Me being sick going into it; haha. Not much fun. However, despite me having been lying in my bed, incapacitated and completely dying, we were still able to go out and meet our weekly goals, so that's good there.
We have some awesome people lined up for January; the only problem is getting them to Church during the holiday season. Ghana has a bajillion holidays during the year, and as such people are leaving town all the time. It's funny, one member made a comment on the holidays "We Ghanaians have no money for food, but we always have time for a holiday!" It kinda gets annoying (today is even a holiday; for the New Year, since it fell on a weeken) when you're trying to help these people completely change their lives and enjoy more love and peace in their lives than they've ever had before, but what can ya do? A country and its holidays is a country and its holidays.
Honestly, me being sick and all kinda removed most of the experiences from my head; it's all a blur. One thing I do remember is a lesson we had with Pat Owusu. She is learning how to read (and picking up very quickly) and has a wonderful testimony of the Church; after her first time visiting when we saw her in her work place (hair dresser), she talked about how amazing the Church is, how everyone needs to go to this Church, and how she's going to go to the Church for the rest of her life. It was quite amazing. Now, back to the lesson we just had with her. We were teaching her the Word of Wisdom. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and have just been spending the last month or so helping her to learn to read. She can now somehow read an entire verse, which is amazing for someone who couldn't read at all when she started.
Anyway, we had gotten so wrapped up in helping her learn to read, that we had forgotten to teach her about Joseph Smith, the Restoration, and where the Book of Mormon and the Church came from. All she knew was that the Book of Mormon was scripture, testifies of Jesus Christ, and that the Church is simply amazing. We started to teach her the Word of Wisdom, her having no idea where it comes from nor what scriptures, and she accepted it entirely. She was fine with alcohol and tobacco (we explained tobacco was like, smoking and sniffing and whatnot, and she was baffled that it might be a problem for her, exclaiming "Please! I'm a woman! I can't do those things, even if I wanted to!" it was great), and then coffee she said she drank once or twice during exams, but wasn't all that interested in it. We then got to tea, which she was surprised at. We explained that tea meant tea-bag stuff, like Lipton, as hot chocolate and whatnot is considered tea here. When we said tea, she was surprised and said "Oh, I love tea. I drink it all the time; it's my favorite." We then explained that, while we honestly have no idea why God says it's bad, He nevertheless has said it's bad, and that we shouldn't drink it. Basically, 'don't drink it 'cause God said so.' We then committed her to stop drinking tea. She sat back in her seat and was baffled once more, and cried "Of course I'll stop! I just didn't know it was bad! God knows what's good for us, and we need to follow Him to get closer to Him. If He says not to drink tea, then I won't drink tea, from now on, ever! I need to get closer to God; this will help me."
It was simply amazing. Every time we teach this woman, we are amazed at how strong of a testimony she has, with how little she actually knows! She already says she knows this is Christ's Church, and she doesn't even know why or how! Yet, she's willing to follow any commandment given her, immediately, without any question as to where and why. She just follows. It's truly amazing.
On a side note, we felt kinda bad yesterday because we're teaching this guy named Derrick Dotse (Ewe; pronounced 'do-che'). He lives out in Bortianor, which is really really far; past Tsokome. He didn't want us to come all the way out there to teach him, so he agreed to meet us twice this week at Mallam Junction (near our apartment, pretty far from his house). We would talk for about 30 minutes or so, and then he would go back home. He's a great guy, and very smart. Anyway, on Sunday, we didn't see him at Church (he has come the past two weeks), so we called him and asked why. He said that his brothers had gone to their home villages, so they took the reserve transport fund with them, and his funds were gone cause he came to see us twice in the week. We felt pretty bad; the guy sacrificed so much to meet with us, that he inadvertently wasn't able to come to Church. At least in consolation, he isn't baptized just yet, so he didn't miss any renewal of his covenants.
Anyways, that's about it. I'm working on writing letters. I have every letter I've ever received, and yes, I will write you all back, in person, handwritten, etc. But please, bear with me. P-Days are terribly exhausting, and take forever to find time to write letters, so I'll do the best I can to write you all. Just, once more, please, bear with me.
Welp, 'tis all for the week. I love you all! This Gospel is True, and the Work is Great!
End of Line.
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