Thank You

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Today was Amanda’s 26th birthday.  I brought a card and chocolate from home for her and then last night after painting, Kaby gave us one of his weavings that looks like a scarf and we included that in her gift.  She got a rendition of “Happy Birthday” this morning from us and again tonight from the Nigerian crew who had returned from their adventure at Cape Coast. We took the day off and went shopping, ate lunch at a deli by a modern hotel which was quite “Americanized” and the girls said it was such a great meal! (We’re all a little tired of the lack of variety in the diet here…rice, beans, chicken or fish, coleslaw type salad and pineapple…pretty much sums up every lunch and dinner menu).  So a Panini sandwich with real meat on real bread was fabulous!

We took Taxi’s this morning down to “the Pit” as the missionaries call it.  Local merchants/artists selling their wares out of their shacks.  The minute we stepped out of the taxis they descended on us like wolves, each one wanting to show us their goods and take us to their shops (or rather booths).  We all bought lots of things from nativity sets out of ebony wood, to carved bowls and animals, to jewelry and artwork.  Lots of fun items here to buy and the bargaining was crazy.  Everyone said they would start high and we should not pay more than half of what they asked…but then I would look at their little children running around and know that these people had very few customers and the difference in my bargaining price and what they wanted was usually less than $5 American dollars, so I would bargain for less but then pay them more.  Camron said I was too soft.  I was hoping my little extra helps to feed one more mouth another day.  I gave a couple of the children a snack of fruit snacks (with their parent’s permission).  The first little boy, about 2 years old, put one in his mouth and promptly spit it out.  The adults tried them and ate them.  They said it was too sweet for the little one.  The other children I gave them to seemed to like them well enough.

After shopping and lunch we returned and Camron packed up his bags and headed to the airport as he is going to India.  Just as we were ready to go find a taxi to take him to the airport, Elder Park, one of the senior missionary couples here, walked out of his room and offered to drive Camron.  That was a nice surprise.  The airport here says you need to check in 3 hours prior to your flight time so Camron was there at 3:30pm for a 6:30pm flight.

At 4:45pm I received a text from Camron saying the flight was already boarding…not quite understanding why you would board so early, but 45 minutes later he sent another text which read, “It turns out they were taking tickets to herd us into another waiting area.  The facilities here are not like a normal airport.  It’s like an airport from 50 years ago.”  At 6:20pm Camron sent another text saying he was on the plane.  He will not arrive in Chennai, India until Sunday night at 8:10pm (India is 12 ½ hours ahead of Salt Lake time…we’re not quite sure where the extra ½ hours comes in?).  So, that means he is another 5 1/2 hours ahead of our time here in Ghana.  That tells me he is not close.  I’m excited for this next 10 day adventure for him and for the last two week adventure he’s had with me here in Ghana.

Early on in the project, we decided we wanted to give each worker a cash bonus for their help with the work here.  Because there are so many, it is not as much as I would like, but we felt that it would still be a huge help to each one of them.  Tonight, after Camron had gone and when the others had gone shopping again (I was definitely too tired to shop again), I gave each of the Nigerian crew their written note with their cash.  It was dinner time and as I gave them their cards, I told them it was a small note of thanks and that they could open it later in their rooms.  They put the cards in their pockets and got their meals.
After dinner we started playing games and slowly one by one (as they opened their cards, obviously) they came to me and expressed their sincere appreciation and gratitude for the gift.  Oliver was the first and he came over and gave me a huge hug and almost seemed close to tears (which is so NOT Oliver, the temple engineer…the man in charge).  He just said how grateful he was and how much I have taught him and his people and how amazing this experience has been.  Later when I returned to my room and received my emails, this is what he had sent to me,

“Dear Alicyn,

On behalf of Aba Temple crew I write to express our thanks and appreciation for the love and care your crew showed to us especially you and beloved husband. 

We came, ignorant of knowledge and skill of what we came for; you under looked our ignorance,  brought us close like your blood children, showed us motherly love and care and impacted necessary knowledge and skills we lack!

We pray Heavenly Father continue to enlarge your wisdom, knowledge and skills to continue to make a difference in this profession. Having added an additional ascetics beauty to the Lords house, the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour you and family blessing even more job opportunities! 

Our wife and children will ever remain grateful for your magnanimity and selflessness.  We promise you that we will replicate all that you taught us in Aba Temple. 

Thank you!  thank you! ! and God bless and keep you. We love and cherish you and team.

Oliver Azuonwu.”

I will cherish these sweet words he wrote forever.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be here and work with these amazing people and learn to love them as truly my friends and brothers and sisters.  It’s amazing how so often we look at color and race as something different, but as I spend time with each of them each day, I really look at them as individuals, not as black and white but as each unique person, and I’m actually amazed that I forget the color of their skin until I see a photo of us together, and then I see how “white” I am.  They are such beautiful people!

Alicyn

Gifts

Friday, January 30, 2015

Six of the Nigerian crew began new areas in the Baptistery today as additional “test projects” and they don’t even need me now.  They are confident and each day are getting better with their skills and the way they see things.  And even better, I am no longer nervous about leaving them alone.  Meanwhile, I took two others from the Nigerian crew (Stanley & Joy) to work on the Bride’s room to make sure they are well trained in the waterfall finish so they can oversee their group back home.  It’s so great to see that I can leave the room to answer questions and return and see that all is well.  Alex and Kaby from Ghana were also working in this room with me.  They will be the Ghanaians who will be in charge of mending the temple walls here as needed.

Agnovi, Alicyn and Ennuson

Meanwhile in the Celestial room, they were moving scaffolding off the two completed walls and making a walkway so we could move furniture from the C-Room into the sealing rooms to make a place to set up the scaffold on the two remaining walls.  When I walked down to check the progress, Hanna, Amanda, Vicky and Patti were basically asleep on the couch.  There wasn’t much to do while they waited for the scaffolding set up.  I told them I had the wrong job today, and that they better not let Kim see, since she was up working with Joseph on a small hall off the entry.  I think we are all feeling great that things can be moving forward without us doing all the work.  And, I know we are all exhausted from the past two weeks.

Alex & Alicyn

Each day it seems that one of the workers brings me a gift.  I appreciate them so much, but feel bad since I know they cannot afford it.  Oscar brought us a bag of coconuts from his neighbors tree since he said drinking the coconut water would make our stomachs feel better (Amanda wasn’t feeling so good for a couple of days).  We all tried it and believe he is right.  Then Agnovi brought us a bag of plantains and some other strange things that he grows in his garden.  Thankfully Rose knew how to prepare them.  Agnovi also gave me a small painting that he did years ago.  While working with him I found out that he loves to paint so I had asked him if he could paint me something.  He said he didn’t have brushes or paints right now (he is actually from Togo, now living in Ghana), but the very next day brought me something he found that he painted years ago (the date on it is 1979).  I am most grateful.  Suzie made Camron and I bracelets, Kaby gave me a weaving scarf and Oscar brought us some Ghana chocolate.  These are very gracious and giving and loving people.

