I don't think we're "Ghana" have a fall here!!

                

         Shane sent this message on the 20th of October "fall has fell"..

Here in Ghana we are told nothing changes.  But we do see a few leaves each morning as 

we leave the Temple complex. :). And the maintenance men are blowing the leaves that have fallen.

   So we have learned that when children are named here in Ghana their middle names are the day they were born.  This means my name should be Janice Marie Esi Pack.  A lot go by their middle names, or last name.  What would be your name?

         Names in Ghana

                     Male              Female
Monday.        KoJo.            Adhowa
Tuesday.       Kwabena.      Abena
Wednesday.  Kweku.          Akua
Thursday.      Yaw (Yow).     Yaa
Friday.           Kofi.               Afua
Saturday.       Kwame.         AMA
Sunday.         Kwesi.            EsiLife is good . Each day we meet with good people at the Kaneshie building who are trying to make their lives better.  Below are a few pictures from the Career Workshop Class.  This is where we teach about going for an interview, what to expect, and how to write a resume.  At the end of the three day class, each participant meets with us for a " mock" interview, as if they are applying for a job.  We have learned that when ever they are lucky enough to get an interview, the interviewer is usually not very friendly...so I'm not sure we are doing a very good job....oh well, we try.  These people are the most humble people around, we are always so touched by the story of their lives.

             

                                    

                       

                     These are the workbooks that are used in the workshops.

                        

This is an banner we have by our front entrance of the building. This just describes a little of what we do here each day.

                                               

                                             

Last Wednesday it was Francis Engmanns' birthday. During a break one of the other volunteers went and got a treat to celebrate, it was a "Fan Ice", like a ice milk frozen bar.  Our first ..

                                          Francis Engmann 23rd birthday.

                  

     These two young men came with their mom to the workshop, Kirt & Alma, I was glad I had a few suckers in my purse. :) very respectful young men.

                       

     

          These little ones are in our ward at church. The one on the right is Frieda she is 2 1/2, she had a twin brother that has passed away. I am not sure about the other cutie.  Frieda always comes up to us during church to give high-fives. she always holds your hand looking at ours compared to hers.  She also loved the pictures of our sweet grandchildren, the babies she tries to give a kiss too.  

When we came out of church on Sunday a lot of people were looking through eclipse glasses. This was 1:00 pm the sun stayed REALLY bright until 6:00 pm.  That's what happens when we are so close to the equator .

       

         

    Meet Giffty, my new friend in our ward at church. She came up to me on Sunday and said, 

" look I am dressed like you, like in America ".  She was married to a Canadian last December 29th and is still waiting for her visa to go join her husband in Canada . Her husband had been living here and went back for school in January .  He always sends her presents of American clothes.  She also wants to take me to her seamstress for an African dress. :)

      We went to Aburi a small village about 1 1/2 hours north from us. It was nice to go out of the busy City. These Boys are showing what they make.  I asked for a picture at first he wouldn't smile.  So I told him he had to for my grand daughters. ( he didn't have to know their ages). :)

                       A very nice young man,

           I thought this was great, call 192 for emergency.

   

      Fruit stands as we drove by. The big long root looking thing are yams.  A lot of the street hawkers sell them on the road.  

  

As we passed by these buildings I just snapped a few pictures.  Not sure what this store sells but I liked the name, " See what God has done".

     Alexa's dad's friend was coming over here, so we placed an "order".  Excited to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, the Sees candy from June we are slowly eating one piece at a time! We asked for the knorrs mixes for the many potlucks we have here.  Thank you again to all that put this together!

     

   

                 

               

    LOVED the pictures we received and the pink poster that I put the pictures on.  We love our wall decor!

     

                    Princess and Grace from our ward at church. 

            Our cheering section as we would run past them they would give us "hi- fives", they were waiting for their parents who were in the temple.  Glad I had a few suckers to give them on our last time around.

                 Today as we were coming to the center I saw this bus or large tro-tro. Pretty clever to 

                  have it red and white and the sign in the window. :) :)

       

   All is well here in Accra, we are having a good experience as we serve here in Ghana .  We were saying the other day how thankful we are to be able have the internet and see our loved ones faces as we do.  We LOVE the smiles from so far away!  Grateful to all who give us their support and also the many prayers in our behalf. We send our love to all, we love you!

