The Ghana MTC: March 2017

Friday, March 31, 2017

the Importance of Hydration

When Missionaries first arrive in a new warmer climate and following an airplane ride they are often dehydrated. We encourage them to drink lots of water. This promotes getting over jet lag and prevents head aches among other things.

Helaman District posses after drinking a bottle of Water

Relief Society is Organized the First Sunday

The MTC functions as a Zone in Missionary Terms, But is also Designated as a Branch of the Church.

The MTC President and his wife serve as the President of the Branch and President of the Relief Society. The counselors to the MTC President and their wives also serve as the counselors to the Branch President and Relief Society President.

Our Office Couple Dell and Deni Hill from Bountiful are serving as the equivalent of Executive and Relief Society Secretaries.

This is a bulletin board for the Relief Society covered in a Ghana made wax release fabric that was designed and made up for the anniversary of the Organization of the Relief Society.

Ghana is well known for its "wax release" printed fabrics.

It is usually printed with the lighter colors being coated with a wax in the desired design then the darker colors are added with an overall dye. When dry the wax is removed to reveal the 'saved' designs.

The Relief Society fabric above was probably stamped with the symbol of the anniversary seal first placed on white cloth with wax. The fabric might then all be dyed in yellow, then the leaves and vines would be stamped in wax. The next step is to dye the whole cloth blue. The wax is then stripped of chemically in factories and by boiling the fabric in the small workshops....and voila

The March 23rd Group Settles In to the MTC

With missionaries arriving from Benin, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the United States we process them and check them in. Some from Ghana say goodbye to their parents.

Others arrive by air and we pick them up at the Accra Airport and bring them to Tema (about 20 KM from the airport) to the MTC in Vans.

Then the missionaries go through a check in process to make sure that each has all the passports, visas and immunization cards that they will be needing. Concurrently there is a group waiting to be interviewed by the MTC President and receive their missionary badges.

March 2, 2017 Group

Thursday, March 16, 2017

What is the Purpose of the MTC

As you may imagine the MTC is a place where missionaries train to be able to teach the Gospel.

It is a place for the Missionaries to learn more about the Gospel

They study the Doctrine of Christ which encompasses Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Holy Ghost and Persevering to the End

FAMILIES CAN BE FOREVER

We learn of the importance of Families

(This Elder grew up in USA and was reunited when his mother made the Bus trip all the way from Burkina Faso to the MTC, to see him after many years before he started to serve his mission)

Siblings, Elder and Sister Kaitell meet for a few minutes at the Ghana Accra Temple. She has been serving in the Ghana Accra Mission. Her brother will serve in their home country of Nigeria when he completes the MTC in 5 days.

WE TRY VERY HARD TO MAKE THE TEMPLE A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE FOR THE MISSIONARIES. THIS PAST WEEK MANY WERE ABLE TO DO BAPTISMS AND ENDOWMENTS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS. SISTER RAZAVA FROM MADAGASCAR WAS ABLE TO WITNESS PROXY SEALING FOR HER DECEASED PARENTS THEN WAS SEALED TO THEM HERSELF.