Rainy Days and Unexpected Adventures - May 27-Jun 1, 2019

Another week all!!! Which means only three more to go!

It was another great week for Elder Skiba and I. We are really grinding out the work and are finding and teaching new people each day. Elder Skiba and I whitewashed which means that both of us were new to the area. And when we first came to Konongo the work was super slow and wasn't going so well. We really had to kickstart the area and now it has gone from a small little snowball rolling down the mountain to a full-on avalanche these days. People are coming out of the woodwork to be members of the church and to meet with us to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Monday evening we had a district activity in which the Samoan brethren in our district cooked and grilled a whole pig. We had the thing running around one room of our apartment and then sadly drowned it in a tub of water so the Islanders could then gut it and cook it over hot rocks. It was seriously awesome to watch them do it. The district activity wasn't even the most interesting part of the day it was after the district activity when the real party got started. Once the activity ended my companion and I went to drop off the keys to the chapel at our branch president's place while the rest of the district walked to town. We took a taxi and arrived home before anyone else which was strange because they left before us. We started to get worried when even after an hour they still weren't coming back. Then around 9 pm our district leader came back and said that one of the Samoan guys punched a guy twice and got thrown in jail!! It was seriously crazy. After being in the cell for three hours his bishop and the stake president went and bailed the guy out. He has to pay over 1000 cedis which is like 200 bucks. Konongo is just filled with crazy stories everywhere. 

Later in the week, we were sitting at our chapel waiting for one of our investigators to meet us for a lesson. It started to pour rain and of course, the guy never came. The one thing that Ghanaians are afraid of the most is rain. Anytime it rains the whole town shuts down and is turned into a complete ghost town. No one goes anywhere. We are now getting into the thick rainy season which means that a lot of our days are getting interrupted and a lot of our plans are getting canceled. But, no matter what opposition we go through we always come out on top. We were waiting for the rain to stop for like two hours and we got to the conversation about how we haven't really been finding a lot of serious people these days and then not even a couple of minutes later President Sarpong came into the chapel compound with a couple that is getting married here in a couple of weeks. They were meeting to plan for the wedding. After they were meeting for only a couple of minutes our branch president comes out and say elders I have a huge task for you guys. He and the husband want us to teach and baptize the woman before her wedding. Apparently, she had been meeting with missionaries a couple of years ago and was even preparing to be baptized but then she moved away. So now we are doing the best that we can to get her prepared by this upcoming Saturday for her baptism. We have even received some other referrals from the bride and groom already as well and hope to receive a lot more at the wedding in a couple of weeks. It sure was so unexpected and came out of nowhere but it was also such a huge miracle!!

And then finally on Sunday during church, a random guy showed up to the church. He said that he had seen us walk by his place in town a lot and always wondered what we were doing. He found out that we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and felt inspired to come and see how everything at the church was. After church, we walked with him to his house and was able to answer some of his questions and he seems super interested. Time will tell if he will be another baptism.

Things are still going on so well out here. I thought by now I would have seen everything out here but Ghana still surprises me each and every day!

Love you all,

Elder Ordyna 

A bunch of assorted pics. Some of a crazy storm, one with the little boy of our member and then me in a public toilet out here in Konongo 

Huge Massive Thunderstorm rolling in

Outside our member's hardware store- the shop next to it makes crazy shaped coffins (the one pictured is a book)

Visiting Johanna's family (Elder Skiba and I with Kwame)

Had to pee super badly but there were tons of people around so I had to use the "public restroom"

The Baptism Chronicles - May 14-22, 2019

Long Time Folks!

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

Last Transfer (Less Eventful Week) - May 13-19, 2019

Hey all!!

Not a whole lot of crazy things happened this last week. Just the typical missionary work things: teaching and talking to people. The highlight of the week was that it was also my last first week of the transfer as well as the last transfer day I will ever be a part of!! A little sad that is for sure but also so sweet because it means that the end is in sight. 

