Dear Family and Friends,
This week we were privileged to be instructed by an apostle of the Lord .
Elder Ronald Rasband and his wife, Melanie took the time to shake the hand of every missionary in the Accra mission, the Accra West mission, and each of the Senior missionary couples. That's about 370 handshakes! Also present were the Area Presidency/wives, both Mission Presidents/wives and the Temple President/wife. A rare event!
In Greek, Apostle means "one sent forth". It was the title Jesus gave to the Twelve whom He chose and ordained to be His closest disciples and helpers during His ministry on earth. Both anciently, and in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the restored church today, an Apostle is a special witness of Jesus Christ "sent forth" to testify to the whole world of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead.
Elder Rasband. testified that revelation is part of all missionary assignments. He said, "Heavenly Father helps me know "perfectly" where each missionary should serve. Every one of you are here by revelation."
He then led an interactive discussion with the young missionaries on what he described as "the most spirit-directed talk" he had ever given; "The Divine Call of a Missionary" from Conference 2010. In conclusion he testified, "I know that the leaders of the church are no strangers to the voice of the Lord. Go forward in faith. Avoid contention. Be easy to forgive. Always be worthy of holding a current Temple recommend, in doing this the Lord has promised He will bless you all the days of your life. Never underestimate the impact of your mission years into the future. In your future you will be husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. All other callings you can be released from, but this is an eternal call. Build up the church and give all the glory to Jesus Christ."
Elder Rasband's message to the young missionaries was just what they needed to hear. It also has significance to us as we meet regularly with returned missionaries and can reinforced his council with them. I am so grateful for Apostles!
Later in the week we also attended meetings at Tesano stake, twice; once for a SR committee meeting and once to instruct a group of 20 Pathways students. These Young Single Adults are so diligent in pursuing their education, but several are also quite destitute. One said, "I don't feel my hunger when I feel the Spirit." Ohhh!, I just want to adopt them all!!!!!!
On Friday, Sister Lambert joined eleven other sisters on a field trip to TK Beads. We learned about the bead making process; the crushing of glass, placing the glass powder in molds, watching it melt in the ovens, and witnessing the painting of each individual bead before it was fired for the second time. The final part of the process was when we walked into the retail shop to view a rainbow of colored beads (...like the sands of the sea) of all sizes and shades of the color spectrum. Several of us were totally overwhelmed! But it didn't take too long to compose myself and find some treasures to take home. :) :) :)
On Saturday we took a 2 hour drive to Asamankese. There are 6 branches of the church in this region. Here we attended another training session, which we were grateful was spoken in English, and visited with the MLS couple, the Lathems who have created a library in a classroom of the church for the community to check out books and enjoy. Libraries are not common here, and to have one out in the bush is a great blessing to the people. What goodness!
I am still amazed that each week we continue to have new adventures and meet new people who impress us so much. I will tell you more about one couple we met next time. They are going to be a great help to us in the coming months.
Till next time, know that we love this experience and are so grateful to be here. Thank you for your love and prayers... we need them.
Elder and Sister Lambert
Pix: I just loved seeing this Elder love his comp!
Bead factory
Just a small sample!
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