Going, Going, Ghana!

 


A very familiar sight in Accra, Ghana: Street hawkers
bearing their wares on their heads...hundreds of them!

Street booths are everywhere amidst colorful buildings and colorful taxis

 

As Bob's calling includes all of Africa, we were invited to the Mission Presidents' Seminar for the Africa West Area in Accra, Ghana this past week, where we were able to meet face-to-face the Area Presidency (Elders Curtis, Vinson and Dube of the Seventy) and their wives and the 13 mission presidents and their wives.

We participated in the mission president training by the Area Presidency and the discussions and sharing of best practices and also were able to spend a full-day sightseeing in and around Accra, tour the MTC with two of our former Cape Town missionaries from Ghana and participate in an endowment session in the Ghana Temple. 

Although we applied for our Ghana visas nearly two months ago, we almost didn't get them in time. On Monday, our departure day, we expected the visas any minute all day long, and the longer we waited the more tense we both got.  We were still awaiting a call about the visas at 2:00 pm. We were supposed to be picked up for the airport at 1:50 for our 4:55 flight. Finally, at 2:05, Bob had the Area travel supervisor make one last desperate call to the visa agent. At 2:06, we were told the visas were approved and the visas and passports could be picked up. The driver who was supposed to provide our ride to the airport instead left immediately to pick up our passports and visas, and we hurriedly drove ourselves to the airport, parked and met him there by about 3:30 for our 4:55 international flight. 

 

We went to South African Airways to check in for our flight and the agent told us the system denied our passports!  The agent said it had never happened before, and she didn't know what to do. She said she was sure we were okay, but she couldn't print boarding passes without passport approval on the system.  She asked the agents on either side of her, and they both said they had just experienced the same exact thing. After a phone call to their supervisor, it was clear that their computer connection to the passport system had quit working. So we waited and waited, along with the passengers on either side of us, until finally the agents just approved us and prepared handwritten boarding passes. 

Then, of course, the security guy asks, "What is this? These aren't real boarding passes!" When he realized there were several of us with handwritten boarding passes, he found his supervisor and got approval to let us through. Once we were finally on the plane, we were able to relax a bit after a very tense day and enjoy 6 1/2 hours of peace, quiet and rest. We even both slept for about half the flight. Then there was more waiting at the airport at the other end for our transportation to the hotel. We landed at close to 9:00 pm and got to the Fiesta Royale Hotel after 10:00 (midnight our time) in stifling heat and humidity, even at that hour.

Accra, Ghana, being near the equator, is much hotter and far more humid than we expected. Temperatures are in the 90's and humidity in the 90's all year round. It was also much more lush and green than we anticipated, but we really didn't see anything the first night and were in meetings all day the next two days.

When Bob went to his first Mission Presidents Seminar 10 years ago, there were 9 mission presidents there, all white Americans. The Area Presidency taught how the day had to come, sooner rather than later, when the majority of mission presidents in Africa would be native Africans. At this conference, 10 years later, 8 of the 13 mission presidents at the seminar in Ghana were black African natives!



Area Presidency and 13 mission presidents pose for a group
photo with their wives at the Mission Presidents' Seminar

Elder LeGrande Curtis, Jr., the Africa West Area President and his counselors (from Australia and Zimbabwe) were wonderful to include us and make a big deal out of the value Bob provides to the Area. He gave us time to introduce ourselves on the first day, gave us 45 minutes on the agenda the second day, and had us bear our testimonies at the end of the seminar. We loved the training and learned so much. And we became quite familiar with all of the couples, over two days of meetings and meals.

Elder Curtis talked about the incredible growth the Area is experiencing. There are 7 stakes in greater Accra plus a temple and an MTC, and 50 stakes now in the West Area, plus another 7 projected for this year and 14 new chapels under construction. At 12 converts per missionary per year, they had nearly 25,000 new converts in 2014 and are on target to exceed that this year, making West Africa the fastest growing Area in the Church, and Africa the fastest growing continent, exceeding the growth rates in Mexico and South America. The mission presidents and wives in West Africa were completely overwhelmed by the General Conference announcement by President Monson of a third temple in West Africa, in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast).

