Mighty Missionary Miracles

Dear friends,
 I think I have lost my mind. In reviewing my blog for a final mission entry, I found 2 that had not been sent. The news is surely outdated, but there is some interesting information that I think is worth sending. OOPS!! :-)

Starting this blog entry is a bit embarrassing. Yes, we have been incredibly busy, but it seems the more I procrastinated the harder it was to get going again.

Our Sunyani zone at the Sunyani District conference

I guess that is true about anything. I think my problem is that I think it has to be something incredible, creative, and entertaining. All of which describe our life here, but it is a bit intimidating as well. So here goes a pretty ordinary entry. J I also am so blog challenged. Sometimes getting it all put together can be frustrating at times

We realized that we haven’t said much about our missionaries. It is really what our life here is all about. Africa is so fascinating, that we kind of get caught up in our surroundings and have neglected the most obvious and the most important.

Candace is giving a talk in Sacrament meeting today which had us look at some stats about our missionaries. We do look at these numbers from time to time, but this is the status today. We have 172 missionaries serving in our mission. 38 of them are young women, sisters. 55 of our elders (young men) come from 16 different states in the United States –Utah, Arizona, Idaho, California, Nevada, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Tennessee, Kansas, Georgia, Texas, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana, and New York. We also have non-Africans from the Philippines, Fiji, Australia, Tonga, Samoa, and Sweden.

Our African missionaries , 106 of them, come from (see how well you know African countries J) Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Angola, Botswana, and Uganda.
They learn to eat new food, wash in a bucket and work very hard to bring souls unto Christ.

Two of our 3 Filipino missionaries

Ghanaian drums,  tables for Elder Faapale from Samoa and Elder Lino from Tonga.

Elder Ayim , Elder Speakman, and Elder Nimley sometimes find that their service includes serving food.
Our office elders find themselves doing so many different things to make this mission work.

Elder Austin and Elder Banta with Bruce R. McConkie

Our Senior couple sisters buying fruit from Mama.
Sister Dearing, Sister Renfroe, and Sister Schow

Elder Nygren leads his zone in a special musical number for zone conference

President getting the powerpoint ready.

Rice and Chicken, our standard zone conference lunch, enjoyed by Elder Powell, Elder Ballard, Elder Dudley and Elder Vuakatagane

Smile!! Elder Ebbisan and almost Elder Larson.

Elder Crane and Elder Tuionatoa enjoying their new aprons.

Our mighty seamstress, Sister Schow.

Elder Kayitare our first missionary from Rwanda being trained by Elder Hill.

Date night.

We love our new missionaries (because I am so slow they are no longer new!)

Saying goodbye.

Beautiful sisters in Nkawkaw with Sister Phyllis.

Members love their picture taken with the missionaries.

Sister Kioffwe and Sister Buah in their matching dresses 

Small but mighty missionaries. Elder Sotalbo from the Philippines and Elder Bernasko from Ghana. 

A tender hug to comfort a fellow sister whose father had passed away.

Elder and Sister Wardle reminding missionaries to take their Doxy (Doxycycline) with a fun little skit.

It is a wonderful thing to see the brother and sisterhood that comes because of their common knowledge and understanding of the Gospel. Of course, there are the times when companions have to work out differences, but that comes with any companionship even if they were all from the same hometown let alone different countries and cultures. It is one of the miracles of missionary work.

We have many different assignments among them. There are 2 who are assigned assistants to the president, 2 elders who work in the office, sisters who are sister training leaders,  and elders who serve as zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers. Most likely before a missionary finishes his or her mission they will have had the opportunity to serve in at least one of these assignments.

Elder Hill and Elder Porritt-former Assistants. They were our first missionaries to go to Wa.

Our serious Assistants!

Now, that's better! Ready to hit the Streets in Wa. Elder Motlung from South Africa and Elder Lindley from Cache Valley.

We meet with all the missionaries every 6 weeks in zone conferences. There are 9 zones. And Mike interviews every missionary every 6 weeks.

Of course, we see them from time to time as we visit wards and branches, and when they come to the mission home for one thing or another.

One of the things I love and I am sure Mike does as well, is to see them as they come into zone conferences, and I look into their faces as they sing. They emanate such light. I know they are not perfect, and they are here at different levels of maturity, testimony, and ability, but they all have a desire to serve their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is such an amazing thing to me. I know as they grow and learn and become great disciples of Jesus Christ that they will be better husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. They will strengthen the Church wherever they go. They will know how to work hard, overcome trials, and serve.

