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! 

One of the senior missionaries who traveled with us is Russell Cannon, the son of the first missionaries who came to West Africa in 1978. The arrival of two missionary couples that year thrilled a large group of Nigerians and Ghanaians who had been writing to the LDS Church in Salt Lake City for many, many years, pleading for missionaries to bring the gospel message and baptize people who were waiting for the Church to be established in West Africa. Elder Cannon has had contact with several of the first LDS members in Cape Coast, where the Church was first organized in West Africa. We had the opportunity to spend Sunday with one of these original converts.

  

James Ewudzie, 4th Ghanaian to be baptized a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stands with us and
his sweet wife and 2 daughters on the steps of an LDS chapel.

The Cape Coast 1st Ward shares this building with 2 other wards.
It took Brother Ewudzie's directions and Elder Cannon's GPS
for us to wind through the neighborhood to find this little chapel.

  

James Ewudzie took us to "Baptism Beach," where many
Ghanaians were baptized by Ted Cannon and Rendell Mabey.

Brother Ewudzie told us the rocks we see now on the
shallow beach were covered by sand in 1978.

  

Looking down on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, near the
 beach where hundreds of Ghana's first members were baptized.

This is the building in Cape Coast where many Ghanaians met since
1969 as they waited for the Church to establish roots in Ghana.

  

(right to left) James Ewudzie, Elder Cannon, Thomas Ewudzie 
(younger brother to James and 12th to be baptized that first day), 
Thomas's youngest son, and James's wife, Kate.

This is a small fishing village close to where we stayed in
Cape Coast. Elder Stoker and I thoroughly enjoyed walking 
along the beach each day.

  

We visited Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese in 1492 as a
trading post for gold and ivory. Columbus visited Elmina
("the mine") before he sailed to discover the Americas.

Elmina Castle became one of the most important stops on the 
Atlantic slave trade route. The Dutch seized the castle in 1637, 
continuing to hold slaves before their journey to the New World.

  

Thousands of slaves were traded at Elmina Castle until 1814. The
massive building was taken over by the British in 1872 and the
Gold Coast finally received independence from Britain in 1957.

The view from Elmina Castle today is a feast for the eyes. A 
bustling outdoor market and colorful fishing boats create a 
breathtaking view of today's Cape Coast on the Gulf of Guinea.