Bird Weavers

One morning as I was looking out our bedroom window I noticed spherical balls hanging from the branches on the trees across the road. It looked as if someone had placed Christmas ornaments on the limbs. We walked over to see what they were and found dozens and dozens of quite lovely little bird nests.

They were the work of the masked bird weavers who are closely related to sparrows. They are roughly the same size but the males are much more colorful and have a bright yellow breast. They build intricate and elaborate nests--a roughly oval ball of dried grass, reeds, and twigs. The males build the nests and it was fascinating to watch them at work. First the nest site was chosen, usually at the end of a thin hanging branch, which was immediately stripped of leaves to protect against snakes. The weaver then flies back and forth to the site, carrying the building materials blade by blade in its heavy beak, first using a few thick strands to hang a skeletal nest from the end of a branch, then gradually completing the structure by interweaving numerous thinner blades of grass into the main frame.

Fiapre Sacrament Meeting

On Sundays, we usually attend one of the four branches and alternate between them during the month. The Branch President of Fiapre, President Mills, and his family had traveled to Accra, so we decided to go there. The meeting is supposed to start at 9am, and at 9am there were only four people there, the missionaries--Elder Larsen and Elder Otagba--and us. Samuel, the first counselor and the one conducting arrived at 9:10 and Sister Affiah, the Relief Society President who was speaking, came at 9:19. We began the meeting at 9:20am with six people. Ghanaian people are never on time for anything and they are not at all intimidated by speaking in public--in fact, they can all rant and rave and even the children are not afraid to give talks Samuel conducted and one of the missionaries led the singing (which is always off-key and draggy), but they sing their little hearts out. During the song, Gate-David and two other men arrived, followed by five little kids. Two of them were twins and when they came in they were carrying a loaf of bread. The two of them proceeded to sit on the front row and divided the bread between them, dropping crunbs all over the floor. Fiapre has a good number of children who attend every week without their parents. They love Primary and are learning the Gospel.

Elder Larsen and President Thayne blessed the Sacrament and Elder Otagba passed. When Sacrament was over, Samuel thanked "Father" (what they call Gary) for helping to bless the bread.

Sister Affiah gave the first talk. She speaks all in Twi, so we don't understand a word, but you could feel the spirit and the strength of her testimony. In the middle of her talk, her phone, which was in her purse in the congregation, rang. One of the little kids, reached over, picked it up and took it up to her. Without even hestitating, she took it, said something, hung up, and then carried on with her message. President Thayne was the concluding speaker.

When we finished Sacrament Meeting there were seventeen of us. I taught Primary (as Sister Mills was gone). The entire block was simple, pure and humble. I'm certain the Lord looked down and smiled as his heart was touched by the sweet spirit that filled the little Fiapre chapel that Sunday morning.

Good Boy

We live in a gated compound on the outskirts of Sunyani. The complex is surrounded by a high cement and iron wall and we have two gatekeepers who act as security. They are here 24 hours and take turns sleeping overnight. They open and shut the huge metal gates at the entrance when we come and go. There are seven little apartment-type condos within the walls. We were the first tenants to move in but now all of them are leased. Of course we are the only "obrunis". The other residents are all working, high-class people and we really like all of them. Our closest neighbor is an older woman who has a high-ranking job at one of the major banks in town. Enoch is a wheeler-dealer who has lived in the states for many years and he is only here occasionally. The rest are single guys or at least they live alone here and their families live in Accra or some other place. Richard and Edward work for Newmont, a huge gold-mining company about an hour out of town.

One morning we could hear a dog barking, with a "big dog" bark. This is really unusual because the dogs in Sunyani are not pets--they are considered a food source. They are small, unappealing, scruffy, mongrel-types that scavenge for food and when things get pretty tough, they often go in the fufu stew. The barking belonged to a huge golden brown dog who looks like a cross between a rotweiller and a yellow lab, and belongs to Richard, who brought him from Accra. His name is "Good Boy" and they have made a pen behind the apartments for him. He is quite intimidating to everyone, which is good because it enhances the security. We love him dearly because he looks a lot like Zeke, our yellow lab at home and he is about the same size.

