Week 20 - Cape Coast Adventure

First and foremost, thank you all for your prayers of faith and well wishes.  We aren't completely out of the woods yet, but things are looking up.  Life throws obstacles at us constantly, and it is what we do in response that makes all the difference. Being surrounded by the support of family and friends makes the burdens bearable. 

CAPE COAST ADVENTURE

We needed a little R&R this weekend, so ventured off with some fairly new OGC (legal office w/ us) missionaries, Gary & Sherry White, to meet some MTC missionary friends, Clint & Shelly Waite, in their mission area of Cape Coast. This beautiful location is rich in history for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Before heading off on a church history tour, we stopped by the infamous Cape Coast Castle, used in the beginning for merchants and trading, but unfortunately later as a place where slaves were kept and sold. It sits among a crowded community of families, living life on the edge of the ocean. The handcrafted boats, busy fishermen, industrious mothers and playful children are beautiful. Check out the boys playing foosball! They have nothing, but they have everything.

 

CAPE COAST CHURCH HISTORY

For 14 years, Joseph William "Billy" Johnson wanted to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but couldn't. He was "converted" by the Book of Mormon as a 30 yr old in 1964. However, he lived in West Africa, 7,000 miles from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. There were no missionaries or priesthood holders in this area. 

Billy Johnson wrote many letters to successive Church presidents asking for missionaries. He built a large congregation of fellow believers in the town of Cape Coast, Ghana. Despite persecution from others in his country, he founded nine other congregations in nearby towns. He registered an unofficial version of the faith with the national government. President David O. McKay wrote back to Johnson, encouraging him to continue and promising that the Church would arrive in Ghana someday despite a restriction announced in 1852 that blacks could not hold the priesthood or receive temple blessings. One account recalls members passing around a Book of Mormon that was so used, its pages were folded and dark. Members exchanged it and read for a few minutes at a time before passing it along to another faithful believer.  

By June 1978, the anticipation was excruciating. Johnson’s congregation of around 1000 was not alone. Black Africans had been petitioning for the organization of the Church in their countries since the late 1940s. By the mid-1960s, more than 16,000 people were waiting for the Church in more than 60 congregations in Ghana and Nigeria, according to a devotional given by BYU Church History professor Dale LeBaron.

Missionaries finally arrived in Ghana in 1978.  Billy Johnson and dozens of others came to a place that would become known as ‘Baptism Beach.’ It was here they joined a mass baptismal service the day after missionaries arrived.

We visited Baptism Beach. It was a drizzly day with rain coming down steadily. Although the sand is long gone, garbage is piled everywhere, and a cement platform where fishermen come to prepare their catch has been added, the beauty of the area remains. It just takes some perfect angling of the camera lens and imagination of how it must have been for these faithful followers of Jesus Christ, finally able to receive baptism. 

We also visited Cocoa House (an old cocoa warehouse, no longer used), the first location for the gathering "Saints" before they could be baptized. 

KO-SA RESORT

We spent the remainder of the weekend at the the Ko-Sa Resort, eating good food, walking the beach, watching fishermen cast their nets, sitting and talking under the palm trees as it rained. It was beautiful and peaceful, just what the doctor ordered. Take time to "Sharpen the Saw" or you will be hacking away with a dull tool!

KOMENDA BRANCH

Sunday morning we got up early and headed off to worship with the Komenda Branch, a sweet congregation of about 80 people, back in the countryside. We traveled on muddy and bumpy roads to reach our destination. Glad we had 4-wheel drive! It was well worth the effort to meet these precious Saints and listen to their faithful testimonies. They meet in a humble building, with straw mats for the roof and fans spinning to keep it cooler. A young man on a keyboard was quite impressive, as he played the hymns mostly by memory and quite well I might add.  At the end of sacrament meeting, as if on cue, everyone picked up their chairs, placed them on their heads and headed for the Sunday School classrom in an adjoining building. We caught a few pictures after this great experience.

Life is good as we know it here in Ghana! Find something to be grateful for in your life!! It never is as bad as it sometimes feels, and there is so much to be thankful for in this big, beautiful world!!