These are the blocks that they use to stamp the batik designs on the fabric. With this many designs and combinations of designs and color possibilities an artist has unlimited opportunities to express his unique talents. 

This is the artisan painting dye on the fabric that has already been waxed. 

This is the fabric factory in Accra, Ghana where Mom bought her batik and tye-die fabric. Thelittle wooden shack in the rear is the "factory" and what you see in the front is the "drying room". They dye this beautiful African fabric by hand using stamps, wax and dyes. No two pieces are ever exactly the same. Each one is unique. 

We just got back from our 10 day tour of Nigeria where we did a mission tour in the Port Harcourt Mission and conducted leadership training in 5 stakes over the course of our trip in that mission and the Nigeria Uyo Mission. This was a shot of three of the Port Harcourt Mission zones after our mission conference in Port Harcourt. (PS - the two white faces are ours). 

Dad took this shot of three zones in the Port Harcourt Nigeria Mission after a mission conference Friday. President and Sister Stone are the other white faces in the center. 

This fellow was sitting in the airport in Port Harcourt and Mom loved his blue pajamas and tall hat as he worked on his laptop. Many of the African men wear these comfortable pajama-looking clothes every day. Dad thinks this would be a good trend to start in the US. 

A typical street scene in Aba Nigeria. 

This is the road we traveled 8-10 miles on to get to the river where the first baptisms were performed in West Africa on November 21, 1978. It was a beautiful setting, and the actual baptismal site was just to the left of the bridge ahead. We weren't sure we were going to make it on this read in President Stone's Honda Accord. It was quite a journey on a sand and dirt track through villages and past markets. This is really in the bush. No good roads, electricity or running water for miles, but thousands of people living in villages in the jungle. 

This is the spot where those first baptisms in West Africa were performed in November of 1978. 

This is the site of the first baptisms in West Africa. Elder and Sister Mabey and Elder and Sister Cannon baptized 19 people in this river here on November 21, 1978. Two of those 19 people were with us and are shown in this photo - Raymond and Francis Obinna. It is like the waters of Mormon or the sacred grove - a reverent and sacred place. 

This is a shot of Elder Hanson (the tall elder from Nigeria) and Elder Baloyi (the short one from South Africa) who are President Stone's assistants in the Port Harcourt Mission. Their great friendship is typical of how the African missionaries treat each other. 

These are twins ("Queen" and "Queenette") born in to the Obinna family. We visited this family in their compound in the bush. Sister Stone (on the right) is Dana Lyman's mother, the wife of the mission president. 

This is one of the young mothers in the Obinna family compound. The older generation of this family were the first people to be baptized in West Africa. This is how they carry all their babies - everywhere - always! 

This is the baptismal font inside the first chapel built in West Africa. It is really in the heart of the jungle. 

While their friend was climbing the palm tree to gather firewood, these boys were playing in the trees in the jungle below. There are five of them. Can you spot them? 

We spotted this little guy climbing a palm tree right behind the chapel in the jungle. He just scampered up this tree and was breaking and dropping dried palm fronds to take home for fire wood. 

This chapel is really in the jungle of the Nigerian delta. It was the first chapel built in West Africa and is reached down a winding dirt road, miles off the paved highway. It is right outside the Obinna compound, the family that were the first converts in the West Africa  

The baptismal font in the courtyard of the chapel in Owerri Nigeria. 

This is President and Sister Stone (Dana Lyman's parents) of the Port Harcourt Nigeria Mission. We stayed with them in the mission home and traveled with them for six days in Nigeria on a mission tour and a series of stake leadership training that we did this week. They are doing great and prospering in Africa. 

This is one of the zone leaders in Owerri standing with a ward missionary who attended our zone conference. As they talked, they discovered that it was this elders sister who taught and baptized the ward missionary when his sister was a missionary in Lagos Nigeria a few years ago. The fruits of missionary work are everywhere. 

After a mission conference with the elders in Owerri, Nigeria (Port Harcourt Mission) we took a photo in the courtyard of the chapel in Owerri. They were terrific! 

On the day we left the Nigeria Uyo Mission to head for Port Harcourt, we took a photo with the elders working in the mission office, standing outside in the office compound. 

These women were standing outside this little chapel deep in the jungle of the Nigerian delta where we went to church last week. They all walked to church from their villages in the bush down a rutted, sandy road, but were dressed in their beautiful African clothes for the Sabbath. 

Last week we attended church at this chapel which is five miles down a dirt road in the jungle of Nigeria. I found this little girl going into the building and couldn't resist taking her picture. I think she is about 5 or 6. 

These young women (and their advser/translator in the green dress) attended Mom's auxiliary training session deep in the bush (at a very nice chapel). The one on the left is 15 years old and she is a counselor in the ward YW presidency.