Bakers in Ghana

All of the Africa West Mission leaders were out of town, so Doug only had one Mission Council this week. That opened up all of his afternoons and gave us lots of time for adventures and fun. Of course, we took full advantage of it! Monday was my day to work at the distribution center. I secretly organized some of the shelves so they made sense. 🤣 I’m excited to see if the workers notice and return everything to their “crazy ways.” It’s always fun to see if they find the changes and put things back their way. Part of my organizing included putting the Saints books in order by volume. It made sense to me—but we’ll see what happens! 🤷‍♀️ Doug had his one Mission Council Monday afternoon. During that time, I prepared my Family Home Evening lesson using President Oaks’ talk “The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ” and President Rasband’s “The Family Proclamation—Words from God.” The lesson went really well. We discussed two questions: How can we, as missionaries so far from home,...

We had another wonderful week in Accra! The week seemed to fly by, and we are definitely starting to feel settled and at home here. Doug stayed busy with his medical advising. His afternoons were filled with Mission health councils, dealing with multiple malaria reports, headaches, and various other issues. The most exciting event of the week happened at the MTC. A young missionary from Canada was playing basketball when an opposing player accidentally came up underneath his chin and nailed him. As a result, the missionary ended up with a deep split under his chin, and as usual, his face bled quite a bit. After cleaning him up, it was clear that the gash was about a centimeter and a half deep. Doug decided that, due to the location of the wound—where there is a lot of movement—stitches were necessary. This was the missionary’s first time ever going to the hospital, and while he was a little nervous, he was a real trooper! Back home in Texas, most of the adults and many of the childre...

  We started out this week with the highlight— General Conference! I now truly understand what it means to hunger and thirst after righteousness. That’s exactly how I felt waiting for Conference this time. There is so much sadness and difficulty in the world, and Conference was an incredible reminder of what truly matters. Our viewing times were a little different here, as you know. We watched the first two Saturday sessions from 4:00–6:00 p.m. and 8:00–10:00 p.m.  We watched the Saturday evening session on Sunday morning and watched the Sunday sessions from 4:00–6:00 p.m. and 8:00–10:00 p.m. We felt like every single message was exactly what we needed. Some of the talks that stood out to us were: Elder Rasband and President Oaks : Their messages on The Family: A Proclamation to the World and the divine importance of families were powerful. Sister J Annette Dennis : I loved the story about the 100-meter runner who came in last every race but broke five world records...

  Dear Friends and Family, After a very busy and fun week, we’re feeling rejuvenated and ready to go! Our hearts are still a little heavy from last week's news, but the anticipation of General Conference brings a deep sense of hope and peace. We’re grateful for the opportunity to hear from our prophets, seers, and revelators. What a comfort and blessing it is to know that the Church continues forward with exactness and order, even after the passing of our beloved prophet. Sunday was the first time in our ward—La Second Ward—that we lost power. Boy, did we miss the fans! They do such a great job keeping us cool, and without them, the meeting felt a little toasty. We’re truly spoiled here in Africa. Practically every place we go has either excellent air conditioning or strong fans to help beat the heat. Since I (Lori) have that extra sweat gene and tend to overheat easily, we’re especially grateful for anything that keeps us cool! We’re starting to feel a slight change in the weat...