Soda Bags and Life Choices

People of the world outside of Ghana:

1. We eat and drink out of bags!  Soda comes in bags, chicken comes in bags, rice comes in bags, water comes in bags......we snip the end with scissors and drink through the hole....no straws polluting the waters of Ghana.

2. The hornets here seem like monsters!!! Tracker jackers from the hunger games are real!

3. Mondays are our hardest and longest days because we have far too much to do and we have to add laundry, cleaning, email and Pday stuff to our normal list.

4. People in Ghana like to believe that God justifies their actions when they feel it is hard to make the right choice; we have the job of helping them understand that they need to make the right choice especially when it is hard.........

5. There are people who we have recently been referred to who are so powerful and just make their way to baptism really fast; this is great especially if they are willing to keep the lifestyle required after baptism.  Some do, some don't....just like at home.

This is a cool experience to share: today I read a letter written by my mother for all the missionaries in my ward and she talked about how God is preparing all of us at all times for the things he needs us to do. Following on from that, I decided that I want to expand my own understanding on this topic a bit.  As a result, my thoughts are coming to you in this email and I hope that we all learn together. 

God has prepared all of us to do certain things in this world and has even showed us what some of those plans are through our Patriarcal blessing.  Even before I emailed today, another missionary and I were discussing how our obedience or disobedience can alter God's plan for us. God has perfect foreknowledge but He asks us to stretch and build. My mission President's favorite line to use is "God likes beginners". We are all asked to do things that God knows we can do but He also wants us to grow to be up to those tasks. He knows we can do the things He asks but He doesn't ask us the easy ones; He pushes us just a bit every single day.  Everyday is a choice to either follow His plan and prepare ourselves for the times He needs us or to fall short of what He sees in us. We have all been called to do a great work but many of us never rise to the chance. Many times we talk a big talk and walk a big walk but fall short of what we know we would be able to do with a little extra effort, a little more work, a little less sleep, a little more straining. It is our choice. God has a happy ending planned for all of us, but many of us settle for mediocre.

I am happy that God will always plan for the best, it gives hope and joy. It is amazing to know we can all work well with God. For us to reach that end though, we have to be able to spend all day giving our all to God. We must spend our time reaching His goals and desires, which means at all times we must know what He wishes for us, which in turn means we have to be worthy of His guidance. Yet even when we are worthy it is up to us to ask for His help and put our own thoughts and actions forward. With the brother of Jared, he was worthy and ready to do all that was asked of him but when he forgot to ask of God what those plans were, God did not tell him but waited three years for Jared to come asking!!!! We have to take the lead on God's plan because He will not just give us every step if we do nothing to show we are ready for it all. 

I am happy to have been able to finally send some photos home to my family. That took much of my time at this slow, ancient computer but I think it worked!

Ghana is great!  We got a new Group Leader this week and my companion and I have been asked to help him weekly with his farming chores so that he can do what he needs to do for his new calling.  If labor becomes too time consuming for the leaders here, they forego doing what their Group or Branch needs them to do.  We will work hard to relieve some of his chores so he can focus on his calling.  I don't mind one bit!

Thank you for your letters and prayers.  Ghana has become my home.  I would love some variety in the food but this place rocks!!

Love, Elder Edison

SO HOT!!!

Hello Everyone:

Oh my goodness, it gets far too hot when fans go off at night. I would have never guessed that any place could be this hot and humid!!!! It is going to make for a lot of awesome stories about sweat and sleepless nights and never enough water to drink and sleepless nights....and mice...most of you are in snow right now.  Please don't complain.  I am SO HOT!!!

 

1. There are things here called ball floats - fried dough!!!! It is so amazing and so unhealthy but they are cheap and fill your stomach. 

2. Eating food here can actually leave you tired because all food here expands in your stomach and makes you wish to be asleep (like Thanksgiving constantly but not as yummy). It is hard at times to enjoy all the food when it makes working more difficult.

3. People will not let males wash dishes here unless they are single. If they have a wife or a sister, she will do it all. It is hard to get people to let you do their dishes when culture prohibits it all!!!!!  But, I guess I should enjoy it.....watch out Molly and Dorothy.....when I get home I will be pretty used to having my dishes done for me.....

I love you all. Today I wanted to thank you all for what you have been doing for me and for my mission efforts. I know that most, if not all, of you have continued to pray for people to find the truth. I want to let you know that it is making a difference! 

To prove my point, I want to bring us a story that happened this past week: As my companion and I were getting to our last lesson of the day, we came to the knowledge that the person we were trying to meet with was not around. As we attempted to find out what to do, a lot of small children ran up and started trying to get our attention. After pleasing them with laughs and some silly play time, we started walking away, when out of no where the man we were trying to meet with showed up! He told us to wait inside a different building then we had met him the first time but as he sat with us, a young woman walked up and joined in our lesson. Me and my companion talked about the actions of Jesus Christ in this Life, the Apostacy and eventually the restoration of it all. As we talked, though tired and a bit frustrated with the children making noise and many other emotions, I noticed that the Spirit was so strong. 

