January 23, 2012

Well the week was sweet as usual. Elder Speechly wanted to have the opportunity to go on splits with everybody before he leaves, so we went on splits three times this week. First was on Tuesday, I went with Elder Brown to Penkwase. It was sweet, we taught a great family. She is ready for baptism, but he still has doubts, so we had a cool discussion, talked about a lot of stuff. He doesn't really know what to do to keep his family strong, so I read Helaman 5:12 - on the sure foundation you cannot fall!!! He liked it a lot, haven't heard if he came to church this week though. Wednesday I went with Elder Robert to Nkwabeng. We had a good day, taught some good lessons. Best one was to Effah at night. Don't know if I have talked about Effah, but he is a sweet dude. He started to come to church when Auntie Mary - one of the most powerful members here - invited him. He came like 3 times before we could sit down to teach him last week. He asked about the Book of Mormon first, so we talked about that, and now we are slowly going through the Restoration so he can understand it perfectly. He has a baptismal date for 4 Feb. Thursday we went to Fiapre to help them with their weekly planning sessions. I sat in on Elder Obasi and Elder Mensah's. They are two very committed missionaries who are going to be a great blessing to Fiapre. Elder Obasi has a stronger testimony of the Restoration than just about anyone I know (he is from Abuja, Nigeria). He knows the scriptures like no one I know and knows how to teach so well - and he is only like 8 months on mission. Then Elder Mensah is a Ghanaian who has been under the wings of powerful church pioneers in Accra his whole life. His brother works at the MTC. So with those two, serious things can happen there in Fiapre. We talked about their investigators and how we can help them out. One man is a pretty powerful guy, believes the Restoration, the Book of Mormon, and comes to church early every week... but he just honestly believes the baptism he had in his old church is ok. So hopefully the spirit can touch him in just the right way!!! Then they also have two other powerful guys who could end up being the Melchezidek Priesthood holders they need. I was able to give them a few tips with their planning sesh as well, so it was all around success!!! Friday, Elder Speechly got sick... so that kind of sucked. But we were still able to get out and do some good work by the end of the day. And then went on splits again on Saturday!!! Haha. I went with Elder Mathemba in Nkwabeng. Elder Mathemba is powerful!!! We got a powerful new investigator Saturday morning. Her name is Ivy and she stays out in Odumase. Her and her husband have four kids and they are just a really sweet family. She had met missionaries in town where she works - she is a banker - and wanted us to come teach her family. So we went and had a great lesson. Went back again yesterday and taught about Christ's church and the Great Apostasy, to set up well for the Restoration this week! Hopefully all goes well. Their family would be a powerful pioneer family for Sunyani. Sundays are stressful for me... and they just make me soooooooo tired. But it’s ok. We had a few investigators come to church. President Owusu's wife came. Had a crazy lesson with a dude named Martin. He was a little confrontational at first, asking us why we are called elders, and trying to prove us wrong with the Bible, but by the end we were able to see eye to eye and he realized that he just needs to read The Book of Mormon and figure out if Joseph Smith was a true prophet or not. He said that he has been searching for the truth for a while now, and we promised him that this really really is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and nothing but the truth!!!! If he reads and prays, he's gonna see it too!!!!! Well, that’s it from the week really! Me and Elder Speechly are going strong just keeping our eyes on the mark!!! Life is great, missionary work is awesome, and I come to know more and more every day that this really is it! Thanks for all your help and support! I love you guys!!! -Elder Brown