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!

 

Exodus from the land northward...

Hey everyone! I know you are all dying to know: yes I'm getting transferred. #sawthatonecoming Right in the nick of time too because it's starting to get hot saa! The other day, Elder Prior and I were out proselyting and I had a juice that was starting to taste like cider. This was later in the day after it had cooled off saa and so we called Elder Renfroe to ask what the temperature was outside. It was 104 degrees, and it was the cool part of the day.

 

Night isn't much better, I'm kinda used to it but Elder Prior hasn't been able to sleep kraa. He's got a thermometer on his alarm clock... In our bedroom, with all our fans going it's about a consistent 95 degrees all night. And they say that March is the hottest month of the year up here so I'm really grateful to be going down south to Kumasi just in time for rainy season down there #bittersweet. Elder Prior is staying up here to #melt #haha.

 

My new companion is Elder Otiano #spellingmaybecorrectedbynextmonday, he and I will be whitewashing an area [means both missionaries are new to the area] in Kumasi called Offinso. He's going to be district leader. I've heard lots of great things about this missionary. He's from Kenya. I'm really excited to be working with him!​

 

I'm also sad to be leaving though because Abigail and Jerry James are getting baptized this Saturday and I'll be missing it by only 3 days! I'm actually really upset about that. Abigail and Jerry James have both progressed better and faster than I possibly could've imagined. And both are such great examples of faith to me. I spoke a lot about Jerry James last week, so this week I want to share a sad experience about Abigail.

 

So Abigail stays with her sister and her brother-in-law. Last week they saw her throwing out some of her Pentecostal merchandise and asked her about us. When she told them she intended to baptize into the church they freaked out and said if she did that she couldn't live with them. She didn't back down and so they kicked her out of the house. She's been homeless for several days because of it. We didn't know this until she told us at church yesterday. Luckily we've got some great people in the ward who are helping to find her a place to stay. But despite this hard core persecution she's been getting she is remaining strong and looking forward to her baptism this Saturday. I'm hoping to get a call from Elder Prior once the baptisms are over with.

 

So my question for all my friends and family is this: are we like Abigail? If we are backed up against the wall and have only our faith in Christ to rely on, will we stay true? Are we willing to risk everything we have for what we believe in? Do we have enough faith to follow through? I'd encourage all of us to pray for the strength to remain faithful when the going gets tough. I'm so proud of Abigail and proud to call her my friend. She truly has strengthened my testimony this week. Love you all! Hang in there kids!

 

P.S. I know Evolution is going on tour this week... Guys please send me pictures!!!! Love you guys, good luck!

 

Abigail and me

Elder Prior and me waiting for Jocelyn (a less active member we've been teaching hymns to)

When you run out of food on Sunday this is what you get for dinner (rice, spaghetti sauce, and sardines)

Ghanaian PSA's

SOMEONE SEND ME HAYDEN'S EMAIL!!!!!!!!

Hello beloved friends and family!

First item of business, happy late birthday Hannah! #andthebestbrotherawardgoesto....

 

Also, I was going to avoid writing about this but I guess everyone already knows so I'll just give you all the details. So last week we had a particularly hot night and my fan was kinda malfunctioning because of #ghanapower so I was just laying there awake in the middle of the night and glancing over to the window I saw a shadow of a man walking by... which is a little concerning because our compound is fenced off. So I woke up Elder Prior and told him someone was in the compound. The two of us got up to investigate. We were making our way to the front door when out of our kitchen walks a guy in a mask (we named him Stew). It is at that moment that my dear companion fearlessly said, "What's up bro?" Then we chased him off the compound while yelling at him to alert the neighbors #justincase. Then we went back to bed. Since then we have taken better precautions regarding the security of our apartment so Stew won't be able to come back without making lots and lots of noise.

 

Proselyting was really slow this week... like really slow. Finding in Tamale continues to be dismal. And most of my previous investigators have lost interest in the message so as of late our teaching pool has been kinda pathetic. But transfers are also coming up soon and I suspect to be transferred down south. #nothingtobackthattheoryup 

 

Abigail and Jerry James are both on track to be baptized March 5 (after transfers). Abigail would have been baptized this week but she had an emergency and couldn't attend church this week. 

 

I love you all. Evo I hope you all have your pictures from tour ready to send me! 

Also shout out to my main man Hayden getting engaged to my old friend Maddi Ross... #Thatthrewmeforaloop.

 

I hope you all know that I truly appreciate all of your emails. Many of you share spiritual experiences or scripture passages that mean something to you and I hope you all know that they all have meant something to me too. I truly know that this church is true. And I truly know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It's really easy out here to get in the bad habit of using the bible to debate instead of bearing plain and simple testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through Joseph Smith. To quote Brad Wilcox, "In order to know Jesus, you must know Joseph." To all my missionary friends out there... never hesitate to bear testimony of Joseph Smith. That is where the power of our teaching is built upon. Love you guys! ​​​​

--

Elder Henderson

I hope you're sitting down...

Monday, February 13, 2017

I've got some pretty cool stories for you guys today. #wereenjoyingpaa First off, on Thursday night we got a phone call from a member on the North-Eastern part of town. (Our area is the South-Western part of town) Brother David informed us that he had a referral for us name Jerry James. We were able to meet with Jerry James on Friday #holdontosomethingbecausethisnextpartisnuts!

Jerry James came into contact with the church through an in-law in Accra in 2002. He attended church once and had one lesson with missionaries where he was given a "Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" pamphlet and a "Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith" pamphlet. He then moved to the Northern Region of Ghana where the church didn't exist until only three years ago. He believed what the missionaries taught was true but could never find the church since he moved. For 15 years all he had to study were those two pamphlets and finally last Thursday he came into contact with Brother David who referred him to us. He's even been having dreams about reading the Book of Mormon, something he had never even held in his hands until last Friday. #holyrevelationbatman Needless to say he knows those to pamphlets inside and out, backwards and forwards you name it! When we invited him to be baptized he replied with a big smile, "Today!?" I love this man! He is a true example of faith, endurance and patience. I'm so grateful we were finally able to meet him and he can finally be baptized after 15 long years of waiting and searching. #ohmanthechurchistrueyouguys

Also, I mentioned a few weeks ago how we spent four days street contacting outside an event for Daniel Kolenda... Well turns out we actually picked up a solid investigator named Abigail from it. She came to church last week and really enjoyed her experience. She even came to midweek and church again this Sunday. We went to that event upon revelation from Elder Renfroe that someone was going to be there searching for truth and that they would be lead to us. I believe that person is Abigail. She's on track to be baptized next week! #revelationthroughseniormissionaries

Side note, did you guys know Batman is in the Book of Mormon? #Moronichapter7 You'll find it.

I was studying in Luke 12 this week and found a scripture that was super relevant to our situation. In verses 30-31 It talks about how Heavenly Father knows that we have certain temporal needs. And how if we first, "seek the kingdom of God, all these things shall be added unto you" (something like that). Basically we lost water again this week (yes, haha very funny). But I've noticed that we've never gone thirsty, and we've always had means to bathe, wash etc... So basically I've got a testimony that that is true. It's easy to get concerned with temporal things. Out here a lot of people have trouble coming to church because they feel like it's more important that they work to keep food on their table. But I promise that if you seek first the kingdom of God, everything else will fall into place.

P.S. Dear members of Evolution, I know y'all are going on tour soon and I better get some pictures from all y'all or so help me I'll march back to the states and beat you all paa! #butistillloveyou

--

Elder Henderson