Miracles truly do happen

Hello all!!  Hope that your week has been wonderful because ours has.  We have been blessed this week as all the work we have been putting in is starting to pay off... we are starting to get more investigators and a few more serious people to teach.  We have been pretty busy this week.  We had interviews with President Shulz on Wednesday and that was neat... our last time that we will have interviews with him before he leaves to go home. :(  The Shulz have been awesome for the mission.  President Stephenson will arrive on the 28th of June... exactly one year after I came out... kind of interesting.  But we had some really good instruction from the assistants about how we need to have a deeply rooted and genuine love for the Savior and that will lead to everything else... it will allow us act for the people here and develop a love for the Ghanaian people.  It will drive us to act... they compared it to the difference between Nephi and Laman.  Nephi was deeply rooted while Laman was not so when they faced 'drought' or hard times it caused Laman to 'perish' while Nephi was able to survive.  It was cool, but too short.  Especially the interview as President was rushed since we were combined with Sekondi.  But yeah... it was sweet.  Then this weekend our ward's ward conference.  They make a much bigger deal about it here than they do back home... it is bigger for them than General Conference is for them.  But it went rather well... our chapel was so crowded though... not everyone could even fit inside the chapel.  The stake leaders had some good things to teach the members. 

Then today we had a District activity at the Julanders, the couple missionaries on the Takoradi side of the mission.  That was way fun and sweet.  Sister Julander made us cinnamon rolls!!  Way good... and we watched 17 Miracles.  That movie is very good and very inspiring.  It makes me want to have that kind of determination that the early pioneers had when on the trek... they went through so much compared to what we go through... we need to do our best with everything we do.  The Lord will not place anything too hard in our way even if we think it is.  The Lord knows our limits and he truly pushes those limits to the max but he will be there to lift us up.  Those trials are the things that build us... You can take it that if the Lord allows trials to come your way that is because he knows you are strong and can handle them. 

Oh yeah... I got a package from you Mom and Dad!  Thank you!  It was in a box :)

Well I love you all!  Hope that your week is amazing!!

Elder Walston

Another one for the books...

Hello everyone!  Hope that you have had a wonderful week.  This week was good... we were able to have a baptism this week.  Stephen Mensah Effisah.  He is sweet, has a great personality, will become a great leader in the church... that is my hopes anyway.  It is funny... after his baptism, there was a bird inside the church in one of the classrooms... I saw him walk in and then he came out carrying a bird... something like a Robbin... but just carrying it in his hands. Other than that this week we have been trying to work with the members and trying to find more people to teach, more serious people to teach.  One of the hardest things is finding those people.  But it has been going well... just have to keep on pressing forward.  One interesting thing that I got to do is I got to dedicate a man's home this last week.  A member who we are good friends with, actually from a different ward asked us to come to his house that he just moved into (which is now in our boundaries, but a lot of people don't really listen to the boundaries).  He asked me to dedicate it for him... definitely something that I thought that I would never get to do while I was out here.  I get plenty of opportunities to perform blessings... but I never thought that this would happen.  It was pretty cool to do.

So one interesting thing I have learned from my studies this past week... not really a spiritual thought, but an informative thought... So it took six days to create the world and the seventh he rested... and from the Doctrine and Covenants and the book of Revelation we learn that the earth's span will be seven thousand years long and that Christ will come again at the begginging of the last thousand years... one day in the eye of the Lord is a thousand years here on earth... which means means seven days and the last (the Millennium) will be a day of rest.... just an interesting thought.

But yeah... a cool quote I found this week, which I found in PMG is something like the most important work that we can do is within the walls our our own home...  our families are so important... we need to always strengthen and uplift one another... that is the way we will all be able to succeed... when we strengthen and uplift one another, everything will go better.

 

Sorry, but when I come to email.... I forget the things of the week... but I love ya all!

Elder Walston

And the floods came up...

Sorry.... I don't have any time but I talked to you all yesterday..... Love you! The work is continually trucking along! Have a wonderful week!!
Elder Walston

And the rains came down...

This week was pretty solid.... it was a busy week.  We now have two more missionaries in our apartment so we had to do a little bit with transfers and making the apartment suitable for six missionaries.  But yeah.... this week we have had fun working hard.  This week it has rained a ton... pretty much every day this week... that has made it fun proselyting...makes it a little bit of a mud pit.  But it's all fun and games. :)  Elder McKeon and I were able to teach quite a few people and we have been really trying to find more people to teach... it has been rather hard to find new people to teach because everyone we talk to wants us to talk to them but they are in their ways and aren't willing to keep commitments or they just want to talk to the "obrunees".  We have doing our best at working with the members with referrals, but most of the members don't live in our area. :)  But the work is slowly progressing!

Yesterday we were able to come to Takoradi and gather as a stake to watch two sessions of this last General Conference... we were able to watch Saturday afternoon session and Sunday morning session... there were some very good and inspiring talks.  I very much enjoy listening to all the talks and I am excited to e able to read the rest of them once I get a Liahona on my hands.  Our leaders are very inspired men and women.

