Powells in Africa: Week 10 - Royalty, Sourdough & Bare Feet

We have heard much about the rainy season in Ghana. Although we haven't experienced too much of it yet, we need to be ready! Many have described it as a deluge of epic proportions! The northern part of the country typically records one rainy season, which begins in May and lasts until September. Here in southern Ghana there are typically two rainy seasons; a major one from April to July and a minor one from September to November. We finally found some good umbrellas at a local shop. Believe it or not, they were a little difficult to find! After looking at many stores for the past several weeks while out and about, we finally scored two big and colorful umbrellas! Watch out rainy season! We are ready!

MONDAY DEVOTIONAL & MESSAGES

Every Monday morning whether in person or virtual, all church employees and missionaries join together for a devotional. When a senior missionary couple is almost ready to return home, they are the speakers. Otherwise, there are a variety of inspriational messages shared by others. We have also heard some amazing talks given in our weekly sacrament meetings. Here are a couple of my favorite take-away thoughts:

3.12.23 - "As fear goes down, our faith and confidence in God goes up! The principle to combat fear is faith."

Bishop Darkey-Collins is the bishop of our Trade Fair Ward and we are in the Christiansborg Stake. He shared a thought regarding fear that I loved. In summary he said, "Please take a look at your hand. There are two sides, the palm and the back of the hand. They co-exist together. Consider the palm as faith and the back of the hand as fear. We use our palm for everything! To eat, to bathe, to work, to shake hands with others, to lend a helping hand, etc. We rarely use the back of the hand for anything good, yet it is still there. The two are connected just like faith and fear. We must choose to do good and let faith in God prevail. Follow after righteousness."

3.20.23 - Love and Charity: Life is a journey and not a competition. How do we love God with all our heart, might, mind and strength? How do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Avoid hatred, jealously, negative vices, give service, love freely and be an example of Jesus Christ. Apply the golden rule and remember that Charity never faileth.

JUBILEE HOUSE

A site we drive by quite frequently on Independence Ave/Liberation Road, a main thoroughfare here in Accra, is the Jubilee House. It is the presidential palace that serves as a residence and office to the President of Ghana. It stands tall and majestic with flags waving in the constant ocean breezes here. The building is in the shape of a stool, with four legs and a seat.

Symbol of the stool in Ghana - The Golden Stool is the royal and divine throne of kings of the Ashanti People (also spelled Asante - part of the Akan ethnic group of Ghana). According to legend, a High Priest and one of the two chief founders, caused the stool to descend from the sky and land on the lap of the first Asante king. Such seats were traditionally symbolic of a chieftain's leadership, but the Golden Stool is believed to house the spirit of the Asante nation—living, dead and yet to be born. The Golden Stool is the royal throne and must never touch the ground; instead it is placed on a blanket. During inauguration, a new king is raised and lowered over the stool without touching it. The Golden Stool is carried to the king on a pillow, as only he is allowed to handle it.

As you might imagine, the symbol of the stool is revered and seen as a symbol of leadership, royalty, unity and importance of tradition.

SOURDOUGH

To our great surprise, it is possible to have a little of home here with us as I have been able to figure out how to create sourdough without the usual tools (traditional mixing tool, cast iron pot, parchment paper & weight scale). I started out by getting a "sweet type starter" from another missionary here. It smelled totally different from what I was used to so I did a few rounds of discard and feed until it started smelling sour and perfect! And, I finally found some "baking paper" in a random store and bought 3 packs. My next battle was what to use to cook in. I started by using an oven certified stock pot. The problem was two-fold. The stock pot bottom was a little large and the lid had a steam vent. So after guessing at the exact measurements (I usually measure everything in grams on the weight scale), mixing it all up in a little stand mixer (I like mixing by hand with the sourdough mixing tool), then greasing up the pot and blocking the steam hole, the bread came out a little flatter than I like.

glass jar

The bread tasted great but it wasn't quite what I wanted. So after 2 loaves in the stock pot, I went back to the drawing board to see if there was something else I could use. Finally, I came upon a ceramic dish with a lid. Unfortunately, the lid was a bit inverted so when I cooked in it, the loaf raised too high and stopped at the lid, creating a flat top loaf. Argh! One more time, back to the store and purchased an additional deep ceramic bowl to cover the bottom pot. Voila! It worked!! Jordan is a happy man when it comes out of the oven, even though I always give half away to someone in the apt building. Great way to make friends!! And... I finally found a weight scale!!

BARE FEET IN CHURCH
Our little friends that like to sit by us in church just can't handle keeping shoes on their feet. I'm sure they run around all week barefoot and fancy free. Then having to put on stiff and uncomfortable shoes for church is really difficult! I remember attending a ward in Cambodia and everyone removed their shoes in the foyer before entering the chapel. I really like that tradition and wish it would catch on everywhere!!