Week 26

Dear Family and Friends,

We are beginning to get into a more settled routine resulting in the weeks seeming to go by faster.  Monday we were home most of the day and then in the evening took the missionaries to teach Nevis and Alexandria.  We really enjoy going with the Sisters to help teach those who desire to learn more of the Savior's gospel and are progressing towards baptism in His church.  Their planned baptism and confirmation is next Sunday, August 4th.

On Tuesday, we drove 3 1/4 hours north to Abomosu to attend district council with the missionaries there.  

The "road" leading to the Kwabeng chapel.          Some Elders walking in from the other direction.

Elders Razafimbelo, Otin, and Sanders opening the gate for us.      Sister Judd at the Kwabeng building.

The Abomosu District

We are getting pretty well acquainted with most of the missionaries.  It is delightful to interact with them and reconnect.  They are appreciative of our being at district council meetings and providing more experienced perspectives to the discussions.

On the way back from Abomosu, we had our bi-weekly Zoom call for Gospel Literacy.  We normally just do it while driving.  But this time we needed to stop in Bontrase to help a sister recover her church account password and to help her with her Family History.  We got to Bontrase and were still on the Zoom call so we stopped along the side of the road to finish the call.  While we were setting there, we noticed some young kids at a pile of various sizes and shapes of wood on the opposite side of the road.  They were sorting through the pile and putting the pieces of wood in stacks and then hauling the stacks away on their heads.

After the Zoom call, we stopped to help Sister Haggar Mensah.  She is the branch young women president and is the only member in her family.  She joined the church in 2018 in Accra and then moved back to Bontrase where she grew up and her extended family is located.  She has a young son and young daughter, and they and her mother all live together.  Bontrase is about a 40 minute drive north of Awutu Breku.  She has to take a taxi to get to church which is quite a sacrifice financially.  

Sister Mensah and Sister Judd

Sister Mensah's mother (Mary) and a neighbor with her sewing machine.  The Ghanaians are a happy people.  We love their smiles!

A community water tank is located next to Sister Mensah's house.  This boy filled his container to the top with water out of the tank.  He then dipped a bucket full (green bucket) out so he could lift the container onto his head without spilling any.  Then his friend poured the bucket of water back into the container so the container was full to the top again.  It is amazing that the Ghanaians can carry the water on their heads and never spill any!

On the way to and from Abomosu, we saw a couple of interesting things.

Flat screen TV carried on a motorbike on a rough, bumpy road.  There is a driver even though you can't see anything but his leg.

A finished casket made to look like a fish between two unfinished caskets.  It is not uncommon for caskets to be made to reflect the profession of the dead person or what the dead person liked to do.  

Wednesday is our apartment inspection day.  This week we inspected the two apartments in Winneba and the apartment in Apam.  On the way to Winneba, we stopped at the roadside shop of Rihanna where she sells Gobe.  Gobe is made with cooked black-eyed peas, gari (flaked cassava), a sauce, red palm oil, rice, and spaghetti.  We wanted to buy some of Rihanna's Gobe to take to Elders Beresford and Cheney who had been transferred from Awutu Breku to Winneba.  

Sister Judd getting Gobe from Rihanna

 

Sister Judd filling out the apartment inspection sheet

Elders Rawlings, Mpangala, Cheney, and Beresford at Kojo Bedu

We finished inspecting the apartment at Kojo Bedu earlier than planned.  Since we were close to the Winneba beach, we decided to go see it.  The Sisters had told us to just go straight down the main road, and it would take us to the beach.  Well, the "main road" we went down took us straight to the prison where it dead ended.  We had to turn right or left.  With a 50/50 chance, we turned left.  That took us to a narrow street with a market on both sides and then to the fishing boats, but not to the beach! 

These are real fishing boats that real fishermen use to earn a living. 

Elders Pierre, Kroll, Mutandwa, and McCallister at Ansaful

On the way to the Ansaful apartment, we saw this interesting "fence" built around someones property

Elders Laulu and Naeata at Apam

Thursday was our day to recover from Tuesday and Wednesday and to attend the Gospel Principles class with the branch members that evening.

We needed to go to Accra on Friday to get a new insurance card for the truck, to take extra pamphlets and supplies gathered up from apartment inspections back to the mission office, and to bring some things back with us from the mission office.  Knowing that we would be in Accra, we had made an appointment to go the temple.  It was a short but very sweet time we were able to spend in the temple doing sealings for Sister Judd's ancestors and then enjoying quiet time together in the celestial room.   On the way home, we stopped at the West Hills Mall and did our shopping for the next couple of weeks until we go back to Accra for transfers and departing/arriving missionaries.  

We were able to go on Saturday afternoon with Sisters Van der Beek and Tanui to again teach Nevis and Alexandria.

Today (Sunday) after church meetings, Sister Judd helped the branch Relief Society president, Linda, with her Family History.  The Relief Society is having a temple trip on this coming Saturday.  They are trying to get family names if possible to take to the temple.  There are a number of sisters in the branch who are not yet endowed who are planning to go to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations.  While Sister Judd was helping Linda, the branch president asked Elder Judd if he and Sister Judd and the four sister missionaries would go this week to visit the sisters going to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations and help them understand more about the temple and what they will be experiencing.  He will text us a list of who he would like us to visit.

A deacon rolling and tying up the tarp sides of the chapel getting ready for Sacrament Meeting

After Sister Judd helped Linda at the church, we needed to print off the ordinance cards at our apartment.  We then took them to Linda at her house, and Sister Judd helped her some more.

A neighbor family to Linda working as a family in their garden.

After church, the branch youth were practicing a song called "A Disciple of Christ" in preparation for the stake youth conference.  At least three of these youth are not members of the church.  One will be baptized next Sunday.  The Ghanaians LOVE to sing!

President and Sister Jacobsen have asked the missionaries to read and apply "The Fourth Missionary" by Elder Lawerence E. Corbridge (currently an Emeritus General Authority Seventy and a mission president in 2002 when he gave this talk).  It is rather long, so we have been reading it this week as we have traveled to Abomosu and Accra.  We wanted to share a few paragraphs that touched our souls.

"The purpose and central blessing of life is change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to incorporate into your character, the qualities of His character. It is to move from one degree of intelligence and capacity to the next, and from there to the next, until you see God face to face and know Him as He knows you."

"(Holding up the scriptures)...none of this makes much difference unless it gets inside of you. All of this is only marks on pieces of paper bound together in leather; it has no intrinsic value, unless it becomes you. The purpose and essential blessing of life is to be changed to become more like the Lord, to realize the full measure of your divine potential."

"This process of change, this process of evolving, becoming, is the object of the gospel. Change is the design of faith in Christ, repentance and baptism. Redemptive change happens by the power of the Holy Ghost. But it happens only if and when your heart is right. It happens only if you do not fight against God. It happens only if you unconditionally surrender your will to the Lord."

"In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you. If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what he has already given to you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him."

We are very grateful for the blessing of change and pray everyday that we can truly turn our heart, mind, and will over to the Lord.  Our greatest desire is to become instruments in His hands in helping to gather His children on both sides of the veil.  May we all be blessed in our efforts to follow Him.

All our love, 

Elder and Sister Judd