With an additional 14 stakes being projected for the Africa Southeast Area this year, that's a total of 21 new stakes projected in Africa in one year! That's 21 new stake presidents and presidencies, 250 high councilors and more than 150 new bishops, just in the new stakes, and there will also be new districts and branches in almost every one of the 27 missions. This growth will be sustained with local leaders in charge, and less dependence on American missionaries, which is more evident in West Africa, but also emerging across the rest of the continent..



A typical LDS meetinghouse in Ghana

The Accra Ghana Temple is beautiful, and we were able to join the Area Presidency, all the mission presidents and their wives in an endowment session Wednesday evening. Unlike the Johannesburg Temple, the Ghana Temple is staffed entirely by black, native ordinance workers (we saw no white American temple missionaries) and, much larger than the Johannesburg Temple, we had all 50 of us in one session.

At the Ghana Temple at dusk, where we enjoyed an endowment session

We had a free day Thursday to be tourists and see the country. President and Sister Heid of the Ghana Accra Mission showed us around from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm and took us to the most scenic places in the country, along the Volta River and Volta Lake, north of Accra, near the Benin (eastern) border. David Heid is the son of Elmer and Bonnie Heid, dear friends of ours (and of Ray and Kathy Egan) when we lived in Kirkland, Washington, and David and Delynn are neighbors and dear friends of Terry and Susan Gylling (my mission trainer in Denmark and his wife) in Fallbrook, California. So we had a lot to catch up on as we saw the sights and fought the incredible traffic while within the city of Accra.



Scenes in Accra, Ghana

 

 

A beautiful tree and a sample of the lush
greenery north of Accra along the Volta.

A Muslim mosque, taken from the car, in downtown Accra

 

In the shade along the Volta River in Ghana with President David and Sister Delynn Heid at the Senchi Resort

The Heids dropped us off at the MTC, where we were greeted by Bob's only two returned Cape Town missionaries from Ghana, Elder Pappoe and Elder Adonteng, who were so thrilled and excited to see Bob and to meet Martha. We spent a couple of hours with them and invited them to a guided tour of the Ghana MTC with us, from the president. Then President and Sister Robison of the MTC had us for dinner and had their driver, Patrick, drive us through the Accra traffic to the airport and our flight home.



With Chris Pappoe (left) and Alex Adonteng (right), former
Cape Town missionaries at the Missionary Training Center
in Accra, Ghana

We thoroughly enjoyed our three days in Ghana and found it well worth the nearly 13 hours in the air, so very grateful that our visas came through last minute, as an answer to many sincere and almost desperate prayers. We are loving every adventuresome day we spend in Africa!

Xenophobia, Ebola and Malaria

Okay, we know some of you are concerned and are wondering  if and how the things you hear on the news and in the media are effecting us here in South Africa.

We know many of you are hearing various reports on CNN, Fox News and other media about the current civil unrest in isolated places in South Africa, referred to in traditional and social media channels as "xenophobia," or fear of foreigners. If these reports have concerned you for our safety and welfare, please rest assured that we are safe, we are well aware of the heightened political tensions and we are taking all reasonable precautions, but please know that this "xenophobia"story has been greatly overblown by the media, and the threat to our safety and security remains minimal. We stay well away from where any protests take place and have witnessed no violence whatsoever.

Just so you can understand the situation here, the violence against immigrants is mostly black-on-black, directed at Africans from neighboring countries who have come to South Africa for economic opportunities. Owing to their desperation, many of these immigrants work very hard and are very successful—much to the chagrin of their impoverished South African neighbors, who scrape to get by in a country with a 40% unemployment rate. White missionaries, though foreign, are not considered a threat, as we are not taking any South African jobs.

The actual violence began two weeks ago in Durban, against businesses owned by foreign nationals, and has since spread to isolated pockets in and around Johannesburg's central business district (closed to all missionaries) and surrounding low-income townships. Because of a politically motivated shooting in the township of Alexandra Wednesday, South African army troops were deployed in Alexandra to support the local police. Though dramatic, the move was mostly seen as a show of force to further discourage some of the random and opportunistic crime (looting, burglary) which has been associated with the civil unrest. To be clear, the violence has been shocking with many people injured and seven people killed in the last two weeks, but it's very isolated and not near where we serve.

