This week went by super fast! Tuesday it was raining so hard that hardly anyone was around. We tried to meet with some of our investigators but they all canceled for another day. We also tried contacting, but when it rains here in Ghana people don't want to be seen. I nearly ruined my shoes because of all the mud! We ended with the day with 0 lessons which was frustrating especially since the next day we weren't able to spend any time in our area. All of our Tema zone, which is about 28 missionaries went to Tema to do a massive contacting activity. One of the wards there has been struggling and requested all the missionaries in the zone to come and contact in the area. It was a holiday and most everyone was home, so it was a perfect time to contact. We must have knocked on every door/gate within a 2-3 mile radius and in the end received almost 50 phone numbers for return appointments. The missionaries in that area sure have a large work load now!
This activity really made me want to push and to contact/tract more. As we all know or have heard tracting is not the most fun activity, but it can be rewarding. We focused on contacting and finding new investigators this week and ended up 12 new investigators. We're hoping that we can get them motivated about the gospel and hope that we can focus enough time for all of them. Our ward is trusting us more and more everyday. We also received 4 referrals this week! After the 6 baptisms we've had of recent it'll be dry for some time but we're hoping that we can get some baptisms for June.
My personal study this week was focused on The character of Christ. I wrote an email in the beginning of my mission when I was in the MTC about this talk given by Elder Bednar. I decided to go back and do my own study on the Character of Christ and how he always turned outward to serve people instead of turning inward to be selfish and prideful. I started to read about his crucifixion in Matthew and Luke and came across the scripture of Luke 23:34 which says ''34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I was amazed that at this point of his agony, he was still pleading with his father to forgive those who were defiling him and those who hated him. I've been trying to make it a focus whenever I teach a lesson in Church for us to be more like Christ by helping the members know more about the way he acted. I pushed them this week to forgive those who despise them, forgive those who mock them, and do them wrong. You see a lot of less actives here in Ghana because of contention between members and if they just got over the pride they have then the ward would be so much stronger then it is now.
Love you guys!
Elder Smith
This activity really made me want to push and to contact/tract more. As we all know or have heard tracting is not the most fun activity, but it can be rewarding. We focused on contacting and finding new investigators this week and ended up 12 new investigators. We're hoping that we can get them motivated about the gospel and hope that we can focus enough time for all of them. Our ward is trusting us more and more everyday. We also received 4 referrals this week! After the 6 baptisms we've had of recent it'll be dry for some time but we're hoping that we can get some baptisms for June.
My personal study this week was focused on The character of Christ. I wrote an email in the beginning of my mission when I was in the MTC about this talk given by Elder Bednar. I decided to go back and do my own study on the Character of Christ and how he always turned outward to serve people instead of turning inward to be selfish and prideful. I started to read about his crucifixion in Matthew and Luke and came across the scripture of Luke 23:34 which says ''34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I was amazed that at this point of his agony, he was still pleading with his father to forgive those who were defiling him and those who hated him. I've been trying to make it a focus whenever I teach a lesson in Church for us to be more like Christ by helping the members know more about the way he acted. I pushed them this week to forgive those who despise them, forgive those who mock them, and do them wrong. You see a lot of less actives here in Ghana because of contention between members and if they just got over the pride they have then the ward would be so much stronger then it is now.
Love you guys!
Elder Smith