Pots and People

We visited Kpetoe, (pronounced Petway) which is about four hour drive from Accra. Bishop Sadahem, a friend in Accra, whose village is Kpetoe arranged for us to see pottery making by local villagers at a nearby village.This village is blessed with mud . Unlike the pot makes in the US, they do not use wheels. The women walk around and around as they make their pots. They bend over as they work, and somehow those pot turn out to be perfectly round. After shaping them they smooth them with rags and leaves and sticks and then let them dry in the sun. These are the pots they made which now will be cooked in a oven. If the pots crack or get broken, they soften the clay again with water and start all over again. We are like pots. When we make mistakes, we repent, and then the Lord gives us water to soften us up and let us take a new shape. We are all in the process of becoming.

To Market To Market To Buy a Fat Pig . . .

While the senior missionaries shop at The Palace, at Maxx Mart, and at Shoprite many of the local people go to market. We went to market today. The primary market downtown is the Makola Market which has had an air of mysticism about it ever since we arrived. There are long term personnel, missionaries and others who have never been to Makola Market. Others will not go without Beatrice, a local member, to guide them. Recently Deanne and small groups of others have ventured into the Makola Market which gave her the courage to venture there with Bob on a sunny Saturday morning. There is limited parking near Makola Market so we parked a couple of blocks away and walked. The gunk you see on the ground near our parking spot is old coconut husks which have been discarded after the seller sold the contents.


I mentioned that we bravely ventured into this unknown land. During the two hours we were in this huge market we only saw two other obrunies (white people). The merchandise was varied. Here Deanne stands next to smoked fish. There is a lot of smoked fish in the market. It looks as though it was over cooked by about ten minutes but it is clearly not intended to be snacked on as you walk down the aisles.



Another favorite in other markets are the large snails. We only saw them once or twice on this trip to Makola Market These are about the size of your fist.



We didn't eat the snails but did have a drink of coconut milk freshly prepared before our eyes.



The breadth of the merchandise available is seen by these two pictures. Most of the merchandise we didn't get to photograph because the merchants are adverse to having pictures taken of them and their stuff. We didn't get to photograph the cows' feet cut off about at the knee and being carried on the butcher's head into the market skinned all the way to the toe nor did we get a picture of the small plastic bags of raw meat chopped into one inch squares and being presumably sold to flavor a meal.



There was every variety of vegetable and petter available in Ghana but less fruit that we are used to seeing at the stands along the road. There were open 50 kilo bags of rice rolled down at the edges to be scooped up for the buyer with a tin can. One favorite in one corner of the market was shoes, used shoes. Another favorite was multiple fabric stores which intrigued one member of the party.



This fellow is either coming or going on market day.



Most of the merchants were content to wait for prospects to show some interest in their merchandise. This man was actively solicited a crowd with his herbal remedies. He had gathered the large crowd of people who were apparently interested in being able to cure with seeds and leaves every malady known to man.



On the wall out of the market were numerous posters. A good number of them displayed the Ghanan religiosity.



The market is one of the wonderful experiences which reflects the adventure of Africa. However, at its heart, the Makola Market is literally no different than markets we have seen as we have walked through Korea, Portugal, Thailand, Seattle, or Salt Lake. People selling and buying and looking. It is a great experience everyone ought to experience.

Once More in Dodowa

We went to Dodowa for church again. I love that place. Elder and Sister Dube went with us. I called the branch president last night and told him I was bringing Elder Dube. That meant they were mostly ready for him. Even though he is a general authority they introduced him as an area 70, the first time. By priesthood meeting they got it sorted out. They gave him 15 minutes in sacrament meeting and 25 minutes in a combined priesthood/relief society. They would have followed him anywhere. He has a wonderful energetic style. In priesthood/relief society he taught about our desire to have good things for our families based on I Nephi 6. He then parlayed that into having them all set a goal to speak to their parents, grand parents, uncles and “aunties” to get three names of ancestors they had not found before to submit to the temple. As he was moving from point to point he used a very interesting tool he can get away with but I probably could not. After laying the scriptural foundation for a point he would say “you mean to tell me … WOW.” It was a great opportunity to be with one of the brethren in a small branch where the members clearly appreciated the unique opportunity it was.

Shopping at TK Beads

At TK Beads you can watch as they make beads and jewelry from glass.

They start with recycled bottles.



They pound the glass to fine powder with a large metal pole.


Then they place it in molds and melt it in the wood fired brick oven.



They paint it, string it and sell it.



Denny Berrett and Bob Wilde each had a difficult time selecting the right purchase and stopped to contemplate their purchasing options.

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

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.