Transfers...

Oct 18-24

Well this week was the last week of the transfer. It was a good time to reflect on what my companion and I have accomplished together. I haven't loved the whole 2 man apartment thing and even though Elder Herrod is a great guy I wouldn't say he's my favorite companion, but we did some good work together. In fact, we added up all the thingsthat we've done together. We kept track of all our numbers and found out that together we taught 297 lessons. I thought that was a large sum for 12 weeks. We also baptized 10 people together. They are Emmanuella, James, Kingsford Asante and Mary Asante, Wisdom and Beauty and Suzzie and Mary Lartey, and Nana Awuah Asare (Nana Red) andLaurencia Awuah Asare. Definitely the most productive 12 weeks I'll have on my mission. I've met so many amazing people and had some incredible experiences. I still have some time in this area though. Herrod is being transferred to Laterbiakoshie and I'm staying here to be with Elder Jackson.

New clothes!

As for enlightenment that I received this week it was from our multi-zone conference/mission tour. Elder Vincent, the area president, and his wife came and spoke to us along with President and Sister Simpson. Elder Vincent gave us some pretty incredible things to think about. I have a challenge for everyone. READ LUKE 10:30-35. Onceyou've read it and studied it I want you to tell me what it teaches us besides just the parable of the Good Samaritan. You're going to have to look super hard at it and study really deep but once you find it your mind will be blown. I feel like a door has been opened up to me and now I see it all clearly. To quote a song from Tangled, 'and at last I see the light and it's like the fog has lifted, and at last I see the light and it's like the sky is new, and it's warm and real and bright and the world has somehow shifted'. Thank you Rapunzel forthose inspired lyrics. Really though it was an eye opening experience.

Elder Herrod, Laurencia, Nana Red & Elder Goodrich

Sunday we also had a baptism for Nana and Laurencia. It was so sweet. It rained super hard all night and early into the morning. In fact we had lightning strike pretty close to our apartment and it shook us so bad. Both Herrod and I woke up in the middle of the night because of it. Anyways, it was a big storm. Usually that means no one is going to come to church yet Nana and Laurencia came early and were all ready to go. After the baptism, Nana gave a really sweet testimony. He talked about his 30 years in Germany and how while there he didn't believe in organized religion. Then he came back to Ghana and decided to be a pastor. First he went to one of the charismatic churches but realized their teachings didn't follow the bible at all so he started going to the Church of Christ. He also wanted to be a pastor for them and even went to bible school for a while, but again he found the teachings to be incorrect. It was then he moved from Kumasi with his wife and 4 children. When he got to Kasoa he couldn't find a church to go to. Then a friend from Germany called and told him about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He couldn't believe that his friend even went to church because he was someone who hadn't ever believed in God before. So with the recommendation of his friend he started looking for us. Eventually he gave his number to a barber we pass by often and so we were able to get in contact with him. That was maybe 5-7 weeks ago and just Sunday he told me he won't ever leave this church as long as he lives. He told me he had a dream where he heard a voice telling him he had found the true church and he and his family were to stay there no matter what. I was pretty touched by that. The crazy thing is his story is not an uncommon one. I see it almost daily where something crazy happens that I know will lead to something bigger in the future. There are no coincidences in missionary work at all.  I've been on my mission too long to say otherwise.

Hiking

Well to top off a great week we decided to climb a mountain. It's a mountain in Buduburam so it wasn't hard to get to but it's absolutely covered in jungle. Dad will be the only one thatknows what I'm talking about but it's like the river bottoms on Reuben's property inEnterprise. The one that's all the willows by the corrals. It's like that except twice as thick and tropical. Yeah it was sketchy. We found a trail and we followed it for a while but it just ran around the base of the mountain so we turned and hacked straight up the face with ourmachetes. It was pretty dang sweet. We hacked straight up the face and made the top and the view was so worth it. We could see all the way to the ocean. It was worth it. Then we hacked back down. We almost got lost on the return trip though. But we made it! Yeah that was the end to the week. So tomorrow starts next transfer. The end.