No Unhallowed Hand

 Good morning everybody! I hope you all had a great week. We definitely did. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures. We were mega busy this week and there wasn't a lot of photo ops. 

This was probably one of the greatest weeks of my mission. We were so, so busy all week. Since we got here, we've been doing a whole lot of finding new people to teach, which basically means we walk around town and go up to people, talk to them, and then ask if we can share a message about Jesus Christ with them. If they say yes (which they often do. Ghanaians are awesome), we either set a time to go see them or we just sit down (or stand) and have a lesson right then and there. It's really fun. 

But we've done a lot of that, since we are both new to the area and often don't have anything else to do. We've also been able to continue teaching some of the people who were previously taught which has been great. There's some younger kids in the ward who were referred to us by family members who we have been teaching and are planning to baptize soon. Success and Rosina are 12 and 10 and are living with family who are members, so we've been teaching both of them and they're doing well. We're also teaching Bernice, who is in one of the pictures below, who was also taught by the previous missionaries. And we have the people that we are finding, so our teaching pool has been getting a lot bigger. We were really busy every day this week. 

Tuesday we had one of the best district councils I've ever had. Elder Hadfield, our district leader, was one of my roommates in the MTC and does such a good job. I loved the spirit of brotherhood and cooperation that was there. Our district is only elders, and we had a good time. If Ye Elders of Israel had a music video, it would be our district council. 

Speaking of exalted elders, Elder Bukasa is a legend. We've worked, and he's always down to work. He doesn't speak very much  English, but we've been working on it and he's improving. I've been learning that we have a lot in common, especially in one important area: food. That guy cleans up! It's awesome. We enjoy our dinner appointments, of which we've had a lot lately, and we buy a lot of snacks. One thing I love about Takoradi and Ghana in general is that you can find food everywhere. Like every five feet there's somebody selling something yummy. One thing Elder Bukasa and I really enjoy that there's a lot of are coconuts. There's guys with machetes and big piles of green coconuts all over and you just pull up with 2 cedi and they cut it open for you. It's so nice. Elder Bukasa's Fante name is now Eko Kubay, which means he was born on Thursday and he likes coconuts. 

This week has been filled with a lot of miracles too, not just coconuts. We've had some unintentionally really long days this week because I'm bad at figuring out how long stuff should take, and even with everything going so well, we've both been pretty tired at times. I've been learning that when we are totally at the end of our own strength, God can pick us up and carry us. I've felt that so much this week.

 

There's been several times this week where I was totally exhausted. Like I had no idea how I was going to continue. I felt heavy and hopeless. However, during each of those times, I asked God to give me strength. And each time I asked, He answered. Sometimes it was in the form of my companion picking up the lesson and continuing it when I didn't know what to say. A few times, my prayer was answered by getting a call or some direction from a member or leader. And most often, the answer came in the form of renewed strength and internal determination to continue. God answers prayers. 

And I think that being here in Takoradi is proving that to be true. My previous experiences have prepared me for this area. My weaknesses can be got around through proper planning and companionship communication. Google maps even works here! The work goes on, despite our imperfections. "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing". I love you all and I know that God lives and loves us! 

I know that was a good place to stop but I also want to talk about the restoration. Yesterday we taught Adwoa and Joseph, two of our friends, about how God loves us and how Joseph Smith restored the true Church of Jesus Christ after it had been missing for a long time. During that lesson, I felt that it was true. The Spirit confirmed the truth of it unto me once again. And Adwoa and Joseph liked it a lot. Conversion works and it's not an event. 

Also, yesterday we taught three Muslim girls about Jesus Christ. Explaining the atonement to someone who had never heard it before was such an interesting experience. I don't know how well it was received, but I hope some seeds were planted. The gospel is true!

Love, 

Elder Johnson

1. A very low quality picture of Elder Bukasa, our friends Bernice, Jewel, and Andrea, and me. 

2-3. Two super high quality pictures of me and Elder Bukasa that a photographer took for us at the stake picnic last week. We're a bunch of models, I know.