What Do an 80-year-old Man and 3 Primary Kids Have in Common?

 

Good afternoon everybody! This was quite possibly the greatest week of my life. Last week was a little tough for me in terms of being totally focused, but this week I felt like I did a lot better job. I want to tell you about some of the people we're teaching right now because it perfectly sums up my feelings right now. 

The first person I want to tell you about is Emmanuel Super-Washington. I know what you're thinking: coolest name ever, right? You'd be correct. He's also the coolest person ever. He's 81 years old but is in super good shape and can read really well and speaks really great English, all of which are kind of rare attributes of many of the Ghanaian 80+ people that I've met here. 

I met him during my first transfer here in Cape Coast. My companion was buying washing powder at a little roadside stand on our way home to our apartment one night, and Emmanuel stopped us and asked us if we had an extra copy of the Book of Mormon. We were like, yes of course that's what we do for a living. We gave him the BOM and set up a time to meet that coming Sunday. 

It turns out that he's been coming to church for a long time, but he was coming at 11 instead of 9, so he would show up halfway through the first ward meeting. We told him the correct time several times, but he kept coming at 11, would only meet with us on Sundays, and didn't have interest in being baptized. We still met with him some, but he stopped being a priority and we kind of forgot about him (which I know is wrong and terrible but I think we can redeem ourselves here).

 

Fast forward to me and Elder Seeley. Emmanuel came to church again at about 11, only now our ward is meeting at 10:30 so we saw him there. We set up a time to meet again, and it went really well. What made it go so well is that Emmanuel loves the Book of Mormon. Like a lot. So instead of teaching from our own knowledge or the pamphlets and supplementing it with the scriptures, we switched it up and taught him using only the Book of Mormon. We just read passages together and asked him what he had learned. As we read 3 Nephi 11:32 together, we got to watch Emmanuel decide to be baptized. We simply asked him what he learned from the verses. Vs. 33 says, "33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God." He said he wanted to be baptized. We asked him why. He told us that he wants to be baptized because Jesus Christ has asked him to. 

And there's no better reason than that! He's on date for next Saturday and my testimony of the Book of Mormon is strengthened. This experience helped me realize that it's not about us. It's not our words, or our eloquence, or anything that we do that converts people. It's the Spirit. It's the words of God. The last few lessons with Emmanuel, we've literally just had him read out loud from the Book of Mormon to us and explain what he's learning. That's led to more progression than any other lesson plan we've tried with him. God is so good. I know part of the reason I'm here in Cape Coast is for Emmanuel Super-Washington. 

On the other end of the (age) spectrum, we have Prince who is 12, Mimi who is 10, and Charles who is 9. God has helped us with them so much. Charles especially has a hard time remembering and or understanding anything we teach. We've also been teaching him since before Elder Seeley got here. He doesn't speak much English, and on top of that, he's super shy. 

Just recently God sent us some backup. Sarah and Daniel are two awesome YSA in our ward, and they've both been helping us a ton. Coincidentally, Daniel is one of the ward primary teachers, and Sarah is an elementary school teacher. With their help, Charles has come further in two weeks than he did in the last 3 months. Not only that, but we're also teaching Prince, Mimi, and 4 other primary kids in the ward. Having them help us makes a huge difference. I know that that isn't by accident either. God helps us according to our needs, and right now, we needed some help with kids. Charles, Prince, and Mimi are going to baptized this Saturday, thanks in large part to Daniel and Sarah.

So yes. That is what an 80 year old man and 3 primary kids have in common. They're all going to be baptized this Saturday. With God's help, anything is possible. Also, Jessica is going to be baptized this week also. She's amazing also. 

Anyway, I love you all. Pray for Prince, Mimi, Charles, Jessica, and Emmanuel this week. 

Love,

Elder Johnson

This week the only pictures are pretty city and me and Elder Seeley flexing with Maxwell, our Nigerian friend who came to church on Sunday. He asked for a photoshoot after church and I must say, we were looking pretty fresh.