Alicyn

Ghana Quotes

January 29, 2015

Every day I think about all the cute ways the people talk here, or the phrases they use and then when I try to remember in the evening, I cannot…I think by then my brain is exhausted. So, this morning I wrote down a few during conversations I had the past couple days.  Following are exact quotes:

Agnovi, “My best moments are when I am painting.”

Susie, “Painting helps you to be more humble, more careful and more loving.”

Rose, “I’m through with you.”  Spoken to Mark, who wasn’t sure what he’d done to her…which in translation means, the food is ready and you can eat now.

Rose, “I made you potato salad tonight.”  Which in translation means cooked potatoes cut up in cubes.

Ennuson, looking up at the next higher level of scaffolding, “Are you there?”  I think he was trying to get the attention of someone on the next level. (Maybe you had to be there?)

“Who will give a contribution?”  Almost everyone at church when they want a comment in a class.

“I’ve heard enough from you,” spoken by the Sunday School teacher when one brother had given many “contributions”.  Pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well at home.

Alex, “We are doing awesome work in an awesome way!”  He loves the new American word he learned these past couple weeks (awesome…so he uses it whenever possible).

Suzy was telling me that she often tells her children, “If you train yourself in a hard way, wherever you go, you are free.”  Just grand advice!

I’m pretty sure they don’t really understand the word, “stop” since no one stops when I ask them to.  Alex told me I just need to whack them aside the head and then they will listen.  Yeah…I’m thinking that will go over big in the temple…

The morning started off with a lot of tears during the devotional.  The first two days, members of our crew did the thought and the prayer and since then I’ve asked for volunteers (probably should have asked for contributors) and it’s been amazing.  Oscar contributed today.  He had us start by singing “I Am a Child of God” which pretty much sent me and Vicky over the edge with tears.  He asked Susie to conduct and at the end said, “Thank you sister for good conducting,” with the most genuine sense of gratitude I’ve ever seen.  Then he launched into his devotional. 

Oscar said, “We are all doing good work with our black and white combination.”  He then shows a print out of a keyboard and says, “A keyboard gives a good combination with the black and white keys to make a sound tune.”  His whole message could have been that song “…ebony and ivory, living together in perfect harmony…” He talked about how we are all God’s children, working together to build the kingdom and doing good things together.  It’s such a simple message of Christ like love that we should all think more about.  Amanda videoed the whole message and I really need to get a copy since no one can appreciate it without hearing his accent and his words that are beyond beautiful.

Oscar has the biggest heart of any of the workers.  He has very crooked teeth (because of an accident where he was hit in the face…and is saving to get them fixed), is tall and always wears these major flood Sunday pants (probably cause he can’t find any longer or because all his money goes to his six children), travels two hours each way to come each day, is a super hard worker, has a gigantic appetite and I’ve grown to love him dearly.  One of the first days working, he was so happy and announced that he is “working for Jesus!”  I don’t think you can top that!

Kaby has helped us for two days now with the modellos.  He rocks!  He is very quiet, a man of few words, but a quick learner and very interested in learning all he can.  When I asked Alex who else I should teach to do the mends for the temple walls, he replied, “Kaby because you can rely on him.”  That indeed is a good trait.

Vicky & Oliver

Last night I asked the men if I could take a picture of them with their plate of food.  I’m not sure if it shows in the pictures or not, but they eat a crazy of amount of food each meal.  Each day at lunch we will see another body, who we don’t recognize and isn’t working with us eating with us and I’m happy as ever that we can feed them.  So many people here are hungry because of the lack of work, money, etc.  So I believe if for nothing else, they have enjoyed the work as well as the food each day.

After two long days, we have now completed the modello border designs in the sealing rooms and two of the four large, high walls in the Celestial Room.  All the workers are fascinated with the modello designs and the method we use to install them.  They really finish off the sealing rooms nicely.  So beautiful! The temple president, Brother Afful wanted to know if he could get those designs in his office too. 

I’m still in awe at how fast the work is going, but also grateful that this was not the original two week shut-down (I convinced them we needed three weeks) or I would be in panic mode about now.  I haven’t run out of work to do yet, and lots of additional training for mending the walls and organizing all the tools and product that are all over the temple at this point.  I’m continuing to push forward as the workers continue to ask “Miss Alicyn…” questions all day long. 

Alicyn

Passing the Test . . .

Tuesday, January 27, 2015 – Accra, Ghana

Some favorable moments:

Yesterday at lunch time Rose, our cook, brought some of the jewelry she makes since Kim wanted to see it.  As the girls were up by our rooms looking through the jewelry and trying things on, Joy (we thought it was Jys in the beginning…their accents have taken awhile to figure out) walked by and wanted to try on one of Rose’s necklace.  I could tell she liked it a lot so I asked how much it cost.  “25 Cedi,” Rose said, which equates to $7.60.  Joy then went in her room wearing the necklace to look in the mirror and I went in my room to get 25 cedi so I could buy it for Joy, since I figured she didn’t have the money to buy it for herself.  As I knocked on her door and asked if she would like the necklace, she said it was very pretty but she could not spend so much money on a necklace.  I had the 25 cedi in my hand and asked, if she would let me buy it for her and she again emphasized that she could not spend the money on that.  I asked if there was something else she would rather spend the money on and she nodded yes.  So I handed her the 25 cedi and told her it was hers and I got the biggest hug ever and she knelt down on one knee like she was praising the Lord...saying thank you, thank you, thank you over and over again.  Seven dollars and sixty cents.  Makes me realize that we are so blessed, or so spoiled?

Also yesterday morning when we were working on the scaffolding in the front entry where the walls are so high, I was three levels up with Stanley, Emanuel and Agnovi and since I was closer to the middle, I was right in front of the air conditioning vent which was blowing lots of cold air out.  Stanley told me I was working in my favorite place…the cold one.  We’ve had so many days of extreme hot and sweat that the cool air felt great.  The rest of them don’t like the cold air.  In fact, later in the day while working in the large sealing room, Joy came to me and said she had to leave.  She was physically shaking since she was so cold.  She just kept saying, “It’s too cold.”  Now her version of “too cold” is so different from mine, since I thought the room was just perfect (actually air conditioned for a change) and my dear friends were freezing, even to the point of hypothermia (at least if you looked at Joy).  It’s interesting to me that you really do acclimate to the climate you live in.
Today the Nigerians passed their first test with the first finish.  I made them do the Counselor’s office all by themselves with the first layer without me or Oliver (the Nigerian Temple Engineer).  I think Oliver was a little shocked when I told him he would not be participating in the “test” since we didn’t want to add stress to him since he’s in charge of so many things during a shut down.  I think it was a little hard for him, but I also think he knew it would be better and even though it was hard for him to let go…everything went better than expected.  They had to find their own tools, their own product and at the end, clean up their own mess.  It was all good.  I asked a few questions in the beginning to make sure they knew what they were doing and then left them alone and told them they had to pretend they are back in Nigeria and there is no one to ask except each other.

