sorry i couldnt email last week. we got to the internet cafe in the evening and they said the network was down so here's two weeks of stuff....
happy birthday lisa!!
isnt that sweet about kobe and georgina?? i feel loved. i'm a little concerned cause the baby was born way prematurely, but it sounds like everything is ok. i love that family so much.
i got your big mosquito net picture. it's cool. everyone gets a kick out of it! i just got the newsletter this morning - i'm looking forward to reading that tonight while i'm going to sleep.
then he asked if i had any questions about anything, and i had two for him. the first one was i asked if he could give me some guidance about how to help other missionaries to understand obedience. he gave some really cool council. (maybe i can open that question up to you guys at home too. i just emailed kevin and asked for his thoughts about it. the culture of missions in this part of the world seems like it might be a little different than other missions in the world. i think alot of missionaries don't understand that the rules we have are to invite the Spirit to be with us - they think of it more as rules that make it like prison. what can i do to help others understand that, and help them to be obedient?? if you guys get a chance - dad, jason, john, davis could you guys also write me and throw in your two cents??).
the other question i asked him was "what is the most important thing for me to learn on my mission." he thought for about fifteen seconds, then said "i can't say it better than it says in 1 timothy 4:14-16. if you learn what it says there, your mission will be an experience that will bless your life forever."
1 Tim. 4: 14-16 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
we also got our new goal that day. we have just completed the world cup football finding goal this week. the new goal is that every missionary in the mission will 1) help one recent convert to go to the temple and do baptisms for someone, and 2) we will baptise a referral from that same recent convert. this will strengthen our recent convert's foundation in the church.
the following sunday, we went with the lambs to a small branch called nkroful to teach some people there. it's a super tiny branch-like 20-30 people were there. they have a couple of returned missionaries there so they are doing well. much of their service was in english, which is very impressive for such a small branch from a village like that. i think that's all i have to report from last week.
today for p-day we played soccer against a bunch of ward missionaries and rm's from the wards around here. in the past they've always killed the current missionaries, but today we beat em 4-3 and i got the game winning goal haha! so now when they make fun of me that ghana beat america in the last two world cups i'll just remind them of today. (by the way i heard last week that thierry henry has gone to play for the new york red bulls. thats cool.)
this week was good. we got to spend alot of time in our area. joel is still doing really well. he learns so much every lesson. our last lesson with him, we review the last three lessons, which were about the plan of salvation. we just asked him to explain what he has understood from those lesson and he gave just a sweet explanation. he really seems to understand.
on tuesday, edler sintim and elder darrow had a baptism and we got joel to come and see it. it was cool. his only problem is still his mother. we talked with her a bit this week, and she just wants him to go to her church. we're still working on her, that one's not gunna be easy.
rita got sick for a while and has been busy teaching school so we havent been able to meet with her for a while.
comfort is still doing really well. she legitimately seems very prepared for the church. i think i mentioned this last week, but her only issue is that she's pregnant right now, and she's pretty dang pregnant so it's difficult for her to force her body to travel out of the village to the chapel. we're teaching her about joseph smith this week so i'm excited for that.
we went and talked to sarpong about the goal and he said "i've already done the baptisms for all my ancestors up until my 4th great grandfather, i don't know who else i can do it for." this kid was baptised less than a year ago! family history here is alot different. when people come to do theirs here, they are starting fresh. if their parents have died, they start there. if not, they'll just contunue on down the line. its really cool to teach people about the temple here, because they can connect in their mind how they can help those people who they love that have died.
let me give you an example. there is a recent convert in the ward named christy. she was taught by the missionaries for a long time, from elder haslem to elder evans and then to elder bahme. she was baptised the beginning of this year. she moved close to our apartment so we've been going and visiting her when we get time. she also has her two kids that have recently come to live with her (she's divorced) so we are teaching them. christy is just a good person. she understands the gospel. she's about to get a calling in the primary, she said. i think she is lonely sometimes, so she always loves it when we come over. she's probably in her early to mid thirties and is just a lovable person.
anyways, we went to her yesterday and talked about our new goal with her. she then told us about a dream that she had recently. her grandmother, who she was really close with, died about 15 years ago. she hasn't really thought about her much in recent years as before, but then she had this dream. in this dream, her whole extended family was there, but the grandmother only spoke to christy. she told her something like "you're unique in our family now, you can help us." it took her a few days to realize what the meaning was, and now she is REALLY excited to go and do the baptisms for her beloved grandmother. ghana is sick!
thanks for reminding me to tell you about grace this week. grace is in her mid twenties. and was baptised about 5 months (or so) ago by elder halling and his previous companion. to make a long story short, she was living a bad life, has changed herself around, and now is in the young women's presidency in the ward. honestly speaking, i think she might have a stronger testimony than i do. she's been going around and finding all of the people that she can for us to meet with. she's been out visiting less actives trying to reactivate them. she's sweet. right now we're reading the book of mormon with her. when we talked to her about the goal, she told us that she already has about sixteen names prepared for the ward temple trip at the end of october!
well time's up. i love you and miss you
love, elder mackay
