Our daughter, Kari, her husband, Peter and their youngest son, Kordell, came to visit us from October 6 through October 12. It was Kordell's Fall Break. He is the only one left at home now, so he got to come to Africa. We had a wonderful time and very much enjoyed their visit. The following pictures will be a sampling of some the things we did while they were here.
Here they are arriving at the airport. Kari is the only one who had spotted us when this picture was snapped.
A selfie of all of us on the temple grounds.
Kordell, Kari and Peter
This is Bob Dennis, a master weaver, whose family has been weaving Kente Cloth for generations. He is explaining the process of washing, dying and spinning the threads. they use very simple, crude equipment and tools to do their work.
He is showing us some of the finished cloth. It is beautiful. It is a very labor-intensive process.
This is one of the weavers at work. It's difficult to see the process in this picture.
A different view of the weaver.
A pick-up game of basketball with neighborhood kids.
Group picture after the game.
Kari made some friends at the park during the basketball game.
The kids loved having their pictures taken and then seeing themselves on the screen.
We took the kids to meet Millicent, our dear friend. She was so happy to meet our family.
Kari, Millicent and Kordell.
Another one of our dear friends is Joseph. The Kah's enjoyed meeting him and asking him questions and hearing about his life. Joseph is a wonderful young man who works in our office.
We took a little overnight trip to Cape Coast, which is about 90 miles to the west of Accra. However, it takes 3 hours to drive there, due to the traffic and poor road conditions. We toured the Cape Coast Slave Castle, which was one of the places where slaves were kept in dungeons, prior to being put on ships and sent to other countries. The structure was built in the 1400's.
Peter, Kari and Kordell.
Kordell and Kari
This wreath was placed here by USA First Lady Mrs. Trump, just a few days before we arrived. Mrs Trump spent the previous week here in Africa. A couple of those days were in Accra and one day in Cape Coast, where she toured the Castle.
All of us at the Castle.
Kari, Linda and Chris with part of the Castle in the background.
Just off to the side of the Castle was this fishing village. Very poor conditions where these people live.
These men are mending their fishing nets. It is a very tedious and time-consuming job.
Fishing boats at the end of the Castle.
Another view of the boats.
Picture taken from the 2nd story of the Castle. Boys playing in the water on a beat-up surf board.
Peter, Kari and James Ewudzie. James took us on a tour of the historical Church sights in Cape Coast. James was the 4th baptized member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ghana. The first baptisms took place in Cape Coast in 1978. He is one of the great pioneers of the Church here. It was a delight to meet him and let him take us to several locations where important events occurred. This is a picture of what they call Baptism Beach. It is the location where the first baptisms took place. James was the fourth person baptized in Ghana. He has seen the Church's growth here from the very beginning. He shared many interesting stories, spiritual experiences, and events that took place during the beginnings of the establishment of the Church in Ghana.
Kordell was in charge of this selfie.
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We then went to where the first church building was located. As you can see, the church no longer meets here. They now have several lovely church buildings in Cape Coast.
This is the ward building where James attends. He is the Bishop. It is a large 2-story building.
We are on the campus of Cape Coast University. We are standing under the tree where Elder David B. Haight dedicated and blessed the country of Ghana in 1984. James told us about how the country of Ghana had been in a terrible drought for some time and the situation was getting desperate. He said that many people had died of starvation, because crops had dried up and food was very scarce. However, within a few days after Elder Haight's blessing and petitioning the Lord for rain, the rains came. Ghana began to prosper and the crops were more plentiful than they had ever been.
James took us up to the top of a high hill that they call "Hill Cumorah II." This is where he and Billy Johnson (first person baptized in Ghana) came one night after midnight after fasting and praying for answers as to when the Priesthood would be offered to all worthy male members of the Church. Johnson received the answer to his prayers on the hill that night that it would happen that year. This happened in January 1978. Those who are familiar with the Church know that the revelation came in June of 1978.
We spent the night at the Coconut Grove Resort while we were in Cape Coast. This is the view from our balcony. It was a beautiful setting. This woman is carrying firewood on her head.
Just as the sun was setting.
The lady is carrying coconuts on her head.
Just right outside of the gates of the beautiful resort where we stayed, this is the view of a fishing
village. Quite a contrast to the resort!
People selling their wares on the street.
Street scene.
Here we are taking a lesson on playing the African Drums. It was very interesting and actually rather difficult. We had a lot of fun and laughs. We had a good teacher and he was very patient.
Kari is the one who instigated the drum lesson, but we all had fun. I think she was the best student out of all of us. There are many different things to know about playing these drums. After the drum lesson, we learned an African dance, which was also very fun. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the dance.
Kordell was a hit with the kids everywhere we went. These kids were on their way home from school and Kordell struck up a conversation with them. They loved having their picture taken and then seeing themselves on the screen.
Being cool with the kids!
This little girl is the daughter of the dance instructor. She was dancing and playing with Kordell.
Kordell looks good in this African shirt. He was not so sure!
We drove north 5 hours to a monkey sanctuary. Peter and Kordell are crazy about monkeys. Along the way there is a place where baboons live. They come out on the side of the road and people pull over to take pictures from their cars.
This guy came right up to our window. Of course, they are looking for food, but we are told not to feed them.
This is at the monkey sanctuary. The monkeys climb on your shoulders and arms. At this place you are allowed to feed the monkeys. We took lots of bananas and Peter and Kordell had a blast feeding them.
The monkeys peel the bananas and eat them right out of your hand.
Peter convinced Chris to let the monkey on his shoulder. I think there may be 3 monkeys in this picture!!
This was about as close as I wanted to get to the monkeys. Kari is taking the picture. She wasn't interested in having them on her either. The young man on the right is our guide.
This is a close-up of one of the monkeys eating his banana. These monkeys are Mona Monkeys. The guide told us they are rare and found only in a few places. They are protected in this sanctuary.
All too soon we had to say goodbye! It was a fun-filled few days. They had a little taste of Ghana and some of the unique things here. Hopefully, they enjoyed it as much as we did.
