The Ghana Experience
Last Fall while we were doing our ‘Around the World’ theme, an acquaintance, April, I met through social media reached out to me and said she felt prompted to contact me and asked if I would interested in some items from her friends in Ghana. She explained to me that she worked closely with the Missionary Training Center in Provo and Ghana. April is involved in coordinating thousands of donations that get sent to the country of Ghana. Many native missionaries begin their missions with nothing more than the clothes they come to in the MTC. So she helps make sure more clothing items are available. In her last trip to Ghana, September of 2019, she was able to deliver thousands of donations to help aid the members in Ghana. If she hadn’t made the trip, these donations never would have made it before the COVID-19 shut downs. What a tremendous blessing for these people.
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I saw no pictures of the items ahead of time and I had never talked to April more than just over a direct message. But, months later, when I opened up our shipment, I quickly realized this was so much more than I ever expected. She had sent the most gorgeous hand made dolls. I instantly recognized the fine details and time that must’ve went into the creation of the dolls - just for us. They even had little babies! With one glance, I knew these were going to be something we would keep forever. The dolls were customized to be ‘Wednesday born’ which aligns with the day of the week my twins were born.
April also sent cedis (Ghanian money), kente (the brightly colored woven fabric), an incredible mask (which April explained that the masks are often made with worn and rusted tools), a woven tie, a beautiful fan which all my kids loved but especially my son, an apron, and lots of books to borrow to learn more about the Ghanian people and West-African cultures. ‘Walking in the Sand’ is a history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana and was such an interesting read. There was also a DVD on the history of the church that is only available in Ghana.
After reading the history book I had a feeling I needed to keep researching. Why was April prompted to reach out to me? Why share these special items with us? Was there something else I needed to learn? Late last night, I came across Pioneers in Every Land which is a site organized by the church to better understand church history throughout the world. I thought, what a great way to learn about the culture of an area, but also the history of the church! As I started to watch the video at the top of the page - I knew this is what I had been led to find.
“You Can’t Close My Heart” is a ten minute film found on Pioneers of Every Land that gives a brief overview of “The Freeze” which was a period of time in Ghana’s history where the saints were not allowed to congregate for church for 18 months by order of the Ghanian government. They were given approval by the church to worship and partake of the sacrament in their homes.
Sound familiar?
Despite “The Freeze” many members still gathered in homes and looked after one another. Even though this took place in 1989-1990, the visuals of home-centered worshipping - despite the adversaries going around them - hit very close to my heart. As I am sure it will for everyone right now. William Acquah says, “Our homes became sanctuaries of the Spirit.”
I was humbled by their eternal perspective, “We don’t need to blame the government to what happened to us, no, it was the Lord who allowed it to happen to us for his own purposes.”… “As the prophet Joseph Smith said, ‘no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing,’ no.”
The day after we received our box I had reached out and asked April for more information on the woman who made our dolls. I discovered her name is Bernice and she is currently serving as the Stake Young Women’s President in Accra. One of the thoughts that came to my mind is how connected I felt to Bernice - without ever even knowing her! In fact, I had never seen her before - yet, I knew she was there and I knew she was serving us literally thousands of miles away. It reminded me very much of the Spirit - I know He is there, serving us, even though we cannot see Him.
April shared with me that Bernice was recognize at the BYU Women’s Conference in April 2020 by Sister Eubank. It is a great talk exemplifying women who are still ministering in challenging times. Bernice is about 7 minutes in on the video Gathering Together in the Latter-days. When I listened to her talk, again, I felt instantly connected to Bernice and her willingness to serve our family. And, how grateful I am for April for acting on her prompting and providing this opportunity for our family. Once I watched the video about The Freeze, I realized the deeper meaning behind this experience. And, I love that the dolls will serve has a great and beautiful reminder of it - generosity, kindness, ministering, light and most of all…hope…in OUR challenging times.
I wish I could share this experience with everyone, but the best I can do is share our story and what an incredible opportunity it was. A million thanks goes to April for her willingness to bring this beautiful opportunity into our home.
I have also put together a list of books April recommended that can be found here on Amazon or you can click the images below to learn more about each book. Our favorite was the Seven Spools of Thread and The Spider Weaver. My kids thought it was pretty great to have the kente and read a story about it. There is also a fun little weaving activity in the back of the book of Seven Spools of Thread. We also spent time looking at pictures of the Ghana Temple - which is one of our favorite things to do while learning about other countries. Last of all, I showed my kids a short clip of the Sunday Morning Session TWI and English Mixed edition of General Conference April 2019. It was fun because they recognized it - yet it sounded completely different.
