"Don't Have Much to Say"-- 2/14

Sorry guys, I know that Im not much at writing letters, but these last
few weeks its been getting really hard for me to think of new things
for me to write about. Everything here is just getting normal for me
and so I feel as though I have nothing to write about. I am having a
hard time remembering what its like back at home though. We had one of
our recent converts ask us what its like at home and I found that I
couldn't tell her. I don't really believe that supper markets are as
big as I tell people that they are, because there is no way that
people could find that many things to sell inside, and to think that
we live on five acres back at home is just amazing to me. I tried to
explain what some of the food is like, that was really hard, because
not only am I having a hard time remembering, but when you are talking
to someone who has only eaten about ten different foods their entire
life, and those foods are made out of the same three ingredients Its
hard to explain it to them.
Anyways, this week has been really good. We met a man this last
Tuesday when we were going to see one of our investigators. She was
not there he he answered the door and told us to come in. Right after
we sat down he started by saying that he didn't understand why we were
going around teaching other Christians about Christ when there were
plenty of Muslims around for us to teach.We told him that our message
was unique and that it was not just for one or two people, but for
everyone and that we taught not only to Christians, or Muslims, but to
both, and everyone else also. He asked how it was unique and so we
started to explain the restoration. This man is very educated and very
smart and asked a lot of intelligent questions. You could really tell
that he understood about the apostasy and the need for the
restoration, but he just didn't want to accept it. Finally after about
an hour of going over it with him he finally told us the reason why he
didn't want to believe us.Quite a few years ago there was a doctor who
came to Ghana from America to help with a surgery. I don't really know
the facts as to what happened, but a newspaper here wrote an article
about how while doing this surgery the doctor started to drink the
blood of the patient. I have been told that that is not true and that
the newspaper was just trying to get a story, but I haven't been able
to do any research on it because im just a missionary. Anyways because
of this article many people here in Ghana think that we drink blood
and that we are devil worshipers. When this happened this man read it
in the newspaper and he started to grow a hatred for our church. To
add to his hatred one of his nephews joined the church. He liked his
nephew before, but since he joined the church he says that he doesn't
mind him or listen to what he says. He told us quite simply that he
hates Latter Day Saints and that he doesnt ever think that he could
forgive us. We told him that we do not drink blood. We said that we
had heard of the article, but that we don't know the facts and so we
could not say that it was true or not, but that it shouldn't matter.
People make mistakes and maybe that is what happened with this man, or
with the newspaper. We said that very simply what we know is that the
message that we are bringing is true and that anyone who would pray to
God could also know for themselves if it was true. We asked him if
since his nephew became a member that he became a bad person and he
told us no. We told him that the only way for him to know is to find
out for himself if what we are saying is true. Over all it was somehow
a really nice experience because it was a chance for him to start to
forgive us and I think that it was making him feel really good inside.
We gave him a restoration pamphlet and asked him to make a promise to
read it before we came back. When we came back he had all kinds of
questions about Joseph Smith and about the restoration. We were able
to go over it with him and we helped him to understand a lot clearer.
He never told us whether he believes us or not, but we both felt that
he does. After meeting with him both Elder Mapanje and myself talked
to each other and came to the conclusion that if this man denies the
message he is denying what he knows to be true. Its been sweet to
start to go through with him and see the change from hatred to
understanding. I really dont know if he will accept and become a
member or not, but I do feel that we at least have done a lot of good
in helping to make him feel better towards us.
We also had an experience that was cool this week again. There has
been a boy that has been following one of his friends to church the
last few weeks that asked us to meet with his father this last week.
We went and met with them and came to find out that the boy is and
only child to this man and his wife and that they really care a lot
about him. They used to take him to church with them until one Sunday
after they and bathed him and gotten him all ready he told them that
he was going to his friends church and just left them. Ever since then
he has done the same thing every Sunday. The father told us that he
really wants us to take good care of his son because he is the only
one that he has. We told him that we wanted him to know and understand
what we are teaching his son to decide for himself if he wants his son
to come to church, and he told us that he would like it and that one
day he would come himself. We started teaching him this week and we
have found that he is very receptive. I hope that all goes well,
because they could be a solid family, and they are all future leaders.
The last thing that I can think of to write about this week is
something that I night have already written about. We have been
meeting and teaching a man who was baptized into our church in Germany
in the early 80's and right after that moved to Sunyani where there
was no church until just a few months ago. Because there was no church
here he fell less active. We contacted into his grandchildren and
since then have been teaching him and he has been coming back really
well. He still is just like an investigator because he has forgotten
everything, but because he knows that its true he is accepting it
really well. We were teaching him about baptism and asked if he could
remember what his baptism was like and he told us that he could
remember it really well. He then went on to say that we immerse them
three times once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the
Son and once in the name of the Holy Ghost. We had some confusion
about that and came to the conclusion after talking with him that he
was actually baptized into the Reformed LDS. church. We did some more
research and he was able to find the Book Of Mormon that they gave him
and we found that he was really baptized into our church and that he
just got confused about the baptism and that he was really baptized
into our church. In the process of all of this confusion, we asked to
mission office to request for his records to be sent up to Sunyani so
that he could become a member. This morning they called me and told me
that they dont have his records in the files and that for one reason
or another they are lost. They also told me that if he cannot find his
baptismal record that he will have to be baptized again. He has been
looking for that from the beginning, but has not been able to find it.
They told us that it would be best to just baptize him again. Thats
about as far as that story has gotten and Im out of time now. I love
you guys a lot and hope you have a good week. Love Ty