As we were closing our week last Sunday I was talking with my companion about the upcoming week and about our investigators. We talked about how we had such a huge teaching pool but only a small portion of them was actually progressing by keeping all of their commitments. And one of the big things that we talked about was how we didn't have anyone that we haven't taught before which meant we would do a  whole lot of finding during the week. But, as the week started going on the miracles started to happen all around us. We would walk down the street and people would just come up to us and we received a lot of referrals from members as well. Every morning during companionship prayer right before we went out we prayed to find new people to teach and of course, we were blessed by the Lord to find people each and every day.

At the beginning of the week, we met with one such person named Sosu. He is a project manager from Kumasi that just recently moved to Konongo for work. He contacted us at one of our member's houses and said that he is super interested in joining the church. He is currently super busy with his work right now. He is building a three-story classroom building for the Konongo Odumasi Senior High School. He gave us a one hour window to come and to teach him real quick. So we did the best to make the best of it. When we got to the school we went inside the main gate and got instantly stopped by the security guard. I guess two white guys walking into a Ghana SHS is pretty suspicious. We just called up Sosu and the security guard let us through no problem. We had a super spiritual lesson with Sosu. He is such a smart guy and knows a lot about the Bible. So we were definitely on our toes the whole lesson to see what he would say to us next. He is a super level minded guy and doesn't believe in any of the random miracles and other crap the one man churches do here in Ghana. He truly wants to know the truth. We bore our testimony to him and gave him a Book of Mormon and helped him to understand that it was the key to him knowing for himself the truth. 

We made some no bake cookies for one of our members and her kids this week. They are by far our favorite family in the area. The mother is Joanna and just the funniest lady you will ever meet. And her kids are even more so. They are a fantastic family that is for sure. We wanted to do something super nice for them so we decided to make some sweet cookies for them. They were super curious to try some. But, the best part is that Ghanaians hate sugar. They don't have any sweet food here so they are all not used to super sweet foods. The mother Joanna ate a small little peck of one and spit it out. She said it had TOO much sugar. On the other hand, the kids basically ate the whole box. We made twelve and by the time we left they were basically gone. The next day at church the kids complained to us that their mom threw the rest of the cookies away because they had too much sugar! Haha!!

We are still preparing a lot of our people for baptism. We have one sister named Jennifer that is planned for baptism this week. She was being taught by the previous missionaries before but was totally unserious. Even when we began teaching her she wasn't even paying attention would laugh at anything we said. We basically gave up on her. We were so close to dropping her and then she shocked us by coming to Stake Conference. The next time we went to visit her after that she was a completely different person. She remembered everything we shared with her. She read the Book of Mormon and constantly asked us when her baptism was. She had a change of heart! We asked her what happened and she said that she felt so much joy and happiness at Stake Conference she knew the church was true. We are now preparing her for her baptism this Saturday. We have a saying in our mission that is so true: Missionaries don't give up they follow up. People change!! We just have to give them time and invite them to do things and you never know when they receive their answer and know everything is true. It has been so great to see how the spirit can change someone's heart for the better. The gospel of Jesus Christ can do so much good for every single one of us only if we let it!!! I invite each of you to do all that you can to always be in the right place and doing the right thing so the spirit can be with you!! The gospel changes lives!

Love,

Elder Ordyna

Konongo Scenery

Me and Kwame (member's son) on the back of a motobike

Konongo District

T-6 Weeks - Get the Work Done - May 6-12, 2019

Greetings from Africa!!!

Today I begin my last transfer ever out here in Ghana! Only six more weeks until I am back on American soil! Crazy to think that I have survived almost two years out here. I count myself blessed that I am able to email to all of you today. At this point in my mission, I have probably almost died or gotten seriously hurt like over 10 times by now. The motto that I have been telling myself since I hit 18 months is "It's not over yet! Get the work done!" And every day since then I have been doing all that I can to finish as strong as possible and get the work done!!

We had another fantastic week out here in Konongo. The Sticky Bandits are still killin it and people are coming out of the woodworks to find us. Konongo is just so fertile and rich right now. The Spirit is really working in a lot of people in this place. We can't even walk somewhere without someone asking us who we are or how they can join the church. This last week we probably met at least ten new people that seem super interested in the church. That is the one thing that I love so much about Ghanaians. They are the kindest people in the whole world. You can walk up to one and they will start having a conversation with you on the spot. They love the gospel so much so it isn't really about helping them know that the gospel is true but more about helping them to know which church is true.

