Insomnia won't stop the work!

One day, after much deliberation we (I) decided that we should go out despite my lack of sleep. We were out for like 3 hours and ALL of our appointments fell through. It was like God's way of telling me that I needed to stay inside and rest. I'm glad I did. Then, the next day we had a guy come and do a bunch of apartment repairs--which took up a good portion of our day. Needless to say, our week has been hectic, but we haven't been able to teach as much as we'd like to.
The silver linings to all of this is in a referral we received from one of our members. Her name is Sherry Enyonam and she is 20 years old. Basically what happened was the member met her on the street and just invited her to church-and she came! She, and her family, having been looking for truth in a church in a very long time and she had, as of two weeks ago, made it up in her mind that all these small 'miracle' and 'one man' churches were all pointless and don't help us come closer to God. She has been absolutely amazing! We'd give her a paragraph to read-and she'll read the whole the chapter and then some. She told us that when she came to Church she felt 'different' and that she felt that there was something here that she has been looking for. She also said that she felt really good when she read from the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets. We shared with her Galatians 5:22-23 to help explain how the Spirit testifies to us and how to recognize the Spirit in our lives. We are very excited for her. She has accepted a baptismal date and has been teaching her mother what we've shared with her.
Helaman Chapter 4 (Book of Mormon) has been very touching to me. I encourage everyone to read from it. Pay attention to the length of years and keep in mind how the Lord had blessed the people so greatly in the previous years described in Chapter 3
This week is transfers and we'll likely receive two additional missionaries in our Branch. So more on that next week. Thanks for all your support and I love you all. Have a great week.
Elder Green

How dedicated are you?

Okay. First I would like to say thank you for all the concern that many of you have shown me concerning the Ebola Virus. Ghana has not, to my knowledge, had an outbreak. Besides, who's on the Lord's side who? :)
So to Elder Kay's and mine own disappointment we did not receive any new missionaries this week, even though we were told we would. Still trying to figure that one out haha oh well.
Senchi Branch is doing really well. We were so surprised yesterday at Church. We had 8 investigators at Church! All but one came in late, and I happened to be giving a talk, so I could see them walk in, but I couldn't do anything to help them or show them where to sit and my companion was already busy helping another investigator. It was a bit funny, but everything worked out very well.
The work here is definitely hastening. Senchi has been pegged for a long time as a 'dead' area. I haven't seen that at all.
I would like to share with you all a little bit about a man named Peter. Peter is 22 and joined the Church in Dodowa during the month of April. One day he just showed up to Church and told us he was a member. He told us he stayed in Akosombo (a very nice, big city about a 30min car ride from the chapel) so naturally we were super excited since we have very few members living there since most people say its too far to walk and they don't want to pay for a bus ride. Anyways, we wanted to pay him a visit at his house. We met at the main taxi station in Akosombo(the heart of the town) and expected him to lead us to his house. We walked, and walked, and walked. We left the Akosombo, climbed a mountain, reached a village, passed that village and proceeded to climb the next mountain. It was a good 2 hour walk from the outskirts of Akosombo which is already a very long distance from Akrade (where the Church is). Up until yesterday, we had always assumed that he took a bus to the Church but we were informed not by him, but by another member who works in Akosombo that he walks the distance to and from church every Sunday. He has never complained or made mention of the distance. He must walk about 4 hours each direction. He arrives exactly on time for Church (most people run on 'Africa time' which means they have no regard for keeping time) every Sunday. I almost wept when our Branch President told us he saw him walking home while he was on his way home from work (He works every other Sunday).
I wanted to share that with you all since he has made me question my own dedication to the Gospel. I now often ask myself if I would be that willing to walk that far and sacrifice that much time just for Church. Truly amazing young man.
Well I love you all and hope everyone has a great week. I love my mission and bid thee all farewell! Till next week.
Elder Green

Safe from Ebola! WHEW!!!!

So, Yesterday we had the opportunity to witness one of our dear Sisters enter into the waters of Baptism and make an everlasting covenant with our Father in Heaven. Her name is Paulina and she has had tons of support from the Branch and they have been very willing to help us in translation efforts.
My week was a bit on the slower side of things, we had difficulty finding new people to teach and we did a lot of sorting through our past investigators--trying to see who would be serious about the things that we teach. However, the Branch has been helping us with referrals to teach so we are looking very hopeful towards these new people. 

Lake Volta

My District

Now, I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody's faith or religion so to begin: This is a Christo-Disco Church. When we found this I was at a loss for words. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

 

My companion and I have been working pretty well together, but we are a bit sad at the moment. Our companionship will most likely be broken up within the week. Due to the Ebola Virus 275 missionaries in Sierra Leon and Liberia will be evacuated and we will be reassigned to various missions throughout the world. If the Ghanaian Govt. approves we will receive 12 missionaries as well as 3 senior couples into our mission. Now why am I saying that Elder Kay and I will be broken up? Because our area typically holds 4 missionaries and we have two extra beds in our apartment and the most solid evidence is that our mission president straight out told us we'd be split up. Haha it's all part of the experience though. I am excited, but a bit apprehensive because of my huge area and the portion that I would take over is a place that we have seldom gone to. Oh well. The Lord will help me.

 I am safe and we shouldn't have to worry about the Ebola Virus. How is everything at home? I'm excited that the Ogden Temple will be opening soon. I'm especially excited that Carls gf will be going along with you all to see the open house. I hope that she feels the Spirit there. How is Carl doing? He sounds happy and excited thus far.

This past Saturday we had a zone meeting with our mission President. During this meeting I had the opportunity to bear my testimony relating to how I knew that the Book of Mormon was true. As I had done this I could truly feel the Spirit bear witness that what I had experienced truly was from God, and that I had felt the peace and comfort that comes from our loving Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is True, and I know that any who honestly read it, and ask in prayer to our Heavenly Father if it is true that they will gain a testimony of its Divinity through the Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost. I invite all to follow the Saviors advice to 'come and see (John 1:39)' Everything is going really well for me here. I love missionary work and I know that I have changed a lot since the time that I left home. I mean, I'm still the same me, but I think I have different desires in life and my priorities have changed around a bit.  I love you all dearly and I pray that you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Green

The work is moving forward in Akosombo

So this week has been pretty cool. We were planning on baptizing a woman named Paulina this past Sunday but she doesn't speak any English and teaching her has difficult since we have to get a translator, but she is super serious and she comes to Church just about every week. However, we postponed her baptism to this coming Sunday, so hopefully everything will go well with that. We are really excited for her and she has a Muslim background which makes this all the more a miracle that she is choosing to come to our Church.
So another really cool and unusual thing that happened this week is we (my companion and myself) went from teaching about 3-4 lessons a week with a member present to teaching 20 lessons this week with a member present. It has made the work move so much more quickly and the different members in the Branch that have been helping us are also getting excited about missionary work.
A miracle occurred just this past Sunday: Ms Dina B. Johnson from New Jersey finally came to Church!! She is a less active member (baptized in '96) who lives in the city of Akosombo (one of 3 members in this city). She has been incredibly friendly with us, always dashing food stuffs to us and always running out of her house to greet as we pass by. YET, she would never come to Church. Whilst in Church she was super talkative and made tons of contributions the whole time.
For this upcoming month we are hoping to have up to 4 baptisms, 2 of which are pretty solid. The members here have really been helping us and it seems we find more and more members who didn't know the Church was here (in this region).
Well my comp and I are truckin along having a great time and we love preaching the Gospel. I love you all and will talk to you next week.
Love, Elder Green