Reiss Mission Ghana Kumasi Africa: Another interesting week

Another interesting week

Sunday we visited the branch in Bibiani. It is a 1 ½ hour drive and after you get past the construction, it is a pretty pleasant drive. The road is good and there is quite a bit of jungle scenery. We saw some of those huge trees that they cut down to use for lumber. The branch was very inspiring. The people are very friendly and have such strong testimonies. The Branch President has his branch pretty well organized. We encountered our first traffic problem coming back. It took us 4 hours to get home. Just a typical traffic jam in Kumasi. However, Elder Reiss says he would rather drive here than in Salt Lake. He doesn’t mind these roundabouts as much as he does the one in Idaho Falls. Once you figure out their system it’s not that bad. Today we traveled around a lot. We picked up two elders and went to another apt. to get two bicycles. Then they went with us to the chapel where we were to attend a district meeting and drop off the bicycles. We inspected the sister’s apt. It is actually pretty nice, but had a few problems like a leaking toilet, wiring problem, door problem and a dead frog in their well causing the water to smell. The water has several filters on it, so hopefully it will be o.k. Maybe by Friday it will be taken care of. Then we gave the Zone Leaders a ride back to the mission home for their monthly zone council. The one missionary is from Malad. His dad knows Raquel from West Jefferson softball. The price of gas is $1.70 a gallon and diesel is about the same. The price never changes. It hasn’t changed in the eight months that Palmers have been here. Elder and Sister Thayne, the senior couple that has been up in Sunyani went home today. Last night President Holmes had a little farewell dinner and program for them. The dinner was good. We had barbequed chicken, yams, potatoes, vegetables and we took chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. They won’t be replaced. They have the branches organized into a district up there. The power here is a problem. It is always off. It just doesn’t go off, they shut it off in sections of the city and divert to another area. We have been off almost every day for a week for anywhere from 4 to 9 hours. Our generator is in the shop, so it gets very warm in the apt without the fans. The mission home has a giant generator, so they always have power unless someone lets it run out of fuel.