Hello Family and Friends,
Yes! We were able to watch part of General Conference and have new appreciation and gratitude for those who spoke to us and taught us, those who set up the system to view conference in the stake centers here for the first time, and for the wonder of the internet to be able to view church leaders talking to us 7000 miles away...within seconds of it happening! My cup was filled! Learn, Listen and Walk and Always Remember Him were two of my favorites.
This week we learned the effects of communications not shared = no returned missionaries to teach! I can't really complain because the leadership here is impressive but this week a communication glitch resulted in a couple of poorly attended RM Orientations. The good news is that two sister RM's and another group of five got some very personal, one on one attention from us. It has been such a privilege to work with these valiant individuals. They are now all registered for "Education for Better Work" SR classes and on Sunday we sat in on one group meeting with some of them. We were happy to see how quickly the groups were formed and got started.
Elder Lambert has been especially industrious this week as he downloaded all the SR videos and then burnt them onto discs for the SR groups we are working with. The videos capture key points in each lesson using personal examples and many of them were filmed right here in Accra. It is so much more enjoyable to watch these videos than simply reading the script. So his effort has been a blessing for the members since internet access can often be spotty or non existent, and we want to set them up for the optimum chance of success.
On Wednesday the Area Exc. secretary and his wife hosted a "While the cat's away, the mice play!" luncheon. Haha! Since the Area Presidency is out of town, Elder and Sister Webster (from Sydney, Australia) had a little time to relax and invited the Area missionaries to join them. The featured presentation was a slide show given by the Area Doctor, Elder Anderson, who hails from Alaska. No, he didn't give a lecture on malaria prevention or safe food preparation, instead we listened to a fascinating presentation on the Iditarod dog sled race; "The Last Great Race." Elder Anderson has mushed a team of dogs for 3 years in this grueling race which covers 1,000 miles over the course of 8-10 days from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. There are 26 checkpoints on the trail and mandatory rest stops. When the race first started in 1973 it took teams 20 days to cover the distance but as with all things we do as humans in these physical endeavors the question was asked "How can we improve?" So, lighter sleds were built, breeding produced a better racing dog, food and supplies were fine tuned, and last month the fastest time was clocked at 8 days 11 hours.
I began drawing parallels between the Iditarod and the great race of taking the Gospel to the whole world. "How have we improved?" Missionary teams are being trained earlier by better prepared/ more experienced "mushers" (Dad and Mom/ priesthood leaders), equipment is ultra light and portable (cell phones, mini DVD players, on-line tools). Spiritual food must be eaten daily to keep the teams strong. We have 150 operating checkpoints. The trail is rough, the weather is unpredictable, but mandatory Sabbath day stops rejuvenate us. The clock is ticking, we still have a ways to go, but it's a great race to be a part of!
We love you,
Elder and Sister Lambert
Pictures: Sister RM's Esther and Hannah
Chicken and rice lunch with Tesano RM's
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