This week sure was another for the record books or should I just say Elder Ordyna's amazing mission experiences.
At the end of the week, we baptized and confirmed four amazing and super happy Ghanaians. But, the journey to get all of them ready and baptized was not that simple. There sure was a lot of miracles and help from Heavenly Father along the way that is for sure.
We baptized four this last week. Three for the branch (Ahyiem) and then one for the ward (Freetown). They were Jennifer Konadu, Esther and Richard Sarpong and then Nana Akesse. Each of them has fantastic conversion stories about how they each came to know that the church is true and to make the decision to be baptized.
Nana Akessee- He is a 70-year-old man that reminds me of Grandpa Ordyna. He is always so happy and super jolly and just is super great to be around. On our first Sunday in the area we were walking with a member named Jessie from his house when Nana called to us. He was sitting on the front porch of his house and wanted to speak with us. He told us to come inside and sit down. We started talking with him and found out that he had been invited to a member's funeral some weeks back and loved everything about the church but especially the feeling that he had when he was there. He completely wanted to come and become a member of the church but he didn't know the procedures or the steps and felt uncomfortable just showing up one day. We taught him a powerful Lesson 1 (Restoration) and then committed him to come to church. We couldn't get in contact with him again the whole week and whenever we called his line it always said it was switched off so our hopes with getting a hold of him kind of went down the tubes. But, then to our complete suprise, he was at church the very next Sunday like he promised. From that day it took Nana almost two months to be baptized because the guy would come to church but was almost impossible to meet with. It was a complete miracle if we could even meet with him at least once during the week. He was either at work or too tired at night to listen to us. But, over the weeks we have been teaching him and he has been coming to church and he told us last week that he knows with all of his heart the church is true and will not go to any other church his whole life.
Jennifer Konadu- She is a 22-year-old YSA. She works at one of our members' shops and is super talkative and kind of boy crazy ok like super boy crazy. When we first went to teach her she wasn't serious about the gospel at all. She just wanted to flirt with us and laugh the whole lesson. It was getting so bad that Skiba and I were even thinking about dropping her for a time. But, then she had the ONE WEEK SPIRITUAL REVIVAL EXPERIENCE as she calls it. She wanted a week break from meeting with us. She was going through a lot of personal things and didn't want us to come around for a while. We told her to make sure that she prays and reads the Book of Mormon every day during that period. And she said that she would. Well... apparently she read it every day and prayed every day and received an answer to her prays and the very next Sunday to our complete surprise she showed up for church. Luckily, it was Stake Conference so we boarded sprinters and headed out to Kumasi for it. The next Tuesday afterward she called us and told us that she wants us to come to her shop as soon as possible. She shared with us her whole spiritual experience. She felt something amazing while reading the Book of Mormon which propelled her to come to church. And she said while at church we felt so much love and joy in her heart that she instantly knew that everything was true and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on this earth. She told us that she wanted to get baptized as soon as possible!
Esther and Richard Sarpong- They are brother and sister that are 11 and 9 respectively. They have been coming to church now for a couple of months but never baptized. So Skiba and I took on the challenge to baptize them. It was not easy getting a translator out there each day to help the children understand a lot of things. We even had their baptismal interviews a couple of weeks but there were some things that the district leader thought they should know so he didn't pass them. So we continued to do the best that we could to help them learn more about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the church. We were pulling out movies and videos and everything. They were finally able to pass and were baptized this last weekend.
Every time I baptize someone I get so inspired by their conversion stories and it just strengthens my testimony so much. But, I also love looking at the small and simple things that happen along the way to their baptism that is also so inspiring and miraculous. The whole week things just worked out perfectly and fit in place so well.
Throughout the week we had absolutely no problems meeting with our baptismal candidates. No matter which day we needed to meet with them they were always around and ready for us. And the miraculous part about that is that we were able to meet with Nana three times this last week!! Before that, it was a miracle if we could even meet with him once a week but in one week we met with him three times to get everything ready for the baptism. Then on Saturday Skiba and I went super early to go clean and fill the font. But of course, the power was out and the font couldn't be filled. We were super worried that there wouldn't be any baptism at all. We kept praying and hoping that the power would come back so that we could have baptism. And then right at the perfect moment, the power came back! The font filled right at the perfect level as soon as it was time for the baptism to start. We baptized him in the morning and the other three candidates in the evening. The other baptism in the evening also had some serious miracles happen as well. At 5 pm (the time the baptism was supposed to start) we arrived at the chapel and realized that only Esther the 11-year-old was in and she completely forgot her brother at the house! So we had to walk all the way back to their house which was like a 30-minute walk one way and then bring him back to the chapel. But, luckily everything else worked out perfectly and everything was perfect for the confirmations the next day.
Many times baptisms can be the most stressful thing about missionary work. Organizing and making sure everything goes as planned can be a real headache. But nothing in this world compares to the joy and happiness that you receive when one child of God enters the waters of baptism. It truly is the best moment out here for sure!
Love you all so much!
Elder Ordyna
Assorted pictures of the baptisms and then also the crazy experience of cooking a pig with our two Samoan brethren in our apartment. Quite an experience. I have so much more pictures but the internet is too slow to contain them all. Sorry
Elder Skiba and I Cooking a pig with the Samoan Elders in our apartment (Elder Vaai and Keti)
Jennifer, Kofi and Esther's Baptism
Nana's Baptism
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