When it came to baptisms this week we had a couple of disappointments actually a lot of disappointments. We were planning to baptize five last week. At the last second one traveled to his hometown because his dad died, another one told us that he needed more time and then the other two we were unable to get the permission of their parents to baptize them. But, through all of those disappointments, we were able to rise above and beyond them and baptized the happiest old man alive Godfred Yeboah!! He has come to church now for two or three months. The coolest part is that he is the father of one of my recent converts from Kwamo. He was referred to us after he heard that I was headed to Konongo. It has been absolutely amazing teaching Godfred and seeing him change as he has practiced the gospel in his life. He always tells us that he was one of the drunkards until we shared the gospel with him and it made him change his ways. He is so happy all of the time now and bore a powerful testimony yesterday that he knows the church is true. Definitely one of my favorite recent converts ever! 

One of the highlights of the week was getting confronted by the same crazy man three times all in the same place. In Ghana, they just have crazy people running around the streets. They don't take them away to an asylum or anything they just leave them just like that on the streets to find their own way to survive. I always feel so bad whenever I see one but most of the time it can also be super interesting whenever you see them. They are so unpredictable and you have no idea what could happen next. Some just run around naked all day while others stand in the middle of the road pretending to direct traffic and almost getting hit by every car that passes by. But, when they see two white guys coming their way that is when it is basically game over for us. The same guy came to us like three times this last week. The first time we were passing by and he wouldn't let Skiba around him so I yelled at him to go away. The next time the guy followed us for like ten minutes to our investigator's house. When we got to the house a huge "mommy" (an old lady) came to our rescue and yelled at the guy to leave us alone. And then lastly he was waiting for us around a corner and as soon as we rounded the corner he came and clasped as hard as he could to my arm. I tried to release my arm but the guy had like a death grip on it. Our member tried to drag him away but the guy came right back. It took three times for our member to finally drag him away. Just some normal daily stuff.

 COOL STORIES- 

Saturday we went out to one of our member's houses in the evening for some food and a lesson. She is the branch's relief society president so we also chatted with her about the women and to coordinate the work better. As we were leaving her house to go home we came across a guy that had gotten his tro-tro stuck in a ditch. We came up and helped him to push his car out. Afterwards, he offered to give us a ride to our apartment. It was such a blessing because we were even out of cash and our zone leaders also didn't have any money to reimburse us for the week's travel. So the guy gave us a free drive that would usually cost 6 cedis. We started to talk to him and even gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet to read. The very next day we got a call from him saying that he read our books and want us to come to his place this week to answer some of his questions. A pretty sweet miracle. We will see where it leads to. Out here in Ghana, we don't have a problem with teaching lessons or finding new people to teach. Those are no problems. The biggest deal is finding someone that is super serious and willing and ready to leave behind their church and normal lifestyle to change and join the true Chruch of Jesus Christ on the earth. As Elder Skiba and I go out each day and do all that we can to do the work of the Lord we are blessed in all things. We are guided and directed to people that will receive us and even we have people come to us. 

About an hour after church yesterday we received a call from a man named Osmond. He was expecting us to call him but we never did. Neither my companion nor myself knew who he was. We set up an appointment to meet with him at the chapel. He was there right at 1:30 pm and was so eager to meet with us. He said that he had met us walking down the street a couple of weeks ago and we gave him a pamphlet but we didn't call him or do anything else with him. My comp and I both felt so bad and apologized to the guy. I had no idea when or where we met him. He started asking questions from what he read in the book and then we even went on and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was super excited about that Book and promised to read it. He says that he wants to do all that he can to join us and be a member of the church. 

All in all I can say that this was a fantastic great week. The work is going so well. Our area is beginning to explode with success and we are so busy all day teaching that sometimes we forget about appointments we had planned for (like yesterday). When the time comes for me to go home I will wish that I could have another six weeks here. I am doing all that I can to make every second count and especially to soak in these last six weeks out here!!

Love you all so much,

Elder Ordyna

See you all real soon. Get ready to party!!

