Our office interns

 

Since we have been in Accra, these two young men have been working as interns in the Area office helping with facilities management.  "King" Richard on the left, and "Prince Charles" on the right.  Their last names are hard to remember, let alone spell, so I use King and Prince to help me remember their names.  They think it is funny.  They have helped us with  language and culture questions we always and are always welcoming us when we get to the office.  "Akwaaba" is Ghanaian for "you are welcome", meaning you are welcome here.

Yesterday was their last day as interns for the Church.

Richard is a counselor in his ward bishopric and Charles is the clerk in his branch.  Both are in their mid-twenties and hard workers.  Their internship is over and now they are off to other things they can work out.  The government requires college graduates to work for a year as an intern in some business to help stimulate the economy.  They are paid for their work. These guys were fortunate to be with the Church to do their service.

I hope we stay in touch.  We spent many hours reading with Charles to improve his English pronunciation.  It is better now than when we started and he is grateful.  African English is not the same as American English.  He did most of the reading while we listened and worked in our little office.  He read the entire book "Walking in the Sand" to us.  It is the story of the Church in Ghana from the very beginning, before the 1978 revelation on the priesthood and into organization and growth of the Church here.

There are so many YSAs in the Church in Africa.  It is the largest age group in the AWA.  Most are converts to the gospel.  When the economy improves these people will be ready to take advantage of it and make a good life for themselves and build the kingdom.  As it is, there is much unemployment.  These guys are studying and attending school to gain degrees.  A lot of that goes on here.  

It was funny when I was taking this picture.  Richard laughed when he saw us all in the camera and said all he could see of himself was his teeth.  Everything else was too dark.  We all laughed.  Elaine showed me how to lighten the picture up a bit so they weren't so dark.