Hello Everyone:
Life is so crazy right now. SO many meetings and numbers to be in control of. It has sure been a fast week. I am now serving in a zone called Mpintsin, but my area is called Nkatiakrom.......It suonds like my favorite soup, Nketinkwine. So far it has been a lot of fun. My companion is a native in Ghana and is called Elder Ofosu, awesome guy and speaks the language so we have been teaching a lot. Not to mention that I am learning to teach more in Twi and Fante. I love that!
GHANA STUFF AND NEW AREA STUFF
1. The Western region is far more advanced then the areas i was in while in Central Region; we are thirty minutes from the big city of Wakeradi and most people speak English and hold "real" jobs rather than farming jobs. I won't be using my machete much around here.
2. By definition, i am considered a "Bush Boy" because I came to the city out of the Bush country!
3. I started teaching a pastor this past week. Amazing guy and really understood the Restoration and was not even mad about it. He is showing progression but because of weird area rules we now have to send him as a referral to other missionaries so please pray that he continues to feel the spirit and search for the truth....
4. Me nim se Nyankopong Teasi. Me nim se Nyankopong ye wo Ajay wo suro. Me ji dim se Nyankopong ado wo. Me nim se Mormon Nwoma no ye nokware. ( The testimony i am learning to say)! If the spirit can teach this kid how to speak this crazy language, it is certain testimony that miracles still happen!!
People in this World fight so many temptations and seem to falter so often. Each and everyone of us can forgive and lift others. As I work to teach people here in Ghana, I don't see their shortcomings much anymore. The cracks in their armor seem small and something easily handled. Yet when we act as heroes to lift others, it seems we forget that we, too, are human. As we try to lift others we forget that we to have to be lifted. As we expect ourselves to go out and be the undaunted hero, when we come to find a crack in our defences we take the hit hard.
A very famous quote from our Saviour is "Of you it is required to forgive all men". I love this line so much and when you pair it with other ideas like how we judge others is the way we will be judged, it makes me want to be very forgiving. However, we really have to look carefully at that thought to see a hidden meaning. Christ said "all men", all men includes ourselves. This is a lesson that I have always found difficulty in. It is so easy to get in the habit of letting things go and forgiving others but when it comes to forgiving ourselves we never seem to let it go. It puts a whole new meaning on the way we judge others is the way we will be judged.
I have not just seen people not forgive themselves but I have been someone who has not forgiven themselves. It is the worst! Let me tell you now. even when everyone else sees the crack in your amor as something small, we read our own weaknesses as gaping holes in who we are. Searching for forgiveness from God will help you lift some of that burden, but not all. When we do not have the faith we need deep down we tell ourselves that though Christ's sacrifice can clean everyone else's marks, our marks will always be there even if He makes it fade. Please never think this way. If you feel God's forgiveness, do not question it. For one, God cannot lie, and, two, He has promised us that He will forgive us when we repent properly. The marks left in our minds from our sin is a reminder for us never to do them again, that is why we remember our guilt, but God does not make you relive it. That is something only Satan can make you do. If you have been forgiven, let that be it. Do not forget your sin because then it will happen again but do not think for one second that the sin that was washed away or the crack that was repaired still exists. God will remember your sins no more.
As we go though life none of us are where we want to be, we are all "not good enough", we are always trying to be better for our families, friends and loved ones, yet we never seem to be enough. That is the fun part about life, the reason we all keep growing. If we are ever enough there would be nothing to do. Be happy with the room to grow because that means you still get to. The moment you become perfect entirely, is the moment that you stop growing. When you stop growing what more is there to do. We make mistakes, move past it, sometimes we are NOT enough, but that is okay (for now) Keep working and pushing past the slip ups and the moments you realize you could have done more. Then tomorrow do it to that next level and you will see that there was even more you could do, even more you can be. That is the gift God gives us in this life. A chance to grow.
Love you all so much
talk soon
Love, Elder Edison
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