Well, I had one of the coolest baptisms of my mission this saturday
that i dont think I can ever forget. We baptized a woman whose name is
Agartha Duah. She is about 52 years old and is a kindergarten teacher
here in Sunyani. This last week we were all ready and happy to have
her be baptized, and we showed up on wenesday to have a preparation
lesson for the baptismal interview to find that she had shingles all
up her right side from her knee to her lower back. I dont know much
about shingles but form what I have heard it is in the same family as
chicken-pox, and is very painful. Ive allso been told that it takes a
few weeks for it to go away. On Wenesday she could not walk and was
just lieing there on her bed. While we were there we asked if we
should come back another day to do the baptism interview questions and
her response was that if we didnt go over it she would not know what
to expect for the interview. We came back the next day and found that
she had not improved at all. She had been to the hospital and had
gotten and injection, but she could still not stand. We gave her a
blessing and in it she was promised that she would have enough
strength to get baptized. The next day we came back to do the
baptismal interview and we found that she was still confined to her
bed and that she was not feeling fine at all. She passed the interview
no problem, and told us that she would be ready for the baptism. We
told her that we would be expecting her, but that if it was just to
painful that she could tell us and we could do it next week. At the
end, I asked her to give the prayer for closing and it was one of the
most spiritual heart felt prayers that I have ever heard. At the end
she and everyone else was crying and we just sat there feeling the
Spirit for some time. The next morning we came to the house to pick
them for the baptism and found that she and the rest of the family
were all ready for us. She was walking and told us that her leg felt
much better. She showed us it and you could see an amazing improvment.
We took her and she was baptized and the Spirit was really strong for
the whole thing. There is according to my knowlledge no way that sh
should have been baptized this week, but she was. I have a strong
testimony of the priesthood. In my patriarchle blessing it tells me
that I will see people heald by the power of the priesthood and I know
that that is exaclty what I saw this week. The only downside of the
whole thing was that because of her leg she missed sleep every night
up until Saterday night. On Saturday night, her sister who lives with
her has a son who she breast feeds. Somehow he got sick and would not
eat anything, and so for two days he was not sucking. That Saturday
night both she and the baby were crying all night long as you can
imagine. This made it very difficult for Sis Agartha to sleep Saturday
night also. On Sunday she called and told us that she had terrible
head aches because she had not slept for some days. She was not able
to make it to be confirmed and so we will just have to do it next
week. All in all it was a pretty sweet experience and Im happy that
God has let me to be a part of it. Another highlight of the week was
that we had another missionary come to Sunyani, into the apartment
that we are at. Im really sad that the other elder was leaving, but
this new missionary has just come from my first area. I was able to
look at his pictures and see a lot of people that I had baptized, and
that I had helped to reactivate. He told me that some of the people
there had told him that when he saw me that he should tell me hi for
them. Im suprised that they even remembered who I am and that they
knew that I was in Sunyani. Again, it really helped me to feel good
and to feel like I did something worthwhile. Im greatfull for all that
the Lord has done for me since Ive been here and I know that this is
his work and his glory. Thanks for all that you guys do. I love you
lots and cant wait to hear form you this next week. Love Ty
Monday, January 31, 2011
"Another week bit the dust"--1/24
Well, it sounds like everything back at home is going well for all of
you. Its kinda weird to here about all of the changes that you are
doing to the house, Im sure it will be a lot different than I remember
it when I come back. It sounds like the rest of you all are having a
lot of fun too. I hope that everyone gets filling better and Jen, and
Nat good luck with the organizing. Shelly, hope that the prep for the
whole temple thingy is going well. Have you set a date for sure yet?
Hope everyone else is still alive and kicking and that you are all
having fun.
This week has been really good. We have seen the Lords hand in a lot
of the work here, and I know he is helping us with our goal. On Tues.
we had a lesson with an investigator who stays next to another
investigator, and while we were teaching him the other investigator
came over. I saw him walking over and as he was coming I felt really
bad inside. I honestly feel as though he was prompted by the devil to
com over to us. When he got there he just started to contradict
everything that we were saying to the other investigator and was able
to get us off course and to teach something completely different then
we had wanted to because of the questions that he brought up.
Afterward I was talking with Elder Mapanje and he told me he felt the
same way. We started to call him the devil whenever we were talking
about him to each other. Anyways, this last Sunday the devil came to
church and liked it and we feel that though it may be a really slow
process he can be converted. At church it just happened that a lot of
the things that he was asking questions about were taught in the
lesson and it was made a lot more clear than we were able to make it
at the appointment. So if anyone asks of you Im teaching the devil
about the restoration of the gospel and he is liking it. We also found
that through the tender mercies of the Lord Sis Agatha (the woman that
I wrote about last week) has been able the be transferred back to her
original job and she now has a lot more time to prepare for the
baptism that is happening this sat. On top of that her sister who we
have been teaching with her and who also wants to be baptized, but
because of her husband has to wait for a while, promised us that the
whole family, including the husband will be coming to church this week
to support Sis Agatha in the baptism. I'm really excited about that
and feel as though the Lord is opening a lot of doors for us to help
us accomplish the goal of having a branch in 6 months. A few weeks ago
we contacted into a young man who is about 23 years old who is named
Justice. We have been teaching him, and on Sunday we had a really
powerful lesson with him. We had asked him to read a pamphlet about
Joseph Smith and when we came back we taught him about it. At the end
of the lesson I asked him if he felt like the things that we were
sharing were true. He told us that he did and I asked him why he felt
so. He told us "when I read something that I know is not true I feel
sick inside and I don't like it, but when I read this I feel good
inside and I just know that its true". We were able to talk about how
the Spirit helps us to know things and it was just really powerful.
