Cape Coast

We enjoyed Christmas with the couple missionaries in Accra at a delicious potluck brunch, then sang Christmas carols, played games, and passed around some great white-elephant gifts. After returning to our apartment later that day, we had fun Skyping each of our children and their families. The time difference allowed us to reach them soon after the excitement of Christmas morning in the U.S., so we were able to catch the spirit of the day as our grandchildren enthusiastically shared the events and surprises of their morning.

December 26th (Boxing Day) is another holiday in Ghana, so the area office was closed for the day. Since most of the African employees chose to save their vacation days for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, very little was happening in the administrative building. So we and three other couples decided to have a little R & R ourselves last weekend by driving to Cape Coast, a beautiful town and fishing port two and a half hours west of Accra.

  

This is for Simon. He has been asking, ever since he saw a picture
of the Canopy Walk in a library book, if we had been there yet.

The foot bridges in Kakum National Park connect 7 treetops and
span 1,150 feet. I did not look down and held on for dear life! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We have to keep reminding ourselves that it really is Christmas time. Those of us who live in the
 Alema Court apartments are all used to winter coats, boots, and gloves back home this time of
  year. We can't complain about slick, snowy roads and icy windshields here in Africa!
MERRY CHRISTMAS to our dear friends and family all over the world.       

Togo

We had the opportunity to go to Lome last weekend to witness and document the organization of the first LDS stake in Togo. Elder Terence Vinson felt this was important enough that we should tag along to take photos and get information first hand so we could write an article to submit to the publishers of the Church News. Talk about pressure! We are doing things in Africa that are stretching us to limits we never imagined. Here are just a few shots and thoughts about our trip to a little French-speaking country in West Africa that we had never heard of before we got our mission call.

   

  

The beaches in Lome are very nice. We were told they have
 recently been cleaned and groomed to encourage more local use.
You can see all the new palm trees that have been planted.

 Lome is a large port in the Gulf of Guinea. The charming old fishing
boats resting on the shore create a sharp contrast to the large
freighters anchored out in the peaceful bay. 

Sweet Faces of Africa

We've probably mentioned this before, but we are in love with the children of West Africa. The smallest ones are often timid around us because of our white skin, but they usually warm up if we spend a little time getting acquainted. Here are just a few of the darling faces we have captured on our camera.

Lagos, Nigeria

We are learning a lot about traveling in West Africa. Whether on the road or in the air, it is always an adventure. The purpose of our 4-day trip to Lagos was to meet and train writing specialists called from each of the five coordinating councils of the LDS Church in Nigeria. We also met with the Nigerian Public Affairs council for additional training and instruction. Two newly launched LDS websites in West Africa are being managed by senior missionary couples at this point, but our goal is to eventually turn the responsibility over to the African members as they become more confident in running the websites by themselves. If you are interested, go to www.mormonnewsroom.com.gh and africawest.lds.org.

  

A young man picked up at the airport to take us to our hotel. His
car wouldn't start. He got a second car. It died in the middle of a 
busy street. In blistering heat and among a lot of honking, the men 
got out and pushed the car to the side of the road.  

Our nice driver then called his friend to come and get us
while he made arrangements for a mechanic to help him. We then
transferred luggage to a smaller car and crammed ourselves into a
tiny car with no air conditioning. Needless to say, we were hot!

Like Bees to Honey

We spent three days this weekend in Lagos, Nigeria, mostly in training meetings. On Sunday we enjoyed attending church before returning to Accra. When the block of meetings was over, Elder Stoker pulled his iPad out for a minute and the children quickly gathered around him. They don't have many opportunities to see the electronic devices that our American children are so accustomed to. It was fun to watch them quickly figure out how to play the one game Elder Stoker has on his iPad. We came home exhausted after a long, hot afternoon in the airport and the delayed flight home, so we will post pictures and write more about our interesting trip to Nigeria next time. 

Keta Fort

Last Saturday we traveled with several couples to the eastern coastal region of Ghana near the Togo border to observe a Ghanaian durbar, where beautifully adorned kings, queens, chiefs, and their elders appear in public procession amidst intensive drumming, singing, and dancing. Unfortunately, we never found the celebration, but we did enjoy some spectacular scenery on our search for Keta Fort, a former slave prison in the Volta Region. On the map below, there's a small body of water that juts inland between where the Volta River empties into the Gulf of Guinea and the border of Togo (bottom right hand corner of Ghana). We enjoyed driving through fishing and farming villages in this area. 

Liberia

We had an interesting experience in another West African country last weekend. A new Church Public Affairs Director in Liberia needed training, so we flew there and spent a couple of days getting acquainted with Konrad and helping him become familiar with his responsibilities. A senior missionary couple provided our transportation once we arrived, helping us see and do as much as possible in the short amount of time we spent there.     

  

Our plane arrived in Accra from JFK, refueled and restocked
supplies, then proceeded to Liberia with hardly a vacant seat.
We wondered the whole trip why so many people go to Liberia.

Photos through an airplane window aren't the best quality, but
I really wanted to get a picture of this congested street in Accra
as we took off for Monrovia, Liberia, early Friday afternoon. 