The gatekeepers have taken to him and they walk him around the complex and even let him run when no one is home. Every day a young woman comes to the front gate with a huge basket of food containing a dry-type dog food mixed with large amounts of fresh meat and vegetables. We really like Good Boy but it occured to us that he probably eats much better and healthier than most of the people who live in Sunyani.

A New District Presidency

The day after the Games, President Holmes came to Sunyani to reorganize the entire Sunyani District. As we will be going home next month, we felt it was best to have a new district presidency in place so Gary could help train them before we left. The Branch President of Estates, President James was called as the new District President. It was absolutely amazing the way everything fell into place! Our goal from the beginning was to help the people of Sunyani progress in the Gospel to the point that they could stand and administer the Church on their own.

Because senior missionaries are in such demand in Africa and there is such a shortage of them, we knew we would not be replaced when we left. Because of this we were so diligent in training and helping the saints here. Most have only been members of the Church for a couple of years and so it was a tall order. Thay have been amazing and now they will move forward and make their own decisions and destiny. We are so proud of them!

Sunyani Games

When we first arrived in Sunyani, all of the four small branches were functioning independently of each other. One of the first things the members requested was more activities so they could get to know and interact with each other. That is how "Face Off", the Game Night, and the various recreational amenities at the various meetinghouses began. We all began talking about an athletic competion during the summer (rainy season) and it began to materialize toward the end of the year. In November we approached a large school in the center of town, met with their headmaster and were told to send a letter to their board asking permission to use the facilities on a Saturday. We selected a Saturday, January 5, 2013, and received permission to hold an Olympic-type competition on the school grounds.

We advertised the event and encouraged members as well as non-members to participate in nine different events: basketball, table tennis, volleyball, 100k run, running relay, three-legged race, javelin/spear-chucking, tug of war (peace), and of course--soccer! All of the members were scheming and practicing and so excited. We contacted the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George and they generously donated 60 medals.
They finally had all arrived in the mail and we were ready for the big event.

Basketball, table-tennis and volleyball were held on Friday at the Nkwabeng meetinghouse. The players were SOOOO competitive and wanted to win so badly. Because the three events were running simultaneously, President Thayne was reffing basketball; we had hired a pro ref for table tennis and I was designated to officiate the volleyball games. This turned out to be a joke as the teams were so competitive and yelling that they couldn't even hear my calls. Elder Larsen came to my rescue. He is large, powerful and takes no guff from anybody. He then proceeded to call the games and no one dared give him too much trouble. After the event we went downtown to check on the school facility and were told that the day before a large communications provider in town had approached them and offered a large sum of money to use the school and kick us out. Arguing didn't seem to matter as money talks, so President Thayne came up with a compromise and offered to pay 50 cedis and promise to be off the field by 1 p.m. so they could then let the other guys use it too. That seemed to work.

The next morning we arrived at 5:30 a.m. to get set up. We were about to start the first soccer match when one of the guys from the school council showed up. Gary gave him the envelope with the 50 cedis and we started the game. About an hour later another of the school council showed up for the money. We explained that we had already given it to the other guy. He said no, that they didn't have it. Try explaining that in English and no receipt. Car-David, who had proudly won the gold medal in table tennis the day before, came to our resuce. He took the guy by the arm and went and found the man we had given the money to. At first he denied having the money, but David called him on it and told him he had seen us give him the money. He finally admitted he had it and gave the money up and they gave us a receipt. What a nightmare!

The games went on without any further problems. Over 170 participated and everyione had a great time!

CAR DAVID & TABLE TENNIS:
For months Car David had been helping us get ready for the Games. He helped us find equipment, served as our translator, and hooked us up with all the right people. Every time we mentioned table tennis he would proudly say, "President Thayne, I shall surely win the gold medal!" One of the branch presidency in the Estates Branch, Pax, is a prison guard and one of his responsibilites is to coach the table tennis team. Because every branch wanted to win the most medals, he had brought in two of his best players on the pro team to compete. We were so worried that David would get beaten badly. It all came down to the finals between David and one of the pro players. Lo and behold, David won! We were quietly so excited!