After I asked "If you know that these things are true what are you
going to do about it"? He told me that he is going to follow and that
he has some more friends that he wants to introduce us to. Im really
excited about him and feel that he could be a really good future
leader for the church here in Sunyani. Today was transfer news day,
and Pres. Sabey called me. He told me that he had a different
assignment he wanted me to do, but that he wanted to let me know that
he felt that it was better for me to stay in Sunyani. That made me
really happy, because I don't want to go. He told me that he was
really happy with the work that has been going on up here and that we
should keep it up. He then told me that it was, within reason, up to
me as to who and when we call the group leader in our area here in
Sunyani and that we should be looking for him as soon as possible.
Again, its kind of weird having that kind of responsibility, because I
know that it will have such a major impact on a lot of these peoples
lives. Honestly, I don't like the pressure, and I wish that he would
put Elder and Sister Bennett in charge of that. Please pray for me to
help me be able to receive and recognize the revelation and know the
right people. I'm kind of scared. I guess that I just need to have
more faith that the Lord will not allow the wrong person to be put in
that position. Other than that I guess that its been a normal week.
Its been kinda slow, but the Lord has really opened a lot of doors and
this last Sunday we were able to have 26 people at church. Im having a
lot of fun here and know that this is where Im supposed to be. Thanks
for all that you do for me and for the support that you have given. I
love you all and hope that you have a great week. Remember that Im
praying for you and don't forget me in your prayers also. Love you
lots, -Ty
you. Its kinda weird to here about all of the changes that you are
doing to the house, Im sure it will be a lot different than I remember
it when I come back. It sounds like the rest of you all are having a
lot of fun too. I hope that everyone gets filling better and Jen, and
Nat good luck with the organizing. Shelly, hope that the prep for the
whole temple thingy is going well. Have you set a date for sure yet?
Hope everyone else is still alive and kicking and that you are all
having fun.
This week has been really good. We have seen the Lords hand in a lot
of the work here, and I know he is helping us with our goal. On Tues.
we had a lesson with an investigator who stays next to another
investigator, and while we were teaching him the other investigator
came over. I saw him walking over and as he was coming I felt really
bad inside. I honestly feel as though he was prompted by the devil to
com over to us. When he got there he just started to contradict
everything that we were saying to the other investigator and was able
to get us off course and to teach something completely different then
we had wanted to because of the questions that he brought up.
Afterward I was talking with Elder Mapanje and he told me he felt the
same way. We started to call him the devil whenever we were talking
about him to each other. Anyways, this last Sunday the devil came to
church and liked it and we feel that though it may be a really slow
process he can be converted. At church it just happened that a lot of
the things that he was asking questions about were taught in the
lesson and it was made a lot more clear than we were able to make it
at the appointment. So if anyone asks of you Im teaching the devil
about the restoration of the gospel and he is liking it. We also found
that through the tender mercies of the Lord Sis Agatha (the woman that
I wrote about last week) has been able the be transferred back to her
original job and she now has a lot more time to prepare for the
baptism that is happening this sat. On top of that her sister who we
have been teaching with her and who also wants to be baptized, but
because of her husband has to wait for a while, promised us that the
whole family, including the husband will be coming to church this week
to support Sis Agatha in the baptism. I'm really excited about that
and feel as though the Lord is opening a lot of doors for us to help
us accomplish the goal of having a branch in 6 months. A few weeks ago
we contacted into a young man who is about 23 years old who is named
Justice. We have been teaching him, and on Sunday we had a really
powerful lesson with him. We had asked him to read a pamphlet about
Joseph Smith and when we came back we taught him about it. At the end
of the lesson I asked him if he felt like the things that we were
sharing were true. He told us that he did and I asked him why he felt
so. He told us "when I read something that I know is not true I feel
sick inside and I don't like it, but when I read this I feel good
inside and I just know that its true". We were able to talk about how
the Spirit helps us to know things and it was just really powerful.