Sister Johanna's seamstress shop. Her family is so awesome. We come and visit her and the other workers alot because they are all members. We have been trying to not go there as much these days just because it is a black hole of time everytime we go there. Her family is so much fun that we always lose track of time.

Elder Skiba and I chilling underneath a mango tree waiting for one of our investigators to meet us

View from Johanna's shop of sweet Konongo

Me pointing at a Ghana school. I have taken a lot of pics of the crappy schools out here so I can pull them out whenever my kids say they hate school. I will just show them the pics of the schools in Ghana and then tell them that I can send them to stay there for a couple of weeks with one of my members or recent converts.

Teaching Richard and Esther with Bro Jesse

At church with one of Johanna's kids named Kwame. The guy is a straight crazy dude

Last time we will see Sister Stella because she is going back to school. I will be home before she comes back for summer break. Crazy to think about that.

Skiba and I chilling by a school waiting for our food to digest from one FM right before we were about to go to another members house for some more food. Yesterday we ate at three different members houses back to back to back.

FM with Brother Justice at Brother Clement's house. Fufu with light soup and chicken of course!!

Me sweeping at Johanna's shop with a Ghana local broom. They are actually super useful outside but can give you some serious back pains.

Walking through the Jungle on our way to Domeabra for exchanges

Jennifer and Exmond at Church (investigators that will soon be members). We will baptize them both in two or three weeks

GODFRED'S BAPTISM

We Didn't Do Anything JK We Did Everything April 29-May 5, 2019

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

Elder Skiba and I took Elder Carlson to the hospital to get tested for malaria- he ended up being positive

Atobrah (member in Kwamo) and I

Solomon (recent convert in Kwamo) and I

Konogo Story Time - April 22, 2019

Happy Easter All!!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter being with family and celebrating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My companion and I certainly had an event filled week full of stories, miracles, and other shenanigans. We did some serious teaching and helping people come unto Christ with some crazy things happening on a side. Every day was action filled and super exciting. 

On Tuesday we went and met with Brother Dacosta who is now one of our recent converts. He was baptized two weeks ago and we met with him to just see how he is doing and to help prepare him to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. He told us an amazing testimony about the church and even his baptism. He was praying before his baptism asking Heavenly Father to help him to have the urge to do any of the bad things that he used to do after he came out of the water. He told us that he knows that this is the true church because he felt something so unique at his baptism. And his prayer that he offered at his baptism was answered. He has completely left behind all of the old stuff he was doing and has no urge to go back to them. It has been seeing not only Dacosta but many of my other converts completely have life-changing moments during their baptisms. This gospel is real and this is truly Jesus Christ's church! That same day we also went and visited with the previous missionaries recent convert named Isaac. He is super cool and really smart and has such a great testimony of the church. But, we were hearing a lot of stories from some of the members that he was a crazy guy and he shouldn't have been baptized, to begin with. We were sick of hearing rumors and things of him so we decided to go out and meet with him to truly see what he is all about. We had a great lesson with him about the priesthood and then at the end of the lesson right after we finished the prayer we got into a conversation about his cardboard that he tapes to his face. On both sides of his face, he has a piece of cardboard taped to his face with packing tape. We asked him about it and we got a full-blown absolutely crazy story one-hour long story about it. He was in the UK army for two years and then got radiation poisoning while he was there. It caused some serious pains in his eyes and the only thing that helps is putting the cardboard there. Seems normal right?  Well, there is a lot more to the story. To cut to the chase he believes that he now controls the stars in the sky and bad things are happening to him because of the radiation poisoning in the fact that he can only wear one pair of clothes because if he isn't careful people will come and take it away from him. Because of this, he has everything he owns in his backpack that he always carries with him and he can never wash his clothes or they will disappear as well. It sure was one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed but we did get a referral in the process so everything worked out quite well with that one. Isaac is now one of our best friends and told us that we are the only ones who he trusts with his deepest darkest secrets and basically wants us to come around every day now.

