REASONS TO REJOICE

It has been an interesting and eventful week.  Even with some sorrow, we have had much to be grateful for.  We organized the first branch of the Church in Dunkwa-On-Offin...

Evans' missionary application status went to "Ready For Assignment", so it won't be long before we know where and when he will be serving his full-time mission...

And, we have rejoiced in the life of my wonderful father and have seen, with the eye of faith, a very happy reunion.

We began zone conferences this week.  We met with the Winneba, Tarkwa and Kojokrom Zones.  As we were driving to Winneba, we saw what it was that diverted us on our way to Swedru last Sunday.

As we understand it, two fuel trucks crashed head-on. One was full and one was empty.  The trucks burned to the ground.  Not pretty.

The zone conferences went well.  We have nine zones, so these were the first three.

I finally got to interview the Tarkwa missionaries. 

Elder and Sister Ivie completed their mission this week.  We will miss them, and their brownies.

 

We brought supplies and mail with us to the conferences, so it was kind of like Christmas.

On Saturday, we left at 5 a.m. to make an 11 a.m. baptism in Dunkwa-On-Offin and to organize the branch.  

The drive is still beautiful and exciting, although the scary bridge over the Pra has had some much needed repairs and isn't scary at all anymore.  

Sister Stevenson stayed in Praso with Elder and Sister Hanlon on Saturday, since President Asamoah (the Praso District President) and I would be interviewing all afternoon. 

The baptism was very nice.

After the baptism, President Asamoah and I interviewed all of the Melchizedek Priesthood in the group as part of the process to call leadership for the new branch.  These were very wonderful men and I enjoyed meeting them again.  We were able to extend calls to a branch president and two counselors, a branch clerk and an Elders Quorum President.  Later that evening, we celebrated by having dinner with all of the missionaries in Dunkwa.

Sister Rita cooked for us.  Chicken and rice with a very nice mushroom stew.  It was very good.

President Asamoah and I stayed at a hotel in Dunkwa near the church.  At first, the clerk said all their rooms were booked.  (The missionaries had told them we would be coming and that we wanted the 50 GHS rooms.)  When we learned there were no rooms, I asked if there was another hotel near by.  The clerk said, "Hold on, we will take care of you."  He then offered us two 70 GHS rooms for 60 GHS each -- complete with air conditioning.  Well, the difference in rate is about US$3, so that was easy.  Unfortunately, the power went off during the night, so I didn't get to enjoy my US$3 worth of air conditioning.

Here is the sunrise Sunday morning:

We had 114 in attendance at church.  If you have been following the blog since the beginning, this is the town that we first came to in early August and met 25 members who desperately wanted the Church to come there.  We formed a group and it has continued to grow from there.  We found a little bit of contention this trip among the members, so we preached love, forgiveness and unity pretty hard.  But we have very high expectations for the future of this new branch of the Church.

After church services, President Asamoah and I provided some training for the new leadership, then we drove back to Praso, where I set apart two missionaries from the little Kenkuase Branch and issued three temple recommends.  Finally, at about 6 p.m., it was time to make the remaining two hour drive home, arriving just in time to Skype with some of the family (before the internet failed) and fall exhausted into bed.  So now you know why the blog is late this week.

DATE NIGHT:

Our scheduled date night was at the same time as my father's funeral back home, so we just had a quiet dinner together and thought of dad and the family.

TREE OF THE WEEK:

Sister Stevenson loves these fan palms.

CREATURE OF THE WEEK:

None.  I thought I had one when I was sitting in the chapel at Dunkwa with an open window behind me and a little kid reached through the window and stuck his finger down my collar.  I thought he shared a bug with me, but it was just curiosity about what an obroni's neck feels like.