I told them not to come and get me until they had completed the first layer and completed the “touch-up” or fixing of the first layer.  2 ½ hours later, I was very impressed.  One week ago, I have to admit, I was quite nervous about them knowing enough.  Sunday and Michael volunteered to be in charge (the two I would have chosen) and they all did fabulous as a team.  I believe they have the skills for the first finish to do what is necessary in Aba.  When Michael said to me, “You tell us it is excellent, but if you rate us between 0 – 100 what would you give us?” I replied 85% and the entire group erupted in a grand cheer with giant smiles believing it was perfect.  I couldn’t have asked for more.  They are going to do just fine when they need to do this in their own temple in March.  When I asked Michael if this was a good test, he said proudly, “Yes, now I have confidence!”  That’s what it is all about…believing that you can!  That really is my secret in life, given to me by my father who always taught me that I could do anything in life if I wasn’t afraid to fail.  It’s true…success comes by perseverance and confidence and a lot of bumps in the road!

I wish I could post pictures of the interior walls we are doing, but as you all know, this is not possible.  They are so beautiful.  The very high walls in the entry area are complete and the scaffold is now down and out of there so we can really see them. (Mom, it’s time to stop worrying!)  All of the workers are very pleased with their work, as they should be.  It is amazing what we have accomplished in just seven work days here.  We have seen miracles and continue to do so.  Both sealing rooms are finished with the wall finish now and we are ready for the designs (a three foot border with the leaf motif that is in the decorative paint on the ceiling and carved into the chairs). The scaffold continues going up in the Celestial Room as we move through the temple.  Electricians are replacing the wall sconces in the halls that we completed last week and the building is slowly getting cleaned up.  We are excited to finish our assignment and hopefully have time to help clean and put everything back together again so we can see the finished spaces.  So often we miss out on seeing the finished project since the areas still look like a construction zone when we leave.  This project, we plan to see it through to the clean, finished, organized building that it deserves.
The cute missionary couple, the Park’s from Centerville, Utah, who live a few doors down from our room brought us American spaghetti left over from last night and invited us over for homemade bread.  American food…a great heaven send!

Alicyn

Games and Challenges

Tonight we pulled out the American games.  Those who stayed looked like little children so excited to learn.  It was so fun watching them understand and learn.  I think Quirkle may have to go to Nigeria with the team.

Challenges…In Africa the men and women have different “work” shall we say.  Some of the men have been leaving their brushes and tools for the “women” to clean up since it’s “not man’s work” and they are hungry. That all changed today…I gave several stern lectures to individuals that when they work for me, they clean up their own tools.  The women will no longer be doing “their” work!  I’m hoping it sunk in enough today.

Challenges…since the temple is closed and they are doing remodel work everywhere, we lost our kitchen sink on Saturday while they are replacing the counter tops.  The girls said, “This is kind of like camping…find a sink in a bathroom or laundry room to do dishes in (dishes…another challenge with the men and their image of “man’s work”…that also is changing…God didn’t make me a fighter for nothing.)  Besides, I’m the “boss lady” as some call me.  

Many of the men are more than happy to do the clean-up work.  They are just so humble and grateful to be working in the temple.  All of the workers from Ghana are doing it as volunteers and as we talk with them, they reason they have time to volunteer, is they have no work right now.  I can’t imagine having a CPA, or an Engineering Degree or other qualified skills and having no work.  These are the qualifications of Agnovi’s two sons.  This is a crazy place and makes me grateful for the USA even with our own problems.

HUGE 38 foot entry walls are coming along and should be finished tomorrow by lunch time!  That will feel so great!  They started moving the scaffold into the Celestial Room.  It’s only day 6 and we are cruising with so many hands.  Tomorrow I’m going to start to test the Nigerian crew by giving them their own room to do without any of us in there.  Once they get the first layer done and “fixed”, I will inspect before they move on.  They have to do it without us in March, so we better start making them do it NOW.

Many of my crew are not feeling great…change of food is sometimes hard on the system.  Nothing bad… they are
just not as excited at trying Rose’s cooking as they were at first.  GSE is a traveler,s friend.  Don’t worry, we shipped plenty of things more American…granola, almond milk, stuffing mix and packaged chicken, soup mixes, etc. and there is always plenty of fruit.  We did pass on the Fufu at lunchtime, however.

The project continues to march forward…

Alicyn

"It" is Never Done

January 25, 2015

The spirit in church today was so great!  The people here are so wise and loving and committed to the gospel it seems.  The Stake Center here is just across the parking lot from where we are staying in patron housing so we walked a short distance to attend church this morning.  The building overall is not air conditioned.  Listening to the speakers in sacrament meeting was a bit of a challenge since all the windows were open and fans were going to circulate the air, but also the noise of the traffic and the street comes in through the open windows. Although the natives did not seem too hot, we Americans were sweating and hot fairly quickly.  They are very soft spoken so even though there is a microphone, it is difficult to hear.

Alicyn and her Nigerian Crew

Following are my thoughts and notes from attending church today.
The opening prayer was such a sermon in and of itself.  The brother asked God to “cleanse the evil from our thoughts”.  He prayed for the sick and needy with such fervency and also the country of Ghana to be at peace.  I really felt his heartfelt desire going out in the prayer and I thought a lot of whether or not I’m asking for forgiveness in the right way as he did for all of us in the beginning.
The youth speaker, wearing a full suit and tie in the heat talked about the Book of Mormon.  We are led by the spirit (in life) not knowing beforehand what we should do.  I’ve read this scripture in Nephi so many times but today it gave new meaning as I applied it to what I am doing here in Ghana in the temple with so many.  We should “go and do” and as we go forward in faith and pray for spiritual gifts, we will see them present in promptings, impressions, and the presence of angels.  As we pray, answers will come in many ways. Trust in the Lord and he will direct thy path for good.  I’ve witnessed this over and over again.

A brother spoke about strengthening marriage and relationships by emulating the Savior’s life in our words and actions and then the man from the high council spoke.  He said that Heavenly Father did not leave us helpless without direction in our lives.  We have all the tools we need, even the spirit of Christ.  He encouraged us to read the talk from the October conference of “Ponder the Path of thy Feet” from a spiritual level.  He talked about during the open house of the temple here in Ghana, villagers (non-members of the church) came from far away to visit this spiritual place and as they came out of the temple they knelt down, reached their arms toward heaven and said, “It is done!”

American's and Nigerians

He told us how “it” is never done.  Life is a journey and a learning process with progress, mistakes, repentance and more.  We don’t just do one event and we have “made it” but it is a life full of enduring to the end to get us back to heaven.  God is the only one who can tell us when it is done and say to us, “Well done thy good and faithful servant…enter into my presence.”  Then it will “be done” for a season, per se.  Christ faced all the same challenges in His life that we face so he can succor and comfort us and lift us.

