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| My companions and I are helping out in primary (Elder Ordyna, Aye and Dennis) |
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| The Daban Ward Football Team |
How far!! (Nigerian Pigeon)
Hope things are great back home! Things in Ghana are as sweet as ever! My energy and spirit for teaching people sure have built up inside me these past months in the office. I am ready to leave this place and to get back out there and in the field again. It will be absolutely amazing. But, for now, I am trying my hardest to magnify all of my office responsibilities.
This past week we spent about three days sitting in our apartment while a carpenter, electrician, and painter came to renovate our apartment completely. We were automatically chosen to be the ones to remain in the apartment because the assistants had a bunch of official business that President Webster needed them to take care of. By the end of it, I was super bored of being bored. At one point I was so bored that I ironed all of my trousers and white shirts for the week. But, I do have to admit after all of the work has been done the apartment is absolutely fantastic and now a celestial apartment.
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The Office Staff Assistants- Elder Banta & Elder Momotimi
Office Elders- Elder Aye, Elder Ordyna and Elder Dennis with Brother Cooper the Real Estate Specialist
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| Brother Cooper's son's birthday party |
On Tuesday evening we were invited by Brother Cooper to his son's birthday party. For Brother Cooper, he works for the mission and is in charge of all of the real estate in the mission (namely missionary apartments). The only problem is that he stays on the other side of Kumasi. We were driving for a good two hours through traffic and bad roads in order to get to his house. But, it was a great evening and a whole lot of fun. On the way back we tried to take a bunch of shortcuts down some random backstreets. Which I have concluded is a super bad idea especially out here. You never know where a road will lead you and it could at any time just end or get so bad that it is undrivable. But, luckily around 10 pm we finally made it back to our apartment. That was one of our great adventures we had this week.
Even though we didn't have much time to proselyte and to go out and teach people for the time that we did have there were a lot of spiritual moments. I have increased my testimony so much on mission. It has really grown my faith by seeing people change from the gospel of Jesus Christ and see them gain a testimony for themselves. This week we visited the referrals we received from one of our recent converts Kenneth. All three of them are doing super well and are coming to church. But, none of them were reading the Book of Mormon or said that they received an answer to their prayers. When we went to see them this last time all three of them said that they read the Book of Mormon and even felt like they received an answer to their prayers. One even said that he came from work super tired and wanted to go right to sleep. But, he said that he had a super strong feeling to go into his room and open his Book of Mormon. He really wanted just to ignore it and go to sleep. But, he followed the prompting and read the Book of Mormon, and he said that as he did so he received a huge happy and joyful feeling in his heart and he knew instantly that the Book of Mormon was true. He later told us that he knew God inspired at that very moment to read his Book of Mormon at that very moment because it was the right time to receive his answer. He said that he knew if he didn't obey it he still wouldn't have his answer to his prayers. As investigators tell me how they received a testimony for themselves, it helps me to know how true this gospel truly is and how much God loves everyone and truly wants everyone to know the truth and to come unto him.
Another experience I had this week was with Sister Mavis. She is one of our recent converts that was baptized last month. She didn't come to church yesterday, so we went to her house last night to see how she was doing and why she didn't come to church. When we got there, we found out that she had been super sick the past couple of days and now her whole family is sick, and that is why she was unable to make it to church. As we talked with her, she shared with us that she has not only been sick, but a lot of opposition and obstacles have come into her life. I had the deep impression to share with her the story about Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and all of the opposition he and the early saints went through.
After I read this scripture to her and was beginning to explain it and talked more about Joseph Smith I had an intensely warm and peaceful feeling come to me. I had a strong spiritual impression that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he truly is the prophet of the Restoration. I also felt an assurance that God lives, and he truly knows each one of us and wants us to be as happy as possible. Sister Mavis then also shared her testimony and knew that through faith she would be able to get through anything. In the end, I was able to give her a blessing of healing and the spirit was absolutely so strong. She called us this morning and said that she had been completely healed.
This week was absolutely one of the most spiritual ones I have had so far on mission. I have loved feeling the spirit so strongly and being so in tune with the Holy Spirit. Hope all of you have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Elder Ordyna
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| The Bantama Stake Chapel |
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| Elder Dennis, Elder Ordyna, Elder Aye and Elder Momotimi |
Belief is the reason we go on a mission. It is the motive for preaching about Christ and sharing/Proclaiming his love. Faith is understanding we are children of God and our Heavenly Father. May this definition of faith bless you in your life. Faith is defined again and because faith has an inherent joy it gives us a solid foundation that we finally have the peace we have been searching for.
ReplyDelete"Many believer's feed themselves on what God hasn't done. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I create the atmosphere for the spirit of offense to arise and to thrive. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I legitimize unbelief. I live with a sense of justification, for not believing God.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance. even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance
Heaven is a place where everyone is celebrated, some are more honored but everyone is celebrated. All men and all women shall be judged on the light which they have received. Heaven is a permissible culture. God's nature is eternally permissible. These statements protect us from credit.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done. Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance. Faith doesn't deny a problems existence, it denies it's influence. He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed for he or she had a deeply rooted, and a vigorous faith.
Now we can act as we have always dreamed. Now we can act as we have always been. Now we can step into the light and gather the sunlight instead of blocking out our possibilities. Instead of blocking out our joy. Variety will bloom in/under the sun. We can show off our best, we can enjoy other people's gifts. We can blossom where we stand upon the joy that faith provides us. Upon the joy that faith inherently has, which blossoms the entire field of flowers"
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYaxabUfkA - The Definition of Faith