Every good story needs an ending, and since this past week was the end of our 3-year call as Mission Leaders in the Ghana Kumasi Mission, an epilogue seems fitting. It was a good week with a few bumps to keep things interesting. Monday and Tuesday were spent reading missionary emails (I knew I would lose access on Wednesday), completing 3 applications to the First Presidency for membership council issues, washing clothes (LaDawn), cleaning (LaDawn), packing (Tom) and finalizing a few last minute transition items. We held our Virtual MLC meeting on Monday night and really focused on the reasons why there were so many on date for the prior weekend, but only 25% were recorded as baptisms. There are always a number of reasons why this happens, but the lack of realistic baptismal dates remained the number one problem. This we hope to fix with the baptismal calendar that we spoke about last week. It was another great meeting!

For me, it was Tuesday morning when I was praying, that it hit me we would really be leaving the next day. It was a rollercoaster of emotions all week, but I felt them most that morning. But the tasks ahead of us kept me focused on pressing forward. After District Council, we drove over to the Mission Office where LaDawn walked the office elders through the phone check sheets and I spent some time with the Assistants finalizing our draft of the July transfer board for President Boateng.

On Wednesday morning, we drove over to the Mission Home, with the expectation that it would be nearly completed. But that was not to be so. They were not even close. Aaron Allotey was there and he was clearly worried, because he could see the same thing. They were still a few days away (if not more) before the remodel work on the bathrooms would be completed. There was a guy there varnishing all the doors making it impossible to be in the home for any length of time due to the smell. There wasn’t much we could do but seek for options that would work for the Boateng’s. More on that later. We realized it might be our last visit, so we took a moment to snap a picture with Steven, our all-star guard. He has been just excellent in helping us in so many ways, including washing the car each week with no expectation of reward. He is a fine young man.

As we were preparing to take the picture right before leaving, Steven asked what the hissing noise was. I couldn’t hear it, but he did, and it lead him to the front right tire. We had run over a nail or a screw because by the time we drove over to the Mission Office, the tire was nearly flat. It was 11:15 am at this point and we needed to leave for the airport by 11:30. We started to change the tire, but in my haste, the car slipped off of the jack and we had to start over. I could see it wasn’t going to happen in time, so we left our Fortuner at the office and drove the truck that Elder Palmer and Elder Strother normally drive. We managed to make it to the airport on time along with the Assistants. When the Boateng’s came through the door, they were all smiles. Such a great couple! They will be tremendous mission leaders. We stopped at the Mission Home so the Boateng’s could see the work in progress. Over the next hour we worked through the options with Aaron and his boss, Andrews Karikari. As it turned out, the Boateng’s preferred just staying at the Lancaster for 5 days until they would go north for zone conferences, expecting everything to be completed on their arrival back to Kumasi. That will now happen on Monday, July 8th. By the time we returned to the Mission Office, Alex had changed the flat tire on the Fortuner. We had a quick lunch together (the Office Elders had picked up some shawarma’s from Aboude’s) and I was able to log into President Boateng’s account and complete the fourth and final application to the First Presidency. Since I had already lost access earlier in the morning, there was no other way to get it completed and submitted. It was great to get that done. As it turned out, we had very little time together after the long visit at the Mission Home discussing options for where they would stay. At 3 pm, we drove back over to the Hilltop Couples’ apartment where we have been staying, put our luggage into the Loveland’s truck, and they drove us to the airport. We did manage one last picture together with the Boateng’s. And one last picture with the Lovelands.

We were at the airport and checked in by 4:30 pm, with an expected departure time of 5:50 pm. And then the weather decided to change things up. A quite significant thunderstorm with heavy rainfall delayed the flight for 2.5 hours. It rained so hard, that water began to come into the waiting room where we and many others were sitting. At one point, there was a lightning flash followed by instantaneous thunder and then the lights went off. The guy sitting about 15 feet away jumped from his chair and hit the floor. Someone dropped glass bottle and for a few seconds it was interesting chaos. Someone started a generator, the lights came back on, and we waited for our flight. Around 8 pm, the flight was announced, we made our way through security and then waited until about 8:30 before boarding our flight.

By 8:30 pm, we were finally in the air leaving Kumasi. It had become our home away from home.

Once in Accra, Eric Borteye Abuyeh met us and drove us over to the international terminal. Brigham Tetteh, one of our former missionaries also met us at the airport. That was a sweet reunion. He is hoping to be in Utah next year for school, so we will look forward to seeing him again.

