Hello
Family and Friends!
It's so great to write
you all once again, and I hope you are all doing well! This week Elder
Montgomery updated our board and it is looking pretty great.
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| Elder Harward's Planner and Inspiring Scriptural Thought |
Okay so as for this week
it was really interesting actually. On Monday I actually didn't eat any food at
all (not a good idea) because of all the washing I had to do, and our kitchen
just got cleaned, so I thought I could wait until 6:00 PM until FHE with
Fred and his family to eat and drink. Throughout the day I start to not feel
well, and I started to get a sore throat, then a headache, then a fever and so
when I was emailing you guys last week, I wasn't doing too well. So eventually Elder
Montgomery and I went to Brother Fred's house to meet with the other Elder's
(Elder Kavilata and Elder Wightman). They were serving Kan Kae with Okra stew and
it was good, but my fever had increased and I just was feeling really bad, and I
couldn’t eat a whole lot. So during dinner we watched Legacy which was good,
and afterwards we had a nice FHE and then we started to head home. I still
wasn't feeling great and the other elders could tell I wasn't feeling good and eventually
they sat me down at this little shop and got me a sprite just so I could try to
feel better because I was starting to get dizzy. Eventually I was able to get
up and go to the road and get in a taxi to go home to our apartment. The wind
actually felt chilly (and for Ghana it is never cold, so that tells you I wasn’t
feeling well). At home Montgomery and I
closed our day and I eventually asked for a priesthood blessing. I felt that if
I had enough faith that I could be better and not be sick, and guess what? A Miracle
happened. I got better! Awesome right? I started to get better within the next
two days and now I feel fine. And I KNOW that it is because of the Priesthood
power that my fellow elders carried that really helped me that night, and I am
so glad that they were worthy to hold that priesthood. It was a testimony builder
to me that God does know us and that priesthood power is real.
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| Elder Harward and Elder Montgomery enjoying the fresh ocean breeze in Cape Coast. |
Tuesday we had District meeting once again and it was great! And I
got my packages from my family. Thanks guys. :) So that really made my day! And
after district meeting and lunch we met we were able to have a couple of
lessons (one with Fredrick one with Teresa, one with the Lawe's and one with
this member named Asoman) so it was pretty good. On Wednesday we were supposed
to have our pebbling fixed for our shower, so we were waiting for this guy but
I guess we got the wrong information and he was coming Thursday morning instead,
so we were only able to go to Mutual that night but it was really good!
On Thursday we were able to meet with Johanna! Which was exciting
to see her again, and we gave her a lesson 2 pamphlet, but we actually think she
is a recent convert in 3rd ward. Ha-ha, so on Thursday we are going to ask her
for sure. We looked at the other Elder's area book and it matches her
descriptions, so it looks like she might be a member. I am so happy if she is a
member of the church, but I am a little sad though that she might not be an investigator
anymore) so after we saw Johanna we saw Amy and we reviewed the Plan of
Salvation with her and it was really good. We committed her to church and unfortunately
she said she couldn't come but we are hoping this week on Friday (because she
is traveling to Durkwa until then) that we will meet with her and have her come
to Stake Conference. That night we actually met with Sister Belinda (our less
active) and we really tried to show our love and concern for her and we committed
her to church this Sunday. She said she would come, but she didn't, but we'll
keep trying!
On Friday Elder Montgomery
and I and the other Elders in our Apartment traveled to Cape Coast for our
Follow-up Trainer's Meeting, and we went to the European Store (which is so
great!) and we got some little snacks (and do you know they sell actually chocolate?
They sell Snickers, pretty cool huh? It's like an American Store, so lots of
fun stuff). After that we went to the meeting and we had Jollof which was
really good and I learned so much from the meeting, and I hope to really
improve. After the meeting all of us went to this little shop in Cape Coast
that Elder Wightman knows and we got some sweet Keinkea Ties and they are
awesome! So Friday we were in Cape Coast all Day.
On Saturday everything
fell through except for our lesson with Fredrick and that was really great to
see him. It was sad to see all of our appointments fail, but we will keep
trying and working hard, and following up with people. We actually went to a
nice chop bar (it's called secret corner) and I got some nice Fu Fu and that
was really great!
So Sunday was Fast
Sunday! IT was really great, and I loved partaking of the sacrament. My companion
and I actually bore our testimonies; unfortunately we only had 2 investigators
show up for church (one is 15 and she goes to young women and the other doesn’t
speak English well, it's actually Paa Joes's soon to be wife) so we didn’t have
any investigator class (or gospel essentials) and that was sad, but we talked with
Brother Jude and we discussed what we could to get the work moving forward and
that was nice. So after church we were going to break our fast but we had an appointment
in Happy home, so we just decided to wait to break our fast and we went and we actually
met this woman and a guy named Bright (he was taught before but couldn't be
baptized because he traveled). The woman wanted to partake of the sacrament but
couldn't because she is tasking care for her mother and it was so great that
the Lord put these people in our path for us. Such a miracle! SO after meeting
them we go down and we break our fast with Jollof from Sister Gabriella and
Hannah and then we have a small lesson with Sister Hannah and that was really great!
