Week 44 - On The Run

Dearest Family, 

Let us share some of this week's highlights with you, because even though we had no trainings, teachings or meetings with self reliance we kept pretty busy.

Have I told you about Halima? She is Christiana's friend and loves to visit with us on Monday afternoons at Christiana's shop after she gets off work. She was Muslim, and converted to the church in June. As a Young Single Adult she is discovering all the opportunities available for a social life with other YSA's in the Gospel. She attends Institute, and is a facilitator in a self reliance group. Last Monday she was on fire as she expressed her profound joy in learning about Jesus Christ and the church. We tried to capture her emotion on the i-pad because it truly was one of the sweetest things we have experienced. She was so happy she could barely contain herself! She is a gem!

On Tuesday we attended a zone meeting for all Area missionary couples. Although we are assigned to the Accra West mission we work outside the mission so we are included in Area events too. Elder Vinson shared some of the latest news concerning the growth of the church in West Africa. There is a new branch of the church in Senegal and groups in three other countries. Sister Vinson shared the story of how her mother joined the church in Australia and how that decision has influenced generations. I was given the assignment to teach from the scriptures for 5 minutes. I used the scripture "he received not the fulness at first, but received grace for grace; and he received not the fulness at first but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness." Grace is divine help given through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. "Continuing from grace to grace" suggests upward progress, improvement, commitment to live our covenants and experiencing growth as we walk the gospel path. "Receiving grace for grace happens as we understand that God loves us with all His heart, might, mind and strength. When we feel God's love in us we want to extend that grace to others. We willingly show love and acceptance, we are kind and friendly, we smile, we don't judge, criticize, or condemn, we show patience and gentleness to those around us, and we try every day to give love away. In doing so we become more graceful and our ability to love as Christ loves increases. 

I love what we can learn from just a verse or two from the scriptures!

On Wednesday I went on a field trip to Ghana Textile Printing (GTP) with 16 other sisters. We saw the process of raw fabric being cleaned, and printed on with designs, using different dyes and chemical processes to "marry" the colors. As our guide talked about the colors "dating" and the steps it takes to get them "married, so they will never separate" we all laughed and said "Oh, that's a Temple marriage. We believe in marriage for eternity!" So the next time she referred to the process she used the expression "a Temple marriage."  Talking of the Temple, we went there on Thursday and Friday. It was a place of refuge; quiet, and peaceful. The craziness of city living, and the traffic gets to me sometimes. It was a welcome respite.

Back in June we saw advertisements announcing the Millennium Marathon. Actually it is a 21K and 5K race. Why not, right? So, we signed up and have been training for the 5K ever since.  Saturday was race day! It was a little intimidating because these Africans are fast, not that they have anything to worry form us. In fact sometimes when we see them running it reminds us of graceful Gazelles; they run so effortlessly. When we picked up our bib numbers on Thursday we learned they were expecting 10,000 runners! The 21K draws an International crowd and last years winner was from Ethiopia, finishing in a time of 1:05.00  Well, we don't think there were 10,000 but it was definitely more than Oakley's 4th July, Kamas Fiesta Days fun run, Frontier Days in Francis and Woodlands Chokecherry Festival races combined. As the 21K got under way the 5K runners spread out on Independence Square (about the size of the parking lot at Lavell Edwards Stadium) and did aerobics and warm ups for 15 minutes. Then we approached the starting line and the race was on! Let's just say it wasn't our best time, but we finished and had a good time in the process. The first picture shows us with a church member, Evans Tetteh who we met last month at Ofankor. Don't know how he managed to pick us out of the crowd..haha!

"Remember that we do not run alone in this great race of life; we are entitled to the help of the Lord." Pres. Monson

Keep on running the race of life!

Elder and Sister Lambert