Week 57 Tamale

Another transfer has gone by! Wow, I can't believe how fast this transfer went by! So mind blowing! Elder Mbithi and I are still kicking it in Tamale. We will serve 4 transfers as companions.  I think this next transfer will go by very fast as well.  We are going to make 2 trips down to Kumasi during it, so things will go by fast!

  

Anyway, this week was cool, and like I said, it went by so fast!  We had the Tamale Zone Conference this week.  Our Mission President gave us a challenge to make sure that we are talking to at least 10 new people each day.  Not teaching them, just at least talking to them!  My companion and I have really been using it in our finding.  We were able to find a new area within our area and contact a lot of Christians as well!  There’s a big Catholic Church right there so all of them are Christians hahaha! Things get a little interesting right away when we start talking about the Godhead.  We are just working on a time to go back and teach them and try to get them to church.

Me and Mbithi at Zone Conference

I went on an exchange this week and got to teach a Muslim man that is progressing towards baptism in an area. This man’s nephew had died earlier that day, so he wasn't having a good day. I mean what else do we teach other than the Plan of Salvation at that moment?  It teaches perfectly about Christ and the Resurrection. It was so cool!  After we taught and bore testimony, everyone was just quiet and you could feel the spirit.  All he said was, "My day is so much better."  It was a sweet experience!  After that he took us to a Muslim traditional wedding.  It was soooooo wild!  I was working with another American missionary named Elder DeVires.  They had a big dance circle with like traditional drums! They came and were banging their drums at us trying to get us to go in and dance and make a "donation."  Ha!  But we didn't.  I was thinking about going in there and showing them the American version of a dance circle hahah!

This Cow was in Our Compound for Our Neighbors Eid Celebrations! (Eid is a Muslim Holy Day)

This week in Companion Study Elder Mbithi and I were talking and he shared with me a scripture that I really love. 

1 Nephi 21:14-16

"14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me-but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Isreal.

16 Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

That is a pretty straight forward scripture. We may forsake the Lord, but He will never forsake us! Never!

I hope life is cool wherever you people are! 

Elder Turner

Elder Lino is Finished!

Week 56 Tamale

Yes.  It's me again.  Another week down.  I hope you don't feel like I am trying to spam everyone.  I seriously can't believe how fast this week went by!  I'm not gonna lie, not a lot happened this week.  It’s just how it went! 

My companion and I did shoot up to Bolgatanga this week to work with those missionaries in our Zone.  That was a cool experience!  The drive up to Bolga is AFRICA man! Straight savannah!  It's cool.  Bolga is also just AFRICA, nothing but. Like if you want to see what Africa is like (minus the exotic animals) go to Bolgatanga!  We had a good time working with the missionaries in Bolga.  The missionaries there are probably the four funniest missionaries in the field, so we had a lot of fun!  We had a phrase the entire exchange about Bolgatanga, "YOU JOKE, YOU DIE" hahah! Please don't joke............

Bolgatanga

The Bolga Elders!

Like I said not a lot happened this week. Elder Mbithi and I had a pretty rough week.  We tried to go and find a lot of people for our own are, not much happened though.  Something that I did happen was one of our investigators had her brother and aunt die in the same week!  She was super depressed so we had the time to kinda "comfort" her with the Book of Mormon!!  The Book has power!  We were able to share a lot of scriptures about eternal life and Resurrection!

One that REALLY stood out to me and even got me in the moment was Moroni 7:41

"And What is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."

In the moment it was really deep, she was touched and we were all touched. It was a sweet moment, probably one I'll never forget! 

I also gave a talk this week on the power of prayer!  Like The Book of Mormon, prayer also has power! Study about prayer.  I promise you will learn more then what you already know!

We have Zone Conference coming up this week.  Also its week 6, so anything can happen! Just another transfer has gone by!

Hope everything is cool wherever you are in the world! 

Elder Turner!

Elder Lino's Last P-Day!

Pancakes!

