It was a pretty slow week. We travelled a lot and didn't have much time in the area. We also didn't teach a lot of our people but of course we still received the full Ghana HD experience as always.
Our district leader told us on Monday out of nowhere that Elder Skiba and I were supposed to cook the next day for District Council. We have a tradition out here in Konongo that after every district council a companionship cooks lunch for all of the companionships. And after five weeks it finally came to us. I didn’t really put any thought into what I would prepare for everyone when it finally happened. Surprisingly all of the Africans are super picky, If the rice is too soft or too salty, they won't eat. So, I was super nervous that everyone would hate the food. Well, let me just say I put my African cooking skills to the ultimate test. I made THE perfect rice and THE perfect Egg Stew. I had everyone on their knees begging for more. I even had the Ghanaian sister that has been cooking this food her whole life ask me how I prepared it. You could have called me Iron Chef Ghana at that point. It was a super great moment. Now Skiba and I have some serious street cred in the district which is a plus.
On a serious not after the district council we headed out to a new investigator named Exmond. He is about 21 and came up to us while we were walking to a members. He told us that he was super interested in the church. When I asked him why he said that he just wants a simple and quiet church where he can feel God's love for Him. I instantly told him that the Church of Jesus Christ is the church for him. Like 95% of the churches in Ghana are basically rock concerts and people yelling ""Holy Ghost Fire"" followed by some random noises (look up apostate churches and gift of tongues in Ghana to get the full experience). It is practically for entertainment and just getting people rich quick. Some of the Ghanaian pastors are among the richest men in the world. We had a great first lesson with Exmond where we answered a lot of his questions and even invited him to come to Stake Conference with us the very next Sunday. At first, he told us that he wouldn't be able to make it that week that we should expect him next week. But I guess the spirit really worked on him and he softened his heart because we received a call from him early Sunday morning asking us what time church was and that he would be coming with us to the stake conference. That sure was an epic blessing and miracle.
In the night we also had an epic lesson with some two guys that we contacted at a member’s place named Nathan and Shadrack. They are two young guys that are looking for the truth but just don't know it. They basically only let us come over because their sister told them to have us. They weren't super interested about everything at first. We called them and they reluctantly said yes to have us over. We planned to meet them around 6 pm. As we were getting ready to head over to their house the rain started to come small small. We both felt like we needed to get there immediately even though the rain was coming down pretty seriously. So, we decided to trek there in the mud and rain. When we got there, we found both of the young boys talking to each other. We found out that they were both preparing to go home for the night, but the rain kept them inside for the moment. So, we took that opportunity to teach them. They started out not interested at all and not super focused on us but as we continued, they both began to feel the spirit and loved everything that we were sharing with them. The rain started to fall so loudly that Skiba and I had to yell to teach them but no matter how loud it was around us they still remained completely fixed on us and super interested in the message. It was one of the coolest lessons I have ever taught out here. Even though it seemed like a hurricane around us everything seemed so peaceful and quiet as I testified about Jesus Christ and taught people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The young boys then became super interested in what we were saying and even accepted a baptismal date and a Book of Mormon. The Spirit works wonders in the heart of all men!
At the end of the week we had Stake Conference in Kumasi. We travelled two hours to Kumasi with four of our investigators to hear from the leaders of our stake. It was a seriously uplifting and inspiring conference that one is for sure. It even made me so happy to see that two investigators that have never come to church before were able to make it as well. The first was Exmond the boy I talked about earlier and then the classic JENNIFER YSA. For her she started off completely not serious. We met her through one of our members. She started off completely not serious. She always told Skiba and I that she wanted to marry us and would just joke with us and everything she was never really serious. Until recently we went there, and she told us that she was going through some serious hard times and read from the Book of Mormon to help her. Since that moment she has been super serious about everything we have shared with her. She even came to church for the first time yesterday. I gave her a baptismal date for the end of the month of May, but she said that it is way too far for her. She wants to be baptized as soon as possible!! We have so many people right now that are truly having a change of heart and doing all that they can to prepare for baptism. Elder Skiba and I will have five on this Saturday with more to come. My major goal that we are working towards is to have 10 baptisms out here in Konongo before I go home which at this point should be more like 15 or 20 the work is going so well.
LASTLY
Today was definitely a P-day for the record books. We woke up and cleaned the apartment as usual and everything seemed super fine until Elder Carlson (our district leader) started to not feel super well. He progressively got worse and worse until he was physically weak enough that he couldn't stand up. Everyone in the mission knows exactly what to do if those symptoms start to show: CALL PRESIDENT WEBSTER IMMEDIATELY MALARIA IS NEAR. He called President and he got authorized to go to the hospital immediately for testing. And then this is where the craziness begins. The threesome in the apartment (Elder Dago, Elder Keti and Elder VAai) got broken up when the two Samoan elders left behind their third wheel and went to the internet cafe. And then Elder Dago and Elder Carlson’s companion didn’t want anything to do with going to the hospital. They believe that just by going inside they automatically get sick. All I am gonna say about that one is that out here in Ghana there is a lot of truth in that because as you will see from the picture below the hospitals are more like torture chambers or dungeons from the medieval times than anything else. Anyways that meant that Elder Skiba and I were stuck going to the hospital with our faithful District Leader by default. The hospitals out here are a straight maze of going back and forth to different windows talking to different people and then waiting hours until they call your name. We brought UNO and provisions for the long hospital stay. As we were following Elder Carlson around the hospital, we met these two guys that came up to us and said that they were interested in the church but no idea how to come or to even join the church. We collected their phone number and gave them both a one-minute testimony of the restoration and set a time to go and see them on Saturday. About ten minutes later we struck up with another guy that is going to school to become a lawyer that lives in our area. We also gave him a Restoration pamphlet and collected his number. In the end of it I am so grateful that we were led to the hospital today because we were able to find some sweet new people to teach and to follow up on. The Lord works in mysterious ways to bring to pass the salvation of many souls.
I love you all
Elder Ordyna
Hello sir.
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