Oct 28, 2013

Well another week has come and gone in the wonderful land of Oda. Life is good.  I just got this week’s weather forecast from Hannah, looks like we're looking and mid 80's this week. Not too bad!

First highlight from this week was the package that Hannah sent me, on May 2.  I was very happy to have some peanut butter and coffee mate.  Sweet package, thanks a ton, I love getting mail!

Another great moment was when we went back to see the Queen Mother Honorable Betty.  She was busy and couldn't see us but she gave us a parting gift of juice boxes and bars of soap.  The soap is pretty nice; it’s a good brand for washing clothes.  It was pretty fun.  Another man gave us a giant bag of oranges.  I had to take my scriptures out of my bag to fit all the oranges in there. I ended up just putting my scriptures on my belt.  Looked pretty goofy contacting people that way but I figure I'm white and already look ridiculous so no fear haha.  I got some pictures of me with the scriptures on the belt; I'll try to send them sometime.

We also had a great contact with a drunk man. He passed by us and we greeted him.  I ask him how he was and he said "I'm very, very, very, very fine."  So we got had a conversation with him for a while.  We gave him our number so maybe sometime he'll get curious and give us a call.

I attended my first Ghanaian funeral this week. To my knowledge, that is the first funeral I've been to, or at least remember.  An older man in the congregation died. Everything was in Twi so I didn't understand what was happening but it was cool. There was a little meeting where some members spoke and them we took the casket to the cemetery, right next to the chapel and buried him. The graves are shallow cement holes that are cemented over. We were there and then 3 other funerals came with their trumpets, drums, and loud speakers. Then the next Sunday they always have the Thanksgiving service.  Again, no idea what happened but we had about 40 people in investigators class. They basically just did a Q and A session that was mostly about the Book of Mormon.  It was really,  really cool to see members who attended just stand up and then bare their simple yet powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon.

The best part of this week was a new man we contacted.  I was prompted to contact this man who turned out to be a pastor of another church but then through that the Spirit got us in the right place at the right time to meet another man. We contacted him and he invited us to his house. We came (he's the guy who gave us a ton of oranges) and just introduced ourselves and the church. He promised he would come on Sunday.   We got to church 30 or 40 minutes early and he was there, he'd been there for more than an hour.  I made sure he knew that it started at 11 which he did but he said he was new so he figured he should be early.  He loved the service and after we taught him with a member in which he told us about a dream he had.  He had a dream where one man kept coming and pushing him over (He's going through some rough stuff in his life) and then 2 other guys came and stopped him. They helped him get back up. The next day he met us. He said he knows that we are those 2 men and that he is prepared to join the church and ask what he has to do in order to become a member. Super sweet experience!  I loved it!  It’s things like that that gives you the motivation to keep getting back up and pushing on everyday no matter how tired you are.

One thing I would share this week though is about recognizing the spirit in our lives.  Preach My Gospel dedicates a whole chapter to.  It was something I really tried to focus on this week. One thing I found that helps is take some time to write down your spiritual experiences.  As you do that I promise you will begin to see all the little ways the Spirit influences you in your life and you will recognize those promptings more and have the strength to follow them more.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Clark

PS: Another thing I've learned is that smiling changes lives.  Just smile, it makes all the difference. :D