April 1, 3, and 4 were the days for multi-zone conferences. April 1 was in Winneba with the Winneba, Swedru, and Oda Zones. April 3 was in Kasoa with the Kasoa and Kineshie Zones. And, April 4 was in Ofankor with the Ofankor, Asamankese, and Abomosu Zones. The theme was "Seek and Rely on the Spirit" from Preach My Gospel, Chapter 4. President Jacobsen taught about the Light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and His role as the Holy Spirit of Promise. Sister Jacobsen taught about receiving personal revelation and the need to recognize the first promptings or inspirations of the Spirit. A powerful quote she used in her presentation was from Sister Julie B. Beck (former General Relief Society President) who said, "The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life."
President Jacobsen had asked us a couple of weeks before to do a 25 minute presentation in the breakout sessions. That means teaching eight times during the three days. Our presentation focused on these three aspects of receiving personal revelation: (1) Align with the scriptures and teachings of prophets, (2) Line upon line and precept upon precept, and (3) Trust and act on the first impression/prompting. President Nelson has said, "I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation."
Here are various pictures from the multi-zone conferences.
Sisters Tavita, Nipepe, Najjuka, and Tu'angalu (our neighbors). Elders at Winneba Zone Conference.
Elder and Sister Judd and Sister and Elder Kaaen. Sister Kendrick, Elder Kaaen and
Sister Judd cleaning tables.
Sister Kendrick with Sister and Elder Judd. Elder Judd talking water filters with Patrick.
Sister Appia hugging Sister Judd and crying. Sisters Marufu and Kendrick with Sister Judd.
Sisters Lautaimi and Ntumba hugging Sister Judd. Sister Van der Beek and Sister Judd.
Missionaries after Ofankor Zone Conference. Sisters Tanui, Malama, Van der Beek, and Matondo.
Elders Andrianampoina, James, Beresford, and Erickson. Elders Creighton and Radford.
Exciting news for the week also was that Autumn, Allison's daughter, returned home on April 4 from her mission in the California Sacramento (Spanish Speaking) Mission.
You may recall in our last blog post that we talked about traditional Ghanaian weddings and the "bride price." We included a picture of the list that Martha's "husband" has to pay or give to Martha's family in order to complete the process for them to be "married." Sister Judd had felt impressed that we should help Martha by giving her a few of the items on the list for her "husband" to give to her family. So, on the Wednesday between zone conferences, we visited Martha and gave her a Bible, a ring, four scarves, and 200 Cedi in cash (about $13). Even though it was not really very much, Martha and her "husband" were so very grateful because the list is so overwhelming given their financial situation.
Waiting for Martha to come from the market
For some reason, the little Ghanaian boys are enthralled with wheels and toys with wheels. We see all the time little boys with a long bamboo stick and some sort of wheels on the end of it that they have found, made, or fashioned in some manner (even a painting roller)!
Boys with their bamboo stick toy. Plastic bottle cap wheels on a nail for an axle.
In the late afternoon, we picked up our branch president, President Nartey, and took him to visit Nevis. Nevis was baptized about nine months ago. She lives a long way from the meetinghouse, has to walk to church, and occasionally has health challenges that prevent her from walking the long distance. We had a good visit with her and encouraged her to pray daily, read her Book of Mormon daily, and come to church whenever she can. President Nartey talked with her about the branch possibly helping her with the cost of transportation to church.
Nevis and Sister Judd
April 5 and 6 were General Conference. Because of the six hour time difference the morning sessions are at 4:00 p.m. Ghana time, the afternoon sessions are at 8:00 p.m., and the Saturday evening session is at midnight. Our internet is always terrible on the weekends. A Ghanaian TV station broadcasts the Saturday morning session live at 4:00 p.m., rebroadcasts the Saturday afternoon session on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m., and broadcasts the Sunday morning session live at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. We went to the church for the sessions shown on TV and listened as best as we could with the spotty internet to the other sessions either live or rebroadcast over the internet.
We arrived at the church to watch the Saturday morning session at 4:00 p.m. No one was there to set up the TV and connect it. So, we started watching it over Sister Judd's iPad connected to the internet through her mission cell phone's hotspot.
Watching Saturday morning session after the TV and chairs were set up. And, watching Sunday sessions.
Watching Sunday sessions.
Tuesday, April 8 was transfers. This was an extremely light transfers and departing missionaries as far as our responsibilities. There was only one missionary going home, and the Bertha's took him to the airport on Tuesday evening. Since we did not have any airport runs on Wednesday, we finished transfers and returned home on Tuesday.