Wednesday we focused on a lot of our progressing investigators and the stories and shenanigans just continued. We headed to one old man named Nana who is really enjoying the church and is preparing to be baptized next week. We got to the part in Lesson 2 Plan of Salvation where we talk about the life on this Earth when he told us a testimony about the things we were teaching him. He said that he knew life was hard but God loves all of us so much and he always blesses us and helps us to have joy and happiness as we do what is right. To illustrate this point he then told us a story about his life. He said that one day when he was younger he and his friend needed some work to do. Then one day his friend came to him and said, 'Nana follow me out into the bush I found some work to do." Nana was so happy that they had found work and didn't think anything of it. Anyways when they get out there my investigator (Nana) found out that he was brought to a straight up JUJU man to be sacrificed to the Gods and then his friend would get a bunch of money from it. He ran as fast as he could through the jungle and then back to his house. The next day he turned his friend into the police and now he is in prison for the rest of his life. Moral of the story from the lips of my investigator is no matter what, God will always bless and save those that love him and obey him. Pretty sweet right? We then visited another one of our progressing investigators named Godfred who is also preparing himself to be baptized next week. He bore his testimony to us as well about the church and how the gospel is changing his life. He said that since he started coming to church he has seen some small small changes in his life. Things are lining up and going more in order. He was a complete drunkard and smoker and would bet all of his money away but now he has no urge to do any of those things ever again. He knows that it is truly God's church and has promised God in his prayers that he will never abandon His church at all no matter what happens. 

Thursday and Friday were pretty slow days in the fact that we taught some great lessons and talked with some members. But, it was very crazy in the INBETWEEN LESSON department. Both days we came across the same guy in the same exact place at the same exact time and he had the same exact thing to tell us. He said that he hated us because we were telling lies about Jesus Christ and deceiving the whole people of Ghana. I have had many people tell me things like that out here in Ghana. Many people have terrible false views about the church out here. Many of their pastors and church leaders tell them lies about the church which isn't true at all. The funny thing is many of the pastors and false prophets out here in Ghana have read the Book of Mormon before and even use it to teach and have come to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the truth but they spread lies and fantasy tales about it to make sure that their church members never leave and join the actual church of Jesus Christ. There sure is a lot of opposition that we have to fight as missionaries out here in the Land of Big Time Apostasy but the truth always prevails and no matter what happens the spirit always tells the truth and people will always be drawn to the truth in one way or another. We also had the wonderful pleasure of seeing crazy drunk people everywhere we went. Every single holiday Ghanaians love to drink to the point where they are so out of it they do not have any idea what is going on and that was definitely the case this Easter Holiday. But, the one highlight of it all was we were walking down the street when this one big old guy walks up to us and said I love you guys a lot. And we were like yeah we love you too man. And then I was completely unprepared for what happened next he then gives both of us a huge bear hug. We came to find out later that he was the son of the chief of Konongo. Now we can say that we hugged the Prince of Konongo and basically have free invitations to the chief's palace whenever we want. Our goal is to be like Ammon and his brethren by converting the whole town of Konongo by converting the chief first. I will update you on our endeavors with that one in the future. 

Saturday we were able to proselyte with some members basically the whole day which was pretty sweet. We started the day at a YSA's named Tony. He is preparing for mission himself and called to tell us that he had a referral for us. We went there as fast as we could and met a guy named Oswald. He is super smart and knows a lot about the gospel. He even chastised us small for taking our shoes off before coming into his "PALACE". He likes to talk a lot and ask a lot of questions that is for sure. Not really sure how this guy will progress but at least we will try our best that is for sure. We then headed into the main town of Konongo to teach two kids that have been coming to church for the past three months with a member. We went with two young men and they taught the whole lesson in Twi with me and my companion paying attention to them the best we could. At this point, I can hear Twi very very well but speaking a lot of it is a problem while my companion is lost the whole time which is kind of funny. It was seeing how happy they were that we let them teach a whole lesson themselves. Both are preparing to go on mission pretty soon. In the evening we headed to the chapel for an Easter Activity with all of the youth in the branch and the ward. We watched the movie The Testaments and I had the wonderful privilege of giving a talk about The Atonement and How it relates to doing missionary work. I seriously love the gospel and was so pumped to inspire them to go on mission. I shared some experiences with them and realized how much I have learned and have loved every moment of my mission!

