Giddy in my seat!

Hey y'all! First thing's first, congrats to all my friends who got their mission calls this week, Sadie going to Washington, Aaron going to Hawaii, and mostly Ridge who will be joining me here in Ghana! I'm so excited about that! What a great week!

Vida and her kids are getting baptized this week so that's going to be sweet! Eric and Theo were out of town this week so we haven't really been able to meet with them at all. And... no one else is progressing really... but that's okay! At least we have an enormous teaching pool! That's something I definitely didn't have in Tamale.

Sorry this email is not going to be very good but there just isn't a lot to share this week. I will say this...

In a lot of circumstances I run into it is really easy to get discouraged, upset, and even depressed. When people get this way it is really easy to say, "Why me?" and it is easy to believe that God has forsaken you or just doesn't care. I see a lot of people that have financial, health, and educational problems where it seems like there is no easy way out. But the thing about life on this Earth, is that if there were an easy way out every time we would never reach our divine potential.

Our divine potential is where our focus should be as we journey through life. I heard a quote today that I believe is very true. Hell is when a man comes face to face with the man he could've become. The trials we face in this life make us the man or woman we can become. Our trials here on Earth will be added to our glory in the life to come. (see 2 Corinthians 4:17) I love you all!

 

h/t Sister Wardle

#trendsetter

I love reading my friends' missionary emails and seeing my #hashtags catch on all over the place. In case anyone was wondering, between my friends and me we cover every continent in the world except Australia. #wearelikethefreakingsonsofmosiah Also I love hearing from all my missionary friends and reading about some of their experiences and how certain things in each mission are similar and how each one is so different. It's powerful!

We had powerful zone conference this week and our major focus was on chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel, "Teaching Skills." So to all my soon-to-be missionary friends, I would highly recommend studying that chapter thoroughly and diligently because developing those skills is what separates the good missionaries from the great ones.

The missionary work in Offinso is almost overwhelming. This may be one of the only areas in the world where our biggest issue may be having too many people to teach. #africamissionprobs So I'll just try to focus on the investigators that are showing the most promise.

Vida is on a strong track toward baptism. Samuel was out of town this week and couldn't attend church so we'll have to postpone his prospective baptismal date. We are teaching two Junior High School teachers named Theo and Eric. Both have shown express interest in investigating the church and Eric especially seems particularly fond of the Book of Mormon. A fondness that started after we read 2 Nephi 33 with him. Both have been coming to church.

In other news we had a service project hauling wood #ghanaianstyle at a member's farm last week! That was fun. The kids are all members but the mother and father are not. #dontworryweareworkingonthat The mother is particularly fond of the church and has even been giving us referrals. But my understanding is that the husband doesn't want them to leave the Baptist church they attend. I'll attach some pictures from the farm.

Elder Otieno and I are trying to make it a thing to make sure that we share at least one scripture from the Book of Mormon at every visit we make to someone. A lot of Ghana missionaries get into the bad habit of trying to prove everything we believe in using only the Bible but what we have learned as we have used the Book of Mormon more is that it truly is the most powerful tool of conversion. Whether you are a member of the church or not, diligent study of the Book of Mormon is what will most cause your conversion to Christ.

Love you all! I'm doing great out here and I love hearing from all of you!

Can I get an amen?

Well, another week down in Offinso! I'm kind of in a rush so my email will probably be poor quality today. #sorrynotsorry #imgoingtokfctoday #bigday

I'm actually emailing from the heart of Kumasi today because we had a zone activity today playing some sports/cards at the Stake Center in Bantama. #realstakecenterbytheway #ithasasteepleandeverything Then tomorrow we have zone conference. #soillbegettingmypackagemom #soexcited

We have a few really good investigators! First there's Vida who doesn't speak a lick of English #mentebrofo. But she's been coming to church for months but her husband has not been allowing her to be taught by missionaries. Luckily he has died now so we can teach her. #sadbutlucky But she fully intends to be baptized by April 1st. #wahoo!

We are also teaching Samuel who's wife is a member but he hasn't been coming to church because of work so his progression has slowed. Luckily we were able to get him to start coming last Sunday so hopefully we should have smooth sailing and he will be baptized with Vida.

My companion is great! Very tall, very quiet. But he's a hard worker. Much love to you all!

Happy Ghanaian Independence Day!

Hello everyone! #whatitis!?

This week has been nuts! Elder Otieno and I are in intense work mode right now because we whitewashed Offinso this week and apparently the missionaries who were here before us didn't know what an area book was. #classicgkmelders So the past few days have been spent locating member's houses, making phone calls to random contacts in the area phone and contacting Contacting CONTACTING! #Notthatthereisanythingwrongwiththat

 

We've also got Elder Christiansen (from Pleasant Grove) and Elder Dadzie (from Ghana) in our apartment. They're pretty cool. They seem to be hard workers.

 

I received a call on Saturday informing me that Abigail and Jerry James were baptized!! I was super excited about that! I was able to speak to both of them on the phone and it seems like they are really happy and confident about their decisions to be baptized. #spirit!

 

Congrats to Evolution! I heard you guys killed it in Hollywood last week. You guys rock! #numberoneonthestagenumberoneinmyheart

 

Also, today is Ghanaian independence day so Offinso is hopping right now! There's tons of people playing music, marching down the street and sitting around eating food. It's basically like American Independence day only not nearly as awesome. #landofthefree #homeofthebrave #americanpride 

 

Hope everyone is doing well! I love you all and think about you every day!