Goodness In Ghana: Week 38

Hello Everyone,

Last week we mixed work with pleasure, and had some great experiences along the way.

Darkumen ward held a My Path devotional after church and we were able to observe a well facilitated meeting thanks to Brother Peterson. If every ward had a specialist like him we would be out of a job!

On Tuesday we met with four returned missionaries from Lartebiokorshie and Kaneshie stakes. We love this opportunity to teach the doctrine of self reliance to them, learn of their mission experiences and encourage them to farther their education or to find a job. President Baidoo shared his challenges as a newly released RM and told them that self reliance really requires one to become a "Jack-of-all-trades."

That evening we met with Kaneshie stake SR committee. They are committed to meet every month and we love Brother Mills, the stake specialist because he actively seeks ways to use us, and together we visit wards and initiate SR groups in those wards. We enjoy each others company, and laugh at some of the funny things that happen along the way.

On Thursday several missionary couples car-pooled to Koforidua to the Juaben bead market. From here we travelled to Boti Falls. This 30 meter high waterfall lies on the Pawnpawn river, and due to the rainy season had a pretty good flow.The surrounding forest of tall trees and dense undergrowth made for an impressive sight. Being the adventurous souls that we are, a quick refreshing dip in the pool at the base of the falls was a must! Then on our walk back to the cars we had a gospel discussion with our guide, Emmanuel. He is a devote Christian and we were able to present him with a Book of Mormon and some church literature as we parted company.

Saturday morning we returned to New Gbawe branch at the request of their SR specialist. We haven't seen many of these folks for several months and we enjoyed hugs and handshakes from everyone! This was the first place we facilitated the forming of three SR groups. They have all completed the classes now so we should be able to do some follow up visits in a few months. We helped the members clean the building and then shared some principles on SR, along with some of the training videos for their next group of facilitators. Afterwards Elder Lambert challenged one of the members to a game of outdoor ping-pong, but let's just say he is a little rusty with his game (he claimed it was because the wind was blowing against him!) It's true, but it wouldn't have made any difference. Richard is an awesome player!