The last day of the week sure was the best day for last. It was Easter Sunday and my companion and I both woke up excited to be able to watch general conference. They had postponed the viewing of General Conference out here in Ghana till Easter Sunday for unknown reasons. So I was so happy to finally be uplifted and inspired by our wonderful church leaders. We left the apartment earlier than usual to get to the chapel to get a nice seat for the viewing. We were pretty early so we spent some time greeting and saying hi to members and our investigators. One of the biggest miracles this week was the fact that Michael came to church. He is one guy that we met a couple of weeks ago at our progressing investigator Godfred's house. He was super interested in our message but would not accept a Book of Mormon no matter how hard we tried. So, I didn't think anything of him. And then out of nowhere, he showed up to watch General Conference!! Everything was going so well until our Bishop announced over the pulpit that General Conference would be shown in TWI!!! I couldn't even believe it. Twi is the local language here in Ghana but isn't the mission language so they don't teach us anything. The only thing we learn is what we find out on our own, I can understand basic stuff but to sit in a full-on Twi meeting for two hours I would fall asleep before I received any great inspiration or anything. So, we basically just sat in the clerk's office watching it in English with it buffering every five seconds until 20 minutes in the internet connection just completely cut out. We then just hung out a little bit until all of the members were finished watching it in Twi and then we went in and watched it in English. While we there the patriarch invited us over to his house in the night and asked how many missionaries were in Konongo. We then walked to the house of a returned missionary named Stella. Before we went into her compound a young boy jumped off of a motorbike and ran to us. He said that he is interested in the church and wants to be a member. We gave him a pamphlet and told him to read it and we would come around later that week. We then went inside Stella's house and ate some sweet fufu with chicken and light soup a Ghana classic that I am really going to miss that is for sure!!! We then received two more new people to teach as well. We got introduced to two of her friends Nate and Mishak and now have plans to teach them tomorrow. Anytime we find a new place we find new people to teach which is sweet. We then received a call to go to another member's house. It is the first counselor in the bishopric and his son is our ward mission leader that just returned from his mission in Nigeria. He knew that we just came from an FM (free meal) and that we were then on our way to the patriarchs for one but he had no mercy on us. He then also made us eat. He locked the door and wouldn't let us out until we finished everything. IT was straight brutal that was for sure. And then after that, we were led to the patriarch's house. The first thing that he asks us is where are your companions? He wanted us to invite the other 7 missionaries in Konongo over to eat as well. We had no idea about that one and our jaws completely dropped. We did the best that we could to call them and get them over there but it was too late. He led us inside to his dining room and there was enough food for nine people!! My companion and I were already stuffed to the brim and didn't want to leave without eating anything so we forced ourselves to eat a mountain of food but we still didn't even take out a dent in all of it. We felt so bad but the patriarch just said don't worry about it next time. HE is such a powerful and spiritual guy. He has been a member of the church since the 1980s which is seriously a long time for a Ghanian. He was one of the pioneers of the church here in Kumasi. He was the first branch president in Konongo a year after he joined the church. He then became a counselor in the first stake presidency in Kumasi and then the second stake president and then he also served as mission president in South Africa with his wife and now he is the only patriarch in this part of Ghana. He is such a great guy. That Easter Sunday the members poured their thanks and appreciation out on us so much. We were stuffed to the point of vomiting as we walked back to our apartment.

It sure was such a great week filled with miracles around every corner and great things happening everywhere. Every day is such a new adventure waiting to be had and on mission every adventure is even sweeter because we are doing the Lord's work and doing all that we can to bring souls unto the Savior and Redeemer of the World.

Love you all,

Elder Ordyna

Elder Skiba and I enjoying a nice pizza at a place out here in Konongo called Gennex Pizza. Would definitely go to it again it was that good.

When general conference is broadcasted in English instead of Twi. Many members hate broadcasts because of the English. There are many people that are not educated and cant speak english that is one reason why they broadcasted general conference in Twi. Which I was actually pretty grateful about because we had some investigators there.

Me on the branch clerk's motobike nicknamed Gary

A glance at the four course meal for nine people my companion and I had to eat from the Patriarch and his family

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

Elder Skiba and I taking pics with a church sign after district council

Elder Skiba and I with investigator Jonas and member Derek

Baptism for Dakosta