Instant Baptism--Just Add Water

 

Good morning! This week was absolutely nuts. In a good way. Like pecans and cashews and such. I learned that God answers prayers, miracles are an everyday thing, and that if we do our best to make things work, God will magnify us in ways we can't even imagine. 

This month Elder Komiha and I set a goal to baptize 4 souls. We backed up our numbers with names, we set specific goals to help people progress, and things were looking good. We knew the goal was ambitious, but we both felt peace with our goal and knew that if we put the work in, things would work out. 

So this whole month we worked so hard. But things just weren't working out. People weren't coming to church. Grace, a woman we have been working with since I got here, was super busy and couldn't meet even once up until yesterday. We found out that Charles, a boy we were planning to baptize, won't be able to be baptized due to some family issues. Christina's mother said she'd kick her out of the house if she is baptized and she has no where else to go for now, so that didn't work out. All of our potentials for this month were going to need more time, and as time went on, it was looking like we wouldn't be able to baptize anyone this month. 

But then, just this Sunday, we had a miracle! At church a woman named Cecilia approached our Bishop and asked him if the missionaries could come and teach her son and granddaughter, Richmond and Rebecca. Bishop introduced us to the family, and with his help we were able to set an appointment with the family for later in the week. 

When we went to visit them, we found that Richmond and Rebecca (the two kids) had both been taught by missionaries in Takoradi and had even been interviewed for baptism! They moved to Cape Coast just before being baptized. It was a miracle. This week we were able to re-teach and baptize them as well as put their sister on date for next month. We still won't meet our goal of 4, but we were able to actualize two and we rejoiced. Besides Elizabeth, who is the sister we put on date for next month, there are a lot of people in their compound who have interest in the gospel and we are hoping to bring them all along. It was a powerful experience. We planned to baptize 0 this week and God sent us two.

We were also able to put Justice and Louis, two men we have been teaching for a long time, on date for next month. I'm so excited for both of them, especially Justice. He has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and is doing super well. 

The thing is though, all of this came after a really, really slow preceding week and month. Last week we had very little success in any area. It rained a ton, people couldn't meet, people wouldn't come to church, etc. Since my training is almost over (transfers are next week), Elder Komiha has been having me lead a lot more and it hasn't been easy. I've been discouraged and confused and lost a lot. But watching Richmond and Rebecca get baptized makes it worth it. Watching Justice accept a baptismal date after all of his questions and doubts was incredible. It's so much fun to watch the Spirit do the work. The gospel is true!

Anyway, this week was incredible and I'm excited for another one. Next time I email I'll know if I'm getting transferred or not so pray for me.  

Love, 

Elder Johnson

Pictures: 

1. Me, Elizabeth (who is on date for next month), Rebecca, Richmond, and Elder Komiha before the baptism

2. See above and subtract Elizabeth. 

3. Me and Elder Komiha working righteous harry-kerri in our humble way. 

4. The Bush! Richmond, Rebecca, and Elizabeth live out of town a ways so we got to go see some wilderness. It was so pretty and reminded me of home a lot. Like not the vegetation or the humidity or the green but the remoteness of it. Ya know?