Cleaning Day

The Africa West Area administration building is located on the temple block in Accra. It has four levels of offices, conference rooms, a large room to hold devotionals and similar meetings, a lunch room, a mail room, and several big storage rooms. When the new Director of Temporal Affairs arrived about four months ago, it didn't take him very long to decide that this ten-year-old building needed a good clean-up-and-clear-out day. All Church employees and senior missionaries serving in the office were assigned to come to work one Friday in jeans and T-shirts for a major cleaning day. Everyone was asked to start by cleaning out their own desks, offices, and cubicles. Whatever was not needed or wanted was placed in a central location on each floor or lined up along the walls in the hallways. When the individual offices were finished, the storerooms were emptied. This is when things really started looking like a war zone! Extra shelves, whiteboards, partitions, tables, chairs, filing cabinets, old computers, hundreds of binders and folders, boxes of papers, large posters and banners, pictures, Christmas decorations, fabric -- it all came out.

         

  

Trying to get down some hallways was a major
undertaking. This is outside our office on the first
level. Venturing out took some skill and coordination. 

An unwanted item in one office became a valuable
find for another area. It felt like a giant garage sale,
except everything was free for the taking.

Boti Falls

During the first week in October, Elder and Sister Fitzgerald (executive secretary to the area presidency) invited us to go to Koforidua, about a 90-minute drive north of Accra, to visit the senior missionaries who serve in that district. We were delighted to see a new part of Ghana and spend a few hours with Elder and Sister Scoville. They happily welcome visitors because they don't get to Accra very often. After picking them up at their house, we drove 17 kilometers to a beautiful forest reserve to see Boti Falls and Umbrella Rock, two favorite destinations in that area.

  

This is an overlook near Boti Falls (behind us). The 
river Pawnpawn flows down from the mountains
 until it turns into waterfalls in the heart of the forest.

The Scovilles and Fitzgeralds, standing at the top
of 250 stone steps that take you to the bottom 
of the 30-meter-high falls and a large pool. 

YM/YW

Trade Fair Ward has great young people. It has been fun to get to know them. The Young Men and Young Women each have one room to meet in on Sundays, so age groups can't be separated for lessons. It's pretty hot and squishy, but the kids don't care. They're happy and love to be together.

 

Elder Stoker teaches the boys on Sundays and serves an an adviser to Joshua Ewusi, the Young 
Men's president. Joshua is on the left. A new counselor was just sustained today. The lesson 
materials are the same here as throughout the world, although access to the internet is a challenge 
for lesson helps online.  

I was recently called as an adviser to the Young Women's President, Victoria Quaisie, who is on the
right. Her counselor on the left is Mavis Puplampa. Since I was not released from my Relief Society
calling, I now teach these cute girls on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Sundays, with my RS lesson on the 3rd week.

Fufu

A much-beloved staple in West and Central Africa is a root-based dish called fufu. Before cassava was introduced to Africa, fufu was made out of cocoyams or plantains. It originates from Ghana. Shortly before we left the U.S., we were introduced to this Ghanaian food when we read a book by Chinua Achebe called Things Fall Apart. We had no idea how popular this food still is. Fufu is to Ghanaians what mashed potatoes are to traditional American cooking.

This is the cassava plant. You see it growing everywhere in Ghana.

General Conference in Accra

Many of the senior couples who serve in Accra gathered in the Church's area administration building on Saturday afternoon to view the first two sessions of General Conference held in Salt Lake City. We enjoyed a pot luck dinner between the meetings. This is a great group of people -- our new friends from Idaho, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Arizona. The areas of their service include Young Single Adults, Perpetual Education, Self Reliance, Legal Counsel, Executive Secretary, Medical, Temple, Mission Office, and Public Affairs. We really enjoy the occasional associations that bring us together.          

Relief Society Sisters

These are the lovely women Sister Stoker hangs out with on Sunday mornings. As you can see, many of them still like to dress in their beautiful Ghanaian dresses and fabrics. The younger generation is turning more to western clothing styles. Lessons in Relief Society are given half in English, half in Twi, which calls for some serious concentration in order to understand what is being said. The bishop's wife kindly translates.       

Sister Stoker's friends are Patience, Bernice, Susana, Comfort, Beatrice, Lucia, Eunice,
 Monica, Flora, Mercy, Judith, Emilia, Eva, Rebecca, Deborah, Florence, Evelyn,
 Naomi, Abigail, Francisca, Ruth, Diana, Victoria, Rechel, Lily, Gifty, Tricia, Henrietta,
 Joyce, Augustina, Elizabeth, Margaret, Flora, and Fustina. 

Trade Fair Ward's Relief Society presidency (from left to right):
Victoria, 2nd counselor; Deborah, 1st counselor; Margaret, president; Rechel, secretary.
When Elder Stoker took these pictures, everyone asked: "When can we see a picture of
Sister Stoker's Relief Society sisters in Salt Lake City?  

