April 3, 2008

It is hot here ha, ha, I'll bet the wheather is geting better now. We are trying really hard to teach the Gospel. We are teaching another person now, it is exciting to teach. We now have another to teach tonight. We have 13 to investigate and are still trying to get all the home teaching and inactives that we have been assigned to from the Branch. The physical facilities man came and we stuck our heads in and showed him all the things that the HO branch needs and hope all comes through on that. We also told him we needed a new building as we tell everyone that's important and they just laugh. We will work on drinking water for the Branch . It is so hot and they go for 3 hour block, no water . Saturday we drove the Branch Pres. and his wife to a funeral in Aflao, which is about l hour and a half from here. It was for a brother of the one of the members of the Branch. Here funerals are a very big thing, everyone dresses up and celebrates for days, this one lasted three days. The man had been dead for a month. A lot of people keep the body for even up to a year. They rent a space in a refrigerated building box. This man was a chief of a tribe in Aflao and a great Marinator of the sea . His coffin was in the shape of a ship. It wa sin the Catholic church and was done African stlye, which means dancing and drums and a band and Priests and smoking pots and incence etc. Very interesting. Our branch choir went and sang a song on the program. After they had a big meal for the branch people that went to the funeral. Here if someone dies in the Branch every goes to the funeral. Funerals are big deals. Anyway dad and I coulen't eat the food, so we went to the car and made us a peanutbutter and jam sandwich. I took pictures and everyone always shakes our hands . We are treated special where ever we go. We even sit on the fourth row at the funeral. ha, ha. After we took the long way back because the Pres. wanted us to go by the Atlantic ocean . We got out on the sand, I took my shoes off and went into the water. The other three wouldn't, I called them party poopers. We saw little boys with their nets of clams that they had just retrived from the lagoon there. We then poceeded home on a dirt road, the Pres. pointed out the island where he was born and all in all it was a fun learning experience.

Monday we took the two missionaries to the Monkey Sanutuary about l and a half hours from Ho and then to the WLY waterfall another hour and a half.

We did see a few monkies and fed them a banana or two.

At the waterfall area we ate our lunch I'd brought, because you see there are no eating places like Burger King or anything. Only little shacks with different things for sell in most places, so you always take your peanut butter sandwich or something with you. The water fall was a 45 minute hike , the trail was not steep, it was sorta cool and jungly. We almost made it to the waaterfall when it started to rain. We ran for cover. There was a gazeboo type strawcovered place and the four of us ran for cover along with 6 other people who were at the falls. We stood under there for 45 minutes. It rains here really hard. Finally we all ran fast to see the falls... It was beautiful and then started back down in the rain. It was fun going down in the rain. As we got to the last bridge that took us to the parking area we could not get acrossed it. The bridge had washed away. There was a man right there by it and he was from the village there. He had a machete and started cutting a way through the tress and jungle stuff. He had us follow. I told Charles I felt like Debra Kerr in the movie King Solamans Mine. (years ago, remember I'm old) I had on Charles' straw hat , we were soaking wet and the vines and weeds kept scratching my legs. Well a half hour later he had chopped our way out. Nothing like an African jungle adventure. We came home feeling lucky we didn't see a snake, ha ha. Well dad's waiting for me to go and do some missionary work.

Yesterday we were gone all day to Accra to take a missionary, Elder Cook, our favorite (from South Africa) and bring another one back. Believe me, I can't tell you all we do it would take too long. Please know we love you all and miss you terribly. Please continue to e-mail us all of you. Any news is welcome and wanted badly. I get home sick but dad is in his glory.