Week 66 - A Series of Unfortunate Events

Family,

This week started and finished in grand style, but in between Monday and Saturday we had "A Series of Unfortunate Events." 

On Monday we said goodbye to three missionaries: Elders Desta (Ethiopia), Nyampong (Kumasi, Ghana), and Mugisha (Uganda). It is always a sweet experience to hear their testimonies and counsel them on self reliance before they head home. Elder Lambert gave an exceptionally spirit-filled presentation, and it was powerful to listen to the discussion of the skills and habits these missionaries have developed in the last two years including; greater self confidence, the ability to communicate, making better use of their time, budgeting their money, solving problems and greater faith in the Savior. It's wonderful to see them recognize and acknowledge the growth they have experienced. They are great young men and we love them!

For the next four days we hit road blocks and stumbling blocks at every turn. Meetings and appointments were cancelled, we lost our SR specialist in Abomosu as he was called to be a Branch President, a list of returned missionaries to the area is still not available so we cannot schedule RM visits to the five stakes we have been assigned to, the Temple is closed, and the Munros went out of town, so we couldn't do some work in the mission office. Not really anybody's fault, just a series of unfortunate events..... and the lesson that stumbling blocks may be made into stepping stones as our attitude aligns with God's, we exercise patience, look at what we can do differently, and what we can't change, and then moved forward.

However, the week was not all lost because on Saturday we went to Anyaa ward where we helped Prince and Daniel clean the chapel. Prince told us that he has come every Saturday for the last two years to prepare the building for Sunday, his little helper, Daniel (9 years) also shows up every week. Daniel's family joined the church about a year ago and Daniel comes each week to help sweep, mop, and clean chairs. We were super impressed by this little boy and his willingness to help. He checked up on my efforts several times so I hope I was passing quality control! 

Following the cleaning we visited two member businesses. Sister Irene Totimah has been sewing women’s clothing for 6 years. She does contract work making nurses uniforms but also sews for individuals. In July 2016, she completed Start and Grow My Business. From the program she realized that she needed to keep her inventory of cloth options high. Since she has done so her sales have risen. She has also kept records of customers to encourage returning work. Probably the most important change she has made has been the practice of saving money. She was recently able to purchase a knitting machine (over-lock machine) from her savings and now does work she once had to pay to have done for her. She is also now able to offer this sewing service to other seamstresses who do not have a knitting machine. As Sister Totimah’s business continues to grow she hopes to buy another knitting machine and possibly add an employee. 

Ernest Sakyi- The Slipper Maker (Sandals)

Because of his use of the Start and Grow My Business manual, Brother Sakyi is the winner of Kaneshie Stake’s 2016 “Most Talented Young Single Adult” award. Ernest’s journey to success began when he enrolled in Self Reliance April 2016. At this time he had no business experience, but following the principles of the program he began to look around for something people needed. He noticed how popular slippers were and decided to learn how to make them.  While mastering his slipper making skills he began to work on how to market them. He says, “I found the answer when I reviewed chapter 11 of Start and Grow My Business”. Following the suggestions of the program he did a marketing survey and was led to enquiring if he could sell slippers at various high schools in the area. He now sells to ten high schools with more contracts in the works. His goal is to brand his product and rent a container shop. We learned so much from this young man who is finding success because of applying self reliance principles. Yeah!

A great way to end what had been a discouraging week. 

Feeling blessed,

Elder and Sister Lambert

Pictures:Prince and Daniel

Sister Irene

Ernest