Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Sept. 9, 2013 Fighting Back the Storm


Good afternoon!

     This past week has been pretty busy, even though we didn't have many lessons to teach (only 6!). On Wednesday, Elder A-- and I went to the Metro Mass station near Kumasi so that he could leave for O-- and I could receive my new companion. At first I felt a little nervous because I would not be under my trainer's wing anymore, but as soon as I met my new companion I felt better. Elder P--has the same mannerisms and physical build as Austin Twede, (Elder Twede’s cousin) so it wasn't hard to get along with him right from the start and everything is moving forward. Elder R-- also met his new companion, so now there are two new people in M--

     As I said, we only had 6 lessons that we taught last week, but the rest of our time was used in meeting with members and becoming more familiar with them. …Elder P-- is doing everything he can to help the area. As we met with each person and got to know more about their life, I started to appreciate them more and felt the Spirit warm my heart. I know that the members are the most important people involved in missionary work, because without them, we as full-time missionaries will just have a hard time. The members are the ones who will stay in the area and should be fellowshipping the people who the missionaries bring in, because the missionaries can leave at any time. I think that we didn't have any baptisms last month because we didn't work with the members, but we are going to change that around in this transfer. M--- needs help, and I feel that Elder P-- will help to push it forward. He has been on his mission for one year, so he has more experience under his belt. I hope to learn from him so that one day, I can also know exactly how to use members to push the missionary work along.

     Just yesterday, we had a massive rainstorm blow through the apartment. Elder P--and Elder K-- had gone outside 10 minutes earlier to get more familiar with the town, so they got stuck in the rainstorm. They found their way underneath a small overhanging for shelter. Meanwhile, Elder R-- and I were having a battle of our own in the apartment. Our windows are really badly done, so the wind can blow through the whole apartment easily. At one point, I was looking through the windows to see how hard the rain was coming down, but then I saw the men and women in our compound running around naked, so I decided to never look outside again. Anyways, the wind blew so hard yesterday that the rain started to come in through the windows as well. The kitchen was flooded and Elder R--and Elder K--'s room was flooded as well before we noticed the water (we were studying doctrine in my room), so we ran out of the room into the dining room when we noticed the water coming in. We picked up two mops from the veranda outside, and then we started to battle the water. We spent one hour and a half, just mopping up the water and squeezing the excess into buckets, but the rain kept on coming. Finally, the storm died down a little (to the point of where the rain was no longer coming through the windows), so we actually had the chance to dry the floors. It felt like a losing battle when we started, but everything worked out in the end. Elder P-- and Elder K-- came back soaked to the bone, but at least they survived the flood (it truly was flooded outside).

     I do not know what the rest of the transfer has in store for me, but I hope that it will be eventful. Our original golden investigator actually showed up to church on Sunday, so I have hope for him. I called an investigator who is currently in Accra right now, and he said he would be back by the end of this week. He also told me that he desired to be baptized into the church, so we are planning to extend a date to him as well. I am so happy to see the changes that these people are making in their lives, and I know that they will be blessed for the decisions that they are making. I am happy to be a part of this work. I hope that everyone at home is doing what they can to spread the gospel to all people as well. Everyone member is a missionary.

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