The last three weeks at church, I have had the delight of having a little "buddy" sit on my lap.  Ezekiel is just 16 months, but he will sit on my lap and sometimes fall asleep, sometimes he will play with my name tag, but he is always so good.  As I held him on Sunday and looked at his little hands, I couldn't help but wonder what his life would turn out like?  Thankfully he has a mommy and a daddy that were just recently baptized, so it is my hope that he will grow up learning about Jesus Christ and knowing that he is a child of God.  That he will have advantages in his life because of the joy and the peace that the gospel will bring to his family.  We are just so blessed to be able to teach these little ones each Sunday.  We are working towards the Primary President and her new counselor (who has been a member all of 3 weeks) teaching Primary and we will be their supports instead of the other way around.  It has been a slow process, but I feel we are making progress. Small small..... 

Here is a picture of some of the kids that we had last week.  Some got away before we took the picture.  I wish you could see how darling they are all.

They start carrying things on their heads at a young age here.  No wonder they are so good at it as adults.  I have seen people carry sewing machines, boards, huge pots and pans, desks.....you name it!  It just amazes me every single day.  

Last Friday about 4pm, Elder Garrison went out of the office and came back in pretty fast and announced that we had a flood.  Seriously, we had about 2 inches of water in most of the rooms at the mission office.  It was a mess......thankfully, we had a lot of help to clean up.  There were people there that are not always there at that time of the day and we were so grateful to have the help.  A lot of days, it is just us at the office at that time of the day.....by the time we were done cleaning up, we were all just soaked with sweat! Which is not unusual here....we sweat quite regularly.  They say it is good for the skin?  We shall see!  I felt like I had played an hour or two of pickle ball!  Speaking of which.......

Saturday after playing pickle ball, we painted lines on the court so that we no longer have to use the markers that I brought with us!  Elder Moomey had painted one line last week and it had taken him a few hours, so we decided to just all pitch in and finish the job.......I am giddy about having lines!  The yellow lines are the ones we painted!

A little shout out to our granddaughter, Chloe!  She will be graduating from Roy High School this week.  We are so proud of her for being such a good student and earning a full tuition scholarship to Weber State University.  She is just a great girl and has so many talents and gifts besides being beautiful.  We really do hate missing these milestones of our grandchildren, but hope that our sacrifice will somehow bless their lives in the years to come.  

This above picture is a "clothing store" that just popped  up here in our neighborhood.  I want you to notice the display of the clothes handing from the tree!  I think it is a great idea and hopefully this store will thrive!

Living here in Africa is hard.  We don't have glamorous landmarks, castles, cathedrals, beautiful shops or amazing flower gardens.  Sometimes I find myself getting down and wondering if our being here is even making a difference?  Thankfully those days don't last long and I usually come around by reading a talk or a scripture or having an experience with one of these beautiful Ghanaian people that wakes me up and reminds me to be thankful for the wonderful experiences that we are having that will forever change our lives.  This next quote was one of those such wake up calls:  (By President Hinkley) 

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed.  The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey… delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.  

The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

And we are thankful , so very thankful for the ride....  Stay strong and steadfast!

Love,

The Garrisons