Our flight was to take us to Paris and then on to Houston. It was due to leave at 11:15 pm, but it was just after midnight when we left the gate. We were grateful to have some time in Accra to get something to eat before boarding as we were not sure if they would feed us on the plane. By this point we were getting hungry. We found a small cafe and purchased two ham and cheese (toasted) sandwiches with some chips and water. Airport food never tasted so good.

When our flight was finally called, we took a crowded bus out to the plane. Once in the plane, I had the aisle seat, LaDawn was in the middle seat, and a woman with an 18 month old child was in the window seat. LaDawn was a bit squished, but that toddler slept the whole time. What a blessing that was for us and for the mom. We arrived in Paris about 7:40 am. (Paris is 2 hours ahead of Accra).

Two hours later, we were again on the move, once again taking a bus out to the plane, except this time it was a very long ride all the way to the opposite side of the airport from where the gate was located. I was beginning to think we were going to drive to Houston! Once on the plane, we again had the middle and aisle seats and a man had the window seat. I am not sure how he did it, but he did not get out of that seat the entire 10 hours of the flight. He did sleep a lot and may have taken some of LaDawn’s leg space during the flight, but at least he did not put his head on her shoulder. Where we were sitting, the cabin temperature was quite cold. Fortunately LaDawn had a sweater and I had a blanket covering my head for much of the trip. The space was cramped, making sleep very difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.

As we came into Houston, there was a thunderstorm in the northwest area of the city, and so the pilot made a wide circle, nearly over New Orleans and came in from the south side of Houston. This delayed us about 20 minutes. As we were going through customs, LaDawn was “randomly” selected for an Agricultural Check. We were taken down the stairs a back way and then escorted out to collect our luggage, which took about 30 minutes for it to come. We then took it back, answered a few questions, ran the bags through an X-ray machine and were told we were free to go. The good news is that the delays allowed the rest of our family to get in place before we came out. Funny how things work out…

The absolute highlight for us had to be walking through those doors and seeing our family waiting for us. As we came through the door, the grandchildren were jumping and clapping and cheering. It was a special moment for us. We couldn’t help but snap a picture. I wish I had taken a video.

Once we had a chance to greet everyone and get a hug or two, we took an official picture:

From the airport, we all went over to Kira and Brian’s home (we rode with Lincoln, MiCayla, Adeline, and Cole) where we had some delicious brisket coupled with lots of good side dishes (like Yuck Stuff, Chips, fruit, and bread). We made it home before 8 pm and didn’t wait long before going to sleep. It had been a very long day on airplanes. Friday morning, we headed to the temple. It was so good to be back in the Houston temple after a prolonged absence. As we were leaving, we ran into the Steinmetz’s. What a sweet reunion that was, albeit short. In the afternoon, Brian, Chase, Maddie, and I went to High Meadow Ranch Golf Course and played 18 holes of golf. Maddie smoked us all. She is a very good golfer. I have to say that High Meadow is so much easier (at least for me) than the Kumasi Royal Golf Club.

On Saturday, we met Rob and Wendy Bolick at Citizen’s Grill for lunch. While they live in Utah, they had come down over the weekend for the baby blessing of a new grandchild. Their daughter Miranda and her husband are here in Houston for a medical rotation. It was wonderful that we made it home in time to connect with them. We had never met face to face previously, but have been in a small group of like-minded Saints on the Signal app for a number of years. It was wonderful to meet up with them. They have been asked to replace the Samuelson’s as Human Rights Education advocates in Kumasi. We were able to answer some of their questions and then we gave them the Samuelson’s contact information.

On Saturday evening, Jacob Harnois and Jacob Simpson (two former Assistants) flew in from Ohio (they are selling solar installs this summer). They got in around 11 pm. We offered them some cereal (what else could it be?) and after talking for about an hour, decided it was time for all of us to get some sleep.

On Sunday, we spoke in Sacrament Meeting. LaDawn spoke about things she has learned over the last three years. I followed up touching on gratitude for a supportive family, the Doctrine of Christ, repentance, scripture study, and the story of Hannah and Enoch. 15 minutes is not very much time to share what has happened over the last three years. The 2nd hour was a combined meeting focused on Family History. Afterwards, we gathered together and took a few pictures. We had everyone there except for Tyson and Chelsea and their children. We will all be together for a family reunion in just over a week.

