Saturday, August 16, 2014

Finding Doctor Kissi

When I asked Dr. Kissi who supports this hospital? Who funds you? He looked at me and said, “God.”



Just after we arrived in Ghana we were told we had to have physicals done so that we could get our Ghanan non-citizen cards. We had a doctor appointment at 3:00 p.m. on the first of June. We didn’t know where or by whom. Because we were new, Dinah one of the secretaries in the office led in her car and we followed. I thought we were only going a few blocks but I misunderstood and after 45 min. I began to be worried. Where are we going I wondered. We were on a dirt road and the neighborhood was poor. We stopped at the clinic. I wondered if it would be safe to leave our car here on the road.

We walked through a gate to the Deseret Hospital, and entered the small humble clinic and were taken to an exam room to wait. While we were there, I noticed the banner hanging on the wall of the office and I recognized that name.

I had heard of Kissi Branch. Then we met Dr. Kissi. He is over 70 years old. He introduced his wife a trained midwife with whom he runs his clinic. They give their all, their hands, their personal money, their time, and their lives to serving the people here in the middle of no where and serve people who have no other access to medical help.


He briefly examined us I wondered if any of the people in this area had money to pay? So I asked him, “Dr Kissi, who supports your hospital? Who funds you? He said, “God.” I believe he is right. He is one of the Saints of the world, a great man with a great wife. I wanted to give him all the money I had.

In an interview for LDS newsroom he was asked, why he came back to Ghana instead of staying in the United Kingdom to practice as he was invited to do and he said, “When I was going to Britain, my intention was to live there for a short time. Some of my classmates with whom I came did not return to Ghana. I did not pay school fees. My school fees were paid through the toil of the peasants, and so on. So it was my intention to go to England, learn, then come back and serve my people.


This is a day we will not forget. We met Dr. Kissi, a man of God serving his people.
Dr.Emanuel Abu Kissi wrote the book, “Walking in the Sand, which tells about the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-Day Saints in Ghana. He graduated from medical school in England, and then returned to Ghana and established the Deseret Hospital. He has served as an Area Seventy and is married to Benedicta and is the father of seven children.


Learn more about Dr. Kissi at: http://www.mormonnewsroom.com.gh/article/church-has-brought-many-blessings-to-ghana

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Ghanan Entrepreneurialism



The members of the Church here are like we have heard the Ghanans described generally, very religious. The Ghanan religiosity is reflected in the names of their businesses. We took pictures of some of the business signs on the way home from church. Sighting signs on the businesses is as delightful a pastime as is sighting new signs on the back of taxis and tro tros. Note that virtually every one of these businesses is closed on Sunday.


Anointed Hand Fast Food


Let God Provide Cell Phone Service


Psalm 27 Chop Bar


God’s Way Electrical Works


God With Us Cold Storage


Just Christ Tilapia Joint


Jesus Is The Answer Carpentry Shop (Some Irony Here)


Hand Of God Enterprises


God Is Able Welding Shop


By His Grace Fitting Shop


Elite Kingdom Investments




God Is Good Food Store




God’s Time Water Supply




Lord Side Enterprises


And my personal favorite - God’s Shelf Aluminum And Razor Wire

Church in Dodowa

We went to Church in Dodowa again today. We were supposed to go there to teach the temple preparation class but they have an ordinance worker in the Branch who had already taught everyone who was eligible to go to the temple. We will stay working with them until the six people they have who completed the course attend the temple. Going to Dodowa for church is great. It looks as though it is about to become a ward. They filled every seat, and more, for sacrament meeting today. As has happened in every testimony meeting we have attended here at least one testimony was in a tribal language we didn’t understand and, as is usual, no one got up to interpret.

Dodowa is in the country. That doesn’t mean it is like traveling in rural Utah it just means that the villages which connect to each other are not jammed together and that there is some agricultural land along the way. These include small corn fields, banana orchards, mango orchards and the ever present goats. A delightful place.