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July 2005 Update

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The shame of being captured by a human!
Oh, the unbearable shame of being held by a human!
A white one at that!!

Let me explain. I am a intelligent young cub belonging to a pride of ferocious feral cats. We live in a jungle near some humans, vultures and other lower species. We ignore them and expect them to ignore us. We never let humans touch or hold us, even though they try to bribe us with food. Since I am a cat, I am naturally brave and love to explore the unknown. One day I found a small opening in a screen and squeezed through to explore a human's lair. To my utter chagrin, I couldn't get back out.
Feral cats ignoring humans Hole in the screen
Feral cats ignoring humans A hole in the screen
I yelled at Mom, but she was snoozing and didn't come. Maybe I got a little loud trying to rouse her, but anyway this big, dumb, white human came out of his cave to where I was trapped and tried to catch me. He was slow and clumsy, so I played the game for a while and just nicked him with my claws a few times for fun. Finally, I decided to run up the screen to get out of his reach, but at the top, the wood was too slick for me to climb. As I slipped, I jumped---the big oaf had just gotten over near me and I landed right on him. All my claws snapped out and locked---the battle was on. Do you know that humans have red blood just like cats? He was too thick headed to know when he was beaten, so screaming and bleeding he carried me through his cave to another entrance that came out near where I like to hang.
Mom and friends snoozing Fighting the big oaf
Mom and friends snoozing Fighting the big oaf outside his cave
All the time his mate, a bit more pretty I might add, kept pointing something at me, but nothing happened. I covered my eyes just in case it was loaded. I was ashamed to be seen by my friends and family being held by this troll, so I kept clawing and he finally capitulated, admitted defeat and released his mangy grip. I dashed into the jungle where I am the king! Don't listen to any of his lies!

Victorious in my jungle
Victorious and safe in my jungle.



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What feedback we got last month about web page format was positive, so the table of buttons is here again. Please don't miss the Aba Temple Open House and the African Dolls.

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Life in Ghana after One Year
Baba New Broom
Baba is a constant we depend on.
He had malaria and was too sick
to move for a week. We were very
glad when he emerged from his hut.
While recovering, he made this
new broom he uses to sweep
the driveway and parking area.

We now attend North Ridge Ward when we aren't traveling for training. We have made another set of friends there. Our friend, Titus Tagoe who works in MSR, is the Bishop. Several other employees from the temple complex worship there also.
Aba and her Mom Adjoa
This is Aba and her Mom, Adjoa.
Aba's Dad is Jimmy Ephraim who
was in the lift bucket last December
putting up the Christmas lights.
This is another Adjoa eating a biscuit
(cookie or cracker) after church.
Note her Kente cloth outfit.

North Ridge Choir
The choir at North Ridge ranks up there with Adenta, our former ward.
Here they are singing the postlude.


Adelaide the Choir Director Bright Agboglo, the organist
Adelaide the choir director is very good. The accompanist is Bro. Agboglo.
When he is out, Bishop Tagoe asks
Sister Markham to play.


Skinny Elder Markham?
Is this the real Elder Markham?


No, Elder Markham has not lost weight, become hard as steel, and taken to preaching. After all the attention Sister Markham has given to her tall, skinny friend Kofi, Elder Markham thought he could give her a smile by putting his name tag on this sculpture at Nathan's shop. Sister Markham can only dream. Nathan would like to sell her this new 'Elder.' Nathan the Shop Owner

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School for the Deaf School for the Deaf
Wendy, Autumn and Amy are part of
a group of ten volunteers working
at a school for the deaf in Mampang
this Summer. Most are LDS.
Demonstration School for the Deaf
This mammy truck, the DemoDeaf 'bus,'
brought the LDS volunteers to visit
the temple site.

Alice Petty and Lizzy Gilman
Alice Petty and Lizzy Gilman (above) are working on service projects this Summer. One of their activities is to help women improve profitability of micro businesses. From this, they know where good handicrafts can be purchased. Sister Markham calls Lizzy her personal shopper. Lizzy (right) is modeling an African skirt made by a seamstress who is trying to expand her product line. Sister Markham plans to give the seamstress a pattern for a cloth jewelry bag. It will look nice in bright African fabric!
Lizzy models an African skirt
Corinne, like this skirt?
Watch your mailbox.

Rainy Season The rainy season continues (left), and Sister Markham still likes batik art (below).
Batik Art

And the beat goes on---these are 'talking' drums.
Notice how he squeezes the strings to raise the pitch.
The clip is about 250kb, so be a little patient.