Today is Monday and we had
a District Activity! Super Fun! We went to the Akwomokrom Chapel and we played
Kickball and Dodgeball and it was really great! It was a lot of fun, and today
is actually my companion’s birthday and Elder Larse and Elder Brown got him Wet
for his birthday, so that was funny ha-ha! And tonight we are having an FHE with
Sister Vida and Theolopus so it should be great!
So the work here
is going well, but we also have a LOT of work to do because of church
attendance and with people keeping commitments, but it should be well, and it should
be okay! And this week is Stake Conference so that should be sweet! I am really
excited to learn and grow from that! The Lord truly does know us and our needs,
we just need to turn to Him always in prayer and scripture study and he will
help us if we are humble and turn to Him. I hope you all enjoyed General
Conference, and will continue to apply the talks given into your lives daily. I
hope you all have a great week, and I will talk to you later. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Harward
Ma Jo (Good Evening here
from Ghana) Hello Family and Friends! I hope you are all are safe and are doing
well! This week has been a good week, and it was also inspiring.
So Monday night we had
FHE with Sister Vida and Theolopus and that was SO good. I truly love this
family. They are so great. We gave a scripture thought and started over with the
lessons (For Sister Vida) starting with Lesson 1 on the Restoration and
we really gave our support for the Knocking and the Bride Price, so I REALLY am
hoping that it will all work out and that Theolopus can baptize her. Did I
mention their 5 month old Baby named Marion? She is so great and she is a great
healthy baby. I hope the best for that family!
As for Tuesday, unfortunately
it was a slow day, but we did have a lesson with Lord. (Did I mention him?) I believe
I did, but he stays right by our apartment and he was taught by Elder Lebaron a
while back and we addressed his drinking problem and set some goals with him so
that he will be able to overcome his habit, and that was a great lesson! Elder
Montgomery and I also had some nice gospel conversations by ADB Bank and it was
a nice day!
On Wednesday I
went on an Exchange with Elder Kavilata (I'll get a picture with him soon so
you can see him) and we had a good day. We wanted to get our gifts for our
companions (because it was their birthday this week and we got Elder Wightman a
Football Jersey and I got my Companion a nice Ghanaian shirt (It's pretty
cool!) And that was really great, and then after our little shopping, we had
our first lesson with Franics. He was a potential investigator that we met and
he stays right by Brother Frank, so we found out where he lives and then went
to the church to have the lesson with Brother Frank and we gave him Lesson 1.
We also gave him a pamphlet and committed him to prayer, so hopefully all will
go well with him. So after that lesson we meet with Isaac, who is an older
gentleman. Isaac was also a potential investigator and when we met with him, he
talked a lot about how he can't go between Pentecost and the LDS church because
it's not right, but he said he would go to the LDS church and serve there, and
that was really neat. But what was really neat was when Elder Kavilata gave him
the Lesson 1 Pamphlet he started to cry and the spirit really testified to him
that this is the true church upon the face of the earth; it was so neat!!! After
that Lesson we had a small scripture thought with Brother Alex. We just wanted
to make sure that he was planning on coming to Stake Conference and to make
sure he is doing well, and he told us he is doing well and that he would come
to Stake Conference and that was really great!
On Thursday Elder
Montgomery and I had another pretty good day. In the morning we met with Lord
again and this time talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Lesson 3) and
really focused on Repentance and committed him to read Alma 7 in the Book of Mormon and overall it was a
great lesson! Then towards the end of the night we met again with Isaac. I was
really excited to see him again because of Wednesday and we started with Lesson
1 and we went through that small and he had questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and
Elder Montgomery and I did our best to answer his questions and to help him
progress and we committed him to continue to continue reading the pamphlet and
then we set up a time for Friday.
Friday was Elder Wightman’s
Birthday so in the morning he opened his package from his parents and Elder Kavilata
gave him his Jersey and I gave Elder Montgomery his Ghanaian shirt and he
really liked it! So on Friday Elder Montgomery and I met with Fredrick and
Isaac again. For Fredrick we addressed his questions and his concerns and
really focused on attending church and praying, and he seems to be doing well,
but he doesn’t want to keep commitments so hopefully he will start to progress!