The young man who taught Sunday school was an excellent teacher.  He taught without a note, walked the aisles to have eye contact with all members of the class and asked us to all “contribute” as they say.  I thought how “contribute” is such a better word than asking for comments or stories.  When we contribute to something we are making it better or building the kingdom.  I love the use of that word here in this country.

Relief Society was held downstairs in the high council room which was air conditioned.  Yeah! When Camron found that out afterwards, he said he should have come to Relief Society.  There was such a sweet spirit in that room.  These are wonderful women who love and strengthen one another.  All singing was done without accompaniment, yet it was just right.  It appears that the young women and young men just attend priesthood and relief society with the adults since there are so few of them. Hopefully in the future, they will have enough youth to form a YM/YW’s group.

Alicyn

Playing Leap Frog and Chicken

January 24, 2015

Today we hired a company to take us to Cape Coast for the National Park where we could go on the canopy walk in the tops of the trees and have a tour of the Portugese/English Castle where they traded merchandise and slaves from 1400 – 1833 until the English government abolished slavery (actually they abolished it about 25 years earlier, but it kept going on until 1833).

We were told it would take about 2 hours to get there but we left at 7am and didn’t arrive at the National Park until after 10am.  It was fascinating to drive out of the city and see all the living conditions, the thousands of people, the wares being sold and the people with the baskets on their heads.  Want a new couch?  Just drive to a little shack on a busy road and you have your choice of four sitting in the dirt.  Window, or doors, or my favorite, coffins - all in small structures along the highway.  Most were four open walls with a tin roof.  Mark said as we drove, “What happens when it rains?”  I’m guessing the couch just get a little wet and then dries out again.  In that instance, it might be better to be in the window business here.

One of the funniest sites we saw, however is the car wash in the dirt.  And when I say dirt, imagine Lake Powell red sand, or Georgia red clay dusty and blowing and covering everything in sight.  Even the large palm tree leaves were caked with red dirt.  Now put a car wash in the middle of this, with no cement or asphalt…what’s the point?  And yes, we actually saw a few cars being washed as we passed.  At least the car wash would never run out of customers with dirty cars.
As we drove along the bumpy road to the National Park, the pot holes were everywhere.  So to avoid them, our driver weaved around them.  It didn’t seem to matter to him what side of the road he was one, whether or not he was two inches from the next car or the person walking along the side of the road, because at least he went around the pot hole.  At times Patti and I just held our breath as we were inches from what seemed like a collision of car or person.  The road was very old asphalt and covered by so many holes and dirt that it seemed as if we were four wheeling in southern Utah.  It almost looked like someone had poured the asphalt from above like hot lava and it dried quickly so all the edges were very uneven like a long strip like jagged pool (full of holes and such).  I was never sure if we were on dirt or asphalt the last several miles or so.  At one point someone said, “I think we are on the wrong side of the road, “ and Hanna replied, “I don’t think they have a side of the road.”  That about sums it up.

The National Park Canopy Walk was amazing!  You walk along these bridges (one 12” plank wide) held by ropes with nets on each side among the tree tops.  They definitely bounce and sway because of the others on the bridge at the same time but you are above most of the trees of the jungle with a few overhead.  It was so cool!  We took lots of pictures.  At one point I turned to look back at Amanda (we were going in single file) and her face was as white as a ghost and it looked like panic was setting in.  Kim and Marci were doing OK just because our guide was right in front of them talking and telling them to not look down.  All I could think of was how much Danika would LOVE this experience!

 After the hike and canopy adventure we headed over to the Coast for lunch and the castle tour which is fascinating to see but more like visiting a holocaust museum.  Seeing the living conditions of the slaves was appalling.  I’ve never understood why people don’t see all people as the same.  What is wrong with us?  We are all Children of God and have basic human rights and should never be sold or imprisoned or abused in a manner like this.  I am grateful that I know that God is not a respecter of persons and we should treat everyone in a kind and Christ-like manner.  The coast was pretty, but I preferred the jungle.


Driving back Camron wanted to video the "Leap Frog and Chicken" game we played driving down (or rather our driver played forcing  us to join in).  Since the roads are very crowded and a single lane, every vehicle wants to pass the other, and it does not seem to matter if a car is coming toward you or not, they still pass.  He got some great footage.  J So image going 100 – 140 km/h, weaving in and out of cars with the cars, buses, vans coming straight at you head on within very tight spaces and even around curves.  For most it would have been better to keep your eyes closed as we would just slip back into our lane as the other car coming straight at us a moment before whizzed by.  Strangely I was not worried but completely calm.  I kept praying for safety as the driving situation was not in our control.  As we got closer to Accra coming back the traffic looked worse than LA in rush hour and soon our driver and several others were using the shoulder of the road as another lane, not worrying about the people walking up and down and in between the cars.  Driving has never been so exciting!  At least the three hour return was adventurous!

Alicyn

Thank Heaven for Air . . .

Friday, January 23, 2015

Thank goodness for air conditioning and a new room.  Today it was “cold” according to the trainees…which started a conversation about weather.  They want to know how we survive in winter weather.  I’m guessing they’ve never seen snow, a parka, boots etc.  It seems strange to me that we live such different lives in different continents, but also have so much in common because of the gospel of Jesus Christ…the common denominator that unites all.

While Oliver (the temple engineer from Nigeria) has been insisting that I NEED to come to Nigeria to direct them while they do these finishes on their temple, today I discovered that they will do just fine.  I think Oliver feels a lot of weight about them getting it done right.  But today I have worked with three Nigerian men who just “get it.”  They work perfectly and see perfectly.  Ennuson keeps teasing me because I said to him, “I can teach you technique, but I can’t teach you to see.”  As we work the walls I’m asking them to tell me what they see in a section and be able to recognize the areas that need more or less plaster so they can get better each time.  Michael, Sunday and Stanley will do just fine with the waterfall finish.  I told Oliver that by the time we do another week of this finish they will be experts.  I’m not sure if he is reassured or not.  Meanwhile Hanna is doing great with her “trainees” in the other sealing room and the rest of the crew (about 17 including my own) tackle the entry, including the highest walls in the temple (38 feet high).

Temple Workers:  This is most but not all of us working on the job.

We started in the hallways where the walls were low to give everyone practice.  Since those are now complete, we split up the workers to start some learning the waterfall finish while the rest did more of the first one.  Poor Patti had her hands full of overseeing many hands since we needed at least one of my crew with their three locals on every scaffold level to work these gigantic walls, thus leaving Patti and Marci on the ground level with those on the lower walls.  This also means that all those volunteering to climb were most of the better skilled ones.  While everyone tries very hard to get it right, most of the volunteers are not skilled painters or artists and struggle with some of the techniques.  I told Vicky today that our 3 layer finish has now turned into a 5 layer finish and our 2 layer finish now takes 3 layers.  She looked confused and I replied.  “First layer, fix first layer, second layer, fix second layer, third layer…etc.”  The good news is that we can “fix” what was not done right and even it all out before we move on.  And the even better news is that we are training the men to see the problems and fix it themselves (well at least some of them).

