Going to the Temple, finally...... and a coincidental meeting

 The Accra, Ghana temple, like all temples, was closed for many months.  Our temple reopened for living endowments a few months ago.  It is open now for all ordinances.  One needs to make an appointment, however.  The Area administration building is where our office is.  We park our car on the south side of "temple square" and walk to the north side toward our office, passing the Temple.  We do it just about everyday. Moroni's statue stands high above us.  A familiar and good feeling to see him.  Here are two pictures of the temple I took taken from the second floor of the stake center looking north toward the Area administration building.

Elaine and I made an appointment on Thursday hoping to go to the temple the following week.  We were able to attend the 12:30 session on Friday, the next day.  Nice.  The Temple outside, and especially inside, is the most beautiful, and clean building in this part of the planet.  It is so clean and well constructed and ornamented inside.  Dark woods everywhere.  And carpet.  You don't see carpet here much at all, anywhere.  Once again, it is so clean it makes one totally feel at peace.  After the session while getting things put away and ready to leave, I visited with a young man who is an ordinance worker.  He had also been on the session with us because it was not busy today.  Like I said, he was young, in his late twenties maybe.  His name is Daniel.  We had a pleasant, but short, visit.  On the way out, I met Elaine in the foyer and we stepped over to the side to view the baptismal font from behind a large glass wall.  It can be seen off this large foyer that is just inside from the recommend desk area.  The room is equally clean, and beautifully ornamented.  Twelve full oxen support the font, not just the front halves of the oxen we often see.  Two big murals are on facing walls, each about twelve feet wide and eight feet high: the Waters of Mormon on the left, and the baptism of Jesus on the right.  Striking.  Ones I have never seen before.  I appreciate the contrast; those entering into the baptismal covenant many years before the Savior, and then He doing the same thing at the Jordan to be obedient to the Father.  The Waters of Mormon mural is not like any I have seen before.  It was painted not with a South American flair, but like in an American forest.  I really like it.  While standing there, we met up with the Temple President and Matron, President and Sister Parke from Centerville.  We visited for a few minutes, then started for the front door where President Parked pulled the key out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and let us out.  Very cool and unique.  The key to the Temple in one's pocket.  How 'bout that.  Our session was the last one of the day.  No evening sessions yet.  Hopefully that will resume in the coming months.  When will our life get back to "normal", like the past?  The future is bright and full of new "normals" to take advantage of and enjoy I guess.  I just hope the wearing of face masks will not be a permanent "normal".

When conversing with someone, do you look them in the eye or their mouth?  I do both, but mostly the mouth to see as well as hear what is being said.  These people speak a different English that can be hard to understand, their mouths are covered so the sound is a bit muffled, and you really can't remember what they look like because so much of their facial features are covered up!  I want to know them better.  That's what I dislike most about wearing face masks around here.

Saturday evening a ward or branch needed to be selected for our usual Sunday visit and discussion about how to handle financial transactions at the unit level.  I tried the Sakumono ward.  The last time we were there, we couldn't meet after the services because of baptisms taking place.  We went to the baptisms instead.  This time the bishop wouldn't be available and he is who I really wanted to meet. I want to talk with him about several things.  Later this summer I guess.  After hanging up I once again scanned the meeting houses on ldsmeetinghouselocater and picked one northwest of us, in an area we have not been before.  The Dome branch is 25 minutes away with good traffic.  

The Sunday morning drive was okay with a little more traffic than usual along the George Bush Memorial Highway (I am not kidding), then onto N6 for just a short while, maybe 2 kilometers, then diving into the neighborhoods.  After getting off the paved roads, we knew we were close to the branch building.  Up this road,

 

then make a left to scoot along this one.

At the end of this road we took a right (the only thing we could do) and drove up a 100 yards or so to where it connected to another road where the church building is; so close yet so far away.  We couldn't go any further because the road was so washed out.  Our sedan couldn't do it. All I needed was another 20 yards. I wanted my RAZR real bad.  We decided to park the car and walk to the branch building we could see from the end of the road.  I backed up a bit to a place I thought would be okay and parked it.  I guy on the other side of a hedge said I couldn't park there.  It was blocking him and his neighbors from coming and going.  Really?  Yes.  He knew we wanted to get to the Church.  He indicated what I should do and I understood most of it.  We headed back from where we came while this guy ran through the neighborhood to catch us on the main road.  When we met up he ran some more, right in front of us, to show us exactly the dirt road we should use to reach the church from the other side.  What a nice guy!  He knew we were missionaries and you can hear the church singing from his front yard.  He didn't need to do that, go out of his way like that, but he did.  A great example of the good people here, saints and non-saints.

We reached the church, pulled into the yard and got to the chapel as the meeting started.  The organist, a young man about 14, reminded us of Caleb.  Caleb will be playing the organ in his sacrament meeting in two weeks.  This young man played well and with passion.  He also shared his testimony during the meeting. 

Now for the coincidental meeting.  After sacrament meeting the 1st counselor came up to me and introduced himself.  He had recognized me when I walked in.  He is the young man I had met in the Temple the Friday before.  He is Daniel.  The odds of picking his branch to visit and meeting him is hard to figure.  We talked a little bit before Sunday School had to begin.  I hope to get to know him better.  He is a great example of the strong young members of the church in this Area. He gave a heartfelt testimony during the meeting. He and his wife have one child.  After all of the meetings, we met with him and the other counselor and the financial clerk to talk about the financial side of operating the branch.  They know what they are doing.  This cash economy is tough to deal with and they want to go to electronic donations as soon as possible.  The Area is working on that.  For now, however, everything is done in cash.  Challenges exist.

Here are pictures of the Chapel and the road we couldn't navigate in our sedan.

A very nice building.

If I only had the RAZR.

I hope this post wasn't too tedious to read.  Thanks for sticking with me.  I have to show one more picture.  We took this one as we were driving home.  Part of the drive included paved roads and dirt roads.  This is not an alley, but a road frequented by a lot of cars every day.   The road isn't the reason I took the picture.  That really is the name of the company (enterprise).  Not sure what business they are in, but they know where to give the credit for being able to work.

This is normal around here.  No embarrassment or second thoughts about naming businesses this way.  There are endless examples.  This is normal around here.  This is Africa.