Week 70 Berekum

Another successful transfer!! I can't believe I'm in my 6th area!  It just absolutely blows my mind!  All things went well during the transfer and even during this first week things were good! 

Like I said last week, my new companion is Elder Morisho! He is from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet! Although Elder Morisho is my companion, I wasn't with him at all this week in our area. Elder Smith knows Berekum a little bit so he was showing me the ways in town.  Man, our area is HUGE.  My companion and I have an entire town to cover! Ha! So it'll be sweet! 

Berekum is just so awesome! I don't know what it is but I just feel everyone is so prepared to hear the gospel message in that area. Everyone we talk to wants to know more about the church and the church is very new to the town. People just want to know about it! Our Branch president is an absolute stud! President Ofuso-Hene! He's a big guy and the police commander of the entire town so everyone knows who he is! Everyone! It’s so awesome! Our first day at his house he gave us amazing referrals and told us to work on those then he would give us more! He should have his own tag!  He’s just about the greatest missionary ever! If you haven’t read the talk I mentioned last week take the time to read it this week.  It’s an inspiring story that shows the power of the Book of Mormon. Amazing!

Our branch is very young. We don't have an official place to worship. We just worship in President Ofuso-Hene’s home. There is a sweet spirit there!  People love it also! haha! All three hours!  We had 4 investigators come this week and they were all referrals!  The members are so enthusiastic about the church right now! I mean, new branch and everything. 

This week I was reading about the stripling warriors. I love reading about them and seeing as how they were described. All of them were young and just studs. They were true in everything, had faith, courage, and determination.  Everything about them was inspiring. They were so amazing that not even one of them died! Crazy, huh?

Anyway, our apartment is defiantly ready for the holidays! We bought like 10 strings of Christmas light and put them up.  So we are ready to celebrate the birth of the Savior!!

Love you all and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! 

Elder Turner

Here is that conference talk again by Elder Curtis:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/there-is-power-in-the-book?lang=eng

The final goodbye with Elder Mbithi

The last goodbye to Elder Mbir who is going home to Cape Coast

Me with Brother Otuo

Week 69 Kumasi

Well!! Another transfer has passed by! I’m going back to the bush! Yes, the transfer news came on Friday after a stake president meeting. President Webster pulled me into a room and told me I was going to be released to go and open a branch in a place called Berekum (pronounced bray-coom). It's in the Brong-Ahafo region. I can't wait!! I've heard the branch president is amazing!! His name is Nicholas Ofosu-Hene.  He was the subject of a conference talk called “There is Power in the Book” given by Elder LeGrand R Curtis Jr. in October 2016. So that will be awesome!!  I can’t wait to serve along side him to help this new little branch grow.  My new companion is Elder Morisho.  I lived in an apartment with him when I was serving in Nkawkaw.  It will be amazing to serve together.

This week went by super fast after I got that transfer news. The hardest part of leaving an area is saying bye to all the members and investigators I got to know! 

I can't wait to go and serve in Berekum! It is a small town in the western part of the Kumasi Mission.  I guess the key to growing this branch will be the use of Book of Mormon!! We just gotta flood the earth with it!!

I'm super short on time this week! Love to you all! 

Elder Turner

Me with my new companion, Elder Morisho

Here is the conference talk by Elder Curtis:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/there-is-power-in-the-book?lang=eng

Week 68 Kumasi

Well people…what a crazy week out here in Ghana. I'm telling you the time is just flying. Everyday just seems to race by! 

This week the work went really really well.  At the beginning of the week my companion and I just stacked 15 Books of Mormon on the desk and said, “That’s how we are gonna roll this week.”  So that's what we did. We went out with the Book of Mormon and that's it. We had some funny conversations! "A BIBLE!!! HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANOTHER BIBLE!?!" HAHAHA so funny.  Some dude was yelling in the middle of the road.  I was just trying to hold back my laughter. It is super fun, like way fun to see how people react when we pull out a Book of Mormon from our scripture bags. I love it!  Nothing makes me happier than when someone tells me that they will read it. We didn't make our goal of 15 but we got pretty darn close! We had this pastor come up to us and tell us to stop messing around with his people! HAHA! He says there are so many other souls out there and I said that his people are some! haha! He told us, “I just can't believe your doctrine!”  Then he went on about how many miracles he's preformed in his life. It was hard not to laugh. His intensity was out of the world! I love proselyting with the Book of Mormon!!!!

Obri fell a little sick and was in and out of the hospital this week. We didn't get to see him at church on Sunday but are still hoping he comes around! This week we had a guy named Evans call us.  He got a pamphlet from us weeks ago so we went and visited him even though he really only speaks Twi.  When we arrived our ward Relief Society President was already there! Divine Design! We had a really good lesson and he came to church! He was well fellowshipped by the ward members!  We’re hoping for a return!  We also have a man named Fredrick that is progressing quite well towards baptism. He has two buddies in our ward so we are praying for him as well.

Today, for P-Day, we pulled up at the rinky-dink Kumasi Zoo! hahah Quite possibly the best zoo I've been to! Not! It’s so ghetto! They have this elephant that just roams around in the park. Today it was in it’s cage but it was still fun. They have some chimps and things that were doing some cool flips for bananas haha! Straight back flips! It was so tight!  One would go to the back of his cage and bob up and down to pump us up!  Then he’d run up and toss the smoothest back flip and immediately hold his hand STRAIGHT out for a banana! It was a blast!!! 

This week I was reading another Liahona about Adversity.  Think of the primary song "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock."  Notice how the rains tumble down on both houses.  Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't mean you escape the trails of life.  It gives you confidence to endure them!!  A gem or a diamond is created by the friction or force that goes against it.... what does it turn out to be?  A gem!  Adversity makes us become "perfected in Christ"

Elder Turner