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Missionaries from the zones around Accra, and the area missionaries (thank you Pres. Gay) gather for a Christmas conference. |
After the meeting, the missionaries were served a Christmas banquet by Pres. and Sister Gay and Pres. and Sister Norby, plus some helpers. |
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President Gay (Ghana Accra Mission) welcomes President Norby (Ivory Coast Abidjan mission). |
President Norby carves a turkey. Note the serving line. Senior missionaries were served first. |
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Sister Noble hugs Joanna, the Mission Home cook. With Sister Gay and Sister Noble helping, Joanna produced a feast that literally fed the multitude. The food was delicious and there was plenty and to spare. |
Elder Wilson organized, produced and performed in a Christmas story musical for the conference. Here he is carrying desserts for the Elders and Sisters who helped him. At least that was his story when asked why he had so many desserts! |
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Elder McCready Readers of our web site had asked about two elders who were evacuated from Ivory Coast. |
Elder Richards When Sister Markham found them, both were doing great, although Elder Richards had just recovered from malaria. |
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We are working on African geography. Talking to "local" elders helps. Elder Matanda was born in Zambia, but has spent much of his life in Democratic Republic (D. R.) of Congo. He speaks French and English and has a Bachelor's Degree from college. Elder Gandou is from Congo which is a different country than D.R. Congo. Do you know where these countries are? |
| Elder Matanda and Elder Gandou |
The main event for the employee Christmas party was a performance by a choir whose members work in the Physical Facilities Department. They sang an African song with only drum accompaniment. They also sang some Christmas hymns that Sister Markham accompanied on an electronic piano. We took a video of the African song during a rehearsal with no drums. The sound is pretty good. You hear the a capella blending and harmony that is very common here. One soprano was absent so a brother filled in singing falsetto. The LARGE video file below is the rehearsal sound with video clips from the party overlaid. There is a short version for slow connections. We have also included a short clip of the drummers so you get to hear the accompaniment alone.
This video file is about 3 megs (very large). It will take a few minutes to load even with a high speed connection. If you don't have high speed internet connection, you may want to only try the short version included below.
The party includes visits from Mary and Joseph, wise men, and Santa Claus. It was a lot of fun. Sister Markham had a wonderful experience helping this choir. She is on a first name basis with her new friends and they all fuss over her, which she loves.
The lyrics are in Twi. A simple translation of the message is, "We are grateful to be alive. This is a gift from God, not the result of our own righteousness."
Shorter Version of the Choir
The Drum Accompaniment
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