So this week was a spirit power packed smack in the face week (this is a good thing haha). This is mainly due to us having our first zone conference with President Judd. This is also the first zone conference we had with all of our new district leaders.
It was a lot different than usual. President Smith had established a tradition in the McCarthy Hills zone for showing up early. One time my companion and I showed up for a leadership training meeting 15 min early and we were the last ones there and they were all waiting for us to start. From then on we were always early. Elder Farnbach established the zone to always show up early and it has continued from there. So President Judd was impressed by how early everyone was and told a story about how that is how the Apostles do it as well. They have a scheduled meeting on Thursdays every week to start let's say at 9; He said that they start at 8 every time.
Anywho he had us arrange the chairs in a semi circle (cumbaya hippy like semi circle haha) and he started off and told us some stories. Man the guy is full of the Spirit. He has planned an agenda but I doubt if he stays by it. He told some stories about when he was on his mission.
Here is one of the stories.
He was in the mission home on his mission, his mission president had traveled for some days, and a long haired hippy came and asked if his church could use the LDS chapel for one of their programs. President said that he as an elder didn't take the man seriously at first and said that they would notify their mission president about it. He told his mission president about the hippy and that they sent him on his way. The mission president told them he was disappointed in them and told them to "go find him." They spent 1 week trying to find the guy. They invited him back to the mission home and the mission president said he could use the chapel with 3 conditions.
1. It couldn't be in the sacrament hall but in the other hall
2. 10 of his missionaries could be there to help supervise it
3. That the mission president could speak at the conference.
The hippy guy was reluctant but they agreed. So they went and he said that the other church brought in tons of big speakers and had like a rock and roll type of thing as the preaching. Think of woodstock. Then it was time for the mission president to speak. Before the mission president was to speak one of the pastors got up and said, "before our guest speaks I need to tend to my people." The pastor blessed some oil and then started flicking it on the crowd where they started to "speak in tongues" and roll on the ground and stuff. President Judd, then Elder Judd, said that he was thinking, "how could this be happening in an LDS church building? What is going on? AAAHHH?" Then the mission president just stood up calmly and said a prayer quietly and commanded the "spirit of man to depart and allow the Holy Ghost to be present." He said that everyone calmed down and the mission president gave a good 15 min talk. The audience was touched. The oil flicking hippy pastor told him that he should continue to speak for as long as he wanted. He then spoke for 45 min. Then people were touched. They invited him to continue to speak, he declined. The missionaries got over hundreds of referalls that day. They ended up teaching and baptizing 75 of the people who came to that conference that day, the oil flicking hippy pastor included.
Anywho I just liked the story.
Sis. Judd gives talks and stuff just as often as he does. She conducted the roll plays and all that stuff. She did a great job. She gave a talk about how 'all members of the body of Christ are equal.' Trying to talk about how we are all needed no matter what. I could tell that really it was a talk about how women are equal and not lesser than man in a very man dominated, women demeaning land. She disguised it well, I understood what she was saying though. I think that a lot of the missionaries, African and American, will learn a lot by watching her and her husband work together as an equal team.
I learned this since the beginning watching mom and dad work as a team. Dad taught me how to play catch and how to hit a baseball. Mom taught me how to get a ground ball. Dad taught me how to soft toss. Mom threw hundreds upon dozens of soft toss baseballs to me against the backyard fence to try and get me out of a hitting slump. One was not in front of the other but both mom and dad worked as a team.
This is what the gospel teaches. Side by side, not one in front of the other.
Well during the conference he called me to get up and go through some numbers and stuff. He then impromptu had me get up and have me give a talk on what my vision for the zone would be and to give my testimony. For some reason I stood up and opened to D&C 4 where it talks about the "field being white, already to harvest." I then talked about how white the field is and how we need to go out there and labor and harvest. I then cried because I recognized that I am going to home to a place that is not so "white" and that something will be definitely missing. I will miss being here a lot. I talked about how we need to work so that no matter what problems happen at home, deaths, civil wars, people being thrust into prison, sickness, investigators failing etc, we will be able to overcome those things so that we will be able to rise above it. Those who lose their lives shall find it.
I then went to Mosiah 6 where I was going to talk about having moral authority and not being a hypocrite, but right then I learned something that I had accomplished that I wanted the zone to accomplish. Something my mission has taught me.
"And king Mosiah did cause his people that they should till the earth. And he also, himself, did till the earth, that thereby he might anot become burdensome to his people, that he might do according to that which his father had done in all things. And there was no contention among all his people for the space of three years."
The part "not become burdensome to his people" stuck out to me. Especially the "his people" part. I recognized that I had taken the Ghana people to be 'my people' and have put the cultural differences and traditions and all the stuff by the wayside. This wasn't easy and it took a lot of work but I really do love them and they are 'my people.' I then drew all of the names of countries where the missionaries in the room where from, it was about 7 or 8. I then erased all the country names and said that 'none of that matters' and we need to learn how to make the people 'our people.' If our zone is able to do that and really love the people in spite of the different way they do things, then we will be successful. Besides me blubbering like a baby I think they learned something.
Anywho, I looked out and I saw the missionaries in our zone were really happy during the conference and were participating and feeling the Spirit. It was a joy to see.
It was a good conference.
I finally met Elder Succo. He is a trombone player from BYU who knows mark ammons. I told him to give me some stuff he wants me to take home to his family. He gave me some photos and 5 cedis to buy some cloth or something. He is happy and is liking it here in Ghana so far. The mission is in good hands.
Well anywho we are on track to baptize N. this week. Mary (name changed) hopefully will be baptized soon, bishop is still striving to meet with her husband to make sure the baptism is okay.
