Sewing Projects, Tuberculosis, and Cousin Jane

 We are grateful for another wonderful week here in Africa.

The highlight of Lori's week was her visit to the McCarthy Hill School on Wednesday. It’s an inclusive school, meaning children of all abilities are welcome. The school’s motto reads, “Every child can learn, just not in the same way or at the same time.” This sign immediately captured Lori’s heart, as her degree is in Special Education, and she absolutely loves working with students of all abilities.

The headmaster of the school is a member of the church and had heard about Sister Doan (Jenny) and her amazing sewing skills. She spotted Jenny in the parking lot of the church complex and invited her to come teach the students how to sew. Over 200 students attended! You could feel the love and care the faculty had for each child. It was fun to watch students of all ages try their hands at sewing. They had a wonderful time, and so did we! As we finished our teaching, the school had some of the students sing and dance for us. It was so enjoyable to watch them showcase their cultural talents. We felt honored to get our own private performance. It was a truly special experience! We returned home drenched in sweat, but our hearts and spirits were full. I love the people of Africa!






Lori continues to enjoy learning how to sew. Jenny is a wonderful teacher, full of patience and love. She always has something positive to say, even when I’m ripping out the same seam for the third time. 😵‍💫 Below are a few of my latest projects. I hope I can continue to learn and improve while I’m here. Sewing is something I want to keep doing when I get home. I’m slow and steady, and Jenny constantly reminds me, “It’s not a race.” The problem is, there are so many adorable things I want to sew, and I’m not fast… maybe someday. 🤷‍♀️



English Connect is moving right along as well. I’ve heard back from all the mission leaders. Some missions have the program up and running smoothly, while others are eager to implement it but haven’t yet. I stand in awe of how busy mission leaders are. Next to General Authorities, I think mission leaders carry the greatest responsibility! I’m putting the finishing touches on a PowerPoint that mission leaders can share with the Language Coordinator once one is identified. I hope this will make the process easier for all involved. I plan to have it complete and distributed by the end of next week. Many missions in Africa West could use Language Coordinators. If you’ve ever thought about a service mission, this could be a great opportunity! It only requires about five hours a week and would be a huge help to the missions and missionaries. Several couples in the United States are serving from their homes, and they really enjoy it. Let me know if you might be interested.

Last week seemed like it was going to be a calm week for Doug. However, as he was putting together his weekly report, he saw a note from a Nigerian mission stating that one of the missionaries had tested positive for active tuberculosis. Yikes! This missionary had just left the Ghana MTC two weeks earlier and reported having symptoms while at the MTC. So, the fun began. Doug had to start contact tracing. There were 13 missionaries and 2 teachers in the MTC district, spread across 7 missions. Each person needed to be tested for TB immediately and again in 8 weeks. If any of them test positive, the contact tracing will need to expand within the mission of the infected missionary. We are praying everything will come back negative and that the tuberculosis saga will be short-lived. We also pray the infected missionary recovers quickly and completely. We wish he had reported his symptoms upon entering the MTC so he could have received treatment earlier, preventing exposure to so many others. We consider it a miracle that the Nigerian mission reported the tuberculosis case, as it’s sometimes difficult to get information from them.

We had another wonderful temple experience this week. The name Doug printed for me was Helen Jane Goldsmith, born in Missouri. This name, birthdate, and the state of Missouri sparked a memory for both of us. The card was unique because the baptism and confirmation had already been done, but there was no temple name indicating where it had been performed—something we hadn’t seen before. After a few minutes of research, we realized that Helen Jane Goldsmith was one of Doug’s cousins, once removed. She was the daughter of Grandma Baker’s sister, Sadie.  "Cousin Jane" had been baptized and confirmed while she was alive but had fallen away from the church. We also found that her last husband also needed additional temple work done. Both Jane and her husband had several other spouses, and we plan to find them as well and complete their temple work while we are here in Africa. It was a little miracle! We had the opportunity to meet Jane in Arizona at Grandma and Grandpa Baker’s house. She was a character! She had just purchased a pair of tap shoes at a garage sale. In her mid-70s, she proceeded to put them on and tap dance up a storm! She was also an artist and gifted us a painting of red flowers. There are no coincidences. It was a blessing to be able to put all the pieces together and perform the temple work for family we knew personally. We feel so blessed to live just 5 minutes from the Accra temple and to have the time to attend frequently. There is no doubt that God is in the details and hastening His work! His work and His glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind (Moses 1:39). We feel so blessed to see that happening in full color right now! If you haven’t been to the temple recently, we challenge you to make time for it. You’ll be blessed beyond what you sacrifice in doing so. Make and keep a regular appointment at the temple. We have put President Nelson’s counsel to the test and can testify that great blessings come as you do this.

We love you all and hope that each of you is doing well and finding joy in your journey! We appreciate everyone who has reached out to us through texts, emails, or calls—it’s fun to hear how you’re doing. Keep them coming! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder and Sister Baker

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