I finally got a picture of a young man selling fabric!  This is like a walking fabric store.  If you stop him to look, he will take the fabric off of his head and let you look at each piece.  I have seen this since I got here and it just is so fascinating.  You will see people all over selling fabric like this and honestly, they have the most beautiful, colorful fabric that I have ever seen.  

Last time I blogged, I mentioned that our Mission Assistants and our Office Elders were up North for Zone Conferences.   While they were on the road, they kept seeing these mud/grass huts which they had seen before but had never stopped.  So they told us that they decided to stop and visit with the people.  They shared with us that the people were so glad  to see them and that they were so happy! They gave them some candy and some cookies that they had for the trip and were so glad to get that.   They have no running water, no electricity, and yet there they were out in the middle of nowhere and living as best they can.  In this picture(from left to right) which they said that I could share are Elder Morgan (one of the Mission Assistants), Elder Ferry (one of our office elders) and Elder Yeboah (our other Mission Assistant). Elder Mubu (also an office elder) took this picture and I just love it!  I think this picture should be framed for all to see!  

Last Saturday we decided to go see the Ghana Armed Services Museum.  

The museum takes you from the period of the founding king of the Asante empire, Osei Tutu, born in 1660 through WWI & WWII and some more recents wars. The current king, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II is the 16th Asante king, presiding since 1999.  The Asante region is about 100,000 square miles in central Ghana approx. 150 miles from the coast. Ghana is about 50 years old and used to be called the Gold Coast. The Golden Stool represents the authority of the king and is kind of like their Ark of the Covenant. We saw a lot of old weapons, medals, maps and flags. One club had 10-penny nails coming out the end which could do some serious damage. Sad to see remnants of man's inhumanity to man. Lucky for us the Ghanaian people are kind and generous and the old relics are just a reminder of the what they've been through. 

While at the museum, we did learn what the Ghana flag represents.  The RED represents the blood that was shed to obtain their independence in 1957.  The GOLD represents the richness of the land here with the gold, and other precious metals that are mined.  The GREEN represents the beautiful green foliage that Ghana has and the BLACK star represents the independence of the people here.  I love knowing what the flag stands for.  The Ghanian people are very proud of their country as they should be!

About once a week we find a little lizard inside our apartment making itself at home!  

While I am on the topic of critters....one of our missionaries showed me this picture of a visitor that they had in their apartment!  Ewwwww!  Now that would not be welcome at all!

A picture of our Primary kids showing the pictures of Jacob and Esau that they had colored.  They really like to color.

Here is a picture of Elder Garrison at our neighborhood  sewing shop explaining to them that he needs his pants taken in because he has lost about 2 inches or more in his waist.  The lady on the left sells little "ice cream" cups that she makes and sells for about 25cents.  We live by a school, so a lot of the kids stop there to get one on their way home.  She is out there every single day.  She did the alternation in about a day and for 3 pair of pants we paid 5 dollars.  They are so happy to get the business.

The office has been slow this week.  No groups coming and going.  Elder Garrison stays busy with sending money to missionaries and going to the bank and getting cash and putting money on his phone.  We have had missionaries coming back from and going on missions that live here in Kumasi and it just always seems like things come up.  The ongoing problem of having passports that we need here and are kept in Accra is always a problem and getting flights out for our missionaries to depart is always something that tries my patience, but I just need to take a big deep breath and remember that it will all work out......this is the Lord's work and IT WILL WORK OUT.  For that we are so thankful. Reminds me of this quote by Sherri Dew:

Well that's it in a nutshell.  Thankful for the opportunity to serve here and learn so very much about some of God's choicest children that live here in Ghana.  Thank you all family and friends for your love and support and prayers.  We feel it......stay strong and steadfast.

Love,

The Garrisons