This blog covers the years 2014-2016 when we (the Robisons) were at the Ghana MTC. To see the blog covering the period 2016-2018 click on this link: http://ldsghanamtc.blogspot.com/
This view is looking straight into the MTC President's new apartment from the rear of the building
Here is the base of the auditorium at the rear of the complex and the progress of the six story housing unit on the right.
This is an arial view of the new MTC. The six story building is for housing, the classrooms are at the top of the photo, the Area Presidency apartments are behind the complex on the left side of the photo.
An elderly gentleman, more than 80 years
old, came to the Accra Ghana Temple with a group of saints from Nkawkaw
where he lives alone. The group spent the night in the Temple
Ancillary Building, in the rooms available to temple patrons, so that
they could spend two day serving in the temple.
On the morning of April 27, 2012, the
elderly man was sitting on a bench inside the men’s dressing room in the
temple, waiting to do initiatory ordinances.
In a few minutes another man, 54 years
old, came and sat down by him. The younger man had planned to attend
the endowment session that morning with his wife and the other members
of his ward, but had arrived in the temple too late. He decided to do
initiatory ordinances instead.
The older man asked the younger one where he was from.
“Sekondi,” came the answer.
“Where in Sekondi?” The elderly one asked.
“In Ketan.”
“What part of Ketan?”
”Where the public schools are.”
“I have children living there,” the older man said.
With a growing sense of recognition, the younger one looked at him intently and said, “You are my father.”
Just then an ordinance worker approached
to invite the elderly man into the initiatory booth. About fifteen
minutes later, when he had completed the ordinance work, the older one
returned and immediately asked, “What is your name?”
“John Ekow-Mensah,” the younger man said.
“That is my name, too. You are my son.”
The younger John Ekow-Mensah had been
named after both his father and his grandfather; fathers and sons for
three generations in a row had borne the same name. When the boy was
very young his parents’ marriage dissolved and the father left. The boy
was four or five years old at that time. He and his three younger
sisters were raised by his mother and her family. John never saw his
father again until that Friday, April 27, 2012, in the temple. But
sometimes his mother, when he was misbehaving, told him that he was “a
carbon copy” of his father.
The younger John grew up and married.
He and his wife had decided to find a church that they could join
together. John was away at school at The University of Ghana in Accra
when he saw a Liahona magazine on a shelf. He found himself interested
in what it had to say, and noticed the name of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints as the publisher.
When John came back from school to his
home in Sekondi, his wife was anxious to tell him of a church she had
learned about from one of her friends. She said it was called, The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. John told her that this
was the church he had read about in a magazine at the university.
The younger John and his wife, Deborah,
were taught the gospel and baptized in 1999. In 2009 they were sealed
together with the three youngest of their five children in the Accra
Ghana Temple. John works with the national Council for Civic Education,
and Deborah runs a shop.
Unbeknownst to the younger John, his
father had made his living mostly as a painter. He had lived in
Mankesim from about 1983 to 1989, and operated a little shop. From
there he had moved to Ada, near Tema, close to the salt mines. While in
Ada, he met a woman who was living in a building he was painting. She
was a member of the Church and she introduced him to the gospel. He was
baptized a Latter-day Saint in Asunafu, Ghana, in 1991.
Though their paths in life had
separated, the father and his son had both found the gospel. Twenty-one
years after the father’s baptism and 13 years after the son’s, they
were reunited in a miraculous meeting in the temple. After that
encounter, they went on a temple session and then sat in the celestial
room together, reconnected their lives, and rekindled their love.
What took the older man away from his
family, and why hadn’t he tried to get back with or at least contact
them? The day after the father and son were reunited, we interviewed
the two men again and, while we listened, the son learned for the first
time why his father had left. In fact, though the son’s elation upon
finding his father had been obvious—according to Sister Gaye Briellatt,
the temple matron, tears were shed—his joy did not seem quite complete.
Though everything he said and did was respectful and proper, he seemed
to us not quite ready to embrace his father wholeheartedly. We wondered
if he might still be harboring some resentment over his father’s
unexplained disappearance from his life.
But then, as we talked to them both on
Saturday, the father explained to his son what had happened. Among
their tribe, the oldest matriarch held a sovereign power. Whatever she
required, everyone in the larger family was compelled to do. In this
case, that matriarch was the grandmother of the elder John Ekow-Mensah’s
wife, and she was violently opposed to his marriage to her
granddaughter. It was her insistence that force separation upon this
couple, and made it hopeless for John to attempt continued contact with
his family. Besides, he had to go wherever he could get work, sometimes
far away. Telephones were not available in their time and place, nor
was mail service. In that culture, expulsion from the family severed
all ties. The younger John had known his great-grandmother as a strong,
hardworking woman, but not as the power that had deprived him of all
association with his natural father for nearly fifty years.
We watched and listened as the
revelation of the true story brought the father’s and the son’s
rediscovery of each other to a fullness. The happiness in their eyes
seemed brighter than the West African sunlight that bathed the green
foliage surrounding us that morning, as we stood together outside of the
temple.