You should see these men climb.  Alex, a painter by trade from Ghana climbs the scaffold 32 feet in the air to reach the ceiling at 38 feet in bare feet protected by socks…what aren’t they slippery, I ask?  He says he prefers to work without shoes. I still can’t figure that one out.  I need the sturdy shoes with the treds.  At least the scaffold in the entry is solid and not the little Baker’s scaffold we had in the veil hall (27 foot ceilings) because we had very little options on the ground because of wall designs to set up anything wider.  Day one we were told they planned to use the same scaffold in the entry and we quickly put an end to that thought…definitely NOT safe! Camron and Mark were put in charge of getting us some solid equipment.  They did great and even better than that, they didn’t have to set it up or take it down.

After they finished the first wall and before the scaffold started to come down, I climbed to make sure nothing was missed.  On the very top there was some off-white paint (not from us but obviously from the painters before us) on the brown columns that was pretty awful looking.  It wasn’t huge, it was 38 feet in the air against the ceiling but I didn’t feel good about leaving these 1” x 3” areas of messed up sloppy paint on these columns when we had scaffold right there and could fix it.  Only problem is that we needed the brown paint but everyone had gone to lunch so there was no one to ask if they still had any.  My crew on the ground was insisting that is wasn’t that noticeable from so far away, but I had noticed something wasn’t right from the ground, and close up it was pretty bad.  That’s when I had a thought.

Before leaving home, I had the thought to take some stain colors so if we had any touch up on the wood moldings in the halls and entry, I would have something to touch up with.  Although these columns were painted and not wood, I had Vicky send up my stains and some wall paint and by mixing the two together, it was a super close match.  When I say “send up”, we learned a new trick…genius, really and too bad we didn’t think of it this summer when we were doing that book mural in Provo.  Oscar and Alex had a super long cord that they tied to the top of the scaffold and then to one of my empty water buckets so they could put tools and product into the bucket and pull it up by the cord and then let them down the same way.  Sometimes simple systems are the best!

Before the product was up, Alex and Enuson had climbed to see what I was doing.  I was surprised how this “mixing” of colors was a new innovation for them in color matching the original paint.  I showed them how to do this, test the color…too light, add a little more dark…too dark, add more white.  I showed them how to “feather out” the color into the original color instead of ending in a stripe or solid line.  Then they wanted to do the other one.  They are so eager to learn every little trick I know, even though I don’t think of them as much.  Even the simple tools such as a 3M green scubbie sponge and a simple sanding block are the “magic tools” as they call them.  I’m glad I can impart such “great knowledge” to them. Haha.

For lunch today the Americans left the temple site, hopped into three cabs and went to Benice’s shop.  Kim and Marci have been talking to her all week and wanted to see her shop.  Benice serves as a missionary helper (not exactly sure what she does but she was wearing a missionary name tag on day one) at times on the temple site and arranged for our cook. She has a shop where they make bags, aprons, clothes, etc out of beautiful bright African prints.  In some ways it’s a pieced together quilt in a bag.  As a group, we bought a lot.  Benice and her husband and children are members and she talked about how the gospel changed their lives.  She works five days a week in her shop and then goes home on Friday evenings and cooks all evening with another worker so she can sell food Saturday mornings from 9-12.  I think I work hard, but the more I learn about some of these people, I wonder if I might have it easy? We shopped and then went to lunch at a restaurant around the corner.  She is a delightful woman and as we talked, we found that she has many friends in the states from all the missionary couples who have served here, including a couple from Marci Olsen’s home ward.  It really is a small world in the church.

The progress we have made this week is really quite remarkable.  The temple people are so happy and keep asking if we can do “this area too?” Before we leave, since it looks like we have enough product, we will most likely do every plain painted wall in the building.  At this point I’m glad they didn’t get all the wallpaper down yet, or they may want to keep us indefinitely.  Because of the progress and being ahead of schedule, we are taking the weekend off to see the beautiful country of Ghana.

Alicyn

Painting in a Sauna

January 22, 2015

As we opened the temple doors this morning, the wave of heat and humidity hit us like a ton of bricks.  We found out that one of the major air conditioning units had gone out overnight.  You could hardly breathe and it was a bit stifling.  Everyone on my crew kept saying to me, “We need to get the air conditioning on.”  That’s when we found out it was going to be awhile.  So, bite the bullet and get to work.  Back to the Veil Hall teach layer #3 for that finish, work for a while with those down low until I felt comfortable leaving them, then climb three levels of scaffold and the additional ladder to reach the top where the heat level is at least 10-20 degrees warmer than down on the floor.  Within 30 minutes it looked like I had just stepped out of the shower in my whites, or at least it felt that way.  Meanwhile the local men were sweating but didn’t seem as uncomfortable as the rest of us.

As we worked different levels, I fought trying to keep the red paint flakes out of my product that were falling from the scaffold every time someone moved (quality equipment).  Trowel some plaster, pick out the red flakes…since I’m thinking red dots don’t really go with a metallic ivory waterfall finish.  At some time I looked over at Hanna who was working the lower scaffold and her butt was pink (red paint that obviously isn’t so cured out + sweat on white pants creates pink.  I was pretty sure at that point that mine looked the same.  I am amazed at how well Hanna teaches and the patience she has and the positive encouragement she constantly gives until the trainees get it right.  She herself, had never done this finish until two weeks ago when we did our “training job” at Shelly Evan’s house.  She is so good!  I’m grateful she was willing to take the semester off from school to come on our two temple projects this spring

Al little later I told Agnovi (I’ve been working on pronouncing his name right all week), from Togo and now a resident of Ghana, that we needed some music and he hummed/sung hymns while we sweated and worked.  I was quite overcome when “How Great Thou Art” became the next rendition.  Many of these Ghana men take a bus up to two hours away to work with us, without pay (which I’m going to change before we leave here), sweating all day to work in the temple and learn with us.  I don’t know if I would have that same dedication if the roles were reversed.

Near the end of the day as I was finishing out the very last super high corner, straddling the extension ladder and the scaffold while I worked (only way to reach this space), I looked down to see Oliver staring at me.  I asked what he was looking at and he replied, “You are so strong!”  Talking to some of the men earlier, they said the women in their countries would not do what I do…that they like to sit and talk and shop, not climb.

Mishaps of the day…  Oliver turned around to hand me some tools this morning, as I was higher than him, and accidentally knocked my bucket off the third level of scaffold complete with tools and product.  I must say I held my breath as it tumbled down 20 plus feet to the ground.  Hanna happened to be right near the landing and reported that the product which of course splattered, landed on the drop cloth and on the baseboard paper and tape, but not one drop hit our walls…almost like an invisible shield was protecting them.  I’m pretty sure we had heavenly help on that one.