Cocoa & Coconuts

One of the bonuses of tagging alongside the area humanitarian specialists is seeing parts of West Africa we would otherwise not experience. In a small Ashanti village in the Swedru district west of Accra, we were able to observe how the villagers grow, ferment, and dry cocoa beans before they are taken to a facility to be made into cocoa powder.

       

  

The seeds are piled up and covered to ferment for
three days before being spread out to dry.

Dark, bitter cocoa solids are inside the seeds. This is
 where cocoa powder and cocoa butter come from.

Child's Play

This entry is for our grandkids, who ask what toys the children in Ghana play with and what their favorite games are. A simple game, called Ampe, is played with four or more children. There is a lot of clapping, singing, and jumping involved. It almost looks like a dance. Mancala is believed to be the oldest game in the world and is still played throughout Africa. In Ghana it is called Oware. Shallow holes, arranged in two or four rows, are dug out of a small, slender board. At home, our family uses marbles with this game, but Ghanaians use small stones or seeds. If toys are not available, the children use their wonderful imaginations and available resources to entertain themselves. Here are just a few examples.

  

This old tree is just begging for a climb.

Bamboo, a gourd, a stick and a nail make a great car.

BIG!

Africa is full of surprises. Some are amazingly big. Each week brings new and interesting discoveries. 

An avocado is a meal in itself.

Buduburum

The Church owns a welfare farm in Buduburum, 40 miles west of Accra. Elder and Sister Klein, the area welfare specialists, took us to see how the members put this property to use. Ten acres of land are currently either planted or are being prepared for crops. Pumps have been purchased to get water to the fields. Watermelons, black beans, cassava, okra, black-eyed peas, cucumbers, garden eggs, and cocoa yams are plants that grow well in this part of West Africa.

  

  

This is a type of greenhouse for peppers, tomatoes, 
and onions. In the background you can see the plowed 
ground waiting to be planted.

We were amazed to see the ingenuity of the farmers 
in providing shade for the seedlings as they grow 
strong enough to survive the hot sun. 

57 Independence Avenue

We thought you might like to see more of the Africa West Area temple grounds and where we work. Employees and missionaries alike have kindly helped us adjust to our new assignment and made us feel at home. After eight weeks in Accra, we're a little more confident with our surroundings.

  

A great staff of employees works round the clock to keep the grounds safe and protected.
 Cars and pedestrians are greeted as they first enter the compound. The structure in the background
 is the ancillary building, housing a few missionary couples and mostly temple 
patrons who travel great distances to attend the temple.  

Day of Service

On Saturday, August 17th, members of the LDS Church came together with friends and neighbors in their local communities for the 7th All-Africa Helping Hands service day. This is a time to build relationships by reaching out and helping others. Opportunities for Helping Hands come in many forms, usually projects that address recognized needs in the area. We observed hundreds of good people joining forces to remove garbage from streets, spruce up property around hospitals and police stations, whitewash school walls and cement curbs, and clear out debris from gutters. Here are a few examples of what we saw as we went from site to site in Accra on that wonderful day of service.

The second floor of this building has been newly rented for the Jamestown Branch in the oldest section of 
Accra. The members are so excited to have a place to meet that is much closer to their homes. Now they 
can walk to church instead of paying for transportation on a taxi or tro-tro. Notice the men with yellow vests 
on the balcony. They placed themselves strategically so other Helping Hands participants could see where 
to come (especially lost "obrunis," Elder and Sister Stoker) for instruction and assignments.

On the Road

There is more than one way to get around the streets of Accra. We are realizing that the automobile may not be the quickest method of travel between points A and B -- at least not on busy weekdays. The Ghanaians use creative ways to get themselves and their cargo to a desired destination.  

  

Eat on the go!

Coconuts on the go!

The True Size of Africa

We discovered a map in our office that tries to embody the massive scale of the true size of Africa, which is larger than the USA, China, India, Japan and all of Europe -- combined! As stated below (in tiny print), the graphical layout of this map is meant purely as a visualization to illustrate the fact that Africa is much larger than most people assume. After studying this comparison, we think you'll agree that Africa is immense!

Perfect Balance

One of our grandsons excitedly told us he hopes Grandma learns how to carry a bowl of fruit on her head while we live in Africa. At the time, that seemed like a daunting task. Now, after driving nearly a month on the roads of Accra, we realize a bowl of fruit is a piece of cake!

Church in Ghana

Ghana is 65% Christian and 35% Muslim. Most Ghanaians go to church on Sunday. They are very spiritual people. We have noticed
several churches under various stages of construction in Accra. Here are a few of the most unique buildings we have seen in the city.

Beauties of Africa

We found Ruth and her beautiful fresh produce a few streets down from our apartment.

We're Here!

We finally have a minute to post some photos of our new home. It is within a complex of
several apartment buildings, gated and guarded 24/7. Alema Court houses several other
missionary couples. We feel safe and comfortable. Our apartment is at the top of the stairs.

On Our Way

STOKER FAMILY

We fly to Accra, Ghana in two days! Leaving our wonderful children and grandchildren is the hardest part, but they are excited for us and will be a great support while we are away for eighteen months.