I hate my knee...

Another day in the neighborhood

June 21-27

My week really was quite awful. The previous week the whole apartment was sick so we didn't get to do hardly a thing, then to cap that off I hurt my bad knee at the start of this last week. When I say hurt I don't mean that I tweaked it a little and it was sore, I mean it went out on me and I couldn't walk for a couple days. For a while I thought that I was going to have to come home for sure. I thought my ACL went out and I was going to need surgery on it again. Yet here I am, a few days later, with minimal swelling and minimal pain. Not only is it a miracle, but one very close to my heart. My knee is something I don't like to mess around with, in fact it scares me to death when anything happens to it. So to heal this quickly so that I can continue working is such a tender mercy to me. At church on Sunday, all of the people that Chemhuru and I usually see were asking me if I was alright. I wasn't able to go out and teach this week so Wallin and Bingham were kind enough to take turns going out with my companion. Chemhuru told everyone I was injured and they were genuinely concerned about me. The love I have been shown this week has been incredible. I know the Lord was watching out for me this week. I testify that he is there for all of us whenever we need him.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, 
amen.

Break-ins and Baptisms

June 7-13

Best week ever. Florence finally got baptized this week! She was
supposed to get baptized 6-7 weeks ago but nothing ever lined up right
so it kept getting pushed back farther and farther and farther. It
almost got pushed back again this week too. The baptism, scheduled for
9:00 didn't start until almost 12:00. It wasn't that we didn't have
water or people didn't show up, it was that our ward mission leader
didn't come. That causes problems when he is the only one with keys to
the padlocks on the baptismal font. We called him for an hour, went to
his house, nothing worked and we never got in contact with him. Oddly
enough, he answered the bishops phone call and not ours though. When
he did answer the phone he lied and was of no help so we decided to
get things done ourself. That meant the missionaries took turns
playing church related games or singing hymns with those there while
the others worked on breaking off the padlocks with a garden hoe,
under bishop's supervision of course. So with the locks broken the 
baptism took place and Florence was baptized. She asked me to baptize
 her. I've been there since day one with her and it's been so amazing to 
watch her grow. Her testimony is so strong, sweet, and pure. I feel like 
a parent who has raised a child and not messed the whole thing up. 
I couldn't be more excited about this. Anyways I just wanted to share 
this amazing experience with you. I want you to know that I love this 
gospel and I know it to be true. I've seen the change it has made in 
people's lives and I've seen the change its made in me since I came here 
to Africa. I know without a doubt that my Heavenly Father is there and 
loves me. I wish for everyone to know this as I do. I say these things in 
the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Wallin & Goodrich taking a moto-taxi

I love to see the temple..

Ghana Temple

Elder Wallin and Goodrich

Pretty cool week. We got to go to the temple on Saturday. Usually
missionaries aren't allowed to go to the temple very often but this
week we received permission. President Snow told us that we could go
on our ward temple trip with our recent converts to do baptisms for
the dead. Since we don't get to go that often we jumped at the chance
and went. It was incredible!  I love going to the temple. I wish I
would have gone more when I was home. In other exciting news, we
finally got things in order for Florence to be baptized! I don't know
if anyone remembers but we have been trying to get Florence baptized
for some 6 weeks now but nothing ever seems to work. However, now it's
all set and as of June 11th she will be baptized! I'm so excited for
her to finally have this opportunity. Thursday was cool too. We got to help 
Mercy and her family move. Their landlord was kicking them out so she 
and her mother had to find a new place. Their new place is better in my 
opinion though. It's closer to us too. Helping her move was in a way really sad.
We carried everything in our arms and with 4 missionaries and Mercy it
only took us 4 or 5 trips. It just is incredible to see the way everyone lives 
and yet how joyous they are. I've never seen them complain about their 
living conditions except to say Ghana is too hot (Liberia is really cool and nice). 
For me that was quite the humbling experience. I took everything I had back 
home for granted and probably will again after I get home. I just never want
 to forget what I've seen here and the impact it's made on my life. I love these 
people and this country so much and it's my home now.  This is my home.

Elder Chemhuru and Goodrich

Spring chicken (aka FROG!)

Mercy and Elder Goodrich