10/11

Well, I am happy to officially announce that runny-tummy is now
history to me, (I guess that it could be future also). This week has
been really good. Its also been a really long week. Elder Ayim says
that it has been the longest week of his mission, and I think I'm
about ready to agree with him. Its not that its been a bad week, or
that we haven't worked hard, or that we are not having fun and getting
along together, but it just seems to have dragged on for some reason.
I think that the reason may be that because we are opening a new area,
we spend most of the time contacting. Somehow it seems like after the
first few times of contacting you fall into a rut of the things that
you say and because of that, you just keep saying the same thing over
and over again. That is one thing that Ive been really struggling to
overcome this last week, repetition. We still have had really good
lessons though and I feel as though this last week I have grown a lot
and learned a lot about following the spirit. Ive been able to do
something recently that has been a lot of fun and really interesting
that I have not done as much of in the first part of my mission, and
that is listening. For the first part of my mission, I was being
trained and honestly every time that either my companion or the
investigator was talking I was trying to figure out what to say so
that I would not look and feel like more of an idiot than I already
am. The next part of my mission I was training and so even though I
listened, either I was the one that was directing the conversation, or
I was worried that something would go wrong with the lesson and I be
stuck really bad. I know that I probably should not have even worried
about those things in either instance, but I did for a lot of the
first part of my mission. Now, I'm with Elder Ayim. We were trained by
the same missionary and teach a lot of the things the same way. At the
same time he really likes to talk a lot and if I didn't feel like
saying anything, he could teach the lesson completely by himself if he
had to. On top of both of those two things, he has a lot more
experience than me and if something even starts to go wrong with the
lesson, I don't have to worry at all, because I know that he is there
to help take care of it. This last week, Ive had a lot more time to
really think about the things that are being said and to try to feel
what the investigator is feeling, and what the Lord would like me to
say, instead of trying to come up with the "right" thing to say. I
don't say very much in a lesson, so I figure that what I do say should
be much more powerful, and the only way for that to be is if it is
exactly what the Lord would say in that instance; and so Ive been
trying to say those things he would say. I really should have been
doing that all along, but I guess that I'm just a slow learner.
This last Sunday went really well at church also. We had 20 people
attend church this week!!! 10 of them were investigators, so if you
look at it statistically, over 50% of the people at church were
investigators, and I don't know about many missionaries that can brag
about that (not that I would brag to anyone but you guys, unless it
was a really cute girl). The work has been going really well here in
Sunyani, and we have gotten a lot closer to our members and those that
are seriously investigating also. During Sacrament meeting we had
asked for two of the sisters to prepare a 15 min talk and then we were
going to have an intermediate hymn, and then, I was going to bear my
testimony for any time that was remaining. Unfortunately for me, what
happened was that the two talks only lasted for a total of about 10
min, and then we sang the hymn which happened to be a short one. After
the hymn, we asked a member to bear her testimony to take up a little
of the extra time, but she just stood up and said, "I know that what
they have said is very true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen", and
sat down. That left me with about 35 min to talk and I hadn't planned
anything, because I was just going to bear my testimony and that was
it. It was really nerve racking, but at the same time it was really
cool, because I felt the entire time that what I was saying was
exactly what the people that were at church needed to here. I talked
about the atonement of Jesus Christ and about how because of it we
were saved, after all that we do, and talked about how it was really
important that we realize that its not just by grace that we are
saved, but rather, "by grace after all that we can do" (2 Nephi
25:23). To the people there It probably sounded like I was just
rambling, but I really felt like I was directed the entire time that I
was talking and it was a really cool feeling. I love the atonement so
much and it has been one of my favorite things to study since I have
been in Ghana. I'm so grateful for all that the Lord has done for me.
Well, I guess that I'm about out of time again, and that means that
I have been writing way to many things that are not needed to be said.
I love you all and cant wait to hear from you all next week.
Love Ty