Since this is our last post, we thought it might be worthwhile to summarize at least part of our experience with numbers. During our three years, we worked with 12 senior missionary couples: Coombs, Allred, Moomey, Garrison, Steinmetz, Thompson, Loveland, Goodrich, Pack, Samuelson, Ray, Kirk. These couples are the greatest gifts given to Mission Leaders! We also worked with exactly 500 young missionaries (what is the chance of that?) from 36 different countries listed below.

Nigeria	Uganda	Zambia	Fiji	Cabo Verde	Vanuatu
Ghana	DR Congo	South Africa	Madagascar	Angola	Malawi
USA	Brazil	Botswana	Tonga	Kenya	Tanzania
Mozambique	Liberia	Ivory Coast	Philippines	New Zealand	England
Zimbabwe	Lesotho	Dominican Republic	Papua New Guinea	Republic of Congo	French Polynesia
Uganda	Rwanda	Eswatini	Australia	Samoa	Namibia

Over the three years, we experienced 26 major transfer dates, and received and released missionaries many times before and after the primary date primarily due to MTC schedules and visa problems. With the approval of the Area Presidency, we released and called 7 District Presidencies (2 of the 5 districts had changes due to relocation of the District President less than 2 years after their initial call). During our three years, we saw the Konongo Stake formed shortly after we arrived and the Ejisu Stake shortly before we left. In our member districts, we created 9 new branches: In Obuasi there were four: Adansi Asokwa, Kwabenakwa, Akrofuom, and Dunkwa II. In Bibiani, there were three: Humjibre, Hwenampori, and Nyinahin. In Sunyani we had Domfete and in Tamale we had Zuarungu. In addition, we created 5 groups which will grow into branches over the next year: Kintampo, Nkoransa 2, Wenchi (Techiman District); Bosomioso (Bibiani District); Kyekyewere (Obuasi District). There was also growth in the Stakes. University Stake created the Behenase, Kwanwoma, Seneagya, Dadease, Appiadu, Aprade, and Onwe branches and the Addukrom group. Ejisu Stake created the Kubease, Asaam, and the Ejura groups. Bantama stake created the Pakyi branch. Konongo stake created the Atwedie and Akoase branches and the Agogo and Apradang groups, Obo is imminent. Suame created the Adankwame and Afrancho Bronkong branches. In total, there were exactly 4500 baptisms of new converts recorded from July 2021 – June 2024 in the Ghana Kumasi Mission. There are so many people in Ghana looking for truth, stability, peace, and joy – and all of that is available in the Lord’s restored Church. It is no wonder that the Church in Africa is growing at such a tremendous pace right now. And there is so much work yet to be done! How grateful we are that Alexander and Anita Boateng have been called to now take the work of the Kumasi mission “to a higher level“.

And just like that, our three-year grand adventure to Ghana is over. It has been the hardest thing we have ever done….and the most rewarding. We have come to know our Savior in very personal ways. He has inspired us, corrected us, challenged us, encouraged us, taught us, and lifted us. The best way to describe this experience is to borrow the words of Francis Webster, the well-known handcart pioneer who sat in the back corner of a Sunday School class in Cedar City, Utah in 1904 at the age of 74. While others in the class derided the decision of leaders to allow the handcart companies to set out so late in the season, Francis patiently listened until he could take it no more. He then slowly arose and began to speak. “I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Hand Cart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that Company and my wife was in it. (And with that historical perspective, we alter his words ever so slightly to accommodate our own experience in Ghana) . . . We have looked back many times to see who was pushing our cart but our eyes saw no one. We knew then that the Angels of God were there. Were we sorry that we were chosen to come to West Africa? No. Neither then nor any minute of our lives since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and we are thankful that we were privileged to come to the Africa West Area and serve in the Ghana Kumasi Mission.“

We express our love and gratitude to the Father, His Son, and the Holy Ghost, and their authorized servants here on earth who sit in the highest councils of this Church. The privilege to serve has far exceeded any expectations we had when we set out three years ago to undertake, what then – and often since, seemed impossible. But we have learned that with our God, “all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), as we have witnessed for ourselves, the mighty hand of the Lord in this work. We give unto Him all “Glory, Laud, and Honour” for allowing us to play a small role in the gathering Israel, one last time, TOGETHER IN GHANA.