Good news is we finished the veil hall today, untaped and pulled down the scaffold (which is in a very tight space).  As Camron was three levels up and pulled off the end to hand it down, a 6” metal fitting (or basically a heavy metal pipe), which he didn’t know was separate, fell…again three levels up and hit our walls, making three nice places that need to be mended.  Good news, however is it was a tender mercy because if it had fallen on the other side, chances are it could have cracked the huge stained glass window going into the Celestial Room.  Sometimes we forget to see the tender mercies amongst  the set backs…but Stanley pointed this out to me immediately.  I did have the thought before this project started that we would have some walls that needed to be mended, mostly because we need to teach the people how to care for their new walls.  I guess that means they will get some practice and all is well.

Samwell wanted to teach us how to Salsa Dance tonight…to be continued tomorrow…

Alicyn

Sewing with Stanley

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

As I sat with four Nigerians at dinner tonight, Stanley, Sunda, Oliver and Emmanuel I learned that they are all employees for the church working under Oliver, the Nigerian temple engineer.  He said when he was asked to find local members to do the painting in the temple, he said he would rather choose from his own people (as in those who work under him).  So of 42 employees, he chose 7 of his “own” and one additional member that is a painter by trade (Sunda) because Sunda has done regular painting in the temple and Oliver knew he did quality work.

Stanley:  31 years old, Nigerian, married, one child.  Wife is named Ester, little girl Eunice.  He is a member of the church for 14 years.  His older brother introduced him to the church.  His parents are not members and his mother is deceased. His brother is a tailor and Stanley rocks at working a needle and thread.

Stanley asked me yesterday how we fix the sponge rollers we’ve been using when they come apart. When I explained, he said he would like to learn how to mend them.  I told him he would get his chance.  Tonight I brought a huge bag of sponge rollers to dinner and stayed afterwards to mend.  Almost everyone else had left and gone back to their room, but Stanley immediately came over and wanted to learn.  He is eager, a fast learner and an amazing person.  We talked about our families and he had lots of questions about the painting.  He is a security guard for the Nigerian temple.

As Mark Tycksen (Kim’s husband) left the dining room tonight he said, “Good-night my Nigerian friends.”  I told Stanley that is exactly how I feel.  We only met them 3 days ago and I feel like we are fast friends.  We are getting to know each one of them more each day as we talk about family and life while we work side by side at the temple.  I asked how he met his wife.  He saw her before the mission and then again after and arranged to meet her.  We talked how God has a plan for us and how we can do anything with God, but often we don’t trust enough.

As I was asking Stanley about his family and if his parents are members, he said “no”, not his dad and his mother is “late.”  I wasn’t exactly sure what “late” meant since so much of their words or terminology is so different from ours.  As we talked it was suddenly clear because his older sister was also “late” dying in childbirth.  It was her second baby and was a shock to everyone.  Her baby also died.  He talked in detail about how it was very hard at first when she died but now it is all good.  I started to tell him that I was sure she is one of the angels watching over us as we work in the temple.  We both got teary and he said he knew this was true.

Our conversation was probably only 30 minutes or so while I showed him how to sew the rollers and then he proceeded to thread a needle and work it like magic, but I felt we are kindred spirits and I feel privileged to get to know one more amazing person that much more.  I asked if he had ever been to the USA and he had not.  He said it is not so easy for them being from Nigeria to get a visa (which is also understandable), but it’s sad that the world judges other nations and their people simply because of wicked rulers and such.  All I have seen is that our new Nigerian friends are humble, hardworking and amazing.  I’m sure the temple in Nigeria is a huge blessing to those who are the pure in heart.

Camron told me that one of the Nigerians keeps telling him he needs to come to Nigeria and he can be Camron’s guide.  This man (I’ll have to find out who he is later since Camron can’t remember his name) served as a missionary there in his own country and said it is safe, but then proceeded to tell him how he got robbed several times while on his mission.  So Camron, of course, said, “You are telling me it is safe and then you tell me you got robbed?”  And the man replies, “You should come to Nigeria and I”ll be your guide, but I can’t promise I can keep you safe.”  Pretty funny actually.

Oliver and the others keep telling me that I need to come to Nigerian to work with them on the temple so they get it “right” when they do our finishes there.  They keep telling me they need me and seem a little nervous about having to remember so much information (you’d be amazed how much I’ve taught and they’ve learned the past three days.) I explained that the purpose of this trip was to teach them enough that they can do it themselves because I was told it wasn’t safe enough to send me there. Oliver said to me, “Do you live in Nigeria? I live in Nigeria, it is safe.”  I promised them it was only day 3 and we have several more days (about 12 -15) before we are done so I won’t leave until they have it down.  Besides, I’m leaving them with a video training and a written manual. Then I went on to explain that next week I will give them their own room to do without me there and see how they do.  Somehow they felt better about the “practice job” (the recorders office) without me there, but really with me there.  I have no doubt the will “rock it!”

We finished all the main halls in the temple today…wow is all I can say!  We un-taped and they are unbelievably beautiful!  All the people can’t believe how great they are.  Even the older man who works at the temple (sorry too many names to remember) who has seemed quite concerned that we were ruining his walls and was pointing out all the spots he didn’t like yesterday, was pleasantly surprised.  He said the walls are “mysterious and beautiful like a woman.”  Yep…his exact words. J  Now he is on board and excited for the rest of what we are doing.  I have to admit, with all the paper and tape up and all the mess that spills over onto the paper and tape, things look a little sketchy if you aren’t familiar with our process.

I stand back amazed at the sheer amount of work that has been accomplishes in 3 days.  But then again, we do have 28 people who are working all day every day (about 10 hours a day) with speed, enthusiasm and endurance.  I still am in awe at this unique experience and that we have been able to keep consistency with so many hands on the walls. And these incredible people in both Ghana and Nigeria…I can’t express in words a fraction of what I feel.  Geoffrey (a worker from Nigeria) said it most beautifully this morning when he gave us the spiritual thought and prayer.  He said it doesn’t matter whether we are black or white, male or female, we are all children of God and working towards a common goal.  And if we keep our focus on working as a group we can accomplish what the Lord has asked us to.

Hanna also told me today that as she was thinking about this work we are doing last night she realized that it doesn’t really matter that we beautify our temples since they will be houses of worship no matter whether our finishes are there or not, but that it is important to the Lord that we find joy in creating beauty in life, so it is important for us and for the Lord.  I couldn’t have said it better.

Alicyn :)

PS:  Almost forgot…found this email that came in this morning at 7:01am. He must be resourceful since I didn’t give him my email (he even spelled my name correctly)

“Good morning Sister Alicyn, 
This is to Say thank you for the training so far. It been a wonderful time working with you and your group. 
May God bless you. 

Thanks. 

