Well things are good.
On Monday I called various Elders who would be returning home and it was nice to talk to them. Two of my companions, Elder Orchard and Elder Moses were preparing to go home. Elder Orchard's parents came to pick him up and spent a few days in Ghana and then flew to South Africa to go on a safari. It was a blessing to serve with them both. With Elder Moses being from Sierra Leone I don't know the chances of meeting him again because of where we live, but I did let him know that if he would like to visit the States I would be more than willing to be the person to invite him. It will be interesting how life turns out.
Tuesday I was told that Elder Macaulay and I would continue to be companions making it at least 4.5 months. The district would remain the same aside from one sister training a Liberian keeping the district number at eight. Liberians love the Western culture as their country has its existence from the USA and as a result their English has been adapted to try and resemble ours. I personally think that it just sounds more like a high pitched nasalized version of English where the last letters of the words are not that pronounced. For some reason our phone SIM stopped working resulting in us having to get a new number which leads to issues with not having peoples' numbers. I also did an interview for Madina 2b and they baptized 4 on this past Sunday which was good.
On Wednesday we met the Banini's relative who lives in the same house as the family. He is a hair dresser being 56 years old. He is having some health problems. This transfer will cover Christmas and we will call home. The mission party is being held at a member's house that lives in our area so that will be nice not having to worry about transportation which was a problem last year when I was in Teshie.
Thursday the ward had its play practice and as I have been filling in for a wise man in the play I have been assigned the part so that will be interesting. The district will still be preforming a musical number that a sister in the district signed us up for during the mission's Christmas conference. We will see how that goes. I have no Issue standing there in front of 140+ people though I do feel that the quality of our voices doesn't merit such a performance, oh well it will be a good building experience.
Saturday Bishop Avegnon told us a story about an experience he had on his mission in Sierra Leone serving during the time of their civil war. I was able to transcribe the story in my journal taking just over two pages both sided. It's a long story and while I can't get it like he told it, it was riveting. ---The bishop Avegnon started by telling us that during the year 1994 he was serving in a place called Bo (I don't know how it is spelled) at his sixth month mark when the town 30 minutes away was attacked by the rebels. As a result the mission took the missionaries out of the area and placed them back in the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown. Six months later the branch president informed the mission president that the area was safe for the missionaries and that he would like them to come back to Bo. The bishop upon hearing the news expressed his feelings that returning to Bo would not be a safe place for missionaries. The mission president cited the branch president's report and disregarded that of the bishop. As he (Elder Avegnon) wasn't accepting of that decision he eventually made his way, with his companion, to the capital building with the intent of meeting the president and asking him of the security situation in Bo. The bishop wasn't able to see the president directly as he was in a meeting, but he was able to meet the president's body guard and after some small talk and pictures that the bishop still has, the body guard was surprised on the intent for the mission to send people to Bo because he said that the rebels could attack at any time and that he was planning to bring his family out of Bo because of the security situation. The governmental agencies and Embassy forces had also made it specifically clear that they would only rescue persons of other nationalities if they were in the capital city. Elder Avegnon being quite content with his information returned to the mission home and presented his findings to the mission president. After a suprised reaction from him on what bishop Avegnon did he continued to state that a priesthood leader stated that it was safe and to sum up the conversation the mission president called a personal friend, Elder L Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on what should be done with the bishop. Basically because the bishop wasn't willing to be sent to Bo (the bishop was told he would go with another companionship to reopen Bo.) he would then be sent home. After the phone call and holding a council on what should be done with the whole situation, the bishop was given the option of staying on his mission by going to Bo or to go home. At that moment the bishop decided to return home, but later he agreed to go back to Bo on the condition of keeping his suitcase at the mission home and only going to Bo with the clothes on his back, his scriptures, and a toothbrush. At this moment he wrote a letter and placed it in the suitcase, telling the people who would read it the situation with the mission president, and if something were to happen then it would be the responsibility of the mission president. As the four Elders being sent to Bo got in the car driven by the APs, the car broke down 15KM out of the capital on a trip that would take 1.5 hours. To keep the car working the Elders would have to refill the radiator with water every kilometer or so. Eventually the truck was stopped by a group of masked, military armed men who surrounded the Elders for twenty minutes without saying a word to them. Not knowing if they were rebels or military men and the Elders panicking, the bishop convinced the driver to let his foot off the brake and letting the car roll away the armed men let them continue. As the Elders came to the apartment a trip that was planned to take under two hours took 13. The next day the Elders cleaned the apartment and for the first week the missionaries tried to share the gospel, but to no avail. The city had become ruin like with survivors of the attack on the area 6 months ago still there sleeping on the streets in a daily struggle to survive with the basics and as a result naturally disregarding the missionaries with the people telling them that their parents and whole family had been killed by the rebels and with no food or shelter, so how is the message going to get me food to eat? One week from the day they arrived the Elders awoke to gun fire and the city of Bo under attack by the rebels. The UN and other African forces were busy fighting and had announced via information vans where the people should flee to. The men, if captured by the rebels would be told to join them or be killed and hoping to avoid that the UN was working to gather them so they could arm them for their side. The bishop had several family members in the war and had received some basic military training and had all the Elders get under their beds to avoid the bullets flying through the roof and windows. The Elders were said to be in tears throughout, except the bishop knowing that this would happen upon their return to Bo. Eventually the branch president who said that the area was safe came to the apartment apologizing and wanting them to come with him to the UN safe camp. The bishop told the Elders to remain under the beds for the chance of falling into the rebels path and that the house had been dedicated for a place missionaries were to stay and stay they would. At this part of the story the bishop told us what was going on in the mission home during the news of the rebels' attack. The mission home was frantic about not listening to the bishop's advice and was trying to get the US Embassy to help, but because the Elders had left the capital, the official policy still stood and they wouldn't be rescued by them. At one point the mission president asked the people in the office who would be willing to drive and pick up the Elders and get them into the capital. The only person willing to take the trip was a former companion to the bishop and one of the aps, now called "papadazie" The bishop told us that papadazie was a 100% spitting image of a political leader in Sierra Leone and as a result all barriers upon seeing him approach mistook him as the leader and let him pass through all barriers where he arrived at the mission apartment where the four Elders were still taking shelter under the beds. While all of the three Elders where collecting their suitcases the bishop threw in a humorous sentence with him not having to pack anything leaving it all at the mission home so he just waited in the car for the others. The bishop concluded his story by telling us that the mission president was (obviously) very emotional for the whole situation and upon reading the letter the bishop wrote (the bishop showed him) he started having some heart issues and had to be flown home for treatment where the church to this day has lost contact with his whereabouts. The bishop continued his mission and year later returned home to Ghana.--The story itself was a bit humorous at the start, but as the bishop got into the heart of the story the humor stopped and it was an overwhelming experience he shared. I am so grateful for being an American. It also shed more light on the stories Elder Moses had shared with me on living through that civil war as a preteen.
Sunday I did an interview for Madina and was able to talk to a woman in the ward who with her husband and two young kinds left the US to work here in Ghana for two years and after a few months of uncertainty the family will be living within the Madina ward boundary.
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