It is Tuesday morning and I thought I would write just a few things before I forget. Sunday was a long day and by the time we arrived home at 6:30, then fixed something for us to eat, I was ready for bed.
We had a good week with 27 new missionaries arriving on Wednesday. It is a busy time but a truly wonderful experience to welcome these great young men (yes we are now having the 18 year old missionaries). We have a new office elder by the name of Elder Lloyd from Idaho who just arrived April 3rd. I think that says a lot about a young man to be called to this position so soon. We opened up several new apartments to help house some of these new missionaries. It takes a lot of team effort to have these apartments ready for these new missionaries. Elder Hall from the US is serving in one of these new areas called Akuse. I mention him because he shared with me on Wednesday that his brother was called to this mission 4 years ago and went inactive just before the time to leave. Elder Hall has always wanted to come on this mission since that time and was so excited when he opened his call letter. I couldn't help but feel some emotion over that. Akuse is close to Senchi, so we took a toilet seat and few other supplies to them. It is beautiful area, even if a good share of the road is deeply rutted. In places, the trees touch each other over the road making a lovely canopy of green.

We had a couple named Robin and Elizabeth Grey come by for a visit at our office this past week. They are from England and are sponsoring some children here in Ghana and come once or twice a year for visits. They know two of our missionaries that are serving from England and brought a package for them. We enjoyed our brief visit.

I have been working on the Primary Sacrament Program with the children and they responding very well. I promised them that this coming Sunday I would have a picture with the lesson for them to color. They love to color and so I thought we could take a break from practicing as the program is not until October 27. I just know that doing this program would be so new to them and felt we needed to start early.  Sister Boateng did not show this week but Sister Duodu was back to teach the younger class. We had a meeting with the Branch Presidency after they attended a training meeting in Kpong where we discussed some of the concerns about primary and other matters. We just keep trying to get them to take baby steps in making changes and strive to have lots of patience. While they were at the meeting in Kpong, we drove up the road to the Volta Dam and went to the area where we could walk out on the dock. It was truly beautiful with a cloud cover and fog in the distance adding to the scenery. They previously had a boat that took people out on what is known as the largest man-made river in the world. The boat caught fire quite some time ago and they will start the tour service again in December. We visited briefly with the security man there whose name was Benjamin. His father had investigated the church at one time and had some books and pamphlets in the home. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to come to Senchi to church. He said that he would like to attend the branch when his shift changed to evenings rather than days. I hope he does come, and that I remember his face so I can greet him. Seeing someone just once, and then my memory not being what I would like, makes it difficult.
During the meeting with the branch presidency, I helped little Joann open her peanuts so you could eat them. It is so fun to be with the children and do things for them as I miss my grandchildren a lot.

Elder and Sister Cosgrave should be arriving very soon and we will spend some time with them tonight and all have a little supper together with President and Sister Judd. They will be serving in Ho which is about an hours drive from Senchi. The missionaries will be so excited to have them there; we are excited to have them there.

I need to warm up our lunch so will close with what a joy it is to be part of all of this. Even when I get an urgent email from the travel people at the Area Office asking for a list of all the non-Ghanaian missionaries to be sent ASAP. It is all good and I am always blessed to do my duty and strive to do it with a smile and a cheerful heart.

With love,
Sister Avery (mom,grandma)