Working Hard and Long and Free!! April 15-21, 2019

Another One!!

Some missionaries in my mission made a remix of the song Young Wild and Free by Wiz Khalifa and called it Working Hard and Long and Free.

Elder Skiba and I have been talking to everyone in Konongo basically. We have named our companionship The Sticky Bandits because everyone that we see sticks to us and becomes members of the church. We have really been working hard and doing super well.

The week started off with a complete miracle which was pretty sweet. A couple of weeks ago my companion left his wallet in a taxi and we thought that we would never see that thing ever again. Konongo has thousands of taxis and seeing the same one twice is a longshot. Well, a couple of days passed and we pretty much just forgot about the whole thing until this last Tuesday. We were coming in from a long day in Nkawkaw. We went there for a zone council and then had a quick exchange with the zone leaders. When we reached the apartment the security guard at our compound had Elder Skiba's wallet. It was absolutely an amazing miracle and also a testimony that everyone knows exactly where the two white guys stay. It honestly isn't too hard for anyone to find our apartment honestly. You just ask any Ghanian where the two white guys stay and you will be able to pinpoint it directly.

We were able to make some serious progress on a lot of our investigators and found some serious new people to work with. The members are basically running after us to help us out. One of the first areas where they have been willing to help us so much. At church members will just tell us "Yo missionaries I am free on Thursday, call me" or "I am free all week call me!!" Yesterday one of the counselors in the Freetown Bishopric caught me by surprise and was just like Elder we need you to fill in for us and give a 15-minute talk during sacrament week. If I at the beginning of my mission I would have probably peed my pants right then and there but now I have learned a lot about the gospel and can talk about anything at any time. I am always ready to share the gospel and invite everyone to come unto Christ. The talk was on Missionary Work and I really did my best to get the members going but honestly, it was the first time I have given a talk to members on a mission where I didn't feel like I was chastising just encouraging and helping.

The week ended on a sweet note with Elder Skiba's first baptism!! It was an absolutely great day! We were planning for two Jennifer and Dacosta. Friday evening their interviews went completely well and we were pumped for Saturday morning when the baptisms would take place. Dacosta came super early and was seriously ready for his baptism. Minutes before we were about to begin we got a call from Jennifer saying she can't come because her brother won't let her get baptized. He saw that we gave her a Book of Mormon but angry that there was no Bible with it. He thinks that we don't use the Bible and he doesn't want his sister to baptize in a church that doesn't use the Bible. Quite frankly, the guy does not understand a lot of things about the church and we are planning to meet with him and our branch president to help to understand more about the church and at the same time hopefully, we can baptize him as well. There is a lot of opposition with the work out here. The adversary knows that we are absolutely doing so well in terms of success and really does all that he can to stop the work. But, this is the Lord's work and nothing can stop it. No matter what it will continue to move forward and people will continue to join the church.

This week is Easter. It is the day Jesus Christ the Savior and Redeemer of the Lord resurrected from the dead so that all of us will also be resurrected and have the opportunity to live with Him and Heavenly Father again. I hope you all have a great week thinking about the Savior and remembering everything that He has done for each one of us! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Ordyna