After I asked "If you know that these things are true what are you
going to do about it"? He told me that he is going to follow and that
he has some more friends that he wants to introduce us to. Im really
excited about him and feel that he could be a really good future
leader for the church here in Sunyani. Today was transfer news day,
and Pres. Sabey called me. He told me that he had a different
assignment he wanted me to do, but that he wanted to let me know that
he felt that it was better for me to stay in Sunyani. That made me
really happy, because I don't want to go. He told me that he was
really happy with the work that has been going on up here and that we
should keep it up. He then told me that it was, within reason, up to
me as to who and when we call the group leader in our area here in
Sunyani and that we should be looking for him as soon as possible.
Again, its kind of weird having that kind of responsibility, because I
know that it will have such a major impact on a lot of these peoples
lives. Honestly, I don't like the pressure, and I wish that he would
put Elder and Sister Bennett in charge of that. Please pray for me to
help me be able to receive and recognize the revelation and know the
right people. I'm kind of scared. I guess that I just need to have
more faith that the Lord will not allow the wrong person to be put in
that position. Other than that I guess that its been a normal week.
Its been kinda slow, but the Lord has really opened a lot of doors and
this last Sunday we were able to have 26 people at church. Im having a
lot of fun here and know that this is where Im supposed to be. Thanks
for all that you do for me and for the support that you have given. I
love you all and hope that you have a great week. Remember that Im
praying for you and don't forget me in your prayers also. Love you
lots, -Ty
"Not as important, but you can still read"-- 1/17
Well, as you can see from the title of this e-mail, I definately feel
that this letter is not nearly as important as the one that Shell
dropped on me this week. Im sure excited for you shelly, but wish
that I could be there. Its kinda wierd to think that youll be married
when I come home, but I guess that I should have expected it. I hope
that the rest of you all are doing fine and that everyone is happy. I
wrote a long letter last week to everyone, but when I pushed send it
logged me off and I ran out of time to write anything more, so sorry
that you were not able to get it. Things have been going really well
over here lately. Last week I had some really cool things happen. The
first was that one of my recent converts went to the temple to do
baptisms for the dead and loved it. She is now really pumped about the
gospel and everything seems to be going well with her. We also have
another recent convert that is planning to go to the temple and has
been preparing names for it for the last few months. the temple is
closed for renovation, but will open in a few weeks and she is
planning on going the week that it opens. Its really cool to see
things like that and helps you to feel really good. Elder Mapamje and
I were talking yesterday and we have set a new goal to have a branch
here by August. That gives us six months to find people, baptize them,
and get them ready to fill all of the callings from Branch Pres. to
relief society Pres. Please pray for us, because I feel that this
could be one of the hardest goals that I have set in my life. I know
that its possible and I have a lot of faith, but honestly I know that
if its done it will not be because of me and Elder Mapanje. It will be
because the Lord helped. Pres. Sabey often talks about Moses 1:39
where it says, "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man". It is not our work, but his and
he knows how to do it and in what way to do it. If you put your trust
in him and work as hard as you can it will all work out. There is a
really cool experience that helps to explain this for me. About a
month ago, I was on splits with another missionary in my area when an
appointment failed and we decided to contact. Elder Dixon when he came
here told us to knock on the biggest gaits we can find, because they
are the ones that have the biggest houses behind them and those houses
hold the future leaders of this area in them. We decided to follow his
counsel and found the biggest gait we could and knocked on it. A girl
came out and told us that she was really busy and that we should come
back later. Normally Im not very pushy when I contact, but this time I
was for some reason and asked the girl if we could help her with what
she was busy doing. She said no and after some time she finally in
desperation told us that she would go and call for her madam to talk
to us. The madam came out and to our surprise she was really excited
for us to come and talk with her. We went into the back of the house
and come to find out she is not the owner of the house, but is
actually the housekeeper because the owner is in Germany. We taught
her and her sister a really powerful lesson and committed them to
baptism after they knew that these things were true, which they
accepted. Over the last few weeks we have been going to them and every
visit we have felt the spirit there stronger than almost any other
lesson I have ever felt. Last week we had a lesson with her where we
taught the plan of salvation and when we came back she was so sad,
because she had done an abortion early in her life and when we taught
about the plan of salvation she found that God has a plan for each of
his children and she felt like she had prevented one of Gods spirits
from coming to earth. We had a really powerful lesson on repentance in
which I cried like a baby, and she asked if she could be baptized. The
next appointment she failed and when we asked her sister she said that
she was relocated to a village far away and that she would be really
hard to get in touch with. This last week we have been able to get
into contact with her and she told us that even thought it is far she
iis trying to get located back to her old area and that even if she
cant she will still come to church every sunday and she was able to
