The Fab Five

This is a photo of the Fab Five who have, with others listed below, put together and carried out this 10 year Audiology training program in Ghana, West Africa.  LDS Charities has been the money behind the program with contributions in funding and services from the KorleBu teaching hospital in Accra.  Most of these people have volunteered countless hours and money out of their own pockets to see this program come to fruition.

I promised to relate how we got involved.  Below is an excerpt from John's letter to the family when I first got a glimpse of where we might be spending this winter!

Post script to last blog...The plumber is coming today to fix the leak in my new kitchen.  Sure is wet in Ghana for not being the rainy season!!

(Kurt Randall, John Ribera, Ike Ferguson (fearless leader), Mike, and Kim Leishman)  others not included are:  Don & Yalanda Atchison, Terry Foust, Jeff Larsen, Doug Laws, Kate Nielson, Tina Osvorne, Rob Rane, Martin Robinette, William Strong and Steve Viehweg.

September 23, 2012

Today we attended a broadcast of the dedication of the Brigham City Temple. It was being shown in our stake center. What a great opportunity to participate in such an historic event. Afterward we were stopped by our Stake President, Clark Israelsen,  who invited us into this office. He pulled out some paperwork from his file cabinet and officially called us on our mission.

This has been quite a journey up to this point and I am not sure what will happen on our mission, but I am reassured it is all in God’s hands.   I believe the call actually occurred in the celestial room of the Accra, Ghana temple. I really had not given any serious thought as to when we might go on a mission as a couple. That just wasn’t in our short term plans.  While conversing with the temple matron, Sister Breilatt, the topic came up of a senior couple who was leaving in June. Sister Breilatt was concerned about how the assignments would be fulfilled as this couple spoke French and were used in the temple whenever patrons from other countries whose official language was French came to participate in temple ordinances. Sister Breilatt then asked the question, “Do you know of anyone who speaks French?” I said that I did. She then asked, “Does your wife speak French?” I answered in the affirmative. I then had a feeling sweep over me from head to toe. I have had that feeling several times in the past. I recognize it as one of the ways the Holy Spirit communicates to me.

I did not understand why I was getting those feelings. They occurred several times while I was in the temple.  I went home and did some serious praying over the next couple of days. It then became evident to me that I needed to come back to Ghana with Ann and serve a mission. Again, it was not clear how we could do this as I still was employed at Utah State University and as of yet had made no plans in the foreseeable future for retirement. As time went on the idea came that I should apply for a sabbatical, as I had not been able to go several years earlier because of a faculty shortage.  When I returned stateside from the trip to Ghana, I began feeling out the possibility of applying for sabbatical leave, but instead of starting at the bottom I started at the top, the Provost’s Office, and floated the idea down the chain of command (administrative channels) to see what problems I might encounter. This ended up being a very effective way of ensuring approval.  When I spoke with the chair of my department, she felt that because of my age and status, the only chance I would have of getting this approved was to put in for phased retirement. I decided that I would do whatever it took to get the approval, because I knew we had to go on the mission, and that this was one way (and maybe the only way) for us to do it. It so happens the approval went through without a hitch.

This will be a unique mission call. It is for a period of 2 years, in case I or we need to return after the sabbatical. So we will serve for over 7 months, then return so I can teach at USU in the fall of 2013.  During the sabbatical portion of the mission, Ann and I will work in continuing to improve the curriculum for the master’s program in audiology. We will also be involved in conducting research in telehealth so that the small army of audiologists in Ghana can test patients at a distance using Internet technology.  When we are not with students, we will likely be serving in the temple or at the distribution center, or Church offices or wherever the mission or temple presidents want us to serve. We will also host visiting faculty from the states as we will be living in a 3-bedroom apartment.  Finally, I anticipate that we will also host several of our graduate students who will come over for a week or so do to some humanitarian hearing healthcare.
So there is a feeling of great anticipation. I am hopeful that we can make a contribution; that we can make a difference for good, not only for the first audiologists in Ghana, but also for Ghanaians whom we will meet.