Goodness In Ghana: Week 59

Dear Family,

Ghana held their General Elections this week and on our Wednesday morning run we witnessed long lines of people at the polling stations. It was recommended that missionaries keep a low profile this week so we spent time at the Temple and helped at the mission office. After several days the final results were in and it looks like the people of Ghana have voted for a change. In previous elections there have been riots, but this year an added emphasis was placed on keeping the elections peaceful. People are happy with the results and life is back to normal. The current President, John Mahama lives not far from us and we sometimes pass him walking with his body guards when we are out exercising. The new guy, Nana Addo leads the New Patriotic Party.

One day while on the Temple grounds we met a couple serving in the Cape Coast mission. Another couple, the Jones, were also there. Sister Jones, who served in England as a young missionary said to Elder Lambert, "Do you recognize Elder Sorenson? He served in England London South too!" So we had to take the historic picture of the three ELS alumni as they reminisced on those glorious days of youth. They all served at the same time but never in the same districts. Today, they all serve in Ghana, but each in a different mission. Small world!

At the mission office we helped Sister Munro prepare Christmas packages for each of our African missionaries. Donations from families of American missionaries made this possible and I got a little teary reading letters written by Primary children and placing candy, socks and toiletries in large envelopes. Next week at two multi zone conferences we will help distribute the goodies, enjoy a Christmas devotional and musical program presented by each zone. You have probably figured that the Africans do not receive Christmas packages from home.... On Friday we tackled the pile of Christmas packages sent to the American missionaries and it became a fun game of "pass the parcel" when the AP's showed up. Sister Munro called out the name and passed the package to me, then I passed it to Elder Martineau or Elder Desta depending on which one of them knew which zone the package was destined for. We had so much fun laughing as packages flew across the room that we were sorry when it was over.

This morning (Sunday) we witnessed a beautiful sight as the sun rose behind the clouds, lighting them up from behind. An hour later the weather changed to a massive rainstorm and I was sweeping tons of water off our concourse and down the stairwell outside our apartment. Last year we didn't see any rain for the first four months we were here so this was an unexpected but welcomed event. The picture of the sunrise reminds me who really is the Light of the World and this week I have determined to find other examples of "Light the World" and take a picture of it. Hopefully I can share them with you in next week's installment.