Chase, this one's for you. Technically it isn't an African animal, but these lizards are everywhere we go. You see them sunning themselves on sidewalks or walls, or see them scurrying up the sides of buildings. And they are fast little buggers. You'd have a dickens of a time trying to catch one. 

This little guy isn't as colorful but is just as plentiful 

These are a very common sight in Ghana and Nigeria. They also can jump up stairs and can be quite startling if you don't see them coming. But they won't hurt you. They just eat bugs 

Getting comfort. Can you see that her braids are merely hair extensions? Her real hair is very short and cut close to her head to help her keep cool. 

Mmm...where's the butter and garlic when you need it? How would you like to look down and see these honkers in your marigolds? There were a lot of these being sold at the side of the road on the way to Kumasi. I didn't dare ask them how they fix them. It was all I could do to take their picture out the car window. When we told the young man selling them that we only wanted a picture, he wanted 10,000 cedes ($1.10), but we bargained him down to 2,000 cedes, and he went away smiling. Probably thinking those crazy obrunnis. Whoa...they still give me the willies just looking at the picture! Make sure you enlarge the picture for the full effect!!!

Some of the Awi ward members who are taking part in the cultural event for the Awi chapel dedication. They are dressed very simply because Awi is a place of simple people who have very little except the gospel 

The young women from the Awi Ward are performing a traditional dance for the chapel dedication cultural event 

This is our chapel dedication in Awi. Members and guests were beginning to take their seats for the cultural event. 

Remember the neck breaking pillows I told you about in our hotel in Calabar? These are not down pillows, when you push down on them they don't depress even 1/8 inch. They are as solid as a brick. Sweet dreams! 

These are the school desks for the school in the refugee camp. The missionaries have carried them outside so the church services can begin. This picture is actually a video but we don't know if blogspot will allow you to watch it. We didn't actually know we had turned the camera to video rather than photo. Excuse the ground shots. 

This is the school in Burabram at the Liberian Refugee Camp. Each Sunday the missionaries take out the school desks and haul in the chairs for the members. Normally this school holds about 200 kids during the week sitting 3-4 to a desk.  

This is the family compound in Tsito which I wrote about. We were so surprised to find everyone in Sunday best waiting for our arrival. The man who was the soldier during the "freeze" is standing betwen Mom & Dad.  

This is a close up of our lovely members in Tsito. Notice the little table complete with tablecloth and flowers in honor of our visit. President & Sister Gay are on the left. 

These are the future women auxiliary leaders of the yet to be formed Tsito Branch. 

This is from our last trip to Nigeria and what I spend my time doing when we have 5 hour airport waits. Maybe I'll eventually get good at this. 

Part of the fun of being on a mission, your Dad and Elder Lewis were part of our Valentines Day Dinner entertainment. Think they are ready to be sent on the road? Or should we just tell them to hit the road? 

This weeks postings are a hodge podge of things that have happened the last 2 weeks. We had a lovely drive this past week to the bead market, but this sign caused us to stop right in the middle of traffic in order to get a picture. Telling you the name of this business just wouldn't have given the full detail. We are sure you will agree this one wins the prize for the most creative business name of the week.

This last Saturday we made a return trip to the Agomanya bead market. See any beads you like? 

This is one of those beautiful African trees that we love. We took the picture because you can get some perspective of it's size next to the new house, and the man in the foreground. These trees are a regal and beautiful sight in the African countryside.

The large Saturday market where we buy the beads also has stalls where the locals buy anything and everything. These stalls just happen to have used clothing, bedding, and cloth. 

I wish someone else besides me could decide which ones of these to buy. There are too many choices. This is just one row of stalls. There are about 7 other rows just like this one with bead sellers on both sides of the row.  

We wanted to label this picture "man at work". Women do most of the work in West Africa, and it often appears that West African men can sleep just about anywhere. It is very common to see men asleep on tables, benches, or even the ground while the women are off selling, cleaning or cooking. The large rock in the rear is actually a termite mound and they are also very common in West Africa

This will give you an idea of the sizes of some of the termite mounds. This isn't an extremely large one, but a pretty common size. There are some much taller. 

Bread stalls like these line the roads on Saturdays when everyone is going to funerals. You may see 30-40 of these stalls on the main roads out of town. Many people take bread to the family when they go to funerals. 

This is Kwame with his Mom, Bernice. Kwame doesn't mind white people because he is around them all the time. He gets lots of hugs and he loves the attention