come this last sunday again. We went on splits with the zone leaders
and while we were with them they asked her why she wanted to be
baptized. She said that ever since the first day that we came she felt
good inside and she just knew that it was true. They were able to help
her to recognize the promtings of the Holy Ghost and now she has a
baptismal date for the 30 of Jan. Well, Im out of time, but I just
want to say that I know that this church is true and Im grateful to be
a part of it. Love you all a lot. Ty
that this letter is not nearly as important as the one that Shell
dropped on me this week. Im sure excited for you shelly, but wish
that I could be there. Its kinda wierd to think that youll be married
when I come home, but I guess that I should have expected it. I hope
that the rest of you all are doing fine and that everyone is happy. I
wrote a long letter last week to everyone, but when I pushed send it
logged me off and I ran out of time to write anything more, so sorry
that you were not able to get it. Things have been going really well
over here lately. Last week I had some really cool things happen. The
first was that one of my recent converts went to the temple to do
baptisms for the dead and loved it. She is now really pumped about the
gospel and everything seems to be going well with her. We also have
another recent convert that is planning to go to the temple and has
been preparing names for it for the last few months. the temple is
closed for renovation, but will open in a few weeks and she is
planning on going the week that it opens. Its really cool to see
things like that and helps you to feel really good. Elder Mapamje and
I were talking yesterday and we have set a new goal to have a branch
here by August. That gives us six months to find people, baptize them,
and get them ready to fill all of the callings from Branch Pres. to
relief society Pres. Please pray for us, because I feel that this
could be one of the hardest goals that I have set in my life. I know
that its possible and I have a lot of faith, but honestly I know that
if its done it will not be because of me and Elder Mapanje. It will be
because the Lord helped. Pres. Sabey often talks about Moses 1:39
where it says, "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man". It is not our work, but his and
he knows how to do it and in what way to do it. If you put your trust
in him and work as hard as you can it will all work out. There is a
really cool experience that helps to explain this for me. About a
month ago, I was on splits with another missionary in my area when an
appointment failed and we decided to contact. Elder Dixon when he came
here told us to knock on the biggest gaits we can find, because they
are the ones that have the biggest houses behind them and those houses
hold the future leaders of this area in them. We decided to follow his
counsel and found the biggest gait we could and knocked on it. A girl
came out and told us that she was really busy and that we should come
back later. Normally Im not very pushy when I contact, but this time I
was for some reason and asked the girl if we could help her with what
she was busy doing. She said no and after some time she finally in
desperation told us that she would go and call for her madam to talk
to us. The madam came out and to our surprise she was really excited
for us to come and talk with her. We went into the back of the house
and come to find out she is not the owner of the house, but is
actually the housekeeper because the owner is in Germany. We taught
her and her sister a really powerful lesson and committed them to
baptism after they knew that these things were true, which they
accepted. Over the last few weeks we have been going to them and every
visit we have felt the spirit there stronger than almost any other
lesson I have ever felt. Last week we had a lesson with her where we
taught the plan of salvation and when we came back she was so sad,
because she had done an abortion early in her life and when we taught
about the plan of salvation she found that God has a plan for each of
his children and she felt like she had prevented one of Gods spirits
from coming to earth. We had a really powerful lesson on repentance in
which I cried like a baby, and she asked if she could be baptized. The
next appointment she failed and when we asked her sister she said that
she was relocated to a village far away and that she would be really
hard to get in touch with. This last week we have been able to get
into contact with her and she told us that even thought it is far she
iis trying to get located back to her old area and that even if she
cant she will still come to church every sunday and she was able to
come this last sunday again. We went on splits with the zone leaders
and while we were with them they asked her why she wanted to be
baptized. She said that ever since the first day that we came she felt
good inside and she just knew that it was true. They were able to help
her to recognize the promtings of the Holy Ghost and now she has a
baptismal date for the 30 of Jan. Well, Im out of time, but I just
want to say that I know that this church is true and Im grateful to be
a part of it. Love you all a lot. Ty
"Happy New Year"-- 1/4/2011
I hope that you all had a great new years eve. I sure had a lot of
fun. On Friday evening the senior couple the Bennett's had us over for
a party. An hour before that Elder Mapanje and myself had a failed
appointment and decided to go and check out a new part of our area. It
turned out that we could see a few houses up on a hill and we tried to
get to them and did a little bit of jungle mountain biking in the
middle of nowhere instead. It was really fun and beautiful, but not
very productive. When we finally got to the houses we found that they
were not completed and that there was no one living there anyways. We
then went to the Bennett's and they bought us this really good rice
and stew and we got to watch On the Lords Errand, which is the
biography about Pres. Monson. It was really cool and about 3/4 of the
way through it we had a member family that just moved from Accra to
our area that we had never met come and introduce themselves to us.
