Last week was our second Mission Presidents Seminar. Our first one was in Abuja, Nigeria in April. This time it was local – here in Accra at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. It’s quite an undertaking requiring weeks of planning and hours of preparation. Earlier this summer we have six new mission presidents take over so it was the first time meeting many of them. The nine missions consist of two in Ghana, four in Nigeria, one in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), one in Sierra Leone/ Liberia, and one in Togo/Benin. It is a real privilege to be in these highly inspirational meetings. We had two full days of meetings followed by a day at the Accra Ghana Temple and wrap up at the Area Office. The first two show me walking on the hotel grounds and me in a lounge talking to a mission president and his wife.
The next two pictures are taken from the conference room windows. The boats in the distance are local fisherman out for their daily catch. The reef is just beyond the boats.
The following pictures are of the conference room and participants. We helped with the set up of the room. I'm standing in the top two. I helped with all the technical needs like power point set up. The last shows us flanking the area travel manager who has made arrangements for air flights and hotel accommodations for the area for 22 years. She's a good friend and she and her husband are pictured in the Gospel Principle's manual on page 218. Look how beautiful her skin is. They can wear any color and look great. Stephaney is not in many pictures because she is taking them!
The next two pictures are of the Presidents wives' break out session. They are being instructed by the area medical advisor on health/wellness issues they face with the missionaries. Malaria, which is preventable, is the biggest issue. Sanitary conditions cause a lot of problems too. The wives are always dealing with health issues, and on the phone with the doctor. In the nine missions in the Area West Area there are approx. 1,100 missionaries.
The next pictures are on the temple grounds. The first picture below includes the MTC President, the DTA and us. The second is of the Area Presidency, Mission Presidents and wives.
On Tuesday evening we all went to an Indian Restaurant for dinner. On the way there we had a typical African experience that you see quite often but hope never to experience first hand.
Our nice bus quit in the middle of heavy traffic. After several attempts to get it restarted the driver went out to see what might be wrong. He came back and said it was broken down and would not be going anywhere. Several of us got behind the van and pushed it out of traffic. Our African experience continues.
You just knew I needed a new desktop wallpaper! Wow, what a setup! Looks like your hard work was worth the effort! That's a lot of people and meetings to keep organized.
ReplyDeleteWhat a life...love reading about your exploits!
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