We were able to meet with our guy Prince (name changed). He has been really struggling to find the truth. He just finished the entire 'gospel principles' book and we are trying to answer his questions. We have been pleading with him to read the Book of Mormon and he was focusing on the gospel principles book rather than the Book of Mormon. We sat down and he didn't read the place we left with him, so we read it with him. He started to taste the sweetness of the Book of Mormon. If he reads it then he will know it is true and be baptized. He has been praying about it but wasn't really reading it.
He has started studying with the Jehovahs Witness people. He keeps saying that all of their stuff is biblical and that the movie they gave him was fantastic and it all is proven to be biblical. He pleaded with us to help him know what is true. We promised him that if he read and prayed about it then he would know by the power of the Holy Ghost. I love him and we are trying hard to get him to read the Book of Mormon and help him. I pray he will read.
He is very educated and doesn't like investigators class because he is way beyond it but doesn't like the other class because everyone keeps trying to send him back to the other class because he isn't a baptized member yet. I think he dodged church after the sacrament so he could read the Book of Mormon. Pray for him if you would. Thank you.
We met a man at Dr. Kissie's house the other day. He was teaching Dr. Kissie French. He is from Togo and is a black belt karate guy. He is crazy cool. He can bend bottle caps with his fingers and thumb. He was very happy and we were able to give him a baptismal date. He has heard about the church from Dr. Kissie for years and has attended before in togo. He has stopped going to church because he says it is too 'noisy' and just stays home to pray where it is reverent. He seems really good and we are meeting his wife and kids this week.
We are also working with M. M. is the mom of our investigator who recently died from typhoid. She doesn't like to talk about the him but is liking our company. We gave her the Book of Mormon again and she is reading it along with the rest of her family. Hopefully we will get them to come very soon.
We went over to Hannah's (name changed) house this week and gave her some of the nephi book of mormon dvds cartoon things. She will like them. She out of the blue called us and invited us over for fufu. She then mentioned that she read the chapters we left her in 1 nephi and said that, "it is very interesting." I think she is coming to know it is true. Well her DVD player only plays VCD's so we called bro mills and sis mills to invite her to their family home evening where they can watch the dvd's. ( Elder Boyd and I are whistling in innocence as we are organizing the FHE haha )
Well it was a good week.
I got a letter from Andrew Wangemann. He sounded happy. He said that he is going to New York City with his "wife." That was a little weird to me haha. Man everyone is getting married. It's cool though. Andrew is really freaking awesome!
Glad you guys got to meet President Smith. We are so blessed to have him as our mission president. I learned so much from him. They are great people. The key to it is Sister Smith too. She is the secret to the awesomeness. Those 2 are also a great team as well. Thanks for your good notes. I will keep them forever.
Good job on the Ghana food. I will enjoy it with you guys. I'll help you make it more authentic, minus the weirdy meat and fish. You guys will like it.
Today we are going to hang out with our Relief Society President and Nadia. They are going to teach us how to make a good stew and banku. In trade I am making the oreo pie and cherry cheesecake with them. It'll be fun.
Man Elder Boyd is an awesome companion. He has helped me grow as a person. He keeps me going during these last times. He still irons my shirts. I sometimes polish his shoes when he isn't looking. He really is great with the people and he loves them. He is good at complementing the district leaders and is friends with everyone. He even compliments those who let us down. A great skill to have. He rocks!
We met with Bro Wood this week. Bro Wood is our first counselor in the Odorkor ward. He is very happy all the time. He joined the church the same year I did (when I was 8) haha. He read 'a marvelous work and a wonder' and searched for the church. He always fulfills his church responsibilities. He invited us over to eat. We played with his family and they are great people. He wants to invite our recent converts over so they can eat and feel loved. I truly admire that man. He never fights with anyone. He is a peaceful guy and his house is full of good feelings. I feel at home in his house.
Tell dad thanks for the stories from Grandpa Bob. I don't know anything about his NFL days. I'll have to take him to a restaurant and secretly film him and his stories for posterity sake. The only way to get the stories out of him is to get it over some prime rib. Maybe we can get some important family photos and ask him about them. We can type it up and put it in a nifty spiral bound and give it out as a Christmas present. Dig?
Glad Britt is having fun with you guys. She looks happy.
Well anywho I gotta run now.
Oh last thing. We are teaching a boy named B. He is the son of a member. The Kissies are fellowshipping him along with his father. We scheduled a lesson with his father to be present. This is to show you how charitable the Ghanians are; the house is in a flooded area. Mud all around. The father was a banker but now got laid off and is doing odd jobs around. When we came he cooked us rice and stew with eggs. They had us eat claiming that they had already eaten. They gave us much even though they have nothing. I don't even think that they had eaten yet. We tried to get them to eat but they made sure we ate. They really love guests and are full of love.
Great people!
Well anywho hope all is well. Keep it up.
Thanks mom for the woofer at home. You know how to touch my heart.
Last thing. I talked in elders quorum about harmony the other day.The lesson was on eternal marriage and they were talking about harmony. I said that if we are in tune and in harmony with the person we are playing with, then we are actually louder or more powerful. There is actually scientific power in being in tune or in a good harmony with someone.
Ever notice that when you see a crappy band with untuned guitars and not good harmony with singing you want to run away and go AAAAAHHHH. But when I saw that country band "restless heart" and "little texas" and "rascal flatts" and even Incubus, I felt like I was hit across the face with power. They were all on the same page. They were in tune and in good harmony and physically you can feel it.
A great example of this synchronized power is Metallica guitars. The guitarist's synchronized their picking patterns so that they both pluck down or up at the same time. This way they will be in harmony with each other and you can feel it.
Now picture what we can do with our families?
Well guys. I love you gotta go.
