The Accra Ghana Temple
Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to Branch Temple Day. It was originally planned for June 26 which ended up being the same day as the Ghana vs USA World Cup Game so they postponed the date until July 10th. The Branch hired two tro-tros (pronounced cho-cho, which are van taxis) the youth, Gloria, Ashford, Spencer, Abbie, Joey, and I climbed into one tro-tro and the rest of the branch members who were coming climbed into the other one. This was at 4:00am so that we could make the morning session at the Temple. The other tro-tro ended up breaking down and they got caught in the rain so they ended up turning around and coming back home. When we got to the Temple we were not aware of this yet so we had waited for them and ended up missing the morning session. The Branch President was in the broken down tro-tro so we didn't have the limited-use recommend for the 3 Young Men and the 5 Young Women and Gloria. He called someone from the Mission Presidency to help get the youth to do baptisms but because the other car wasn't there they didn't have enough priesthood holders to held perform the confirmations and baptisms. Which was nice because we were able to sit on the Temple grounds enjoying the spirit there. Also Gloria is a new member of the church so we were able to help answer questions about the church and the Temple, while waiting I also had the opportunity to get to know the young women.
When there were finally enough temple workers available to come to the Baptismal Font we went in and I was asked to act as the Young Women leader and help the youth go through the dressing room, escort them through the rooms, and hand them towels. It was such an amazing experience, especially because I had the opportunity to get to know the girls before entering the Temple and serving them. It was the first time being to the Temple for many of the youth and I could see the change in them after entering the Temple and participating in the Baptisms and Confirmations for the Dead. They had been loud and rambunctious while we were outside, when we entered the Temple a calm came upon them. It really touched me to see the dedication of the youth. At home the Temple is so close and readily available, even when we would go for Ward Baptisms it took about two hours from our night. The members of the Abomosu Branch have to dedicate their whole day to make the trip to the Temple, and I know that there are many more in surrounding countries that must make longer trips to attend the Temple. We woke up at 4:00 am and travelled the three and a half hours there, and had to wait till the next session to enter the Temple, after we left the Temple the Branch President's wife had prepared us lunch so we ate lunch and then began our journey back to Abomosu. The trip back from Accra always takes longer than the drive to Accra, due to heavy traffic in Accra especially during the day, we did not arrive home until about 7:30pm.
All of us inside of the Tro-Tro
While in Accra we recommended some books for Gloria to get at the Distribution Center, such as the "True to the Faith" book. She also had looked at a journal, but it was $8, so she put it back. We had been wondering if she had a journal, because this is such an important part of her life (being baptized, first time to the temple, etc). So we secretly bought it for her and gave it to her as a "thank you" for all the cooking and things she does for us, so she can record the
se sacred experiences now. We also purchased the book "Walking in the Sand." It was written by Stephen Abu's brother about the history of the church in Ghana. It has some very touching stories about persecution. Perhaps in a future blog post I can type up some of the stories.
Today I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Joey spoke in the branch our second Sunday here and Spencer and Abbie spoke a couple weeks ago. All three of them had translators so that the members of the branch that have a hard time understanding our English would be able to understand their talks. I expected to have someone translate for me so I made sure to make my talk a little shorter so that I would not take up too much time. It turned out that I did not have a translator but I was blessed that I was able to speak slowly (which doesn't happen very often when I am nervous). After Sacrament Meeting, Abbie and I went into the Primary to teach the theme song for the Primary this year and also other Primary songs. I love being with the children they always make me smile!
What a wonderful experience!
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