DAVID & GOLIATH:
The week before the Games, each of the Branch Presidents drew to see who they would all compete with first. One of our branches, Fiapre, is smaller than the rest and has virtually very little priesthood members or men of any kind. They were obviously the branch everyone wanted to play first as they were deemed (and rightly so) the weakest.
Estates (one of the big powerhouses)drew little Fiapre in both soccer and volleyball. They figured they were a shoe-in for at least a silver medal. Elders Larsen and Otagba, the missionaries at Fiapre, worked so hard at getting their small number of members to play. Soccer was of course the big event. Nkwabeng (another of the bigger branches) defeated Penkwase in the first round. Then it was Fiapre against Estates and much to everyone's surprise little Fiapre won. In the final match, no one gave Fiapre much of a chance and figured they had just lucked out on the first match. It was hot and everyone was tired and Elder Larsen just told his team, who were all quite young, to just run the old guys into the ground. They were playing a full pitch game, which means a huge field about 120 meters long. The young guys did exactly that and they won the gold! Then in tug of war, the culminating event, it was again Fiapre against a much larger and stronger Estates team. Again, through sheer will-power, the smaller, younger team prevailed. They all compared their success to David and Goliath.

All of the branches won medals and the members were so excited! We had 27 investigators stay after and have a brief introduction to the Gospel. Many of the participants proudly wore their medals to Church the next day. Hossan called me a few days later and was almost crying, He wanted to thank us for his medal. (This in itself was really unusual because Africans rarely thank anyone verbally for anything.) He said he had never dreamed that he would be able to win such a wonderful prize and that he would cherish it forever and that when he wore his medal around town, he would tell everyone that he won it for his Church. He said it hangs on the wall in his house for all to see. It was such a positive event for all of them and one that they will remember for years to come.

21 RULES FOR THE ROAD (IN GHANA)

1. If your vehicle breaks down for any reason, leave it anywhere--right lane, left lane, or right in the middle of the road. Just leave it there until you have enough money or time to fix it. Whatever you do, don't pull off to the side of the road.

2. The ONLY part of your vehicle that must be in working order is the HORN. Headlights, tailights, brake lights, turn signals, closing doors or trunks, windshields and anything else is entirely optional.

3. You MUST honk your horn about every 30 seconds and it is mandatory to honk 10 seconds before any light turns green.

4. Turn left or right or make U-turns from any lane and from any direction cutting off traffic if necessary.

5. It is permissable to drive on the wrong side of the road if it suits you.

6. Pull over anywhere or anytime desired. Signaling is optional.

7. There is no limit to the number of passengers in your vehicle. The more the merrier.

8. It is permissable and even admired to pack and tie as much as is humanly possible in and onto your vehicle (roof, sides, back--wherever) and secure any item with rope, tape or string.

9. THE NOSE GOES! At any roundabout, intersection or even any street, the vehicle whose front end (nose)is ahead goes first--especially in traffic jams.

10. Never pull over to let other vehicles pass or allow anyone to merge in front of you. Always pull out, butt in or crowd--Remember THE NOSE GOES!

11. Drive with or without headlights after dark.

12. Hand signals and gestures out the window are encouraged (obscene or otherwise).

13. Two-lane dirt roads are the equivalent of 4-lane highways at anytime, so speed away.

14. If your muffler falls off due to potholes the size of Rhode Island, do not panic as you can purchase a used muffler on any street corner (and attach it with rope).

15. Religious captions on the back window are not mandatory but highly recommended.

16. Never plan ahead to purchase petrol (gasoline). If empty, just park on the side of the road near a filling station and line up with the hundreds of other vehicles (taxis) and wait for the propane trucks to arrive (sometimes for days).

17. Seat belts are not an option--they simply don't exist.

18. Rust is the new hot color!

19. Female drivers are discouraged.

20. Obstructions in the road (police barricades, potholes, goats, etc.) are to be ignored or simply driven around.

21. ALWAYS have an extra 50 cedis with you in case you are stopped by a police officer for any reason.