Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

        We were out of the United States for this Thanksgiving but we were not without the spirit of the holiday. It was wonderful day, full of very different experiences for a “holiday”. We arrived at the office at 8:00 A.M. and got a call to come to a meeting with Elder Koranteng at 8:30. That was a little more than an hour at which time our duties were more explained to us. We have been training stakes and districts in their responsibilities to set up a self-reliance program for themselves. There will no longer be a specific center where people will need to travel to take classes to help them find jobs or get help for their businesses. We will become field advisors and will be traveling more.

        While we were at this meeting I received a call from President Heid that he and Sister Heid would be picking me up to show me where we will be moving. He wants to give our apartment to the new couple that has come so that they can be closer to the mission home. We are saddened to have to leave. The biggest is the location. We are a mile from the Temple and can get there is five minutes. The new apartment is only eleven minutes away if there were no traffic but because of the traffic in Accra it will more than likely take us 45 minutes to an hour to go 5.1 kilometers. Depressing! We will be up three flights of stairs. Our new exercise program will be the three flights every day. They have a gym that has a tread mill and an exercise bike in a room that would not hold two tread mills because it is so small

        Barry went with the Africa Enterprise Group to check out a couple of business in the Macola Market out near Jamestown. There were more stalls than you can imagine. Each is about the size of a walk-in closet. He chatted with two women who have bag shops and discussed how they have started their businesses and what they might need help with in the future. One of the women speaks English but does not read or write. She does know her numbers and could tell Barry how much change to give him if he were to buy a bag for 30 cedis and had to give change for a fifty cedi bill. She says she has all of her books in her head.

Dorthy's Bags

Colorful Ghanaian ones too

President and Sister Hill

        At 2:00 we met at President and Sister Hill’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. There were between 35 and 40 couples in attendance. There were two 10lb turkeys that Sister Curtis had found and every possible side dish. Women here are very creative. We had several kinds of sweet potatoes, lots of mashed potatoes, plenty of vegetables and fruit, lots of dressing and gravy, salads and other fixings. No one lacked enough to eat, yes, the turkey portion was small but it was a taste of home.  Desserts are the hardest to replicate but here too there were many choices.

With the Stokers