Though some would call the Ekow-Mensahs’
meeting a coincidence, we wondered. What if the older John had not
moved to a town and painted a house where one of the few Church members
in Ghana lived? What if someone in a Ghanaian university had not left a
copy of the Liahona in a study room? What if one ward and one branch in
Ghana, six or seven hours drive from one another, had not planned their
temple trip on the same day? What if the younger John had not missed
his endowment session? What if he had not decided to do initiatory
work?
Observing the radiant faces of the
father and son during the second interview on that Saturday morning, we
remembered these words of Moroni, which on this occasion seemed almost
audible: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because
Christ hath ascended into heaven?...Behold I say unto you, nay; neither
have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men” (Moroni 7:27,
29).
Last Wednesday, Brother Fred Antwi, a sealer in the Ghana Temple, performed the sealing of the Agyei family which we were privileged to witness. Brother Antwi himself has a fascinating story. In his words, here is his story:
Chief Nana Asomobore the second—chief of a tribe in Ghana, passed away. Attending his brother’s funeral was Fred Antwi, who had a year prior been baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The burial would take place in six months, and,unknown to Fred, plans were being made by his sister, the queen mother, for Fred to takeover the position of chief of the tribe. Just prior to the evening of the burial, Fred’s younger sister came to inform him and said, “Do you know what plans the family has for you?” He replied, “No, not until I’m told.” She replied, “You are going to be the next of kin (new chief).” Fred was surprised and said emphatically, “No! My religion will not permit me.
Being A Chief In Ghana
To serve as a chief is an honor. A chief is respected in his villages and is the first contact man for the large extended family. The chief is the overall boss, and when he speaks, the people will do as they are instructed. A chief receives financial support, and whatever he feels he needs, it will be provided to him.
Fred Antwi's Decision to Make "A Right Turn"
Fred relates the following upon hearing his sister's news: “That same evening, I took my car and drove to one of our elders in the village called Anyinamso, in the Ashanti Region near Kumasi, to inform him of what I had heard. He told me, ‘Kofi, I am part and parcel of the plans. I know what they are saying, so there is nothing I can do to take you out from being a chief.’ I said, ‘Well Nana, you know I am a Christian and my religion will not permit me to be a chief because there are a whole lot of things that we do in terms of pouring of libations, slaughtering of all animals and other things which to me might not all go well.’ Nana replied, ‘Well, go back to your elder people and tell them that you are a Christian and from what you have said you can never be a chief.’ “I went back to inform the elders, but they ignored my message. The corpse was to be buried midnight, so around 7:00 p.m. we were on our way from Mpesetia to bury my late brother in Kumasi, at a place called Pankronu. I was driving along with all of the other family members in their own cars, and upon reaching Kwadaso, instead of turning left with he others, I turned right leading to Cape Coast and sped off.” For the first six months there was no contact from the extended family. Fred later learned that had he gone to the burial, he would have been named as the next chief, putting him in a very difficult situation. He learned in time that his nephew, son of the queen mother, was named the next chief.
Conversion: The Gospel Will Change Your Life For Good
What compelled Fred Antwi to give up this position of honor—one which many may esteem very desirable? Fred had found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Firm in his testimony of the principles and doctrines of the gospel, Fred’s course in life was changed. Brother Antwi had received the priesthood and was fully engaged in his calling as branch president, dedicated to the service of the Lord. Fred Antwi has continued to serve in district and stake presidencies, and as a couple, he and Sister Antwi were the first full-time West African missionaries called to serve in the Accra Ghana Temple. Currently, he serves as a sealer in the Ghana Accra Temple and as historia of the Africa West Area.
Brother Antwi shares his testimony of the Priesthood
“It was in this church that I first heard about this word priesthood. I was baptized and confirmed the same day, and the following week I was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. When I was ordained, I was given some assignments as a priest and I practiced this until I was interviewed and ordained as an elder three months later. This priesthood of which we are talking is a gift and to me it’s a privilege to have it. This is the priesthood which our Father in Heaven had in creating all that we see here on earth. And the priesthood has helped my family. Whenever any of them gets sick, I lay my hands upon his or her head, pray for him or her, and he or she receives healing. This priesthood is indeed true, and as we remain obedient and faithful, the priesthood is something that, if we truly and worthily administer, will help us in our families.” One does not have to be with Brother Fred Antwi for more than a few moments before his wonderful broad smile appears. His love for the gospel and the lasting change it has brought to him and his family’s life is reflected in that smile. Truly, he made the “right” decision.
"The miracle of the Church in the Ivory Coast cannot
be told without the names of two couples: Philippe and Annelies Assard
and Lucien and Agathe Affoue. They joined the Church as young married
couples, one in Germany and one in France. In the 1980s, Philippe and
Lucien felt drawn back to their native African country for the purpose
of building the kingdom of God. For Sister Assard, who is German, to
leave her family and allow Brother Assard to leave his work as an
accomplished mechanical engineer required unusual faith. The two couples
met each other for the first time in the Ivory Coast and started a
Sunday School. That was 30 years ago. There are now eight stakes and
27,000 members in this beautiful African country. The Affoues continue
to serve nobly as do the Assards, who recently completed a mission to
the Accra Ghana Temple." (Elder Andersen, April 2015 General Conference)
This week the Ghana Temple was packed with faithful saints from Cote D'Ivoire. They do more family file work than members from any country attending the Ghana Accra Temple according to our family history couple, Elder and Sister Watson.
