It was great to talk to my little hobbit family! Did you like hearing my companions pigeon speak? He is a good companion. Glad you all are doing so well. Glad dad has super human strength all of the sudden because of his new calling. Be sure to tell Grandpa Bob the jokes I told you. It'll make his week. Tell big Dave thanks for eating with the ol' bobbo.
I'm doing really well, just SEND TREATS! This wealthy area isn't dashing us goodies. Plus a free fufu appointment failed! Nothing is worse than failed fufu, nothing. I woke up in the morning going, "yes!
FUFU FUFU!" then came 6 pm and the members said there was confusion with the time and it is against tradition to eat fufu late (remember it is pitch black by 6:30) because it'll blah blah blah some mysterious hocus-pocus superstitious reason about eating fufu late.
They told us to come back at 4 on Saturday so i'll still wake up Saturday going, "FUFU FUFU!" Hopefully it'll happen. I don't know how i'd deal with 2 fufu disappointments back to back.
Well this week was cool. We baptized a young guy, 21, George (2nd on left, next to Elder Yahaya). George lives clear out in a town called Djaman, as in 'we be jammin.' We have to take a taxi out there and then make like hobbits and climb the mountain to get to his house.
He has a member friend who referred us over to him and he got baptized 4 weeks later. George has a nice big family who we are going to try and teach. We went over and invited his mother to the baptism and to church to see the confirmation but she didn't make it. We will contact them again.
It is tricky to get a whole family to sit down for a lesson. A lot of times, the family members go to different churches. There ends up being usually around 2 or 3 churches in one family. There are also hundreds of churches in one small area, a lot of the time they are right across the street from each other. A lot of times we ask "which of all these churches is right? Do you ever wonder why there are so many churches that teach different things? We share a message about how God has called a prophet again and we have evidence of this that you can read and also you can get a direct answer from God on which church to go. I have done this and know that this is true. Can we share this message with you?" type of thing. The stage has been set in Ghana. It is just like Joseph Smiths time period.
E.g.
U.S. declared its independence from Britain in 1776. The religions boom happened in about 1820ish. So they had independence for about 50 years and all the bunches of churches migrated over from Europe plus some new ones formed.
Ghana declared their independence from Britian about 50 years ago. The plenty of churches from Europe came over and lots of new ones have formed and are being formed, with names like 'fire on the mountain miracle church of Ghana.' It is crazy how much it is the same.
Man I remember when I was in Sunday school or seminary or somewhere and they played that Joseph Smith BYU movie deelie and the young Joseph Smith (the scene where they use the old Provo tabernacle stairway in downtown Provo on Center across from the county hospital & across from pier 49 pizza, you know the stairway right?) asks, "which church is right?" and this old lady in a bonnet says (in a hick voice), "well sonny, all churches are true if they preach Christ." The same exact thing is happening here. I wish I could have a dvd player and show that movie to everybody I meet. 1820 in Upstate New York America = 2010 in Ghana Accra.
Lately Elder Yahaya and I have been able to convince people that this church is the exact same as the one that Jesus Christ established during his earthly ministry. They come to know for themselves that their church does not have the priesthood. They have even told us that the foundation of Christs church was prophets, 12 apostles, then 70 apostles of which their church has none or only some. They know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lords one and only true church on the earth, however they still don't come. I have come to realize that true doctrine doesn't convert. If they do not feel the Spirit for themselves then they will not budge. Also some have even told us, "I had a dream and I saw you baptizing me after I prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith" or "After I prayed I saw Jesus Christ standing at a chalk board with all the church names written. Jesus picked up a piece of chalk passed by all the other church names and put a check mark by 'the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'." However these people didn't budge either. Dreams are not the best way. The best way is to FEEL the Spirit, rather than a physical sign. Anywho, I think that what we need to do is to help them recognize the Spirit and then help them pave a smooth and clear path so they can easily come and join. How to do that paving is the question that is still boggling my mind. I think that member fellowshippers is the answer, preferably family member member fellowshippers. In fact, I know that is the way. Well time to visit more members.
Oh cool story! I have a cool testimony of fasting and how you'll be saved by His grace AFTER all you can do. We were having some cool investigators, a footballer who played in some Jerusalem leagues who loved the order of the church, a lady who said that the teachings gave her more power to overcome her addiction, a mom and daughter who were wondering about infant baptism and loved how the book of Mormon answered their questions, and they all promised to come on Sunday and then... none of them came. We were stinkin' tired and we worked hard and diligently all week. We were needing to give some baptismal dates to keep the work flowing and since none of them came, we we not going to be able to. I was bummed but then my companion felt like we should go raid the primary room and the literacy class and see how many kids were in there that haven't been baptized or see if there was a new investigator in the literacy class. So we went in there and found 2 people. 1 is a girl who has member parents and grandparents, is 11 years old and hasn't been baptized. A lot of this happens because the parents don't understand that 8 years old is the time to baptize and also the church records and organization are still in their infancy.
We also meet a man named Kennedy who has been coming to the literacy class for 2 months and lives with a member. We gave them dates right then and there. It was awesome. I know that we are saved only after ALL we can do. I know that fasting works. We needed 2 more people to meet our 'goal.' Also we wouldn't have found these 2 people if our other people would have showed up. Our ways are not His ways all the time, but He will watch out for us and cover our backs. Man the church is true.
Well we are going to SHOPRITE (TM) to go get some Nigerian Mt. Dew and some Doritos, steak and some APPLE PIE! We figured out how to bake it.
You just put it in a frying pan and cover it with a lid, then put the frying pan on top of some boiling water. Then let it sit there for an eternity (3 hours) then enjoy your warm apple pie goodness. After we are going to Bishop Engemanns house to watch the Priesthood session.
Bishop has got the conference DVD's.
Well the work continues. I'm glad I'm here in Ghana Accra. Being here feels right. I feel stinkin' tired and would love to be at an air conditioned buffet with lines and lines of food full of msg and saturated fat, but it wouldn't feel right. I know I'm supposed to be here and that we are well needed. Everyday I learn something new and it feels great. A day doesn't go by that isn't an adventure. haha that sounded like one of those bubble test questions, "which of the following isn't NOT true" (double negative)
talk to yall next week.
To close i'll leave you with my favorite Grandpa Dad quote.
(talking about bubble tests and how they are bogus) "A donkey is to a hubcap as a..."
Well I love you all. Talk to you next week.
Mom, you are the best mom ever. I got happy during sacrament when they were talking about mothers and I remembered how you helped me accomplish stuff by teaching me. You got me out of my hitting slump in baseball by tossing hundreds of those plastic mcdonalds balls at me for batting practice. You taught me how to keep my eye on the ball (literally). You rock and I love you.
Take care of dad.
Talk to you next week.
