The Week

Mensah (Our Barber Investigator)

Dear Family and Friends,

It was great to gather with other members and missionaries here in the Dichemso Stake in Kumasi Ghana to watch the announcement of President Nelson and his counselors. I could feel the power and spirit of President Nelson and know that he has been called of God at this time to be His prophet. 

As I was watching the broadcast, I was thinking about many of the people in Ghana specifically but also in the world that do not know who God's prophet is. Here in Ghana, there are thousands of prophets. Everywhere you look there will be a billboard advertising a church and then a big picture of the founder and in big letters PROPHET and his name. And many popular prophets have their TV station, and you can watch them perform miracles and heal people. As we teach the first lesson to people here, we emphasize the fact that Jesus Christ prophesied that there would be many false prophets in the world. But, that God always calls a prophet to lead and guide us and today at this very moment God's prophet is on the Earth. I am so grateful for prophets and the guidance and direction that it gives us. I am also so grateful for the knowledge that I have of God's chosen prophet today President Russel M. Nelson.

This week was like a crazy rollercoaster ride. One super great thing would happen followed by like three bad and disappointing things. But, one thing that I have learned as a missionary is that no matter how bad things go, there will always be even better things that happen so you won't remember the bad things anymore. And that is exactly what happened this week. 

On Tuesday we were supposed to meet at Dichemso for our district council and then afterward for Zone Council. But, of course, our district council, unfortunately, didn't come on but we had a powerful Zone Council, and then we were able to watch the inspired broadcast from President Nelson. Wednesday at Mid-Week we only had two members, and at our Less-Active Fireside on Thursday not one less active member showed up. Friday and Saturday were also super crazy days.

Friday afternoon we were teaching a lady that we just contacted and was interested in our message. We got all the way through lesson one, and she told us that she would read The Book of Mormon and pray and even come to church on Sunday. As I was bearing my testimony at the very end out of nowhere a Jehovah Witness lady cuts me off and starts going off about how she heard I say that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. She proceeded to say that it is completely false. God and Jesus Christ are one person. She kept going for like 15 minutes. She completely wanted to get into an argument with us and was even very disappointed when my companion and I just kept saying ok, ok, no problem. I would have completely argued with her, but the Zone Leaders were waiting for us to go do a baptismal interview. So, I wasn't able to talk much with her, but she completely destroyed our lesson. After she finished talking, we went back to the investigator, and at this point, she was completely scared about The Book of Mormon and wouldn't read it anymore, and she said that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. The Jehovah Witness just walked away, and we haven't seen her since. The next day we went back to the investigator and resolved all of her concerns and is now reading the Book of Mormon, so that is great. As we were walking to meet with the Zone Leaders both my companion and I were in really bad moods because of what happened with the Jehovah Witness. And my mood just got even worse because none of our candidates were available for their baptismal interviews. So another very disappointing moment. We went from planning for three baptisms to zero for the week. 

As my companion and I were walking back to the apartment for the night, we were talking about how bad our day was and that nothing was working out for us. When all of a sudden a man comes outside his barber shop and calls us over. He said that he and his brother were just talking about the church and that they wanted to come to church on Sunday when at the very moment he saw us walking down the street. He was going to buy some water sachets down the street so as we walked my companion shared with him about Joseph Smith and I talked about the Book of Mormon. He was super happy and excited to see us. He told us that he and his brother would definitely be coming to church on Sunday. My companion and I were so happy to hear that! Joy and happiness completely overcame us, and we forgot about how bad our day was. I know that God was aware of how we were feeling and prepared the barber and his friend for us. And it was no coincidence that at the very moment they were talking about the church we happened to walk by.  Missionary work is God's work, and as a missionary, you can see the hand of the Lord in every day no matter how the day may be going. 

The Three Studs (Elder Ordyna, Buhler, Bamba)

Kofi's Cafe in Kejetia Where the Missionaries Email

Brother Himas Drawing a Picture (A Less-Active we have been Working With)

On Sunday the barber and his friend came as well as eight of our other investigators. We had ten investigators at church! Even a guy that we only met for less than a minute made his way out to church! It was absolutely the best end to a crazy week!! 

Love,
Elder Ordyna