From the outset, the Church's Area Security Team has been on top of this, monitoring hot spots and sharing that information with the Area Presidency and missionaries. At this point, they have not requested any restrictions on any missionaries' proselyting activities anywhere. In addition to our professional security, local members—who are always concerned about our missionaries—are monitoring neighborhood situations and warning our missionaries of any potential dangers long before they erupt.

On a practical level, we want you to know that life in Johannesburg feels very normal to us. Shops are open, people are on the street, and the work of the Kingdom is moving forward, thanks in great part to your prayers, which are always appreciated and helpful.

While we were at the Mission Presidents Seminar in West Africa this week, we received promising updates on Ebola, which is isolated now to two countries, both a 7-hour flight  from where we live in Johannesburg. The country of  Liberia went 21 days without a case of Ebola before one isolated case showed up. Once it goes 42 days without a case, the country is no longer considered at risk, the quarantines will be lifted and the missionaries will be returned. In fact, a new mission president has just been called for the Liberia Monrovia Mission, effective July 1st, and Bob will be training him next month. The country of Sierra Leone has just six cases of Ebola currently and the same thing goes for that mission... we hope to see a new mission president called this year and the missionaries returned to the country. That's it for Ebola - it's practically eliminated, and is farther away from where we live and work than New York is from Europe.

Malaria, however, is still very much present in West Africa, with dozens of cases reported among our 4,000+ missionaries this year, most often in West Africa, the Congo and East Africa, but it is virtually non-existent in South Africa, so it is a non-issue where we live. And when it does occur, the medication the Church provides works immediately and thoroughly.

In short, no Ebola, no malaria, and life is pretty normal here in South Africa, despite what you may be hearing about xenophobia. We remain healthy and happy doing the Lord's work.

If you want to read about the Church's response to xenophobia in South Africa, here is an interesting link: www.mormonnewsroom.co.za/article/latter-day-saints-respond-to-aid-xenophobia-refugees

Ten Years Later...

With former Cape Town Missionary Sheryl
Garner at the Johannesburg Temple

 

This week we had another visit from one of our returned Cape Town missionaries, this time from the USA, Sheryl Garner, our lone African-American sister (actually Haitian-American) from Washington D.C.

Sheryl had a 5 1/2 hour layover in Joburg on Friday between her flights from Namibia and to Port Elizabeth. She is touring her old mission areas, visiting her converts, three of whom have now served full-time missions themselves! Needless to say, she served an outstanding mission, finishing at the end of 2005, and is enjoying the fruits of her labors here, 10 years later. 

 

We took her to a late lunch at Mike's Kitchen and to the temple and Area offices during her layover. She is so fun, and she purposely planned a long layover so she could spend it with us and get fatherly advice and counsel from Bob regarding her future and some important decisions she is facing. 

 

We had another busy week that zoomed by fast. Elder Jones, after considerable discussion with the Area Presidency and with Martha, met with Sean Donnelly and told him Martha would not be sharing her time with public affairs after all, as she was going to be kept plenty busy as assistant executive secretary. He told Martha that if he gave her up half-time it wouldn't be enough, and he feared Sean would fill more and more of her time. She told Elder Jones she is perfectly fine with the decision and loves what she is doing.

We had another very spiritually enlightening Sabbath day, with a powerful block of meetings at the Protea Glen Ward, where our Area President, Elder Carl B. Cook and his wife attended. He presided and spoke in both sacrament meeting and Priesthood meeting and he and his wife attended the YSA Sunday School class with us and about 30 young single adults. In every meeting, he bore testimony and left challenges. 

He challenged the ward members to focus more on the sacredness of the Sabbath and the sacrament and to arrive at church earlier to prepare for the sacrament by the Spirit. The SS lesson was on the Good Shepherd, and he challenged the young single adults to be shepherds and feed the Lord's  sheep and go out and find the lost ones. He challenged each YSA to bring a less active YSA to sacrament meeting, telling them we have enough YSA's in this ward for four wards, if they were all active. And he challenged each Priesthood bearer to fast a full 24 hours on fast Sunday and pay a fast offering of the cost of two meals missed (enumerating the blessings in Isaiah 58:8-12) in addition to coming to sacrament meeting 10 minutes earlier on a weekly basis. 