If any of you know me, you know that I struggle with feeling the Spirit (Maybe we all do at times) however, I could not deny that feeling in the lesson. As we closed, both my companion and I used questions they had asked (some really far out there) to relate back to how God will communicate with all of us as we need Him and in the manner that will help us the most. We testified of the feeling we were having and the truth of our message. We even had them talk about what they were feeling and were able to teach them further about how the Holy Ghost works. It was such a powerful lesson and I wanted you all to know that I could not have done it without you all and your faith and prayers for me and the people I am meeting.

There are times when I know I am too tired and too frustrated to really access the Spirit and then when someone starts to talk I forget all about those things. Your prayers are really helping me and the people I teach, I have always found it strange how prayer works like that. Even when you are over half way across the world, you can ask God to help someone else and they can receive the power of your prayers. It just proves to me further the actuality of God. He is there and He listens.

As I have studied how to talk about prayer I have come to learn so much more about it. If you know the movie Bedtime Stories, you will remember that the man in the story tries to force the kids to tell certain stories to him to make them come true the next day.  Only when the man listens to the children and fills the stories with their ideas and not his own, do the stories turn out to be real.  This makes me think a bit about our relationship with our Heavenly Father and how we pray to him.

When we pray we are not forcing our will on God, but conforming to His will (God's). 

Pray for what you know is right. DO not pray to elimate anyone's agency because that will not be granted but instead, use your prayer to soften their heart. People have choice, so when you pray, pray that they will be prepared and found by the missionaries! Lets get some teamwork going!!!!

Love you

Elder Edison

Alive and Well and Living with Lizards

Well Hello everyone!

I am so happy that you are all alive and so am I!!

I am so sorry that I have not been able to email at the normal times. It has been some really amazing two weeks. Too busy and too crazy to be able to do all that we have to. 

GHANA INSIGHT:

1. Lizards commit suicide under people's feet while walking (yes this happened)

2. People have to fetch water from wells here that are large distances from their homes and they carry these large basins of water on their heads without spilling a drop.

3. When a missionary carries water on their head, they (we) get drenched in water - this is a skill I am trying to perfect but it usually means I get a shower on the way home from the well....

4. Carrying rocks on your (my) head is a lot easier but far more heavy... (again, this did happen - I do not recommend trying this)

This week I am going to talk with you about Change. This past Zone Conference my mission and my zone were told that it is now the standard for each companionship to have three or more Baptisms every transfer!  You may have heard me gasp just then.....that's lots of baptisms!

When I first heard this, I was really put off and all I could think about was how hard it will be. As I was thinking about this new demand, my companion leaned over to me and said ten or so names that we could put on our list to do that with..... It was at this point that I felt so stupid. Instead of having faith and believing that all things are possible with Christ, I had already decided to let my limitations and doubts enter into the equation. I know this goal is not going to be easy but they also set the standard to find seven new people every week, which my companion and I have already been doing.  So, we were half way there already and that felt good!

This experience and my reflecting on it, showed me that I had a lot to learn still about faith and hope. Later that day we visited a family to help them start the New Come Follow Me teaching guide. When we went to the home, the Father lead the discussion and it was incredibly powerful and it was all in twi ( a language that I do not know). When he was done, I bore a simple Testimony about what I had understood and then my companion followed up with an amazing game for the Children to play.

In Ghana, when Missionaries sit outside a house it attracts a crowd. In this family gathering we also had all the town kids show up! We ended up having an amazingly fun time all laughing and playing with on another. 

I have come to the conclusion that all of these changes in the church, in our families, in my new standards for missionary work with my district, are to bring growth. Many changes are happening in the way the Church and families are Working together. But just realize, just as I had to that: When we have faith, all things can work out to our good even when we do not see how that is possible. Hope, Pray and have faith that even though you cannot fix it your Father in Heaven can. No problem, however large and great it may seem, cannot dim the light that Jesus Christ has offered for all of us. Let change into your life, into your expectations, and anywhere else that may come to push you to be better. We all have a choice at every moment in our lives to fall or grow to a challenge. Even when you cannot seem to grow enough, get on your knees and pray.... You will be surprised when you stand again to find that the problem is no match for you and your Father.

This is not the topic I wanted to talk on today. I was going to talk on expectations but as I wrote, I couldn't stop what was coming onto the page. Perhaps it will be meaningful to someone.  Yet, to stay fair to both of my impressions, I will also say that as you change to face things and as things change around you, do not forget that the big picture is always too large for you to handle, take it a pixel at a time and bring Heavenly Father into battle with you.  Whatever you expect of yourself during these times of change, He can double and triple your capacity.  He has certainly done that for me while I have been in Ghana.  Thank goodness!

 

I love you all.  

Elder Edison