I asked these elders  (Elder Gilbert and Elder Willden) if I could use this picture in my blog because I thought it perfectly exemplified the absolute joy that the children here show when they are taught the gospel.  Look how they are all so interested and engaged.  It just makes my heart swell.
 

This is a picture of our (The Kunz, The Moomeys and us) regular Friday night out at Piri Piri.  As you can see it is nothing fancy.  It is outside on plastic tables and chair and cats (see the picture below) all around waiting for our scraps.  But its something that we look forward to every week to just kind of relax, not cook and have a visit.  

Here is a picture of our "regular guests".  

On Monday we had a little gathering in the mission office to award Brother Cooper, the man that manages all the mission apartments (over 90).  He has done this job for 10 years and was awarded a beautiful plaque by the Africa West Area for his devoted service.  We get to work with Brother Cooper quite closely.  He is a devoted priesthood holder, father, Bishop and we feel blessed to call him a friend. 

On Wednesday Elder Garrison and I drove up to Techiman which is about 2 1/2 hours North of us and picked up Elder and Sister Thompson (on the left) and then drove another 4 1/2 hours to Tamale.  We stayed overnight there and then on Thursday the Steinmetz (pictured in the center) had arranged for us to have a driver and a guide take us to Mole National Park which was about a 2 hour drive from Tamale.  I had been telling President Kunz that we didn't want to come all the way to Ghana and not see a little bit more of our mission than Kumasi and Obuasi and Sunyani and he agreed, so we appreciate him giving us permission for this outing.

We went on a little 3 hour "safari" and saw lots of different animals.  The first one we saw that morning was an elephant!  It was just awesome seeing elephants in their natural habitat. 

We also saw baboons.  In fact we had a very interesting experience with the baboons at the Mole motel.  We were getting ready to check out and I heard Sister Thompson start screaming in the next door room and saying "get out, get out!"  I go out the door and see this baboon coming out of their room with a can of Pringles and some left over pizza that they had in their room. 
Apparently she had opened the latch on the door and gone in, looked the room over, scampered across their bed and went right for the Pringles and then grabbed the pizza.  She was not phased by the hysteria of Sister Thompson hitting her with Elder Thompsons clothes that she was packing nor the urging of Elder Thompson to get out!  She just calmly got the food and then proceeded to eat the food.  So then we went about our packing and then I heard another scream!  It was Sister Steinmetz.  She was leaving the room with a plastic container of bread and this baboon was going after it with gusto!  She was up on her hind legs and going after it.......it kinda scared me!  Thankfully Elder Steinmetz told her to just throw the container and when she did, the baboon stopped going after Sister Steinmetz.  It was just wild!  We had been reading the "rules" of the Mole Hotel earlier and was kind of making fun of 12..  Read the rules below for what I am taking about!

RAMPAGING BABOONS ARE NO JOKE!

Here is another animal that we saw a lot of: the Warthog. They are just plain ugly. Other animals that we saw were: baboons, elephants , crocodile , water buffalo , antelope, waterbuck, kob, hornbills, monkeys .  

On our way to Mole, we stopped to see the "Mystic Stone". Larabanga is a community known to be a site of myths and mystical happenings. The stone is known to return to its original place of rest after several attempts of moving it to a different location. In the 1950s, some British road constructors were compelled to redirect a major road after 3 attempts to remove the stone. Since all efforts proved futile in moving it from its original location, the legendary rock was left at its place of rest and it is now conserved as a tourist site by the natives to spread its history and also to generate revenue to the community. 

The Larabanga Mosque is a mosque built in the Sudanese architectural style in the village of Larabanga, Ghana. It is the oldest mosque in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa, and has been referred to as the "Mecca of West Africa". It has undergone restoration several times since it was founded in 1421. 

Here is a picture of the son of the Iman in the community Larbanga.  He will eventually be the Iman for this mosque.  He gave us a great tour and told us all about the mystic stone and the mosque.  Interestingly enough, he told us that the community there was 99% muslim.  In Tamale, 90% of the people are Muslim.  

In this picture he is telling us about how shea butter is processed.  The bowls there by his feet are shea nuts.  These nuts grow naturally in that area.  The women shake them from the trees and gather them.  They dry them and then get the kernels from the inside of the nut. 

The shea butter comes from two oily kernels within the shea tree seed. After the kernel is removed from the seed, it is ground into a powder and boiled in water. The butter then rises to the top of the water and becomes solid. It is quite the process and A LOT OF WORK! Remember in Africa here, this is all done without equipment by the women that work so hard.  So from here on out, I will know why products with shea butter are so expensive.   Speaking of expensive.........below is a picture of a cashew, they actually grow with the little kidney shaped thing at the bottom, so I am holding it upside down.  

I honestly had no idea what it takes to get a cashew.  First of all they grow at the bottom of a cashew apple, which is fully edible.  Some people use the fruit to make jams or chutneys etc. The "nut" actually is encased by a very toxic covering that has to be removed.  In West Africa, the women that take the casings off from the nut many times experience terrible effects from the toxins from the covering.  Then, the nuts are dried and roasted and packaged for us to eat.  So next time you see the price of cashew nuts......really.....they are worth every penny.  Ghana is a major exporter of cashews and they grow in the area that we were visiting.  

Here is the crew at the end of our safari with our guide Seidu.  It was pretty fun.  

On the way home Dick and I were talking about what our favorite part of the trip was and I told him that for me it was probably the beautiful sunset that we saw on Thursday night from the Mole Hotel.  It was just fantastic.  We haven't really seen a beautiful sunset since being here in Ghana, mostly because of where we live and lots of times the sky is smokey or dusty. So to see this spectacular sunset was just such a treat and it reminded me of how beautiful all of God's creations are.  The various animals, trees,  colors and textures that we see in nature just remind me that there is a God and that He created this beautiful world for us to live in and to enjoy.  I am so thankful for that. This particular night, the sky was ablaze with the setting of the sun and it was just extraordinary!

Well, this one has been long, but it has been a great two weeks.  Thank you all for your love and prayers.  We are blessed to serve here in this beautiful land.  Stay strong and steadfast.

Love,

The Garrisons

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