Week 32

This has been zone conference week with multi-zone conferences on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We did not go to a district council on Tuesday due to zone conference, but we did do apartment inspections on Wednesday.  

Because of zone conference days, we stayed closer to home for apartment inspections by doing inspections in Kasoa.  Here are the pictures of the missionaries we visited.


Elders Cid and Stephens at Kasoa 3



Sisters Kpahn, Tavita, Lautaimi, and Bello at Galilea



Elders Fainga'anuku and Tannahill at Kasoa 1



Elders Greenfield and Mpangala at Kasoa 4




When we were leaving from doing the Kasoa 3 inspection, we saw this Ghanaian woman carrying bottled water on her head, which is probably about 50 pounds.  These Ghanaians continue to amaze us! 


The multi-zone conference on Tuesday was in Winneba so we were able to return to our apartment for Tuesday night.  The one on Thursday was in Kasoa, and the one on Friday was in Ofankor which is in the Accra area.  We drove into Accra from Kasoa and stayed at the Mission Office on Thursday night so we would be closer to get to Ofankor for the Friday multi-zone conference.  Sister Judd's knee has been bothering her a lot the last month or so.  At home, she has a stationary bike which helped her knee to maintain better motion.  We decided that we needed to buy a stationary bike here in Ghana to see if it would help the mobility of her knee and reduce the pain.  Finding things on the internet and having any reliability of what you do find is challenging here.  We drove to a couple of stores in search of a bike they showed on their website only to find that they did not have anything.  While driving to the second store, we ended up in an area of Accra that is like a major shipping, wholesale market, and import-export kind of area.  As we were driving to the store, we passed several places where sheep and goats were tied up with very little to eat waiting to be sold or transported.



We finally found a nice bike at the third store we went to.  Elder Judd assembled it on Saturday before we went with the missionaries to teach.  Sister Judd is excited for Monday morning to give it a try!


A couple of pictures of interest:


This is a neighborhood community bathroom for those who do not have bathrooms in their homes.



When vehicles break down (which is very common!), the repair work is done wherever the break-down happens--even in the middle of the road with traffic going around them!


"Holy Motors Automobile"                                          "Thank U Jesus"



Pounding oil palm fruit to make palm nut soup.        Start of palm nut soup.


Grinding onions and garlic to add to the palm nut soup.



Today we went to Dabanyin (where the children's shelter is) for Sacrament Meeting and to be there for their Gospel Literacy class. 


As soon as Kofi saw us, he came running to us and took us to where he wanted us to sit so he could sit by us!  Then, he went and got his own hymn book to use.
 


Gloria and Portia (the learners) and Brother Andoh (the teacher).


We talked last week about our going to get Elder Lusk and taking him to Accra to the hospital where they determined he had a rare malaria in his liver.  We were told this week that if we had not gotten him when we did, he would not have made it through this alive.  As it was, his liver, kidney, and spleen were all starting to shut down, and he had lost half of the red blood cells in his blood.  He is still in the hospital but is doing so much better.


President Jacobsen, the A.P.'s, the tech elders, and his companion visiting Elder Lusk.



The focus and instruction at the multi-zone conferences was on "Seek Christlike Attributes" from Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel.  The ten Christlike attributes discussed in Preach My Gospel are "Faith in Jesus Christ," "Hope," "Charity and Love," "Virtue," "Integrity," "Knowledge," "Patience," "Humility," "Diligence," and "Obedience."

President Jacobsen asked us to teach the breakout session on "Charity and Love" and "Virtue."  That means teaching eight times over the three days.  Here is a synopsis of our session:

Charity is the “pure love of Christ” (Moroni 7:47).  It has four aspects:  (1) the Savior’s love for us, (2) our love for the Savior, (3) others feeling the Savior’s love through us, and (4) our loving and seeing ourselves as the Savior does.  “The Savior’s true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire—no matter how difficult the situation” (President Nelson).  Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “There would have been no Atonement except for the character of Christ.”  Elder Bednar teaches that Christ’s character is one of TURNING OUTWARD in love, compassion, and service, rather than TURNING INWARD by being self-centered, self-absorbed, and selfish.  We can “. . .Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love. .  .” (Moroni 7:48).

Virtue is “a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards” (PMG pg. 128).  “Virtue begins in the heart and in the mind.  It is the accumulation of thousands of small decisions and actions”  (Sister Elaine S. Dalton).  “Your mind is like a stage in a theater.  Be wise about what you allow to enter and remain on the stage of your mind” (PMG, pg. 128).  The winner of the New York Marathon said, “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.”  We should prepare now with a plan and action of how to remove undesirable thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from the “stage” of our mind and heart.  “Virtuous women and men possess a quiet dignity and inner strength.  They are confident because they are worthy to receive and be guided by the Holy Ghost” (Sister Elaine S. Dalton).

Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46 contains the promised blessings of having charity and being virtuous:  “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; . . . The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion. . .”

Here are several pictures from the multi-zone conferences.










Sister and President Jacobsen



Following the zone conference on Friday, President Jacobsen asked Elder Judd to help him give a priesthood blessing to a sister missionary.  In the room was President and Sister Jacobsen, us, and the sister missionary and her companion.  What happened in those few minutes are too sacred and personal to share here, but we bear our solemn witness of the power and authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the power and sanctity of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  Our faith in the Savior was reinforced and strengthened. 




On Saturday, we helped Sisters Van der Beek and Tanui teach a few of their investigators.  We had the wonderful blessing of teaching and sharing about the Savior and His Atonement.  As we did so, we once again felt the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost of the reality, importance, majesty, and magnitude of the Savior and His Atonement and of the truthfulness of the plan of salvation and His central role in it.  

May we each strive daily to feel of the Savior's love and seek to become more like Him is our prayer.

We love you!

Love,
Sister and Elder Judd

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