Well the dreaded day finally came this week:  The Coombs finished their mission and went back home to Toquerville, Utah.  We had a good four weeks with them to try to learn all that we will need to know to run the office in the Ghana Kumasi Mission but we could have really used another 4 weeks!  There is so much to learn and I kinda felt like I did when my mom left after having my first baby.  I had no idea how I was going to manage without my mom and to be honest this is much the same!  I know that with the Lord's help that we will be able to do the work but we will miss these two like crazy!  They we so patient and kind with us and did such a great job as the office couple for the last year. 

Here is a picture of the bulletin board in our office.  

This picture is the day they left.  I had my sunglasses on because even though I was smiling on the outside, on the inside I was (and am) terrified and I was pretty tearful.  💙

 

Not sure if you can see this, but after roasting some vegetables in my oven one morning-I took the vegetable out and heard a loud shattering of glass and the inside glass from the oven literally exploded!  No more baking for us for a while!  

This is an example of a little sewing shop in Kumasi.  There are literally 100's of these "cottage industry" stores here.  People are so industrious and just trying to make money to support themselves anyway that they can.  To give you an example of how much they charge:today I asked the lady who runs this shop how much it would cost for her to make me a skirt and she said:  40 cedis (which is the currency here).  That would be about $6.49 in US Dollars.  I would bring my own fabric: 2 yards and that would cost me about $3, so you can see that it wouldn't be a lot of money.  I admire the people here for all the work that they do to make ends meet.  It is really pretty humbling.  

If you look close, you can see 6 goats.  These little animals just roam the streets here. We have several little trips around the area where we live.  They keep the weeds down! Then if you want a chicken dinner, you can get a FRESH CHICKEN on about any street corner.  You just have to start from scratch literally!

This past Sunday, we attended church in a branch that is about an hour and a half away.  It is the Obuasi 4th Branch.  We met some wonderful people.  The funny thing about being in Ghana is that the official language is English.  Ghana has a population of over 25 million people and about 50 indigenous languages.  In the area we are, most people speak Twi.  We are thus trying to learn a little bit of Twi.  If we do say things in Twi, the people are delighted!  

Some of the girls from the Obuasi 4th branch.  I love their colorful dresses!

Elder Bangura and Elder Kluse.  The little girl on the right is just 11 and came to church all by herself and is not a member.  

After we had church we were able to go to the baptism of this darling girl.  Elder Green and Elder Lucero are working so diligently in Obuasi 2nd Branch.  

All in all it was a great week.  It's funny, that being here we don't see the lights and decorations that one would see in other parts of the world but the hearts of the people are full of goodness and exude such happiness amid such poverty.  It really does make us more thankful for all the things that we take for granted.  Hoping that we all remember the true reason for the season and that Christ is the center of Christmas.  

Love you all,

The Garrisons