7/19

Hey guys, It was really good to hear from you all this week. Brooke,
sorry that I'm late for your birthday. I hope that all is well. Mom
and dad, the package came this last Thursday, and that was perfect. I
love you so much. It was exactly what I wanted. Everyone here cant
believe that I belong to the same family as you guys, because They say
that I'm not nearly as good looking as you all. I hope that the
pictures I sent made it all right. The pictures of me and Elder Tadaeo
are to show you guys the traditional Ghanaian wear. Its not very
appropriate to send you guys pictures of some of the clothes we see
every day so we did the best that we could to show the culture. (Jen,
just because I sent it doesn't mean that you need to post it on the
blog).
This week has been really neat, with a lot of really cool experiences.
We went to Bro Ageymans house (he's the older man that we baptized a
few weeks ago), and he told us that the night before he had had a
dream where two missionaries had come to him and taught him about
Isaiah chap. 53 and 58, and about Jesus Christ and fasting and keeping
the sabbath day holly. It was so cool to hear how much his testimony
of these things has been strengthened since we first met him about two
months ago. At the end, he told us again that without us and the
message that we brought to him he would have been lost and that we
helped him and his family to have a better life. He then told us that
there was a man that had come onto his farm, and had destroyed all of
the crops and started to build a house there for himself. He told that
because of what we had taught him that he was not getting angry, as he
would have done before, but that he was going through and trying to
work out the problem the way that Jesus Christ would do it. He then
told us that if that meant that he had to give up his farm for this
man to have a house he would do it and he would let God give the
consequences out. It was really spiritual and really neat to see that
kind of faith.
The next thing that I thought was cool was about an old man who lives
in our town named Bro. Thomas. He is the father and grandfather of a
lot of the members of our ward, and he knows that the church is true,
but because of problems with polygamy, he has not been baptized. Every
time that we have met him before now he was very bitter, and he would
always complain about how the church leaders would not let him be
baptized and that he was working on getting everything squared away.
He has even asked our bishop the baptize him in secrete. This last
week, we got the go ahead from the leaders to start teaching him again
and try and prepare him for baptism. The first time that we met him he
had this attitude that seemed to say "what can you small boys teach me
that I don't already know". The next time that we met with him he
seemed different, and since then, every time that we have taught him
the Spirit has been really strong in the lesson, and he has been
crying. Every time that we finish he says that he knows that it true
and thanks us for coming and helping him. Its been really cool to see
the change in him also.
I think that that is one of the greatest blessings about being a
missionary. You get to see the Gospel bless so many different people,
and you just know that if everyone is willing to pray with a sincere
heart, they will know that this is true. God has blessed me so much
since Ive been here and Im so thankful for that. I know that this
church is true. It has to be, because of all of the good that it
brings to peoples lives, whether they believe or not.
Well, sorry to ramble again. I love you guys a lot and hope that all
continues to go well with you. Thanks again for the package. Jen and
Shaun congrats with the graduation, and good luck with finals. Jon
good luck for the next few weeks, Derek good luck finding a job and
project. Shelly good luck with getting Rich to stay happy. :-)
Everyone else I hope that all goes well with everything that you are
doing.
Love Ty