YSA's

I am continually impressed with the young single adults here. Let me tell you about a few of the most amazing ones that I have met.

First off we Koby. Koby is the tallest African that I have met so far, coming in at around 6'4". Koby runs a crazy schedule where he wakes up around 3:30 every single morning. He gets ready for the day, studies his scriptures and then does school work. He leaves for work around 6:00am and arrives at work by 8:00am. He works until 4:00pm with a 15 minute lunch break thrown in there somewhere. He leaves work and heads off to his school, which starts at 4:30pm. Sometimes he makes it on time but not very often. He is studying Informatics at Ghana TeleCom University. He finishes school around 10:00pm and heads home. He arrives around 11:00pm, eats something light, finishes school work, and heads to bed around midnight. Then he gets up and does the same thing the next day. In addition to working full-time and going to school full-time he spends his Saturdays doing his wash, doing homework at his school and teaching an institute class. He also serves as the Sunday School President and the Gospel doctrine teacher in his ward. Koby is 27. He joined the church at 22 and sent on a mission to Nigeria when he was almost 25. He's been back from his mission for seven months and well... you can tell when you talk to him.
The picture below is Koby standing in our kitchen last Saturday. And guess what he is displaying for you?? A cocoa pod! Who knew that chocolate started out in this form??

Many of the other students that we have been become acquainted with are currently participating in a program called Pathways International. Pathways is a BYU-Idaho program where students can take online courses and eventually get a bachelors degree. There are currently 23 sites operating in the US and now they are taking the program worldwide. Ghana is the pilot for Pathways International. Kirsten and I attend the Pathways class each Thursday evening. There are definitely some challenges but it is fun to help these students on their path to becoming full blown college students. The rest of these young single adults we know from that class.

Now we have Adeola. In this picture he is the bald dude. You can also see him in the post about mexican food. Adeola is originally from Nigeria and he grew up as a Muslim. Adeola moved to Ghana when he was 19 years old and joined the Church shortly thereafter. At 22 he served a mission to Nigeria. He's been back nine months. We recently discovered that he is exactly 18 days older than me. Kinda cool to meet someone so close to my age. Adeola is the lead student for the Pathways program. He is in charge of coming to the chapel each day to let the students check out the laptops that they use to do their school work. He also has the highest grade in the class. Adeola is preparing to become an IT professional. Last week in class we were talking about life decision making which led to a discussion on life goals. Adeola said, "My life goal is very lofty but I think with lots of hard work I can achieve it. I hope to build my career so that my family can be comfortable. I want to have enough with some to spare to help others." It made me very happy that he has this vision for himself but also sad that he lives in a place where this is a lofty, seemingly unobtainable goal.
In his ward Adeola is 1st counselor in the Young Mens Presidency, Ward Activities Chair, and Early Morning Seminary Teacher. He puts his whole heart and soul into all three callings. Last December he put on a ward activity where the youth and primary children each put on a play about the Savior. He wrote a directed the play that the youth did.

Next we have Raymond. The one on the left in the funky shirt. Raymond is like the little brother that I always wanted. Whenever he is around I am always laughing and having a great time. He is very competitive and likes to make up little games that he knows he will win. He is 18 and just beaming with enthusiasm for the day that he can serve a mission. He is the #2 student in the Pathways class and a strong leader in the class discussions that we have. One thing that makes Raymond unique among the Pathways students is that he is the only one born into an LDS family. Here in Ghana it is currently very unique for an adult to be a 2nd generation member. Raymond plans to become a lawyer and hopes to eventually become the Chief Justice of Ghana.

Last but certainly not least we have Frances. He is pictured above in the white shirt. You can also see him in the post about mexican food. Frances is 20 and preparing to serve a mission within the next 2 years. In his ward Frances is the Young Mens President, Preparing for Exaltation Sunday School class teacher, and ward organist. Frances taught himself to play the piano using the beginning books that the Church has created. Frances would like to become an international business analyst.
Frances was the first one in the Pathways class to work up the courage to speak to us and become our friend. Now we are great friends and we chat on the facebook nearly every night.

The Young Single Adults, and the members in general, are truly amazing. There are definitely some growing pains since there are so many 1st generation members but they are very faithful and dedicated to the Gospel. They are very good at keeping the doctrines simple with a solid focus on the Savior.

If you made it through all of this you may be wondering why I have only written about boys. Well, the girls here don't seem to like talking to us very much. I'm not sure if they feel shy, intimidated or what but it is harder to become friends with them. There are some wonderful girls we have met but they aren't as quick to open up and become our friends.

It is also interesting to note that in the Church here in Ghana there are far more active men than women. I was very surprised by this. In the Pathways class we have 17 boys and 3 girls, not including us. On Saturdays we attend another institute class where there are usually 5 boys and then us. Since we've been here we have seen 7 people baptized and confirmed in our ward, all of them have been men. At church on Sundays the men outnumber the women 2 to 1. I think many of the women stay home to prepare meals and such. I think that it is also more common to send men to Accra for schooling or careers while women stay in the villages more.