So that night we met with Isaac and I was excited to see him again and to have
another great lesson with him. However when he came to the church he was drunk.
We could smell the alcohol on him, and I was pretty sad that he had a drinking
problem. I had no idea he drank but Brother Frank told me he is a pretty heavy
drinker. We didn't really progress anywhere with him because he asked the same
questions as yesterday and he couldn't remember that we answered those questions
yesterday, so that was sad, and it was hard to make any progress. I won't deny,
I was pretty frustrated after that lesson. However Elder Montgomery and I still
think he has great potential and we are trying to meet with him this next week
so hopefully it will go well. At the end of the night our apartment went to
Secret Corner (The Chop Bar we go to the most, because it's really good and the
people are really nice) and we celebrated Elder Wightman and Elder Montgomery's
birthdays and that was a lot of fun!
On Saturday we had Stake
Conference and that was a neat experience because we had a visit from a member
of the Seventy and he actually is the Africa West President, and his name is
Elder Curtis.
You could tell he had the spirit with him when he talked. President Stevenson also spoke and his
testimony was really powerful. He was kind of emotional but when he testified
about the Savior I could just really feel of his love and the assurity he knew
that the Savior lives and that was a great moment for me. After that Session we
had some lunch and then we attended the Adult Session (Which I guess was a
little weird to me that I am an adult now, but pretty cool) and it was really
great and I learned a lot, especially about Member Missionary Work, and from
Elder Curtis who talked about the Ward Council and how effective it can be when
the members of the ward council serves their fellow brothers and Sisters. He
actually role played an actual Ward Council and it was really neat. I honestly
didn't know we had this, but it really does help the ward and really allows the
ward to focus on the people that need to be rescued not just the agenda items
on a list. Anyways it was a great lesson! After Stake Conference Elder Montgomery
and I had dinner back at our apartment. We called Lord because we wanted to
meet with him again this week but he said he was out of the house, so Elder
Montgomery and I went out and finished some shopping we had to do before
Sunday's night party and we met up with the other Elder's in our District at
our apartment for Transfer News. As for Transfer News (I wasn't nervous at all
because I am training Elder Montgomery, so we won't be going anywhere until we
finish training at the end of the next transfer) so, nothing too exciting happened.
But now we are starting the 8 week transfer and I will be here at least until
the beginning of December. YAY!! We are getting a New Zone Leader (Elder
Boamah finished his mission this transfer) and our District is getting split,
so now we have 5 districts in our zone so that's pretty cool!
As for Sunday we had the
General Session of Stake Conference. Elder Montgomery and I picked up Theolopus
and Brother Frank and then we headed off to Winneba. It was a great Stake Conference
but it was SO full. It went clear to the back of the chapel and up on the small
stage and it was cool to see how many people came to really feel of the spirit
and to listen to the speakers. The Stake President Spoke and then two adults
spoke from various wards. Then Sister Stevenson spoke. The whole time she spoke
all I could think about was Mom, because she looks like mom and is very sweet,
and had such a powerful testimony. Then President Stevenson spoke, then Sister
Curtis, then Elder Curtis himself and overall it was a great stake conference
and I learned a lot. We actually had 3 investigators attend Stake Conference so
that was great! (Sister Vida, Stella, and Abina- Paa Joe's soon to be wife).
After the conference Elder Montgomery, Brother Frank, and I headed back to
Swedru and we dropped of Brother Frank and headed home. Then Elder Montgomery
and I got ready and headed to Aboso for our District Activity. So we had a
district Sleep over at Aboso and it was a lot of fun. We brought two mattresses
over and we roasted some hot dogs, we fried some chicken, and had some sausage
and candy that night. I probably ate too much ha-ha, but it was fun and we
played some games and it was fun.
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President Stevenson, Elder Harward's Mission President
Monday was a great day!
In the morning after the activity we made brownies for breakfast and had a
wrestling match on the mattresses. Granted I am the weakest person in our
District so of course I was out of the "Tournament" right at the beginning
but it was a fun activity. So after that we all traveled home and we did our washing
and we got ready and then we tried to email. The lights went off so we decided
to come back on Tuesday and finish. But that night we had a great FHE with
Sister Joyclen, Kelly (her 12 year old son who is really cool) and Brother Frank.
We had Jollof and talked. Then we talked about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and
did an object lesson with some pencils where you could break one pencil easily
and two pencils easily but when you rely upon the Savior then you wouldn't
break (so with lots of the pencils and we had a screwdriver duck taped to the
pencils and that was just showing that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless your
lives. It won't be easy and there still will be trials, but that we still can
do it.)
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Anyway that's all for
this week. I hope you are all doing well, and I wish the best for you. Stay
Strong. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Harward
