Progress, great friends and motorcycle riders

Well, it happened.  Just today (March 18, 2021) as I was leaving the Area office.  I got a good feeling that things are progressing.  For a few weeks we have each day done what we felt we needed to do, not knowing precisely what that was.  Considering what would benefit us in the coming months as our responsibilities came into focus.  A lot of preparation work.  Sort of like sharpening your sickle before the harvest.  Just preparing and trying to be good about it.  We learn patience at every age it seems.  While I have been in the Area office or working remotely from the apartment, Elaine and two friends have been helping at a local library.  Three times a week they teach English to various age groups.  Little kids, older kids and some adults.  It's been a good thing to do as English is essential to getting a good education or a good job.

Since arriving, we have had things to do relative to our calls. However, it wasn't as intense as I would like it to be.  Part of the reason is that the year end 2020 unit financial audits were well underway across the Area when we arrived and were progressing without us having to do anything.  Just like if we weren't here!  We felt a little useless, but not.  Now those audits are completed; over 1,600 of them.  Now the annual training of the assistant area auditors begins.  There are over 30 of them and more to be called.  Just to remind you, the Africa West Area is comprised of 17 countries.  The Church is very active in seven of those countries.  The land mass of the continental US can fit into this Area of the church.  A big place.  We will start with the senior assistant area auditors who have some administrative responsibilities in their area.  We will counsel together regarding what to train the other assistant area auditors on and what the stakes need to improve on and how exactly to go about it. We are looking forward to meeting these good men!

For those of you who have not been on a senior mission you likely don't know what I am feeling or talking about.  For those who have been on a senior mission, you are smiling a bit and nodding your head.  Senior missionaries are wanted and certainly needed anywhere the church is proselyting or doing humanitarian work (in other words, just about everywhere in the world).  We are "senior" and not in our late teens or early twenties.  That makes us very special.  And, it makes our missionary experience different than those wonderful younger saints spending two valuable years of their lives in full-time service to the Lord.  Because when you are serving your fellow man, you are only serving....  Senior missionaries are given more latitude regarding what exactly to do and how to go about it.  It takes initiative and perseverance.  This isn't a vacation.

Senior assignments may be structured and formal, and they may not be.  You might be super busy most of the time, have sporadic times "busy" then "slower", or you might be steady in terms of activity, and seem very manageable.  Our senior missionary friends come in all shapes and sizes and levels of responsibility.  We know the mission home couples for the Accra and the Accra West missions.  One couple is in their early seventies, and the other is mid-sixties like us.  They do the finances for the mission and missionaries, and a bunch of other stuff (which means they do whatever it takes to make the mission president's life easier and efficienter (is that a word?)). For another couple, the Sister is the mission nurse and the Elder is a general apartment and equipment handyman.  For yet another couple, they approve humanitarian projects and see that there is a local partner to take it over. Like drilling a well (a bore hole) for the community (two since we have been here).  Still another pair of couples, are involved in YSA programs.  Their project is very exciting which you will be hearing a lot about over this year and next.  Another couple who are very good friends, are like the Waterbury's.  In this case, however, the Elder is the mental health advisor and the Sister supports him and then volunteers with Elaine and the wife of the Area 1st counselor at a library helping children, youth and adults learn and properly speak English.  Still another couple from Farmington are the Area communications team.

I look forward to meeting more unique and special couples as the months go by.  Here's an example:  A new Area Medical Advisor and wife arrived in country just yesterday and we had dinner with them last night.  They are from the Salem, Utah area.  He just retired from his medical practice.  They were both committed to a senior mission when he retired last summer.  She didn't want to go to California or Africa.  When they applied for their mission, their two options were southern California or West Africa!  Somebody has a good sense of humor and I think I know who that is.  With all that in mind, they are both excited to be here. 

We are, as you well know by now, assistants to the Area Auditor.  The Area Auditor oversees the semi-annual audits of all church units within the Area.  The Africa West Area is bigger than the continental United States. About the size of that with Alaska thrown in.  It is one BIG place.  And, I remind you, this is only West Africa.  The whole of Africa is huge.  Check it out.  You will be surprised.

One last thought.  As we drove a busy road today, March 20, 2021, (the Airport Bypass Road) on the way to the Saturday Market, I noticed a motorcycle passing us on the left.  The deal, however, was that he was on the other side of the median that runs down the middle of the road.  He was riding into traffic.  It didn't surprise me.  It didn't bother me.  It made me laugh.

This is just a picture somewhere on Liberation Boulevard with a motorcycle in it.  The picture of today's daredevil rider is still in my head.