Week 55 Tamale

It was a pretty sweet week in the area.  Everything is going well!  I had the worst meal I've ever had on my mission so far this week!  We had T-Z(ed) and Okra soup... They don't usually mix them together but this time around they did...... divine design I'm sure.  Basically what it is is fufu, but like way softer. Basically, what T-Z(ed) is like is flour with gelatin in it or whatever they use to make Jello. That’s the texture of T-Z(ed) and okra is like a slippery goo. Uuuugggh! So rough! Endure to the end! That is what we preach.

Like I said, we had a lot of success this week in the area! Elder Mbithi and I have been on a roll of finding Christians that are somehow serious!  Like we have some people that we just know are prepared to hear this message we are sharing! One man is called Dominic! He's a family man, about 45 or so.  A Catholic man. Seriously, think of the Best Two Years, when Elder Rogers and Calhoon are teaching Kyle the Restoration! That’s what happened! hahah! I was so powerful! But yeah, we are having some sweet people to teach. Now we are just having a problem with them hitting that next step! CHURCH!  We threw up a NIL for sacrament attendance on Sunday. So we are just praying for those people!

Walking in Tamale

Out Finding with One of the Members, Beliki

Our Sweet New Ties!

I got a little sick this week with a nice little cold. There is a companionship in our zone that is struggling in there area.  Elder Mbithi had previously served there so we went to go show them all of the houses of Elder Mbithi’s former investigators! 6 hours under the sun, no chair!  That was a little tough! Tamale is not to chill either! hahah!

This week I saw something that was cool inside the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 24.  It is the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and their conversion! I just love how they didn't fight against the Lamanites when they where just hammering them! BUT! Many of those same Lamanites where converted because of the example of the people of Ammon! Then a statement gets made which says "thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." That’s a seriously sweet story..... read it!

We are going to Bolga this week for an exchange so we hope that will be cool!

Love you all!

Elder Turner

Week 54 Tamale

Well… the week was great!  It was a very busy week though! A lot of things happened in Ghana Kumasi Mission this week.  My companion and I had to head on down to Kumasi for MLC this week!  Traveling down is never fun.  It 7.5 hours each way!!  A straight bus ride, never a good thing.  But, I will tell you it is a more beautiful then driving down to AZ or to St George!  Lot more green!

Me and Elder Garrett at MLC 

(We flew over to the MTC in the same group)

MLC was productive though! We were able to talk about a lot of things that the mission needs to work on as a whole!  We came to a conclusion that the mission just needs to be more converted!  Pretty simple!  Also, our new mission president is amazing!  He is getting the hang of things, so it was awesome to see him talk about what he's been seeing in the mission the past couple of months! Just picture the Mission President in the movie The Best Two Years, you know, when he comes to the elder’s apartment.  That is what it was like! hahaha! 

Coming back from MLC was hard!  Spending 3 days out of your area is never an easy thing!  When we got back we found that 3 of our investigators had moved out of our area! What?!  It was weird, because none of them were family, just 3 separate individuals.  Some pretty solid referrals for other missionaries though! So yeah! We have a lot of finding to do.... again!

Street Contacting!

Mbithi, Me, Devires and Lino

We were able to do some street contacting last night!  I've never had anyone straight up reject us in Ghana until I started to street contact in Tamale! Hahaha!  It was humbling for all four of us in our apartment. We were all getting shut down by the Muslims! But we were able to find a lot of Christians and dish out 22 Books of Mormon in like 90 minutes.  It was cool! So ya.... Not an ideal week. We gotta lot of work to do in our area, so we are to it! 

This past couple of weeks I've been at the end of Mosiah and the beginning of Alma in the Book of Mormon. I love the story of Alma the younger, also the sons of Mosiah!  It's probably one of the coolest repentance stories in the Book of Mormon.  Think about their conversion!  It was amazing!  They went from destroying the church to converting NATIONS!  That’s the POWER of the Atonement!  When we gain a testimony of the Atonement, we will want to share it with others, just like them! 

Hope everything is cool. Also, a big shout out to the GREENS!  Kage and Hannah.... Happy Birthday on the 4th and 5th!

Elder Turner