WEEK 7/104: Faith

(I told Tanner from his pictures it looks like he was sent to a country inhabited solely by children!)


Hey everyone!!

So this week was very successful, well until the end but hey I will take it. We found 4 new investigators and received 1 referral. Three of the 4 investigators we found all in one place together and we have taught them twice throughout the week. And wow, they are powerful... they have really been prepared to learn about and receive the gospel.They ask so many questions and are just so ready to learn the truth. They go to a church but realize the things going on in that church are not right, so when we extended the invitation to come to our church they were not ready. They told us they have already made a poor choice once so they want to be sure before they decided again. The next time we meet Elder Johnson and I will share some scriptures with them that I came across during personal studies. It is found in Alma 32:21-33, 33:23. These scriptures describe faith and compare it to a seed. Even though you do not have a perfect knowledge of something you must first plant a seed of faith. If the seed is not good it will not grow and should be cast out. If the seed is good it will sweal within your breasts, enlighten your understanding, and it will grow. Then in Alma 33:23 an invitation is extended and blessings are promised. It says, "my brethren... plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginning to swell...nourish it by your faith, and behold it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his son." 

My invitation that I will extend to my investigators is the same I will extend to all of you who are still unsure of your testimony. With this invitation extended promised blessings will follow if choose to act on it. My invitation falls in line with what we find in those chapters of Alma. If you are still unsure but have even so much as a desire to believe: I ask you to exercise a particle of faith. Plant the seed, And as all good seeds do, it will grow. Nourish it by daily scripture study, family and personal prayer, attend all your church meetings, attend the temple, seek guidance from church leaders, and do all of that which is accordance with church teachings ad standards. As you do this your testimony will grow and be like a tree, firmly planted and immovable. this testimony will bring forth good fruits which can be shared with others. Then your burdens will be light and you will have joy through Jesus Christ the Son of our Father in heaven...

Soo yeah thats it for this week, but i love you all, and all is well.

Elder Pace

His "African" experiences came through in some of his other comments to me...

ughhh Ghana can be soo frustrating on p-days! The first internet cafe the intenet was super slow and it was wasting our time, so we went to a different one. It was fast but then Ghanas power went out for like 10 minutes. ughhh hahaha

And mom no place in Ghana accepts credit here. That just doesn't exist haha. Ghana is not developed like the US. Most places don't even have conditioning haha and all the shops are like those little food carts things you would see at Disneyland. That's the closest comparison I can come up with.

Africa missions are the most laid back missions in the world. Like missionaries, the people, the presidents, even in conversations, you have to give an awkward pause for every question you ask or they think you are too aggressive. I learned that one my first week the hard way ha

I saw a little kid run out of church pull his pants off and poop on the ground haha.  You don't usually see that in America!  They have them [bathrooms] in churches and in our apartments, but if you want to use a public restroom you have to pay so most people will just pee wherever

Mom their homes are nothing like they are in the US. Like I wouldn't even call them homes. (Referring to bathrooms) Some have like a hole or something and some have one outside in a shack or some have nothing. We usually don't go in homes though. Like we mostly just sit outside when we meet or talk to people. Thats just the culture here.

However like the culture really hasn't been a big deal at all for me. Like soo many people told me the culture shock would be really hard but it wasn't.  I think Ghana is chill.  It's sweet.  As far as the place, I love it.  The hardest part is not being with people from back home (you all can take that however you want but I hear "I miss you mom" in that last statement! :)