Then the Bennett's gave us all brownies and ice cream (they were the
second of the mission for me, and they tasted glorious). We came home,
and were going to play games until midnight, but while the others
started to get the games set up I fell asleep and it turned out that
the others just stayed up talking. The next morning we had a party
where we played one of the most intense football games of my life. It
worked out that we tied ,which was perfect because the people that
came were very competitive and if one had lost there could have been
problems. After which one of my recent converts provided food for
everyone. She told me that usually for her old church it was not
uncommon for her to put in a lot of money for the collection bowl for
Christmas, and because she is now a member she is saving a lot of
money and she wanted to give it back to God so she just made a lot of
food for the party. She used to own a restaurant, and so it tasted
really good and everyone was satisfied. It turned out to just be a
really good day. The next day was Sunday and we had the lowest numbers
since Ive been in Sunyani. We had ten people including ourselves and
the only other unit that had lower was the one that just opened and
they had zero. It was a hard week for numbers, I guess just because of
the new years. We contacted the rest of the day and had a lot of
fun.Yesterday we went to Kumasi for p-day and played football.It was
fun also, but we didn't get back until late because of the traffic. We
had to wait in line for an hour and a half until we were able to get
transport back. It was a lot of fun though and I really enjoyed it. I
guess that it sounds like I'm just playing all of the time over here,
but that's not all of the way true. We work a lot, but its not very
much fun to talk about knocking on doors, so I never really talk about
it. One story is that we were teaching an old investigator and he had
a friend with him. Our investigator asked us if Jesus Christ was a
drunkard because in the bible there is a verse where the pharasies say
that he is(Matt. 11). We told him no and then he asked about our views
on drinking and so we taught him about the word of wisdom. He told us
that he had no problems with any of it, but that his wife and children
drank tea and he didn't understand why it was bad, so we went over it
really heavy and talked about some of the things inside of tea and
what it can do to the body and how we can become addicted to it and
everything and asked if he had any questions. He told us that he
understood and then asked how he could explain it to his wife. We told
him to explain it just the way that we had explained it and he was OK
with that answer. We started to move on to a new topic when the other
man that was there just blew up at us. He told us that we had not
answered the question and that we needed to give proof of why it was
bad so that the man could tell his wife those things. He went on for
about ten minutes yelling/ talking really loudly at us and saying that
he didn't drink it personally, but we needed to give proof that it was
bad. We tried to go over everything that we new and gave facts,
examples, personal experiences of how it was bad, but he kept on
yelling at us. Finally he stood up and said something like, "I guess
this is evidence that Joe Smith is a false prophet, I'm leaving to go
and listen to pastor Mensa(some local fake pastor Ive never heard of)
on the radio". He then stormed off and left us with the investigator.
He apologized for his friend and we bore our testimony to him and I
think that it ended up OK. The whole time that the man was yelling at
us I was thinking of the scripture where Christ says "A wicked and
perverse generation seeketh after a sing." It was kinda funny. I used
to get really into what I called "giving to people", but now I just
feel sad when things like that happen. I stand up for what is true,
but I am tired of ignorance and hatred. I just wish that people would
think before they formed ideas about others and their beliefs. I
really am enjoying my time here. I love the people and the area and
wish that I could be here forever. I just wish that you guys and the
food back at home could be here also. There is nothing like a mission
to make you both dread and dream of going home. :-) I love you all a
lot and hope that all is well.
Love Ty
fun. On Friday evening the senior couple the Bennett's had us over for
a party. An hour before that Elder Mapanje and myself had a failed
appointment and decided to go and check out a new part of our area. It
turned out that we could see a few houses up on a hill and we tried to
get to them and did a little bit of jungle mountain biking in the
middle of nowhere instead. It was really fun and beautiful, but not
very productive. When we finally got to the houses we found that they
were not completed and that there was no one living there anyways. We
then went to the Bennett's and they bought us this really good rice
and stew and we got to watch On the Lords Errand, which is the
biography about Pres. Monson. It was really cool and about 3/4 of the
way through it we had a member family that just moved from Accra to
our area that we had never met come and introduce themselves to us.
Then the Bennett's gave us all brownies and ice cream (they were the
second of the mission for me, and they tasted glorious). We came home,
and were going to play games until midnight, but while the others
started to get the games set up I fell asleep and it turned out that
the others just stayed up talking. The next morning we had a party
where we played one of the most intense football games of my life. It
worked out that we tied ,which was perfect because the people that
came were very competitive and if one had lost there could have been
problems. After which one of my recent converts provided food for
everyone. She told me that usually for her old church it was not
uncommon for her to put in a lot of money for the collection bowl for
Christmas, and because she is now a member she is saving a lot of
money and she wanted to give it back to God so she just made a lot of
food for the party. She used to own a restaurant, and so it tasted
really good and everyone was satisfied. It turned out to just be a
really good day. The next day was Sunday and we had the lowest numbers
since Ive been in Sunyani. We had ten people including ourselves and
the only other unit that had lower was the one that just opened and
they had zero. It was a hard week for numbers, I guess just because of
the new years. We contacted the rest of the day and had a lot of
fun.Yesterday we went to Kumasi for p-day and played football.It was
fun also, but we didn't get back until late because of the traffic. We
had to wait in line for an hour and a half until we were able to get
transport back. It was a lot of fun though and I really enjoyed it. I
guess that it sounds like I'm just playing all of the time over here,
but that's not all of the way true. We work a lot, but its not very
much fun to talk about knocking on doors, so I never really talk about
it. One story is that we were teaching an old investigator and he had
a friend with him. Our investigator asked us if Jesus Christ was a
drunkard because in the bible there is a verse where the pharasies say
that he is(Matt. 11). We told him no and then he asked about our views
on drinking and so we taught him about the word of wisdom. He told us
that he had no problems with any of it, but that his wife and children
drank tea and he didn't understand why it was bad, so we went over it
really heavy and talked about some of the things inside of tea and
what it can do to the body and how we can become addicted to it and
everything and asked if he had any questions. He told us that he
understood and then asked how he could explain it to his wife. We told
him to explain it just the way that we had explained it and he was OK
with that answer. We started to move on to a new topic when the other
man that was there just blew up at us. He told us that we had not
answered the question and that we needed to give proof of why it was
bad so that the man could tell his wife those things. He went on for
about ten minutes yelling/ talking really loudly at us and saying that
he didn't drink it personally, but we needed to give proof that it was
bad. We tried to go over everything that we new and gave facts,
examples, personal experiences of how it was bad, but he kept on
yelling at us. Finally he stood up and said something like, "I guess
this is evidence that Joe Smith is a false prophet, I'm leaving to go
and listen to pastor Mensa(some local fake pastor Ive never heard of)
on the radio". He then stormed off and left us with the investigator.
