The Cost of Discipleship

This week we started off at our Zone Conference. We were the first zone to have zone conference in the mission and it was exciting, and I learned a lot. President Stevenson talked about "The Cost of Discipleship" and it was taken from a few scriptures, but really it was in Luke Chapter 14 starting in verse 25 where Jesus turns to the multitude (Now he explained that we need to pay attention to the word multitude because that means Jesus Christ is talking to EVERYONE right now) and the Savior was talking about what it takes to be a disciple. 

Elder Harward's Zone

Jesus compares discipleship to building a tower, and how (To paraphrase) that you shouldn't build a tower without knowing the cost of the tower, and if you have enough money to build a tower and whether the benefits are worth it. So we did A Cost Benefit Analysis for building a tower and then went to discipleship and it was so good. The cost of discipleship: Love Jesus Most; Take up your own Cross, forsake all, and follow Him (And he explained all of these) and we talked about the benefits: Exaltation, Heirs with Christ, and more countless blessings. So the cost of discipleship is worth it because of the benefits. BUT here is what stood out to me: President Stevenson said we shouldn't want to be disciples of Jesus Christ just because of the benefits, but we should do it out of Love. As we increase in Love we will want to follow Him. Anyway it was REALLY good. The Zone Leaders spoke on creating a Spiritual Environment (How to handle distracted children, or distracted people, how to invite the spirit, and how our body language portrays how much we care about our message-bad body language= don't care, Good Body Language= you care about the message that you are sharing, and it was good! Then we had lunch!

"This is Joyce she is a member (She is the one in the red and the other women are her friends, she also is the one wearing the sunglasses) and she works this nice shop for the Quartsons (They are good friends) so we usually stop by and say hi, and sometimes I get biscuits. :)"

Then we sang our musical number (God Speed the Right) and the Assistants spoke on Teaching Skills (specifically Pamphlets, and the benefits of using the pamphlets. The Assistants actually asked me and Elder Hodson to do a role play on having a Gospel Conversation with someone with a pamphlet and do it less than a minute. I'll be honest, it was hard ha-ha and I am not the best at role playing, but it was a good instruction, and I learned a lot from this zone conference!

That night Elder Hodson and I went with Christiana to see her Sister Priscilla (she really wanted us to teach her) and we met her and her children and it was a good lesson!! It was so neat to see how much Christiana wanted her sister to have the gospel and for her to be happy.

Later in the week we met Victor and we reviewed the Book of Mormon and he is doing well, and he invited us to the youth activity at the church on Saturday, and we said we would come. We then saw John and talked with him about the Book of Mormon and he is doing well! Then we saw Anita and it was okay, ha-ha. She forgot what we talked about last time, so we reviewed Lesson 2 from the beginning. Then we saw Agnes (we haven't seen her for a while) and she was pretty busy, so she said we should come back later. That night we saw Christiana and we reviewed Faith with her and she understands it very well, and she is doing well!

Eating competition from a ward youth activity

On Friday the mission was getting Audited (Checking on our Finances or something like that) so Elder Hodson and I weren't able to get our impress for the mail, so we weren't able to get any mail because they were just Duty Packages, so we actually were able to get out early and proselyte. We saw John and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was a nice lesson. Then we saw Anita, and again just a review from the beginning of The Plan of Salvation. Elder Hodson and I did meet a new guy named Ebenezer and we talked to him and had a good lesson with him, so he seems like he has good potential! At the end of the night we saw Gloria and talked to her about coming to church (she is having a hard time with that lately) and then we saw Priscillia and we talked to her more about The Plan of Salvation and it was a Great Lesson ,(Christiana is a big help to us!)

Then Saturday rolled around and Elder Hodson and I were together for the beginning of the day and we met with A-Boss (one our security guards) and just went into the Book of Mormon and that was nice. Then I went on an exchange with Elder Reyes! We went to the activity small, but they started it really late so we went out and I gave my camera to Beverly to take pictures (They want to get a camera for the ward, but they just use mine for now and take the pictures from my camera and put them on the computer) but they had scripture contests and a food contest and it looked like a lot of fun!!! Elder Reyes and I went to his area, so we went to see some members and we actually found this sweet old woman that we were trying to see and it was so great! Eventually we went to see another investigator Regina (She is The Young Men's President's Date Brother Bwabin, and a little  back story: they are seriously dating and they want to get married, but Regina doesn’t want to join the church for the wrong reasons, because she wants to join if she feels it’s right). It was good to meet and talk to her small and we talked about prayer and how she can know if what we are sharing is true (and we answered her question about women and the Priesthood, because that is a big concern for her) But it was a great day!

Ward Youth Eating Competition

Sunday was a nice fast Sunday. I really enjoyed it. Elder Hodson and I went out a little after church to see some people and we were able to see Agness and it was difficult due to the kids around us, but we were able to talk about faith. Her neighbor and her son came over and sat down and funny story, this little boy wasn't wearing any clothes expect for his shirt and his mom is holding him (Sitting opposite from me) but I guess he needed to pee because he just starts peeing on the  ground, and he pees on my shoe! I felt bad for the kid and I hope the best for him, so it was an okay lesson. We were then just able to see some members because our other lessons fell through but it was a nice night.

Well that's all about it except for mission news..... SO we found out at Zone Conference that Elder Ronald A. Rasband is coming to our mission (he is going to split the Takoradi Stake) and he wants to speak to all of us, so he is coming on March 18th to speak to all of the missionaries for 2 hours in Takoradi!!!!! Isn't that so exciting!! We get to hear an Apostle of the Lord!!! We have to look really professional so we are told to wear our long sleeve shirts, which makes sense, but I am really excited to hear from him!!!

I love you all, and I hope that you feel our Savior's love always and as you feel His love, you will want to be become His disciple and follow Him to the best of your ability. Have a great week! :)

Love,

Elder Harward