Stanley

"I Am Painting for the Lord"

Tuesday January 20, 2015

It’s pretty bad when two days into the job I can hardly remember what day it is and how many days we’ve been working.  Last night I woke up at and watched the clock until almost.  So I was a little worried that I’d be operating on 5 hours of sleep.  Now some of my children might be able to do with very little sleep, but as they all know, and tease me about, I need to go to bed by 10pm to get my 8 hours.

Today I really felt the miracles.  If you could have seen what the halls looked like last night, when I was a little worried about so many hands working the walls and so much inconsistency, and then seen what they looked like as I left tonight, you would be amazed!  Everyone was much better with the finishes today.  I guess practice really does make perfect and after doing a quick training session with our “better finishers” among the locals, they were able to go through all the work done yesterday and “fix” all the problems.

Since I was in another room working the 2nd finish 27 feet in the air, I missed the part where one woman started to sing and then the men joined in and the story of how Oscar (from Ghana) told Vicky “I am painting for the Lord, “ at which point she began to cry.  He said he loves it here in the temple so much he would just stay here all the time.  That tells you the faith and spirit of these people.

Meanwhile I took 3 helpers, 20 plus feet in the air on sketchy scaffolding to learn a new finish.  A couple of them were wearing temple slippers to work in and I insisted that they put on “real shoes” before climbing to be safe.  Much better idea! I told them the Lord would understand that their shoes were not white.

All three were hanging on tight for dear life on top and not one of them wanted to go to the highest area (almost 27 feet up) where I climbed the extension ladder planked off the scaffold while they held the ladder to keep me safe (the most important job for sure) and handed me tools and product while I explained the finish.  After coming off the crazy high part, each got a turn to work the walls (mostly one-handed, while holding on tightly to the scaffold with the other).  As we worked, they became more comfortable with the height and by the end of the day, we had most of the huge wall done with layer number one.  Now we only have to climb two more times to finish out this area before moving to the next.  Crazy stuff!

I believe the team from Nigeria is getting paid from the “owner” to work here for three weeks since they flew them over to Ghana, but I believe the team from Ghana (due to conversations my husband had with some of them) are all volunteers because they feel it a privilege to be in the temple everyday helping to create beauty.  I did not know that they are volunteers (that is probably why my numbers were doubled from what I expected on day one).

Today Rose, our cook was very late with food for lunch and since we’d been waiting for 45 minutes and no work was happening and we were all starving, we pulled out some of the food we had purchased and shipped from home and started sharing with our HUGE group.  They got to try granola bars, trail mix and tuna fish sandwiches (small ones since we needed the food to go around), and apples and bananas with peanut butter, which some of the Nigerians especially liked.  I felt bad that they were all waiting to be fed after they had worked so hard and we all started to worry about Rose and if she was ok. But thankfully, she did arrive and lunch was a success.  I’m not sure they really liked the “snack” food but they were hungry enough to eat it, and although my crew seemed to be full once Rose arrived, you should have seen the plates full of rice these men ate (not to mention all the rest that went with the rice).  I’ve never seen so much food consumed from such skinny men, but I was grateful she did come. 

We worked  past 6pm tonight and when we start at 7:30am, it is a long hard day working in very hot conditions.  All of us are pouring sweat all day long and we keep asking the temple people if they can please find a way to turn the air conditioning a little cooler.  Nothing is simple here.  Everything needs a new person from a different “department” to do a simple task. I would say that organization is not a key element in this country.  For example, the day we arrived, we were given one key per room (only 3 rooms with 9 people) so I went back to the desk to beg for another key for each room.  The kind man pulled out a bag (equivalent to one of those white kitchen garbage bags) full of keys and had to dig through it to find the right keys for our rooms.  This is patron housing where they have three full floors of rooms and that was the best system for keys?  Very different mentality than we have.

Last night as I was talking with Sunda, I asked him if he, as a Nigerian could easily tell the difference from a Nigerian and a Ghanaian.  He then explained “yes”, that the Nigerian’s skin is much “whiter” than the super dark Ghanaian’s.  It's a mystery to me Nigerian and Ghanaian's skin look he same to me.

After working 11 hours.  Michael and Jys (the light skinned ones)

At dinner tonight as I sat talking with Hanna, she said to me that she is amazed at how I can do so many things all day long (since I’m not only working the walls and training, but also constantly being pulled from area to area to answer questions, direct and inform)…that it is overwhelming enough with the one job she has of working walls and training.  I honestly don’t think about all that is required of me, but I’m grateful the Lord made me good at multi-tasking so I can have these kinds of experiences. Again, I am amazed at the strength and stamina I am able to find each day as well as my amazing crew and the more amazing Nigerians and Ghanaians who are away from their families for so long so that they can work on the temple of the Lord.  It brings tears to my eyes as I walk through all alone at the end of the day to feel at peace and look over the work.  I have the best friends and crew ever who work with me.  They are kind, compassionate and great teachers.  And at the end of the day, despite tired, worn out bodies who can hardly climb the three flights of stairs to our rooms, we wouldn’t give up this amazing experience for anything else.

Alicyn

Painting Day 1

Sleep last night was an interesting one.  With the time zone 7 hours ahead of Utah, we all worked to stay up as late as possible (for me 8:55pm) until we were falling asleep standing up.  I fell asleep immediately but was awake by 1am.  I guess my body thought the “nap” was over.  I started thinking about the day ahead and how I would train 9 people and keep track of them as well as my own crew of 9.  I still felt a little panicky at the enormous project in front of us, but was eventually calmed by the spirit that told me everything would be OK.

We met the Nigerian Crew in the lobby at 7:30am dressed in white for our painting day in the temple.  Last night when they came in, we met all 9 of them.  I thought there would be 5…already up 4 extra bodies to train…Yikes!   The next thing I knew, I had 8 more men showing up in the lobby telling me they were the painters from Ghana!  Now panic really set in!

The plan had been from the beginning to have a 1:1 ratio of my people to new people so we could really train well and watch and keep track of how each individual was doing.  How was I supposed to train 17 people with only 9 of us!  Hard to imagine, but I knew that if I just did the best I could, the Lord would take care of the rest.  He always does! We started our day with a spiritual  thought and prayer which is an essential component of any temple project.

There inside the temple, since this is a fully operating dedicated temple, the man at the front desk was checking each and every recommend before letting us proceed.  That’s when Hanna (one of my crew) couldn’t find her recommend.  It had been in her pocket when we met in the lobby and now it was gone.  Camron, without thinking, picked up the phone and dialed our bishop (since Hanna is in our ward) to get her clearance to enter.  Unfortunately it was 1am in Utah.  Yep…woke up Bishop Blake and his wife.  But, he took care of the problem and all was solved.  Since this is Hanna’s first temple job with us, we told her that every day you have to expect something that goes wrong.  Good thing is we got it out of the way first thing and the only one really suffering from it was Bishop Blake.  I hope he went back to sleep.

