share it with four of the Elders and they aren't quite as tidy as we would like, but their focus is on spreading the Gospel, not cleaning, so that's OK and as it should be.

4.  Fiapre has now been formally designated as a Branch which means they can function as a ward.  They too are waiting for a computer and furniture.

5.  Our training meetings for all of the auxiliaries are up and running and have been very successful.  I never dreamed I would be the equivalent of the Stake Relief Society President, the Stake Primary President and the Stake Young Women's President all at the same time.  It was a good thing I'd served as President of all three organizations in the past as I've had to dig pretty deep to train in all three areas.

6.  District Choir is up and running and planning a Christmas Concert and Sister Fife (Area Doctor's wife) is graciously planning on training two members from each branch on the keyboard at the end of this month.

7.  Richard and Albert who we drove to teach in Chiraa have both been baptised and are now trying to get the whole town to listen to the lessons.  They take a taxi every Sunday and travel the 30 minutes to get here for Sacrament Meeting.

8.  The volleyball net at Fiapre is finished and the lawn is mowed and looks great.  The missionaries had a baptism and then planned a huge fireside extravaganza for members and friends and then played games and volleyball and watched a DVD after.  They expected about 50 people and ended up with over 90.  It was a huge success!

9.  We've been encouraged and are hoping President Holmes will be able to increase the missionaries' subsistance.  Our Elders really need more money to get by on.  They do amazingly well, but prices have been going up even since we've been here.

10.  Gary got his very first big red ripe tomato from his little garden, and many more are on their way, so it looks like tomato sandwiches will be the lunch of choice.  He gave this first tomato to Yaki for helping him.