Week 96 Kumasi

Yo!  What a crazy week.  I can't believe how fast it went by! A lot went on this week for my companion and I.  We were country travelers this week! From one end of the country to the other! 

We started off this week going up to Tamale for a Zone conference!  6 hours up. Nice way to start up the week! Ha! Tamale was great!  I saw some of the members from Tamale when I was up there!  It was crazy to say bye to a lot of those people! Zone conference went well. The next day we set off to Sunyani for another conference then we headed on down to Berekum to say good bye to a bunch of people there as well. This week was just a week of goodbyes! I forgot, I also passed through Techiman and said bye to some people there! Not easy... 

The Gakpo Family from Tamale

 The conferences all went well. We had an amazing opportunity to go to Accra! Accra is just a completely different place than anywhere in the Kumasi Mission! We went down there because we got invited to a Missionary Devotional with Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Bishop Causse, and Elder Vinson.  Also the Area Presidency was there.... 6 General Authorities in one room.  Shaking their hands was funny. I was telling all the Elders walking by to go and Shake their hands "Clean hands, pure heart" haha! The devotional was just absolutely amazing. So much learned. 

Elder Otkopa giving me a lift!

Me and Elder Stapley

We also got to roll over to the Temple.  Spending time in the Temple was a dream come true. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been there. You don't realize how amazing it is till you haven't gone for a while! Once again, so much learned! It's just a peaceful place! No problems inside. 

Well, the big message I got this week was just about the mission of the Apostles. Those men have a pretty big load to take care of. It really isn't just a walk in the park for them! They need people to help! That's why we have everyone else:) it was just amazing. 

This week, we got absolutely zero time in our area which is sad. Our pool is still there and people are still progressing! So that’s sweet!  This week should be a lot better. I have a little amount of time left to work with so I’m trying my best! 

Some one-liners from the Devo...

"A heart full of gratitude invites the spirit" - Elder Christofferson

"The Lord loves a grateful heart" - Elder Christofferson

"When you work with one person, you need to see behind them." ( referring to the veil) - Bishop Causse

There were many more! 

Anyway, Love you all! 

Elder Turner

Week 95 Kumasi

I can't believe I just wrote down week 95! Kinda crazy! 

This week was a little slow. Nothing too crazy happened. We were just working in our area so it was nice to get some time! The problem is that we just had a full week in our area and this next week we are completely out of our area. So, it might throw everything off timing wise with our teaching pool. 

This week we did have some of our recent converts to teach. We helped them understand more about family history and how it is important! We even got our referral machine, Martin, on family history now!  He finished the book "My Family" in like 2 days. Interestingly, a new family history consultant just got called in our ward!  Talk about "perfect timing" Ha!  Our recent converts are doing great though! 

We got a referral last week that has been coming to church. Her name is Susanna! She’s very cool.  She lives right next to a family in our ward and they are helping out a whole lot.  We even have a guy that is good friends with Boga, Ishmael and Martin.  I told him that Boga just got baptized and he told me that he was next! OK, No problem!  Hahaha!  His name is Kobi and he’s such a cool guy! 

This week we are traveling around for zone conferences.  I’m in Tamale right now writing this email. We are also making a trip down to Accra for a missionary devotional!  So this week will be a busy one!  Sorry for the short email!  Time is a little short today! 

Also no pics this week, Sketchy computer you know??? 

Love you all! 

Elder Turner

Week 94 Kumasi

This week was a loooong week! We put in long hours this week with transfers and all! 

Well, week one of the last transfer is gone! We had some super long hours, but overall it just went by fast! Just the norm out here I guess! We did have transfers this week, so we just had to do a bunch of stuff for that! Monday-Thursday I'd say we totaled up for like 20 hours of sleep!  Our Mission President wouldn't allow us to wake up at 6:30 on Friday.  I little gift of sleep!  Everything went well though. My new companion, Elder Etukudo, is getting settled in to the new routine.

This week we were planning some Baptisms.  The power was still having a problem at the chapel.  So we had to call for a water truck to come and fill our font!  Kinda funny!  They came and filled it in like 2 minutes Hahaha!  Saturday was a great day though.  We were able to baptize Evans and Boga.  The other companionship was able to baptize three kids!  Not a bad day! They were all confirmed and everything went well! No complaints. 

Evans is the far left and Boga is standing next to me

Our area is still progressing! Our referral machine of a member, Brother Martin is still pounded them out!  We just got some seriously sad news that he is moving for a job on the 8th of June! He is trying to give us as many people as he can before he leaves!  Everyday he calls us to tell us, "Yeah, I just talked to one guy that seemed interested." God will bless Martin! 

This week we were able to bring in the new missionaries from the airport. I just reflected on what was ahead of them! Hahaha!  President Webster read them this amazing story!  The comparisons are amazing! So I'll just copy it down here! 

 “Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. 

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."

 "Is it steady or moving astern?" The captain called out.

 Lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship. The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you to change course 20 degrees."

Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."

The captain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."

"I'm a seaman second class," came the reply. "You had better change course 20 degrees." By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send; I'm a battleship. Change course 20 degrees."

Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse." 

We changed course.  

There is really a couple of ways to look at the story! I just think of who my "lighthouses" are! Think about it! We have a perfect lighthouse that is always looking out for us! I think we should always follow his counsel! 

Things are just moving along you know? Love you all! Happy Mothers day to all the Mothers out there!

Elder Turner

Week 93 Kumasi

Well, Another week bites the dust! Time just keeps clipping along. So wild! 

This week was one of Elder Garrett’s and my most productive week as far as missionary work but the end of it was quite sad!  We were able to find a lot of time to proselyte this week! We also had Brother Boga to prepare for baptism, so we spent some more time with him!  We have also been teaching this young 14 year old boy, named Evans, who has been coming to church for quite a while.  He told us that he wanted to be baptized this week!  So, That was our main focus this week! 

We have a member named Brother Martin who has been giving us tons of referrals! So we worked with him a lot during week! It was great! He had us teach a bunch of his friends.  It was the best! 

The week of proselyting was great! We had two baptismal interviews done for Boga and Evans who were to be baptized on Sunday.  Everything was working out well…not so fast.  When we got to the chapel there was NO POWER!  To fill up our font, we use a water pump.  If we don’t have power the water pump doesn't work and you can't fill up the font!  So no baptism this week:(  It was sad because it was Elder Garrett’s last week in the area and he wouldn’t be there to see the baptism! 

Speaking of… Elder Garrett is going on Transfer!  Elder Etukudo, from Nigeria, is going to be my new companion! Such a sweet guy! He's like 6'4" hahaha!  Just a stud!  So it should be awesome! My last companion! I'm excited! 

Well, this week I was just thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith!  Isn't his life and what he went through a testimony of the Truthfulness of the Restored Church!? He went through tooooo much for it not to be true! Read the Book of Mormon!

Love you people! LAST transfer!!! 

Elder Turner

Elder Smith departing missionary

My Greenie, Elder Dago going home to Ivory Coast