 

Then tonight we had a zone meeting for all the senior missionary couples, 19 area couples and 14 temple couples, plus the temple presidency, and were blessed to hear from Elder Jackson Mkhabela of the Seventy, whom Bob knew from his previous mission.  

Elder Mkhabela was a black police captain in Johannesburg during apartheid (a very rare, near impossible feat) and joined the Church during apartheid in 1993. He was one of the first black bishops and the very first black stake president in Southern Africa. He earned a law degree through years of evening classes. 

He was just released in General Conference two weeks ago as an Area Seventy, after 5 years, and has been called to be the first black mission president in Zimbabwe, starting in July. 

He quoted President Hinckley that there is no more compelling work than missionary work and no work that brings greater satisfaction. 

His beautiful message was to focus on the Savior and be fixed in our purpose. We left motivated and inspired to do better. 

Quick Weekend Trip Home to Utah!

The Egan siblings at our home following our grandson's
graveside service in Sandy on Friday, April 3rd - Betsy
 and her husband Klint, Kelly and her husband Richard, 
Elder & Sister Egan, Christian, Emily, Ben, and Robby
and his wife Kelsey.    Erik was on a stake pioneer trek
with his family and ward family who he is bishop over.
 

We're still quite jet lagged from a long, but short, Easter weekend trip home to Sandy, reconnecting quite unexpectedly with our wonderful children and grandchildren.

We woke up Monday morning, March 30th, to the sad news that our little premature grandson, Leo Ezra Egan in New York City had lost his 4-week battle for his life and passed away peacefully in his mother Kelsey's arms. He was a fighter, but weighed barely one pound, and his under-developed  organs finally gave out, ending a roller coaster month for Robby and Kelsey and everyone who loves them.

 

On Tuesday, when we were able to work out the arrangements to bury Leo in the same grave as his grandma, Bob's late wife Kathy, we both knew we had to be in Utah for the graveside services and to host a family luncheon at our home in Sandy. Luckily, it was a 4-day holiday weekend in South Africa and our offices were closed both Friday and Monday. 

 

We got approval from our Area Presidency, who were already in Utah for General Conference, booked our flights, and were in the air Wednesday night, April 1st, arriving Thursday the 2nd after a nearly 24-hour journey. 

 

Despite the sad circumstances, we had a wonderful day Friday with family, both the Egans and the Nixons. The graveside service was a beautiful tribute to little Leo and his parents, and our Sandy home proved to be a perfect venue for a solemn yet precious family gathering, catered by Olive Garden. 

 

We enjoyed a peaceful, although certainly surreal, weekend at home watching all the General Conference sessions, sleeping in our own lovely bed four nights and showering in our incredible shower each morning. Then we were back in the air for the 24-hour trip back to Johannesburg Monday/Tuesday after saying goodbye to our family... again!

 

We were reminded yet again of the tremendous healing power of a loving family unit and the sacred, spiritual blessings of eternal families. 

 

Just before we left for the Johannesburg Airport on April 1st, we were able to meet one of our returned sister missionaries from Madagascar, Sister Ranjaliva Ramananihanitramalala and her husband in the Johannesburg Temple, where they were performing ordinances for family names. We shared a tender moment as they told us about their three children and the blessings they are enjoying in Madagascar as an eternal family. 

 

While we were visiting, the temple president, Robert Eppel, came out of his office and showed us a letter he had just opened from President Monson authorizing Bob to be a sealer in the Johannesburg Temple. 

 

We agreed to work weekly in the temple on Friday afternoons, when we're available, and we started yesterday. Bob is the only sealer on Fridays, and Martha was set apart by President Eppel as an ordinance worker. 

 

We've both had a busy three days back in Joburg, and we're trying our best to get over the jet lag and get back to our normal missionary routine here in Africa, which we have come to love so much!