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!