It's " Ghana " Get Better and Better

We have started our third week here in Accra, and all is well. Last Monday ( the 7th ) was our first day to be at the center on our own. We thought we would have two weeks to learn what we were doing ..but that changed.  So early Monday morning we journeyed out on our own.  We had not even drove over to the center on our own yet...but we made it.  I must say I am a bit more ( a lot more) at ease with Lynn's driving than Elder Cannons.  Let's just say that Lynn is more patient and is not in such a rush. Each day this picture shows the congestion at the round about.

    Here are A few of our morning views we see:

  

    Yes a full size goat on a moped!

                 Caught in action this morning, we even had a few rain drops. We are amazed

                 How everyone carries everything on their heads.

 This is the shopping area we pass by everyday, we go very slow here, so many people and they will dart across the street at any minute. You never could drive and talk on the phone here, both hands on the wheel are a MUST!!

  This day was a bit gray outside, it gets that way because of all the pollution and the fires people burn everywhere.  You can barely read what it says on the side, but it reads: " Keep Ghana clean". :)

    This is the building we go to each day. Here are some of the volunteers.

    Our yard " guests ", they come and go

These children stop by as we are leaving on their way home from school each day. Cute little family.

Those that are privileged enough to go to school wear uniforms. It's so sad to see those in uniforms each day as they pass the children on the street who are beggars not able to go to school.

We were asked to go to the Lartebiokoshie Ward for church, it's pretty close to where we come each day to the center. Here is a picture of the building . No air conditioning, but fans are everywhere, so if there is electricity we're in good shape. :) the silver honda civic is the one we were given. 63 miles on it when we were given the keys.

  Saturday is the day we do our grocery shopping . It's an all day adventure. I miss walmart &costco. The thing about here is, you like bread from one store, then you may find pace picante sauce ( if you are lucky) in another store.  The problem is though, remembering which store had what.:) and that they might not have the same food for 3-6 months again. You just grin and bare it. When we buy vegetables  after we get home this is what we do... Soak everything in bleach water..

   Pineapples are the best here! We eat a lot of it. We are waiting for the mangos to come in season. 

    These are  avocados, they didn't have much flavor,

  This is the milk we use. It has a shelf life of a year or so. It tastes just fine.  We were told that BYU is where this first was discovered in the lab. :)

This morning we saw a big flatbed semi truck with this sign on it, " a world for food" not sure what it was about. After a few minutes I heard loud music outside the building, it was this truck with people on the back playing really loud music. TIA this is Africa

I have gone shopping a couple times. This is my Christmas decoration that will be out all year. A nativity in a gourd. 

And Tuesday was a Muslim holiday so we went to the Art  Alliance Museum. They had a lot of very old things you could buy, or newer . They even had caskets that were out of the ordinary to say the least. They did not allow pictures but there was a casket that looked like a coke bottle, a Nike shoe, a fish. Anyway I just bought a basket, and some beads.

Before we left to come to Accra we had a meeting with Elder Satati and he showed us a couple of interesting facts about poverty I wanted to share. Here on our mission we are here to help ones that need to know how to interview for a job, or make a business plan, etc. It's very hard because this is so different than the US. These young adults ( or older ) have a dream but how to make it work is so difficult. They are great, humble people you just wish those dreams could come true for them. All we can do is show support and pray that all will go well for them. Here are the stats given to us three weeks ago.

All is well here in Ghana.  We have met so many nice people and missionaries that know many of our friends. We met the Cosgraves tonight, they are from Highland Utah , and know so many that we know, the Petersons are from Arizona and know John & Lucinda Lewis we know from years ago, talking with President Curtis yesterday, he knows Giff Neilson, and Joan & John Oldroyd very well. We know the Stokers' who live next door to Nancy Weavers brother Brad, in Dallas. It's a small world in the church.  It is fun to make the connections.  

And yes we do have  restaurants here in Ghana with normal food! The last two days we have gone out with a couple groups and it has been quite good.  

We feel very blessed to be among these wonderful missionaries, everyone is here for the same purpose to help those here in Ghana , we hope we can make a small difference.