These three little girls were baptized two Sundays ago:   Lovina, Linda and Anita.  They have been attending our Primary class for a few weeks and are just darling. Anita is a cousin but Lovina and Linda are from the same mommy.  Their mommy and brother were also baptized.  All in all there are 5 kids in the family and the mom is a single parent.  Makes my heart ache that so much is on the mom.....she has her hands full!

This is a picture I took when we went to the baptism that I wrote about above.  This couple had just had their daughter blessed in church.  The mom is a member, but not the daddy nor the grandfather, but they dressed up in their traditional Ashanti attire for the occasion.  You will see this when people are going to weddings and funerals and other special occasions.  They have the most beautiful fabrics here imaginable......

This is a picture of Elder Clarke and Elder Price with our primary kids on Sunday.  I wish I could get them all to look at the camera at the same time and you could see their cute faces!  That was  the last Sunday for these two elders to be together on a Sunday. They had a bit of an adjustment at first, but seemed to overcome them and do well together in the end.  I am proud of them for that.  Sometimes bringing such vast differences in culture and backgrounds together can be difficult to mesh, but if they can, they learn so much and grow in ways that otherwise would probably never happen.  

I snapped this picture of one of our primary boy's shoes on Sunday.  When I see this, it just makes my heart ache.  I so want to just give him money to buy some buy some shoes that fit and cover his feet.  I asked the elders once if I could give them some money for something similar and they said "no" you just cannot. " If you do that then people will be lining up at our door for help."  I think this is the part about being here that tugs at my heart every single day.  I just want to help them all.  I realize that the best way that we can help them is to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ and teach them to be more self reliant and give them tools to better themselves.  I have noticed that people that are helped too much then become dependent on others and are not so motivated to be self reliant.  We take so much for granted in America. 😢

We pass this Public Toilet every time we go to church on Sunday.  This is quite common in Ghana.  In fact I read that only 1 in 7 households have a bathroom where they dwell in Ghana.  And to be honest, there are many places that do not even have a Public Toilet.  So the next time you complain about not having "enough" bathrooms in your house, think about how it is here.  It could be much much worse right?  Again....counting my blessings.  

Last Thursday and Friday we had a "seniors retreat".  It was nice to get away from the office for a couple of days and relax.  The Steinmetz (on the left) drove down from Tamale to join us. They serve as an MLS couple there. (member/leader support).   We have one other senior couple in Techiman, The Allreds (whom we have never met yet!) chose not to come because they are going home in 2 weeks.  We had devotionals, played pickle ball, swam at the Golden Tulip, ate out a lot and ate too much and played games and had some good discussions about how to implement the gospel literacy program here (which we were trained in on Thursday) and leadership training etc ., It was a really nice break for us.  This picture shows Elder Yeboah in the center....he dropped by and wanted to take a picture because he was released as the Assistant to the President and has one more transfer before he will go home.  We will miss him, he is full of light and love.  A big thank you to President and Sister Kunz for being such great hosts in the midst of all that they have to do.  

The retreat was just what we needed before the big transfer week that we just had.  It was a doozie.  We had 18 new missionaries coming on Tuesday at 10:20 and had 5 fly out that morning about 8.  When we got to the airport there were just 14 missionaries.  The Accra office has "misplaced" 3 of the passports and another sister had stayed in Accra that day to be sealed to her family in the temple.  Then as they came out, about 1/2 of the luggage was missing.  They said that it would be there at the next flight that got in at 2:30, so we sent someone to get it but it was NOT on that flight....so then the other missionaries were to fly in at 6:30 that night, so again our office elders and our driver went to get them and hopefully get the luggage.  They did!  Three of the missionaries coming did NOT speak much English, so it was very difficult to do their paper work etc. We had a sister missionary here translating, but she was needed in the training that the President was doing with the other 14......so we did a lot of charades.  We got thru it somehow and the paperwork may or may not be exactly right????  This whole process of bringing new missionaries in is quite the process.  The President interviews each one of them once they are here and then "fine tunes" the transfer board.  He told us that it is always so astounding to him when he is interviewing them that he knows exactly who to put where and with whom.  Of course we all know that he is getting divine help from above right?   

President Kunz talking to the newly arrived missionaries at the airport before going to the mission office.

The day after they come in and they are oriented etc., the trainers come in and after some training of the trainers etc., he has the trainers stand on one side of the room and the new missionaries stand on the other side of the room and he announces who will be with whom.  There are lots of hugs and claps....it is pretty sweet.  Once that is all done, the luggage is loaded up into all the trucks and cars and we all head to the Bantama building where the BIG TRANSFER takes place.  All the missionaries that are transferring meet there and that is when they find out where they are going.....I tell you, it is mass chaos, but somehow it all works out and it is all done by about 2pm.  To top that off, they have MLC (Mission Leader Training) the very next day.  I truthfully do NOT know how President and Sister Kunz keep up the pace they do the week of transfers but they do and it is a wonder to behold!  

Here are the trainers that are waiting to see which missionary they will train.

The new missionaries are on the right, and these two sisters just got "matched!" 

This week as I have studied in Samuel, I have thought a lot about David and Goliath why that was included in the Bible.  I believe we all have Goliath's to overcome.  They can be bad habits, hard relationships, physical limitations, insecurities....just being mortal.  But David picked up 5 smooth stones and went after Goliath. He also went with a profound belief that he had God on his side.  We can all have God on our side.  What are the smooth stones that we can use to defeat our Goliaths?  For me they are prayer, scriptures, temple attendance, following the living prophet and his council and believing and trusting in Jesus Christ and  that His grace is sufficient to empower me to overcome anything that I need to overcome if I rely on Him.  Anybody can.....I hope if there is anyone reading this, that is struggling with mortality, that they will turn to Christ, the Great Healer of us all. 

Well, that's a wrap.  Everyday that I am here, I am more and more grateful for the blessings that I have.  I will NOT take them for granted anymore. Stay strong, firm and steadfast.

Love,

The Garrisons