Feb. 28, 2011

This week has been a really good one. I know that I say that every
week, but this week seems to be better than usual. First thing to
write about is that due to the unrest in Ivory Coast they are moving
some of the missionaries from that mission into ours and sending 2
more of the missionaries in our mission up to Sunyani, making 12
missionaries in our district. I think that that makes us the biggest
district in the mission right now. There have been a lot of problems
here in Africa. I dont know if you have heard of the problems in Egypt
and in Libya and Ivory Coast, but there have been quite a few
revolutions, and most of Africa seems to be at war right now. With all
of the conflict, we still dont have to worry about any of that because
if the people of Ghana were to ever fight I think that their weapons
would chicken/goat poop and trash, and that their soldiers would be
little children. Those seem to be the only things that they have in
abundance up here. The conflict that they would be fighting over would
probably be something like which football team is the best. Anyways,
we get more missionaries which is really cool and a big blessing to
helping Sunyani to grow. There have been a few cool things that have
happened since I last wrote that I can talk about. The first one is
about a girl named Sherry. If you remember about the last woman that
we baptized named Sister Agartha I told you about how we contacted her
by knocking on the biggest gate that we could find and that a girl
came out and we asked to meet with her family and she told us to go
away and all of that jazz. Anyways, the girl that first opened the
gate was Sherry. We actually kinda forgot about her after the first
time that we went there to teach them, because Sis Agartha and her
sister Mary were really interested and Sherry is really into her
church. Well, we went to teach Sis Agartha about the temple this last
week and as we were getting ready to go Sherry asked us that if she
was going to join our church if she would have to be baptized again.
We told her yes, which seemed to surprise her, and we told her that we
would come back the next time to teach her why. We came back in a few
days and they were all waiting for us so that we could answer her
question. Well, we taught her for about fifteen minutes about the
priesthood and baptism and all of that stuff and when we were done we
asked if there were any questions. Sis Agartha and Mary jumped in and
started to teach her in Twi about the same thing before she could even
open her mouth. They spoke so fast that I was not able to understand,
but when they were done Sherry looked at us and said "Ok, Ill be
baptized". We were not expecting that because we had just asked if
there were any questions, and it was really funny the way that she
said it, like we had been trying to convince her for hours or
something, which in all reality Sis Agartha and Sis Mary might have
been doing. Before we could say anything, Sis Mary (who by the way is
not even baptized herself) jumped in and started to explain that
before we could baptize her we had to go through the lessons and that
she had to pray and go to church and get an answer form God that this
is the true church and everything. It was really kinda cute to see
these women get so excited in the missionary work, especially since
one of them is not even a member and the other is the newest convert
in out unit. We have been back to teach Sherry and every time that we
go Sis Agartha and Mary are there and bear powerful testimony that
these things are true and this last Sunday they brought her to church.
Its really exciting and makes me really happy. The next story is about
a few different people. We started to teach a man named Steven, who
has come to church twice and seems really excited about it. He gave us
a call this last week and told us that he needed to talk to us. He
told us that the man that he rents his room from is not happy that we
have been coming to teach him and that we need to teach him at a
different place so that we dont cause problems. That was no problem,
because he stays close to Bro Owusu who is the man that I told you
about from Germany who we are going to baptize again in a few weeks,
so we will teach him there. Well, yesterday we were going to go and
teach Chris who is the 13 year old grandson of Bro Owusu who will
hopefully be baptized with his grandfather. We got there early because
one of our appointment failed and he told us that he was busy and that
he needed us to come at the actual time that we told him. As we were
going, my companion jokingly told me to ask Chris if he had any
referrals for us. It was a joke, because not only is Chis just a kid,
and the people he would refer to us would be kids also, but because he
is not even a member. Anyways, I did ask him, and it just happened
that a man was walking by and Chris intorduced us to him. His name is
Isaac, and we went to his house right then and taught him a powerful
lesson about baptism and everything. At the end he still seemed a
little uneasy about something, and we asked him what it was and he
told us that he had heard that we worshipped idols. we told him that
that was not true, but he still seemed uneasy. We somehow found out
that Steven, the man who I talked of at first is his good friend and
that he knew that he had been coming to church with us. We were able
to tell him to go to his friend and aask if he had seen us doing any
of that stuff. That was able to get rid of all of his concerns and
everything is ok now. Im out of time and Ill finish this next
week.love you all Ty