We are experiencing something new this month as the missionaries who came when we came are now going home. We have sent sisters home that we welcomed when they first arrived, and now we are saying goodbye to elders who have been with us their whole mission. That is a pretty weird feeling-one that I hadn’t thought much about before. I guess time is moving on.  One of the amazing things is to compare the missionaries as they come into the mission to when they go home. They have grown in confidence, understanding, and testimony. Their focus changes from inward to outward. They all have acquired such love for the people and of course the Ghanaian food!

There's always a question for the President.

Saying good bye to our Zimbabwe missionaries and Elder and Sister Halladay.
Elder Mutasi and Elder Moyo had the assignment to find our grandson, Josh, who is serving in their country.
And like the wonderful missionaries they are they found him.

Would you say no to these elders?
Elder Johnson, Elder Halladay, Elder Tembo, and Elder Ahuruezenma

Elder Crossley, Elder Stirling, and Elder Guevara are exhausted after a long flight.

Getting to know you!

Where's dinner?

Girls just wanna have fun!

Elder Wardle wants to be the chief!

and when they come to the mission home for one thing or another.

One of the things I love and I am sure Mike does as well, is to see them as they come into zone conferences, and I look into their faces as they sing. They emanate such light. I know they are not perfect, and they are here at different levels of maturity, testimony, and ability, but they all have a desire to serve their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is such an amazing thing to me. I know as they grow and learn and become great disciples of Jesus Christ that they will be better husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. They will strengthen the Church wherever they go. They will know how to work hard, overcome trials, and serve.

We are experiencing something new this month as the missionaries who came when we came are now going home. We have sent sisters home that we welcomed when they first arrived, and now we are saying goodbye to elders who have been with us their whole mission. That is a pretty weird feeling-one that I hadn’t thought much about before. I guess time is moving on.  One of the amazing things is to compare the missionaries as they come into the mission to when they go home. They have grown in confidence, understanding, and testimony. Their focus changes from inward to outward. They all have acquired such love for the people and of course the Ghanaian food!

We have learned so much but feel like we have just begun to know what we are doing.  But it is such a great responsibility and blessing to be involved with such great young women and men. We learn so much from them. They, in turn, show us such love and respect. 

This account would not be complete without mentioning our wonderful senior couples. We have had  4 couples return home since we have been here. The Brinks, Barneys, Halladays, and Wardles. We could not do this work without them. We have been blessed to have a new office couple, the Schows from Pleasant Grove.  And now the Dearings have come from Highland. Sister Dearing is our mission nurse, and Elder Dearing will help keep our missionary apartments maintained. The Renfroes, from Arkansas, and the Woods, from New Zealand, have been here over 1 year. They are our MLS (member, leadership support) couples. Their work in Tamale and Techiman is unmatched and invaluable. We love them all so much. The missionaries love them too. We have been yoked together in this great work, and we are such good friends and have great times when we are together.  To enumerate all that they do would take a hundred pages. Suffice it to say, the work of the Lord could not be accomplished as well or as quickly without them. They are having the experience of a lifetime as they serve and love these wonderful people and missionaries.

I guess there are many more things that we could write about, but one more thing before we close. Besides coming from so many different countries and cultures, many of these wonderful missionaries come having only been a member a little over a year, some were born in the Church. Some come from strong families and many have parents who are both deceased. Some have worked and paid their own way and others have had generous people who are supporting them. Some receive no emails from family; some lose loved ones while here; some are learning English; and some come with many talents and achievements. Some have just graduated from high school and some have college degrees. Yes, they all come here to the Ghana Kumasi Mission with one thing in common –a desire to serve their Heavenly Father and to fulfill their purpose which is to, “invite others to come unto Christ.”  We love them and are grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of their experience here.


Moms, I wish I could have included everyone, it might take forever to do so.  I will include our zone conference pictures as an addendum.

One more unrelated item that I would like to share. A few months ago I sent an email asking for help for a young man trying to get to the United States for surgery. Some of you responded with a donation to help. Thank you!  Most of their flight has been covered. He has received  his visa and will be traveling to the U.S. on the 6th of July. If anyone would like to greet him at the airport, he arrives at 12:30 at the Delta terminal. He will be accompanied by one of our senior couples from New Zealand who
have been angels to help care for him. There are still some things like car rental and hotel rooms that still are not covered so if you would like to help, contact April Hill at GhanaPay It Forward. It is such a miracle for this to finally happen! As missionaries we see miracles everyday!