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After being gone a year and even spending a week in Kenya, we are now back home, and it has been very nice to see all of our family and friends once again. We still have Chad and Brett’s family to see, but that day will come. We also have some catching up to do with friends, but we are now looking forward to beginning a new chapter in our lives. We will never forget Ghana. It was exactly what Jill and I had hoped a mission would be like. We loved the people, we loved o

The goodbyes were difficult this week and a few tears here and there. We loved the missionaries and we loved the people of Ghana. We will never forget the last 12 months of our lives. It was almost like “Heaven” with the people…. It was not a sacrifice for Jill and I…. it was a privilege ! Someday in the future…. We will all be equal from a material standpoint…. No one better off than the other…..No rich, no poor…… all equal in the sight of God. Of course, It will have t

The end of our mission is no longer an idea in the future…..IT IS HERE. We will attend our last Sunday of church meetings tomorrow, wrap up the training with the Nunez’s Monday, and then leave for Kenya on Tuesday. Yes, we are flying to Kenya to go on a Safari and see some things we will never get a chance to see…..we are here in Africa…..so we decided to go see Kenya. And I will be sending some pictures and videos next week of Kenya. But we do have mixed emotions because

WOW !!! This is Blog number 52. I guess this means we are about done with this wonderful adventure we have had in Ghana. I keep looking back and trying to remember everything….Jill keeps saying, “I hope we will never forget how we felt”…..I don’t think we will. And thank heavens for pictures and videos, which are shown below of our friends and friends from a year ago. As a senior missionary there is a bond that develops with other senior couples because we are here doing

This is not a farewell for me. It is for the Kaaen’s. They left this past Monday after 18 months here in Ghana. Sister Kaaen was our health advisor and Elder Kaaen did English Connect, BYU Pathway, Apartment inspections, and managed all the bikes in the mission. They were dedicated workers, worked extremely hard, and they will be missed. We worked together pretty much every day in the office and shared a lot of stories and experiences. Saying good-bye made me think about

This was a very exciting week for Jill and I and our family. Bonnie and Landon finally had their “rainbow” baby….born on May 8th…..7 lbs. 2 oz….Oliver Dennis Blodgett. He is our 38th grandchild, along with 3 great-grandchildren. We love them all so much and are looking forward to seeing them all again. I would also like to wish all the Mother's reading this Blog today that I am grateful for all that you do for the children that have been given to you from a loving Heavenl

The gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to see beauty differently. For example, when we think of beautiful faces, it is easy to picture what the world often celebrates as beauty….clear skin, perfect smile, “movie-star” types of faces. In Samuel 16:7, the Lord reminds us, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart”. This tells me that the most beautiful faces are not defined by physical features, but by what shines through those faces…..their sm

Landon sent me a beautiful picture of a “double-rainbow”..... from the view of our backyard in California. It got me thinking about rainbows and the symbolism associated with the rainbow. A rainbow often appears after a storm…..after dark clouds and heavy rain. And yet, when the storm begins to pass, light breaks through, and suddenly something bright, colorful, and peaceful stretches across the sky. It feels almost like a quiet assurance that everything is going to be ok

Even though we still have six weeks left to serve here in Ghana, attending our last Zone Conferences this last week got me thinking. Time is short. Missions revolve around six-week periods of time. Every six weeks there are Zone Conferences, Transfers, Mission Leader Interviews, etc. Schedules are determined by the six-week cycle. We just attended our last Zone Conferences. The Campbell’s had us bear our testimonies to all of the missionaries and I will admit it was diff

Last weekend was very nice and peaceful. Two times each year, we are given a special opportunity to hear words from living prophets and apostles….. General Conference weekend is one of my favorites of the year. In a world full of noise, confusion, and competing voices, the inspired words from our leaders stand as a clear and steady source of truth. I find myself pausing…..reflecting…..and trying to figure out what I can do to realign my life with the teachings of Jesus Chr

Happy Easter everyone. This has been a great week in the mission field as we paid much more attention each and every day about the events that occurred during “holy week”. It began for us with a fast last Sunday…..Palm Sunday…..as we read about Jesus’ triumphant appearance entering Jerusalem. It was nice to watch the videos and read from the scriptures what happened that week. And of course, I love the talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, entitled, “Sunday Will Come.”

I can easily remember over 50 years ago when I was a young missionary how I missed my family. I spent two years up in Toronto, Canada. In those days, we wrote letters and that was it…..no emails, no text messages, and no facetime. We were allowed to call our mothers on Mother’s Day and our family on Christmas. Other than that…..no communication for two years except for the letters we wrote and the letters we received. After a couple of months in the mission field, the ho

There was a movie made years ago called, “The Visit”. Kind of scary, but I liked it. It was about two kids going to visit their grandparents. Well…..we had two of our kids from California come and visit us this week. We were very surprised to see Denae and Landon…..they called us on the phone on a Tuesday last week and said, “could you guys pick us up at the Ghana airport at 6:00am this Saturday?” We said , “of course.” And we have had a great time the last four days…..

We had three Multi-Zone Conferences this week and it is always fun to see all the missionaries, in the entire mission, over a four-day period of time. Even though we are exhausted come Friday evening, I love seeing their faces and how they interact with each other. President and Sister Campbell do a great job in speaking on various topics, the AP’s and Zone Leaders do their break-outs, and then we have some lunch and play a game or two. We drive between one to 2 1/2 hours

Last Sunday was a very special day for Jill and I. She wrote about it in her weekly email to the family. I have some pictures below showing a young man that we met a few months ago and now his life is changed forever. His name is Gilbert Azeborah. He is from Ghana and this is his story….from my point of view. He is 19 years old. He needed a job and was out looking for one…..the unemployment rate here in Ghana for this age group is 40%. Jobs are hard to find. He walked

I love that our Church is involved in hundreds of humanitarian projects all over the world. President Oaks indicated that the Church donated over a billion dollars a couple of years ago to humanitarian projects all over the world and I’m sure that dollar amount has increased these last couple of years. That figure does not include the man hours members have given to help in areas of disaster. There is nothing better than feeling like one is helping those in need. These pro

We had a visitor from Salt Lake this week, which was a special and unique event in that there are only 12 Apostles of the Church with about 500 missions worldwide. So, having an Apostle come and visit our mission was an awesome experience. Elder Quentin L. Cook , ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve in 2007, visited our mission, along with Elder Michael T. Ringwood , who is currently one of the presidents of the Quorum of Seventy. They both spoke to us on Tuesday as Seni

This was a good week with a lot of different experiences that happen in missions throughout the world. Some good and some not so good. Just to highlight a few….. Jill saw a glass pitcher fall and cut her foot pretty badly.....very deep cut. She didn't want to go get stitches, so she cleaned it and used super-glue. It was fine for a few days and now it is infected. So now we are dealing with that. Pictures below. We had an Elder who contracted typhoid. He will be fine

As these missionaries serve, they realize very quickly how important it is to rely upon the spirit and stay as close as possible to their Savior, Jesus Christ. They cannot do this work alone. I have also found that to be true…..even in the financial matters and flow of money I am involved in daily. One would not think that financial matters would involve promptings from the Spirit, but I have seen it in my life…..and certainly in the work I am doing here in Ghana. Promptin

Elder David A. Bednar said recently….. “Why would an 18, 19, 20 year old young man or young woman leave home, go around the world someplace where they are assigned to go…..learn a new language…..at their own expense…..to share the message that Jesus Christ lives and He loves each and everyone of God’s children here on Earth? They do this because they love this message”. They know how important it is in their own lives….and all they want to do is share it with the people