He apologized for his friend and we bore our testimony to him and I
think that it ended up OK. The whole time that the man was yelling at
us I was thinking of the scripture where Christ says "A wicked and
perverse generation seeketh after a sing." It was kinda funny. I used
to get really into what I called "giving to people", but now I just
feel sad when things like that happen. I stand up for what is true,
but I am tired of ignorance and hatred. I just wish that people would
think before they formed ideas about others and their beliefs. I
really am enjoying my time here. I love the people and the area and
wish that I could be here forever. I just wish that you guys and the
food back at home could be here also. There is nothing like a mission
to make you both dread and dream of going home. :-) I love you all a
lot and hope that all is well.
Love Ty
"Hey"--12/27
Well it was nice to talk to you guys this last week, but now I'm out
of things to say. Even I think that I might have already said too much
to some of you guys on Sat. Yesterday we had church as usually, but
only about 14 people came because a lot of them traveled for the
Christmas Holiday. I ended up giving a 40 min talk about the life and
atonement of Jesus Christ and it went well I think. After church we
had all of our appointments fail but one, so we went contacting and
had every single person say to come back latter. Interesting how after
you get done bragging to you family about how receptive everyone is
they all of a sudden don't wont to hear a single thing that you have
to say. After contacting one of our recent converts had all of the
missionaries over for a Christmas feast of Fufu and chicken. It was
amazing, but she gave us way too much. The amount that she usually
gives to me and Elder Mapanje to share is the amount that she gave to
me for myself, and her portions were already big. It has been overall
a great weekend. Today we went to one of the apartments that has a big
yard in the front of it and played football. I broke the ball for the
second time since Ive been in Ghana. Usually I play defense, because
it takes less ball handling skill, and today as one of the other
missionaries was trying to score I went and kicked it as hard as I
could to get it away form the goal. There was a stick on the ground
and it hit the stick and punctured the ball. That ended the game early
and after that we just sat and talked for an hour or so. It was a lot
of fun. I honestly cant think of anything else to talk about so I
think that Ill end here. I love you guys and am grateful for all that
you have done for me. It was really nice to talk to everyone. I hope
that you all have a happy new year.
Love Ty
of things to say. Even I think that I might have already said too much
to some of you guys on Sat. Yesterday we had church as usually, but
only about 14 people came because a lot of them traveled for the
Christmas Holiday. I ended up giving a 40 min talk about the life and
atonement of Jesus Christ and it went well I think. After church we
had all of our appointments fail but one, so we went contacting and
had every single person say to come back latter. Interesting how after
you get done bragging to you family about how receptive everyone is
they all of a sudden don't wont to hear a single thing that you have
to say. After contacting one of our recent converts had all of the
missionaries over for a Christmas feast of Fufu and chicken. It was
amazing, but she gave us way too much. The amount that she usually
gives to me and Elder Mapanje to share is the amount that she gave to
me for myself, and her portions were already big. It has been overall
a great weekend. Today we went to one of the apartments that has a big
yard in the front of it and played football. I broke the ball for the
second time since Ive been in Ghana. Usually I play defense, because
it takes less ball handling skill, and today as one of the other
missionaries was trying to score I went and kicked it as hard as I
could to get it away form the goal. There was a stick on the ground
and it hit the stick and punctured the ball. That ended the game early
and after that we just sat and talked for an hour or so. It was a lot
of fun. I honestly cant think of anything else to talk about so I
think that Ill end here. I love you guys and am grateful for all that
you have done for me. It was really nice to talk to everyone. I hope
that you all have a happy new year.
Love Ty
"Merry Christmas" --12/21
Well, I hope that all is going well for you guys and that this week
will be a good one for everyone. Im really excited to talk to some of
you guys this Saturday. One thing mom, I got permission to spend a
little extra time and talk to Grandma and Grandpa, so if you could
help me out and get their phone number ready so that when I am done
calling you guys I can talk to them, or the other way around, that
would be really great. I think that some time on Friday Ill probably
call and schedule the next day just to make sure that everything is
going well and that my phone is working.
