Ghana Cape Coast Mission

  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 hous...

Hello my friends. This week we had some incredible teaching experiences. Here are the highlights Justice- Justice is a super smart guy who is a partner at a successful phone stand. We've been teaching him for a long time, and he's doing super well. We're praying that he'll come to church this Sunday. He's been reading the Book of Mormon though which makes us so happy.  Louis- Louis is dating a member of our ward and is investigating the church on referral from her. He's really great. He has a lot of questions, but we've been able to answer them so far and he's progressing towards baptism and has come to church a ton with his member friend. We're hoping to extend a baptismal date to him this week.  Charles- Charles is a 9 year old kid we are teaching who doesn't really talk very much. However, today he said he wants to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized. We're not sure how that will work because of some family stuff, but it was a powerful t...

  Good evening my friends! Thanks for being here today. It's been a wonderful week and a wonderful p-day and I hope you all have also had a good week or day or hour.  I've learned on the mission so far that English is a lot bigger of pool than I thought. The English we speak in America is more different from Ghanaian English than I expected. And accents matter! When I first got here, no one could understand what I was saying, even though we were both speaking English. And words and phrases that are common here might not be used very much in America, even though it's all English.  It's really fun though. I feel like I've been learning a language within a language. Some of the new phrases and meanings I really like. For example, enjoying. We use that word a lot here. For example, if you saw someone relaxing, you might say, "Aye! You are enjoying." Or if someone is eating something good you might say, "Oh, you are enjoying." Or even if someone s...

  Hello my friends! I have recently received some lovingly given constructive criticism about the length and detail of my weekly group emails. I usually wait till evening time because we get mega busy, but then I don't have time to write a good email. So consider this email a step in my repentance process.  This week was very, very nice. Cape Coast is ALIVE this week. Every year there's a two-week festival in Cape Coast (idk what the festival is for yet. I'll get back to you all on that) and it started this week. Things are pretty much the same, only everyone is dressed up and every single bar/food stand BLASTS music all the time. When I say BLAST I mean like six speakers that are all like 4 feet tall playing Ghanaian pop at full volume. It's so cool. Sometimes it makes it hard to teach people though. We had to reschedule a few lessons with people that live close to said speakers, but it's OK. I've been enjoying the vibrancy of the city this week.  That'...

So I wrote a really long email that got deleted on accident and I'm out of time but here are pictures! Justina and Sandra were baptized and it was quite possibly the best day of my life. The gospel is true and it works. It changes people. Feed the missionaries! Love,  Elder Johnson

  Hello my friends! This week was spectacular. Our friend Helena was baptized on Saturday! It was so happy. It was a group baptism which is new to me, but apparently common here. They just read the names of people being baptized off one by one and 5 people were baptized. It was awesome. Helena is such a powerful lady and is going to do so much good.  One thing I've learned this week is to always KEEP TRYING! Even when things aren't going your way, never stop trying. My testimony of that is increasing. God loves our efforts and even when we are confused about fante or food or anything like that, we are blessed when we try.  Speaking of food and trying, I have been blessed. This week my companion and I had dinner with a member, and I ate all of my fufu AND all my companion's fufu. He wasn't feeling well and couldn't eat his but luckily, I am really really good at eating and could help him out. A few weeks ago, I had a hard time swallowing any fufu at all, so I...

  Howfah my friends. All is well in Ghana. I hope you know I love you all and I'm praying for you. Some scattered musings from the mind of Elder Johnson: • MY SISTER GOT MARRIED! So exciting. I had a smile on my face the whole week thinking about how happy her and my brother Mason are going to be. I'm sure most of you already know but I thought I'd share anyway. My apartment mates and companion are tired of hearing about it haha.  • We will hopefully have two baptisms this week on Saturday, so please pray for Jestina and Helena!  • People in Ghana are so nice. Like even people we don't know will stay hello • MEMBERS LEAD MISSIONARY WORK! We've had some amazing referrals this week. Share what you love with others!  I know the church is true and that he will support us through our trials. He'll never leave us alone.  Love,  Elder Johnson   1. Desi and Mason! 2. Me, Elder Komiha, and Coconta (a yummy cassava dish a member fed us) 3. ...