Transfer Days- love them and endure them! Every mission must have transfer days. With 140 missionaries to manage,
the Mission President under inspiration moves a missionary for various reasons
to new areas and companionships. Sister Dalton and I have the beauty of always
being together as companions for the full 24 months and we are privileged to be
assigned to Abomosu for the 24 months too. But our young elders and sisters
expect to be transferred some time during their mission. It is healthy for
change and becomes a growing experience. The Ghana Accra Mission encompasses
the Eastern half of Ghana from north to south. We do not presently have
missionaries in the northern part of Ghana, about half of the mission
territory, due to our workforce and the Muslim influence. So the bulk of the
missionaries serve in the lower part of the country around Accra. Accra and
surrounding areas have over 16million people so missionaries never run out doors
to knock. There are those of us who serve in the bush and northern part of that
half of Ghana. Our zone consists of 22 elders and ourselves. These are trusted
elders who because of distance and the conditions of the “bush”, depend upon
the spirit for comfort, protection, and direction in the work maybe even more
than in some other areas of the mission. We love them all and we see great “gnashing
of teeth” when an elder is transferred from the Bush Zone. But, it fortunately
happens to all of the young elders in this zone. That’s when our work becomes a
driving endurance test for Sister Dalton and me.
We have just returned to our
apartment after 787 miles of driving over a 2 day period, sometimes we have
accomplished those miles in 1 day. Now those are rough days, indeed. Some may
say that is no big deal but you have not experienced the trails and so called
roads of the bush that we drive on here in Ghana. In our zone, when a
missionary completes his mission serve, Sister Dalton and I transport the elder
down to the mission home on Monday evening, usually arriving at the mission home
about 8PM. The Elder is to be interviewed by the Mission President at 8AM on
Tuesday morning. There are the customary check lists these elders know well
before they are to fly out that evening. At 10AM we take them to the Ghana
Accra Temple where they attend a session before leaving the mission. At 12:30PM
we transport them back to the mission home where there is always a fine lunch
for the departing missionaries followed by a most wonderful testimony meeting
and the inspirational concluding remarks from our dear Mission President. Then
its “hustle time” and we transport the missionaries to the airport for their
various flights. We usually retire about 10PM when that day ends.
The next day new missionaries come
into the mission from the Africa West Mission Home in Tema which is 30 minutes
to the east of mission home. Then the real excitement begins. For those
missionaries who are transferred to new areas, they make their way by taxi, or
Trotro (taxi van) to the mission home to meet their new companions, arriving at
the mission home between 11AM and noon. [In my younger days as a missionary, we
would receive a call from the Assistants on Sunday night around 6PM informing
us we were to be transferred to a new area. Monday morning by 7AM you, alone,
where on a bus and traveling to the assigned area. The remaining companion
would go back to the apartment and usually sleep until the time to go to the
bus depot and pick up his new companion. I remember being transferred from the
upper part of Michigan to the lower part of Illinois and it took 5 busses and 3
full days all alone. Buses in those days didn’t travel much at nights, so drivers
would stop at a bus depot and the passengers would fend for themselves for the
night. I always slept on a depot bench along with most of the other passengers.]
All missionaries in our mission, come to the mission home for the transfer and
it really is a scene to behold. Old companionships renewed with a hand shake
and hug and much commotion is really had throughout the mission compound. It is
really fun to witness and I always remember the passages in the Book of Mormon
describing Alma and the Sons of Mosiah meeting after several years of
challenges in their missionary service. It is much like that during the couple
of hours of frenzy. Meanwhile, Sister Dalton and I are loading up the truck
with the various supplies needed by our elders in the bush, mops & buckets,
cases of pamphlets and Books of Mormons, Doxy medicine, and bikes. Yes, bikes!
These bikes are used hard here in the Abomosu Zone. They have been repaired
several times in their local areas but after several months, they need to be
completely rebuilt at the mission home by a specialist. We always try to leave
with our new missionaries by 3PM that day which means we will get home about
10PM or so. Most of the time, we look like the Clampets moving to Beverly Hills
with bikes and luggage stuffed in the boot and tied on the rack and canopy of
the truck. Oh yes, the most important “packages” is the mail for all of the
missionaries in the bush. Then there are the 4 elders mashed in the back seat of
our Ford Ranger, looking for a place to grab a bit to eat before the trip. We
have learned to stop at one small fueling station and the missionaries like
their meat pies and of course a Fan Ice to go. We have endured rain storms,
floods, bad roads and darkness on these trips, but we have never heard a discouraging
word along the way from these Elders. It is always a bit stressful for me as
the driver carrying this most precious cargo, but I am always buoyed up with
their stories and testimonies of the work they are doing. We feel blessed to be
a part of this great mission and honored to transport our “Sons of Mosiah” back
to the bush every six weeks when transfers happen. And so it was yesterday
arriving home at 9:54PM.
The Work
is true and moving forward with great force from angels above as our guardians,
I so testify.
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