At the mission office for transfers
Sister Judd continues to be asked to help members with their family history. Sometimes this is helping them set up or recover their Church account. Sometimes this is helping them begin to enter family information. And, sometimes this is helping sort out information that has been entered in previously but was not connected correctly to the right family members so relationships have to be figured out and corrected.
Sister Judd helping Linda, branch Relief Society president, with her family history
After helping Linda with her family history, we visited with Sister Helen Gamor. Sister Gamor was one of the early members of the church in the Buduburam area and the Awutu Breku Branch. We learned as we visited with her that it was her birthday the day before. Sister Judd sang "Happy Birthday" to her and brightened her day.
Visiting with Sister Gamor the day after her 56th birthday
We were supposed to go with Sisters Najjuka and Tu'angalu on Thursday (April 10), but they were not feeling well so we did other things.
And then, we were supposed to go with Sisters Nipepe and Tavita on Friday. Just before we left our apartment to meet them, we got a call from them that Sister Nipepe was not well at all and they needed us to come and get them. When we got to where they were, Sister Nipepe was laying on the concrete floor of a shop. We had to help her get to the truck because she was so weak and couldn't walk by herself. We took her to our apartment and called Sister Kaaen, the mission medical advisor. She ended up sleeping on our sofa for about five hours. She was feeling some better, but was still quite sick when they went to their apartment for the night.
The Young Single Adults had asked us a few weeks ago if they could come to our apartment and have Sister Judd teach them how to make American cookies. So, that became our Saturday (April 12) morning festivity. The plan was to start at 10:00 a.m. after they finished cleaning the meetinghouse. Typical of Ghana, they arrived around 11:00 a.m. They had a prayer and played a game of "Uno" until Sister Judd called them to the kitchen to begin the cookie making.
Mary, Olivia, Helaman, Richard, and Jennifer playing "Uno"
Sister Judd was extremely well prepared for them. They made chocolate drop, no-bake oatmeal, and chocolate chip cookies all in about an hour and a half. Then they ate cookies and Sister Judd's homemade bread with jam! They were great to help and clean up without being asked. The last thing they said going out the door was, "Can we do this again!"
During the cookie making, we were in communication with Sister Kaaen regarding Sister Nipepe. So as soon as we finished with the YSA and cookie making, we left for Accra with Sisters Nipepe and Tavita to take Sister Nipepe to the mission office so Sister Kaaen could take her to the hospital to have some tests to find out why she is so sick.
Saturday was a very special day for Mary, Melissa's daughter, in Indiana. She married the love of her life, Billie. This is the first of our grandchildren to be married!
Sunday (April 13) was Gospel Literacy day in the Winneba Stake accompanying Brother Seglah, the stake Gospel Literacy specialist. We went to the Dabanyin Branch for their Sunday meetings. It was fast and testimony meeting. The simple, humble, and Spirit-filled testimonies of these Ghanaian saints once again strengthened our testimonies. After the meeting block, we met with the branch presidency, Relief Society presidency, and elders quorum presidency to train them on Gospel Litreracy and encourage them to discuss and determine how this might help the members of their branch. We then went to Buduburam and met with the bishopric, Relief Society presidency, elders quorum presidency, and Sunday School president of the Buduburam 1 Ward and did the same thing.
We would like to share a "hand of the Lord" experience. We were supposed to be in the Swedru Stake on Sunday, but the Swedru stake president called a meeting that kept us from being able to go to Swedru. It had been a while since we had been to the Dabanyin Branch to visit, and we just felt that Dabanyin is where we should go. So, we coordinated that with Brother Seglah regarding Gospel Literacy. Early Sunday morning, we received a call from President Adjei-Fio, branch president in Dabanyin, in a panic. He discovered they did not have enough Sacrament cups, and there would be a large number of visitors at meetings that day. He asked if we would be able to take him Sacrament cups from the Awutu Breku Branch. He did know that we were planning to be there anyway and was asking us to make a special trip to Dabanyin to take the cups. When we told him that we could and that we were planning to be in his branch that day anyway, he was relieved. The Lord knows the needs and total picture. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of that.
It happened to be the first Sunday for the Dabanyin Branch to meet in a new rented meetinghouse. They had previously been meeting in the GMAD (Ghana Make a Difference) dining hall/classroom.
Dabanyin Branch in their new meetinghouse
As part of our presentation in multi-zone conferences, we ended with a quote by Elder David A. Bednar. As we continuously increase our spiritual capacity to receive and act on personal revelation, "the Holy Ghost has over time been expanding our intellect, forming our feelings, sharpening and elevating our perspective, such that we increasingly think and feel and act as the Lord would under similar circumstances. In short, we have made steady progress in obtaining 'the mind of Christ'."
May the Lord be mindful of each of you and may He bless you abundantly!
Love,
Sister and Elder Judd
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