This last Sat. we had the first of the three parties and it went
really well. We were planning on about 50-60 people, and we had
somewhere around 70-80. It was really cool and made all of us
missionaries happy, because it went so well. The first Sunday that we
came here to Sunyani three months ago we had about twenty people at
church. To go from twenty to seventy in three months makes everyone
feel really good. We also got some good referrals and some of our
investigators said that they now want to be members so everything
seemed to go well. At the party we watched the movie the Testaments,
had dinner, sang carols, played Christmas charades and just had a good
old time. Everyone seemed happy to be there. This Christmas eve we are
having a Christmas devotional that the missionaries are putting on for
the members. We plan on going through a program that Pres. Sabey did
for us at the mission Christmas party yesterday. In it we are going to
talk about Samuel the Lamanite, and then go through a nativity seen
that Sis. Bennett has and talk about the importance of each of the
characters and their significance in the story of Christs birth.
Between each of the characters we are going to sing hymns and songs
about the characters. For example, Im supposed to talk about the
shepherds and the sheep, so Ill probably talk about how they came to
witness the birth and about how Christ in the bible is depicted as the
Lamb of God. In order to offer a lamb as a sacrifice the lamb had to
be both without blemish and also had to be the firstborn. You could
tell whether it was without blemish by just looking at it, but to know
if it was the firstborn yo had to ask the shepherd, because he was the
one present at the birth of the lamb. In a very real sense, The
shepherds came to testify that Christ is the firstborn of the father
and that he truly is worthy of being a perfect sacrifice for us and
our sins. It is also important to note that Christ was born as the
Lamb of God, but by suffering the atonement he felt and went through
each of our pains one by one. He knows us better than we even know
ourselves. In the very same way the shepherd knows one by one each of
his sheep. Christ, by being the sacrificial lamb, and through the
process of the atonement became the good shepherd and is now leading
us back to our Father if we will fallow him. So Ill talk about those
things and then we sill sing either a hymn or a primary song about the
shepherds or the sheep. I think that it will go well, and again we are
hoping for a big turnout. I don't think that quite as many people will
be coming though, because a lot of people will be going home to visit
their families and stuff like that. We are hoping all goes well.
This last Sunday for the first time since Ive been in Sunyani I did
not have to do anything but conduct sacrament meeting. It was really
cool, because we had most of our recent converts either give a talk or
else instruct Sunday school, and it went really well. Its cool to see
people that you taught and brought into the church taking an active
roll in everything so quickly. I also got a letter today from one of
my first baptisms back in Mpintsin named Johnathan Mensa. He told me
that he still is going to church and that everything is going well for
him. A lot of the time for me I wonder if Im really making a
difference or if Im just wasting my time, but this last few weeks I
have been able to see some of the results of my efforts and it is
making me feel really good. It makes me want to work even harder so
that I can have even more of these experiences.
This week we also had a cool experience with some new contacts. We
have been trying to do something new as a mission to help with not
wasting time. In the first lesson we now teach the people about
following Jesus Christ and about ways that we can do that. We then
focus on baptism and ask a question something like " If baptism is for
us to wash away our sins, why was Jesus Christ baptized." We will then
read with them from 2 Nephi 31 about how he was baptized to set an
example and to fulfill all righteousness. We then say something like,
"this is our first time to visit with you, and we know that right now
you are probably not sure whether to believe us or not. As we come and
teach you every time we will ask you to pray to God and ask him to let
you know that what we are saying is true. When you know that what we
are saying is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be
baptized into his true church?" Its a really powerful way of starting
off and it has them thinking every time that you come to see them that
that is the purpose for you being there, to help them follow Jesus
Christ into baptism. We started this about three weeks ago, and one of
the first people that we tried it on was two sisters that are about
40-50 years old that we contacted into when an appointment failed. On
Sunday after church we met with them and they said that they had
prayed bout it and they just felt good inside and they knew it was
true. Then one of them said this, "we know its true and are ready to
follow Jesus Christ to your church, what do we need to do." It was
really powerful and again, made me feel as though the Lord is blessing
me way to much while Im here in Ghana. That appointment has been one
of the best lessons on my mission. Its been a sweet week.
I also got two packages from you guys. Thank you so much. You made
me and my companion so happy. You put in everything and more more than
what I needed. I appreciate all that you guys do and love you so much.
I am really excited to talk to you all and hope that you have a happy
Christmas. If I don't get to talk to all of you this weekend, sorry,
but know that I love you all and we'll meet in about nine months when
I come home. Don't worry, Ill let you take me to dinner or do
something fun with me if you keep being nice. Well, I think Im about
out of things to say and time to say it in. I love you all a whole lot
and cant wait to talk to you.