2/21/2011

First things first I forgot last week to tell Megan and Cherish happy
b-day, and I got to say the same to Jen this week. I hope that all of
you fondest dreams come true and that you get all of the presents that
you wanted. P.S. I need an updated calendar with all of the birthdays
so that I don't forget. I realized that Cherish is not on the calendar
that I have, and I think that there are about four others that I dont
remember either. I was not able to open the attachment that was on the
e-mail from Natalie and so I guess at this moment I'm just guessing
about some of you. I just found out who my new mission Pres is from
the e-mail of the missionary sitting next to me on the computer. His
name is Jeffery Shults or something like that from Hooper Utah. Its
really weird to think that Pres. Sabey is going home in just four
months. I don't really know if I can appreciate the new mission Pres.
as much as I do him, because its hard to appreciate anyone as much as
I do him. Anyways, I know who he is and I guess that Ill meet him in a
few months and everything will continue as usual. This last week has
been a good one as usual. We had zone conference in Kumasi, and on the
way our trotro broke down in the middle of the jungle. On top of that
it started to rain and so we had to stay in the car to not get wet.
Lucky for us another car came and picked us up after only about a half
of an hour and we still got there with five minutes before it started.
Pres. Sabey gave a wonderful instruction on the atonement of Jesus
Christ. I love all of the instructions that he gives and I always
learn something new, but every once in a while he gives one that is
extra ordinary and this last one was just like that. He was able to
really make it clear the need for both grace and works in our
salvation and exaltation and it was really powerful. I also talked to
Pres. Sabey on Sunday over the phone and we are going to organize a
temple trip for the members here in Sunyani. We had all of the
missionaries talk to those in their units and see who would like to go
and be able to go, and we have about 33 people who say that they want
to go.The only problem is that today I went and looked at the price of
getting to and from the temple and it would cost about 41 cedes per
person.  Out of those 33 people I think that there are only about five
of them that can actually afford to go if that is the price unless the
church helps them, or the missionaries help them. I dont know what the
policy is for that, but I might pull out some money in the next few
weeks to make it happen. Ill let you know for sure if that is the
case. These people would grow so much if they were able to go to the
temple. It would root them into the gospel and help them to feel more
fully the plan of salvation. On top of that all of them are really
excited and I don't want to be the one that has to go and tell them
that they have to pay a price that is just to much for these people
with the income that they have to pay. Please pray that all will work
out and that they will all be able to go. Another thing that we have
been asked to plan is a "stake conference" for the Sunyani districts.
Pres. Sabey is going to come up and there is a chance that even Pres.
Dixon will come again to see how the work is going. Im really excited
about that and I think that we will have a good turn out. We have had
about 25 people at church on average the last four or five Sundays and
the other units are about the same, so if that is the case we should
have about 80 to 100 people there. Funny story for the week, is that I
went on splits with one of the elders in my district this week to see
how he is doing. This Elder is a really nice guy, but he is kinda
clueless. He also has no idea as to how to work phones, and because I
went to his area he was the one who was using it. Anyways, we had an
appointment fail, and so he was calling some of the investigators in
the area to see if we could go and see them, and while he was doing
that he was shuffling his feet because he was nervous to be on the
phone. There was a cat that came up and started to scratch itself on
his leg and while he was shuffling his feet he stepped on it. The
problem was that as soon as he stepped on the cat the person on the
other line picked up the phone and his whole attention was on the
phone and he didn't realize what was happening at his feet. He stood
on the cat for about ten seconds with the cat screaming until I pushed
him off. It was one of the funniest things that I have seen in a long
time and it made me laugh all day. Yeah, other than those things its
been a normal week. We taught a lot of lessons as usual, but none of
them really were special and no one is really progressing more than
usual. We talked to Bro Owusu about being baptized again because we
were not able to find his records in Germany, and he is ok with that
so we will probably do that in a few weeks after he has shown that he
is back into full activity. At church we have been doing the relief
society and the priesthood for a half of an hour after church to get
the people used to having a normal schedule and the people are really
liking it a lot. They were telling us that they want to change it to
give them the full hour so that can learn more. We are ok with that,
but we have to wait for just a little longer until we have more people
that become regular comers. Thats about all that I can think of to
write about and Im out of time so I guess that Ill let you go. I love
you all lots and cant wait to here form you next week. Love Ty

"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

"Sweet Week"--2/3

This week has been really sweet for me. On Sunday we were able to have
33 people at chruch. That is a record for all of Sunyani and Im
sooooooo happy about it. I just hope that we are able to keep it up.
We were also able to confirm Sis Agartha and finish that whole thing
and she brought her whole family. One new thing that is starting is
that we starte to hold priesthood meetings for a half of an hour after
church and next week we have Sis Agartha set up to teach the first
Relief Society lesson in Sunyani. The priesthood went really well and
Elder Mapanje and myself taught about the Oath and Covenant of the
Priesthood. I think that the people really got the right idea from the
lesson and we are hoping that they will actually start to do their
home teaching for the first time now. I have really come to appreciate
how powerful recent converts can be. They are the only ones in our
unit, and they bring such a great zeal for the gospel. You ask them to
do something and they try so hard to do it the right way. They make a
lot of mistakes because they are new, but they are just really humble
and powerful. This last week we have also had a chance to go on splits
with Pres Sabey. Its the first time that I have ever heard of him
coming on splits with missionaries, and he went with the whole
district for one appointment each. We took him to to teach Sis Agartha
about the temples and we told him that we were having her teach the
Relief Society lesson this next week and he was really happy about it.
He told me that he is really proud of all of the work that the
missionaries have done up here. We also have found out today that they
are officially starting to do the same thing in Nigeria and Ivory
Coast, and that they want us to make a book with pictures and
suggestions on how to do the same thing for those missionaries to have
for while they start. The only thing that we can think of to tell them
is to get ready to knock on a lot more doors than they are used to
doing. Being in Sunyani reminds me a lot of what I have heard about
being in a mission where you contact a lot. Its something different
than any of the missionaries have done in west Africa. Honestly though
I feel that every e-mail that I send is exactly the same and I hope
that you are not sick of hearing these things. I love you all and hope
that all is going well for you. Everything here is just normal. Im
really happy and proud of all of the people and the progress that they
have made in the gospel. I also love you guys a lot and cant wait to
talk to you later. LOVE Ty

"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