Week 67 - the Thrill of Soaring

Letter from Jan 29

Dear Family,

This was a wonderful week! 

Last Sunday in Anyaa we heard a great sacrament talk from Bro. George about an eagle raised by a hen. When the eaglet saw some large birds flying overhead he asked the mother hen, "What are those birds?" The hen replied, "Oh, those are the kings of the sky, you don't want to be like them, stay safe on the ground with me." The eagle never left his comfort zone and eventually died, never living up to his true potential. The moral of the story is: do we stay in our comfort zones for too long? Or are we looking for new challenges which stretch us and help us grow?

Second eagle story told to departing missionaries by President Simpson..... Eagles build their nests high up on the side of a cliff face. After nurturing and feeding the baby eagles the parents literally kick the young birds out of the nest. At which point the eagles have to start flapping their wings in order to fly. But for a few seconds the thrill of soaring is always preceded by the fear of falling. Great Family Home Evening topic! 

So, while at Anyaa we taught 25 members what self reliance is, and what it is not, following which we took them through a My Path to Self Reliance assessment. Later in the week we trained their facilitators. We love this ward! Another training; this time Church Service Missionaries for Kaneshie stake was a sweet experience. The Mensons are in their 70's and are so eager to serve, Helping them navigate around a computer was interesting, but we think they had fun and we will follow up with additional training, and a review next week.

Serving in the community at a local library was a new experience for us. Libraries here are few and far between, but about 25 years ago a Canadian by the name of Kathy Knowles started several branches around Accra. They are well stocked with donations from many countries. They also have games and activities for the children and the librarians are knowledgable and enthusiastic. The Osu library needed a thorough overhaul, including painting and varnishing bookshelves, cleaning and sorting books and putting everything back together again. Kathy travels from Canada once or twice a year to oversee the projects and we felt privileged to meet her this week. She is an author of many books about African children, and the proceeds from the books help support the libraries. She has been recognized with many awards for her work: “With a wholehearted commitment to sharing the joy of reading and to promoting literacy, Kathy has transformed the lives of thousands through the creation of children’s libraries in Ghana, West Africa.” More goodness in Ghana! 

On Thursday while Sister Lambert enjoyed getting creative at a batik class Elder Lambert was witness to a miracle. Here's the short version of what happened. Our stake SR specialist from Tesano who we've only met four or five times got a job at a new hospital in an administrative capacity. He needed to hire a janitor and wanted the job to go to someone needing to be more self reliant. Dickson told Elder Lambert he was the only one who came to his mind that he should call. (Inspiration) Could Elder Lambert help him? Immediately Elder Lambert knew the name of someone he should mention for the job; Samuel, the unemployed Nigerian student we are mentoring. Samuel is studying an on-line course in hospital administration, this would be the perfect way to get his foot in the door and he has almost completed his non citizen permit registration, so that will not be a problem. Samuel got an interview with Dickson and by next week should know if he has the job. There are several other factors that contribute to the story but the bottom line is that the Lord is in the details of our lives, and that is humbling when you experience it in this kind of way. We are hopeful that Samuel will now begin to soar!

Love from your favorite Kamasites in Ghana,

Elder and Sister Lambert

Pictures: Osu library

               Wisdom helped me create this batik