Cape Coast

I was going to title this, "When the cats away, the mice do play."  But I'm not really sure if it's appropriate to call General Authorities of the church, "cats."   The area presidency all left last week for Salt Lake for General Conference, Easter and reassignments.  Our area president, President Terence M. Vinson has been reassigned to the presidency of the 70, and Elder Nash has been assigned as the new area president.  We were able to watch 4 of the sessions of conference live in the evenings and LOVED it so much!!  WOW!!

So while they were away, several of the area "mice" headed out to an ocean front hotel called Brenu Beach Hotel in the Cape Coast region. It was so nice to get away from the traffic and noise for a few day.

First stop was definitely sobering as we stopped at the Cape Coast slave castle where so many Africans from many countries were brought and held from 2 weeks to three months waiting for ships that took them away from their homes and families forever.

Our guide explained some of the history then led us down into a dungeon where these human beings were kept shacked with limited food and water and conditions we can't even imagine.

These plaster impressions represent the people of various African nations, the women first then the men.

They were blindfolded after they were captured as they were led to Cape Coast so that they couldn't see where they were going so they couldn't return to their homes if they escaped their captors.

This is called the "Door of No Return" because once they were lead out to the ships, still in shackles, they could expect never to return to their homes again.

Such a sad history!

Later that afternoon the group of 4 couples along with Joseph and Nephi met with Ato Ampiah (in the middle) an original convert of the church in 1978.  He did a church history tour for us.  
Joseph (on the right) is a intern working with the Executive Secretary couple to assist the area presidency, and his former missionary companion on the left is Nephi. 
They served in Nigeria together a few years ago and came with us on the trip. They were a great help on several occasions and remarkable young men.

Bishop Ampiah took us down to "baptism beach" where the first baptisms took place in Ghana for numerous people who had formed congregations as they waited for authorization from church leaders.

At his request we sang, "Come oh Thou King of Kings" which was a favorite song of the early members.

It certainly felt like sacred ground.

On our way to the hotel we passed hundreds of school children in uniforms, so many more than we see in Accra. I rarely saw a child without a uniform which was soo awesome to see!

If we slowed down to stop though, they would come running.

We arrived at Brenu Beach with, palm trees, clean beaches and the lovely sound of ocean waves!!

Natural lawn mowers.

Dinner on the beach and late night conversations, ahh!!

And walking barefoot in the waves.

The next day we went to Tulum National Forest, no the elephant isn't real, but there are elephants in the forest, we just didn't see any.

Our guide told us all about the interesting flora and fauna and kept us from getting lost.

We all loved the canopy walk high above the trees. It was so GREEN and QUIET, except for the lovely sounds of birds all around!!

It was lovely and good for the soul.

 Like so many Josephs, he deserves a blog post all his own.

                       This is just one tree with branching roots.

On the third day on our way home, four of us stopped to make some Batik fabric.  Notice the cell phone, pretty much everyone has cell phones, that much is universal. 

The foam stamp is dipped in wax and then stamped on the fabric.

It took place right in the "back yard" among small homes where the children played and neighbors mingled.  I couldn't take my eyes of this darling little girl as she played in the sand with her spoon.

After stamping a pattern on the fabric, the fabric was dipped in dye for about 20 minutes.

Then the fabric was dipped in very hot water to melt off the wax.

Then set out to drip dry.

Since the fabric needed to dry and we needed to eat, we attended a cooking class taught by Essie who gets her clients from Global Mamas, who we booked both classes through.

Fresh Ghanain salsa, no cuisinarts here!!

Also no electric or gas stoves, this was cooked with a charcoal fire, which is how she prepares the food for the restaurant she runs as well.

Yams with Palava sauce and it was wonderful!!  Yes, I have the recipe.

 And also Red Red, which is beans and plantain, another winner. 

Then we headed back to Accra, with it's traffic and noise, leaving behind the country life. 

But awaiting us were two more opportunities to do stake and ward literacy trainings with amazing, inspiring people, woo hoo!!  

OK, we'll stay!