Love Ty
will be a good one for everyone. Im really excited to talk to some of
you guys this Saturday. One thing mom, I got permission to spend a
little extra time and talk to Grandma and Grandpa, so if you could
help me out and get their phone number ready so that when I am done
calling you guys I can talk to them, or the other way around, that
would be really great. I think that some time on Friday Ill probably
call and schedule the next day just to make sure that everything is
going well and that my phone is working.
This last Sat. we had the first of the three parties and it went
really well. We were planning on about 50-60 people, and we had
somewhere around 70-80. It was really cool and made all of us
missionaries happy, because it went so well. The first Sunday that we
came here to Sunyani three months ago we had about twenty people at
church. To go from twenty to seventy in three months makes everyone
feel really good. We also got some good referrals and some of our
investigators said that they now want to be members so everything
seemed to go well. At the party we watched the movie the Testaments,
had dinner, sang carols, played Christmas charades and just had a good
old time. Everyone seemed happy to be there. This Christmas eve we are
having a Christmas devotional that the missionaries are putting on for
the members. We plan on going through a program that Pres. Sabey did
for us at the mission Christmas party yesterday. In it we are going to
talk about Samuel the Lamanite, and then go through a nativity seen
that Sis. Bennett has and talk about the importance of each of the
characters and their significance in the story of Christs birth.
Between each of the characters we are going to sing hymns and songs
about the characters. For example, Im supposed to talk about the
shepherds and the sheep, so Ill probably talk about how they came to
witness the birth and about how Christ in the bible is depicted as the
Lamb of God. In order to offer a lamb as a sacrifice the lamb had to
be both without blemish and also had to be the firstborn. You could
tell whether it was without blemish by just looking at it, but to know
if it was the firstborn yo had to ask the shepherd, because he was the
one present at the birth of the lamb. In a very real sense, The
shepherds came to testify that Christ is the firstborn of the father
and that he truly is worthy of being a perfect sacrifice for us and
our sins. It is also important to note that Christ was born as the
Lamb of God, but by suffering the atonement he felt and went through
each of our pains one by one. He knows us better than we even know
ourselves. In the very same way the shepherd knows one by one each of
his sheep. Christ, by being the sacrificial lamb, and through the
process of the atonement became the good shepherd and is now leading
us back to our Father if we will fallow him. So Ill talk about those
things and then we sill sing either a hymn or a primary song about the
shepherds or the sheep. I think that it will go well, and again we are
hoping for a big turnout. I don't think that quite as many people will
be coming though, because a lot of people will be going home to visit
their families and stuff like that. We are hoping all goes well.
This last Sunday for the first time since Ive been in Sunyani I did
not have to do anything but conduct sacrament meeting. It was really
cool, because we had most of our recent converts either give a talk or
else instruct Sunday school, and it went really well. Its cool to see
people that you taught and brought into the church taking an active
roll in everything so quickly. I also got a letter today from one of
my first baptisms back in Mpintsin named Johnathan Mensa. He told me
that he still is going to church and that everything is going well for
him. A lot of the time for me I wonder if Im really making a
difference or if Im just wasting my time, but this last few weeks I
have been able to see some of the results of my efforts and it is
making me feel really good. It makes me want to work even harder so
that I can have even more of these experiences.
This week we also had a cool experience with some new contacts. We
have been trying to do something new as a mission to help with not
wasting time. In the first lesson we now teach the people about
following Jesus Christ and about ways that we can do that. We then
focus on baptism and ask a question something like " If baptism is for
us to wash away our sins, why was Jesus Christ baptized." We will then
read with them from 2 Nephi 31 about how he was baptized to set an
example and to fulfill all righteousness. We then say something like,
"this is our first time to visit with you, and we know that right now
you are probably not sure whether to believe us or not. As we come and
teach you every time we will ask you to pray to God and ask him to let
you know that what we are saying is true. When you know that what we
are saying is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be
baptized into his true church?" Its a really powerful way of starting
off and it has them thinking every time that you come to see them that
that is the purpose for you being there, to help them follow Jesus
Christ into baptism. We started this about three weeks ago, and one of
the first people that we tried it on was two sisters that are about
40-50 years old that we contacted into when an appointment failed. On
Sunday after church we met with them and they said that they had
prayed bout it and they just felt good inside and they knew it was
true. Then one of them said this, "we know its true and are ready to
follow Jesus Christ to your church, what do we need to do." It was
really powerful and again, made me feel as though the Lord is blessing
me way to much while Im here in Ghana. That appointment has been one
of the best lessons on my mission. Its been a sweet week.
I also got two packages from you guys. Thank you so much. You made
me and my companion so happy. You put in everything and more more than
what I needed. I appreciate all that you guys do and love you so much.
I am really excited to talk to you all and hope that you have a happy
Christmas. If I don't get to talk to all of you this weekend, sorry,
but know that I love you all and we'll meet in about nine months when
I come home. Don't worry, Ill let you take me to dinner or do
something fun with me if you keep being nice. Well, I think Im about
out of things to say and time to say it in. I love you all a whole lot
and cant wait to talk to you.
Love Ty
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