July 4th Celebration and other activities

The Senior Missionaries celebrated the 4th of July with a BBQ and Pool Party. Chris and I were in charge of organizing and putting it all together. Everyone had a great time. We had lots of delicious food, laughter and fun.



Elder Wakild and Elder McCullough were in charge of grilling the burgers.




The Pierson's, Sister Woods and the Temuses enjoying their food.




The water was very inviting for those who got in.




Part of the group eating.




This was our attempt to wear patriotic colors.




This is Sister Jinny Simpson, wife of the Accra West Mission President. She is from New Zealand and she wanted us to learn how to use the Poi Balls.



Sister Simpson was very good with them, but the rest of us, not so much!














I finally got the hang of it after a while!




Before Mary Richards left, she had a recital for her piano students. She asked me to sing on the recital.







My good friend Mary!





Every 3 weeks a new group of missionaries arrive at the MTC (Mission Training Center). We help with the intake. Only a few of them had been seated when this picture was taken. We enjoy greeting them and helping them get oriented. I usually help by checking their immunization cards.




This is Sister Mensah who was helping me get things organized to begin.



This is the staff at the Osu Library, where Mary Richards, Wendy Eaton and I volunteer every Wednesday. We thoroughly enjoy these people and they love having us come and read with them. We started a reading group with them and we are now on our 5th book. Reading aloud helps them with their fluency and pronunciation. There are also many words that they do not know, so we define and explain them. They take notes and write down the words and their meanings. They are so excited to learn new words and what they mean.





This is another picture of the staff taken on a different day. The tall young man, 2nd from the right, whose name is Galen, was there working on a project to document the positive effects of the Kathy Knowles Community Libraries in Ghana. He filmed us reading with the staff and then interviewed us and asked many questions about why we were there and why we volunteered our time to help out the community. He hopes to turn it into a film documentary. Besides Wendy Eaton and myself, Shelley Nash had joined us that day. Mary Richards had been there but had to leave before the picture was taken. Back row L-R Wendy Eaton, Amelia. Shelley Nash, and Seth. Front row L-R Justine, Me, Richard, Galen and Joann.




Kathy Knowles and me. Kathy is the lady from Canada who started the community libraries in Ghana. She has been here 4 times this past year to check up on her libraries and do more training of the staff. She has written a ton of children's books and is an extraordinary human being. It was an honor to meet her and work with her.