Miracles still boldly going forward!

 This has been a difficult week.  I can easily say it has not been my favorite week in Ghana.  These are the ups and downs of mission life.  I used to tell my young missionary sons and daughter that a mission is a small somewhat controlled experience of what real life is going to be like.  Not every day in life is cakes and roses.  Not every day of a mission is cakes and roses too.  There are difficult days.  One thing I learned this week for sure is that Heavenly Father is very much aware of his missionaries and his work rolls forward very boldly.  We also experienced many miracles this week despite a few set backs.  

We moved from an area in Sunyani called Fiapre to another area called Nkwabeng.  We spent a few days in Kumasi while the church hired some Ghanaian's to move our things.  None of it is actually is our things.  It is all stuff owned by the church that we are using while we are here.  All of our personal stuff we packed up in our suitcases and left at the Sister's apartment.  We packed a few things and went to Kumasi.  I thinked we returned on Thursday. 

Thursday we heard that one of our institute students from the Estates Branch was leaving on a mission to Nigeria.  His father had brought him to the mission home to have him get set apart as a missionary by the mission President.  We were so glad that we were able to say good bye to him before he left.  He was nervous and we were able to reassure him that everything was going to be ok.  It was such a tender mercy for him and us.       

Saying goodbye to Percy Mogyabiyedom who left for his mission to Nigeria

Friday morning we received a phone call from a young man that I could not understand very well (thick accent).  I understood enough to figure out that he was trying to finish up his mission papers to submit to the Branch President and was having difficulty.  His Branch President suggested he contact Elder Fuell and I.  We met him at the district center later that day.  We discovered he was serving as the Branch Clerk and when he would log in, he was logged in as the clerk and could not access his mission papers.  We were able to help trouble shoot that for him.  He was so relieved and excited to submit his papers for his mission.  A very nice feeling settled over us and confirmed to Elder Fuell and I that we were instrumental in helping him with a things that was weighing heavily on this young man.  

We have a dear friend by the name of Rockson who attends our self reliance class in Domfete.  Rockson hurt his hand very severely in a farming accident.  He had been wanting to get baptized but his doctor said that he could not get his arm wet.  Elder Fuell suggested that we could wrap his arm in plastic and tape it well and he felt like that would work well.  Saturday evening Elder Palmer called us and said that Rockson was planning to be baptized Sunday at 12:30.  We rearranged our schedule to be able to be in Domfete for this important event.  The missionaries filled the font and there was just barely enough water to baptize and then the water tank was empty.  The missionaries had Brother Rockson sit down and then they just layed him back to baptize him.  After his baptism, Elder Fuell and I gifted Brother Rockson a Book of Mormon in Twi.  Rockson can speak English, but Twi is the language of his heart and so we thought he might really love having a Twi Book of Mormon.

Rockson is the tall gentleman. 

We are getting more and more institute students!  We had 5 last week!  This was a good week for us.  We gave them all what we call a "Steve Baker Cheer".  We explained to them that we have a great friend in the United States named Steve Baker and when he feels enthusiastic about the Gospel of Jesus Christ he puts his hands in the air and gives a cheer. 

Institute Group giving the Steve Baker Cheer!

I have spent many hours practicing the piano this week preparing to play for district conference a week from Sunday.  Also we have been teaching piano and bringing cheer to missionaries who celebrated a birthday yesterday.  The Sunyani Zone all got a cupcake from Sister Fuell to Celebrate Elder Carinan's birthday.  Hey it's the small joys that mean so much in Africa.