November 7 to December 25

We scheduled a flight to Scotland for November 8 to be with Meg's mother, since we heard that she was not doing well.  After spending Monday delivering some bikes we packed up and took off Tuesday evening at 11:30 pm.  We arrived at the nursing home at 4:00 pm the following day and Meg stayed with her mother till her passing at 6:30 in the morning.  Meg's sister and brother-in-law arrived a couple of days later and preparations were made for the funeral.

We did some travelling around seeing some of the nearby sites such as Caelaverock castle where 60 Scots were besieged by 3000 English soldiers in the 1300's.

Meg's hometown, Dumfries, provides many opportunities for good photos.  I just wish I had a better camera.  The river Nith runs through the town and often floods the street where I am standing. 

The building with the turquoise domes is the town hall.

  

Sweetheart Abbey is a ruin just outside of Dumfries with an interesting history.  The builder of this ancient structure also founded one of the colleges that is part of Oxford university (Balliol College).

We visited the coastal town of Portpatrick that has a lighthouse and a good cafeteria.

Portpatrick is in Wigtownshire.

In the nearby hills in Dumfriesshire there is a Tibetan Buddhist temple.

  Also close by is the town of Lockerbie where the 1988 air tragedy occurred when the Pan Am 747 fell on the town, after been blown up by terrorists.

We went to the Craven Arm's for dinner and were about to order when four of our children (Fergus, Nicole, Ramsey and Vanessa) plus our son-in-law Marty ran into the restaurant shouting "SURPRISE!"  They had gotten together and planned a joint trip to be with their mother at this time.  So very nice of them.  Our other son, Gareth, flew in a couple of days later to complete the reunion.  

They arranged through Air B&B to rent this cottage in the countryside with enough room for all of us to stay together.   

 It was located right next to a wee burn.

 

We saw some more castles, had dinners together and attended Meg's mother's funeral as a family.

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Vanessa brought me my favourite snack food from Canada - Hawkin's Cheezies that will be made to last throughout the next year. 

 The meal below was ordered by their cousin and was haggis and steak - good way to ruin a good steak.

Some nice countryside views including the Wickerman, which has been the site for folk festivals. 

 We spent the last day together touring downtown Edinburgh.  We had a treasured time together with our family.

 

 

Back in Accra in time to see the mission take ownership of a new transport van.

We helped some missionaries move from the worst apartment in the mission to the best new apartment. 

On December 7, Ghana held an election that resulted in the ruling party being replaced by the opposition party and so far things have been peaceful even with some lively rallies on the streets.

Once again, some missionaries left for home as well as some new ones arrived with fears and a few tears of what would be in store for them for the next two years - a lot of new experiences.

What a coincidence!  Meg met two other senior missionaries here in Ghana that also served in the same mission she did and at the same time over 40 years ago!

We also greeted Elder and Sister Haglund who will serve as member support missionaries in the town of Koforidua which is about 60 miles north of Accra.  They previously served in Armenia so they know how to operate in a foreign country on their own.

|Oh mercy, we see some strange sites but one that stands out is seeing a goat tied to the top of a van going 100 km/hr down the highway!

 

We attended the Ashaiman zone meeting and bought coconuts for all the missionaries afterwards. 

We bought 33 coconuts for a cost of $22.  The vendor cuts off the top of the coconut to enable you to drink the milk which is very refreshing.  

He will then split it open so you can eat the coconut meat with is about 1/8-1/4" thick.

A couple times a week we take Fred Aboagye with us to help with apartment repairs.  He visited the mission home Christmas open house with his family.

A choir from, Tema, a nearby town came to the open house with Santa hats to sing to the mission president and his wife.

The senior missionaries gathered the Monday before Christmas to have dinner and a gift exchange that provided a lot of good laughs.

We also had two multi-zone meetings last week with a meal of Ghanaian food for the  missionaries and some entertainment 

including some of the missionaries from the south seas islands doing the haka.

Christmas eve was made special by joining the other senior missionaries at the temple apartment poolside for a great meal 

which included salmon from Norway and BBQ chicken.

At another mission open house Gilbert Oppong and his family visited.  Gilbert is the facility manager whom we work with to get the apartments repaired.

Meg found some new friends during the week.

We went to a pharmacy located in the Movenpick hotel to get some medicine and saw this nicely decorated tree.

Gilbert's cute daughters.

October 31 to November 6

 

The missionaries use mountain bikes to travel the rough roads throughout Accra and the mission.  To save costs, the mission has employed a bicycle mechanic, named Isaac, to procure good used bikes and to repair broken bikes.

We sometimes take these bikes to the missionaries going down roads shared with cattle. 

We also look after other apartment repairs such as replacing damaged extension cords.  

  Later in the week we joined the couple that works in the nearby Accra West Mission for dinner.

On Friday the mission leaders came to Accra for a meeting with the President and his wife.  They like to greet the missionaries as they arrive.

At this same meeting Meg gave a presentation on taking care of feet to prevent athletes feet and in-grown toe nails.

Elder and Sister Pace presented a technique to meet and greet people.

On the weekend we traveled to Koforidua to check out the condition of a senior missionary couples house in preparation for some new senior missionaries that are coming Dec. 6.   

The home is quite large and is located on a big lot with orange and avocado trees.  They will serve as member support and leadership missionaries.

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We went to see the nearby Boti falls, which were well worth the trip.

We attended an investigator class at church where we observed Elder Buys doing sign language to one of his investigators who is deaf.  He has also learned the native language.  Really quite amazing!

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