"Miracle Baptism"-- 1/31

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