           
Rashid plays the talking drums.
If he looks a little nervous, it's because
he doesn't really know the language and is
worried what he might be saying to the neighbors.


Goodbye to Elder and Sister Vernon

Elder and Sister Vernon
Elder and Sister Vernon completed their mission in June.
They spent most of their mission working in villages where
their efforts were very needed and much appreciated.
They worked hard and set a wonderful example for us.


Youth from Twifo Praso with Sister Vernon Praso saints in Family Histroy Office
Sprinting to the end, the Vernons,
literally on their way home, brought
a group of saints from Twifo Praso for
their first temple visit in Accra.
Sister Vernon is shown with the youth.
The first stop was the Family History Office
to ready some names for the temple. The
Vernons had prepared this group well, then
stayed with them the entire day to ensure
their temple experience was wonderful.

David Giles and Philip Xaxagbe
Another departure that leaves a large hole is David and Jill Giles. He has been the CES Director for West Africa. In the true Christian spirit, they treated their time here as much more than a job. They loved and blessed the lives of many Ghanaians and other West Africans. A fitting tribute was given to Bro. Giles by Philip Xaxagbe (above) the Materials Manager in the Area. Though replaced by wonderful people, the Holbrooks, the Giles will be missed.
Gift for Giles


George Afful at 60 During its first 18 months of operation, the Accra Ghana Temple has had a paid employee working as the official recorder. Now operations are more smooth, this responsibility will be handled by the temple missionaries. The first recorder was Brother George Afful who coincidently turned 60 in June and retired from Church employment after 14 years. President Gunnell has stated he is unaware of any recording error made during this time, and he has never seen Brother Afful flustered or upset even though there were often difficult challanges with records and communication in Africa. Bro. Afful, the patriarch for Lartebiokorshie Stake, plans to volunteer in the temple as a worker and sealer for two days each week and help his wife with her catering and rabbit businesses.
Brother George Afful at 60

George Afful George Afful
A pioneer Church employee in Africa,
Brother Afful was praised at his
retirement by all who had worked with him .
The Temple Complex choir sang,
so Sister Markham accompanied.


Elder Stirland Shoes Elder Stirland Shoes
Elder Stirland, who completed his
mission in Accra, was in our office just
before flying home. Like most Elders,
he gave any clothing with remaining life
to other missionaries.
The shoes he wore home have walked all
over three West African countries. They
have fought a good fight---and can now
wave good-bye, literally!

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The 'Shift Key' Story
The Shift Key From time to time we meet people in West Africa who have taught themselves how to use a computer keyboard. Sister Markham often helps people with family history data input. She is a big believer in learning while doing, so she sits and advises while they input their own names. Sister Markham types very fast, so waiting for them to pick through a name requires saintly patience.
Do you know the function of every key?
We have observed an interesting phenomenom regarding the use of the 'shift' key. When you push it alone, nothing happens. There are not two characters (lower case and upper case) on the letter keys. Most West Africans have never used an old manual typewriter. Therefore, some self-taught users haven't figured out what the 'shift' key is for or even what 'shift' means. We see them push the 'Caps Lock,' type one letter, push 'Caps Lock' again and proceed.

If you met a person who typed without using the 'shift' key, would you not hire them for being inefficient or untrained? Or would you hire them for having initiative and self-motivation, and offer a little training? Based on the quality of the people we have seen using the 'double caps lock' approach, we'd hire and train.


Two Precious Gifts Received on July 4th
Amina gives peanuts to Elder Markham Amina with Sister Markham
During our weekly stop at Amina's banana
stand, she presented Elder Markham
with a gift bottle of roasted ground
nuts (peanuts). She had prepared this
herself and would accept no payment.
We were both touched that she valued
our friendship enough to offer a gift
worth a couple of days profit from
her banana sales. Note she is wearing
a 2002 final four tee shirt.

A Gift from Sisters
That evening we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant,
Sisters of the East, with the Thompsons to celebrate the
4th of July. When the staff learned what we were celebrating
they presented us with this "Golden Fish" in addition to our
order. It was a gift to show appreciation for our business.

These two unsolicited, sincere gifts of friendship that coincidently came on the 4th of July made us think of a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "It is not enough to count our blessings, we must make our blessings count."


Three New Mission Presidents

Three Mission Presidents
From left to right:
President and Sister Dil from New Zealand, Ghana Cape Coast Mission
President and Sister Stone from Oregon, Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission
President and Sister Ounleu from Ivory Coast, Ivory Coast Abidjan Mission


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