Since I have been here I have realized that the Lord blesses us with so many tender mercies.  There are so many things around us each day, as long as we pay attention, that we are truly blessed with from the Lord.  I have been taking some time each day just to think about these tender mercies that the Lord blesses us with... it is rather cool to see and realize everything the Lord does. It is something that each of us can do that will help us be more thankful for what we have been so kindly given.

Well... I love you all!!!  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Llook what I found in Takoradi!!!! Way too much... but it tasted good!

 

Hello!

Hello! This week was pretty good!  We had a ton of help from the members and that was an absolute blessing!  It makes things so much easier when we have the help of the members... we actually had one of them call us Friday morning and tell us that she was free and ready to go out proselyting with us... such a blessing.  Especially for our investigators that do not speak any English.  This work becomes so much harder without the members and virtually impossible.  Been a blessing this week.  We had one lesson this week where the Father decided to join and he was completely drunk... he tried to take over the lesson and say everything... lets just say it was frustrating... but a tender mercy of the Lord after a few minutes of that is that his grandchild pooped his pants so he went off dealing with that for the rest of the lesson.  The Lord works in many different ways and he blessed us by a little boy pooping his pants... who would have thought?

It has been raining quite a bit these last few weeks... it makes it rather hard to go around and things... at least it makes the bottom of my pants really muddy along with my shoes... but I have yet to slip and fall in the mud!  The rain is really nice because it cools everything down but the following days are always no fun since it makes it very hot and humid... but things are definitely cooling down since rainy season has started to come.  

So this week is transfers and for the first time everything is staying the same!  I am very grateful for that and I hope that I get to stay in Kojokrom for quite awhile... I love the people here.  I feel that as long as you work your hardest... the longer you stay in an area the more you learn to love them and don't want to leave.  I hope that I get to stay here at least a few more months.  I am tired of moving from place to place... but the Lord has a plan for me and everything will work out!

Well... I love you all!  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

 

It rained...a lot...

 

A classic child being scared by the big abrunnee.

Sunset

The monkey actually belongs to a less active member!

Time keeps on tickin'

Hello everyone!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to enjoy the celebration of the Savior's resurrection.  This week was kind of slow for me... I was still pretty sick most of the week and we didn't get to go out until Friday.  But I am feeling up to par now.... much better.  The whole entire time that I was sick I was craving some kenke.... I have absolutely no idea why but I was... so we ended up getting some on Saturday.  Funny because that was the food I hated the most when I came to Ghana.  But things end up changing opinions.... right?

But yeah.... yesterday was Easter and we had a really hard time teaching anyone since everyone was doing their Easter things.  But life is good.

Just as yesterday was Easter, want to make sure that everyone realizes the importance.... that Christ, he lives!  He died for us but he lives and he is here for us to help us and lift us up.  

I love you all... sorry for the short email... Have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

A Baptism!!!

Hello all!  I hope everything is good back home!  This week has been pretty good.  It has rained quite a bit and I think that rainy season is starting to hit.  It actually rained hard enough that a section of the wall around the church fell because the rain caused the soil to come loose underneath it. But this week has been good... we were able to teach a lot and Julie was able to be baptized yesterday.  That was sweet!  It was hard to get the baptismal font filled... we tried to start filling it on Saturday morning but the water was not flowing through the pipes... luckily it started flowing by the end of the night... blessings of the Lord.  Ghana seems to like to not have running water or electricity... but the Lord's work will still go forward.

One cool thing that Elder McKeon did this week is that last Monday night he stayed up a little because he had to prepare an instruction for District Meeting on Tuesday.  But after I went to bed he but sticky notes all over my desk of things about me.. pretty cool.  He is a sweet guy and I enjoy being companions with him.

This week has been fun, the only downside is that I have been sick since Saturday... completely out of energy, but the Lord is blessing me.  Giving me the strength I need to do the things to do his work here.  I am just glad that I have been able to do everything that I needed to do.  I was worried that I would not be able to make to Julie's baptism but I was good enough that I was able to go to church and the baptism that followed.  

So I have recently started reading the Doctrine and Covenants...  it talks a lot about missionary work and how there is so much of it that we can do around us.  I believe in four or five of the first 15 chapters it talks about how there is a marvelous work before us and that if we thrust in our sickle that great things will come.  We must all do our best, try our hardest and do all that we can to help this work go forward.  Share this gospel with all those around us.  I have learned that the scriptures are a great source of knowledge... we must study from them and then apply them to our lives... this is how we will grow and learn!

I love you all!  Sorry that this email was short but hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Walston

Elder McKeon knows that Elder Trevor Walston loves his sister! :)

 

Driving the Banku.

Elder Walston's nice little sandal tan lines.

The church wall kind of fell...

Elder McKeon, Julie, & Elder Walston

Elder Walston cooking food.