I guess we are right up there with the maximum security prisoners.

Dear friends and family,

Earlier this morning I was listening to a BYU devotional where the speaker mentioned how she had recently spoken at a sacrament meeting held in a maximum security penitentiary. She happened to be speaking on Mother's day which is one of two days a year (the other is Christmas) that the inmates are permitted to sit with their families. And it came to pass that I thought, "Huh, what other functions in the church only permit contact with family on Christmas and Mother's Day?" And behold, it came to pass that I looked and beheld my missionary tag sitting on my desk in front of me. And it was placed atop a copy of the Book of Mormon, beside a small card that read, "Forget yourself and go to work." #godhasasenseofhumor

Mission tour is coming up. Elder Stanfill of the Seventy (Also in the Africa West Area Presidency) is coming to speak to us. It should be really good. The major theme of the material that we've been asked to study in preparation has to do with Repentance. I'll let you know how it is.

It is sounds like we might have two baptisms this week but we aren't sure yet... #thisiswhatitslikeinghana Our two potential candidates, Ishmael and Osei, are both anxious to be baptized but Ishmael might be going out of town and Osei... Nah Osei should be baptized this Saturday, it's really just Ishmael we are worried about. We find  out today if he is leaving town so pray for him!

Many of you have been asking so I'm just gonna come out and say it. Yes! KFC was delicious. And yes I miss it already.

Other than that I don't think I have anything to report. The work is tough but it's definitely moving forward. I will say that being a missionary in this mission conditions you temporally probably better than any other mission. I'm gaining lots of skills I didn't know I would need and will most definitely never need again after my mission. #poundingfufu #repairingfans

#handwashingclothes #keepinggoatsoutofthekitchen #theworks

Much love to you all!

Elder Henderson

Pounding Fufu

Apostate Easter... (Yes it's exactly what it sounds like)

Dearest family and others,

I'm emailing from Kumasi this week at Kofi's Cafe because we are sleeping over at the zone leader's apartment tonight for zone conference tomorrow. #sleepover! I'm sorry my email last week was written so hastily but luckily I can put a little more thought into this week's email. #letsgetrealforasecond

 

First of all let me just say that Easter in Ghana is unlike anything I have ever experienced before... ever... like ever... like it's kinda scary. #scarredforlife So out here Easter is actually a three day holiday starting on Good Friday. The countless apostate churches begin their continuous (and VERY loud) programs on Friday morning and they continue all through the night until about 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning... #satansmethodfordeprivingmissionariesoftheirsleep It wouldn't be so bad if our apartment building wasn't right next door to a Pentecostal church.

 

Basically I haven't gotten any sleep in like three days. The icing on the cake was last night when an entire congregation was marching down the street in the middle of the night with palm leaves shouting who knows what... #apostacy #theholyghostgoestobedat10:30 Aside from that, though, Easter was powerful! It opened the door to some really powerful lessons and some really strong spirit felt with a lot of our investigators, so that was good! Especially since lots of really weird rumors about the church get spread around Ghana so helping people recognize our devotion to Christ is really a special thing.

 

Also, I've been getting lots of comments about this so I'll explain... haha. So the reason I've been using the word powerful in place of the word awesome is because awesome sounds really similar to the Twi word aasumo, which means problematic. So everyone here substitutes the word powerful. #ghanaianenglishyo

 

Well kids, life in Ghana is pretty sweet. I must say that most of all I miss American food, but that's okay because we're in Kumasi so I'm going to KFC today!! #yes! As far as proselyting news goes, progression is kind of at a stand still right now so I've got nothing to report. The biggest problem is that most of our investigators aren't keeping any of their commitments. We have several that are really powerful but to put it simply they haven't experienced a "mighty change in their hearts." (See Alma 5)

 

Also, during one of my sleepless nights in the past few days I was studying and I came to Moses 6-7, which tells the story of the prophet Enoch from the time of his call to be a prophet, to his ministry, to his translation and his walk with God. Everyone should, but especially if you are serving a mission soon, I'd encourage you to study these chapters. I was an emotional wreck after reading them the first time. #spirit! But they're super powerful and contain a message that is essential for missionaries to know.

 

Love you all very much! I'm attaching some pictures from my exchange with Elder Christiansen last week and from this last week. Elder Otieno and I attended a graduation rehearsal at the JHS that some of our investigators teach at. So enjoy!

 

Exchanges with Elder Christiansen

 

Pounding fufu at the Relief Society President's house

Mosquitoes, Monsoons, and Miracles

Hello Dearest Family and Friends!

The power has been out for almost 3 days and it's been off and on for the past few hours so this is going to be really short just in case. Sorry no pictures today.

Vida and her daughters, Portia and Abbie were confirmed yesterday! #wahoo!

The rainy season brought mosquitoes and now I'm getting eaten alive. #thankyoudoxy And I went on exchange with Elder Christiansen this week in his area. #beautifulnamong

As we were walking back from proselyting we still had one copy of the Book of Mormon left with us but we weren't planning on giving it out. As we were walking back we got overtaken by a huge rainstorm that seemed to come out of nowhere. It made everything pitch black and very dangerous so we sought refuge under a pavilion in the nearby market. There we bumped into Patrick who is very passionate about Jesus Christ and doing good to all men. Our communication consisted mostly of yelling but we were able to place the Book of Mormon to him and as soon as we did the rain let up and we were able to continue home. We took his number and invited him to church. He didn't come but it was very obvious that the Lord wanted that man to have a copy of the Book of Mormon. Who knows, it could lead to something powerful down the road. Sorry this email was written so hastily but I wanted to make sure I shared this cool experience we had.

Love you all!

Henderson is up by 7 at the end of the first quarter!

My dearest family and friends, how far? #pidgeon

 

This week was pretty special as a Swahili speaking Kenya man and an American oburoni helped a Twi speaking Ashanti familiy enter the waters of baptism! #mentibrofo Vida and her two daughters were all baptized this Saturday and it was really special. #Dontworrymomimattachingpictures I love this family so much and I'm so happy for them and their decision to be baptized.

 

Also, I hit my six month mark this week which is just crazy to me! Like, that means Camilla only has a year left on her mission! #yesthatishowimmeasuringmythisthing But wow, half a year living in Africa... one year ago I never thought I'd be able to say that. And here I am. #Imadeitma!

 

I hope all of you watched conference yesterday! I sure did and I thought it was so powerful! We only got to watch the Saturday afternoon, Priesthood, and Sunday morning sessions so I'm just glad we got to see the prophet speak and make some pretty cool announcements. #mycompanionwasreallyexcitedaboutthetempleinkenya

 

But also I hope everyone was able to watch President Eyring's address in the General Priesthood Session. That one had particular relevance to me as it was the answer to a recent inquiry I made to the Lord. Watch it carefully and really listen because his advice is incredible. Other honorable mentions were Elder Holland's "Songs Difficult to Sing,"  Elder Bednar's "Be Worthy, Stay Worthy," and Elder Rasband's "Follow the First Prompting." Honestly, conference was so good this year, every talk I thought was incredible. These are just the ones that had personal relevance to me.

 

That's all I've got for you guys this week! I love you all so much and I hope you all take the words of the General Authorities as seriously as you possibly can. These men are truly the Lord's servants.

 

Stay safe all of you! #mycountryissaferthanyours

Vida and her two daughters