Sunda

Thinking about directing 28 people all at once, when 17 of them I have barely met, know nothing about what you are doing and need to do it perfectly can be an overwhelming task.  Well, of course it didn’t go perfect, but I am amazed at how the day went.  I had 17 dark skinned, dark headed people, with giant white smiles all eager to learn and soaking up every one of my instructions.  Some got it immediately, others needed more patience and coaching, but every one of them worked a long day, worked hard and did their very best with a deep desire to do it “right”.  One problem along the way was that their “English” is quite different than my English and some of us were struggling to understand the other person.  My crew was amazing and we are so excited about this incredible opportunity to serve with our new friends from Ghana and Nigeria where we all are working to beautify the temple together.

Sunda (pronounced Sunday) from Nigeria is such a quick learner and got everything figured out quickly and was as good (and maybe better) than my team.  Jys (pronounced Joyce) is the only woman of the 17 we are training.  She came over from Nigeria and has a heart of gold.  As I worked with her all day, she seemed to me be in her mid-30’s, but when I asked her age she told me she is 46 and a mother of 5.  These people all look so young but as we talked with them throughout the day, they are all much older than we thought.

Alicyn and Jys

Despite our crazy numbers, when I assigned team members to different tasks no one complained. There was a calm and peaceful feeling together with everyone eager to help and learn.

We got an unbelievable amount of work done today, far more than I had anticipated, and now that the day is over, I’m glad we have 28 instead of 17.  It felt like a whirlwind but somehow we pulled it off.

We finished around 5:30pm and after everyone left the temple, I stayed to walk the hall where most of the work had been done today.  Overall it is perfect.  I must admit the end result is much better than when I tried to teach a bunch of high school students some basic techniques for scenery backdrops for a play.  I think the difference in not only age and maturity, but the fact that each of my “students” here has a vested desire and interest in learning what to do and doing it well.  I hope they feel this experience is blessing their lives as much as I feel it is blessing mine.  Exhausted and signing out for the night…

Alicyn

Arriving in Ghana

Sunday January 18, 2015

Today we arrived in Ghana.  We left the house yesterday morning at 8:15am and arrived at the Ghana Temple Complex today around 1pm.  Let’s just say it was a long, long day of travel.  The only glitch in our travel was after the doors were closed on the plane at JFK ready to head out to Ghana, the oxygen masks above our heads (only above Camron and I) just popped open and out dropped the masks.  Camron totally could have just put the panel back together, but no, of course the flight attendants said, “Don’t touch,” and they had to open the doors and have a maintenance man come aboard and put it back…a delay in leaving.  All in all, our flight left JFK about an hour late with the extra time spent loading the plane and waiting on the tarmac for take-off.  As we lifted off, I could hardly believe we were actually on our way.

10 hours overnight on a plane is a rough one.  With barely reclining seats, freezing temperatures, PA announcements coming on, crying babies, coughing and other noises, none of us got much sleep.  Before we knew it they turned the cabin lights fully on and started serving what they called  breakfast (a snack of crackers and cheese in a box).  My phone read 4:45am New York City time (or 2:45am Salt Lake time).  Ouch!  But it was 9:45am Ghana time so it was time to get going since we were 1 hour 25 minutes away from landing.

While the plane was frigid, the heat and humidity hit us immediately as we climbed down the steps of the plane, walked across the asphalt to head into the building.  Dennis the temple engineer met us at the airport with two vans.  We all hopped in the one with seats and the missionaries (2 elders, one from California and one from Ghana) put all our luggage in the other van.  It was full.  We had been warned that people at the airport would help or take your luggage and then want tips for helping out.  Camron & Mark kept telling them “no” we didn’t need their help, but they kept helping anyways.  In the end I think we ended up paying about $8 in $1 tips before we got away from them all.  It was pretty crazy!

There were people walking up and down in the middle of the busy roads with huge baskets of wares on their heads selling to anyone who would stop at an intersection.  And of course beggars all over the place.  It’s hard to not roll down the window and hand out $1 bills to those who were obviously physically handicapped, but that isn’t an option sitting in the back of a very full hot van. 

Literally just as Dennis tried to turn the van onto the temple grounds, the van died.  I mean really died.  Mark & Camron were looking and trying to figure it out, but said it looked like something major was leaking.  Thankfully we got to the temple before that happened, and even more thankfully the missionaries had all our luggage and had already unloaded right in front of the patron housing door so we didn’t have to haul all that weight in from the street.

Our sweet cook, Rose had made us a lunch of chicken drumsticks, salad and rice, along with papaya and pineapple.  Rose has been a member 29 years, has nine children, has been a stake RS president, has a huge smile with very uneven teeth and is kind and gracious and most likely grateful to get paid for three weeks to cook for our group.  Her English is a little hard to understand and I realized that often she doesn’t understand the questions we ask her.  Even though everyone here speaks English, there have been very few that I can understand easily.

Later as we were finishing up dinner, the crew from Nigeria arrived.  Ben, the patron housing manager had picked them up from the airport.  There are 8 men and 1 woman. I think I’ve met at least 20 people over all, which seem too numerous for me to remember. Language accents make it difficult to understand what everyone is saying.  So, it should be a crazy week ahead, but I’m praying for patience and miracles to help us along the way.

 

Team Ghana

Friday January 16, 2015

 The “team Ghana” picture is when we were doing the “training job” at my neighbor’s house.  The other two people going are Camron and Mark, Kim’s husband. 

Minus one day before leaving for Ghana for our huge temple project over there (over 13,000 sq ft of walls).  We have nine people going and will be training at least 8 locals (4 from Ghana and 4 from Nigeria) so they can then go to Nigeria and do our finishes in the temple there.  Just this week the product for them arrived on-site in Nigeria.  So at least they have product.  Let’s hope and pray they will have the skills and knowledge they need after working with us the next three weeks to do their project for the Nigeria Temple in March.  This is especially important because it is too dangerous for us to go there to help.

 I was pretty anxious a couple of weeks ago as I felt the weight of responsibility of this job, but I have been doing a lot of praying and woke up one night, around 3am, the week after Christmas and had the most amazing prompting that we are embarking upon a very sacred experience.  I have been completely at peace since then.  This project is unique in that it isn’t new construction, but a fully operating dedicated temple.  Everyone working with us is an endowed, worthy temple recommend holder.  I believe we will have peace and positive interaction within the group.  I believe we will feel the presence of angels and know that God makes us equal to the task at hand as we work to do His will.  I believe a little woman from Alpine can pull off a miracle because God wants me to and will give me the answers I need to overcome anything.  I believe all this because I have seen it more than once in my life and on every single temple project I have done.  I am grateful that I can use my talents for good and that God continues to magnify my abilities with each experience that I get.  Here we go!

Alicyn

  The “Waterfall finish” is one the finishes we will be doing in the temple there.  This is the completed “training job” when they put the room back together.  This is the exact finish and color we will be doing.